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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 10:1

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Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

Ch. Jer 10:1-16. The folly of idolatry

It is now generally recognised that this passage is a later insertion, for ( a) it breaks the connexion between Jer 9:1-22 and Jer 10:17 ff.; while by its omission the train of thought in the former is carried on smoothly in the latter; ( b) elsewhere the people have been rebuked for being already devoted to idolatry (Jer 7:18; Jer 7:31), but here they are addressed as sincere and convinced worshippers of Jehovah, and are warned against imagining that idols are possessed of any real power, a warning which would be well adapted to the circumstances of the exiles in Babylon, surrounded as they were with its elaborate idol worship; ( c) elsewhere Jeremiah’s argument is, “Expect no help from vain gods; they cannot save you” (Jer 2:28, Jer 11:12); here the argument is, “Do not fear them, they cannot harm you.” See LOT. p. 254. This does not indeed preclude the possibility that the passage is one which the prophet himself addressed at a later date to his brethren in captivity, and in fact it contains certain of his expressions, viz. vain, vanity, as applied to idols ( Jer 10:3 ; Jer 10:15), in the time of their visitation ( Jer 10:15). But the style generally is not that of Jeremiah, and resembles that of the second Isaiah (chs. 40 66), so that it may at any rate be attributed to that period. The MT. is an expansion of the original form of the Hebrew. This is shewn both by the superiority in logical sequence exhibited on the whole (but see on Jer 10:10) by the text of the LXX in the way of omission as well as change of order (see on Jer 10:5-8 ; Jer 10:10), and by the smoothness of metre which results from the adoption of the Greek form of text. Co. points out that we then have from Jer 10:2 onwards a series of clauses arranged in triplets, presenting a clear and well articulated connexion of thought. So too Gi. (in Jeremias Metrik) with slight differences in detail. Du. shortens the passage still further. We may add that Baruch, ch. 6 ( The Epistle of Jeremy) is partly an amplification of this passage by one who was very familiar with particulars of the idolatry as practised at Babylon.

The passage may be summarized thus. (i) Jer 10:1-5. Be not led away by heathen beliefs. The phenomena seen in the sky have no element of divinity about them. The gods are nothing beyond the materials put together by workmen. They are speechless, and incapable of movement. They are powerless both for good and for harm. (ii) Jer 10:6-16. Jehovah is not as these. He is the supreme God, Creator of the heavens and of the world, and Wielder of the powers of nature. The peoples of the earth may well tremble before Him, who has created all things and has chosen Israel for His own.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

CHAPTER X

The Jews, about to be carried into captivity, are here warned

against the superstition and idolatry of that country to which

they were going. Chaldea was greatly addicted to astrology, and

therefore the prophet begins with warning them against it,

1, 2.

He then exposes the absurdity of idolatry in short but elegant

satire; in the midst of which he turns, in a beautiful

apostrophe, to the one true God, whose adorable attributes

repeatedly strike in view, as he goes along, and lead him to

contrast his infinite perfections with those despicable

inanities which the blinded nations fear, 3-16.

The prophet again denounces the Divine judgments, 17, 18;

upon which Jerusalem laments her fate, and supplicates the

Divine compassion in her favour, 19-25.

NOTES ON CHAP. X

Verse 1. Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you] Dr. Dahler supposes this discourse to have been delivered in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim. It contains an invective against idolatry; showing its absurdity, and that the Creator alone should be worshipped by all mankind.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Here begins another sermon, i.e. most probably relating to Jechonias and the Jews, that were already in captivity.

Israel; the ten tribes.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1. Israelthe Jews, thesurviving representatives of the nation.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel. Or, “upon you”; or, “concerning you” k; it may design the judgment of God decreed and pronounced upon them; or the prophecy of it to them, in which they were nearly concerned; or the word of God in general, sent unto them by his prophets, which they were backward of hearing; and seems to refer particularly to what follows.

k “super vos”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus; “de vobis”, Vatablus; “super vobis”, Cocceius.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Warning against idolatry by means of a view of the nothingness of the false gods (Jer 10:1-5), and a counter-view of the almighty and everlasting God (Jer 10:6-11) and of His governing care in the natural world. This warning is but a further continuation of the idea of Jer 9:23, that Israel’s glory should consist in Jahveh who doth grace, right, and justice upon earth. In order thoroughly to impress this truth on the backsliding and idolatrous people, Jeremiah sets forth the nullity of the gods feared by the heathen, and, by showing how these gods are made of wood, plated with silver and gold, proves that these dead idols, which have neither life nor motion, cannot be objects of fear; whereas Jahveh is God in truth, a living and everlasting God, before whose anger the earth trembles, who has created the earth, and rules it, who in the day of visitation will also annihilate the false gods.

(Note: This whole passage is declared by Movers ( de utr. rec. Jer. p. 43), de W., Hitz., and Ng. to be spurious and a late interpolation; because, as they allege, it interrupts the continuity, because its matter brings us down to the time of the Babylonian exile, and because the language of it diverges in many respects from Jeremiah’s. Against these arguments Kper, Haev., Welte, and others have made a Stand. See my Manual of Introd. 75, 1. – By the exhibition of the coherence of the thought given in the text, we have already disposed of the argument on which most stress is laid by the critics referred to, the alleged interruption of the connection. How little weight this argument is entitled to, may over and above be seen from the fact that Graf holds Jer 9:22-25 to be an interpolation, by reason of the want of connection; in which view neither Movers preceded him, nor has Hitz. or Ng. followed Him. The second reason, that the subject-matter brings us down to the time of the exile, rests upon a misconception of the purpose in displaying the nothingness of the false gods. In this there is presupposed neither a people as yet unspotted by idolatry, nor a people purified therefrom; but, in order to fill the heart with a warmer love for the living God and Lord of the world, Israel’s own God, the bias towards the idols, deep-seated in the hearts of the people, is taken to task and attacked in that which lies at its root, namely, the fear of the power of the heathen’s gods. Finally, as to the language of the passage, Movers tried to show that the whole not only belonged to the time of the pseudo-Isaiah, but that it was from his hand. Against this Graf has pronounced emphatically, with the remark that the similarity is not greater than is inevitable in the discussion of the same subject; whereas, he says, the diversity in expression is so great, that it does not even give us any reason to suppose that the author of this passage had the pseudo-Isaiah before him when he was writing. This assertion is certainly an exaggeration; but it contains thus much of truth, that along with individual similarities in expression, the diversities are so great as to put out of the question all idea of the passage’s having been written by the author of Isa 40-56. In several verses Jeremiah’s characteristic mode of expression is unmistakeable. Such are the frequent use of for the idols, Jer 10:3 and Jer 10:15, cf. Jer 8:19; Jer 14:22, and , Jer 10:15, cf. Jer 8:12; Jer 46:21; Jer 50:27, neither of which occurs in the second part of Isaiah; and , Jer 10:14, for which Isaiah uses , Isa 42:17; Isa 44:11. Further, in passages cognate in sense the expression is quite different; cf. Jer 10:4 and Jer 10:9 with Isa 40:19-20; Isa 41:7, where we find instead of , which is not used by Isaiah in the sense of “move;” cf. Jer 10:5 with Isa 46:7 and Isa 41:23; Jer 10:12 with Isa 45:18. Finally, the two common expressions cannot prove anything, because they are found in other books, as , Jer 10:16 and Isa 63:17, derived from Deu 32:9; or , which is used frequently by Amos; cf. Amo 4:13; Amo 5:27, Amo 5:8; Amo 9:6, cf. with Jer 33:2. – Even in the sense of molten image in Jer 10:14, as in Isa 41:29; Isa 48:5, is found also in Dan 11:8; consequently this use of the word is no peculiarity of the second part of Isaiah.)

Jer 10:1-2

The nothingness of the false gods. – Jer 10:1. “Hear the word which Jahveh speaketh unto you, house of Israel! Jer 10:2. Thus saith Jahveh: To the ways of the heathen use yourselves not, and at the signs of the heaven be not dismayed, because the heathen are dismayed at them. Jer 10:3. For the ordinances of the peoples are vain. For it is wood, which one hath cut out of the forest, a work of the craftsman’s hands with the axe. Jer 10:4. With silver and with gold he decks it, with nails and hammers they fasten it, that it move not. Jer 10:5. As a lathe-wrought pillar are they, and speak not; they are borne, because they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them; for they do not hurt, neither is it in them to do good.”

This is addressed to the house of Israel, i.e., to the whole covenant people; and “house of Israel” points back to “all the house of Israel” in Jer 9:25. for , as frequently in Jeremiah. The way of the heathen is their mode of life, especially their way of worshipping their gods; cf. , Act 9:2; Act 19:9. c. , accustom oneself to a thing, used in Jer 13:21 with the synonymous , and in Psa 18:35 (Piel) with . The signs of heaven are unwonted phenomena in the heavens, eclipses of the sun and moon, comets, and unusual conjunctions of the stars, which were regarded as the precursors of extraordinary and disastrous events. We cannot admit Hitz.’s objection, that these signs in heaven were sent by Jahveh (Joe 3:3-4), and that before these, as heralds of judgment, not only the heathen, but the Jews themselves, had good cause to be dismayed. For the signs that marked the dawning of the day of the Lord are not merely such things as eclipses of sun and moon, and the like. There is still less ground for Ng. ‘s idea, that the signs of heaven are such as, being permanently there, call forth religious adoration from year to year, the primitive constellations (Job 9:9), the twelve signs of the zodiac; for ( ), to be in fear, consternari, never means, even in Mal 2:5, regular or permanent adoration. “For the heathen,” etc., gives the cause of the fear: the heathen are dismayed before these, because in the stars they adored supernatural powers.

Jer 10:3-5

The reason of the warning counsel: The ordinances of the peoples, i.e., the religious ideas and customs of the heathen, are vanity. refers to and is in agreement with the predicate; cf. Ew. 319, c. The vanity of the religious ordinances of the heathen is proved by the vanity of their gods. “For wood, which one has hewn out of the forest,” sc. it is, viz., the god. The predicate is omitted, and must be supplied from , a word which is in the plural used directly for the false gods; cf. Jer 8:19; Deu 32:21, etc. With the axe, sc. wrought. Rashi explains as axe, and suitably; for here it means in any case a carpenter’s tool, whereas this is doubtful in Isa 44:12. The images were made of wood, which was covered with silver plating and gold; cf. Isa 30:22; Isa 40:19. This Jeremiah calls adorning them, making them fair with silver and gold. When the images were finished, they were fastened in their places with hammer and nails, that they might not tumble over; cf. Isa 41:7; Isa 40:20. When thus complete, they are like a lathe-wrought pillar. In Jdg 4:5, where alone this word elsewhere occurs. means palm-tree (= ); here, by a later, derivative usage, = pillar, in support of which we can appeal to the Talmudic , columnam facere , and to the O.T. , pillar of smoke. is the work of the turning-lathe, Exo 25:18, Exo 25:31, etc. Lifeless and motionless as a turned pillar.

(Note: Ew., Hitz., Graf, Ng. follow in the track of Movers, Phniz. i. S. 622, who takes se acc. to Isa 1:8 for a cucumber garden, and, acc. to Epist. Jerem. v. 70, understands by the figure of Priapus in a cucumber field, serving as a scare-crow. But even if we admit that there is an allusion to the verse before us in the mockery of the gods in the passage of Epist. Jerem. quoted, running literally as follows: , ; and if we further admit that the author was led to make his comparison by his understanding in Isa 1:8 of a cucumber garden; – yet his comparison has so little in common with our verse in point of form, that it cannot at all be regarded as a translation of it, or serve as a rule for the interpretation of the phrase in question. And besides it has yet to be proved that the Israelites were in the habit of setting up images of Priapus as scare-crows.)

Not to be able to speak is to be without life; not to walk, to take not a single step, i.e., to be without all power of motion; cf. Isa 46:7. The Chald. paraphrases correctly: quia non est in iis spiritus vitalis ad ambulandum . The incorrect form for is doubtless only a copyist’s error, induced by the preceding . They can do neither good nor evil, neither hurt nor help; cf. Isa 41:23. for , as frequently; see on Jer 1:16.

Jer 10:6-9

The almighty power of Jahveh, the living God. – Jer 10:6. “None at all is like Thee, Jahveh; great art Thou, and Thy name is great in might. Jer 10:7. Who would not fear Thee, Thou King of the peoples? To Thee doth it appertain; for among all the wise men of the peoples, and in all their kingdoms, there is none at all like unto Thee. Jer 10:8. But they are all together brutish and foolish; the teaching of the vanities is wood. Jer 10:9. Beaten silver, from Tarshish it is brought, and gold from Uphaz, work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and red purple is their clothing; the work of cunning workmen are they all. Jer 10:10. But Jahveh is God in truth, He is living God and everlasting King; at His wrath the earth trembles, and the peoples abide not His indignation. Jer 10:11. Thus shall ye say unto them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”

In this second strophe Jahveh is contrasted, as the only true God and Lord of the world, with the lifeless gods. These there is no need to fear, but it behoves all to fear the almighty God, since in His wrath He can destroy nations. When compared with Psa 86:8, the in seems redundant – so much so, that Ven. pronounces it a copyist’s error, and Hitz. sets it aside by changing the vowels. The word as it stands contains a double negation, and is usually found only in dependent clauses with a strong negative force: so that there is none. Here it has the same force, but at the beginning of the sentence: none at all is as Thou; cf. Ew. 323, a. Great is Thy name, i.e., the manifestation of Thee in the world, in Thy government of the earth. “In (or with) might” belongs to “great:” great with might, displaying itself in acts of might; cf. Jer 16:21. Who would not fear Thee? a negative setting of the thought: every one must fear Thee. King of the nations; cf. Psa 22:29; Psa 47:8; Psa 96:10. from , . . . equivalent to (whence ), to be seemly, suitable. Among the wise men of the peoples none is like Thee, so as that any should be able to make head against Thee by any clever stroke; cf. Isa 19:12; Isa 29:14. Nor is there in any kingdom of the peoples any one like Jahveh, i.e., in might. It is not merely earthly kings that are meant, but the gods of the heathen as well. In no heathen kingdom is there any power to be compared with Jahveh. We are led here to think also of the pagan gods by Jer 10:8, where the wisdom and almighty power of the living God are contrasted with foolishness and vanity of the false gods. is not : in uno = in una re, sc. idololatria (Rabb.); nor is it, as Hitz. in most strained fashion makes it: by means of one thing, i.e., by (or at) a single word, the word which comes immediately after: it is wood. is unquestionably neuter, and the force of it here is collective, = all together, like the Chald. . The nominative to “are brutish” is “the peoples.” The verb is denom. from , to be brutish, occurring elsewhere in the Kal only in Psa 94:8, Ezek. 21:36; in the Niph. Jer 10:14, Jer 10:21, Jer 51:17; Isa 19:11. as verb is found only here; elsewhere we have , foolish, and , folly (Son 7:1-13:25), and, as a verb, the transposed form . The remaining words of the verse make up one clause; the construction is the same as in Jer 10:3, but the sense is not: “a mere vain doctrine is the wood,” i.e., the idol is itself but a doctrine of vanities. In this way Ew. takes it, making “wood” the subject of the clause and the predicate. is the antithesis to , Deu 11:2; Pro 3:11; Job 5:17. As the latter is the of the Lord, so the former is the of the false gods ( , cf. Jer 8:19). The of Jahveh displayed itself, acc. to Deu 11:2, in deeds of might by means of which Jahveh set His people Israel free from the power of Egypt. Consequently it is the education of Israel by means of acts of love and chastenings, or, taken more generally, the divine leading and guidance of the people. Such a the null and void gods could not give to their worshippers. Their is wood, i.e., not: wooden, but nothing else than that which the gods themselves are – wood, which, however it be decked up (Jer 10:9), remains a mere lifeless block. So that the thought of Jer 10:8 is this: The heathen, with all their wise men, are brutish; since their gods, from which they should receive wisdom and instruction, are wood. Starting from this, Jer 10:9 continues to this effect: However much this wood be decked out with silver, gold, and purple raiment, it remains but the product of men’s hands; by no such process does the wood become a god. The description of the polishing off of the wood into a god is loosely attached to the predicate , by way of an enumeration of the various things made use of therefore. The specification served to make the picture the more graphic; what idols were made of was familiar to everybody. , beat out into thin plates for coating over the wooden image; cf. Exo 39:3; Num 17:3. As to , Tartessus in Spain, the source of the silver, see on Eze 27:12. Gold from Ophir; here and Dan 10:5 is only a dialectical variety of , see on 1Ki 9:27. As the blue and red purple, see on Exo 25:4. , skilful artisans, cf. Isa 40:20. They all, i.e., all the idols.

Jer 10:10

Whereas Jahveh is really and truly God. (standing in apposition), God in truth, “truth” being strongly contrasted with “vanity,” and “living God” (cf. Deu 5:23) with the dead gods (Jer 10:5, Jer 10:8); and everlasting King of the whole world (cf. Psa 10:16; Psa 29:10; Exo 15:18), before whose wrath the earth trembles and the peoples quake with terror; cf. Nah 1:5; Joe 2:11; Psa 97:5. (written as in Jer 2:13), they hold not, do not hold out, do not endure.

Jer 10:11

Jer 10:11 is Chaldee. But it must not be regarded as a gloss that has found its way into the text, on the grounds on which Houb., Ven., Ros., Ew., Hitz., Gr., etc., so regard it, namely, because it is Chaldee, and because there is an immediate connection between Jer 10:10 and Jer 10:12. Both the language in which the verse is written, and the subject-matter of it, are unfavourable to this view. The latter does not bear the character of a gloss; and no copyist would have interpolated a Chaldee verse into the Hebrew text. Besides, the verse is found in the Alexandrian version; and in point of sense it connects very suitably with Jer 10:10: Jahveh is everlasting King, whereas the gods which have not made heaven and earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens. This the Israelites are to say to the idolaters. is the harder form for . The last word, , is Hebrew; it does not belong to , but serves to emphasize the subject: the gods – these shall perish. Jeremiah wrote the verse in Chaldee, ut Judaeis suggerat, quomodo Chaldaeis (ad quos non nisi Chaldaice loqui poterant) paucis verbis respondendum sit, as Seb. Schm has remarked. The thought of this verse is a fitting conclusion to the exhortation not to fear the gods of the heathen; it corresponds to the 5th verse, with which the first strophe concludes the warning against idolatry The Israelites are not only not to fear the null and void gods of the heathen, but they are to tell the heathen that their gods will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.

Jer 10:12-13

The third strophe. – In it the almighty power of the living God is shown from His providential government of nature, the overthrow of the false gods in the time of judgment is declared, and, finally, the Creator of the universe is set forth as the God of Israel. – Jer 10:12. “That made the earth by His power, that founded the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding stretched out the heavens. Jer 10:13. When He thundering makes the roar of waters in the heavens, He causes clouds to rise from the ends of the earth, makes lightnings for the rain, and brings the wind forth out of His treasuries. Jer 10:14. Brutish becomes every man without knowledge; ashamed is every goldsmith by reason of the image, for falsehood is his molten image, and there is no spirit in them. Jer 10:15. Vanity are they, a work of mockery; in the time of their visitation they perish. Jer 10:16. Not like these is the portion of Jacob: the framer of (the) all is He, and Israel is the stock of His inheritance: Jahveh of hosts is His name.”

In point of form, “that made the earth,” etc., connects with “Jahveh God,” Jer 10:10; but in respect of its matter, the description of God as Creator of heaven and earth is led up to by the contrast: The gods which have not made the heaven and the earth shall perish. The subject to and the following verbs is not expressed, but may be supplied from the contrasted statement of Jer 10:11, or from the substance of the several statements in Jer 10:12. The connection may be taken thus: The true God is the one making the earth by His power = is He that made, etc. As the creation of the earth is a work of God’s almighty power, so the establishing, the founding of it upon the waters (Psa 24:2) is an act of divine wisdom, and the stretching out of the heavens over the earth like a tent (Isa 40:22; Psa 104:2) is a work of intelligent design. On this cf. Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24; Isa 45:18; Isa 51:13. Every thunder-storm bears witness to the wise and almighty government of God, Jer 10:13. The words are difficult. Acc. to Ew. 307, b, they stand for : when He gives His voice, i.e., when He thunders. In support of this it may be said, that the mention of lightnings, rain, and wind suggests such an interpretation. But the transposition of the words cannot be justified. Hitz. has justly remarked: The putting of the accusative first, taken by itself, might do; but not when it must at the same time be stat. constr., and when its genitive thus separated from it would assume the appearance of being an accusative to . Besides, we would expect rather than . cannot grammatically be rendered: the voice which He gives, as Ng. would have it, but: the voice of His giving; and “roar of waters” must be the accusative of the object, governed by . Hence we must protest against the explanation of L. de Dieu: ad vocem dationis ejus multitudo aquarum est in caelo , at least if ad vocem dationis is tantamount to simul ac dat . Just as little can taken by itself mean thunder, so that ad vocem should, with Schnur., be interpreted by tonitru est dare ejus multitudinem aquae . The only grammatically feasible explanation is the second of those proposed by L. de Dieu: ad vocem dandi ipsum , i.e., qua dat vel ponit multitudinem aquarum . So Hitz.: at the roar of His giving wealth of waters. Accordingly we expound: at the noise, when He gives the roar of waters in heaven, He raises up clouds from the ends of the earth; taking, as we do, the to be a consec. introducing the supplementary clause. The voice or noise with which God gives the roar or the fulness of waters in the heaven, is the sound of the thunder. With this the gathering of the dark thunder-clouds is put into causal connection, as it appears to be to the eye; for during the thunder we see the thunder-clouds gather thicker and darker on the horizon. , the ascended, poetic word for cloud. Lightnings for the rain; i.e., since the rain comes as a consequence of the lightning, for the lightning seems to rend the clouds and let them pour their water out on the earth. Thunder-storms are always accompanied by a strong wind. God causes the wind to go forth from His store-chambers, where He has it also under custody, and blow over the earth. See a like simile of the store-chambers of the snow and hail, Job 38:22. From onwards, this verse is repeated in Psa 135:7.

Jer 10:14-15

In presence of such marvels of divine power and wisdom, all men seem brutish and ignorant (away from knowledge = without knowledge), and all makers of idols are put to shame “because of the image” which they make for a god, and which is but a deception, has no breath of life. , prop. drink-offering, libamen, cf. Jer 7:15; here molten image = , as in Isa 41:29; Isa 48:5; Dan 11:8. Vanity they are, these idols made by the goldsmith. A work of mockings, i.e., that is exposed to ridicule when the nullity of the things taken to be gods is clearly brought to light. Others: A work which makes mockery of its worshippers, befools and deludes them (Hitz., Ng.). In the time of their visitation, cf. Jer 6:15.

Jer 10:16

Quite other is the portion of Jacob, i.e., the God who has fallen to the lot of Jacob (the people of Israel) as inheritance. The expression is formed after Deu 4:19-20, where it is said of sun, moon, and stars that Jahveh has apportioned ( ) them to the heathen as gods, but has taken Israel that it may be to Him ; accordingly Israel is in Deu 32:9 called , while in Psa 16:5 David praises Jahveh as . For He is the framer , i.e., of the universe. Israel is the stock of His inheritance, i.e., the race which belongs to Him as a peculiar possession. is like , Deu 32:9; in Psa 74:2 it is said of Mount Zion, and in Isa 63:17 it is used in the plural, ‘ , of the godly servants of the Lord. The name of this God, the framer of the universe, is Jahveh of hosts – the God whom the hosts of heaven, angels and stars, serve, the Lord and Ruler of the whole world; cf. Isa 54:5; Amo 4:13.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Solemn Charge to Israel; The Folly of Idolatry.

B. C. 606.

1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. 6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. 7 Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. 8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities. 9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men. 10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. 11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. 12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. 13 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. 14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15 They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 16 The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.

The prophet Isaiah, when he prophesied of the captivity in Babylon, added warnings against idolatry and largely exposed the sottishness of idolaters, not only because the temptations in Babylon would be in danger of drawing the Jews there to idolatry, but because the afflictions in Babylon were designed to cure them of their idolatry. Thus the prophet Jeremiah here arms people against the idolatrous usages and customs of the heathen, not only for the use of those that had gone to Babylon, but of those also that staid behind, that being convinced and reclaimed, by the word of God, the rod might be prevented; and it is written for our learning. Observe here,

I. A solemn charge given to the people of God not to conform themselves to the ways and customs of the heathen. Let the house of Israel hear and receive this word from the God of Israel: “Learn not the way of the heathen, do not approve of it, no, nor think indifferently concerning it, much less imitate it or accustom yourselves to it. Let not any of their customs steal in among you (as they are apt to do insensibly) nor mingle themselves with your religion.” Note, It ill becomes those that are taught of God to learn the way of the heathen, and to think of worshipping the true God with such rites and ceremonies as they used in the worship of their false gods. See Deut. xii. 29-31. It was the way of the heathen to worship the host of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars; to them they gave divine honours, and from them they expected divine favours, and therefore, according as the signs of heaven were, whether they were auspicious or ominous, they thought themselves countenanced or discountenanced by their deities, which made them observe those signs, the eclipses of the sun and moon, the conjunctions and oppositions of the planets, and all the unusual phenomena of the celestial globe, with a great deal of anxiety and trembling. Business was stopped if any thing occurred that was thought to bode ill; if it did but thunder on their left hand, they were almost as if they had been thunderstruck. Now God would not have his people to be dismayed at the signs of heaven, to reverence the stars as deities, nor to frighten themselves with any prognostications grounded upon them. Let them fear the God of heaven, and keep up a reverence of his providence, and then they need not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the stars in their courses fight not against any that are at peace with God. The heathen are dismayed at these signs, for they know no better; but let not the house of Israel, that are taught of God, be so.

II. Divers good reasons given to enforce this charge.

1. The way of the heathen is very ridiculous and absurd, and is condemned even by the dictates of right reason, v. 3. The statutes and ordinances of the heathen are vanity itself; they cannot stand the test of a rational disquisition. This is again and again insisted upon here, as it was by Isaiah. The Chaldeans valued themselves upon their wisdom, in which they thought that they excelled all their neighbours; but the prophet here shows that they, and all others that worshipped idols and expected help and relief from them, were brutish and sottish, and had not common sense. (1.) Consider what the idol is that is worshipped. It was a tree cut out of the forest originally. It was fitted up by the hands of the workman, squared, and sawed, and worked into shape; see Isa. xliv. 12, c. But, after all, it was but the stock of a tree, fitter to make a gate-post of than any thing else. But, to hide the wood, they deck it with silver and gold, they gild or lacquer it, or they deck it with gold and silver lace, or cloth of tissue. They fasten it to its place, which they themselves have assigned it, with nails and hammers, that it fall not, nor be thrown down, nor stolen away, &lti>v. 4. The image is made straight enough, and it cannot be denied but that the workman did his part, for it is upright as the palm-tree (v. 5); it looks stately, and stands up as if it were going to speak to you, but it cannot speak; it is a poor dumb creature; nor can it take one step towards your relief. If there be any occasion for it to shift its place, it must be carried in procession, for it cannot go. Very fitly does the admonition come in here, “Be not afraid of them, any more than of the signs of heaven; be not afraid of incurring their displeasure, for they can do no evil; be not afraid of forfeiting their favour, for neither is it in them to do good. If you think to mend the matter by mending the materials of which the idol is made, you deceive yourselves. Idols of gold and silver are an unworthy to be worshipped as wooden gods. The stock is a doctrine of vanities, v. 8. It teaches lies, teaches lies concerning God. It is an instruction of vanities; it is wood.” It is probable that the idols of gold and silver had wood underneath for the substratum, and then silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, imported from beyond sea, and gold from Uphaz, or Phaz, which is sometimes rendered the fine or pure gold, Ps. xxi. 3. A great deal of art is used, and pains taken, about it. They are not such ordinary mechanics that are employed about these as about the wooden gods, v. 3. These are cunning men; it is the work of the workman; the graver must do his part when it has passed through the hands of the founder. Those were but decked here and there with silver and gold; these are silver and gold all over. And, that these gods might be reverenced as kings, blue and purple are their clothing, the colour of royal robes (v. 9), which amuses ignorant worshippers, but makes the matter no better. For what is the idol when it is made and when they have made the best they can of it? He tells us (v. 14): They are falsehood; they are not what they pretend to be, but a great cheat put upon the world. They are worshipped as the gods that give us breath and life and sense, whereas they are lifeless senseless things themselves, and there is no breath in them; there is no spirit in them (so the word is); they are not animated, or inhabited, as they are supposed to be, by any divine spirit or numen–divinity. They are so far from being gods that they have not so much as the spirit of a beast that goes downward. They are vanity, and the work of errors, v. 15. Enquire into the use of them and you will find they are vanity; they are good for nothing; no help is to be expected from them nor any confidence put in them. They are a deceitful work, works of illusions, or mere mockeries; so some read the following clause. They delude those that put their trust in them, make fools of them, or, rather, they make fools of themselves. Enquire into the use of them and you will find they are the work of errors, grounded upon the grossest mistakes that ever men who pretended to reason were guilty of. They are the creatures of a deluded fancy; and the errors by which they were produced they propagate among their worshippers. (2.) Infer hence what the idolaters are that worship these idols. (v. 8): They are altogether brutish and foolish. Those that make them are like unto them, senseless and stupid, and there is no spirit in them–no use of reason, else they would never stoop to them, v. 14. Every man that makes or worships idols has become brutish in his knowledge, that is, brutish for want of knowledge, or brutish in that very thing which one would think they should be fully acquainted with; compare Jude 10, What they know naturally, what they cannot but know by the light of nature, in those things as brute beasts they corrupt themselves. Though in the works of creation they cannot but see the eternal power and godhead of the Creator, yet they have become vain in their imaginations, not liking to retain God in their knowledge. See Rom 1:21; Rom 1:28. Nay, whereas they thought it a piece of wisdom thus to multiply gods, it really was the greatest folly they could be guilty of. The world by wisdom knew not God,1Co 1:21; Rom 1:22. Every founder is himself confounded by the graven image; when he has made it by a mistake he is more and more confirmed in his mistake by it; he is bewildered, bewitched, and cannot disentangle himself from the snare; or it is what he will one time or other be ashamed of.

2. The God of Israel is the one only living and true God, and those that have him for their God need not make their application to any other; nay, to set up any other in competition with him is the greatest affront and injury that can be done him. Let the house of Israel cleave to the God of Israel and serve and worship him only, for,

(1.) He is a non-such. Whatever men may set in competition with him, there is none to be compared with him. The prophet turns from speaking with the utmost disdain of the idols of the heathen (as well he might) to speak with the most profound and awful reverence of the God of Israel (Jer 10:6; Jer 10:7): “Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord! none of all the heroes which the heathen have deified and make such ado about,” the dead men of whom they made dead images, and whom they worshipped. “Some were deified and adored for their wisdom; but, among all the wise men of the nations, the greatest philosophers or statesmen, as Apollo or Hermes, there is none like thee. Others were deified and adored for their dominion; but, in all their royalty” (so it may be read), “among all their kings, as Saturn and Jupiter, there is none like unto thee.” What is the glory of a man that invented a useful art or founded a flourishing kingdom (and these were grounds sufficient among the heathen to entitle a man to an apotheosis) compared with the glory of him that is the Creator of the world and that forms the spirit of man within him? What is the glory of the greatest prince or potentate, compared with the glory of him whose kingdom rules over all? He acknowledges (v. 6), O Lord! thou art great, infinite and immense, and thy name is great in might; thou hast all power, and art known to have it. Men’s name is often beyond their might; they are thought to be greater than they are; but God’s name is great, and no greater than he really is. And therefore who would not fear thee, O King of nations? Who would not choose to worship such a God as this, that can do every thing, rather than such dead idols as the heathen worship, that can do nothing? Who would not be afraid of offending or forsaking a God whose name is so great in might? Which of all the nations, if they understood their interests aright, would not fear him who is the King of nations? Note, There is an admirable decency and congruity in the worshipping of God only. It is fit that he who is God alone should alone be served, that he who is Lord of all should be served by all, that he who is great should be greatly feared and greatly praised.

(2.) His verity is as evident as the idol’s vanity, v. 10. They are the work of men’s hands, and therefore nothing is more plain than that it is a jest to worship them, if that may be called a jest which is so great an indignity to him that made us: But the Lord is the true God, the God of truth; he is God in truth. God Jehovah is truth; he is not a counterfeit and pretender, as they are, but is really what he has revealed himself to be; he is one we may depend upon, in whom and by whom we cannot be deceived. [1.] Look upon him as he is in himself, and he is the living God. He is life itself, has life in himself, and is the fountain of life to all the creatures. The gods of the heathen are dead things, worthless and useless, but ours is a living God, and hath immortality. [2.] Look upon him with relation to his creatures, he is a King, and absolute monarch, over them all, is their owner and ruler, has an incontestable right both to command them and dispose of them. As a king, he protects the creatures, provides for their welfare, and preserves peace among them. He is an everlasting king. The counsels of his kingdom were from everlasting and the continuance of it will be to everlasting. He is a King of eternity. The idols whom they call their kings are but of yesterday, and will soon be abolished; and the kings of the earth, that set them up to be worshipped, will themselves be in the dust shortly; but the Lord shall reign for ever, thy God, O Zion! unto all generations.

(3.) None knows the power of his anger. Let us stand in awe, and not dare to provoke him by giving that glory to another which is due to him alone; for at his wrath the earth shall tremble, even the strongest and stoutest of the kings of the earth; nay, the earth, firmly as it is fixed, when he pleases is made to quake and the rocks to tremble, Psa 104:32; Hab 3:6; Hab 3:10. Though the nations should join together to contend with him, and unite their force, yet they would be found utterly unable not only to resist, but even to abide his indignation. Not only can they not make head against it, for it would overcome them, but they cannot bear up under it, for it would overload them, Psa 76:7; Psa 76:8; Nah 1:6.

(4.) He is the God of nature, the fountain of all being; and all the powers of nature are at his command and disposal, Jer 10:12; Jer 10:13. The God we worship is he that made the heavens and the earth, and has a sovereign dominion over both; so that his invisible things are manifested and proved in the things that are seen. [1.] If we look back, we find that the whole world owed its origin to him as its first cause. It was a common saying even among the Greeks–He that sets up to be another god ought first to make another world. While the heathen worship gods that they made, we worship the God that made us and all things. First, The earth is a body of vast bulk, has valuable treasures in its bowels and more valuable fruit on its surface. It and them he has made by his power; and it is by no less than an infinite power that it hangs upon nothing, as it does (Job xxvi. 7)– ponderibus librata suis–poised by its own weight. Secondly, The world, the habitable part of the earth, is admirably fitted for the use and service of man, and he hath established it so by his wisdom, so that it continues serviceable in constant changes and yet a continual stability from one generation to another. Therefore both the earth and the world are his, Ps. xxiv. 1. Thirdly, The heavens are wonderfully stretched out to an incredible extent, and it is by his discretion that they are so, and that the motions of the heavenly bodies are directed for the benefit of this lower world. These declare his glory (Ps. xix. 1), and oblige us to declare it, and not give that glory to the heavens which is due to him that made them. [2.] If we look up, we see his providence to be a continued creation (v. 13): When he uttereth his voice (gives the word of command) there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, which are poured out on the earth, whether for judgment or mercy, as he intends them. When he utters his voice in the thunder, immediately there follow thunder-showers, in which there are a multitude of waters; and those come with a noise, as the margin reads it; and we read of the noise of abundance of rain, 1 Kings xviii. 41. Nay, there are wonders done daily in the kingdom of nature without noise: He causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth, from all parts of the earth, even the most remote, and chiefly those that lie next the sea. All the earth pays the tribute of vapours, because all the earth receives the blessing of rain. And thus the moisture in the universe, like the money in a kingdom and the blood in the body, is continually circulating for the good of the whole. Those vapours produce wonders, for of them are formed lightnings for the rain, and the winds which God from time to time brings forth out of his treasures, as there is occasion for them, directing them all in such measure and for such use as he thinks fit, as payments are made out of the treasury. All the meteors are so ready to serve God’s purposes that he seems to have treasures of them, that cannot be exhausted and may at any time be drawn from, Ps. cxxxv. 7. God glories in the treasures he has of these, Job 38:22; Job 38:23. This God can do; but which of the idols of the heathen can do the like? Note, There is no sort of weather but what furnishes us with a proof and instance of the wisdom and power of the great Creator.

(5.) This God is Israel’s God in covenant, and the felicity of every Israelite indeed. Therefore let the house of Israel cleave to him, and not forsake him to embrace idols; for, if they do, they certainly change for the worse, for (v. 16) the portion of Jacob is not like them; their rock is not as our rock (Deut. xxxii. 31), nor ours like their mole-hills. Note, [1.] Those that have the Lord for their God have a full and complete happiness in him. The God of Jacob is the portion of Jacob; he is his all, and in him he has enough and needs no more in this world nor the other. In him we have a worthy portion, Ps. xvi. 5. [2.] If we have entire satisfaction and complacency in God as our portion, he will have a gracious delight in us as his people, whom he owns as the rod of his inheritance, his possession and treasure, with whom he dwells and by whom he is served and honoured. [3.] It is the unspeakable comfort of all the Lord’s people that he who is their God is the former of all things, and therefore is able to do all that for them, and give all that to them, which they stand in need of. Their help stands in his name who made heaven and earth. And he is the Lord of hosts, of all the hosts in heaven and earth, has them all at his command, and will command them into the service of his people when there is occasion. This is the name by which they know him, which they first give him the glory of and then take to themselves the comfort of. [4.] Herein God’s people are happy above all other people, happy indeed, bona si sua norint–did they but know their blessedness. The gods which the heathen pride, and please, and so portion themselves in, are vanity and a lie; but the portion of Jacob is not like them.

3. The prophet, having thus compared the gods of the heathen with the God of Israel (between whom there is no comparison), reads the doom, the certain doom, of all those pretenders, and directs the Jews, in God’s name, to read it to the worshippers of idols, though they were their lords and masters (v. 11): Thus shall you say unto them (and the God you serve will bear you out in saying it), The gods which have not made the heavens and the earth (and therefore are no gods, but usurpers of the honour due to him only who did make heaven and earth) shall perish, perish of course, because they are vanity–perish by his righteous sentence, because they are rivals with him. As gods they shall perish from off the earth (even all those things on earth beneath which they make gods of) and from under these heavens, even all those things in the firmament of heaven, under the highest heavens, which are deified, according to the distribution in the second commandment. These words in the original are not in the Hebrew, like all the rest, but in the Chaldee dialect, that the Jews in captivity might have this ready to say to the Chaldeans in their own language when they tempted them to idolatry: “Do you press us to worship your gods? We will never do that; for,” (1.) “They are counterfeit deities; they are no gods, for they have not made the heavens and the earth, and therefore are not entitled to our homage, nor are we indebted to them either for the products of the earth or the influences of heaven, as we are to the God of Israel.” The primitive Christians would say, when they were urged to worship such a god, Let him make a world and he shall be my god. While we have him to worship who made heaven and earth, it is very absurd to worship any other. (2.) “They are condemned deities. They shall perish; the time shall come when they shall be no more respected as they are now, but shall be buried in oblivion, and they and their worshippers shall sink together. The earth shall no longer bear them; the heavens shall no longer cover them; but both shall abandon them.” It is repeated (v. 15), In the time of their visitation they shall perish. When God comes to reckon with idolaters he will make them weary of their idols, and glad to be rid of them. They shall cast them to the moles and to the bats, Isa. ii. 20. Whatever runs against God and religion will be run down at last.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

JEREMIAH – CHAPTER 10

THE FOLLY OF WORSHIPPING

PORTABLE GODS

Upon his being made acquainted with the long-lost “book of the covenant” discovered in the temple, King Josiah purposed that with all his heart and soul to confirm, or perform, the words of that covenant. He, furthermore, caused his brethren in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand by the covenant that he had made, (2Ki 23:3; 2Ch 34:32). This covenant was made between Josiah and His people in the presence of the book before which they stood in awe. This was followed by renewed, and more drastic measures to suppress idolatry in the land. Outwardly, that campaign appeared to be a success, (2Ch 34:33), but, in reality, idolatry simply went underground for a time.

The prophecies recorded in chapter 10 through 12 correspond to this particular period in the reign of Josiah. While Josiah was attempting to stamp out idolatry, the prophet, Jeremiah, was declaring it to be abominable in the sight of the true and living God, (Jer 10:1-16). He foretells the coming judgment upon that idolatry, (Jer 10:17-25).

Though men sometimes lose consciousness of God, they never lose their sense of NEED for God. For this reason they often attempt to supplant the true God with gods of their own making. This was the story of Judah’s disloyalty and corruption.

THE IMPOTENCE OF IDOLS CONTRASTED WITH THE

POWER OF JEHOVAH (Jer 10:1-16)

Vs. 1-5, 8-9, 14-15: THE IMPOTENCE OF IDOLS

1. The covenant-nation is warned against learning the delusive customs of the heathen, (vs. 1-2; Exo 20:4-6; Exodus 32; Num 25:1-3; Hos 13:4; Isa 40:18-20; Isa 41:5-7; Isa 41:28-29; Isa 44:9-20; Isa 45:16-20; Isa 46:1-7).

2. Their idols are worthless – being cut from a tree, fashioned by craftsmen, decorated by artists and then anchored securely – lest they topple over! (vs. 3b-4, 9).

3. Like “scarecrows in a cucumber garden” (Berkeley), they cannot speak or move, (Isa 41:21-24; Isa 46:6-7); there is no reason to fear them, for they can do no evil – and to do good is beyond their power, (vs. 5; comp. Isa 41:23-24).

4. Idolators are stupid and foolish (Jer 4:22; Jer 5:4; Jer 5:20); no better than the wooden idol itself, the teaching of idolatry is totally destitute of any moral or spiritual power, (vs. 8).

5. How utterly ridiculous that, in the hour of need, one would look expectantly toward a lifeless, mindless, helpless toy of his own making! (Jer 14:22; Jer 2:27-28).

6. A work of false hood, the idol brings shame and delusion; in the day of judgment the workman and his work will perish together, (vs. 14,15; Jer 8:12; Jer 51:18; Jer 18:15-17).

Vs. 6-7, 10-13, 16: THE FAITHFULLNESS AND POWER OF JEHOVAH

1. By way of contrast with idols, whose position and authority are derived solely from human imputation, Jehovah is incomparably great (Deu 33:26-29; Jer 32:17-19; Psa 48:1; Psa 96:4) – being sovereign over ALL nations (Psa 22:27-28).

2. He is the true and living God – an everlasting king, whom all men should fear, (vs. 7a; 10a; Isa 65:15-16; Jer 4:1-2; Psa 86:8-10; Psa 10:16; Psa 29:10-11).

3. The earth will tremble when His wrath is kindled, (see note of Jer 4:24. comp. Jer 50:46); nor will the nations be able to stand in the presence of His indignation, (vs. 10b; Psa 76:7; Psa 130:3; Nah 1:6; Mal 3:2-6).

4 Every god that has not created the heavens and the earth will perish from under the heavens, (vs. 11; Psa 96:4-6; Isa 2:18; Zep 2:11).

5. Jehovah is God; the Designer and Creator of ALL, He rules overall! (Jer 51:15-19; Isa 45:18).

a. The heavens and the earth are the works of His hands -manifesting His supreme wisdom and sovereign power, (Psa 19:1-4).

b. The elements are all under His control – obeying His voice, (vs. 13).

c. And He is the Maker of man who,. refusing Him, tinkers with a tree to make a lifeless god of silver and gold, purple and blue before which he will foolishly do obeisance!

6. Jehovah is the portion of Jacob (Jer 51:19; Psa 73:26; comp. Psa 16:5) – if the nation will but TURN and RECEIVE Him; Jacob is the tribe of His inheritance, (Deu 32:9).

7. Though the nation has long rejected Him, He is still faithful to His covenant.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Jeremiah enters here on a new subject. Though he had, no doubt, taught this truth often, yet I consider it as distinct from what has gone before; for he begins here a new attack on those superstitions to which the Jews were then extremely addicted. He exhorts them first to hear the word of Jehovah; for they had so hardened themselves in the errors which they had derived from the Gentiles, and the contagion had so prevailed, that they could not be easily drawn away from them. This, then, is the reason why he used a sort of preface, and said, Hear ye the word of Jehovah, which he speaks to you, O house of Israel (1)
He then mentions the error in which the Chaldeans and the Egyptians were involved; for they were, we know, very attentive observers of the stars. And this is expressly stated, because the Jews despised God’s judgments, and greatly feared what were foolishly divined. For when any one, by looking at the stars, threatened them with some calamity, they were immediately terrified; but when God denounced on them, as with the sound of a trumpet, a calamity by his Prophets, they were not at all moved. But it will be better to examine the very words of the Prophet, as then we shall more plainly see the drift of the whole.
(1) Here the preceding lecture ends in the original; but in order to keep the chapters distinct, this section has been transferred to the present lecture. A similar arrangement is adopted as to the last lecture in this volume. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.1. Chronology of the chapter. Section 116 has been declared spurious (by De Wette, Movers, and Hitzig), its authenticity disputed, a late interpolation by either the pseudo-Isaiah (Movers) or by a Babylonian exile. Even Naegelsbach affirms, Who was the author, and when and by whom the section was written, cannot be ascertained. Two difficulties lead to this severance of the section from the book: 1. The continuity of thought is abruptly broken by these verses; 2. The topics treated therein belong to the time of the exile. Graf, Keil, Henderson, and Speakers Com. contend for the genuineness and authenticity of the section; and affirm that Jeremiah here views his people proleptically as in captivity, that he addresses them in exile, and places himself among them merely for the sake of argument (Hend.); that the train of thought in these sixteen verses is but an enlargement of the truth in Jer. 9:23-24, and that the fragmentary disconnected form of this chapter is, probably, owing to the fact that only portions of the concluding part of Jeremiahs temple sermon were embodied in Baruchs roll (Speakers Com.). Thus Dr. Payne Smith and Keil date this chapter as synchronous with chap. 9, a part of the same discourse. Henderson isolates the chapter, but suggests no date. Dr. Dahler supposes it to be a separate discourse, delivered in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, after the first capture by Nebuchadnezzar, when the chiefs among the Jews were borne into BabylonB.C. 605; Assyrian chronology, B.C. 586. This seems satisfactory: so we may venture with Bagster to separate this chapter from the foregoing by an interval of three years. The section 1725 is by some referred to the eleventh year of Jehoiakim, the year of the kings death at the hand of the Chaldean monarch, Nebuchadnezzar.
2. National History; see chap. 7, in loc. Judahs experience of captivity began in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when Nebuchadnezzar, acting as Nabopolassars lieutenant, besieged Jerusalem, and carried away, together with the spoils of the Temple, the youths of highest rank in the land, the principal persons in dignity, 3000 in number (Josephus), among whom were Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednegocousins of Jehoiakim. A mournful event; for in their loss the nation was deprived of well-nigh all the persons of piety and virtue whose influence in court tended to restrain the reckless, godless king, and to befriend Jeremiah in his sacred ministry of witness for righteousness and Jehovah. The solitary flower was plucked; the hope of Judah was now gone.
3. Contemporary History. Egypt retained international supremacy, and Judah was a vassal kingdom under Necho, until the fourth year of Jehoiakim. In that year Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Charchemish, and Judea, wrested from the Egyptian empire, became subject to the now Babylonian domination.
4. Geographical References. Jer. 10:9. Tarshish, probably Tarsessus, in south of Spain, emporium of the Phnicians, and mart for trade (cf. Eze. 27:12). Heereen says that Spain was once the richest country in the world for silver, and that the silver mountains were in those parts which the Phnicians comprised under the name of Tarsessus or Tarshish. Uphaz, thought to mean Ophir. Henderson suggests that a copyist may have changed the original word , Ophir, into , Uphaz. But Dr. Payne Smith contends that the word is not to be regarded as an error for Ophir upon the authority of the Syriac; probably Uphaz was a place in the neighbourhood of the river Hyphasis, the Sanscrit name for which is Vip.
5. Natural History. Jer. 10:2. The signs of heaven, Chaldean astrology, which professedly gathered from the position of stars and celestial signs predictions as to the career and destinies of nations and individuals. Jer. 10:5. Palm-tree, formerly abundant in Judea (re-Jericho, Deu. 34:3); grew to great height, often 60 to 100 feet; always upright; winde had no power over its erect growth; threw out from its crown feathery leaves, each from 4 to 8 feet long, and from 40 to 80 in number; it lives about 200 years; yields dates. Jer. 10:9. Blue and purple. Both colours were purple, but the blue had a dark violet tinge, the purple a light reddish hue; both were obtained from a secretion of shell-fish found on the shores of the Mediterranean. Jer. 10:22. Den of dragons. See on Jer. 9:11.
6. Manners and Customs. Jer. 10:2. Dismayed at signs of heaven heathen are dismayed at them. Astrologers read the startling celestial phenomena, eclipses, comets, meteors, unusual conjunctions of the stars, as precursors of nearing calamities, and used them for working upon the superstitious fears of the people. Jer. 10:9. Silver spread into plates. Silver is so malleable that it may be beaten out into 100,000th part of an inch thick; gold into 200,000th part of an inch. Images for idolatrous worship were overlaid with the precious metal (Hab. 2:19). These plates brought from Tarshish were like those on which the sacred books of the Singhalese are written to this day (Dr. W. Smith). Blue and purple is their clothing. Robes of these colours were worn by kings (Jdg. 8:26; Mat. 27:28), by the highest civil and religious officers, and by the wealthy and luxurious (Luk. 16:19). Jer. 10:20. Tabernacle is spoiled, cords broken. Tents were still largely in use, emphatically so in the pastoral districts, where the nomadic life was retained.
7. Literary Criticisms. Jer. 10:2. Dismayed at signs of heaven. The verb expresses apprehension, dread; not homage. Jer. 10:6. There is none like unto Thee, i.e., no one, a double negative, intensifying the denial; , no nothing; the strongest form of negation. Jer. 10:7. To Thee doth it appertain; , from , to be beautiful, decorous, suitable. Unto Thee is it (fear) due (Naeg.). Jer. 10:8. The stock is a doctrine of vanities, i.e., their doctrine, that in which they are taught to trust, is wood. Keil: The teaching of the vanities is wood. Speakers Com.: The instruction of idols is a piece of wood. Lange: Vain instruction? It is wood! Noyes: Most vain is their confidence; it is wood. Blayney: The very wood itself being a rebuker of vanities. Henderson: The tree itself is a reproof of vanities. Ewald. The wood is more vain teaching. Jer. 10:10. The true God. , truth, in contrast with , vanity (Jer. 10:3). Jehovah, God in truth. Jer. 10:11. Thus shall ye say, &c. This verse is in Chaldee, on which account some critics reject it as a gloss (Venema, Ewald, Henderson); but Seb. Schmidt suggests that Jeremiah gave to the Jews this retort to the Chaldeans, for use when exiled and taunted in ChaldeaUt Judaeis suggerat, quomodo Chaldaeis (ad quos non nisi Chaldaice loqui poterant) paucis verbis respondendum sit. Dr. Payne Smith thinks the verse a proverbial saying, which Jeremiah inserts in its popular form. Jer. 10:14. Every man is brutish in his knowledge, i.e., without knowledge every man is brutish (Keil. Henderson, Lange); or, as others render the words, every man is rendered brutish by his skill, i.e., in idol-making (Jamieson, Fausset, &c.). Jer. 10:15. The work of errors, i.e., of mockeries; the idols themselves deserving only derision and contempt, or inflicting on their worshippers only delusion and ridicule. Jer. 10:17. Thy wares, i.e., thy bundle, packages; not goods for trading, but articles for use. Inhabitant of the fortress, inhabitress of the siege. Jer. 10:18. That they may find it so. Find what? The Syriac upplies the word, Methat they may find Me. But the Targum renders the word find, feelI will distress them with the rigours of a siege that they may feel it. (So Hitz, Umbr., Naeg., Hend.).
HOMILETIC TREATMENT OF SECTIONS OF CHAPTER 10
Section
Jer. 10:1-16.
Jehovah, the true and eternal God, contrasted with idols.
Section
Jer. 10:17-25.
Judahs mournful distress; prayer for Jehovahs mitigating mercy.
Section 117.JEHOVAH, THE TRUE AND ETERNAL GOD, CONTRASTED WITH IDOLS
This appeal, addressed to house of Israel, the whole covenant race. It may, however, be (as in chap. Jer. 3:12) a distinct address to the then scattered Israelites, in exile already among the heathen; or an inclusive appeal to the entire nation; Judah soon to go into exile, and Israel already there.
I. Superstitions and idolatries censured and contemned. Learn not the way of the heathen (Jer. 10:3); for the customs of the people are vain (Jer. 10:3).
1. The casuistries of astrology censured (Jer. 10:2). The creation of the heavens is Jehovahs handiwork (Jer. 10:12), and His signs there must not be regarded superstitiously, nor be associated with false deities, as is the way of the heathen; but be regarded with intelligent admiration, with adoring homage of Him whose glory and goodness they reveal. (Addenda on Jer. 10:2. Signs of heaven.)
2. The vanities of idolatry contemned. Observe (1.) how these idols originate (Jer. 10:3-4); (2.) how senseless and helpless they are when made (Jer. 10:4-5); (3.) how little power they possess over men, either for evil or good (Jer. 10:5); (4.) how ridiculous (Jer. 10:8) they are, notwithstanding their gorgeous decoration (Jer. 10:9); (5.) how certainly they who make and trust in them will be put to derision (Jer. 10:14); (6.) how prophecy foredooms them all (Jer. 10:11; Jer. 10:15).
II. Sublime representations of Jehovahs glory and Israels resources in Him. Who would not fear Thee, O King of nations? (Jer. 10:7).
1. The majesty of Jehovahs attributes. (1.) His incomparable greatness appeals to universal reverence (Jer. 10:6-7). (2.) His eternal glory and sway admonish those who provoke Him (Jer. 10:10). (3.) All creation asserts His grandeur and illustrates His power (Jer. 10:12-13). Thus He is God of the nations (Jer. 10:7), and men of every nationality and in every land should own and revere Him. Moreover, false deities shall perish (Jer. 10:11), but Jehovah ever liveth, the true and living God, the everlasting King (Jer. 10:10); hence there is no hope of evading Him. Yea, and the wide universe testifies of Him (Jer. 10:12-13), therefore He everywhere commands mans recognition, even as everywhere He extends to man His providential care. (Addenda on Jer. 10:6; Jer. 10:10.)
2. The grandeur of Israels heritage in God. To His chosen people the double blessing avails: (1.) God is their portion (Jer. 10:16); the portion of Jacob is the Former of all things. What wealth, therefore, they have in Jehovah? My God shall supply all need according to His riches in glory. (2.) Israel is Gods inheritance, chosen by Him as His peculiar treasure; therefore, all things were theirscovenants, promises, adoption! What could they want with other and vain gods, having Him who was the Creator and Governor of the universe as their own God, who claimed and loved them as the rod of His inheritance? Had they been satisfied with God, He would have satisfied their souls with His infinite fulness.
Section 1725. JUDAHS MOURNFUL DISTRESS: PRAYER FOR JEHOVAHS MITIGATING MERCY
It would soon be Judahs melancholy fate to go after Israel into captivity and degradation. Gather up thy wares out of the land (Jer. 10:17). This had become a stern necessity in consequence of Judahs spiritual revolt, and God Himself would secure its accomplishment: Behold I will sling out the inhabitants, &c. (Jer. 10:18).
I. The anguish of exiled Judah. Woe is me for my hurt, &c. (Jer. 10:19). Language either of pathetic bemoaning or of sullen repining. Suggests 1. Terrified realisation of punishment: Woe is me! She had looked for peace, thought to sin on with impunity, dreamed not that sudden destruction would come, imagined herself secure in her ungodliness; but behold bitterness! Note the aspect of her suffering: hurt something real, injurious, painful; not a mere terror, but a keen pang. Such are Gods chastisements and punishments. 2. Poignant experience of distress: wound grievous. And a grievous wound is both a pain and a peril, dreadful to bear and threatening fatal issues. 3. Sullen submission to calamity: But I said, when about to lament my lot, what good will come of making ado? Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it! Stoical hardness: I cannot remedy it, so I must bear it. Fretting will not alleviate it, so I will keep silence! How different this from penitence for the cause of the misery, and patient submission to consequences, which find solemn expression in, It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him good! 4. Hopeless reconciliation to misery: I must bear it! Not, Come and let us return to the Lord, for He hath smitten and He will heal us! She will not seek Divine healing for her wounds (chap. Jer. 8:21-22), therefore she sees no hope in her anguish; for being without God, she is without hope in the world.
II. The devastations of the Holy Land. The figure, tabernacle (Jer. 10:20), suggests the idea of (1.) weakness and insecurity; for though the Jews prided themselves in Jerusalem as a strong and fortified city, it would prove as defenceless as a tent. The tabernacle spoiled and cords broken suggest (2.) the total dissolution and destruction of the Jewish state: the government had broken up, the nationality had collapsed. Thus the lament declares, 1. The overthrow of the theocracy: Tabernacle spoiled. 2. The banishment of the people: Children gone forth, &c., either exiled or slain: they are not. 3. The rulers are defeated: pastors become brutish; not prosper; flocks scattered (Jer. 10:21); they were impotent to repair the ruined state: the explanation being, they have not sought the Lord; they ignored the fact that His hand was in this overthrow, and hence they ignored the fact that to Him must they look for deliverance and redress. 4. The enemy was triumphant: To make the cities desolate, a den of dragons (Jer. 10:22): the Chaldean avarice would spare nothing. What direful ravages follow in the train of sin!
III. The prayer for Jehovahs intervention. Though the suffering nation repudiated God, there was one intercessorJeremiahwho cried to Jehovah for mercy. Yes; and though the world ignores God now, still there in One Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus; whose pleading voice goes up even for the fruitless thingLet be this year also? Preaching had done little good, so the prophet turns to prayer. Words addressed to God may be powerful when words addressed to men are powerless. He will hear though they forbear. 1. Acknowledgment of Gods supreme providence. Mans designs are subordinate to Gods purposes (Jer. 10:23). We cannot have everything according to our own mind, and here Jeremiah surrendered his desires to Gods will; he will not ask God to do other than He deems best, sad though he is for his nations nearing ruin. Yet also the prophet seems to imply that the army of Nebuchadnezzar will not be allowed by God to do other than as He wills: enemies are not unrestrained; God worketh according to His will among armies and over men. 2. Appeal to Divine pitifulness. The prophet identifies himself with his nation, and entreats that the necessary punishment may be mercifully tempered and restrained. We deserve correction, need chastisement, but could not survive anger. 3. Imprecation of Gods wrath upon Judahs oppressors; for the Chaldeans, though used by God, were malevolent, implacable, and impious, and merited punishment even while carrying out Gods designs. God may permit oppression of His people, may even use it to chasten them; but oppressors, who deny God and work malicious projects, shall in their turn feel the crushing rebukes of a mightier Power (Psa. 75:8).
HOMILIES AND COMMENTS ON SUCCESSIVE VERSES OF CHAPTER 10
Jer. 10:2. Theme: INFLEXIBLE GODLINESS. Learn not the way of the heathen.
Cast among the heathen by exile, Israel was not to accommodate herself to the religious or irreligious aspects which there environed her.
The way means either their mode of life or their customs in worship. The phrase is used in the New Testament as descriptive of the Christian discipleship. comp. Act. 9:2; Act. 19:9.
Suggested that
I. Concession to the order of things surrounding us is a specious temptation. Among the heathen do as they do. 1. Convenient: for saves us from the annoyances which self-assertion and individuality provoke. 2. Advantageous: for it appeases and gratifies others, and lays some worldly gains within our reach. 3. Pleasant: there is a novelty and a relaxation and an enjoyment in this self-adaptation; good for us to bend a little.
II. Conformity to the dominant religion is not to be our ruling habit. It may be needful to stand apart from the way which the state supports and wealth fosters. Do not learn it even: have nought to do with it. There are different forms of religion abroad; and more, there are antagonistic forms of religion. Are we to conform to any way which favour and fortune patronises simply because in that locality or country we find it dominant? 1. Religion asks unswerving allegiance of the soul. If we are unstable, Gods covenant and promises will not stand good for us. 2. God asks us to witness for Him against false religious in irreligious scenes and in irreligious times. The dominant religion may be plausible, it may be imperious; but whether baited with seductions, or armed with persecutions, if it be not right, refuse compliance. Learn not the way.
III. Fidelity to conscience and to God must be uncompromising. In all scenes, under all circumstances, at all times. A pliant godliness is: 1. Cowardly: contrast with it Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 2. Contemptible: the man of God sinks down into a mere time-serving hypocrite. 3. Condemned: for it not only degrades the man himself, and dishonours God, for hom he should be valiant and bold, but it denies to Jehovah His due; for He has rights in His people; they are not their own, but bought with a price, and hence should glorify Him in body and spirit, which are His; and His people owe obligations to Him in return for the revelation and the grace He has bestowed on them. Hide not light under bushel; Even in Sardis defile not your garments; Have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. (Comp. 2Co. 6:14-18.)
Illustrations of unyielding constancy: Moses refused to be called son of Pharaohs daughter, and joined himself valiantly with the despised Hebrews. Daniel, who prayed, despite the royal edict. Our Lord Himself, who repudiated the religious habits and ideas which prevailed. Paul, who approved himself to God in much patience, in affliction, in distress, in stripes, &c. (2Co. 6:4, sq.). Indeed, godliness has produced martyrs in every age whose sole crime, civil or ecclesiastical, was, that they would not learn the way which those in power would have enforced. (Comp. Heb. 11:32. sq.) Quit you like men, be strong!
Jer. 10:2. Theme: SUPERSTITIOUS TERROR AT THE MARVELS OF NATURE:
Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven.
Eichorn supposes a reference to some astronomical portent which was then causing dismay. Hitzig thinks these signs were some alarming celestial appearances intended as heralds of impending judgment. Naegelsbach, however, believes the reference to the permanent constellations and usual signs of the firmament; nothing extraordinary or portentous. But Kiel and Dr. P. Smith well argue that the word dismay suggests, not adoration such as the heathen might yield to ordinary celestial appearances, but alarm and consternation, consequent upon some unwonted phenomena.
Before such signs, wonder but not worship; admire the heavens, but do not adore; ponder them intelligently, but do not prostrate yourself before them idolatrously.
I. Ignorance and idolatry are alike in this: they fall into superstitious terror of natural things.
The crude and uninformed mind is startled, bewildered, and appalled by celestial phenomena. Nor by these alone; terrestrial marvels equally awaken superstitious dismay. They drive the ignorant to terror, the idolatrous to worship. Eclipses or earthquakes, comets or tempests, unusual constellations or calamities, fill with consternation. This indicates that:
1. The wonders of nature are very majestic and solemn. Sufficient to impress men everywhere with the supernatural; speaking to them of vast and hidden realities.
2. The benighted mind of man is fruitful of fears. Sees terrors and portents everywhere. And fear hath torment. How much better the perfect love which casteth out fear, which assured reliance on God secures! Religion is the antidote of the miseries of superstition.
II. Sacred enlightenment reveals God as above all natures wonders. The heathen are dismayed; but a people knowing God should not be dismayed. They adored celestial appearances, bowed in terror before natures marvels, because they knew not the Great First Cause. Astrologers taught that events depended on the stars which were possessed with power; and Plato thought them endued with spirit and reason. (Addenda on Jer. 10:2, Signs of heaven.)
1. The benefit of natural knowledge, of physics, science, &c., which reveal to us that nature is not a fitful, capricious omnipotence, but is obedient to law, regulated in all occurrences; that a Supernatural Ruler controls and directs all events.
2. The blessings of sacred revelation, which opens the hidden world to us, makes clear to us this fact that a Father governs the universe, who loves man, who asks mans loving trust, not slavish terror.
3. The joyfulness of spiritual enlightenment, which goes beyond a sacred knowledge, and dwells in personal enjoyment of God; not only as the Lord of the universe, who works all things together for good, but as the Father of Jesus, who claims and cherishes us as His children, which enables us to say,
This awful God is ours!
which sees His love in Christ, and by that light interprets all that occurs.
III. Possession of Gods favour enables man intelligently to enjoy His works. The Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel (Jer. 10:1), Be not dismayed, &c. And theirs were the covenants and promises, &c. They were a people whose God is the Lord.
1. Gods works call forth amazement and admiration, even where intelligence alone is possessed; yet this is not equal to the childlike gladness of the Christian which revels amid the wealth and loveliness of the Fathers house.
2. In Gods works the Christian finds sublime illustrations of God Himself. Scientific men pause at the works; the Christian passes on to the Worker: through nature up to natures God. When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy hands, the moon and stars, which Thou hast ordained, &c. They alone truly enjoy nature who also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:11). What beautiful and inspiring aspects of Gods attributes do the glories of nature supply to us! (Comp. Isa. 40:25-31.)
Jer. 10:3-5. Theme: IDOL MANUFACTURE. (Addenda on Jer. 10:3.)
I. The original materials to which the idol owes its existence. A tree out of the forest (Jer. 10:3). Only like other trees, which still remain trees!
II. The industrious toils to which the idol owes its formation. The work of the workman (Jer. 10:3). Not divine in its structure.
III. The formative instrument to which the idol owes its dignity. The axe. No supernatural appliances or aids came to its help; merely a hatchet.
IV. The process of adornment to which the idol owes its attractiveness. They deck it with silver, &c. (Jer. 10:4).
V. The ingenious arrangement by which the idol is invested with a decent posture. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not (Jer. 10:4).
VI. The clumsy workmanship which denies to the idol becoming stateliness. A god ought to be of fair and graceful form, but it is upright as a palm-tree (Jer. 10:5); stiff, inelegant pillars. Many commentators render the words thus: They are like pillars in a cucumber garden; i.e., the shapeless blocks set up to scare away birds.
VII. The generous attentions to which the idol owes its movements. They must needs be borne, for they cannot go. (Addenda on Jer. 10:5.) So that all an idol is and does, it owes to man! It could not make itself, it cannot help itself.
Hence, 1. How degrading this for a god! 2. How degrading this for a worshipper! Surely (Jer. 10:3. the customs of the people are vain. What need to lead the people to turn from dead idols to serve the living God! For as the idols cannot help themselves, neither can they help their worshippers, unable to speak or stir, to render them any service. Without life or power.
VIII. The natural treatment which the idol merits. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil nor good. (Comp. Isaiah 40, 41, from which doubtless Jeremiah drew his illustrations, he being familiar with Isaiahs writings.)
Jer. 10:6. Comments:
There cannot be two highest Beings, or there would be none. In the idea of the Absolute there is involved that of uniqueness. Polytheism has therefore no highest Being in the absolute sense. Where, however, traces of such are found, polytheism is about either to rise to monotheism or to dissolve into pantheism.Lange. (Addenda on Jer. 10:10.)
None like unto Thee, O Lord; none of all the heroes which the heathen have deified, the dead men of whom they made dead images, and whom they worshipped. Some were deified and adored for their wisdom, but among all the wise men of the nations (Jer. 10:7), the greatest philosophers or statesmen, as Apollo or Hermes, there is none like Thee. Others were deified and adored for their dominion, but in all their royalty (so Jer. 10:7 may read), among all their kings, as Saturn and Jupiter, there is none like unto Thee. What is the glory of a man who invented a useful art or founded a flourishing kingdom, what the glory of the greatest prince or potentate (and on such grounds did the heathen deify men), compared with the glory of the Creator of the world?Henry.
Jer. 10:7. Theme: JEHOVAHS UNCHALLENGEABLE CLAIM ON HUMAN REVERENCE.
To worship any other than Him is an infringement of His inalienable prerogative.
I. The universal scope of Gods dominion. King of nations; not only King of the Jews, nor only King of saints, but all nations are within His domain. Hence, therefore, not Israel alone should yield Him fealty and homage, for the Lord of all should be worshipped and obeyed by all. He reigns over all mankind (Psa. 22:28); all mankind should render loyal reverence to Him. Gods sway is over each, as well as all; over me, as well as over nations; and each must therefore for himself own Him King.
II. The impressive manifestations of Divine power. As King of nations, Gods name is great (Jer. 10:6); it is a lofty and imposing title. Does Jehovah sustain by deeds this universal dominion? Thy name is great in might (Jer. 10:6): the King rules royally as far as His name and domain extend. Name great in might, means displaying itself in acts of might. Great in renown, God justifies His title by manifestations of majesty and power. His footsteps are on every scene, His hand doeth wondrous things in every mans experience and career: Marvellous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. Therefore I should revere Him.
III. The incomparable perfections of God Himself. The possession of glory and power does not always coincide with personal worth and goodness. But with Jehovah, among all the wise men, &c. (Jer. 10:7), none like Thee. Omit men; for wise includes gods also, the authors of heathen oracles. In all their kingdoms, properly, their royalty or kingship, none so royal as Jehovah. (1.) Unapproachable wisdom. (2.) Incomparable royalty. Contrast the wisdom of pagan gods, even their most clever oracles; and what are they when set over against the benignant wisdom of the Creator evident in all His works, and the redeeming wisdom, the wondrous graciousness of Gods plan, shown in the Gospel, in Christ the wisdom of God. Contrast the royal dignity and nobleness of idols with Him whose glory the heavens declare, and whose highest manifestation of glory is in the face of Jesus Christ. How blessed are we, having Him as our Lord and our God!
IV. The solemn appropriateness of human homage. To Thee doth it appertain. (See Crit. Notes, supra.) Fear, i.e. trustful reverence, the lowly homage of love. Not (1.) Terror; that is for the vanquished, for slaves. (2.) Nor worship alone, rendering Him the adoration, devotedness, and love which the eminence of His perfections demands. But (3.) Restful and happy trust; a fear which finds in Him all occasions for our own happiness if we do His will and please Him, yet which recognises His power to consume the disobedientrealising that life and death are with Him. It is a happy fear with those who are hid with Christ in God; but a deep dread of His disfavour if by guilt we incur His frown. (See Jer. 10:10.)
There is an appropriateness and a rightness in our loving reverence of God; it is the dutiful child resting in the Fathers embrace, reverently contemplating His graciousness, and gratefully adoring him in return. (Addenda on Jer. 10:6, None like Thee, O Lord, and Thy Name is great.)
Jer. 10:8-9. Comments:
They are altogether brutish. Brutishness here does not refer to a vicious state, but to the senseless stupidity of savages, who know no better than to adore a tree. Altogether brutish; rather all alike: the wise (Jer. 10:7) and the heathen (Jer. 10:2) equally on a level with brutes. Note that in Daniel and Revelations how often the power which opposes and ignores God is personified in a beast. Man forfeits his dignity, and even his humanity, and sinks to the level of a brute, when he severs himself from God (Psa. 115:8).
Their stock is a doctrine of vanity. (Cf. Lit. Crit., supra.) The idols are vanity; hence, also, their doctrine is vanity. From such senseless gods what could their worshippers learn? Ex nihilo nihil fit. Thus Keil remarks, The heathen, with all their wise men, are brutish, since their gods, from which they should receive instruction, are wood.
Silver spread into plates, &c. (Cf. Geographical References, and Manners and Customs, supra.)
However much the wood (stock) be decked out with silver, gold, and purple raiment, it remains but the product of mens hands; by no such process does the wood become a god.Keil.
Jer. 10:10. Theme: THE ONLY TRUE GOD.
Observe with what unity of assertion the Scriptures, Old and New, affirm this of Jehovah: He is the true God (text); That they might know Thee, the only true God (Joh. 17:3), &c. (Addenda on Jer. 10:10, The true God.)
I. In contrast with the vanity of idols (Jer. 10:3; Jer. 10:8; Jer. 10:15) Jehovah is Truth. Not merely true in word and deed, veracious and faithful, but truth in essence, in Himself, as a quality of His being. And also a God who is no mere imaginary Being, but a sublime reality. God is a FACT. And being real, He is essentially true. And because in Himself true, He will deceive and disappoint none who trust in and seek Him. As He has revealed Himself, so He is; no insincerity in Him, no misrepresentation of Himself. That being so, how cheering to turn to the revelation He has madeto Moses as merciful and gracious, &c., and in Jesus as the Friend and Father of manand to know all this is really so: The Lord is the true God.
II. In contrast with lifeless idols (Jer. 10:5) Jehovah lives. He is the living God. Not a mere impersonal all-pervading Force; not a self-evolving Law; but a BEING. And because He lives, He has life in Himself, underived, and is Himself the Fount of Life, dispensing vitality to humanity. Who only hath immortality. In whom we live, &c. As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given the Son to have life in Himself. In Him was life. Christ is our life.
III. In contrast with the temporary duration of idols and idolatry (Jer. 10:11; Jer. 10:15) Jehovah is eternal. Idols are but of yesterday, and they shall perish; but the Lord is everlasting, and therefore they who are His have an imperishable Hope, a never-failing Refuge, a deathless Friend. And the human soul wants more than the transient. When heart and flesh faileth, God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. Here is the confidence of the righteous: God will never fail them. Here, too, is the terror of the disobedient: they will never evade the everlasting God. The like attribute is assigned to Jesus (Heb. 1:12), and He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
IV. In contrast with the impotence of idols (Jer. 10:5, Cannot go; cannot do evil nor good) God is King. A monarch so mighty that his wrath fills earth with trembling; so terrible that nations fail at His anger. Men do well to fear Him (Jer. 10:7), and by reverent homage to abide in His favour. Alarming as is such a presentation of Gods monarchical majesty, it is only the manifestation suited to defiant sinners. There is a gentler side of the character of God: view it revealed in the Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, and hath declared Him. God is love. (Addenda on Jer. 10:10. The true God.)
Jer. 10:11-13. Theme: AN APPEAL TO GODS WORKS
A challenge seems suggested: judge of the idols by their works. What have they done? (Jer. 10:11, Not made heavens and earth). But estimate Jehovah by His creative power (Jer. 10:12), and by His providential operations in nature (Jer. 10:13). It was in effect the like challenge to that of Elijah, He who answers by fire, let Him be Goddecide by the works. So Jesus asks, Believe Me for the very works sake. It was an old Greek saying, Whoever thinks himself a god besides the One God, let him make another world. (See Psa. 96:5.) Contemplate
I. God as manifested in His original work of creation. Three distinct acts recorded (Jer. 10:12)made, established, stretched out; and three distinct attributes markedpower, wisdom, discretion.
1. Gods formative power: Made the earth by His power. And consider the size, the materials, the wealth and beauty stored within the earth, and the loveliness and variety with which He has clothed it, setting man thereon over the works of His hands. What a conception of God is supplied! What have idols made?
2. Gods ordering and controlling wisdom: Established the world by His wisdom. Separating the waters from the land, regulating the seasons, making the habitable parts suitable for the living creatures and serviceable for man, and, amid all natural changes, securing the world from convulsions which would destroy life from the surface of the world, or overthrow the healthful and happy order which prevails. What have the idols arranged for mans daily good, and enjoyment of unmolested safety in the world?
3. Gods benignant discretion: Stretched out the heavens by His discretion. The heavens are full of proof of intelligent design in themselves, and of gracious consideration for Gods creatures (Gen. 1:18; Jer. 31:35). But the gods have not made the heavens, &c. (Jer. 10:11).
II. God as manifesting Himself in His perpetual work of providence; controlling and caring for the world He made (Jer. 10:13).
1. All parts of the universe yield their stores at His command. The heavens their waters; the ends of the earth their vapours; the chambers of lightning and the caves of the wind their treasures. So that there is no recess of nature, celestial or terrestrial, whereinto His controlling will does not penetrate. Hence Gods providence pervades all scenes, and He has the universe under His control. But idols are fastened with nails (Jer. 10:4) to one spot, and have no power to move from it, nor wield a sceptre over any scene.
2. All forces of nature implicitly obey His bidding. The thunder utters His command: uttereth His voice. The waters in the heavens hear, and accumulate in a multitude. The clouds, vapours, ascend in recognition of His sway, for He causeth them to rise in clouds from the ends of the earth, the seas and rivers responding to His laws. Lightnings are His making, and also rain. And as for the winds, they only escape from their recesses as He bringeth them forth. All forces of nature are within His sway, and they serve His will. (See Psa. 147:8; Psa. 147:15-18). But what resources can idols command?
This is the argument of Natural ReligionGods pervading power and goodness, manifest in His works, and those works manifesting Him to man (Rom. 1:19-20), making an appeal to mans reverence, gratitude, and love (Rom. 1:21; Rom. 2:4).
But what are these utterances in the heavens, and these voiceless wonders of nature, and these startling accompaniments of storms as heralds and witnesses of God, compared with the tenderer and more solemn revelations of Him in Christ? Not in the earthquake, tempest, or fire did Elijah discern God, but in the still small voice. And Gods highest argument, His unchallengeable claim to human reverence and love, bases itself less on the wonders of His works in the world around man than on the wonders of His grace within the human soul. There He asserts His supreme worth to man; it is His undisputed empire, His rightful throne.
Jer. 10:14-15. Theme: REFLEX INFLUENCE OF THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP UPON THE WORSHIPPER.
Text means: His skill in making idols, or his acquaintance with idols, debases and brutalises him, deadens the sensibilities of his nature, and degrades the dignity of his manhood. Thus:
I. Acquaintance with false gods debases men. Knowledge in this region renders men brutish. Such is the universal consequence of idolatry. Heathenism shows how damaging to the finest instincts and noblest virtues of humanity idol-worship becomes. (Addenda on Jer. 10:14.)
This applies not alone to material idols, graven and fashioned by the heathen, but to those heart idols which the irreligious man, and even the worldly Christian man, makes to himself. The thing which he allows to usurp Gods place in his soul, that is his idol, and it will give a tone to his character and career. Worship acts reflectively on the Worshipper.
II. Confidence in false gods deludes men. The founder is confounded by the graven image. Why? His molten image is falsehooda deception, without spirit or breath. Idols are delusions; they fulfil not our hopes; they embitter our hearts by their falsehood. They are themselves vanity (Jer. 10:15). Their creation was a work of errors, a profound and hollow mockery, and covering with ridicule their votaries and worshippers.
God prophesies their doom. In the time of their visitation they shall perish; i.e., when God visits the idol-worshippers, the idols shall be destroyed. It was so when God visited these idolatrous Jews in Babylon; He destroyed their idols by Cyrus. So have they perished everywhere when God has visited the deluded with better knowledge. And as the Gospel spreads, idols shall be cast down, and the enslaved soul find emancipation and illumination in Christ.
Jer. 10:16. Theme: GODS COVENANT HERITAGE IN ISRAEL.
Notwithstanding Israels desertion of Jehovah for idols, observe how they are here spoken of as if still united and inseparable. God continues to be the portion of Jacob, and Israel the inheritance of the Lord. This relationship is not to be easily or lightly severed or ignored. More; as Jehovah is not like idols, so neither is Israel like idolaters; for they have this glorious God as their portiona crowning distinction that!
I. What a lavish estimate God forms of Israels worth.
1. He prized Israel as His peculiar possession; calls them His inheritance, something upon which He sets His heart, cherishes jealously, prizes greatly. (Comp. Eph. 1:17-18, What the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.) It amazes us that God should so value His people.
2. He bestows Himself on Israel in exchange for this inheritance; becomes in return the portion of Jacob. This expresses how highly He esteems His people; He holds back nothing in order to secure their love and allegiance. See this bestowing Himself fully illustrated and enacted in Christ, who loved us, and gave Himself for us.
II. What a glorious supremacy distinguishes Israels God.
1. By emphatic dissimilarity with false gods: Not like them. They are themselves vanity (Jer. 10:15), and they delude their votaries (Jer. 10:14).
2. By the sublimity of His works: The Former of all things. Creation reflects Him; the boundless universe shows who God is.
3. By the dignity of His name: The Lord of Hosts; i.e., the hosts of heaven, the nations of earth (Jer. 10:7). He is The Highest therefore; and the highest is God, God alone.
Israels honour and happiness in possessing the one true God as a portion. With whom should this God be exchanged? The Lord is the true God, living God, everlasting King (Jer. 10:10). What dignity the possession of such a Deity imparts to Israel; what a firm basis for faith is supplied in having such a God as He!
III. What an infinite inheritance Israel has in Jehovah.
1. Consider the resources God has in Himself: He is the Former of all things. The firmament shows His glory, the earth is full of His riches; all these things His hand made. What cannot He do? What is beyond Him? Is there anything He cannot perform or produce, or procure for Israel, if necessity demands it? Yet this outgoing of Power in Creation is less an assurance to us than the outgoing of Love in Redemption; and He that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?
2. Consider the forces God has at His command: The Lord of hosts is His name. (See Psa. 103:19-21.) Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legion of angels (Mat. 26:53). No man can number the hosts of God. In part they were shown to Elishas attendant (2Ki. 6:17); Daniel saw something of the host (Dan. 7:12); the Apocalypse revealed the armies of heaven more fully (Rev. 5:11). And are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Heb. 1:14).
God is Israels treasure, and all His wealth is theirs: we are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. All things are yours, for ye are Christs, and Christ is Gods.
Jer. 10:17-18. Theme: IMMINENT EXILE.
A new section: discourse addressed (not to Israel, as the foregoing, but) to inhabitants of Jerusalem. Be in readiness to start for captivity.
I. The situation of the people. She is an inhabitress of the fortress besieged. The time of this prophecy is probably at the end of Jehoiakims reign. Nebuchadnezzar is at the gates of Jerusalem, the city assailed by Babylonian forces; but a brief interval and the foe will be occupant of the citadel.
II. The issue of the siege. The fortress will be vanquished. The people are urged to use the short opportunity remaining for gathering up their packages ready, thereby making what preparation they can for their migration as captives into the north. All resistance is now impotent.
III. The sentence of Jehovah. I will sling out the inhabitants. Gods hand was in their defeat and misfortunes. It would be effected with violence: sling out, properly hurl out. It would be thorough: at this timehitherto hostile invasions had ended with plundering and imposition of tribute. It would be painful: distress them. It would have a definite purpose: that they may find, i.e., feel, either their sin, or feel after Me. (See Lit. Crit. on verse.)
Jer. 10:19. (See Noticeable Topics.)
Theme: GREAT AFFLICTION AND SORROW OF HEART.
We may learn what it is to bow under the mighty hand of God. It is
i. That a man recognise the suffering as his suffering; i.e., (a.) as that which he has himself prepared; (b.) as that which is right for him, not too heavy and not too light, but exactly corresponding to its beneficent purpose.
ii. That a man accept his suffering willingly; (a.) in patience; (b.) in hope.Lange.
(Addenda on Jer. 10:19. Sore affliction.)
Some make this the lamentation of the prophet for the calamities and desolations of his country. In mournful times it becomes us to be of a mournful spirit: Woe is me! But it may be taken as the language of the people speaking as a single person. Some among them would thus bemoan themselves, and all of them, at last, would be forced to do it.
i. They lament that the affliction is very great, very hard for them to bear it, and more so because they had not been used to trouble, and now did not expect it. Woe is me for my hurt; not for what I fear, but what I feel. Not a slight hurt, but a wound, and a wound that is grievous.
ii. That there is no remedy but patience. They cannot help themselves, but must sit still and abide it. Theirs is the language of sullen rather than of gracious submission. It argues a want of those good thoughts of God which we should have even under our afflictions; saying not, God can do what He wills, but Let Him do as seemeth Him good.M. Henry.
(Addenda on Jer. 10:20.)
Jer. 10:20. Comments:
The Targum paraphrases the verse thus: My land is desolate, and all my cities are plundered; my people are gone into captivity, and are no longer here.
The suffering was unmerited in so far as the prophet and the godly amongst the people were concerned, but it was inevitable that he and they should take it upon their shoulders along with the rest.Graf.
Jerusalem laments that her tent is plundered, the cords which kept it erect rent asunder, and her children carried into exile, and so are notare dead (Mat. 2:18), either absolutely, or dead to her in the remote land of their captivity. They can aid the widowed mother no longer in pitching her tent, or in hanging up the curtains round about it.Speakers Com.
My children are gone forth from me. The jealousy of the Saviour is so strict, that He will have His children directed to Him (Isa. 45:11); and the idea of the pastoral office (see Jer. 10:21) with which some good teachers are infectedof regarding and treating souls as their souls, sheep as their sheep, children as their childrenis in the highest degree opposed to His will. Hence He often, for a just judgment, does not allow their joy in souls to last, but lets them see and conclude more of their decline and less of their success than there really is. For He will not give His glory to another, and the teachers are not Christ, but sent by Him before Him.Zinzendorf.
Jer. 10:21. The pastors are become brutish, &c. As sheep must either starve or be led to filthy and poisonous pasture, if their shepherds are fools, who do not know how to manage sheep; so is this much more the case in the spiritual pastorate.Cramer.
The cause of this calamity is that the shepherds, i.e., the princes and leaders of the people, are become brutish, have not sought Jehovah, i.e., have not sought wisdom and guidance from the Lord. And so they could not deal wisely, i.e., rule the people with wisdom. Prosper is not here, have prosperity, but show wisdom, deal wisely, securing thus the blessed results of wisdom.Keil.
Therefore they shall not prosper. Rather, have not governed wisely. The verb has the sense of (1) acting prudently, (2) being prosperous as the necessary consequence. Here all the versions take in the first sense. The kings and rulers, having sunk to the condition of barbarous and untutored men, could not govern wisely, and so all their flocks, literally, their pasturing, that which they governed, are scattered.Speakers Com.
Jer. 10:22. Behold, a voice is heard! it comes! &c. A last watch-call and signal, which denotes that the enemy so frequently announced is present.Lange.
Already is heard the tremendous din of a mighty host which approaches from the north. The great commotion is that of an army on the march, the clattering of the weapons, the stamping and neighing of the war-horses.Keil.
Bruit, rumour of invasion. The antithesis is between the voice of God in His prophets, to which they paid no heed, and the cry of the enemy, to which they must attend.
There is a contrast to be understood between the voice of God, which had constantly resounded in Judea, and the tumultuous clamours of enemies. The prophet declares that new teachers were now come, who would address them in another and unusual manner. I have spent my labour many years in vain. I now turn you over to the Chaldeans; they shall teach you.Calvin.
Jer. 10:23. Theme: MANS CAREER UNDER GODS CONTROL.
The Jews regarded this as asserting that Nebuchadnezzar could not do as he listed. Gods will ruled his action and restrained his fury; he came to the land by Divine leading, he could deal with the people only as God permitted. More properly this declares that the Jews themselves had been relying on their own counsels and devices for the national safety and welfare, negotiating with Assyria when danger was apprehended from Egypt, and with Egypt or Babylon when Assyria was dreaded; but the national policy was futile, their hopes and designs were of no avail. True of us; our life and career are not wholly in our keeping; our planning is often frustrated; a Divine direction and determination overrule our movements.
I. Conscious liberty. The way of man; his own way. He obeys only (so far as he feels and knows) the impulses of his own nature, the determinations of his own judgment, the resolutions of his own will.
II. Unconscious control. The way of man is not in himself. His way is in Gods power and Gods purpose.
III. Unsurrendered volition. Man that walketh. As these Jews were doing, in defiance of the prophets appeals and Gods warnings. As Nebuchadnezzar would walk in obedience to his lust of empire. As we walk, turning every one of us to his own way. Man insists on his right of self-government.
IV. Insufficient discernment. Not in man to direct his steps, i.e., he is (1) bewildered in judgment, so that he often does not know how to walk, what to docan act, but not foresee issues; (2) inconstant in will, so that he changes his course frequently in life, influenced by his own caprice or by altered circumstances; (3) incapable in self-government, for he finds a warfare raging within him, so that he cannot do the things he would; he cannot carry out his own resolutionsweakness arrests him; he is not the master of his own natureevil is there, passion vanquishes his purposes, fear makes him cowardly, indolence holds him in the snare of indifference or inaction.
V. Involuntary submission. O LORD, it is not in man. In whom then? God holds the impulses of our nature in His control. He has free entrance into the secret chambers of our affections and thoughts. His Spirit can witness within us and work within us to will and to do of His good pleasure. He can alter the circumstances around us which lead us to modify our plans. He can lay inducements in our path. He can check our course by affliction, &c. He can help us to do otherwise impossible things.
Believers bow their wills to God as an act of filial submission, but the grace to do it was God-given. Sinners yield their love and faith to Christ, but the persuasives thereto were Divine. Rebels rise in defiance against Him, but He curbs their fury, uses their rage, and restrains the remainder of their wrath. Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther.
(Addenda on Jer. 10:23. Gods control of mans career.)
Notes: Blayney, following the Syriac, renders the verse, I know Jehovah, that His way is not like that of men; nor like a human being doth He proceed to order His going. It is inadmissible: should have preceded Jehovah, marking the objective case.
He first acknowledges that man cannot direct HIS WAY, his path in life, himself; dependent as it is only in part upon his own will, and in part upon the conduct of others, and everywhere upon God. There is an antithesis between man, i.e., any man, in the first clause, and the word man in the second clause, i.e., man in his strength. The strong man may fancy that at least each single STEP is under his own control, even if his whole path, or way, be not; but God declares otherwise. (Pro. 16:9).Speakers Com.
Theme: MAN PROPOSES, GOD DISPOSES. This isi. A humbling of our pride, ii. A strong support of our hope.Naeg.
Jer. 10:24. Theme: MERCIFUL CHASTISEMENT. Correct me not in anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing.
Israel had wished in his own strength to walk in his own way, contrary to the will of God (Jer. 10:23). He now recognises the sinfulness of this wilful rejection of Gods control, and submits to the merited chastisementbe it even national humiliation and exile; but, while bowing to this, pleads for the utmost possible mildness and forbearance. This prophetic language sets forth Israels future repentance and restoration.
I. Surrender to gracious chastisement. The soul recognises it as needful, and bows resigned; and there is no agony of dismay in the thought, Let me fall into the hands of the Lord. O Lord, correct me.
II. Shrinking from full retribution. Correct me, but with judgment. With mildness, in opposition with anger. The transgressor cannot bear the treatment he deserves, and for which his sins make demand. It would issue in destruction. No soul could survive. Hence the plea, with judgment, as knowing our frame and remembering we are dust; with moderation and leniency.
III. Terror of Gods wrath. Not in anger. For we are consumed in Thy wrath. The soul of man stands in dismay before the thought of Omnipotence wielding itself in anger! The child of God trembles in the anticipation of His displeasure. Suffering and even calamity can be borne, but not a Fathers wrath. That would give the keenest pang to heaviest affliction; but the stroke will not crush the heart if God only corrects in mercy. Who will dare provoke and brave the wrath of Almighty God?
IV. Consequences of Divine severity. Bring me to nothing. Surely so; if the rocks tremble and the earth smokes at His look, if angels must veil themselves from His glory, how can frail man other than perish at His rebuke, how survive His anger? Is this annihilation? Not in text; but only diminish me, make me little (margin): i.e., reduce Judah to an insignificant people. Calvin, however, says, The prophet takes diminution here for demolition. But the history of the nation shows the people not destroyed, but only diminished and dishonoured. Such is the issue of Divine displeasure.
Happy they who by prayer and propitiation (in Christ) avert the anger and find mercy. (Addenda on Jer. 10:24, Lenient correction.)
Jer. 10:25. Theme: FURY FOR THE IMPIOUS OPPRESSOR. (Addenda on Jer. 10:25.)
i. Guilty of cruelty to Gods people. Eaten up Jacob, devoured and consumed him.
ii. Gratifying thus their hatred to true religion. Not acting reverently, as agents of Gods purpose, but impiously. Know Thee not; call not on Thy name.
iii. Meriting therefore the fury they have poured out on others. With what measure ye mete, &c. He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of Mine eye. Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen.
iv. Suffering the doom of enemies of God. For the malicious deeds of the Babylonians showed them impious, implacable, foes of Jehovah as well as His people. They treated His holy Temple and its sacred treasures with ruthless scorn, and blasphemed His great name. Hence, having insulted God, they should suffer His fury. So let Thine enemies perish, O God.
Note:This verse is reproduced in Psa. 79:6-7, which was written during the exile, or at least after the Chaldeans had destroyed Jerusalem.
Theme: How we should behave under the chastisements of God. i. Humbly submit to them as necessary and wholesome means of improvement, ii. Be certain that they will not then transgress those bounds, nor proceed to our destruction.Lange.
NOTICEABLE TOPICS IN CHAPTER 10
Topic: BEREAVED OF CHILDREN. Text: My children are gone forth of me, and they are not; there is none to stretch forth my tent any more (Jer. 10:20).
The cry of dread from aged Jacob, If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved; the anguish of Rachels lament, weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they were not; and this pathetic dirge of Zion, Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: my children are not!all denote this loss of children to be one of lifes heaviest yet commonest sorrows.
Danger when in trouble of thinking our case wholly and hopelessly dark: All things against me! But see: Truly this a grief! Terrible indeed, yet only one, standing alone amid ten thousand kindneses, and after long years of forbearance and grace. Bright days, sunny and happy, go on multiplying without our heeding them; suddenly one day of gloom and storm breaks the order; then we properly say, This is a dreary day, but we must not murmur. And so the years of life go by in peace and prosperity; suddenly a grievous sorrow interrupts the course of enjoyment; shall we not say, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear itnot sullenly but submissively,remembering the years of the right hand of the Most High?
I. Desolating bereavement. Children gone forth from me, and they are not, Then it is so that
1. Children may be taken away. They seem to belong to us; we entwine our love around them, and rest hopes on them, as though none could or should touch them. But they are not ours; no power over spirit to retain it. Let parents heed it, and hold them from God, for God. They may not live to inherit our worldly substance; lead them early to know Christ, and lay hold on eternal life. Let the young heed it: children may die: early seek and serve the Lord!
2. Home is desolated by their loss. Tabernacle spoiled, cords broken. Seems now that light of home is all darkened, flowers, all withered, music all silenced. Suggests for children and the youngyour power to make home beautiful and glad. Let your life there be a joy and perpetual blessing.
3. Hopes built upon our children may fail us. There is none to stretch tent, &c. Naturally we look to them for our earthly future, to surround us with comfort, set up curtains; to minister to and solace us in hoar years. This makes their loss so sad: destroys our hopes, and leaves us helpless against years and infirmities. Oh, how often warned against making flesh our arm. Put not trust in man, whose breath is in his nostrils, &c. God is needful to us all, and He not fail. Christ essential, and He same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Rest not on what is so fleeting: They are gone forth, and are not. Our sweetest earthly hopes may perish.
II. Bitterest grief. Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous.
1. The distress over bereavement finds outlet in lamentations. Natural to mourn: Jesus wept. Let the stricken spirit raise its bitter outcry, even as Rachel. God does not forbid or despise tears. In all your afflictions He is afflicted. Remember the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief. He would bear your sorrow, and open to you the sympathy and solace of His tender heart.
2. There was sore occasion for such grief. Calamity had befallen Zion. Look at those words, woe, and my hurt. They tell that a sudden blow had fallen heavily on her. All disastrous everts fall suddenly; we never prepared for them; strike us to the earth alarmed, hurt; and we cry, Woe is me for my hurt! In such sudden sorrow we want the Saviours instant succour: Brother born for adversity. More: My wound is grievous. The stroke makes a wound not to be quickly healed: grievous, indicating the severity of the hurt, the depths of the pang. My children are notit means a lifelong wound. My tabernacle is spoiledthe joy of earth can never be complete again. Not mock the stricken with the assurance Time will heal. No, the wound is grievous: rather speak of the restoration; tell Zion of exiles return to her; tell bereaved of nearing day, when no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor pain, but former things are passed away.
III. Patient resignation. But I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. First comes the wild outcry of Woe! succeeded by the hushed sob of submission.
1. It was felt that the loss would not be alleviated by abandonment to grief. To nurse our sorrow only leads to repining; then life becomes a waste, howling wilderness. Not yield to fruitless anguish, but seek grace to bear it with composure, and to turn ourselves with all possible courage and heartiness to what duties are around us, and to what comforts Heaven has preserved.
2. It was recognised as from the Lord, and therefore bowed to with submission. Sudden, desolating, terrifying the calamity, but the hand of God was in the event. Not easy to say, Thy will be done! It is the Lord, let Him do, &c. Yet make the endeavour and say, Truly a grief, and I must bear it! God cannot afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. Doubt not His love, His wisdom, His grace. Oh, rest in the Lord. Draw near Him for comfort, and cast on Him the burden of your loneliness and grief. He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. (Addenda on Jer. 10:20, Bereaved of children.)
Topic: PROGRESSION AND DIRECTION. Text: It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps (Jer. 10:23).
Self-distrust the teaching of long discipline: the more tried and advanced the believer, the more unreservedly will he say, with Solomon, 1Ki. 3:7; and that saying, as then, will please the Lord.
I. Natural action. Man that walketh. Mans action in life complex, involving two distinct parts, of which he has only one in himselfthe power of natural action.
1. Its ease. It is just the simple putting forth of the power of life; going on, without thinking if right or wrong. Danger of forgetting a deficiency in this part-progression: mistake a part for the whole. We think we can act aright, simply because we have the power of action at all. It is as if ship could reach the port just because she has undoubted capacities for sailing, though no helmsman or compass.
2. This mere power of natural action has a tendency to mislead. It makes a man unreflective. Proneness to slight the invisible, because it does not intrude itself upon us, although the things of this life have inseparable association with those hidden from sight in another world. Thus mans walk may do much as regards this life, but alas! how little effect for the world beyond! Leads to a waste of strength; for toil where nothing can be taken, and inaction where much might be won. We often wonder there is so much failure where there is so much energy. The value of pausing amid the bustle of action.
II. Needful direction. Direction is often the remedy for all this failure (Psa. 119:133; Psa. 119:105). Once let us be persuaded we cannot guide ourselves, and we would never willingly lose all the results of our labour by working at random.
1. Take care to go out of ourselves for direction. Shall not remedy the matter by taking more thought. When we have done much in that way, it will only be man that walketh directing his own steps; doing it more carefully, but still doing it himself. This going out of self may be humiliating.
2. The advantages of this going out of self. There will flow in upon us the wisdom from above; from the Father of lights. He will show us things in new lights altogether, that see them in their entirety.
3. But we must yield ourselves to God to be ordered. Content to be led by ways we know not. Not troubling ourselves with continual questionings on the subject. Trust Him to choose the road; even though it seem to lead away from the desired end. St. Augustine said, I am a little child, but my Father is my sufficient guardian.
4. Ways are not really open because apparently so. Not because we can do this thing or that, is it therefore right. Because of this error, we have often gone into spheres where God is not, and where we should not have been.
5. Success before the world is not, therefore, a proof of our being right, nor of success in our relationship towards God. Failure here, leaves our work but as wood, hay, stubble. Danger of being too eager for success. So that what appears success to us may not be so at all, and may be a prelude to heavy loss.
6. Learn not to put implicit confidence in energy or action. It is likely to mislead; it may make the man prominent in us, and not God. And a very little thing may put a sudden stop to it.
Conclusion: Bind together the two ideas of our own foolishness and Gods wisdom. We never learn a depressing truth concerning ourselves without an encouraging one concerning God. We are to be emptied out of ourselves to be filled with Him. Under His guidance, our calm progress in ordered ways will lead in Gods own time to happy ends.Abstract of Breviates, by P. B. Power, M.A.
ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 10: ILLUSTRATIONS AND SUGGESTIVE EXTRACTS
Jer. 10:2. The signs of heaven. Which the blind heathens feared and deified, and none did more than the Syrians, the Jews next neighbours. Experience frequently confuteth those vain astrologers that pretend to read mens fates and fortunes in the heavens, as it did Abraham the Jew, who foretold by the stars the coming of their Messiah A.D. 1464; and Albumazar, a Mohammedan wizard, who predicted an end of the Christian religion A.D. 1460 at utmost. A great flood was foretold by these diviners to fall out in the year 1524, cum planet comita in piscibus celebrarent. This caused the Prior of St. Bartholomew, in London, wise-man-like, to go and build him a house at Harrow-on-the-Hill, for his better security. Mulcasses, king of Tunis, a great star-gazer, foreseeing by them, as he said, the loss of his kingdom and life together, left Africa that he might shun that mischief; but thereby he hastened it, A.D. 1544. God suffereth sometimes such fond predictions to fall out right upon men for a just punishment of their curiosity.Trapp.
Jer. 10:3. Idol manufacture. In India, it is computed, there are 30,000,000 of idols. British Christians should remember the idolatry of their ancestors. In Scotland there was a temple of Mars; in Cornwall, of Mercury; in Bangor, of Minerva; in Bath, of Apollo; in Leicester, of Janus; in York, where St. Peters now stands, the temple of Bellona; in London, on the site of St. Pauls Cathedral, the temple of Diana; and at Westminster, where the Abbey rears its venerable pile, a temple of Apollo.Dr. Plaifere.
Jer. 10:5. Idols must needs be borne. Missionaries in India were once proclaiming the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, when one of the audience cried, Jesus is the true God! Others caught the cry and reiterated it, till the whole group burst into response. Then they shouted Come with us, and pull down our temples, and cast our gods down the hills. They led the way, and soon the helpless idol was carried alongfor though it had legs it could not walkto the brow of a neighbouring hill and flung contemptuously over.
It is a fact and a sight to be met with any day in Madras and other large European cities: a set of hired bearers will carry one day on their shoulders a hideous idol, ornamented with gold and gems, and the next day the same hired bearers will carry forth in state the Virgin Mary.Biblical Treasury.
Jer. 10:6. NONE LIKE THEE, O LORD. All things in the natural world symbolise God, yet none of them speak of Him but in broken and imperfect words. High above all He sits, sublimer than mountains, grander than storms, sweeter than blossoms and tender fruits, nobler than lords, truer than parents, more loving than lovers. His feet tread the lowest places of the earth, but His head is above all glory, and everywhere He is supreme.Beecher.
THY NAME IS GREAT IN MIGHT. A Jew entered a Persian temple, and saw there the sacred fire. He said to the priest, How do you worship fire?Not the fire: it is to us an emblem of the sun and of his animating light, said the priest. The Israelite continued, You dazzle the eye of the body, but darken that of the mind; in presenting the terrestrial light you take away the celestial. The Persian asked, How do you name the Supreme Being?We call Him JEHOVAH ADONAI; that is, the Lord who was, who is, and shall be.Your word is great and glorious, but it is terrible, said the Persian. A Christian approaching, said, We call Him, Abba, Father. Then the Persian and the Jew regarded each other with surprise, and said, Your word is the nearest and the highest; but who gives you courage to call the Eternal thus?The Father Himself, said the Christian, who then expounded to them the plan of redemption.Krummacher.
Jer. 10:10. THE TRUE GOD. How many Gods are there? was once asked of a boy. One.How do you know there is only one?Because there is no room for more, for He fills heaven and earth.
The Egyptian hieroglyphic, representing God, was a winged globe and a serpent coming out of it: the globe to signify Gods eternity, the wings His active power, and the serpent His wisdom.Bowes.
Two gentlemen were once disputing on the divinity of Christ: one of them, who argued against it, said, If it were true, certainly it would have been expressed in more clear and unequivocal terms. Well, said the other, admitting that you believed it, were you authorised to teach it, and allowed to use your own language, how would you express the doctrine to make it indubitable?I would say, replied he, that Jesus Christ is the true God.You are very happy, replied the other, in the choice of your words, for you have happened to hit upon the very words of inspiration; for John, speaking of the Son, says, This is THE TRUE GOD, and eternal life.Wilson.
Jer. 10:11-13. AN APPEAL TO GODS WORKS.
Who guides below and rules above,
The great Disposer and the mighty King;
Than He none greater, next Him none
That can be, is, or was:
Supreme, He singly fills the throne.
HORACE.
An Arab, when one day asked, How do you know there is a God? turned indignantly upon the questioner, and replied, How do I know whether a man or a camel passed my tent last night? His own footprints in creation and providence testify of Him.
Jer. 10:14. WORSHIP OF IDOLS DEBASES THE WORSHIPPER. The gods of Greece and Rome had at least human features, and modelled after the likeness of men; but among the millions of the gods of India affecting the character of their worshippers, there is not one which represents a virtue, not one which is not a monster of iniquity. Brahma is acknowledged by the Hindoos themselves as too bad to be worshipped. Their god, Shiva, is distinguished for his revenge and malignity; Krishna bears a character of a notorious licentious profligate; Juggernaut is represented by an old idol without legs and arms, because the legs and arms of the god were cut off by a sentence of the gods for his incurable iniquity. What but impurity and cruelty can be the result of a religion which has such patrons in its god?Dictionary of Illustrations.
Any opinion which tends to keep out of sight the living and loving God, whether it be to substitute for Him an idol, or any occult agency, or a formal creed, can be nothing better than the portentous shadow projected from the slavish darkness of an ignorant heart.Hallam.
Jer. 10:19. SORE AFFLICTION.
As they lay copper in aquafortis before they begin to engrave it, so the Lord usually prepares us by searching, softening discipline of affliction for making a deep, lasting impression upon our hearts.Nottidge.
There is as much difference between the sufferings of the saints and those of the ungodly as between the bandages wherewith the tender surgeon binds his patients and the cords with which an executioner pinions a condemned malefactor.Arrowsmith.
One in affliction, when asked how he bore it so well, replied, It lightens the stroke to draw near to Him who handles the rod.
Jer. 10:20. BEREAVED OF CHILDREN.
Death lies on her, like an untimely frost
Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.
SHAKSPEARE.
Bengel had twelve children, of whom half died in infancy. He said, when speaking of his loss, As little children give their sweetmeats to their parents to keep for them, so my pleasant things are safer in Gods keeping than in that of my own treacherous heart.Bowes.
Elliot said of the death of his children, I have had six children, and I bless God they are all either in Christ or with Christ, and my mind is now at rest concerning them.Ibid.
I cried, Lord, spare my child! He did; but not as I meant. He snatched it from danger, and took it to His own home.Cecil.
See, father, said a lad, they are knocking away the props from under the bridge. What are they doing that for? Wont the bridge fall?They are knocking them away, said the father, that the timbers may rest more firmly upon the stone piers, which are now finished. God only takes away our earthly helps that we may rest firmly upon Him.
A lady in one day, during her husbands absence from home, lost both her children by cholera. With a mothers anguish of heart she covered a sheet over them, and awaited her husbands return. A Person lent me some jewels, she said when she met him, and now he wishes them again? What shall I do?Return them, by all means, said her husband. Then she led the way, and silently uncovered to him the forms of his dear children.Dictionary of Illustrations.
Jer. 10:23. GODS CONTROL OF MANS CAREER.
The wish, which ages have not yet subdued
In man, to have no other master but his mood.BYRON.
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well
When our deep plots do pall: and that should teach us
Theres a Divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough hew them how we will.SHAKESPEARE.
A wheel within a wheels the Scripture notion,
And all those wheels traverse and cross in motion.
All creatures serve it in their place; yet so
As thousands of them know not what they do:
At this or that their aim they do direct,
But neither this nor that is the effect.
Men are, like horses, set at every stage,
For Providence to ride from age to age;
Which, like a post, spurs on, and makes them run
From stage to stage, until their journeys done;
Then takes a fresh: but they the business know
No more than horses the post-letters do.
Yet though its work be now concealed from sight,
Twill be a glorious piece when brought to light.FLAVEL.
Certum est, nos velle, cum volumus, sed ille facit, ut velimus bonum, de quo dictum est, quod prparatur voluntas a Domino (Pro. 8:35). Certum est, non facere, cum facimus, sed ille facit, ut faciamus prbendo vires efficacissimas voluntati, qui dixit; faciam ut in justificationibus meis ambuletis et judicia mea observetis (Eze. 36:26-27).Augustine.
Jer. 10:24. Lenient correction. Correction is not simply to be deprecated. The prophet here cries, Correct me; David saith, It was good for me; Job calleth Gods afflicting of us His magnifying of us (chap. Jer. 8:17). Feri Domine, feri clementer; ipse paratus sum, saith Luther,Smite, Lord, smite me, but gently, and I am ready to bear it patiently. King Alfred prayed God to send him always some sickness, whereby his body might be tamed, and he the better disposed and affectioned towards God.Trapp.
Jer. 10:25. Fury for the oppressor. This is not a New Testament aspect of God; gracious towards Israel, tempering affliction with mercy, but severe and wrathful, with no restraining of anger, towards the heathen. Rather, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Pray for them that despitefully use you. Hence the true piety of the Prayer-Book petition: That it may please Thee to forgive our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers; and turn their hearts.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

V. GOD VS. THE IDOLS Jer. 10:1-25
In chapter 10 Jeremiah ridicules idolatry (Jer. 10:1-5) and extols the incomparable God of Israel (Jer. 10:6-16). He points out the folly of forsaking God (Jer. 10:17-22). The chapter closes with a prophetic prayer (Jer. 10:23-25). The Jeremian authorship of the first sixteen verses has been questioned by various scholars on the grounds that they interrupt the thought sequence of the section and on the grounds that they are written in a different style. But one author may employ more than one style of writing depending upon he subject he is treating and the audience he is addressing. As the present section of the Book of Jeremiah is in the nature of an anthology of prophetic utterances no appeal to the interruption of thought sequence would seem to be appropriate. In short there is no good reason to suspect that Jeremiah was not the author of the first sixteen verses of chapter 10.
A. The Folly of Idolatry Jer. 10:1-5
TRANSLATION
(1) Hear the word which the LORD spoke against you, O house of Israel. (2) Thus says the LORD: Do not learn the way of the nations and do not be dismayed because of the signs of the heavens; for the nations are dismayed because of them. (3) For the customs of the people are vanity; for it is a tree which one cuts out of the forest, the work of the hands of the carpenter with an ax. (4) With silver and gold he adorns it; with nails and hammers they secure them so that it might not be made to totter. (5) They are like a post in a cucumber patch. They cannot speak. They must even be carried about for they are immobile. Do not fear because of them for they cannot do evil nor can they even do good.
COMMENTS
Through His prophet God exhorts His people (Jer. 10:1) not to learn, i.e., become accustomed to, the idolatrous ways of the heathen. The people of God need not become upset by the signs of the heavenseclipses, meteors, and the likewhich other nations regarded as portents of evil (Jer. 10:2). Numerous tablets from the ancient Near East have been found which indicate how closely the heavens were observed and how carefully every movement of the heavenly bodies was recorded. Modern astrology had its birth in the pagan temples of Mesopotamia. Those who worship the God who created the heavens need have no superstitious fears regarding the position of the sun, moon and stars, The religious customs, practices and rituals of the heathen are utterly empty and without content (cf. Isa. 40:19 f; Isa. 44:12 ff.). Idols are in reality nothing more than a tree which has been cut out of the forest by the ax of a woodsman (Jer. 10:3). Though beautifully adorned with gold and silver overlay that idol is still nothing more than lifeless wood. An idol cannot even stand on its own two feet. It must be fastened down with hammer and nails in order to prevent it from tottering (Jer. 10:4).[190] The idol is as harmless as a post erected in a cucumber patch for the purpose of scaring away the birds. They cannot speak nor can they move about without being carried by someone. They cannot harm any one, nor for that matter, can they bring blessing upon anyone. For this reason there is no particular advantage in serving an idol and no harm in failing to do so.
[190] The description here is similar to that in Isa. 40:19-20; Isa. 41:7.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

X.
(1) House of Israel.This forms the link that connects what follows with what precedes. The house of Israel had been told that it was uncircumcised in heart, on a level with the heathen; now the special sin of the heathen, which it was disposed to follow, is set forth in words of scorn and indignation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

THE NOTHINGNESS OF THE FALSE GODS, Jer 10:1-5.
Several eminent German critics have pronounced against the genuineness of the first sixteen verses of this chapter. Among these is the scholarly and evangelical Nagelsbach. Some regard the passage as interpolated from Isaiah, while others, and among them Nagelsbach, reject this theory of its origin. Upon this general question we observe:
1 . The external evidence for the passage is practically perfect. It receives the unanimous testimony of the Hebrew MSS. and the ancient Versions. The partial qualification which this statement needs is, that four of the verses, namely, 6, 7, 8, and 10, are wanting in the Septuagint. But inasmuch as we meet with similar omissions everywhere in the Septuagint it being estimated that about 2,700 of the Hebrew words in this book are unrepresented in that Version very slight significance should attach to this fact. The only considerations which should shake our faith in the genuineness of these verses are those which come from within. And in the general it should be said, that internal evidence should be allowed to stand against clear and unanimous external testimony only when of the most positive and conclusive character. The hypothesis of ungenuineness should be accepted only when it becomes certain that no other can be admitted.
2 . The reasons urged against this passage are: ( a) That it interrupts the continuity of thought. But Jeremiah nowhere shows close logical coherence. The book is full of sudden and marked transitions. Its character is emotional rather than logical. ( b) That the subject matter indicates a later time. But the passage is not inappropriate to any time, and especially to this one, in which idolatry was a living issue. ( c) That the language differs from that ordinarily employed by Jeremiah. The opposite is the truth. The passage contains some of his characteristic expressions, such as the term vanity, for idols, day of visitation, etc., etc. (See a full list of these in Keil, in loc.) We conclude, then, that there is no sufficient ground for denying the genuineness of the passage. The eleventh verse of this chapter is in Chaldee, probably because it was a current aphorism familiar alike to the Jews and the Chaldeans, and inserted here in its popular form.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The House Of Israel Are Not To Learn The Way Of The Nations Because, While YHWH Is Great Beyond Describing, Their Idols Are Utterly Futile ( Jer 10:1-16 ).

This passage, in a sequence of verses, compares the futility of idols with the greatness of YHWH. They are introduced here so as to expand on what has been said in Jer 9:24 about ‘understanding and knowing YHWH’. In order to bring out what understanding and knowing YHWH means he compares Him in a fourfold way with other so-called gods. It is clear that Jeremiah sees it as important that the people of Judah fully recognise just Who and What YHWH is. He is not just the greatest of all gods. He is the God Who is totally and uniquely different.
It is quite possible that Jeremiah is here partly citing an earlier prophet such as Isaiah, for the concepts are very Isaianic and lack much of Jeremiah’s unique style. But if so he makes the ideas his own. There are no real grounds for denying it to him as part of his central message. The verses can be divided up as follows, and as so often in Scripture can be seen either as a sequence or as a chiasmus:
a The house of Israel are not to learn the way of the nations because the customs of the peoples are a like puff of wind (Jer 10:1-3 a).
b The futility of idols is described – they are man-made (Jer 10:3-5).
c The greatness of YHWH is described – He is incomparable (Jer 10:6-7).
d The futility of idols is described – they are made of earthly materials (Jer 10:8-9).
e The greatness of YHWH is described – He is the living everlasting King before Whom the earth and the nations tremble (Jer 10:10).
d The futility of idols is described – they are perishable and foreign to Israel (Jer 10:11).
c The greatness of YHWH is described – He created the earth and the heavens and controls the rain and wind (Jer 10:12-13).
b The futility of idols is described – they are without life (Jer 10:14-15).
a The greatness of YHWH is described – He formed all things and Israel are His inheritance (Jer 10:16)
So the idols are seen to be man made, whereas YHWH Himself made everything. The idols are all similar to each other (there is little to choose between them) whilst YHWH is incomparable. The idols are made of earthly materials whilst YHWH is the everlasting King before Whom the earth trembles. The idols are devoid of life whilst YHWH is the LIVING everlasting King. And yet He has chosen Israel as His inheritance.
We can gain from this a recognition of why God so forcefully condemned representations of Him in any physical form. The utilisation of a physical form immediately degrades Him to the level of these false gods, or even to a caricature of Himself. Think how many people think of God as an old man with a white beard because of artistic representations of Him. All such representations brings Him down to the level of His creation, and they can even in some forms bestialise His worshippers (Rom 1:18-24). And it can soon result in the undiscerning worshipping the image instead of God Himself. (It was in order to prevent this that He hid the Ark of the Covenant behind a curtain). Of course if we want to control Him, or control people through Him, or minimise His effectiveness in our lives once we have left the site of the image, or want to avoid too much moral application, it is a good idea to make an image of Him. Then at least we can delude ourselves, thinking that by using an image we have got God where we want Him, there to be called on when we feel like it, and to be ignored at other times. But thereby we miss the force of what Jeremiah is saying, that God is not like that. He is the living God, Who cannot be limited to His creation, Who observes us all in the all the details of our daily lives, and before Whom we are all accountable for what we do within those daily lives.
His People Are Not To Follow The Customs of The Peoples.
Jer 10:1-3

‘Hear you the word which YHWH speaks to you,
O house of Israel, thus says YHWH,
“Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be dismayed at the signs of the heavens,
For the nations are dismayed at them,
Because the customs of the peoples are vanity.”
The importance of the message being delivered here is initially brought out by the dual reference to YHWH as speaking. It is a special dual call to the house of Israel to hear His word. The lesson being emphasised is that they are not to learn the way of the nations or the customs of the peoples, because they are nothing but a puff of wind (hebel = breath, vanity, puff of wind). And this includes being dismayed at ‘the signs of the heavens’, which ‘the nations are dismayed at’. Isaiah had spoken of ‘those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons predict what will befall you’ (Isa 47:13) as a warning against using astrology to predict events. These were practises which were common throughout the Ancient Near East and especially in Babylon to which a number of exiles had already gone (Isa 11:11; possibly 2Ch 36:6-7; 2Ki 24:12-16; Daniel 1), and such signs could cause great perturbation. But Israel were to pay no heed to them.
This warning is a necessary introduction to his contrasts of YHWH with idols. Nothing seemed more convincing to ‘heathen’ minds than the portents in the skies. Surely these were evidence of the activities of the gods? So that argument is immediately dismantled. In fact, He says, such signs and portents are false and unreliable. To take any notice of them is to grasp after a puff of wind, for they do not affect issues one way or another. And it is this very folly that leads on to idolatry. There was a right way to discern the skies, and that was by recognising that, ‘the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handywork, day unto day issues speech, and the night unto night reveals knowledge’ (Psa 19:1-2). It is through this that we learn of His ‘eternal power and Godhead’ (Rom 1:20) because from their overall impression we gain the concepts of beauty, design and purpose and recognise that they reveal a beautiful, intelligent and purposeful God. But once we go beyond that without special revelation we are getting involved with fantasy.
Idols Are Man-Made And Can Do Nothing.

His first emphasis is on the fact that idols are merely man-made. Today they would bear the label ‘made in China’, or some such thing. But what they are not is divine.
Jer 10:3-5
“For one cuts a tree out of the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold,
They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
They are like a pillar (palm-tree), of turned work, and speak not,
They must needs be borne, because they cannot go.
Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil,
Nor is it in them to do good.”
YHWH goes on to deal with another aspect of the customs of the nations, the worship of idols that they have made for themselves. As explained above this is being used by Jeremiah in preparation for contrasting such idols with YHWH in a series of four contrasts. Such idols, He points out, are man-made. Their existence commences when the forester cuts down a tree with his axe, part of which is then decked with silver and gold, and fastened with nails and hammers so that it will not move or fall over (compare Isa 41:7). In other words it cannot support itself, and if left to itself it would collapse. Nor, being of turned work like a pillar made from a palm tree, do such idols speak. Furthermore they cannot ‘go’ on their own with the result that they have to be carried wherever they do go. Thus they can work neither evil things (e.g. storms, invasions, etc.) nor good things (e.g. rain and helpful wind). Contrast Isa 45:7. In consequence they can be seen to be helpless and useless. Compare Isaiah’s vivid dismissal of them in Isa 44:12-20. The sudden change of the verbs from singular to plural brings out that in the end they are all the same.
‘Like a pillar (palm-tree), of turned work, that it move not.’ Ancient pre-Grecian statues were usually made with arms firmly pressed against their sides, devoid of any impression of movement, thus further emphasising the lifelessness of the idol. However, the word for ‘turned (or beaten) work, can also mean ‘in a garden of gourds/cucumbers’. If we take the latter meaning it is describing an image with a function similar to that of our scarecrows as watchers over the fields, although in this case with ‘divine’ connotations.
YHWH Is Great Above All Things.

In contrast with the man-made idols is the One Who is great above all things, the incomparable King of the Nations
Jer 10:6
There is none like to you,
O YHWH,
You are great,
And your name is great in might.
Jer 10:7
“Who would not fear you,
O King of the nations?
For to you is it due,
Forasmuch as among all the wise of the nations,
And in all their royal estate,
There is none like you.”
Thus YHWH stands out alone. There is none like Him, something stressed in both the first and the last lines. For He is great, and His Name (representing His essential being and attributes) is great in might. Indeed He is king of the nations (compare Psa 22:29; Psa 47:8; Psa 96:10), Lord of the world, and worthy to be looked on with awe, something which is in fact His due. In all the world there are none as wise and kingly as He.
Idols Are Simply Gilded Tree-Stumps.

In contrast to YHWH idols are but gilded tree stumps, covered in gold and silver and clothed in blue and purple. They are man’s attempt to give an impression of glory, hoping that it will at least deceive the innocent.
Jer 10:8-9
“But they are together brutish and foolish,
The instruction of idols!
It is but a tree stump.”
Silver beaten into plates,
Which is brought from Tarshish,
And gold from Uphaz,
The work of the craftsman,
And of the hands of the goldsmith,
Blue and purple (or purple and scarlet) for their clothing,
They are all the work of skilful men.
The series of contrasts of YHWH with idols continues with a further mocking of idols. In fact the wise of the nations are simply like brute beasts and are foolish, something brought out by the fact that they receive their instruction from a tree trunk! The further different materials from which they are made are brought from different parts of the world, silver plate from Tarshish (possibly Spain or Sardinia), gold from Uphaz (whereabouts unknown, but compare Dan 10:5). The craftsman and goldsmith then bring the different materials together, after which they are clothed in blue and purple (the colours of royalty) in order to try to give them some kind of royal status. The whole, however, is simply the work of skilful men. It is like erecting an expensive scarecrow.
‘Uphaz.’ Some versions have Ophir instead of Uphaz, (in the original consonants the change of one similar letter), and we know that gold from Ophir was famous (1Ki 9:28). But this appears too easy a way out, and, if the scribe was used to hearing the text read, an unlikely error to make. Alternately some have seen the ‘from uphaz’ (m’pz) as meaning ‘refined’ (compare1Ki 10:18, mpz), thus paralleling ‘beaten’ silver. However, it is probably best to leave Uphaz as signifying an at present unknown place famous for its gold.
YHWH Is The True And Living God, And The Everlasting King Before Who All Trembles.

In this second description of YHWH we learn that He is the true God, the living God, Who is the everlasting King at Whose wrath the whole earth trembles, the One Whom none on earth can resist. Note especially that this is the second emphasis on His kingship and His Lordship over the nations. What a contrast with their mute gods.
Jer 10:10
‘But YHWH is the true God,
He is the living God, and an everlasting King,
At his wrath the earth trembles,
And the nations are not able to abide his indignation.’
So in contrast to the expensive tree stump, which was all dressed up and nowhere to go, is YHWH, the true God, the living God, the everlasting King (compare Psa 10:16; Psa 29:10; Exo 15:18), seated in splendour, before Whose wrath the earth trembles, Whose indignation the nations cannot live with. It is He Who is the One Who is truly worthy of worship.
The Gods Are Perishable And Had No Part In Creation.

The false gods are not only man-made but are also made of perishable materials (some of them are even in our museums). They are in no sense creators of Heaven and earth.
Jer 10:11
‘Thus shall you say to them,
The gods which have not made the heavens and the earth,
These will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’
Speaking in Aramaic YHWH then tells Jeremiah to remind Judah/Israel that it is not these gods who have made heaven and earth. They are indeed a part of the earth, and will thus perish like all earthly things which are under the heavens.
The question must be raised as to why this verse alone is in Aramaic. Certainly it brings out that the gods being spoke of are foreign gods, but it may, also in fact, have been a riposte to a well known phrase or claim in Aramaic which was circulating in Jerusalem concerning the gods, a phrase which made the opposite claim to Jeremiah’s, possibly one being stressed by Babylonian representatives in court. The Aramaic nature of Jeremiah’s response would then have made obvious to all who was being refuted without him actually having to say it. Perhaps then he wanted to make clear, without bringing down on them the wrath of Babylon, that while he did not recommend rebellion against Babylon, it and its gods would finally perish (all would know that their gods could not perish without it having the same result for them).
Or it may be that Jeremiah was seeking to bring out in a striking way the foreign nature of the vanities that he has been describing, indicating that ‘These gods are not native to Judah. We can only speak of them in another tongue’. This would add to the impression already given that some of the materials of which they were made came from foreign parts, namely Tarshish and Uphaz. Aramaic was an international language used in foreign affairs of state (compare 2Ki 18:26) and would have been very familiar in Jerusalem.
Another alternative is that it was a well known saying in Aramaic well known to all educated Judeans (in the same way as we might know Latin phrases and cite them). The Targums (Aramaic paraphrases of the Hebrew text) claim that it was part of a letter which Jeremiah sent to the exiles already in Babylon. The verse is not an interpolation. It is necessary in order to prepare for the thought in Jer 10:12, and as a part of the sequence described above.
YHWH Is The Unique Creator Of All Things.

There is only one God Who has made heaven and earth, and that is YHWH. He established them by His wisdom and by His understanding. And it is He also Who controls the activities of nature.
Jer 10:12-13
‘He has made the earth by his power,
He has established the world by his wisdom,
And by his understanding,
Has he stretched out the heavens,’
‘When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
And he causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth,
He makes lightnings for the rain,
And brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.’
What a contrast with the earthiness and the perishable natures of these foreign gods is the One Who has made the earth by His power, and established it by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His understanding. Indeed when He speaks the heavens are filled with tumultuous waters, constantly renewed from the earth, the rain is accompanied by His lightnings, and He produces winds from His treasuries. It is thus He Who is the true storm God, not Baal, or Hadad, or any other, and all the resources of heaven and earth are under His control.
This idea of YHWH seen in terms of a powerful storm is a constant one in Scripture. See, for example, 2Sa 22:8-16; Psalms 29; etc.
Idols Are Without The Breath Of Life.

The skilful workmen who make idols are (theoretically) put to the blush when it is discovered that there is no life in them. They are unable to make an idol that has life. And they are unable to make one that does not perish when its time comes. They are thus all nothing but a puff of wind and a delusion.
Jer 10:14-15
‘Every man is become brutish, without knowledge,
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image,
For his molten image is falsehood,
And there is no breath (spirit – ruach) in them.
They are vanity, a work of delusion,
In the time of their visitation they will perish.’
The emphasis in Jeremiah’s fourth critique of idols is that they are without life, and are a delusion which will perish. Men’s response towards them is simply an indication that man has become ‘brutish’, emphasising his own connection with the animal world rather than with heaven (compare Rom 1:18-26). This brings out that such men are without the true knowledge, the knowledge of God. Furthermore such idols will only bring shame on their creators, the goldsmiths, and their worshippers, brutish men, for they represent falsehood and are without life (they have no ‘ruach’ – breath, spirit). Thus they are a vanity (a puff of wind) and a work resulting from men’s delusion, a work which will perish when such men are ‘visited’ by YHWH in judgment.
The word for ‘delusion, errors, mockery’ (ta‘tu‘im) is deliberately similar to the word tsa‘tsu‘im which in 2Ch 3:10 represents the ‘image’ part of ‘image-work’. Their images are in fact a delusion and an error and a mockery.
YHWH Is The Moulder And Shaper Of All Things, Choosing Israel/Judah As His Portion And Making Them His Inheritance.

In vital contrast is the One Who moulds and shapes all things, the One Who is the portion of His people, the One Who is Israel’s God of deliverance, the One Whose Name is YHWH OF HOSTS, Lord of the hosts of heaven and the hosts of sun and stars, the Lord of all the hosts of the nations, and the Lord of the host of Israel.
Jer 10:16
‘The Portion of Jacob is not like these,
For he is the former of all things,
And Israel is the tribe of his inheritance,
YHWH of hosts is his name.’
In total contrast to these idols is YHWH, the Portion of Jacob. He is the One Who formed (moulded, fashioned, determined) all things and chose Israel as His inheritance. And His Name is YHWH of hosts (controller of the hosts of heaven, the hosts of earth, and of all things – Gen 2:1).
‘The Portion of Jacob.’ He has given Himself to His people as their ‘portion’, that is, as the most important thing allotted to them in His scheme of things. Compare how in Deuteronomy/Joshua YHWH was Levi’s inheritance (Deu 10:9; Jos 13:33). It was His will and service for which they were responsible and on which they had to concentrate. So the idea here is that it was the Name of YHWH and His truth and covenant for which they were given responsibility, in return for which they received the assurance of His provision and protection. This includes all who in truth call on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who are the true descendants of Abraham (Gal 3:29) and Jacob, who are the true Israel (Mat 16:18; Rom 11:17-28; Gal 6:16; Eph 2:11-22; 1Pe 2:9 ; 1Pe 1:1; Jas 1:1; etc.), Who are God’s elect (Eph 1:4; 1Pe 1:1; 1Pe 2:9).
In response Israel were the tribe of His inheritance, given responsibility to watch over it. There is here an indication of the two-way relationship between God and His people. He is their God and their Father, they are His people and His children. He is their Provider and Protector, they are responsible to watch over His interests, obeying Him and walking in His ways.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

SECTION 1. An Overall Description Of Jeremiah’s Teaching Given In A Series Of Accumulated, Mainly Undated, Prophecies, Concluding With Jeremiah’s Own Summary Of His Ministry ( Jer 2:4 to Jer 25:38 ).

From this point onwards up to chapter 25 we have a new major section (a section in which MT and LXX are mainly similar) which records the overall teaching of Jeremiah, probably given mainly during the reigns of Josiah (Jer 3:6) and Jehoiakim, although leading up to the days of Zedekiah (Jer 21:1). While there are good reasons for not seeing these chapters as containing a series of specific discourses as some have suggested, nevertheless they can safely be seen as giving a general overall view of Jeremiah’s teaching over that period, and as having on the whole been put together earlier rather than later. The whole commences with the statement, ‘Hear you the word of YHWH O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel, thus says YHWH —.’ It is therefore directed to Israel as a whole, mainly as now contained in the land of Judah to which many northerners had fled for refuge. We may divide up the main subsections as follows, based partly on content, and partly on the opening introductory phrases:
1. ‘Hear you the word of YHWH, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel —’ (Jer 2:4). YHWH commences by presenting His complaint against Israel/Judah because they have failed to continue to respond to the love and faithfulness that He had demonstrated to them in the wilderness and in the years that followed, resulting by their fervent addiction to idolatry in their losing the water of life in exchange for empty cisterns. It ends with a plea for them to turn back to Him like an unfaithful wife returning to her husband. This would appear to be mainly his initial teaching in his earliest days, indicating even at that stage how far, in spite of Josiah’s reformation, the people as a whole were from truly obeying the covenant, but it also appears to contain teaching given in the days of Jehoiakim, for which see commentary (Jer 2:4 to Jer 3:5).
2. ‘Moreover YHWH said to me in the days of King Josiah –’ (Jer 3:6). This section follows up on section 1 with later teaching given in the days of Josiah, and some apparently in the days of Jehoiakim. He gives a solemn warning to Judah based on what had happened to the northern tribes (‘the ten tribes’) as a result of their behaviour towards YHWH, facing Judah up to the certainty of similar coming judgment if they do not amend their ways, a judgment that would come in the form of a ravaged land and exile for its people. This is, however, intermingled with a promise of final blessing and further pleas for them to return to YHWH, for that in the end is YHWH’s overall purpose. But the subsection at this time ends under a threat of soon coming judgment (Jer 3:6 to Jer 6:30).
3. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 7:1). In this subsection Jeremiah admonishes the people about the false confidence that they have in the inviolability of the Temple, and in their sacrificial ritual, and warned that like Shiloh they could be destroyed. He accompanies his words with warnings that if they continued in their present disobedience, Judah would be dispersed and the country would be despoiled (Jer 7:1 to Jer 8:3). He therefore chides the people for their obstinacy in the face of all attempts at reformation (Jer 8:4 to Jer 9:21), and seeks to demonstrate to them what the path of true wisdom is, that they understand and know YHWH in His covenant love, justice and righteousness. In a fourfold comparison he then vividly brings out the folly of idolatry when contrasted with the greatness of YHWH. The section ends with the people knowing that they must be chastised, but hoping that YHWH’s full wrath will rather be poured out on their oppressors (Jer 9:22 to Jer 10:25).
4. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 11:1). He now deprecates their disloyalty to the covenant, and demonstrates from examples the total corruption of the people, revealing that as a consequence their doom is irrevocably determined (Jer 11:1 to Jer 12:17). The section closes with a symbolic action which reveals the certainty of their expulsion from the land (13).
5. ‘The word that came from YHWH to Jeremiah –’ (Jer 14:1). “The word concerning the drought,” gives illustrative evidence confirming that the impending judgment of Judah cannot be turned aside by any prayers or entreaties, and that because of their sins Judah will be driven into exile. A promise of hope for the future when they will be restored to the land is, however, once more incorporated (Jer 16:14-15) although only with a view to stressing the general judgment (Jer 14:1 to Jer 17:4). The passage then closes with general explanations of what is at the root of the problem, and lays out cursings and blessings and demonstrates the way by which punishment might be avoided by a full response to the covenant as evidenced by observing the Sabbath (Jer 17:5-27).
6. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 18:1). Chapters 18-19 then contain two oracles from God illustrated in terms of the Potter and his handiwork, which bring out on the one hand God’s willingness to offer mercy, and on the other the judgment that is about to come on Judah because of their continuance in sin and their refusal to respond to that offer. The consequence of this for Jeremiah, in chapter 20, is severe persecution, including physical blows and harsh imprisonment. This results in him complaining to YHWH in his distress, and cursing the day of his birth.
7. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 21:1). This subsection, which is a kind of appendix to what has gone before, finally confirming the hopelessness of Jerusalem’s situation under Zedekiah. In response to an appeal from King Zedekiah concerning Judah’s hopes for the future Jeremiah warns that it is YHWH’s purpose that Judah be subject to Babylon (Jer 21:1-10). Meanwhile, having sent out a general call to the house of David to rule righteously and deal with oppression, he has stressed that no hope was to be nurtured of the restoration of either Shallum, the son of Josiah who had been carried off to Egypt, nor of Jehoiachin (Coniah), the son of Jehoiakim who had been carried off to Babylon. In fact no direct heir of Jehoiachin would sit upon the throne. And the reason that this was so was because all the current sons of David had refused to respond to his call to rule with justice and to stamp down on oppression. What had been required was to put right what was wrong in Judah, and reign in accordance with the requirements of the covenant. In this had lain any hope for the continuation of the Davidic monarchy. But because they had refused to do so only judgment could await them. Note in all this the emphasis on the monarchy as ‘sons of David’ (Jer 21:12; Jer 22:2-3). This is preparatory to the mention of the coming glorious son of David Who would one day come and reign in righteousness (Jer 23:3-8).
Jeremiah then heartily castigates the false shepherds of Judah who have brought Judah to the position that they are in and explains that for the present Judah’s sinful condition is such that all that they can expect is everlasting reproach and shame (Jer 23:9 ff). The subsection then closes (chapter 24) with the parable of the good and bad figs, the good representing the righteous remnant in exile who will one day return, the bad the people who have been left in Judah to await sword, pestilence, famine and exile.
8. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah –’ (Jer 25:1). This subsection contains Jeremiah’s own summary, given to the people in a sermon, describing what has gone before during the previous twenty three years of his ministry. It is also in preparation for what is to follow. He warns them that because they have not listened to YHWH’s voice the land must suffer for ‘seventy years’ in subjection to Babylon, and goes on to bring out that YHWH’s wrath will subsequently be visited on Babylon, and not only on them, but on ‘the whole world’. For YHWH will be dealing with the nations in judgment, something which will be expanded on in chapters 46-51. There is at this stage no mention of restoration, (except as hinted at in the seventy year limit to Babylon’s supremacy), and the chapter closes with a picture of the final desolation which is to come on Judah as a consequence of YHWH’s anger.
While the opening phrase ‘the word that came from YHWH to Jeremiah’ will appear again in Jer 30:1; Jer 32:1; Jer 34:8; Jer 35:1; Jer 40:1 it will only be after the sequence has been broken by other introductory phrases which link the word of YHWH with the activities of a particular king (e.g. Jer 25:1; Jer 26:1; Jer 27:1; Jer 28:1) where in each case the message that follows is limited in length. See also Jer 29:1 which introduces a letter from Jeremiah to the early exiles in Babylon. Looking at chapter 25 as the concluding chapter to the first part, this confirms a new approach from Jer 26:1 onwards, (apparent also in its content), while at the same time demonstrating that the prophecy must be seen as an overall unity.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Subsection 3. In This Subsection Jeremiah Admonishes The People Concerning The False Confidence That They Have In The Inviolability Of The Temple, And In Their Sacrificial Ritual, And After Chiding Them, Calls On Them To Recognise The Kind Of God That They Are Dealing With ( Jer 7:1 to Jer 10:25 ).

Commencing with what will be the standard introductory words up to chapter 25, ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 7:1; compare Jer 11:1; Jer 14:1; Jer 18:1; Jer 21:1), Jeremiah in this section admonishes the people concerning the false confidence that they have in the inviolability of the Temple, and in their sacrificial ritual, accompanying his words with warnings that if they continued in their present disobedience, Judah would have to be dispersed and the country would have to be despoiled (Jer 7:1 to Jer 8:3). He therefore chides the people for their obstinacy in the face of all attempts at reformation (Jer 8:4 to Jer 9:21), and demonstrates to them what the path of true wisdom is, that they understand and know YHWH in His covenant love, justice and righteousness, vividly bringing out the folly of idolatry when contrasted with the greatness of YHWH. The section ends with the people knowing that they must be chastised, but hoping that YHWH’s full wrath will rather be poured out on their oppressors.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jer 10:25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
Jer 10:25 Comments This same prayer is also spoken in Psa 79:6, “Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Nothingness of Idols
v. 1. Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel! those who now survived as the representatives of the former great nation.
v. 2. Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, in becoming accustomed to their idolatrous worship, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, filled with the fear which caused the Gentile nations to associate various perils with the movements of comets, with the occurrence of eclipses, and other phenomena; for the heathen are dismayed at them, since they revered supernatural powers in the various constellations. This warning is now further substantiated by a description of idolatrous customs.
v. 3. For the customs of the people are vain, literally, “the precepts of the nations,” what they fix for people to follow, “are breath, nothingness”; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, literally, “for wood is it,” that is what the object of their worship amounts to, “hewn out of the forest,” the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. That is a fair sample of the objects of worship chosen by the heathen a log felled in the woods and fashioned by an ax.
v. 4. They deck it with silver and with gold, with ornaments of precious metals; they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not, for that is the only way in which the idol, supposed to be a god, can retain his upright position.
v. 5. They, the idols, are upright as the palm-tree, they are like a statue of turned work, resembling a palm-tree, but speak not, Psa 115:5, for all their possessing a mouth; they must needs be borne, carried about from one place to another, because they cannot go, they are unable to walk. Be not afraid of them, standing in awe of any power which they are said to possess; for they cannot do evil, they can do no one any harm, neither also is it in them to do good, they cannot bring blessings or benefits upon any of their worshipers, since they are simply dead. Cf Isa 41:7-10.
v. 6. Forasmuch as there is none like unto Thee, O Lord, literally, “not a particle of anything,” this being the strongest possible denial of any power in any other god besides Jehovah; Thou art great, and Thy name is great in might, His essence is made known in works of His almighty power.
v. 7. Who would not fear Thee, O King of nations? For to Thee doth it appertain, to Him alone does it properly pertain, namely, that He is to be feared, is to be respected and revered by all men, forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like unto Thee. No matter where a person searches for a god who might stand a comparison with Jehovah, the quest will be useless: He alone is the one becoming object of worship.
v. 8. But they are altogether brutish and foolish, the heathen are all alike in their stupidity, they have sunk to the level of brutes because they have severed their connection with the true God; the stock is a doctrine of vanities, or, “the instruction of vanities is wood”; the very idols from whom, according to their lights, they hope to receive instruction are wood and therefore unable to give understanding.
v. 9. Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, from Tartessus in Spain, whose gold mines were well known in the ancient world, and gold from Uphaz, or Ophir, 1Ki 9:27, the work of the workman, beaten into the form of a thin covering by the goldsmith, and of the hands of the founder, the artist in precious metals; blue and purple is their clothing, made of the finest cloth, Exo 25:4; they are all the work of cunning men, of craftsmen possessing a very high degree of skill. The thought evidently is this: No matter how the idolaters strive to give their statues the semblance of living and mighty beings by ornamenting them in this fashion, they still remain idols and cannot be elevated to the position of gods.
v. 10. But the Lord, Jehovah, the covenant God, is the true God, His whole essence being truth over against the nothingness of the idols, and an everlasting King, Ruler of the universe forever; at His wrath the earth shall tremble, shrinking back in terror before His living wrath, and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation, to endure even the smallest expression of His anger.
v. 11. Thus shall ye say unto them, the Jews being given an argument in the very tongue of Aramaic idolaters who were trying to seduce them to commit idolatry, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, those upon whom the heathen relied in their foolishness, even they shall perish from the earth, disappear into nothingness, and from under these heavens. The import, then, of the Lord’s warning is this: not only should the Jews feel no fear of the heathen idols, but they should declare to the Gentiles that their supposed gods would soon be forgotten. Over against the weakness and nothingness of the heathen idols the almighty power of the one true God is now once more proclaimed,
v. 12. He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, Psa 136:5-6; Psa 93:1, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion, spreading out the firmament by His unlimited skill and understanding.
v. 13. When He uttereth His voice, when He causes it to thunder, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, or, “a heaving of waters in the heavens,” as the clouds come rolling along in heavy masses, and He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth, to form the clouds of the storm; He maketh lightnings with rain and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures, out of His storehouses. Thus thunder, lightning, clouds, rain, and storm are named as evidences of Jehovah’s almighty powers in the tempest.
v. 14. Every man is brutish in his knowledge, they are all stupid in their skill and understanding, as they fashion their idols; every founder is confounded by the graven image, every artist who makes idols is put to shame by the work of his own hands; for his molten image is falsehood, their casting, what they fashion, is a lie, and there is no breath in them, they lack all evidence of life.
v. 15. They are vanity, a vapor, nothingness, and the work of errors, of deceit and mockery, causing their worshipers to be mocked and derided when the nothingness of the idols becomes evident; in the time of their visitation they shall perish, that is, when God shall punish the idol-worshipers, the idols themselves shall likewise perish.
v. 16. The Portion of Jacob is not like them, that is, Jehovah, the Portion of the true Church forever, does not in any way resemble the dead idols against which He warns His people; for He is the Former of all things, the Fashioner of the universe, and Israel is the rod of His inheritance, the tribe or nation which He has chosen as His possession. “The Lord of hosts” is His name, He alone is the almighty God, to whom the armies of the heavens, the angels and all the heavenly host, are subject, the Lord and Ruler of the whole world from everlasting to everlasting.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION
Whoever wrote the prophecy in Jer 10:1-16 of this chapter, it was not Jeremiah; but of course, as the passage forms part of a canonical book, its claims to the character of a Scripture remain the same as if it were the work of our prophet. It is obvious at the very outset that it interrupts the connection; verses 17-25 stand in no relation to verses 1-16, but attach themselves most naturally (see below) to the concluding verses of Jer 9:1-26. The author tolls us himself, as clearly as he can, that the people whom he addresses are free as yet (or at any rate have freed themselves) from the guilt of idolatry, and consequently cannot be the same as those who are so severely chastised for their polytheism in Jer 7:17, Jer 7:18, Jer 7:30, Jer 7:31. The style too is, on the whole, very different from that of the writer of the preceding chapters (see the details in the introduction to this passage in the Commentary of Naegelsbaeh). But how can we account for such an insertion? Only by the view already mentioned (supported by a large number of facts throughout the prophetic literature), that the prophecies were edited, and here and there supplemented by the “sons of the prophets”, i.e. by persons providentially raised up for this purpose, and endowed with at least a younger son’s portion of the prophetic Spirit. In the times of the editor of Jeremiah, to whom we owe the first sixteen verses of this chapter, the Jews must have been in danger of falling into idolatry, and our prophet, guided by the Divine Spirit, took up the pen to counteract this danger. His name has not come down to us; indeed, self-abnegation is the characteristic of inspired writers. How uncertain is the authorship of at any rate not a few of the psalms, and of all the historical books? And have we a right to be surprised that the prophets too, absorbed in their glorious mission, have sometimes forgotten to hand on their names to posterity? It is of course possible, in the abstract, that some fragments of the passage are really due to Jeremiah; but how are we to distinguish them from the rest? Hitzig thinks that verses 6-8 and verse 10 are the great prophet’s work; but these are the very verses the origin of which is the most doubtful, since they are entirely omitted in the Septuagint. One thing is certainthat the passage verses 1-16 stands in close relation to the latter part of the Book of Isaiah. The prophetic writer, whoever he was, had his mind saturated with the ideas and phraseology of that magnificent work. The similarity, however, is hardly so close as to justify the view that Isaiah 40-56; and Jer 10:1-16 are productions of the same inspired writer. [It is no objection to the theory here advocated that the passage is found in the Septuagint; for no one has ever supposed that the process of editing the Scriptures was not already long since finished when the Alexandrine Version, or rather collection of versions, was made.] It is a singular fact that Jer 10:11 is written in Chaldee (see note below).
Jer 10:2
The way of the heathen. “Way” equivalent to “religion” (comp. , Act 9:2, etc.). Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; alluding to the astrological calculations based upon extraordinary appearances in the sky. Diodorus Siculus remarks 2.30)and his statement is fully confirmed by the Babylonian cuneiform tabletsthat “the appearance of comets, eclipses of the sun and moon, earthquakes, and in fact every kind of change occasioned by the atmosphere, whether good or bad, both to nations and to kings and private individuals [were omens of future events].” A catalogue of the seventy standard astrological tablets is to be found in the third volume of the British Museum collection of inscriptions. Among the items we read, “A collection of twenty-five tablets of the signs of heaven and earth, according to their good presage and their bad;” and again, “Tablets [regarding] the signs of the heaven, along with the star (comet) which has a corona in front and a tail behind; the appearance of the sky,” etc. There can hardly be a doubt that the prophetic writer had such pseudo-science as this in his eye (see Professor Sayce, ‘The Astronomy and Astrology of the Baby. Ionians, with translations of the tablets,’ ere, in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, 3.145-339).
Jer 10:3
The customs of the people. “People” should, as usual, be corrected into peoplesthe heathen nations are referred to. The Hebrew has “the statutes;” but the Authorized Version is substantially right, customs having a force as of iron in Eastern countries. It seems to be implied that the “customs” are of religious origin
in a field of cucumbers. This is the interpretation given to our passage in Verse 70 of the apocryphal Epistle o! Jeremiah (written in the Maccabean period, evidently with reference to our prophecy), and is much more striking than the rival translation, “like a palm tree of turned work,” i.e. stiff, immovable. They must needs be borne they cannot do evil; a reminiscence, apparently, of Isa 46:7; Isa 41:23.
Jer 10:6
Forasmuch as there is none; rather, so that, etc. But practically it is merely a strengthened negative. There is none like unto thee; none, that is, among those who claim to have Divine power (comp. the phrase, “God of gods,” Deu 10:17; Psa 136:2). It would appear from some passages, however, as if the heathen did not worship mere nonentities (though idols are sometimes called “things of naught,” e.g. ten times by Isaiah) by comparison with Jehovah, but that there was a dark background of awful personal or quasi-personal reality (e.g. Deu 4:7; 2Ch 28:23).
Jer 10:7
O King of nations. As time went on, the sacred writers became more and more distinct in their assertions of the truth that Jehovah, the Self-revealing God, is not Israel’s King only, but also of the world (comp. Psa 22:28; Psa 47:7, Psa 47:8; Psa 96:10). To thee doth it appertain; viz. that men should fear thee. Forasmuch as, etc. (see above, on Jer 10:6). Among all the wise men. “Men” is supplied, but doubtless rightly. It is a contesthow unequal a one!between Jehovah and the sages of the heathen (comp. “Yet he also is wise,” Isa 31:2).
Jer 10:8
Brutish and foolish. In fact, the original meaning of the idolatrous religions had begun, probably, to fade, and the worship of Bel and Nebo had become (as the worship of the Egyptian gods became at a later period) increasingly formal and ritualistic. The stock is a doctrine of vanities; rather, an instruction of vanities; i.e. all that the idols can teach is vanities. Against this is the plural (“vanities,” not vanity); it is more natural (and also more in accordance with usage; comp. Gen 41:26, Hebrew) to render, the instruction of the vanities is wooden (“vanities” has the constant technical sense of “idols;” see Jer 8:19; Jer 14:22; Deu 32:21; Psa 31:6). The clause then furnishes a reason for the folly of the heathen; how should they attain to more than a “wooden” knowledge, when the idols themselves are but wood? A bitter truth in an ironical form.
Jer 10:9
This verse apparently once followed Jer 10:5. Like Jer 10:7 and Jer 10:8, it is omitted in the Septuagint. Silver spread into plates, etc. The silver and gold were meant for the coating of the wooden image (comp. Isa 30:22; Isa 40:19). Tarshish; i.e. Tartessus, in south-west Spain, between the two mouths of the Baetis, or Guadal-quivir. Gold from Uphaz. A place bearing this name, or anything like it, is not known from other sources than the Old Testament writings; and hence a corruption of the text has naturally been suspected (Ophir into Uphaz). As, however, r and z are not easily confounded, either in the earlier or the later Hebrew characters, this view must be abandoned, though it has the authority of several ancient versions of this passage (including the Peshite and the Targum). The name occurs again in Dan 10:5. The Peshite, moreover, curiously enough, translates zahab mufaz in 1Ki 10:18 (Authorized Version, “the best gold”) by “gold from Ophir.” Blue and purple. The Hebrew has no word, strictly speaking, for either “blue” or “purple.” Both these words here used probably express coloring matter rather than colors (this is certain of the latter word, which properly designates a kind of mussel, the shell of which yielded dye). The first produced a violet purple, the second a reddish purple.
Jer 10:10
The true God; literally, a God in truth, the accusative of apposition being chosen instead of the usual genitive construction, to emphasize the idea of “truth.”
Jer 10:11
Thus shall ye say, etc. This verse is, unlike the rest of the chapter, written in Chaldee, and greatly interrupts the connection. Whether it is a fragment of a Targum (or Chaldee paraphrase) representing a Hebrew verse really written by Jeremiah, or whether it is a marginal note by some scribe or reader which has found its way by accident into the text, cannot be positively determined. What is certain is that it is not in its right place, though it already stood here when the Septuagint Version of Jeremiah was made. To argue, with the ‘Speaker’s Commentary,’ that the latter circumstance is decisive of the correctness of the passage in its present position, implies a view of the unchangeableness of the text in the early centuries which few leading scholars will admit.
Jer 10:12-16
Repeated with a slight variation in Jer 51:15-19.
Jer 10:12
He hath made the earth, etc. (comp. the frequent references to the Divine creatorship in the latter part of Isaiah (Isa 40:22; Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24; Isa 45:12, Isa 45:18; Isa 51:13). By his discretion; rather, by his understanding.
Jer 10:13
When he uttereth his voice, etc. The phrase is difficult, but the Authorized Version probably gives the right sense. God’s “voice” is the thunder (Psa 29:3), which is accompanied by the gathering of heavy clouds (“His pavilion round about him,” Psa 18:11). He causeth the vapors to ascend, etc.; the storm-clouds coming up more and more thickly from the horizon. From this point the verse agrees with Psa 135:7 (the psalm is full of such reminiscences, and is obviously very late). Lightning’s with rain; rather, for the rain. The lightning’s are, as it were, the heralds or attendants of the rain. The wind out of his treasures; a noble figure, used elsewhere of the snow and hail (Job 38:22), and of the waters of the sea (Psa 33:7).
Jer 10:14
Before these natural miracles, all men, except those who have been enlightened by revelation, are without knowledge (so, and not in his knowledge, we ought to render); i.e. without insight into their origin and meaning (compare the overwhelming series of questions in the sublime theophany in Job, Jer 28:1-17 :39.). Every founder is confounded by, etc.; rather, every goldsmith is brought to shame by the graven image; for how can the work which has needed all the resources of his skill deliver him?
Jer 10:15
The very essence of idols is vanity; they are unreal as “a breath;” they are, not so much the work of errors as a work of mockery, i.e. not opus rise dignum, but a work which rewards the efforts bestowed upon its production by disappointment.
Jer 10:16
The portion of Jacob; i.e. Jehovah. The phrase appears to have been coined at a lower level of religion, when every nation was supposed to have its own patron deity; just as the prophet says, ironically, to the fetish-worshippers of Israel, “Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion” (Isa 57:5), and Moses, in Deuteronomy (Deu 4:19), speaks of the host of heaven as having been “divided [i.e. assigned] unto all nations under the whole heaven.” But, of course, the phrase is susceptible of a high, spiritual application (comp. Psa 16:5; Psa 142:5). God’s people are, by their very conception, an , chosen out by God, and choosing him, and not the world, for their portion. “Making the best of both worlds” is an object implicitly condemned by this consecrated phrase. The former of all things. How much more forcible is the original phrase: ” of the whole,” i.e. the universe! “To form” is a phrase constantly used of God in the second part of Isaiah. The rod of his inheritance. “Rod” should rather be tribe. The twelve tribes had an inner unity, as contrasted with other peoples; comp. Psa 74:2 and Isa 63:17 (“tribes”).
Jer 10:17-22
This passage connects itself immediately with Jer 9:1-26; where the invasion of Judah and the dispersion of its inhabitants have been foretold. Here, after describing dramatically the departure of the latter into exile, the prophet reports a distinct revelation of the same fact, so that this can no longer be assumed to be mere imaginative rhetoric. The Jewish people is then introduced, lamenting her sad fate, but expressing resignation.
Jer 10:17
Gather up thy wares. “Wares” should rather be bundle. There is no allusion to trafficking. O inhabitant of the fortress; rather, thou that dwellest besieged.
Jer 10:18
I will sling out; a forcible image, to express the violence of the expulsion; comp. Isa 22:17, Isa 22:18 (Isa 22:17 needs correcting). At this once; rather, at this time (comp. Jer 16:21). Invasion was no novelty to the Jews, but had hitherto merely produced loss of goods rather than of personal liberty. That they may find it so; better, that they may feel it. Others supply as. the subject “Jehovah,” comparing Psa 32:6, “In a time of finding. Jeremiah himself says, “Ye shall seek me, and shall find, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jer 29:13 and Deu 4:29). Still, these passages are hardly quite parallel, as the object of the verb can be easily supplied from the connection. The Vulgate apparently reads the text with different vowels, for it renders ut inveniantur; the Septuagint has “that thy stroke may be found.”
Jer 10:19
It is rather doubtful (as in the parallel passage, Jer 4:19-21) whether the speaker here is the prophet, or “the daughter of my people,” who, in Jer 6:26, is called upon to “make most bitter lamentation.” Of course, the prophet cannot dissociate himself from his people; and we rosy therefore, perhaps, consider both references united. Hurt; literally, breach; a term so used for political calamities. A grief; rather, my grief; but “grief” is meant to include both physical and mental sufferings (literally, my sickness).
Jer 10:20
My tabernacle; rather, my tent. It is very striking how present to the minds of the Israelites was the consciousness of their pastoral origin. Hence the cry, “To your tents, O Israel” (1Ki 12:16); comp. also, “And the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as aforetime” (2Ki 13:5). My cords my curtains. The “cords ‘ are those which, by being fastened to poles and stakes, keep the tent steady; the “curtains,” of course, are the covering of the tent (comp. Isa 54:2).
Jer 10:21
The pastors; i.e. the civil authorities (see on Jer 2:8). They shall not prosper; rather, they have not prospered; or, better still, they have not acted wisely, the notion of prospering being rather suggested than expressed (the same word is used in Isaiah lit. 13).
Jer 10:22
Behold is come; rather; Hark! Tidings! Behold, it cometh! The tidings are that the foe is at hand, advancing with a great commotion, with clashing spears, prancing horses, and all the hubbub of a great army. A den of dragons; rather, of jackals (as Jer 9:11).
Jer 10:23-25
These verses confirm the view taken above, of the speaker of this whole section. Jeremiah and the people, each is, in a sense, the speaker; but hero the prophetic faith seems to run rather in advance of that of his fellow-countrymen. They form, however, a fitting sequel to the charges brought against the people in Jer 9:1-26. The speaker admits that he (either the People of Judah personified, or Jeremiah as a representative of its best portion) fully deserves chastisement for having attempted to go his own way (comp. Isa 57:17). He has now attained an insight into the truth that man’s duty is simply to walk in the path which God has marked out for him. He only asks that Jehovah would chastise him with judgment, or,, more clearly, according to what is just. The contrast is between punishment inflicted in anger, the object of which is to cause pain to the criminal, and that inflicted as a duty of justice, and of which the object is the criminal’s reformation” (Payne Smith). The fear expressed, however, is not exactly lest thou bring me to nothing, which is too strong for the Hebrew, but lest thou make me small. Israel was secured against annihilation by the promise of Jehovah, but feared he might possibly survive only as the shadow of his former self.
Jer 10:25
This verse is repeated, with slight differences, in Psa 79:6, Psa 79:7. The fault of the heathen is that they exceeded their commission (Isa 10:6, Isa 10:7; Isa 47:6; Zec 1:15), and aimed at destroying, instead of merely punishing, Jehovah’s erring people. His habitation; rather, his pasture (comp. Jer 12:10)
HOMILETICS
Jer 10:1-5
The folly of paganism.
I. THE FOLLY OF PAGANISM PROVES THE WEAKNESS OF SUPERSTITIOUS FEARS. The Jews were tempted to fear astrological portents (Jer 10:2) and idol-powers (Jer 10:5). Yet a little reflection was enough to show that these things were impotent for harm. The lowest religion is a product of fear. Superstition finds converts where rational faith fails. The trouble thus resulting from the weakness of men can only be dissipated by boldly confronting the source of terror and thoroughly examining it.
II. THE FOLLY OF PAGANISM REVEALS THE MISTAKE OF YIELDING TO ITS FASCINATIONS. For this miserable inanity the Jews were abandoning the God of heaven and earth! Religion should be accepted, not for its attractiveness, but for its truth. It must be a reality or it will be a snare. Yet how many are led to adopt systems of religion without any regard to the truth of the ideas they contain, but simply out of liking for their ritual, emotional sympathy for their poetry, or even mere love of the musical accompaniments of the worship connected with them!
III. THE FOLLY OF PAGANISM IS AN EVIDENCE IN FAVOR OF THE TRUTH OF THE RELIGION OF THE BIBLE. The reason and imagination of men in all ages, in all climes, in all degrees of civilization, have been set to the task of inventing religions (consciously sometimes, but for the most part unconsciously and therefore the more genuinely), and the result in all cases is far inferior to Christianity. A mere comparison of religions should lead us to prefer this, and a simple conclusion from such a comparison is that this must be of Divine origin.
Jer 10:6, Jer 10:7
The incomparable greatness of God.
I. GOD IS GREAT. This simple item of the Mohammedan’s creed must be accepted with equal reverence by the Christian, though it forms but one part of his conception of the Divine nature. There is danger lest we should regard the goodness of God in such a way as to detract from his majesty. Truly considered, it enhances the supreme glory of God’s greatness. God is great in power, in wisdom, in resources, in essential being. God is also great in character, in purpose, in the just and good principles of his actions. The worship of a God of mere power is the cringing of a slave, and has no spiritual value, but rather degrades the devotee by destroying independence of conscience and moral courage. It would be our duty to resist a being of infinite power if that power were not used righteously, for such a being would not be God, but an infinite demon; and though resistance were hopeless, it would be better to be a martyr to conscience than the degraded minion of an unrighteous despotism. But God is worthy of all worship because his greatness of power reposes on greatness of character.
II. THE GREATNESS OF GOD IS INCOMPARABLE. The Jews were led to see that their God was not one among many deities, not even the supreme God, the Zeus of a pantheon of lesser divinities, but the only God, and out of all comparison with all other beings. God is infinite. You cannot compare the infinite with anything finite. The greatest existence which has any limit is as far from the infinite as the smallest. This is as much larger than a world as it is larger than a grain of sand. The being of God is entirely distinct from all other orders of beingvastly greater than the universe of themin its fullness incomparable to any. Yet:
1. God, being infinite, contains in himself all possibilities of being, and therefore all may see their ideal perfection in him though he transcends all (Heb 2:10).
2. God has made man in his own image, and in his power of thought, freedom of will, and moral conscience, man has characteristics like the Divine in kind, though incomparable with that in degree (Gen 1:26). Christ is the “express Image of his substance” (Heb 1:3), “but only so because in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col 2:9).
III. THE INCOMPARABLE GREATNESS OF GOD SHOULD MOVE ALL MEN TO FEAR BEFORE HIM. All should fear because:
1. He is too great to be concerned with a few; all nations, all mankind, are equally under his sway.
2. He is infinitely above the greatest, so that kings and wise men, persons of the highest rank and of the most profound genius, are as much below him as if they were beggars and fools.
3. He is so vast in being, power, and character, that it is no mark of noble independence to resist him, but only a sign of foolish pride which will certainly be humiliated. The fear of God thus engendered is an awe, a reverence, not mere terror. The gospel tempers this with the confident love of children, but does not destroy it, since perfect love, while casting out terror, infuses feelings of reverence.
Jer 10:10, Jer 10:12, Jer 10:13
The nature of God.
The true nature of God is seen in contrast with the objects of heathen worship. Error is sometimes serviceable in furnishing an occasion for a clearer definition of truth. Christian theology has grown up through controversies with heresy and unbelief.
I. THE NATURE OF GOD.
1. God is real. Jehovah is the true God. He is not only superior to heathen deities. They are non-existent. He alone is, Religion is based on facts. Its first affirmation is this”God is.” It is not a growth of the poetic imagination, a fabric of baseless speculation, nor merely “morality touched with emotion,” without any object for that emotion to rest upon. It is the worship of a God who exists. Otherwise no poetic charm nor practical expediency can make it anything but a delusion, which all who venerate truth should abjure.
2. God is living. The word “God” is not a name for the totality of being, for the unconscious forces of the universe, for a blind “Not ourselves that makes for righteousness.” All faith affirms more. No worship is justified without the belief that God is spirit, thinking, willing, living. God is, indeed, the one self-existent life, the life in which all other life is contained (Act 17:28).
3. God is an everlasting King. He is eternal and changelessnot a God of the past alone, but equally active in the present. He is not only the Creator who formed the world ages ago, but the King who now rules it. Our worship is not merely veneration for what he has done, but a constant appreciation of what he is doing, and prayer touching his future actiona real and effectual communion with a living and acting God.
4. These thoughts of the nature of God should induce submission and reverence. None can compare with him. All are in his power. His eternal presence demands constant attention, and his ceaseless activity requires a correspondence in all our activity.
II. THE MANIFESTATION OF THE NATURE OF GOD.
1. It is seen in creation. Power is revealed in the original formation of all things, wisdom in their orderly establishment (Jer 10:12). A real world can only come from a real God. A living world must derive its vitality from an original source of life. The less cannot produce the greater. All that we see in the universe must have been originally in the thought and power of God.
2. It is seen in the present activities of the world. The tumult of waters flows in obedience to God’s voice. Clouds, and wind, and lightning, and rain, follow his directions (Jer 10:13). The great energy of the physical world testifies to an energizing power behind it. The universe is not a beautiful crystal, nor a fossil relic of past life. It is replete with force, undergoing perpetual change, and constantly developing fresh forms of vitality. Such a condition of things implies that the real and living Creator must be also an ever-present Ruler, “an everlasting King.”
Jer 10:16
God the Portion of Israel.
I. GOD IS PECULIARLY RELATED TO HIS OWN PEOPLE. The previous verses describe the universal supremacy of God and the claims he has over all his creatures. He is not one among many gods, but the only God; he is the Creator of all things, in him all things consist, all men live only through him. He is gracious to all his human family, he is willing to give his richest blessings to all mankind. Still, there are other and special relations which God holds only with those who trust and love and obey him. They who seek God will find him as the negligent will never do. They who choose God for their Portion will be chosen by him for peculiar favors. This is quite consistent with the universality of the being and activity of God.
II. GOD‘S PECULIAR RELATION WITH HIS PEOPLE ADMITS OF NO RIVALRY. God must be the Portion of his people or in no sense peculiarly theirs. Israel cannot retain the special privileges of the covenant with Jehovah while breaking the conditions of that covenant which require unwavering fidelity (Deu 28:14). He who would find his portion in God must not also seek it in the world. He may have many worldly advantages while pursuing higher aims, because these may be “added unto him;” but he must “seek first the kingdom of God” (Mat 6:33).
III. GOD‘S PECULIAR RELATION WITH HIS PEOPLE IS AN UNSPEAKABLE BLESSING TO THEM.
1. He makes them his inheritance, i.e. prizes them as property, values them “as the apple of his eye” (Deu 32:10), as his “peculiar treasure” (Mal 3:17). If God showers down upon all his creatures mercies countless as the stars of heaven, what must be the wonder and the glory of their state whom God thus prizes and marks for special favor!
2. They find in him their Portion.
(1) The Portion is God, not the gifts of God, for the Giver is better than his gifts. God is more to his people than all he bestows upon them.
(2) This portion is independent of all earthly circumstances; it may be enjoyed in sickness, in poverty, in human contempt.
(3) It is the highest blessedness of the soulenjoying God, living in the light of his love, receiving the essential blessedness of Heaven.
IV. THE BLESSING OF THIS PECULIAR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IS OPEN TO ALL MEN. The Jews too often rested their claim on inherent national rightstheir birthrights. But the New Testament declares the spiritual Israel to be the true Israel (Gal 6:15, Gal 6:16), and this Israel is composed of all who walk “according to the rule” of faith in Christ. Therefore the broad invitation for all to follow Christ opens the door for all to the closest relationship with God. If all are invited to Christ who is the Way, all may become God’s peculiar inheritance, and find their Portion in him (1Pe 2:9).
Jer 10:23, Jer 10:24
Confession and correction.
I. GENUINE CONFESSION INVOLVES A CLEAR RECOGNITION OF DUTY AND A WILLINGNESS TO RECEIVE NECESSARY CORRECTION.
1. There must be a recognition of duty. We cannot confess the wrong till we know the right. Conscience awakes only when a standard of right outside ourselves is perceived.
2. There must be a willingness to receive necessary correction. If we make honest confession of sin, we imply that we desire to be free from it. But a right understanding of our own condition in the light of God’s requirements makes the necessity of correction apparent.
II. A CLEAR RECOGNITION OF DUTY WILL SHOW THAT THIS CONSISTS IN SELF–ABNEGATION TO A HIGHER WILL. The essence of sin is self-will. The first sin was an act of disobedience. All wickedness is a rebellion against a supreme authority. Man is not free to live to himself, swayed only by his own lawless caprice. He has a vocation to fulfill:
1. He has no right to go his own way. He is a servant. He is lawfully subject to a righteous Lord, before whom duty requires him to say, “Not my will, but thine, be done.”
2. He has not light enough to direct his own steps. Future accidents cannot be anticipated. The ultimate effects of the simplest action are not to be traced beforehand. Hence the need of a higher direction.
3. He has not power to succeed in his own way. If he starts by himself, making the awful experiment of a self-sustained pilgrimage through the toils and storms of life, he will assuredly make shipwreck. Our duty is not to live for self, nor even for God in our own way or by our own unaided strength, but to do his will, in his way, by his aid. Thus the Christian, looking for authority, guidance, and strength in Christ, is taught to say, “To me to live is Christ.”
III. A WILLINGNESS TO RECEIVE CORRECTION ARISES FROM A PERCEPTION OF ITS JUSTICE AND UTILITY WHEN VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF DUTY.
1. It must be recognized as just, not only merited, but coming in a fair degree. We could not willingly accept a correcting chastisement which was disproportionate to guilt.
2. It must be recognized as given on principles of righteousness, not out of vindictive wrath.
3. It must be recognized as sent for a merciful purpose. It is correction, not simply retribution. This is wholesome, and given, not in anger, which would be fatal (Psa 2:12), but in love (Pro 3:12). Such correction we should not murmur under, but welcome, accept as a blessing, and even pray for. But we shall only do this when we are impressed with a right sense of duty, which makes us acknowledge that we are not to live for ourselves, and must be subdued and trained by all necessary means to submission and obedience and a true feeling of our own helplessness, requiring the help of Divine discipline, Because man’s way is not in himself he may naturally ask for wholesome correction.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR
Jer 10:2-5
The helplessness of heathen gods a conclusive argument against them.
How is the superstitious worship of nature and inanimate objects to be corrected? It is obvious that the attributes attached by the worshippers to the idols they worship are wholly foreign to them. It is ignorance, association, and the tendency to transfer subjective ideas to objects of sense, that have largely to do with this. The correction, therefore, must be furnished by a real analysis of the idola taking of it to pieces, and examining how it came into existence. But
I. LET US INQUIRE WHAT WORSHIP INVOLVES. It is evident that an impression must exist of the power of the object worshipped to help or to hurt. In some way men have associated it with the production of evil or good in human destiny. A sense of dependence is generated. Fear arises, to degenerate into vulgar terror or to refine itself into the sentiments of reverence and respect. A being greater than ourselves is needed to constitute a veritable God to the human heart.
II. TESTED BY THIS, IDOLS AND CELESTIAL SIGNS CANNOT BE GODS.
1. Careful observation will show that, whilst there may be agreement between certain changes of the heavenly bodies and the changes of weather, physical condition, etc; these are not producible as by a responsible will but according to the fixed laws of nature.
2. The stars of heaven and the idols of earth are alike constituted of inanimate matter.
3. In addition to this, the latter are wholly the creatures of man.
4. Neither the heavenly bodies nor the idols can help themselves.M.
Jer 10:6, Jer 10:7
The uniqueness of Jehovah.
When other gods have been proved to be false, it is very important that this unlikeness of God to anything else should be established. His claim to attention and reverence is thereby held in judgment.
I. IN WHAT RESPECTS JEHOVAH IN UNIQUE.
1. In idea. It is a wondrous conceptiona being so great, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. As a conception it stands alone, commands respect, and invites reverent investigation. Such goodness with such power and wisdom!
2. In pretensions.
(1) He claims our sole worship;
(2) our highest and holiest service is his by right, and is unworthy of him;
(3) our welfare and destiny are in his hands.
3. In works. There is nothing he has claimed to be which he has not made good in his workscreation, providence, grace.
II. THIS CONCEPTION OF GOD AS UNIQUE HARMONIZES WITH THE INSTINCTS OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT, AND THE TEACHINGS OF HISTORY AND NATURE. It has cast its spell over the mightiest intellects, and commanded the homage of the purest and best of men. In the worship of him whom it represents the highest longings are satisfied, and the most characteristically human sympathies and principles encouraged. The unity of nature; the mental principle that traces everything to a great First Cause; the manner in which the system of religion of which he is center and dominating principle explains this, and harmonizes the life of man with his surroundings;are all indications that point to the same conclusion.M.
Jer 10:19
Grief borne that cannot be cured.
I. AN INSTANCE OF THE POWER OF TRUE RELIGION. His sorrow was intense. No one could understand or sympathize with it. Yet he is able to put it under and, although not removing it wholly, to bear it. This is alike removed from self-indulgence and stoicism.
II. THE CONSIDERATIONS THAT AFFECTED HIM IN THIS WAY. He had to finish his task. It was practical, and could admit of no interruption. The sense of duty is, therefore, supremepatience, submission. His grief is recognized as a personal stewardship. He is responsible for its expression and repression. It has a special relation to his own character and life. He regards it, therefore as sent from God, and not, therefore, to be hastily dismissed. How it enriched his nature, increased his personal usefulness, and enhanced the value of his writings to generations then unborn
III. CHRISTIANITY IS TESTED BY THE MANNER IN WHICH IT ENABLES MEN TO BEAR AFFLICTION. The relation of our sorrows to our personal and spiritual salvation. The ministry of sorrow. The hopes of the future alleviating and directing into profitable reflection and effort. “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh,” etc,M.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Jer 10:1-17
Idolatry.
This section of Jeremiah’s prophecy is one of the notable passages in the. Scriptures concerning idolatry. It is like that in Psa 115:1-18; and in Isa 40:1-31; Isa 44:1-28. It states or suggests much of great interest on this subject, and which deserves to be well considered by us. There is
I. THE TREMENDOUS FACT OF IDOLATRY. See:
1. The multitudes of mankind who have avowed such worship.
2. The wide extent of the world’s inhabited countries over which it prevails.
3. Its permanence. It has lasted on from age to age, and has been handed down unchanged from generation to generation, so that the prophet could challenge his countrymen to tell of any nation which had ever changed their gods (cf. Jer 2:11). And though vast portions of mankind have professedly thrown aside their idols, yet there are still more who have not even at the present day. Idolatry is the dominant religion of the world today, if numbers are considered, even as it was in the days of Jeremiah, and this notwithstanding
II. ITS MANIFEST ABSURDITY. How scathing is the ridicule which the prophet pours out upon such monstrous worship! With what sarcasm he dwells upon the fact of their being mere wooden dolls, hideous as a scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers (cf. Exposition, Verse 5), chipped into such shape as they have by the hands of the men who worship them, decked with tawdry finery, must be nailed up lest they should tumble down, and “must needs be borne because they cannot go” (Verse 5), and are, of course, powerless either for evil or for good. And the prophet points out (Verse 8) that the absurdity is none lessened when the idols are of a more costly sort. They may be plated with silver and adorned with gold (Verse 9), and the workmanship may be of a much more elaborate and artistic kind. But it is all the same; the idol is nothing but a piece of wood, and that which is taught about them is “a doctrine of vanities,” i.e. utterly false and absurd. But though idolatry be thus manifestly absurd, yet we are forced to admit the fact of
III. ITS NEVERTHELESS STRANGE BUT STRONG ATTRACTIVENESS. How else can not only the multitude of its votaries be accounted for, and their fidelity to it, but also the high rank and leading position of those nations who adhered to it? They were not mere barbarous savages who worshipped idols, but the foremost peoples of the world. The empires of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Greece, Rome, were all sworn upholders of idolatry (cf. Act 17:1-34.). And today it is not the mere fetish-worshippers of the South Seas and Africa who are idolaters, but people such as the Chinese and Hindusto say nothing of those who in Christian Churches bow down before tinsel-decked images or pictures of virgins, apostles, and saints, and, if they do not worship them, render them homage which can hardly be distinguished from worship. And a yet further proof of this attraction is that the well-instructed people of God, the seed of Israel, the possessors of the oracles of God, were forever falling into this sin. This entire chapter is one appeal and protest against their so doing. And we know how often in the past they had bowed down to idols. The command which stands at the head of the Decalogue, by its position there, by its fullness of expression, and by the severity of its sanctions, shows that the attraction of the idolatry which it denounced was indeed terrible, and therefore needed to be thus solemnly forbidden. And age after age the same command had to be repeated, and its violation sternly punished, notwithstanding that (Verse 16)” the Portion of Jacob” was “not like” these wretched idolsno indeed, but was the alone true God, the living God, the everlasting King (Verse 10). And yet there were needed this command and appeal; yes, and the consuming fire of God’s wrath which fell upon Israel in their captivity, before the taint of idolatry could be burnt out of them. Now, how was this? Note, therefore
IV. ITS PROBABLE REASON AND CAUSE. We cannot observe the tremendous fact of idolatry without being led to inquire into its origin. It is not sufficient to refer to the license it gave to the sensual nature of man; if such license were all that was desired, why couple it with some form of worship? The explanation must lie deeper than this. And that missionary would get on very poorly with any tolerably educated heathen if he were to assume that the idolater worshipped the hideous idol before which he bows ‘himself down. He would tell you that he did nothing of the kind, but that which he worshipped was the unseen powers of which that idol was the symbol. No doubt idolatry degenerates into actual idol-worship. That with which something Divine has been so long associated comes to be regarded as itself Divine, and worshipped accordingly. And then idolatry has sunk down into fetishism. And it may be often seen where you would least expect it. But originally idolatry was not the worship of images. That worship may probably be thus explained.
1. Man cannot do without a deity of whom, in some form or other, he must be conscious, and whose presence he can realize so as to be able to look to him in time of need. Man cannot be a thorough atheist. His instinctive religiousness and tendency to worship cannot be ever kept under. For a while it may, but let heavy sorrow come, or let fear and dread fill his mind, and he will, he must, then call upon God.
2. But God will not reveal himself to us except to our spirits. He can be only spiritually discerned. Not through any of our senses, or through our intellect, but through the Spirit alone. “They that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
3. But such coming to God involves purity of heart and life. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” And not only purity, but great spiritual effort. How difficult we find it to realize the presence of God, to hold down our minds, and to summon the energies of the will when we pray! “We know not how to pray as we ought.” And permitted sin, defiling the conscience and destroying our confidence, will ever hinder spiritual worship.
4. But these imperative conditions of worship that it should be in spirit, and that it should be puremen like not. Still, they must worship. What, then, is to be done? The idol is the solution. To avoid the strain and effort of the spirit, men have taken as a symbol some material thingas the Israelites at Sinai took the golden calfand so have sought to represent God to their minds. The idolater persuades himself he cannot know the Deity directly, and therefore will avail himself of the aid some sensuous object will afford. And such symbol he can carry about with him, and there is no need of purity of heart for such worship-it can be done without. What wonder, then, that man, averse to spiritual exercises and sensual-hearted, should have everywhere fled to idolatry, as in fact he has done? It is an endeavor to have the favor of God on cheaper terms than he demands; on conditions easier and more agreeable to our fallen nature. But in regard to the idolatries into which Judah and Jerusalem so often fell, there must be remembered not only the force of those universal causes of idolatry now considered, but the further force of powerful example all around them. Who were the mighty nations with whom they had most to do? Egypt, Assyria, Babylon. Tyre also, in her wealth and might, stood on their northern border, and yet others, whose fame reached them from afar, flourished and grew strong. But all these worshipped idols. Happiness, success, strength, and power seemed to be with these nations and not with the worshippers of Jehovah. And all this Judah saw and deeply observed, and at length came to believe that it was better for them to serve idols than to serve God (of. for proof of this, Jer 44:17-19). For Israel to keep from idolatry was to swim against wind and tide, and to do so when wind and tide promised to bear them or to a condition of prosperity greater than they had ever known. And Jeremiah knew that in Babylon, where they were going, they would be exposed to the full force of this temptation. The devil of idolatry would come to them, and, pointing to the glory of Babylon, would say, “All these things will I give thee, if,” etc. And to fortify them against this temptation was the object of the prophet’s earnest appeal. The tempter would suggest to them, “You have lost everything by worshipping God. Your conquerors, who hold you now in their power, and have destroyed your city, your temple, your land, have gained all their glory by worshipping their gods. Do you the same; learn their ways.”
V. ITS CONSEQUENCES. These have been very terrible. With Israel God dealt very sternly. His direct vengeance came upon them again and again. It was hanging over them at this time as a dark thunder-cloud. But besides this, there were the natural results of such worshipresults which were conspicuous in Judah and Jerusalem, and have ever been so in all idolatrous nations (cf. Verse 8). They became “brutish,” “given over to vile affections” (cf. Rom 1:20-32).
VI. ITS SURE BUT ONLY ANTIDOTE. Living faith in the living Godthis alone, but this surely, would enable them to resist, not only the clamor and cravings of their lower nature, but also the seductive force of the seeming success which idolatry had won and they had lost. Only such faith would serve them, and hence, in Verses 6, 7, 10-13, 16, the prophet bids them remember the incomparable glory, majesty, and power of the Lord, the true God, the living God (Verse 10), and the terribleness of his wrath. He reminds them that God is Creator (Verse 12) and Preserver (Verse 13). He who formed the earth governs it still, and he is their God, and they are his people. He is their “Portion,” and “Israel is the rod of his inheritance” (Verse 16). And this which would be Israel’s safeguard must be ours still. Let that living faith in the living God be lost, and at once resort will be bad to symbols and substitutes for God, which, though in form they may be far different from the idols of the heathen, yet in substance and effect are the same.
VII. ITS PRESENT–DAY LESSONS. There are such, for the peril of Israel is our own.
1. For we also mayand many dosubstitute reverence for those things which are associated with the worship of God for that worship in spirit and in truth which he alone cares for. Symbols, sacraments, creeds, Churches, religious observances,any one of these may become an idol, that is, a substitute for God. They demand no strain and energy of our spiritual nature; the senses or the intellect can grasp them; and they make no such strenuous demand upon the surrender of the will, the yielding of the heart to God; they will let us do as we like, if not entirely yet far more than true spiritual worship ever will. And thus, though we be called Christians, we may be idolaters after all.
2. And let us guard against being deceived by the sanction which worldly success and present good so often lend to ways which God forbids. There was very much around Israel whose desirableness said to them, “Come with us, and we will do you good.” Idolatry did seem to answer, whilst their religion did not. And the way of the wicked will often seem to prosper, whilst “waters of a full cup” of sorrow “are wrung out” to the people of God. The mighty bribe which Satan pressed upon our blessed Lord, if he would but renounce the way of the cross appointed for him by his Father, and take “all the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them “that same bribe is pressed upon myriad souls still.
3. By constant and earnest worship of God let us cherish and keep alive in our hearts that living faith in the living God made known to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, which alone can, but surely will, meet and overcome all those temptations to idolatry, which now, as of old, beset every human soul.C.
Jer 10:16
The Portion of Jacob.
By this expression, “the Portion of Jacob,” is meant the Lord God. Once again it is met with in Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jer 51:1-64.), where several of the verses of this chapter, our text amongst the rest, are repeated word for word. It is interesting to inquire the probable reason for this beautiful but unusual name being given to God. That God is the Portion of his people is a precious truth often declared. But this form of that precious truth is unusual, and may well lead us to ask why God is so called. And there can be little doubt, I think, that the motive of the prophet was to touch the hearts of those whom he addressed, and, if so it might be, to waken up again a longing after this “Portion of Jacob,” which they were so fast letting go. There was an appealing power in this name, and for that reason it was probably chosen. The devout Jew loved to think and tell of God as the God of Jacob. You meet with the two names thus linked together perpetually in the psalms and often elsewhere. “The God of Jacob is our Refuge,” “The Name of the God of Jacob defend thee,” etc. Sometimes we read of God as the God of Abraham, and as the God of Isaac, but more commonly as the God of Jacob. Now, why is this? Is it not because that Jacob was more thoroughly the representative and father of the Jewish people than any other patriarch? Abraham was a great hero of the faith; Isaac’s career was too still and serene to be at all a pattern of their own; but Jacob, he was the typical Jew, both in the mingled good and evil of his character, and in the manifold trials and vicissitudes of his life. A sorrowful, struggling, and often sinful man was be, sore chastened of the Lord again and again, but never given over unto death; like the bush burning in the fire but never burnt, and coming out of God’s disciplines the better for having passed through them. In him the Jews saw their own character and career vividly portrayed, and they loved to feel that God was the God of Jacob; the God, therefore, whom they needed, and in whom he who was the truest representative of all their race found strength and solace and salvation. Thus this appellation here given to God, “the Portion of Jacob,” was calculated to waken up many very tender and holy memories, and might lead, as was sorely needed, to a better mind towards God amongst those to whom the prophet spoke, and to a turning away from those idolatries by which now and for so long they had been sinning against God and destroying themselves. And the Portion of Jacob waits to be ours as well as his. Jacob was not only a representative Jew, but also a representative man. For men are but rarely cast in the heroic mould of Abraham, nor is their career quiet and uncheckered like that of Isaac. But in the sins and sorrows, the struggles and falls, the temptations and trials of Jacob they behold themselves. God by this name declares himself to be the God of, the Portion of, all sinful, sorrowing, struggling, and much-tried men everywhere and at all times; the God, therefore, that we need, the Helper we want. He is the God who is revealed to us in our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom there is neither Greek nor Jew, no distinction of any kind, but who is “the Savior of all men, specially of them that believe.” If, then, this Portion of Jacob may be our Portion too, we shall consider with more interest what that Portion consists of, what it was that Jacob possessed in God. And to see this let us recall to our minds the records that are given of the patriarch’s career. As we study them we shall readily see what portion Jacob had in God, and how precious a possession it was. And
I. IN GOD HE FOUND UNSPEAKABLE GRACE. Was there ever a more wretched, guilty sinner than Jacob, when he fled away from his home in just fear of his outraged brother’s wrath? He had entrapped him once and again, inflicting on him grievous wrong; he had deceived his aged father; he had lied again and again in the basest and most hypocritical way. Altogether the man was odious in the sight of all; all our sympathies go over in a rush towards the frank if foolish Esau. Jacob’s character was at this time nothing less than repulsive. His mother was probably the only living soul who had either faith in or affection for him. He had deserved the reprobation of all And we cannot but believe that he must have felt very much of this, and that it was with a sense of deepest sin and shame he fled away to Padanaram, from his father’s and mother’s home. Man had cast him off; would not God do the like? For his sin had not been that of one who had never known God. God had been about him all his days; he had learnt to know, to fear, and desire God. He had been, as all knew, an avowedly religious man. His sin was therefore all the more unpardonable, as his guilt was all the greater. He is shown to us out on the wide stony track over the mountains which form the backbone of Palestine. The day has ended, the sun gone down; he is all alone, the night is gathering round him.. The ground is strewn with huge fragments of the bare, barren rock of which the mass of those mountains is composed. On the cold hard ground he lays himself down to rest, helpless, hopeless, forsaken, he might well think, both of God and man. But it was not so, for God came to him there. “In the visions of the night the rough stones formed themselves into a vast staircase reaching into the depth of the wide and open sky, which without any interruption of tent or tree was stretched ever the sleeper’s head. On the steps of that staircase were seen ascending and descending the messengers of God; and from above there came the Divine voice, which told the houseless wanderer that, little as he thought it, he had a Protector there and everywhere; that even in this bare and open thoroughfare, in no consecrated grove or cave, ‘the Lord was in this place, though he knew it not.’ This was Bethel, the house of God, the gate of heaven.” What the effect of this glorious vision must have been upon him we can hardly ever estimate. The nearest Scripture parallel probably would be the effect of the father’s gracious reception upon the returning prodigal. Somewhat akin to his feelings must have been those of Jacob at this time. For what he had seen and heard had shown him beyond doubt that God had not cast him off, had not dealt with him after his sins nor rewarded him according to his iniquities. It was like the kiss of the Divine forgiveness, the joy of conscious realization of God’s redeeming love. Yes; Jacob found this Portion in God, the fullness of forgiving love. But is not this the Portion we want, the God we need to know? Not one who will cast us away from his presence and throw us over when we have done wrong. If God were strict to mark iniquities, who of us could stand? But the God, the Portion of Jacob, meets our need; for as Jacob was sinful and often falling into sin, so are we.
II. Another element of this portion which Jacob possessed in God was the CONTINUAL AND MOST COMFORTING MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD which he was privileged to enjoy. How continually in his career are we met with instances of God’s appearing to him! And besides the distinctly recorded instances, the impression is left upon the mind that it was the constant privilege of Jacob to hold intercourse with God, to talk with him as a man talketh with his friend. Yes; the God of Jacob was One who was graciously willing to come near to his servant, and to be known by him as his Goda God near at hand, and not afar off. But who can estimate what these Divine communications did for Jacob?how unspeakably valuable an element in his portion this was? What courage, what confidence, what bright hope, what strength of faith, it must have imparted to the patriarch’s mind! And such blessedness is assured to all believers. “I will come unto them, and will manifest myself unto them,” said our Savior. “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” “God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble.” It is because we cannot realize God’s presence, can in no way feel him near to us, that therefore our hearts fail us for fear and our souls are cast down within us. But he to whom God reveals himself as he did to Jacob has in that fact a safeguard and protection from fear such as naught else can afford.
III. But another element in the portion which Jacob had in God was that of PURIFYING DISCIPLINE. Assuredly he was not left without chastisement; yea, it was a very scourging that was dealt out to him on account of his sins. Men are apt, both in reading the Bible and in observing the too frequent failures of godly men now, to look steadily at the sins of men like Jacob and David and others, and to wonder how such men can be regarded as God’s people at all; but they do not look on and observe how sorely they are punished for their faults, and how they in-this world find, beyond well-nigh all others, that “the way of transgressors is hard.” Whoever else may seem to sin with impunity, the children of God may not and do not. No doubt Rebekah and Jacob thought they had done a very wise and clever thing when, by deceiving Isaac, they fraudulently obtained the blessing which belonged to Esau as the firstborn. But Rebekah, in the long years of melancholy bereavement of her favorite sonfor she never saw him again after that day he fled from his homehad abundant leisure to see and repent of her folly and her sin. And Jacob, as he ate the bread of servitude and dwelt a stranger in a strange land, haunted with dread of Esau, was made to know that his trickery and fraud had borne him but a wretched harvest. The consuming fire of God’s holy love burnt fiercely on until this dross which was so mingled with the pure ore of Jacob’s faith was purged out of him. And this is ever an indispensable and a never-absent part of the portion of Jacob. The purging, purifying disciplines of God’s holy love we shall all have to submit to according to our need of them. And this should render the Portion of Jacob not less but more precious in our esteem. If we willingly submit to much pain and distress in order that the health of the body, which at best can last only for a few short years, may be secured, may we not much rather submit ourselves to whatever of painful discipline God may appoint in order to secure the health of our souls, which shall live forever? How dreadful would it be if God were not thus to purge and cleanse us; if he were to allow the cancerous growth of our sins to spread and grow until it had obtained such hold on us that death, eternal death, must follow! But this, out of fatherly love to us, he will never allow; and therefore Jacob was, and so we must be, held down to the suffering which his disciplines cause until their perfect work is done, and we are presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Oh, let us be more anxious that God’s will should be done in us than that his hand should be taken off from us. Never, never may he say concerning any one of us as he did concerning Ephraim, “He is joined to his idols: let him alone.”
IV. GOD‘S PROVIDENTIAL GUARDIANSHIP AND CARE was a further element in the portion of Jacob. How God watched over him! how truly Jacob could say, “He knoweth the way that I take!” Never was there any man to whom these words were more appropriate than they were to him. With what constant interest did God appear to mark all the way by which Jacob had to go! His eye was never off him, his hand never withdrawn, his help never wanting when needed. Even when Jacob did not dream that God was near him, he was so in fact. So that he had to confess as at Bethel, “Surely God is in this place, though I knew it not.” Hearken how he speaks of God when blessing the sons of Joseph. He tells of him as “the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil.” Such was his confession of that never-failing care, that incessant interest with which the Lord God had watched over every stage of his life’s journey. How all his very steps had been ordered by the Lord! This is another characteristic of the portion which Jacob had in God. And must not that man be blessed who consciously realizes that he has this God for his Help? To have our lives made God’s care, our interests his concern, to have his angels evermore keeping watch and ward over us, encamping round about us to deliver us,this is another blessed element in the portion of Jacob and of all like him.
V. MEETNESS FOR “THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS IN LIGHT.” Gradually, step by step, sometimes with seeming retrogression, but ever advancing on the whole, Jacob was lifted up from the low level of his former spiritual life, and ceased to be any longer Jacob, and became Israel. Such elevation, such meetness for “the inheritance of the saints,” was and ever is part of the portion of Jacob, and a most blessed part it is.
And now, IN CONCLUSION, let us ask, Is there such a Portion anywhere else. Our text affirms, “The Portion of Jacob is not like them.” The prophet is speaking of the wretched idols before whom his countrymen were so prone to bow down. It seems wonderful that any should have ever thought that the God of Jacob was like them. Like them! when even to think of them was to despise them with utter contempt. What a contrast to him, whom mind, and heart, and will, body, soul, and spirit could never sufficiently adore! It seemed monstrous that any should substitute for him those wretched idols, upon whom the prophet, in the preceding part of this chapter, pours forth his bitter scorn. But he means by the assertion we have been considering to declare that the Portion of Jacob is an incomparable Portion. None can be put beside, still less put in the place of him. And this is a truth for today. We ask again the question, “Is there such a Portion anywhere else?” Oh that they whom the psalmist calls “men of the world,” and of whom he says, “they have their portion in this life,” would compare the twoJacob’s and their own! Ah! you who have not the Portion of Jacob, we allow that you may have very much that is bright and fair. God may fill your veins with health, your coffers with gold, your houses with all luxury, your gardens with flowers, your fields with fruits, and your life with comfort and outward peace; but you are like those trees which in the winter-time are called Christmas-trees. “One feels a kind of pang at the first sight of such trees. No doubt it is beautiful in its way, with the little lights twinkling among the branches, and the sweet gifts of affection hanging from every twig. But the tree itself, are you not sorry for it?rooted no longer, growing no more, no more circulation of the living sap, no sweet discoursing by its means between air and soil, between soil and air. The last waves of its life are sinking, and the more you hang upon it and the more you gather round it the faster it will die” (Dr. Raleigh). And if we have not the Portion of Jacob, we are like one of these trees. Loaded it may be with all manner of pleasant things, and surrounded with affection, but dying all the while. But “the Portion of Jacob is not like them “one that will abandon you at the close of your life, or maybe long before, and leave you helpless and forlorn. Oh no; but then, when “heart and flesh fail,” God will be “the Strength of your heart,” and your “Portion forevermore.” That is the portion of Jacob, and oh may God grant that it may be yours and mine, and that of all we love! Amen.C.
Jer 10:17, Jer 10:18
Wherefore God doth judge the world.
It is not of the world at large, but of Judah and Jerusalem, that the prophet is here speaking. But nevertheless the judgments of God and the design wherewith they were sent, though having reference only to one people, are true examples of all like judgments, whenever, wherever, and however they come. Therefore note
I. THE JUDGMENTS FORETOLD. The people are to be driven forth into exile and captivity. The whole book tells of their sorrows. Jeremiah’s prophecy is one long denunciation of the wrath of God about to come on the guilty land. He was sent to declare this in the hope that those to whom he spoke might yet turn to the Lord and live; like Noah, that “preacher of righteousness” who warned the godless of his day of the judgment that was coming upon them. More particularly in these verses Jeremiah declares (Verse 17) that not even the meanest and poorest will escape. The “wares” spoken of tell rather of the few mean possessions, the small trifling properties, of a poor man, which in his haste he would gather together in a bundle and so endeavor to save (cf. Exposition). In former judgments it was mainly the high and lofty, those of wealth and station, who had suffered; but now all, from the highest to the lowest, should be included in the overwhelming desolations about to be poured forth. And so the prophet represents the poor and wretched hastily gathering up their little effects, and making off’ with them as best they may. And Verse 18 adds yet other terrible features to this delineation of the judgment that is coming: “Behold, I will sling out,” etc. This, therefore, shows how ready they must have been for such treatment. David selected smooth stones from the brook, such as were fit and apt for his sling, and with them he went forth to meet Goliath. Not any missile, not any stone, would serve. And so if it were possible, as it was, for a people to be “slung out” of a land, they must have made themselves fit for such judgment, or else they would not have been subjected to it. And this they had been doing for many a long year. “When the husbandman seeth that the harvest is come, he putteth in the sickle.” This is true of the visitation of judgment as well as of grace. The violence of the people’s expulsion from their land is also indicated: as a stone is hurled forth from the sling. And the completeness of the judgment: “at this once,” i.e. completely, thoroughly, at one blow. Former judgments had been partial, temporary, long drawn out. This was to be complete, perpetual, and “at once” as a stone is in a moment driven forth from the sling. And their far-distant destination is suggested. God intended that they should be carried far off into the land of their exile (cf. Isa 22:18). But note
II. THE FACT THAT THESE JUDGMENTS ARE DECLARED TO HAVE A PURPOSE BEYOND THEMSELVES. All was to be done “that they may find.” It is plain, therefore, however we supply what must come after the word “find,” that there was a definite Divine purpose in all these calamities. They were not to be an end in themselves, but to lead on to one beyond. And surely this must be the purpose of all God’s judgments; he can have no satisfaction in them simply as punishment. His heart is set on what is to come forth out of them, and the result has regard to them. “That they may find;” they who have sinned so terribly, they shall learn by these judgments that he sends.
III. WHAT THAT PURPOSE IS. What is it that they may find? Our translators have simply added the words “it so,” thus leaving undetermined what the finding is to be. But surely that which God would have them find is all that which hitherto they could not be persuaded to believe in, e.g. the bitterness of disobedience, the vanity of idols, the sure truth of God’s word, the uselessness of all religion that is not from the heart, etc. But all this to the intent that they may find, as at last many of them did, the way of repentance and return to God. God had made them for himself, as he has made us all for himself. It is blasphemy to think of him as creating human souls, endued as they all are with such vast capacities, with any other design. And hence it is that the heart of man is unquiet, has no rest, until it find rest in God. God will not suffer it to be otherwise, blessed be his Name. And since for Judah and Jerusalem nothing else would do, they should go into bitter exile, and suffer as in the very fire, “that they might find” God; that they might come to themselves, and say, “I wilt arise and go to my father,” etc. “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth;” and for the persistently impenitent a most awful will it is. As the late Duke of Wellington was wont to say, “There is only one thing worse than a great victory, and that is a great defeat;” so we may say there is only one thing worse for the ungodly than this set will of God for their salvation, and that is that his will should not be as it is.
IV. WHAT, THEREFORE, WE ARE TO LEARN FROM THIS.
1. Give thanks and praise to the Lord God for his most gracious purpose concerning men, that they should find him (cf. Psa 100:1-5; “Oh be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands for it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture”).
2. Compel him not, as Judah did, to resort to sore judgments ere we will seek and “find” him.
3. At once take Christ’s yoke and learn of him, and so find rest in our souls by finding him.C.
Jer 10:19
Submission.
I. THE GRIEF CONTEMPLATED. It is told of in Jer 10:17, etc. And it wan indeed great; the “wound was grievous;” for;
1. It was universal. It affected all classes and in all ways, in mind, body, and estate.
2. So severe. It was not a “light affliction,” but “the iron entered into their souls.”
3. And it was self-caused. The fangs of remorse were fastened in them by the consciousness they could not escape, that they had brought all their sorrows upon themselves.
4. And they drew down so many others, and innocent ones, in their own doom. This is ever one of the most fearful torments to the soul of the guilty. “I have ruined, not myself only, but my wife, children, parents, friends.” The dart, if it be plunged first into the heart of those we love, will rankle in our own all the more terribly when it pierces us.
5. And the fight of God‘s countenance was gone. With that we can bear anything. Paul and Silas sang praises in the dungeon at Philippi. But withdrawn, driven away by cur sin, then is the soul sad indeed.
6. And it was irreparable. The wrath of God had arisen, and there “was no remedy” (cf. Verse 20). But note
II. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH IT WAS BORNE. “But I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.” Now, these words might be used to express a spirit of sullen hardihood. Some have so understood them. But we rather regard them as the language of pious submission, It is the true Israelite who speaks; not the godless, idol-loving multitude, but the chosen of God who were mingled among them. And that this is so is shown:
1. By the check the speaker puts upon his lament. He was about seemingly to launch out in great complainings when he arrests his speech by recollections of a different kind: “But I said,” etc. He would not allow himself in any more complaint; he replies to all such thoughts by the considerations he now brings forward. He recognizes the cause of all these sorrows (Verse 21). It was their failure to “seek the Lord,” the pastors becoming ” brutish”their grievous sin. Mere sullenness would never make such a confession as this.
3. And the spirit of Verses 23-25, so lowly, devout, and filled with sacred desire,all these show that we are to understand Verse 19 as the utterance, not of defiant hardihood or any other evil spirit, but as that of submission. Parallels, therefore, are to be found in the submission of Aaron at the death of his sons (cf. also Lam 3:18-21, Lam 3:39, Lam 3:40; Mic 7:9; Psa 77:10; Psa 39:9, etc.).
III. This SPIRIT GREATLY TO BE COMMENDED.
1. For its nature. It is not the spirit of a stoic, of one who sets his teeth firm, and resolves to endure, come what may; but it is tender, gentle, and keenly susceptible of pain. Nor is it silent. Its voice is heard in prayers, confessions, praises, and it is ever desiring more of God’s presence and grace. Nor is it slothful. It will be open-eyed to see and alert to act if aught can be done to minister relief or gain deliverance. Thus it does not violate any good instinct or dictate either of nature or conscience, as it would do were it characterized by either of the undesirable qualities named. They each have some sort of semblance of submission, but are far away removed from being identical with it or necessary to it. But submission consists in that calm composure of our whole nature, that meek acquiescence in the will of God, however painful that will may be. And therefore this spirit is commendable:
2. For its comeliness. How morally beautiful and lovely it is! We never tire of it, never do anything but in our hearts admire and praise it, and long to make it our own. How our hearts go out towards those that have eminently manifested it! As Aaron (cf. supra); Job saying,” The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away,” etc.; Moses; and above all, our Savior. Notwithstanding all his present and most deserved glory as our risen Lord, it is to him on the cross, crowned with thorns, in all the glory of his meek submissionto him the heart of humanity ever turns with adoring love and trust.
3. For its self-conquest. Under the smart and distress of great loss and disaster, how ready the understanding is to think hard thoughts and to utterly resent what God has done! And the will, how sullenly it frowns upon God, and with lowering brow refuses to submit! And the passions, how they rage in torrents of tears and wild wailing cries of angry agony! And the lips, what hard speeches they are prompt to utter (cf. “I said in my haste, All men are liars”)! And the hands, how eager to take revenge upon any who have been the means and instruments of our affliction! But the spirit of submission holds all these hot, eager forces in, as with bit and bridle, and bids them all be still. They are, as were the lions before Daniel, awed and subdued by his calm, hallowed presence. Blessed is he who can thus conquer himself. None else shall conquer him, and least of ‘all any of the mere circumstances of life (cf. Pro 16:32).
4. For its wisdom. “There are few things in the world so totally and entirely bad but some advantage may be made of them by a dexterous management; and it is certainly a man’s wisdom to make the best of a bad condition, there being a certain kind of pious and prudential husbandry by which a man may so improve a calamity as to make the endurance of it the performance of a duty, and by his behavior under it to procure a release from it. We should, with Isaac, take the wood upon our shoulders, though we ourselves are designed for the sacrifice; and who knows but, as in his case, so in ours also, a patient resignation of ourselves to the knife may be the sure and direct way to rescue us from it?” (South).
“He always wins who sides with thee;
To him no chance is lost;
Thy will is sweetest to him when
It triumphs at his cost.
“Ill that thou blessest turns to good,
And unblest good to ill;
And all is right that seems most wrong,
If it be thy sweet will.”
5. For its acceptableness to God. The Lord Jesus Christ was the “my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” because of it; because his meat and his drink was ever to do the will of the Father who sent him. “Blessed are the meek.” “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that,” etc.
IV. NOT EASY, BUT NEVERTHELESS FULLY POSSIBLE, OF ATTAINMENT. Not easy, Because all our instincts under the smart of pain and loss (cf. supra) protest against it. Because also the maxims of the world are directly contrary to it. But attainable by practice. “Let him train himself whilst young to lesser self-denials and mortifications; let him learn to put up with and pass by a slight undervaluing word, and in time he shall find himself strong enough to conquer and digest an injurious action; let him learn to overlook his neighbor’s incivility, and in time he shall be able with patience and firmness of mind to endure his insolence and cruelty, and that without being discomposed by any instigations to revenge; and let him accustom himself to do this often, and at length he shall be able to do it always” (South). And yet more by communion and intercourse with the Lord Jesus Christ. We catch the tones and habits and thoughts of those with whom we most associate. Live in close companionship with Christ, and the spirit of him who “when he was reviled, reviled not again,” shall be formed in us, and more and more shall we ‘” know how “blessed are the meek, and how surely God “will exalt us in due time” (cf. Php 2:5-11).C.
Jer 10:20, Jer 10:21
The ruin wrought by the prayerless pastor.
I. CONSIDER THE SCENE PORTRAYED BY THE PROPHET. Consider it both before and after that dread invasion of which he was ever warning his countrymen.
1. Before that invasion, whilst Judah was at peace, there might often have been witnessed over the wide downs and pasture-lands of Palestine the shepherds’ encampment; for Palestine was an eminently pastoral country, as the psalms of David and the teachings of our Lord plainly show. And hence up and down the land might have been seen the shepherds’ tents, whole camps of them, dotting the plains or valleys with their slender poles, their broad curtains and strong cords holding them erect and securing them firmly to the ground on which they stood. The swarthy children would be running in and out, and at even-time the greater portion of the whole inhabitants of these tabernacles would be gathered around or within them. And in the immediate neighborhood, carefully watched by their shepherds, would be the flocks quietly grazing, in which consisted their whole wealth. It was a pastoral scene the peacefulness and beauty of which were as manifest as the commonness of it in the happier days of Palestine and her people.
2. But after the invasion, in the unhappy days which, when Jeremiah spoke, were drawing so terribly near, when the land should be overrun by the armies of Babylon, there would be as often seen the actual circumstances portrayed in our text. The tent thrown down, its cords cut, its curtains a shapeless heap upon the ground, left to decay and rot by those who had wrought its ruin. And all would be silent and still; no merry prattle of children heard, or the coming and going of the men and women who once had made that tent their home. A few blackened ashes alone telling where the camp-fire had been. The flocks all scattered; those that the foe had not destroyed driven off and wandering in the wilderness, none knew where. It is a picture of utter and most mournful desolation.
II. ITS MEANING. Its intent is to represent what was about to happen in regard to the Church and people of Judah. The temple should be overthrown and burnt with fire; her holy places profaned, her altars broken down, her sacred services all brought to an end, the solemn feast-day no more observed. Her childrenthey who ministered at her altars and sang the high praises of the Lordshould have gone forth from her and be as though they were not, and all the congregation of the people, the flock of the Lord, should be scattered. And all this came to pass, as we well know, violently and as in a moment, like as a stone is suddenly hurled forth from the sling (Verse 18). But the prophet’s picture has a yet wider application; for it tells of the terrible desolation which may come upon any Church, whether in a nation, or a community, or in any given district. Under the vivid imagery which Jeremiah employs we may see represented the deplorable disaster of a Church’s desolation, and whence and how it comes. Therefore let us look at:
1. The overthrown tent. By it we may see represented the destruction of the whole organization of the Church. How beautiful is the spectacle presented to the outward eye by a Church that enjoys the blessing of God! Behold her sanctuaries. Look upon them, from the stately cathedral down to the humblest house of God in the land. Here, with dome and towers and spires piercing the sky, pointing upwards, heavenwards, and breaking the dull level of men’s common habitations, and of the buildings which they have reared for their dwellings, their labor, their trade. And out in the country, on the hillside, scattered over the wide plains and along many a quiet valley, in hamlet, village, and town, we behold the sanctuaries built for God, and the stream, larger or smaller, of worshippers that continually go up to them to worship. Each one of these sanctuaries a center of light and warmth, of energy and holy toil, blessing and being blessed, And think of the sabbaths of the Churchthose blessed days of rest, when the weary round of toil is made to hush its noise, and for the time to cease. The plough stands still in the furrow, the horses roam in the meadow or gladly rest in the stall; but the ploughman is gone home, that he may, if he will, give heed to the husbandry of the soul and to the preparation for the harvest of heaven. Nor, in this survey, may we pass by the Church‘s worship. What myriads of jubilant anthems and glad psalms and triumphant hymns go up heavenwards, with a merry noise! What help for all who desire it is won by those who give heed to the holy truth that is at such times proclaimed! Ah! if spiritual thought and feeling could, by some Divine chemistry, be made visible, what a glorious scene would be witnessed! Like unto the rainbow which was round about the throne, beautiful to behold, would the worship of the Church be seen, even as it is seen by him to whom and for whom and by whom it is all rendered. Think, too, of the work of the Church. The ships that bear her messengers, charged to proclaim the glad tidings of the gospel to all mankind, speed their way through all seas, across all oceans, and enter every harbor. Ah! yes; Christ’s Church on earth, faulty, imperfect, unfaithful, as she so often and so largely is,where would the world be without her? and where would the wretched and the lost find their truest friends, if not in her? But all this outward organization, this visible tabernacle of the Church, is contemplated, nut as in her happy ideal, but in the very reverse. The prophet’s picture portrays the tabernacle thrown down, and desolation everywhere. Hence her sanctuaries forsaken, profaned, or left to decay and ruin; her services abandoned or turned into mere performances of worn-oat ceremonies; her sabbaths no longer days of guarded rest, but like all other days; her work paralyzed and dropped more and more, and all her external framework and organization overthrown. Try and realize what that would be. And this is not all.
2. Her children are represented as having gone forth from her. When all is well with a Church, it is our joy to see the children taking the fathers’ place, coming forward to uphold the standard which the aged hands of the seniors are compelled to let go. How delightful such a scene is we need hardly say. But there is nothing of this kind contemplated here, but, on the contrary, those to whom the Church would naturally look to carry on her work are seen borne away captive by the foes of the Church, and as slaves to the world.
3. And the last feature in this sad picture is the scattering of the flock. The people at large, for whose interests the Church was bidden to care, turning from her with disgust, scouting her claims, running riot in sin, unchecked, unhindered, unwarned; sinking clown into awful depths of wickedness and spiritual ignorance, living “without God and without hope in the world.” Such is the scattering of the flock, the alienation of her children, and the spoiling of her tabernacle, from all which may God evermore keep and defend us. But that we may be thus defended, let us
III. INQUIRE THE CAUSE OF SUCH DISASTER. It is clearly stated in Verse 21, “The pastors have become brutish, and have not sought the Lord.”
1. Who are these pastors? It would be a mistake to suppose that only ministers are meant. Jeremiah did not mean these only, but all to whom the flock of God were entrustedkings, rulers, judges, parents, and teachers, heads of families, and all to whom, by virtue of their position, the charge and responsibility of watching over the souls of others was given.
2. Now, these pastors had “become brutish.” By which is meant, first of all, unintelligent, stupid, blind to the meaning of facts, and incapable of perceiving what needed to be done; with no quick apprehension, if any at all, of their responsibility, their duty, or the peril that threatened both their flock and themselves; settled clown into the stolid apathy and indifference of ignorance, of dulled perception, and of blindness of heart. Brutish, too, because unspiritual, materialized, worldly, earth-bound; having little or no regard for anything beyond what this life can give or take away; caring more for the fleece of the flock than for its faith and fidelity. And brutish, it may be, in a yet lower sense, because sensual; like those of whom Paul tells with bitter tears. “Whose god,” he says, “is their belly, who glory in their shame, who mind earthly things.”
3. “The pastors have become brutish.” What an awful association of ideas! Can any condition be conceived of more horrible than this? No wonder such disastrous results followed. Think how dreadful such a fact must be for the honor of Christ. How his Name must be blasphemed! How such must crucify the Son of God afresh, and once more put him to open shame! How again the Lord Jesus, pointing to the wounds in his sacred hands and feet and side, must declare, “These are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends!” Blessed Savior, keep us from such sin as this. And how dreadful for the Church of Christ, which he has purchased with his own blood l How such men discourage the Church l how they chill its ardor! how they stagger its faith! how they weaken its strength! how they imperil its very life! And how dreadful for the world! “Woe unto the world,” said our Savior, “because of offenses!” This he said in pity for the world, hindered, made to stumble and fall by those who should only have helped it on its way to God. How many will be hardened in wickedness, encouraged to despise all religion, furnished with fresh subject for impious mockery and new arguments for sin; by such as they of whom our text tells! And how dreadful for these brutish ones themselves! “But woe,” said Jesus, “unto them by whom that offence cometh!” “Who shall abide the day of the Lord’s coming “to execute his wrath on them? Who, indeed! God, in his infinite mercy, save us from ever knowing what that wrath is.
4. But how came this awful fall? What brought down these pastors to this dreadful condition? And the answer to this question is plainly given. They did act seek the Lord; they were prayerless pastors: and that explains all. Now, this did not mean that there was no worship, no praise, no prayer, ever offered. We know there was. The temple service went on and the sacrifices were presented as usual. But there was no true, heartfelt prayer. They did not really seek the Lord. And so with ourselves, there may be, and there probably will be, the keeping up of pious customs, the daily prayers, the ordinary worship; but for such seeking of the Lord as is here told of, and the neglect of which worked such ruin, there must be far more than this. There must be that full application of the heart and mind, that lifting up of the soul to God, that drawing out of the affections after him, that cleaving of the desires to him, that ardor and yet that patience, that humility and yet that boldness which time cannot measure, which make long prayers seem short to him who offers them, and short prayers, if of necessity they must be short, count as long prayers with him who, for Christ’s sake, mercifully receives the soul who follows hard after him. This is the kind of prayer which can alone be our safeguard from the abyss into which the pastors here told of fell. Would we escape it, we must seek the Lord so; all else is as seeking him not at all. It is no holiday task, but one demanding all the energies of the soul. How many, how mighty, how manifold, how subtle, are the difficulties in the way! There is the earth-bound heart, that ever clogs our souls with its clinging- clay; that makes them like the bird with the lime of the bird-snarer on its feathers, unable either to fly or go: when it would soar aloft it is powerless to spread its wings, and so is as if chained to the ground. And incessant occupations clamor for attention, and are ever telling us we have no time. And indolence and sloth keep suggesting thoughts of ease and self-sparing. And want of practice in this, as in everything else, makes real prayer very difficult. And Satan, when he sees the soul threatening to escape him by means of such prayer-as by such means it ever will escape himbends all his energies to thwart and hinder, to baffle and beat down, such prayer. All this is so, but yet we must thus pray. And let us not be disheartened. All these difficulties have been overcome by ten thousand of the saints of God, and shall be by us. And, for our help, remember our Lord’s intercession. Join all our prayerspoor, weak things as at their best they areon to his almighty, all-prevailing intercession, and in this also we shall come off “more than conquerors through Christ who hath loved us.” So shall we be kept from being one of those wretched pastors who have become brutish, and have, therefore, only scattered the Lord’s flock; yea, we shall be made and be confessed, now and hereafter in our Lord’s presence, as one of the pastors after his own heart.C.
Jer 10:23-25
Fruits of a chastened spirit.
From what foul soil do the fairest flowers spring! Beautiful as they are, they are rooted in that which is altogether unbeautiful. The sweet perfume of many woods, seeds, flowers, will not be given forth until they are gashed with the axe, or bruised, or crushed, or otherwise seemingly maltreated. We could not have the many-hued arch of the exquisitely tinted rainbow were it not for the drear, dark clouds and the descending rain. The most precious of the psalms were wrung out of the heart of David when that heart was well-nigh borne down with grief. And here, in these verses, it is the chastened spirit of Judah, personified in the prophet who speaks, that utters itself in the lowly confession of the twenty-third verse, the holy submission of the prayer of the twenty-fourth verse, and the settled hatred of them who hate God which burns in the twenty-fifth. Consider, then, these fruits, and may God make them to abound in ourselves.
I. THE CONFESSION. Jer 10:23, “O Lord, I know,” etc. Now, this is a confession:
1. Of humble dependence upon God. It is an acknowledgment that, however much man may propose, God will dispose; that man’s goings are of the Lord. The life of each is, as God told Cyrus (Isa 44:1-28.), guided, governed by him. Illustrations are everywhere: the cruelty of Joseph’s brethren; the oppression of Israel in Egypt; the crucifixion of our Lord (cf. Act 2:23); the persecution of the Church (Act 8:3); Paul’s early life; etc. All these are instances in which, whilst men did exactly as they liked, acting with choice as unfettered as it was evil, they were nevertheless made to subserve the Divine plans, and their evil was compelled to work out good. Man may have power to “walk,” but whither his steps will lead he cannot “direct.” “The way of man is not in himself.” He is free to choose his way, and for his choice he is responsible; but he is not allowed to determine all that shall come of that choice or what its issues and results shall be. Every time that men find their plans turn out altogether differently from what they expected or designed, proves the truth of the prophet’s word. God has planned the life of each one of us. He intends certain results to be secured by our lives.
“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.”
And our wisdom is to see and confess and conform ourselves to the Divine planhappy they who do soand not to thwart or hinder it, as so many are bent upon doing, and hence, in the manifold sorrows of their lives, find it “hard to kick against the pricks.” Our wisdom is daily to pray, “Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; make plain my path before my face.”
2. Of their own folly and sin. There are many teachers who will instruct us in this truth of our own incompetence to order our ways; all that is needed is that we be willing to learn. Such teachers are:
(1) Reason. It is reasonable that, as we are the creatures of God, he should have the control of our lives.
(2) Scripture. We have cited some instances already.
(3) Observation. The world is strewn with the wrecks of men who have disregarded the chart given them of God, and have run upon the rocks in consequence.
(4) But the most strenuous and resistless teacher of all is Experience. He will make a man learn, almost whether the man will or no. And it was this teacher who had been instructing, in his emphatic manner, Judah and her people. By the miserable mess they had made of their lives, and the frightful calamities which now were close at their doors (Jer 10:22), they had at length come to see and confess their own wretched ordering of their way. Hence now the confession, “O Lord, I know that,” etc. It is a blessed fruit for folly and fault to bear. It is not the natural fruit, but one of God’s gracious grafts. Peter’s folly of boasting bore such fruit when “be went out and wept bitterly.” Let our prayer be that the faults and follies, the sins and sorrows, with which our lives are scattered over may make us see and own, “O Lord, I know that,” etc.
3. Of their trust, nevertheless, in God’s infinite love. For not improbably this confession has not only an upward look to God as the Director of men’s ways, and an inward look upon their own sin, but also an outward look upon those dread foes who were hastening to destroy them. And this was their comfort that, after all, these enemies of theirs were in God’s hands. No doubt they designed fearful things against God’s people (cf. Jer 10:25). But then, “the way of man is not,” etc. Hence even these fierce, relentless foes might be held in and turned about by the bit and bridle of God. Had not God, in the days of the good King Hezekiah, proved this in regard to the King of Assyria and his army? Had he not, as Isaiah said, “put a hook in his nose.; and turned him back by the way by which he came?” And this confession breathes this hope and trust that God would do the like by their enemies now about to fall upon them. It is a real comfort to know that all our enemies, whether human or spiritual, are under the control of God. Even the apparently omnipotent prince of evil has but a limited power. He, too, cannot direct his own way. “The Lord, he is the true God, the living God, the everlasting King” (Verse 10).
II. THE PRAYER. Verse 24, “O Lord, correct me, but,” etc.
1. This is a model prayer. For:
(1) It confesses wrong. It owns the need of correction. The man is no longer right in his own eyes. He is seen, like the publican, “standing afar off,” etc.
(2) It desires to be put right (cf. Psa 51:1-19.). As there, so here, there is the longing for renewal, the clean heart, the right spirit.
(3) It deprecates, not the correction, but the wrath of God. The man has a clear view of that wrathits crushing, destroying power. It is good to have this. Without it there is the danger of our looking lightly upon our sin.
2. It is a most instructive prayer. It teaches us:
(1) That all the corrections we have received have been fatherly ones”in judgment,” not “in anger.” For had they been in anger we had not been here at all.
(2) That we are alive and in God’s presence proves that the love of God, and not his anger, is ours still. For his anger would have “brought us to nothing.”
(3) That there are corrections in anger. There have been such. Where are Egypt, Nineveh, Babylon, Rome? God brought them “to nothing.” And there will be for all who harden themselves against God.
(4) That, seeing all need correction and will therefore receive it, either “in judgment” or “in anger,” our wisdom is to make this prayer our own. One or other of these corrections we must have. Which shall it be? This prayer was answered for Israel. They have not been brought to nothing, and they were corrected. That sin of idolatry which brought on them God’s correction they have, ever since that correction, utterly abandoned. Then let us make this prayer our own.
III. HOLY ANGER AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF GOD. We can readily see that Verses 23 and 24 are the fruits of a chastened spirit, but this fierce utterance of Verse 25 seems of another kind. But it is not. No doubt it has somewhat of the fierceness which belonged to that stern age, but it is nonetheless a real fruit of a right spirit. We ought to be very doubtful of our own spirit, however meek and contrite it is, if it be not accompanied with an intense detestation of evil. “Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?” Such sentiment is a true note of the Spirit of God, and a religious life that lacks it is sure to be lacking in vigor, strength, and reliability. It is not personal hatred that finds utterance here, so much as a deep sense of the wrong done to God and the hindrance that is placed in the way of his will. The seventy-ninth psalm is an expression of this petition. Our age, and the temperament that so soft an age induces, are apt to make us be too easy with sin and sinners. We are so bred up in the idea of the “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,” that we forget how anything but gentle and mild he was to the hopelessly bad who were, in regard to the spiritual well-being of his people, doing as is here said, “eating up Jacob, devouring him,” etc. What awful words poured forth from the Savior’s lips towards such! Let us suspect a meekness that makes us mild towards such. A man may make the confession of Verse 23, and offer the prayer of Verse 24, and fall and fall again; but if he have the stem spirit of Verse 25, that deep, intense hatred of evil, sin is far less likely to have dominion over him for the future; he will be “strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” Therefore, whilst we crave that fruit of the Spirit which is seen in Verses 23, 24, let us crave that also which we have here in Verse 25. It is the result of our being “strengthened with might by the Spirit of God in the inner man,” and leads on, in blessed, successive steps, to our being “filled with all the fullness of God.”C.
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE
Jer 10:23
The way of man.
The prophet probably speaks here not merely for himself, but in the name of the whole nation. He gives articulate utterance to the better elements of thought and feeling existing among them, their conscious shortsightedness as regards the meaning and issue of their own national experiences, their helpless dependence on the unseen Divine power that is working out through the terrible events of the time its own all-wise purposes. An important view of human life is here presented before us. Consider
(1) the fact asserted;
(2) the influence it may be expected to have over us.
I. THE FACT ASSERTED. “The way of man is not in himself,” etc. All human life is a “way,” a journey, a pilgrimage, through various scenes and circumstances, to the “bourn from whence no traveler returns.” And, free as we may be and accountable for our own actions, there is a sense in which it is equally true that it is given to none of us to determine what that way shall be. We are called on to recognize a governing power external to ourselves, above and beyond ourselves. Look at this fact in two lights as indicative of:
1. Moral inability. A man’s own judgment and impulse are not in themselves a safe rule for the conduct of his life. He cannot always trace the mutual relation of interests and events, is liable to be deceived by appearances, blinded by the glamour of his own feelings, misled by the force of his own self-will. The very complexity of the circumstances among which he “walks” is often a source of danger. He is as one surrounded by the diverse interlacing paths of a forest; he needs both external guidance and internal influence to direct his choice. The right way is not “in himself.”
2. Practical restraint, No man has the actual power to determine altogether the course of his own life. Free as he may think himself to be to take what “steps” he pleases, he is, after all, often ruled by circumstances over which he has no control. He is not always master of his own movements, cannot do the thing that he would, constrained perhaps to do something totally different from what he intended. Who has not found himself to have been drifted, by the silent, unobserved current of events, into a position entirely other than he would have chosen for himself? Who has not had to accept, as the issue of his own doings, something strangely unlike what he looked for? “Man proposes; God disposes.”
“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.”
Human historynational, social, individualis full of illustrations of the governing and restraining effect of some mysterious force that underlies all the phenomena of life. Faith penetrates the heart of this mystery, and discerns in it a personal Divine providence, the energy of a will that is “holy and just and good.”
II. THE INFLUENCE THIS FACT MAY BE EXPECTED TO HAVE OVER US. Such a truth, even in the purely negative form in which this passage presents it, may well have a marked effect on the whole habit of our daily thought and action. It teaches several important lessons.
1. Distrust of self. If our judgment is thus fallible, our impulse misleading, our power limited, shall we think to make our own will the sole rule of life? “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding,” etc. (Pro 3:5, Pro 3:6); “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city,” etc. (Jas 4:13-16).
2. Thoughtful observation of the course of events, with a view to trace the path of the providence that is over us. Hidden as the power that governs our life may be, the teachable mind discerns ever more and more clearly the method of its working. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him,” etc. (Psa 25:14); “The meek will he guide in judgment,” etc. (Psa 25:9).
3. Practical obedience to the call of present duty. Dark as our way may be, we cannot go far wrong if we follow the dictates of conscience. Be true in everything to your own sense of right and to the clear lines of Divine Law, and you may safely leave all issues with God.
4. The calm repose of faith. In the confused conflict of adverse circumstances, in the deep night of our sorrow and our fear, we hear a voice that whispers to us,” All is well.” It must be so if we believe that almighty Love is Lord of all.W.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Jer 10:1-12
What men fear and what they ought to fear.
I. WHAT MEN FEAR. They fear mere images of theft own manufacture. Note the connection between Jer 10:2 and Jer 10:3. In Jer 10:2 the heathen are spoken of as being dismayed at the signs of heaven. Probably these signs, considered in their more particular and direct connection with the dismay, were really images on earth, representing the supposed Divine dignity. of the bodies in the heavens. The heavenly bodies were signs to the believer in Jehovahsigns of the power and wisdom of Jehovah. But what signs could they be to the heathen? In their eyes they were themselves Divine realities, and the signs were on earth in the shape of images. If this view be correct, it makes dismay at the signs of heaven look more than ever absurd; for these signs were of man’s own making. He goes out to the wood and cuts down one tree, and it supplies material for common use, beams and flooring and furniture for his dwelling-place. He takes another tree, neighbor and of the very same kind, and of this he makes an image, to be an object of dread, to be approached with trembling solicitude and doubt. The very chips and shavings that come off as it is being shaped may be burnt, but it itself is sacred, decked with silver and gold, perfected by the most cunning art of the time, surrounded probably with the choicest treasures of the land where it is worshipped. And yet in itself it is nothing. When it grew in the wood it bore leaves and fruit, and had vital movement in it. By its life it spoke to those who had ears to understand. Other trees cut down, even when they become dead wood, are useful; but here is dead wood not only useless but so treated that it becomes full of the worst peril to all associated with it, a center of abominations, delusions, and cruelties. And it must be felt as a very extraordinary thing that what men thus make with their own hands should be regarded with such perpetual dread and circumspection. Partly it may be accounted for by the force of education. Those who had been brought up having their minds sedulously filled with certain associations in respect to these images, would either fail to see any absurdity in fearing them or, in spite of the absurdity, would be unable to get over the fear. It is very absurd to be afraid of walking through some secluded churchyard at midnight, but many people could only do so with the utmost trepidationeven those who show plenty of good sense in their ordinary affairs. The mystery lies not so much in the continuance of image-worship as in the origin of it; and this is a mystery we have no power to penetrate. A more practical thing is to take heed to the counsel here given. These works of your own hands cannot hurt you. Neglect them, they cannot resent the negligence. Pile up before them all you can in the way of gift and honor, and yet you get not the least good in return. You may be hurt by other works of your hands, but assuredly not by them; and if you are hurtas it seems by the instrumentality of these imagesyet be sure of this, that the hurt comes from Jehovah’s anger because you are honoring and worshipping- the creature in opposition to the Creator. And if it be said, “How does all this dissuasion against image-worship concern us? The answer is plain that, although we do not make images of wood, we may have conceptions in our own minds which are as truly the cause of empty terror as any visible image that man ever made. The ultimate meaning of the counsel here is that it is vain to fear anything or any one save the omnipotent God.
II. WHAT MEN OUGHT TO FEAR. Images are presented in this passage, first, in themselves, in all their emptiness, as pure fabrications of human superstitions; and then they are brought into the presence of the exceeding glory of Jehovah, and thus the exhibition of their nothingness is completed. Moreover, the glory of Jehovah shines more brightly still by contrast with the darkness and shame that are over against it. He is the great and strong One, the living One, and the everlasting King. The ever-living God over against dead and deeded matter!can there be a greater contrast? And to bring out God’s strength, his strength to make his wrath felt as real suffering in the lives of those who displease him, the contrast is made, not between the living God and dead idols, but between the omnipotent Ruler and the kings of the nations. Take the kings of the nations; take him who rules the widest territory, controls the largest resources, shows in himself the greatest resolution and force of character, achieves the most splendid reign that history can recordtake such a one, and yet what is he over against Jehovah? Jehovah is the King of the nations. It is his power that moulds them and gives them their destiny, their place in his economy of the ages. And as Jeremiah contemplates all this, he says, “Who would not fear thee?” Certainly there are none but what would fear, and with a properly befitting fear, if only they could properly regard the object presented to them. But while men are fearing that which need not be feared, they depart further and further from a sense of him who holds in his self-sufficing being complete power over all their best interests. When they suffer, being deceived by lying lips, they attribute their suffering to the wrath of a God whom they themselves imagine; and so, fixing their minds by a kind of fascination on the wrong cause, they fail to have even the least suspicion of the right one. If, when a blow falls upon us, we could trace that blow back, and see how much of it comes from God, and with what purpose it comes, then how much useless suffering would be spared! But blows come on men in the dark, and they prefer to remain in the dark with their evil deeds rather than be freed from their misconceptions by coming to the light.Y.
Jer 10:2
The dismay of the heathen at the signs of heaven.
By the signs of heaven here are doubtless meant those heavenly bodies given for signs and seasons, days-and years (Gen 1:14); this view still further helping to explain the reference in Jer 8:2 to sun and moon and all the host of heaven. Why these should terrify it is not very easy for us to comprehend, surrounded as we are by quite different associations. Often, indeed, there is cause of terror in the heavens above us, as when the depths of the celestial spaces are hidden from us by the thunder-cloud, and when the stormy blasts go forth on their errand of destruction over land and sea. But such terrors, we know, come from things nearer the earth. Sun and moon and all the host of heaven have quite a different effect on our minds. And we know, too, from the references to them in the Scriptures, that they did not terrify those who knew God. The Book of Psalms shows nothing of dismay at the signs of heaven; rather it sets them forth as helping to produce cheerfulness, enjoyment, and elevating adoration towards him who made them. Such feelings have never been absent from the minds of those who have really comprehended whose handiwork the heavenly bodies are, and why he brought them into existence. How is it, then, that by such a strong expression they are here represented as being objects of terror? The answer is, that the maker of them being unknown, and the purpose of them being indiscernible, to those whose minds were darkened by wicked works, they had to make their own conjectures. And thus they filled the darkness of their ignorance with horrid, stupefying errors. To sun and moon and all the host of heaven they came to attribute a kind of personality. And then to the personality thus conceived there would be attached the two contrasted states of mind of complacency and wrath. Complacency appeared in the warmth, brightness, and clearness of day, and the cloudless skies of night, when moon and stars were revealed in all their milder splendor. Wrath, on the other hand, would seem to be shown by the eclipse, the waning of the moon, by rolling clouds, destructive storms, thunder and lightning, long droughts, meteors, comets, etc. And once having got into their heads that sun, moon, and stars had Divine dignity about them, it was nothing very wonderful that these heathen should be thus terrified by everything in the way of celestial commotion. In every such commotion the frowning faces of the celestial gods would be visible, and every injury thus coming would be reckoned as a blow from them. The words of the messenger to Job, telling him bow the lightning had destroyed his flocks, may be adduced as a very striking illustration of dismay at the signs of heaven. What does the messenger tell Job? That the fire of God had fallen from heaven. But the messenger did not know that; all he knew was that some extraordinary flame had destroyed the sheep. He went beyond the actual fact of his experience, and from it made such an inference as his superstitious mind naturally led him to make. Thus, then, we may take it this dismay at the signs of heaven was produced; and once it became thoroughly fixed in the mind that every eclipse, comet, storm, death by lightning, was an expression of Divine wrath, the next thing would be an instant attempt to make propitiation and avert further mischief. And it is easy to see that, as priestcraft grew m power, all would be done that could be done to make the people believe that the signs of heaven needed constant remembrance in order to keep them acting favorably towards the inhabitants of earth. Such, then, was the way of the heathen; but the way of Jehovah’s people was to be quite different. These signs of heaven were no sufficient cause of terror, and indeed were to be quite differently regarded. God says to his people, “Be not dismayed;” but the command cannot directly produce obedience. There must be a showing, a clear showing, that there is no cause for terror. Terror because of the signs of heaven can only come from ignorance. The moment the mind takes in the great general drift of Gen 1:1-31; that same moment dismay will yield to an intelligent veneration towards God. A savage, seeing the express train rush past him, with its thunder and mystery, at the rate of fifty miles an hour, is as a matter of course utterly terrified and bewildered. But there would be no terror and bewilderment if he only really knew all the wisdom, patience, and controlling power which have made that express what it is. Furthermore, who would think of denying the immense utility of railways to the world because every now and then there is some hideous disaster to a train? And, similarly, through all the mysterious destructions which from time to time come in the natural world, we must look at something beyond and above them. Jesus Christ, who came into the world to make manifest and explicit the love of God as a great reality, is higher than any of these causes of temporal pain and loss. We are not permitted to get any satisfactory view of suffering as a whole, and we do well to refrain from putting any speculation of our own in the place of such a view. Our wisdom is to get more and more of a practical knowledge of God. Only so can it become possible for us to say that “we shall not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.”Y.
Jer 10:23
The way of man not in himself.
I. MAN IS NOT TO BE THE CHOOSER OF HIS WAY. “I know that the way of man is not in himself.” It is surely not without significance that is here used for “man.” To the Hebrew there must always have been the opportunity of peculiar suggestions upon the occurrence of this word. Adam would rise to mind, the first man, with God’s purposes for him, and his speedy calamitous departure from those purposes. God made Adam that he might go in God’s way. When the two accounts of the creation of man are taken together, it will be seen how abundant is the evidence that the way of Adam was not in himself. His only condition of safety, peace, and happiness was in strict compliance with the Divine injunctions. And with regard to the descendant of Adam, he who can read the account of Adam and see the essential correspondence between ancestor and posterity, is there not everything to teach him that his way also is not in himself? Why, he is some little distance advanced in the way before he is conscious that it is a way at all. The preservation of his life and the direction of it have been at the disposition of others. And when lifeas far as individual responsibility is concernedreally beaus, how wise he proves to be who looks for the pointing of God’s finger, and feels that he must follow it! The man who insists that he can make his own way only finds it perish at last. Because no way can be considered just as a way; whether it is pleasant or painful, easy or difficult, is not the great matter, but whither it leads, what lies at the end of it. As it would be foolish for a man to take charge of a ship, ignorant of his destination and how to reach it, so it is equally foolish for a man to suppose that any way will do so long as it is as comfortable and easy as he can make it. Man’s right way must be according to God’s clear will; arid it is the way of trust in Jesus who is the Son and Christ of God. Note, further, the strong expression of individual assurance here given. “I know,” says Jeremiah. He knew it indeed from his own experience. The way in which he now was, of prophet and witness for Jehovah, was not of his choosing. He did not think himself fit for it. And yet so far was he from being right in his own impressions as a young man, that it appears God had chosen him for a special purpose or ever his existence had begun. It is a great blessing to a man when, either from experience of his own wanderings or prudent observation of the wanderings of others, he can say in this matter, “I know.” He spares himself much anxiety and shame who is humble enough to put himself under Divine guidance.
II. GOD MUST ESTABLISH MAN WHEN HE IS IN THE NIGHT WAY. “It is not in man that walketh to make sure of his steps.” In other words, though he may have begun the journey rightly, that is no proof that he will go on without hindrance or disaster to the end. In days when the journeys of most people, oven long journeys, would have to be undertaken on foot, this expression with regard to the walking man would be very significant. The perils of such a journey were well knownperils from robbers, perils of losing one’s way in the dark and sometimes probably in the daylight, perils through trusting to strangers who may deceive or insufficiently inform him, perils through sickness far from home and friends. And so in the great spiritual way there is needed humility all through. The way is made up of little steps, and a false step may not be possible to retrieve. Divine knowledge and Divine intimations must stand in the place of our experience. Faith in God’s wisdom which cannot fail, and in God’s Word which cannot lie, must be our resource in all perplexity. There are times when common sense and right feeling are enough to guide our conduct, yet even these are more the gift of God than may at first appear. We cannot, then, be too minutely observant as to our need of Divine light and truth and assurance. Thus, being found in the right way and enduring to the end, we shall be safe.Y.
Jer 10:24
God’s correction of his people.
A preliminary difficulty is felt here, in that this earnest deprecation seems to apply to the position of an individual. Jer 10:23 is easily taken as being the utterance of Jeremiah himself, but Verse 24 can only apply with propriety to the nation. Such an utterance as that of this chapter must evidently be taken as a combination made up by several speakers. Jehovah speaks; Jeremiah speaks; the nation speaks; and in such an outburst as that of Verse 24: the nation speaks fitly, not as a multitude, but as with the voice of one man. It will be noticed that there is a correspondence with Jer 3:4, where Israel is represented as possibly addressing Jehovah, and saying, “My Father, thou art the Guide of my youth.” And here is an ample confession that the filial, dependent, submissive spirit is needed still.
I. OBSERVE THE ADMISSION OF WRONGDOING. “Correct me,” uttered at all, is an admission that correction is deserved. The whole of the supplication of course implies a reference to the relation of father and child, as if Israel said, “My Father, I have done wrong, and I know that all wrong-doing children, when the wrong is discovered, must expect to be corrected.” The correction of children by their parents must have been very familiar to all Israelites; the Book of Proverbs, in many of its pithy sentences, being in part a consequence of this familiarity and in part a cause of it. A most important part in the benefit of correction came from its very certainty, from the child’s knowledge that the correction could not be escaped. Though the extent of it might be an open question, the certainty was to he no question at all. The position might be put thus: If an earthly father, being evil, yet has firmness enough not to overlook the least departure from his commandments, then the pure Jehovah above, who is regarded as the Father of Israel, cannot be less strict to mark iniquity. Israel has done wrong, and to make an ample admission of the wrong, to welcome the needful chastisement, is nothing more than what is right. There is no merit in such an admission; the suppliant who makes it is only doing what he ought to do. To continue insensible of the wrong adds to the wrong, and makes correction as correction altogether in vain.
II. A FEAR LEST THE CORRECTION MAY BECOME EXCESSIVE AND INJURIOUS. Israel has before its mind, the conception of a father in his relations, powers, and duties. But since the measurements are made from the earthly father with all his imperfections, it follows that not only are the encouraging aspects of the relation seen, but also dreadful possibilities as to how far the chastising force may go. Israel argues too closely from the father on earth to the Father in heaven. The earthly father is seen boiling over with rage, beating his child in the wildness of his fury, not because it has done wrong, but because it has thwarted him. It is important to notice this very partial way of conceiving the fatherhood of God; this exaggeration of mere might. There is thus given an index to the insufficiency of the knowledge which the Israelites had of God, and a proof how much Jesus was needed to come in and reveal the Father, bringing the serenity and composed action of his attributes into full view. God, of course, never acts with fury and frenzy as we apply these words to man. God produces results through man, and there may be fury in the human agents, but in the God behind them there is none. The narrow notion of Jehovah expressed in Verses 24 and 25 itself needed to be corrected. His favor towards Israel was not an arbitrary thing, nor could it be right that his imagined wild fury might justly expend itself on heathens. If Israel was to be corrected with judgment, the same judgment was surely needed to correct the heathen. If there is fury with them, there can be no true dealing in judgment with Israel. Severity with the heathen as typical enemies of the typical people of God is another matter; but severity must never be confounded with fury.
III. THE KIND OF CORRECTION DESIRED. “Correct me, but with judgment.” Correction, to have any proper effect, must be deliberate, and proportioned to the offence that has been committed. While it comes from a fatherly purpose, it must come also with the calmness and impartiality of a judicial procedure. A charge is made; evidence is adduced and examined; defense, denial, extenuation, are listened to; everything must be weighed; and so he who is corrected will feel in his conscience that the correction is just. The severity is not blind and measureless force. If it cannot fall short of a certain standard of pain, neither will it exceed it. Any other sort of dealing has no right to the name of correction at all. Foolish Rehoboam, threatening to chastise the people with scorpions, is an illustration of what must ever be avoided by those who are m power. Be it a child or be it a man who is smitten, no good can be done unless there is the sense that the smiting is just.Y.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Jer 10:1. Hear ye the word, &c. Jeremiah continues his denunciations against Judah: he said at the conclusion of the preceding chapter, that the Lord would punish, without distinction, all those who offended him, Jews as well as Gentiles. He here informs them, that if they would avoid this vengeance of the Lord, they must quit their impieties, and have nothing to do with the superstitious practices of idolaters. See Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

LATER ADDITION: WARNING AGAINST IDOLATRY
Jer 10:1-17
a. The nothingness of idols
Jer 10:1-5 1
1Hear the word, which Jehovah has spoken to you,2 house of Israel!
2Thus saith Jehovah: To the way of the heathen accustom3 yourselves not,
And be not affrighted at the signs of Heaven, because the heathen are affrighted at them;
3For the institutions of the nationsbreath are they!
For as a forest tree have they been cut out,
For the work4 of the hands of the artificer, with an axe.5
4With gold and silver they adorn it,
With nails and hammers they fasten them, that it totter not.
5They are as the pillars in a cucumber-field and speak not;
They must be borne,6 for they walk not.
Fear them not, for they do no harm,
But also to do good is not in their power.7
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
According to Jer 10:2 the object of this passage is to warn Israel from the worship of idols. In this behalf first the nothingness of idols, the dead work of men, is shown (Jer 10:1-5). Then the incomparable greatness of Jehovah and in contrast with the origin of the idol images His overwhelmingly impressive self-existence and power, in view of which the adoration of empty idols appears disgraceful folly, are set forth as the source of all great phenomena in nature and history (Jer 10:6-16).
Jer 10:1-2. Hear the word affrighted at them. , way. Comp. Jer 5:4-5. It is simply = religion, cultus. On this account and from what follows (Jer 10:3 sqq.) the signs of the heaven cannot be passing and chance signs, be they constellations (Hitzig), or comets, darkness, etc. (Rosenm., Graf), but only permanent signs which are connected with permanent worship, and affrighted is to be understood not of the momentary impression excited by an extraordinary phenomenon, but only of the constant religious terror manifesting itself in the ordinary worship (comp. Mal 2:5, and , Gen 31:42; Gen 31:53). Were we to take affrighted in the former sense it would signify either an emphasis on the point of terror: ye may feel joy at favorable signs but ye are not to be terrified at supposed unfavorable signswhich would be a contradiction and at the same time confirm the superstitionor it would be: ye are not to conceive of the signs of heaven as under the influence of higher powers and therefore indifferent to human life, which would be a warning against astrology not in correspondence with the connection. In accordance with the subsequent warning against the worship of images idolatry only can be here spoken of, which renders not merely the extraordinary, but above all the ordinary signs of the heavens the object of adoration. The expression signs would refer less to the destination determined by the stars, Gen 1:14, than to the ancient constellations (Job 9:9), as whose signs appear the stars which form them (comp. the twelve signs of the Zodiac, 2Ki 23:5).Because the heathen, etc., is not the argument of the author against idolatrythis does not come till Jer 10:13but a statement of the reason, from the soul of the Israelites, why this service has so much that is seductive for them. This causal sentence corresponds to accustom yourselves not. The learning and becoming accustomed is the effect of the example. How dangerous this was to the Israelites we learn from the warnings: Exo 23:24; Exo 23:32-33; Lev 18:3 : Deu 7:1 sqq. Comp. Judges 2, 3 here=because. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr. 110, 1.
Jer 10:3. For the institutions of the nations with an axe.The institutions, etc., stand in antithesis to the ordinances of Jehovah, Lev 18:3-4.Breath are they [lit.: is it]. The singular of the pronoun appears to involve a contemptuous collective sense=all that trash. Comp. Jer 10:8; Ewald, 319, c; Jos 13:14.The nothingness of the deities which are here identified with the idol-images, is clear from their origin. If we trace the origin of the idol we find that the artificer found it as a tree standing among others in the forest, and as adapted to his purpose cut it down.On the subject in cut out comp. Naegelsb. Gr. 101, 2 b. As to the object it is formally undefined, but from the connection is clearly recognizable as the idol.Second stage: the forest tree becomes a work of art in the hands of an artificer and by the aid of an axe.
Jer 10:4. With gold and silver that it totter not. Third stage: adornment with precious metals (Isa 30:20; Isa 40:19). Fourth stage: fastening on the place of exhibition (Isa 41:7).Fasten them. Observe the change of number. (Comp. Naegelsb. Gr. 105, 7, Anm. 2). With these words the construction passes into the plural. Comp. Jer 10:5. The subject of is ideal, namely the idea of the fastened derived from .Comp. Jer 46:6-7.
Jer 10:5. They are as the pillars is not in their power.Pillars in a cucumber field.Jerome: in similitudinem palm fabricata sunt. Syr.; tanquam palm sunt erect, in which is taken according to analogy from and Jdg 4:5, but is very freely translated. Others, following Kimchis example take =, columna (Joe 3:8; Son 3:6) and (Jer 31:21); however=turned work (Exo 25:18; 31:36; Exo 37:7; Exo 37:17; Exo 37:22; Num 8:4; Num 10:2 coll. Isa 3:24). The comparison is strange. More satisfactory is the explanation proposed by Movers, Fuerst (H. W. B., S. 781), Graf, according to which , as in Isa 1:8, signifies a cucumber field and the scarecrows, or more correctly the priapus-pillars erected as such. These priapus-pillars are elsewhere ridiculed as useless watch-guards (comp. Epist. Jerem. 10:70: . Comp. Passow, s. v., , Seldende Diis Syriis, p. 300).They must be borne. Comp. Isa 46:7.
Footnotes:
[1] Movers (De Utr. Rec. Jer. p. 43) was the first to deny the authenticity of the section Jer 10:1-16. After careful examination I have come to the following result: 1. That the passage breaks the connection cannot be doubted. For Jer 9:22-25 and Jer 10:17-25 joined to each other form an appropriate, orderly, progressive conclusion to the great discourse of the prophet. Comp. the introductory remarks on Jer 9:22-25 and Jer 10:17-25. This warning against idolatry to those who had just been rebuked for the most wanton idolatrous abominations (Jer 7:17 sqq.; 30 sqq.) is exceedingly surprising, particularly as the expression, accustom yourselves not, Jer 10:2, presupposes either a nation unspotted by idolatry or a nation purified from it, which however exposes itself to new temptations. The view of J. D. Michaelis and Kueper, that the ten tribes already carried away into Assyria are here addressed (on account of house of Israel, Jer 10:1), is no improvement, for the interruption of the connection still remains. When Keil (Einl. S. 256) says that the section affords only the foundation to that which Jeremiah has said in Jer 9:22-25 on the glorying of Israel and his equality with the uncircumcised heathen, and that the deeper ground of their idolatry is thus discovered to the people and the necessity of their being scattered among the heathen (Jer 9:15) proved, one might almost suppose that he had not read the passage with the necessary attention, for there is not a trace of reproach which would be thus brought upon Israel; throughout there is not a word on the inner spiritual condition of the people. At most we should conclude from Jer 10:2 that this was presupposed to be a good one. All which Keil designates as the object of this passage has been given by the prophet in part long before, and in part in vers, 24 and 25, for the uncircumcised heart is indeed the deepest ground of all the inner and outer corruption which the prophet so deeply bewails.2. As to the language, I find in the first three verses some traces of Jeremiahs idiom, but not so decisively as to feel compelled on their account to admit Jeremiah to be the author. The formula is certainly Jeremiahs (comp. Jer 45:1; Jer 46:13; Jer 1:1), hut in Jeremiah it stands only at the commencement of the larger sections. In the midst of the context, as here, it is striking, the more so as it is further extended by is nowhere else, even in Jeremiah, construed with , but with (Jer 13:21), though very frequently he uses and as synonymous (comp. on Jer 10:1) wherefore also Graf on Jer 13:21 supposes that in this passage is written as so frequently for ,The verb (Jer 10:2) occurs in the Old Test. 55 times, in Jeremiah 20 times, from which it is clear that relatively it is used most frequently in this prophet. (Jer 10:3) is the more usual form in Jer.; besides here it is found 5 times (Jer 5:24; Jer 31:35; Jer 33:25; Jer 44:10; Jer 44:23), only twice (Jer 31:36 and Jer 32:11, here perhaps after Deu 5:28. But the first form is as much used as the latter. (Jer 10:6) is a current word in Jer., but used so absolutely, simply as a negation, it is found neither in Jer. nor elsewhere. Comp. the exposition. Jer 10:15, is the only expression which would speak decidedly in favor of the Jer. authorship, if the possibility of imitation were excluded. (Comp. Jer 8:12; Jer 46:21; Jer 50:27; ????????Jer 11:23; Jer 23:12; Jer 48:44). Apart from these few forms which correspond to Jeremiahs usage, without being exclusively his or being raised above the suspicion of imitation, there are a relatively large number of expressions, which are in part , on which however we lay no stress (the Pi. Jer 10:4; Jer 10:7; in the meaning un Jer 10:8; ibid.; Jer 10:10; Jer 10:15) and in part do not occur elsewhere in Jer., but take the place of other usual expressions. To these belong Jer 10:9; , , Jer 10:9; (Jer. uses for the latter Jer 12:1; Jer 36:24; Jer 41:5; Jer 43:12; Jer 13:25); Jer 10:12; and ibid. (the latter expression Job 9:8; Isa 40:22; Isa 13:5; Isa 44:24; Isa 45:12; Isa 51:13; Isa 66:12; Psa 104:2; Zec 12:2): (comp. on the other hand Psa 135:7) and Jer 10:13; Jer 10:14; (Jer. always says 8:19; Jer 50:38; Jer 51:47; Jer 51:52), in the sense of Jer 10:14 in Jer. is always libatio, Jer 7:18; Jer 19:3; Jer 32:29; Jer 44:17 sqq.), and Jer 10:16. From all this might well proceed some suspicion as to the authenticity of the passage Jer 10:1-16. In opposition to Movers, Hitzig and De Wette, Graf has fully shown that the supposed Isaiah II. could not be the author (S. 171 Anm.), although many relations are not to be denied. Who was the author and when and by whom the addition was made can scarcely be ascertained.
[2]Jer 10:1. in is used here, as frequently in Jeremiah, as synonymous with (comp. the exchange of the two in Jer 11:2; Jer 18:11; Jer 23:35; Jer 25:2; Jer 27:19; Jer 36:31; Jer 44:20; besides Jer 25:1; Jer 26:15; Jer 35:15; Jer 42:19 coll. Hos 12:11).
[3]Jer 10:2. with here only. But it is found in Jer 13:21 with the synonymous . Comp. Graf on this passage.With and the following subst., Deu 4:10; Deu 14:23; Deu 17:19; Psa 18:35; Psa 144:1. With and the following inf., Deu 18:9; Isa 48:17; Jer 12:16; Eze 19:3; Eze 19:6; Psa 143:10.
[4]Jer 10:3. is the accusative of the object. Comp. 1Ki 18:32 : he built the stones to an altar. (Naegelsb. Gr. 69, 3).As denotes not to hew but only to fell, the object designated is not the immediate but remote end of the activity.
[5]Jer 10:3. is found only in Isa 44:12 in a similar connection. The connection and the dialects are both in favor of the meaning of axe. In Arabic the corresponding word designates a cutting instrument. Comp. Aram. metere. The prefix may depend on or on , or on both. The latter is the more probable since in fact the axe is the instrument which serves for felling and hewing. Comp. Isa 44:14.
[6]Jer 10:5. for . Comp. Ewald, 194 b; Olsh. 38 b, Anm. g; 265 e.
[7]Jer 10:5. for Comp. rems. on Jer 1:16.
B. THE IDOLS CONTRASTED WITH JEHOVAH
Jer 10:6-16
6None is like Thee,8 O Jehovah!
Great art Thou, and great is Thy name in might.
7Who should not fear Thee, Thou King of nations?
For unto Thee is it due.9
For among all the wise men of the nations,
And in all their dominion there is none like Thee.
8But altogether they are stupid10 and become fools:11
Vain instruction! It is wood!12
9Silver plates are brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz,
The work of the smith and the hands of the smelter;
Blue and red purple is their raiment,
Artists work are they all.
10But Jehovah is truly God,
He is a living God, and an everlasting King:
Before His anger the earth trembleth,
And the nations cannot endure His wrath.
11Ye shall therefore say unto them: The gods,
Which have not made heaven and earth,13
Shall vanish away from the earth under the heaven.
12Who made the earth by His power,
Established the world by His wisdom,
And by His understanding spread out the heavens.
13At the sound of His voice a heaving of waters in the heavens,
He bringeth up vapors from the ends of the earth;
He produceth lightnings with the rain,
And bringeth the wind out of His storehouses.
14Stupid are all men there without understanding;
All the founders of idol-images are put to shame,
For a lie is their casting, and there is no spirit in them.
15For they are vapour and work of deceit;14
In the time of their visitation they perish.
16Not like these is the portion of Jacob;
For He forms all things and Israel is the stock of His inheritance:
Jehovah Zebaoth is His name.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Jer 10:6-7 contain the theme of the strophe: Jehovah is the highest, there is none like Him, all the world should fear Him. It is stupidity which opposes this truth, says Jer 10:8. The impropriety of this opposition is proved by the exposition of what idols really are. On the other hand the right of Jehovah maintained in Jer 10:7 is proved by the exposition of His attributes and works, Jer 10:10; Jer 10:12-13. From this exposition it is evident how well-founded on the one hand is the judgment pronounced against this opposition (Jer 10:14-15), and on the other hand the justice of Jehovah and the welfare of the people who serve Him. (Jer 10:16.)
Jer 10:6-7, None is like thee none like thee.In might is to be referred both to Thou and Thy name. Since the latter in relation to the former can designate only the name in the objective sense, the renown, glory, in might is equivalent to in manifestation of might, comp. Jer 16:21.Who should not negative expression for the positive,all must fear Thee.For among all.Seb. Schmidt here rightly calls attention to the fact that here is to be regarded as local not partitive, because otherwise God would be compared with men: among all the wise men and in the whole circuit of their dominion, therefore in the whole domain of their wisdom and might, no God is found like unto Jehovah. Comp. Caspari, Micha der Morastite, S. 13 ff.
Jer 10:8. But altogether it is wood. That which really is does not correspond to that which ought to be. The entirety of the heathen ( = un, Targum Jon. ; the meaning in one contradicts the connection) feareth not the Lord, as it becomes them. This is to say, they are stupid as brutes.Vain instruction! It is wood! If with Graf we should construe these words like 3a, we should develop the meaning that wood is wooden. But since this could not possibly be meant in the figurative sense, in which we use the word wooden, we should be obliged to take it literally, which, however we interpreted , would yield only nonsense. Accordingly cannot be the predicate of . We must therefore regard the latter as a declaration made absolutely, with present brevity, an exclamation which represents a sentence.Since the radical meaning of is breath, vanitas, we are perfectly justified by passages like Ecc 1:2; Ecc 5:6; Ecc 12:8, in taking the plural in this sense, although an adhesion to the derived meaning (idols) may certainly be contained in the words is therefore=institutio vanitatum, in the double sense of vain instruction and that which treats of vanities. At the same time the author may have had in mind an opposition to the chastisement of Jehovah ( ) (Deu 11:2; Pro 3:11; Job 5:17).Whatever also in idol doctrine is declared great and glorious of the idols is all vain lies and deceit. For the idol is wood! This points back to Jer 10:3, and at the same time declares in contradiction of what follows, that, though the idols may be ornamented with precious metals and material, the heart is still always wood. is used here, as in Jer 10:3, collectively with a contemptuous side-meaning.
Jer 10:9. Silver plates are brought artists work are they all. beaten silver, therefore silver plates, comp. Gen 1:6-8; Num 17:3-4. I do not think that these and the following words are to be regarded as a continuation of It is wood or are brought, as forming a relative sentence. For Jer 10:8 compared with Jer 10:3-4, is evidently intended to express that the idol is wood, a common material, and that the more precious metals, etc. are only theshell which covers the base kernel. The thought therefore that the idol is wood, silver and gold is remote from the connection. For what object silver and gold are brought from a great distance is not expressly stated, but is understood from the context, and especially from Jer 10:4.Tartessus in Spain is mentioned as producing silver in Eze 27:12.The name occurs besides only in Dan 10:5, where is spoken of. There are three views with respect to it: 1. Uphaz is designated as a real locality, and Bochart (Phaleg. II. 27), supposes it to be Tabrobana (Ceylon) where according to Ptolemy (VII. 4) there was a river and harbor Phasis; (Hitzig and Fuerst, H. W. B. S. 37) a place in Yemen (comp. Usal, Gen 10:27; Ophir, Sheba, Psa 45:10; 1Ch 29:4; Psa 72:15); in which case Uphaz may be regarded either as a compound of = and i.e. gold coast, or = Vipaa (Hyphasis); 2. Uphaz is regarded as incorrectly written for . So the Chaldee and Syriac, Theodoret and many of the moderns; 3. is taken to be identical with purgatum (Part. Hoph. from 1Ki 10:18, Vid.Fuerst, Conc. p. 895). But since, 1. The hypothesis of a scriptural error is opposed to the critical principle of preferring the more difficult reading; 2. Tartessus is designated only as a land of silver never of gold (with the exception of the general and later passage, Macc. Jer 8:3); 3. The East is elsewhere generally represented as the home of gold (comp. Havila, Gen 2:11-12; Ophir, Sheba, ut supra)and finally, 4. The connection of the passage requires the thought that the materials of the idols were brought from the most distant, and opposite places. I am in favor of regarding Uphaz as a definite locality to be sought in the East, although it is not possible now to determine its position more exactly.The work of the smith is in apposition with silver and gold. blue, red purple, comp. Exo 26:31; Exo 26:36; Exo 27:16; Exo 28:8; Exo 28:15; Exo 28:33.Artists [lit. skilful ones] comp. Jer 9:16; Isa 40:20.
Jer 10:10. But Jehovahendure his wrath In contrast to the merely imaginary deity of the idols, Jehovah is designated as the true God ( in apposition, comp. Naegelsb. Gr. 66) in contrast to their lifelessness as the living ( adject. comp. Jer 2:13; the plural as in Deu 5:23; 1Sa 17:26; Jer 23:36 coll.; Jos 24:19; Isa 37:4; Isa 37:17. VideNaegelsb. Gr. 105, 4, a) in contrast to their powerlessness finally as the eternal governor (comp. Exo 15:18; Psa 10:16; Psa 66:7; Psa 93:1 sqq.; Psa 97:1). Before such a mighty God the earth trembles (Exo 19:16 sqq.; Psa 68:9; Psa 97:5; Nah 1:5) and the nations are not in a condition to hold or to bear the fulness of His anger (the figure is that of a vessel which is burst by the liquid poured into it. Mat 9:17; comp. Jer 2:13).
Jer 10:11. Ye shall therefore say under the heaven. Houbigant, Venema, Dathe, Blayney, Dderlein, Rosenmueller, Maurer, Ewald, Graf, [HendersonS. R. A.] and others declare this verse to be a gloss which has crept into the text. Even Neumann (S. 549 Anm.) inclines to this view. I must also decide in its favor. For 1. Since we must suspect the authenticity of Jer 10:1-10; Jer 10:12-16, we have no interest in maintaining that of this verse, but a reason is afforded for the insertion of the verse just here. To the marginal gloss of a second a third might have added a second gloss in a foreign language. He would not have ventured to make such an irrelevant addition to the text of the prophet. Both glosses have in later times been unjustifiably admitted into the text. Jeremiah would certainly not have interrupted a Hebrew discourse by a Chaldee interpolation, when he elsewhere never uses this language, not even in the letter to the exiles, Jeremiah 29. The reasons which have been adduced in favor of their authenticity are specious only. They may be found in Neumann, S. 547, sqq. [Vide also Eng. Trans, of Calvin, II. p. 31, n.S. R. A.]. 2. The verse breaks the connection in the most abrupt manner. Jer 10:12 is by this verse suspended in the air, while without it, Jer 10:12 is connected quite regularly with Jer 10:10. The assumption of a parenthesis also (J. D. Michaelis) does not avail. For then the verse must be a necessary, not interruptive supplement to Jer 10:10, or preparation for Jer 10:12, neither of which is the case.
Jer 10:12. Who made the earth the heavensWho made () is in apposition to the main idea of Jer 10:10 : Jehovah Elohim. The absence of the article before such a participle standing in apposition after a Nom. determ. is frequent. Comp. Jer 2:27; Psa 9:12; Psa 104:2-4; Zec 12:1. VideNaegelsb. Gr. 97, 2, a.The contents of Jer 10:12-13 serve by the enumeration of facts as a confirmation of Jer 10:11, comp. Jer 27:5; Jer 32:17.established, etc. comp. Psa 65:7; Psa 89:12; Psa 93:1.spread out, etc. comp. Psa 104:2; Isa 40:22; Isa 44:24; Isa 51:13; Zec 12:1.
Jer 10:13. At the sound storehouses. This verse, with the exception of the beginning is found in Psa 135:7.Sound of his voice. It is not necessary with Ewald to take this for , or with Maurer for , or with Hitzig to make depend on as the object. For the words mean simply ad vocem, quam edit. We are not then to take in the general sense (on the noise which His giving makes) but in the special sense which lies at the root of the expression (Jer 12:8; Psa 46:7; Psa 68:34) i.e., to make a noise, sound with the voice. That the thunder is meant is evident from the context. Thunder, lightning, clouds, rain and storm are mentioned as the essential constituents of a tempest, comp. Jer 11:16.
Jer 10:14-15. Stupid are all they perish. In contrast to the living power of God the vanity of the idols is again set forth. While before Jehovah, when He arises, all trembles and is afraid, the worshippers of idols are by these merelyput to shame. The two members of Jer 10:14 a, stand in the relation of explicative, not of synonymous parallelism. The second is the explanation and more exact definition of the first. A change of reading therefore ( into )or of the usual meaning of the word ( = arte factum, idol-image) is unnecessary. we take in the explicative sense=to appear stupid, to prove so, comp. Isa 19:11; Ewald, 123, b. without insight, comp. Naegelsb. Gr. 112, 5, d.Men appear in the entire nakedness of their stupidity, in so far as they are put to shame by their idols, which are not God, but dead castings.Work of deceit. The sense is: a work by which they themselves are stultified and put to shame who make it.
Jer 10:16. Not like these is his name. The worshippers of Jehovah are yet again comprised with the idolaters, Jehovah is opposed to the idols, and the whole force of the demonstration is concentrated into the significant name of the true God. The first hemistich falls into two members. 1. Not like these is the portion of Jacob. The expression portion of Jacob reminds us of Deu 32:9; Psa 16:5. Observe how by this expression Jehovah and His servants are aptly comprised together. 2. Again the first sentence has a double basis: as former of all things Jehovah is not like the idols, and as those who have this God for their portion and inheritance the Israelites are not like the heathen.Stock of his inheritance. Comp. Deu 4:20; Psa 74:2.On the relation of this passage to Jer 51:19, and of the Hebrew original of the Alexandrian translation, consult Naegelsb. Jeremia u. Bab. S. 93, 131.
Footnotes:
[8]Jer 10:6. is remarkable. Venema supposes a transposition of the from at the close of Jer 10:5, an hypothesis to which we can have recourse only in extreme cases, especially as the initial and final are different in form. Neumann would take in a causal sense, but 1. it would be scarcely appropriate to designate the Lord as great merely inmparison with other great ones; 2. must also then be taken as causal in Jer 10:7. Neumann indeed does this, but thus he obtains only a linguistic monstrosity, which condemns itself and also his rendering of the word. Hitzig would read , as in Jer 30:7, and with similarity of thought we should certainly expect similarity of expression. But might we not just as well require to be read in Jer 30:7, as in this place? The expression, from whence Thy like? is at least quite unusual. In this sense we elsewhere always find (Deu 3:24; Deu 4:7; 2Sa 22:32; 2Ki 18:35; Psa 18:32; Psa 77:14; Mic 7:18 and the passages adduced by Hitzig himself Psa 35:10; Psa 71:19) while or occurs only in an ironical negative sense (ex. gr. Psa 42:4; Psa 79:10; Psa 115:2; Jer 2:27). or in the sense of earnest search (Jer 2:6; Jer 2:8; 2Ki 2:14), but never occurs in that sense. occurs frequently in Jeremiah, more frequently than in any other author of the Old Testament.The preposition is in this connection used evidently sometimes in a causal sense (Jer 7:32; Jer 19:11; Isa 50:2; Eze 34:8), but mostly in a negative sense=away from, without. Two negatives thus united do not make an affirmative, but strengthen the negation. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 106, 5; Gesen. 152, 2. Everywhere, however except here, depends on a preceding verb or noun, and indeed for the most part mediately, so that the preposition is to be considered as depending on an idea of existence (constructio prgnans) latent in the verb (or noun). Comp. Isa 6:11; Jer 4:7; Jer 20:9; Jer 32:43; Jer 33:10; Jer 33:12; Jer 34:22; Jer 44:22; Jer 46:19; Jer 48:9; Jer 51:29; Jer 51:37; Eze 33:28; Zep 2:5; Zep 3:6. In Jer 5:9 only is this idea of existence explicitly present.That in this place stands so abruptly is very remarkable and contrary to the usage of Jeremiah.
[9]Jer 10:7. from (which occurs only in this single form and place)=, decorum, consentaneum fuit, Isa 52:7; Psa 93:5; Son 1:10, On the feminine in the impersonal sense, comp. Naegelsb Gr. 60, 6, b.
[10]Jer 10:8. comp. Jer 10:14; Jer 10:21. Elsewhere occur only the participial forms (Psa 94:8; Ezek. 21:36) and (Isa 19:11). The meaning, according to the analogy of , = bardum, stolidum esse.
[11]Jer 10:8.. The verb here onlymeaning (comp ) stultum, stupidum, esse.
[12]Jer 10:8.[Blayney renders: the very word itself being a rebuker of vanities; Noyes better: Most vain is their confidence; it is woodwith the note, Lit. their doctrine, their instruction: i.e., that in which they are taught to confide. Henderson has; The tree itself is a reproof of vanities.S. R. A.]
[13]Jer 10:11. is a harsher form of . Comp. Fuerst, H. W. B. 1, S. 142. Buxtorf, Lex. Chald. p. 228. is again Hebrew and is referred by the LXX. to but by most commentators to .
[14]Jer 10:14. The noun here only, the verb Gen 27:12; 2Ch 36:16.
2. BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE RETRIBUTION: COMMAND TO THE PEOPLE TO RETIRE; LAMENT OF THE DESOLATED LAND; LAST WATCH-CRY OF THE PROPHET: THE ENEMY IS HERE!
Jer 10:17-22 15
17Pick up thy bundle16 from the earth, thou that sittest17 in distress!
18For thus saith Jehovah: Behold!
I sling away the inhabitants of this land at this once,
And bring them into straits, that they may find it so.
19Wo is me for my hurt! My wound is incurable.18
But I say: this is now my suffering and I will bear it.
20My tent is laid waste and all my cords are broken.19
My children forsake me and are never here.
There is none to pitch my tent and set up my curtains,
21For the pastors are become stupid and seek not Jehovah.
Hence they have effected nothing prudent and their whole flock is dispersed.
22Hark, a message comes and great tumult out of the north country,
That the cities of Judah are to become a desolation,
For the habitation of jackals.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
After by Jer 9:25 it is affirmed that the last and only means of safety is despised the prophet now in Jer 10:17-18 addresses a command to the people to remove into exile. The now desolated land is hereupon introduced as lamenting its misfortune and its causes (Jer 10:19-21). At last the prophet announces, as a herald or watchman on the lookout, that the enemy (long predicted and called to execute judgment) is present (Jer 10:22).
Jer 10:17. Pick up thy bundle distress. It is the prophet who speaks.=from the earth, away from the ground, for here we have to do not with the retirement of the possessors from the country, but only of the hasty gathering up of the few effects, which a poor exile might take with him. The word bundlehas therefore a contemptuous side-meaning.In distress. The prophet speaks this of the people already severely distressed by the enemy in the cities whither they have fled, Jer 8:14. Comp. Jer 19:9; Jer 52:5.
Jer 10:18. For thus saith Jehovah may find it so. Jehovah Himself is now introduced as speaking, to give a reason for the command in Jer 10:17.Since the time of the Judges the people had often been oppressed by foreign enemies within their borders, now they are to be dragged far away into banishment, comp. Isa 22:17That they may find it so. . This expression, which has been very variously interpreted is explained most easily by remembering, a. its relation to bring into straits, b. the ease of supplying the indefinite object it (Naegelsb. Gr., 78, 2 Anm.), c. the close connection of the ideas to find and to know. With respect to the latter, I refer especially to Ecc 8:17 (and I saw that man cannot find all Gods work, that is done under the sun; though a man labor to seek [it], yet he finds it not, and though a wise man think to know [it], yet can he not find it). Comp. also Jer 16:21.He who is driven into straits must go whither he is driven. So God by affliction drives Israel into such straits that they must find, i.e., know what it is above all necessary and desirable for them to know, that great it, namely, which though unnamed, is well understood. Chap. Isa 43:20; Hos 9:7.
Jer 10:19-20. Wo is me set up my curtains. That both these verses are the words of the country personified, is seen from my children, etc., in Jer 10:20, for neither the prophet says this, nor the people, who are identical with the children and not forsaken, but forsaking.And I say. In these words also we have a proof that the land is the speaker. For the words express no consciousness of guilt, but a comfort, which the innocent land alone could find, in the fact that a calamity is laid upon it, which must be borne. At the same time we perceive in these words the first gleam of hope in a future deliverance. For men speak thus composedly only when they know that they will not have to bear perpetual but only transient suffering. Comp. Jer 5:4. Also the suffixes of the 1st Pers. in Jer 10:20 are in favor of the land as the speaker.Forsake me. Comp. Gen 44:4; Num 35:26; Naegelsb. Gr., 70, b.
Jer 10:21. For the pastors are become stupid dispersed. The land is the speaker: 1. on account of; 2. because the metaphor of pastoral life is continued; 3. because in the mouth of the land this statement does not appear as the repetition of things which have been already frequently said, but as it were a confirmatory testimony from an impartial witness.Become stupid. Comp. Jer 10:8,effect nothing prudent. The meaning is to effect that which is prudent, sensible and in so far also prosperous, comp. Jer 20:11; Pro 17:8.
Jer 10:22. Hark, a message jackal.These words are, as it were, a last watch-call and signal which denotes (comp. Jer 1:14; Jer 4:6; Jer 6:1; Jer 6:22; Jer 8:16) that the enemy so frequently announced is present.For a habitation, comp. Jer 9:10.
Footnotes:
[15]This strophe apart from the general relationship which it bears to chh. 7, 9, also has many particular points of connection with this passage, especially with Jer 8:13 sqq. Comp. Jer 10:17 with Jer 8:14, Jer 10:18 with Jer 7:15. Jer 10:19 with Jer 8:21. Jer 10:20 with Jer 9:18. Jer 10:22 with Jer 8:16. Jer 10:22 with Jer 7:34; Jer 9:10.
[16]Jer 10:17. ( ) from =the bowed together, twisted together, pack, bundle. On comp. Olsh. 234, b, Isa 47:2.
[17]Jer 10:17.The Keri is superfluous. Comp. Jer 22:23; Gen 49:11; Hos 10:11; Olsh. 123, d.: Naegelsb. Gr. 43, 1. On the construct state before prepositions, comp. Ib. 63, 4 c. [Henderson renders: O inhabiters of the siege.]
[18]Jer 10:19. (Olshaus. 266, a). Comp. Jer 14:17; Jer 30:12. [Henderson: My stroke is grievous.]
[19]Jer 10:20.[Henderson: all my tent pins are plucked up, but without reason.S. R. A.]
3. CONSOLATORY GLANCE INTO THE FUTURE
Jer 10:23-25
23I know, Jehovah, that not to man belongs his way,
It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.20
24Correct me, Jehovah, but only as it is just,
Not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
25Pour out thy wrath on the nations that know thee not,
And on the nations that call not on thy name;
For they have devoured Jacob, yea they consumed and destroyed him,
And his pasture have they laid waste.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
These verses form a very appropriate conclusion. They involve an honest confession of sin in view of the numerous charges of the discourse. To the threatenings of punishment, however, corresponds the petition to punish not too severely, not in anger, but to pour out the fury on the heathen nations; the basis of which petition is the theocratic hope that Israel cannot be wholly rejected, but there must in the future be a day of grace for them, and vengeance on their enemies. The prophet must be regarded as the speaker, but as speaking not in his own name, but in that of the people.
Jer 10:23. I know his steps. Man has not the power to determine how and where he will go. Comp. Psa 37:23; Pro 16:1; Pro 16:9; Pro 19:21. is taken by Hitzig=perishable, mortal. And the word, according to passages like Ps. 39:14; Psa 58:9; Psa 109:23; Job 19:10, cannot be denied this meaning. But since the most natural sense: it is not for man, so long as he walks, to determine his courseseems equally appropriate, the word may be regarded as having a double sense, or, as uniting both these meanings.
Jer 10:24-25. Correct me and his pasture have they laid waste. In Jer 10:23 the thought is implicitly contained that Israel had wished in his own strength to walk in his own way contrary to the will of God. He now sees how greatly he has sinned and submits to the necessary and merited punishment, praying only for the utmost possible mildness and forbearance. The final conversion and re-acceptance of the people is thus set forth as prospective.As is just, comp. Jer 30:11; Jer 46:28. As was remarked on Jer 7:5; Jer 9:23, justice in the Old Testament is not opposed to grace, but to brutal violence. The antithesis of is not to , but to the violence () exercised toward the poor, the stranger, orphan and widow. In contrast to this he who consciously maintains the straight line of justice appears fairly disposed and mild, not making his subjective desires his law, but submitting himself to the objective law. Accordingly this as it is just, which evidently has its antithesis in the following: in thine anger, also involves the idea of mildness, because justice in contrast to that anger which is its own law, and respects no other, appears like mildness. It must be granted that this dualistic conception of God as just towards Israel, but wrathful towards the heathen, is not that of the New Testament. That it is the genuine Old Testament view is shown by passages like Psa 6:2; Psa 38:2; Psalms 79 (where in Jer 10:6-7 our Jer 10:24 is reproduced); Psa 137:8. Observe, moreover, how the prophet here turns the tables. To Israel, now being severely punished, he presents the prospect of grace, but before the heathen, who are now Gods instruments in the punishment of Israel, is complete destruction. Comp. Isa 47:6; Hab 1:11; Hab 3:8-12, and Jeremiah 50, 51, especially Jer 50:10 sqq.The repetition and accumulation of verbs in 25b, is to portray graphically the rage of the enemies, comp. Jer 51:34.
Footnotes:
[20]Jer 10:23. . From the LXX. () and the Vulgate (nec viri est, ut ambulet et dirigat gressus suos), we might conclude that they read , if we might assume any exactness in these translations, and if it were not evident from the Chaldee ( qui ambalat at dirigit), and the Syriac, that they also read . It is impossible to justify the Vau grammatically, when it stands before the infinitive. Even Ewald has accomplished nothing by reference to 344, a. Gaab, by transposing the Vau, would read , which is an equally unusual construction, and gives a feeble sense. The easiest way would be to read , if the very facility of this reading did not stand in its way. The general meaning is clear, but we must abandon for the present an exact determination of the word.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Jer 10:6. There cannot be two highest Beings, or there would be none. In the idea of the Absolute is involved that of uniqueness. Polytheism has therefore no highest Being in the absolute sense. Where, however, traces of such are found, polytheism is about either to rise to monotheism (comp. Friedrich Naegelsbach, nachhom. Theol. S. 140), or to dissolve into pantheism.
2. Who shall not fear thee? etc., Jer 10:7, Ghislerus remarks: S. Remigius, Episc. Rhemensis ex hoc loco probat, multos ex gentibus credidisse et placuisse Deo, additque in hoc multo magis dici Deum gentium, quoniam multo plures credunt in eum ex gentibus, quam ex Judis. Comp. Rom 2:14-15, and Tholuck ad h. l.Joh 1:4 ( ).
3. Augustine remarks on the Infinity of God, de Trin., V. 1. Intelligimus Deum sine qualitate bonum, sine quantitate magnum, sine indigentia creatorem, sine situ prsentem, sine habitu omnia continentem, sine loco ubique totum, sine tempore sempiternum, sine ulla sui mutatione mutabilia facientem nihilque patientem.
4. On Jer 10:10. In hemist. a, a proof of the Trinity has been repeatedly found. So ex. gr., Hailbrunner (Jer. proph. monumenta in locos comm. Theol. digesta, Lauingen, 1586, page 38), Frster (S. 61), and among the moderns Neumann (S. 547). The latter says the passage affords a sure testimony of the trinitarian view of God in the Old Testament; the truth of the Spirit, the life of the Father, the kingdom of the Son, comprising in themselves the fulness of all emanations of the divine existence in opposition to heathen superstition. But against this it may be urged that in opposition to the multiplicity of idols the author had to set forth not the trinity, but the unity of the divine nature, as he has done in Jer 10:6-7, and that his purpose here (Jer 10:10) is merely to contrast the false gods with the true, the dead with the living, the powerless with the Almighty. That the contrast is exhibited in three points, we are not indeed to regard as accidental, but to explain it rather by the general significance of the number three, than by the purpose of intimating the Trinity.
5. On Jer 10:14 : All men are fools. Ye fools and blind, says our Saviour (Matthew 23). Such a word, spoken in season takes hold and produces conviction; but it must be administered with spirit and fire; for if it is only human words to men, they will make a quarrel out of them. Zinzendorf.
6. On Jer 10:14 (A lie is their casting). This applies not only to the idols which men make of earthly materials, but to all self-made idols of the heart. The carnal mind, which tends downwards, feels annoyed by the nearness of God, and seeks therefore at all times to escape from it. But since man cannot do without God, he makes himself a god or gods, as he wants them. Whether these gods are visible and palpable images, or the abstract forms of speculation, the words of the text always apply to them; they are a lie, and there is no spirit in them. Accordingly there is heathenism enough in themidst of Christianity, and it may be asked, which is worse, the new or the old?
7. On Jer 10:16. What perfect historical reality and personality is here! A creator of the universe stands before us, one therefore, who has called all things into existence by His free, personal will, and who at the same time as the living personal Head of all the spirits governing the world is infinitely exalted above every limited local deity. But at the same time the relation of this Deity to the world is not an abstract and general, but a living and personal relation. For this God primarily holds immediate personal intercourse with one nation of the earth, as a father with his son, and He is this nations greatest treasure and inalienable property, as on the other hand the nation belongs to Him as the object of His free personal election, which none may dispute or annul.
8. On Jer 10:19 (I must bear it). I pray all teachers for Gods sake, that they reflect and err not, that they do not, in order to retain their living, repeat these words of Jeremiah, and cover up their laziness, ill-success, frivolity, their own unfruitfulness and selfishness, with the excuse, this is my plague. O no, what we should call a plague is burdens of a hundred-weight, from which we long to be freed, which crush us almost to death; persons from whom we would flee as a bird from a cage; a pressure under which we are martyred with shame, and yet have no permission to depart. These lead one finally, after many struggles and cries unto the Lord for his dismission, and after an answer of absolute denial, to say in calmness: I believe this is now my plague, and I must bear it. Zinzendorf.
9. On Jer 10:20. The jealousy of the Saviour is so strict, that He will have His children directed to Him (Isa 65:11), and the idea of the pastoral office with which some good teachers are infected, of regarding and treating souls as their souls, sheep as their sheep, children as their children, is in the highest degree opposed to His will. Hence He often, for a just judgment, does not allow their joy in souls to last, but lets them see and conclude more of their decline and less of their success, than there really is. For He will not give His glory to another, and the teachers are not Christ, but sent by Him, before Him. Zinzendorf.
10. On Jer 10:21. As sheep must either starve or be led to filthy and poisonous pasture, if their shepherds are fools, who do not know how to manage sheep, so is this much more the case in the spiritual pastorate. Cramer.
11. On Jer 10:23. The steps of every man are ordered by the Lord, what man understands His way? (Pro 20:24). And every mans way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord alone maketh the hearts certain (Pro 21:2). Therefore we must pray: Lord, make known to me the way in which I should walk, for after Thee is my desire. Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God; let Thy good Spirit guide me in a plain path (Psa 143:8-10). Cramer.
12. On Jer 10:23. Certum est, nos velle, cum volumus, sed ille facit, ut velimus bonum, de quo dictum est, quod prparatur voluntas a Domino (Pro 8:35 sec. Sept.) Certum est, nos facere, cam facimus, sed ille facit, ut faciamus prbendo vires efficacissimas voluntati, qui dixit; faciam ut in justificationibus meis ambuletis et judicia mea observetis (Eze 36:26-27). Augustin. De grat. et lib. arbitr. Cap. 16.
13. On Jer 10:24. There is a beautiful distinction between the suffering and punishment of the pious and the ungodly, which consists in modo et in fine. For when God chastises the pious He does it not with anger and fury, but as a discrect and kind father or teacher may discipline his son and disciple, without ill-humor. Thus also God does with His children. He does it, not that He may bring them to nothing, but that they may not esteem themselves innocent (Jer 30:11). On the other hand he makes an end of the ungodly, and they must drink up the dregs (Psa 75:8). Cramer.
14. On Jer 10:25. Quri potest hic, an contra infideles, ut hodie sunt Turc et Judi, orandum? Orandum est contra eos et pro iis. Contra eos, quatenus persequuntur ecclesiam, pro iis, quatenus ecclesiam non persequuntur, ut convertantur, quemadmodum fit in Litania; forgive our enemies, persecutors and slanderers, and turn their hearts. Frster.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. [On Jer 10:7. Saurin:Fear may be 1. Terror. 2. A disposition to render God all the worship He requires, to submit to all the laws He imposes, to conceive all the emotions of admiration, devotedness and love, which the eminence of His perfections demands. 3. A disposition which considers Him as alone possessing all that can contribute to our happiness and misery. In the last sense (which is meant here) God is the only object of fear; for 1. God is a being whose will is self-efficient; 2. the only being who can act immediately on spiritual souls; 3. the only being who can make all creatures concur in His designs.S. R. A.]
2. On Jer 10:10. There are three main forms of idolatry: 1. Polytheism, which does not deny the predicates of deity, but attributes them to false subjects.2. Pantheism, which denies the subjects and the predicates.3. Deism, which confesses the subject but denies the predicates.These errors are opposed in Jer 10:10, from which we derive the theme:The Scriptural doctrine of God in opposition to the errors of idolatry.This teaches us to know God, 1. as the true, real God in opposition to those who attribute the divine properties to imaginary false gods; 2. as the living God in opposition to those who represent God as a mere all-pervading force; 3. as the eternal King, in opposition to those who represent God only as a transient work-master, and not as the ever active ruler of the world.
3. There is a homily of Origen (Horn. VIII. ed. Lommatzsch) on Jer 10:12-14, in which by the earth he understands the body, by () the soul, by the heavens the spirit. The clouds (mist) Jer 10:13 from the ends of the earth are the saints whom God has chosen from the least of the earth.
4. On Jer 10:14-16. It is manifest that the task of religion is not to make God, but to receive Him, who is, in faith. Every manufactured god is an idol, be it a visible one made with hands, or an invisible one made only in thought. The latter kind of idolatry is alas! very prevalent among us Christians. For a warning against such ruinous heresies, and for the confirmation of our faith in the God, whom as Christians we ought to serve, we institute on the basis of the text, a comparison between the manufactured gods and the God, of whom the Scriptures teach us. I. The manufactured gods, 1. are deceit, etc., Jer 10:14, b; 15, a. 2. They perish when they are visited (in the day of divine judgment upon them they vanish into nothing). 3. Those who made them are with all their skill put to shame. II. The God, of whom the Holy Scriptures teach us. 1. He is not a lifeless deceptive image, for He has created all things, the visible and the invisible (Jehovah Zebaoth). 2. Being the source of all life He cannot perish. 3. Those who serve Him are not put to shame, for He is their treasure, as they again are His heritage (He is not only infinitely exalted above time and space, but infinitely near us, His children).
5. On Jer 10:10. From these words of the prophet we may learn what it is in great affliction and sorrow of heart to bow under the mighty hand of God. It Isaiah 1, that a man recognize the suffering as his suffering, i.e., (a) as that which he has himself prepared, (b) as that which is right for him, i.e., not too heavy and not too light, but exactly corresponding to its beneficent purpose; 2, that they suffer willingly, (a) in patience, (b) in hope.
6. On Jer 10:23. Theme: Man proposes, God disposes. This Isaiah 1, a humbling of our pride, 2, a strong support of our hope.
Note.Frster remarks that these words may serve for the text of a concio valedictoria.
7. On Jer 10:25. Theme: How we should behave under the chastisements of God. 1. We should humbly submit to them as necessary and wholesome means of improvement. 2. We should be certain that they will not then transgress those bounds nor proceed to our destruction.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS
In order to reprove the folly of idolatry, the Prophet is in this Chapter drawing a statement between the glory of Jehovah and the shame of idols. The Chapter concludes with some observations on the ill conduct of foolish pastors.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

This is most striking sermon, and very highly finished, in which the Prophet, in the Lord’s name, asserts his divine nature and sovereignty: and then displays the folly of idols. The words are so plain, that they can need no comment. Isaiah had it in commission, to preach to the same amount: and he hath done it in the most sublime manner. Isa 44:9-21 . And let the Reader observe in the close of this paragraph, how sweetly the Lord speaks of the Israel of God: as the Lord’s portion and the lot of his inheritance. The Reader will find a parallel passage Deu 32:8 , etc. and again, Deu 33:26 to the end.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jer 10:11
Dr. Stock, in his History of the Church Missionary Society, says that Claudius Buchanan, in his valedictory address to the first men sent to India, refers to this unique Chaldaic verse embedded in the Hebrew of Jeremiah’s prophecy. ‘Just as if,’ says Buchanan, ‘while you are receiving instructions in your own tongue, one sentence should be given you in the Tamil or Cinghalese language which you should deliver to the Hindus.’
Reference. X. 16. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah and Jeremiah, p. 268.
The Collapses of Life
Jer 10:19-20 , Psa 27:5

I. The Lament of the Prophet. ‘ Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous, truly this is my grief.’ It was not an irritation, inconvenience, or annoyance, a disagreeable, disappointing incident, as so many of our troubles are: it was a bitter grief, a crushing overthrow.
1. The overthrow is total. ‘My tent is spoiled and all my cords are broken.’ Many times had the land of Israel been devastated and its population subjected to loss and suffering; on this occasion the catastrophe was to be overwhelming. Thus from time to time is it with the individual. Sometimes adverse financial fortune wrecks our tent Sometimes the calamity that surprises us is the total failure of our health.
2. The overthrow is sudden. A tent in the wilderness is broken without warning, and herein is the symbol of our overthrows. We speak of coming events casting their shadows before: tremendous events supervene with little warning. The most desolating bolts shoot out of a blue sky, the spectre of ruin is ambushed in broad sunshine and takes us unawares.
3. The overthrow is irreparable. ‘There is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.’ This order of calamity is repeated in private life. Usually the losses of life admit of ameliorations; but some deprivations are complete, some losses final. We must look the fact in the face that the day approaches when we shall be totally helpless, when nothing can be done, and everything must be endured.
4. The overthrow is personal. ‘Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it’ We live in a world of misfortunes and sorrows; but, as a rule, they do not greatly affect us: they occur in distant places, they affect strangers. One day, however, the calamity comes right home, and the arrow drinks up our spirit. ‘It is my grief.’
II. The Psalmist’s Refuge. ‘For in the day of trouble He shall keep me secretly in His pavilion: in the covert of His tent shall He hide me.’ When your tent sinks away hopelessly there is a royal pavilion in which you may hide this is the sublime direction and consolation of these precious words something deeper than our grief, vaster than our sorrow.
Fly to the living God. Jeremiah, in the chapter whence our first text is taken, dwells upon the reality and glory of the living God. We believe in the living God all-wise, just, loving, keeping mercy for thousands who fear Him, and we trust in His perfect government and glorious purpose.
W. L. Watkinson, Themes for Hours of Meditation, p. 44.
References. X. 23. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. 1. No. 2893. XI. 8. Ibid. vol. xiv. No. 838. XI. 12. W. J. Knox-Little, Labour and Sorrow, p. 131.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

VI
SERMONS ON THE TEMPLE WORSHIP
Jeremiah 7-10; Jer 26

These events occurred in the earliest half of the reign of Jehoiakim, about 607 or 606 B.C. Though the nation was going back to idolatry, the Temple ceremonies and sacrifices were carried on with great zeal and elaborateness. The people seemed to put their trust in the Temple rather than in God who dwelt therein. They believed that the sacrifices themselves availed much, and that their salvation was secure, if they performed these services. The relation of their conduct to their worship did not seem to trouble them. Jeremiah heard God’s call to preach to them in the very Temple itself, to preach to the multitude of worshipers that thronged these courts. He seized upon the occasion of a great feast, when the multitude was the greatest and addressed the throng on the necessity of a better life with their worship. Jeremiah was in the Temple that is called the house of Jehovah. There was unquestionably a large concourse of people gathered together. Some suggest that the purpose of that assembly may have been to consider means of defense in the face of impending disaster upon the nation. It may have occurred sometime when Jehoiakim had been compelled to pay tribute to a foreign king.
Jeremiah speaks to the people a message of warning: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.” Then he gives them some very suggestive advice, some very earnest words of warning: “Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah.” That is very suggestive. It is a warning to people who are trusting in the external, the ceremonial and the ritual; that these avail nothing where the spirit and the heart are lacking. They believed, because they had the Temple of Jehovah and kept up its ceremonies, that it would stand for ever and that God would protect them for the Temple’s sake. Jeremiah prophesied that the Temple would be destroyed. Less than twenty years afterward these words of the prophet were fulfilled. The Temple was destroyed. But these people said, “It is impossible that this temple should be destroyed, for it is the temple of Jehovah.” They were saying, “The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah!” This is a blow against all heathen religions, and also the Roman Catholic religion. The people were trusting in the ceremonies and externals: “The temple of Jehovah! The temple of Jehovah! The temple of Jehovah!” The prophet demanded that they change their life; that they turn from their wickedness, else the Temple would be no good to them.
The prophet here charged them with all kinds of sin: with falsehood, with lying, with deceit, with murder, and with idolatry of various kinds. They were like the Negro woman who was accused of a certain sin and when asked, “How can you do that?” she replied: “Well, I never lets that interfere with my religion.” These people divorced morals and religion. They never let their religion interfere with their conduct. Furthermore, the prophet charged them with making their beautiful Temple, in which they were trusting, a “den of robbers.” That is the same condition that Jesus found about 600 years later. He said, “Ye have made my Father’s house a den of thieves.” The people were saying, “It is impossible for the Temple to be destroyed; God will defend his house.” But the prophet reminds them that God did destroy his house: Remember the days of Eli and his sons, and Samuel yonder at Shiloh; that God destroyed Shiloh where the tabernacle was then. This is the only direct reference we have to the destruction of Shiloh. The ark of the covenant was captured, and the tabernacle is heard of later as stationed at Gibeon and later on was stored in the Temple. God destroyed their dwelling place at Shiloh and he can destroy it in Jerusalem. That is the lesson here.
The result of that sermon is recorded in Jer 26 . In that chapter Jeremiah or Baruch writes down what the prophet had said, not the same words exactly but the substance of it. The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of Jehovah. Then they, the ecclesiastical leaders, began a persecution. They were the parties that were directly concerned, because they administered the Temple worship and services, and if the Temple were to be destroyed, they would be out of work, and thus they took offense at the words of Jeremiah. They did not enjoy his going around and threatening the destruction of their church house and thus put them out of business.
Now, it was the same in the days of Christ. It was the ecclesiastical leaders who began the persecution against him. It was the chief priests, the scribes and the rabbis that were aroused because he rebuked them for burying the law under their traditions. So it was here. These priests and prophets (false prophets) were enraged at this kind of preaching and they laid hold of Jeremiah and said, “Thou shalt surely die.” The persecution of Stephen is a parallel case. They attempted to prove against Stephen the charge that he had spoken against the Temple; that he had spoken blasphemous words against Moses and against “This holy place.” The Sanhedrin asked him, “Are these things so?” He admitted the statement and that was sufficient charge in their minds. But he went on to prove to them that God might be worshiped without a Temple; that he had been worshiped in many places besides Jerusalem. That was adding crime to crime, and so they killed him.
Jeremiah was in the hands of the priests and prophets, and was in imminent danger. They were about to kill him, but there was another class of men, not there at the time, but they heard of it. These were the princes of Judah who heard the confusion, hurried from the king’s house to the house of Jehovah, and heard these priests and prophets about their charges against Jeremiah, saying that he was worthy of death. Jeremiah made his defense (Jer 7:12 ). His defense was that Jehovah sent him to prophesy. He says that God commanded him to say to them that they must amend their ways. Then he went on to say that he had told them the truth and that he was in their hands; that they could do with him as they would, “Only know ye for certain that, if ye put me to death, ye will bring innocent blood upon this city and upon yourselves and the inhabitants of the land, for God hath sent me to say these things to you.” Jeremiah did not take back a word.
There is no doubt that if it had not been for the princes and the people who were on his side he would have immediately been put to death. Certain elders of the land rose up and spake to the people. They said, “No, don’t be rash. You remember that Micah, the prophet, prophesied that Zion should be destroyed, and although he prophesied thus, Hezekiah, the king, and the people did not put him to death.” These men remind us of Gamaliel. Then they tell the story of another occasion. He did not fare so well as Micah. There was a different king upon the throne. Jehoiakim was now at the helm. He it was who with wicked hands took the prophecy of Jeremiah, God’s holy message, and cut it to pieces and burned it. He did not stop till he put the prophet, Uriah, to death. He fled to Egypt but the king brought him back and executed him.
The outcome of this was that Jeremiah was saved. He eacaped these enraged priests and prophets through the influence of the princes. They were men of influence and power, and they took his part in the face of his enemies. He had a particular among the princes, Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, who was chiefly instrumental in rescuing him. Intercession for this people is now useless, Jer 7:16 : “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me.” Jeremiah could not save Judah and Jerusalem. No man could do it. Not even Jesus Christ could save the wicked land and city in his day. Savonarola could not save Florence. So the day of opportunity had passed for Jerusalem.
Their idolatry is described in Jer 7:17-20 : “Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?” This was in the reign of Jehoiakim. It could not have occurred in the reign of Josiah. “The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven,” probably Ashtoreth. They made cakes doubtless in the shape of that queen, as we, in our childhood, made cakes in the shape of men. So they made their cakes in honor of their heathen goddess. Jer 7:19-20 show the result of such conduct.
The import of Jer 7:21-26 is that the basis of the law is obedience, not ceremony. In Jer 7:21 is a touch of sarcasm: “Add your burnt offerings.” This is like Isaiah and Amos, who exhort the people to increase their religious efforts that were but dead forms. Amos says, “Come to Gilgal and transgress.”
Jer 7:22 says, “I spake not unto your fathers, when I brought them out of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices: this is the thing that I commanded them saying, Hearken unto my voice.” Now, the critics take that as one of their strong points. They maintain that it plainly says that ceremonial legislation of the Pentateuch was not given by Moses but that it was written later. They refer to this with great boldness saying, “Does not Jeremiah, the prophet, plainly say that God did not speak unto Moses or the fathers concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices down in Egypt or in the wilderness?” When Israel came out of Egypt, the nature of the covenant made between God and Israel was as follows: “If ye will obey my voice and keep my covenant, then indeed ye shall be mine own possession from among the peoples, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” (Exo 19:5-6 ). And we are told in Jer 7:8 that the people promised, saying, “All the words of Jehovah we will do.” Now, the basis of that covenant on the part of Israel was obedience. The basis on God’s part was grace. “If ye will obey my voice,” is an expression of grace, an overture that is not deserved. It is free and voluntary on God’s part. “If ye will do what I tell you, I will be to you all that is needed.” The people said, “We will obey the covenant.”
So it was made, and Jeremiah was right when he said, “I spake not to your fathers in the wilderness concerning sacrifices and burnt offerings, but this I said, Obey my voice.” The Ten Commandments were given as a standard of obedience and faith. They showed the people wherein they might obey God’s voice. The condition is there laid down and their acceptance implies faith and love on their part. That is the foundation principle of Christianity itself. In this passage it is clear that Jeremiah makes a great contrast between ceremony and obedience.
Jeremiah (Jer 7:27-28 ) goes on to describe the unbroken disobedience of the people. They had continued in disobedience ever since they had been in the land of Canaan. Next we have the lament of Jeremiah over the destruction, Jer 7:29-34 : “Cut off thy hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation. The people have set their abominations in the house that is called by my name. They have burned their sons and their daughters in the fire, therefore behold the days shall come that it shall no more be called the valley of Topheth, nor the valley of Himom, but the valley of slaughter. The dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth. Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and gladness, the bridegroom and the bride, for the land shall become a waste.”
In Jer 8:1-3 Jeremiah shows that these barbarians who were coming, were going to be so ruthless that they would not stop with the killing of the living, but they would break open the graves of the kings of Judah, the princes, the mighty men and the prophets and would tear their bodies out of their graves and desecrate them. Now, that was the highest indignity on an Oriental, for the grave of his dead is sacred. Yet these barbarians would go even to that extremity.
In Jer 8:4-9 the prophet again exposes the wickedness of the people and points to the exile that is not to be averted. Many similar passages we have already examined. There are repetitions in Jeremiah. They would not repent and obey the word of the Lord, therefore this punishment is coming. “How do ye say, We are wise, and the Law of Jehovah is with us?” “Our scribes have been reading the Law until they have mastered it.” That is just what they did in the days of Jesus. They had covered up the commandments of the Law by their traditions. They had added many things, too. In verse Jer 8:12 he asks, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abominations? Nay, they were not ashamed.” Then Jeremiah described the enemy approaching: “The snorting of the horses is at the gate,” and so he goes on with his description of the foe coming upon the land. In Jer 18:22 we have that lament which we have already studied before: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” “Oh, that my head were a fountain of water that I might weep rivers of tears!”
We have a graphic picture in Jer 9:3-9 : “They bend their tongues as a bow is bent.” A bow is made to bend. That is the purpose for which it is made. The idea is that they use their tongues as if they were made for lying. They speak falsehood as if that was the main use of the tongue. The people are so corrupt that they lie as if that were the normal way of speaking.
The picture of Jer 9:10-16 is a picture of the impending devastation. Note the language of the prophet in Jer 9:11 ; Jer 9:13 , Jer 9:16 : “And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant . . . And the Lord saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; . . . I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.” The call of Jer 9:17-22 is a call for the female mourners. They are called upon to mourn and lament because of the destruction: “Call for the mourning women that they may come, and for the skillful women. Let them take up a wailing for us.” There was soon an occasion for it.
The contrast of Jer 9:23-24 is a contrast between true and false glorying. Here is a marvelous text and a great subject: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth me.” What is he to glory in? Not in human power and worth but in the knowledge of Jehovah who is powerful and loving. That is like the apostle Paul who said, “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ.” There was no cross of Christ in Jeremiah’s time, but the idea is much the same. The knowledge of God, such a God as Jehovah, is the summum bonum of life, the highest object of human glorying.
The prophecy of Jer 9:25-26 is a prophecy of the punishment of the nations. Some of the heathen nations were to be punished with Judah, and the prophecy of Jer 10:1-16 is a prophecy concerning idols, a distinct prophecy. It is a description of the idols of the heathen nations, a magnificent portrayal of the vanity of heathen worship, in contrast with the glorious worship of Jehovah. The critics claim that this passage was not written by Jeremiah, but long after him. It is very much like Isaiah 40-44, and they claim that it was not written till after those chapters were written, between 400 and 200 B.C. Now, that is a mere guess. Isaiah wrote chapters Isaiah 40-44 and Jeremiah wrote this later. He was probably writing to the exiles. Though God’s people were in Babylon, Jeremiah addressed this passage to them to exhort them to remain faithful to Jehovah in the midst of heathen worship.
Now, it is significant that Jer 10:11 is in Aramaic, not Hebrew. There are many explanations by critics and scholars of this phenomenon. Some say that it is a corruption of the text. Others that it is a marginal note crept into the text. Others say that it is an instruction given to the exiles in Babylon, which is highly probable. They spoke Aramaic and not Hebrew. So this passage would enable them to have a ready argument to meet the advocates of idol worship. In the Aramaic the people would understand it, and could readily use it in argument for their own worship.
We have a prophetic picture in Jer 10:17-25 . In this section he pictures the coming exiles. The people are bidden to gather together their wares and belongings, and prepare to go into exile. There was a time when their punishment might have been averted but it is too late now. The hour has come, the shepherds are worthless, the foe approaches from the North. Their heathen neighbors who have done great evil against the nation of Israel shall be punished. The prophet asks Jehovah to pour out his wrath upon them.
QUESTIONS

1. What is the date and occasion of these prophecies?
2. What warning did Jeremiah here announce, and what remedy did he prescribe?
3. What charge did the prophet prefer against them, what example in their history did he cite and what it-s lesson?
4. What is the result of this sermon as recorded in Jer 26 and what the final outcome? Discuss fully.
5. How is the doom of Jerusalem indicated in Jer 7:16 and what other similar cases?
6. How is their idolatry described in Jer 7:17-20 and what the result?
7. What the import of Jer 7:21-26 , what the critics’ contention with respect to it, and what the reply?
8. How is their disobedience described in Jer 7:27-28 , what the lamentation of Jeremiah and what the prophecy here of their doom?
9. What great indignity here prophesied against the people of Judah and Jerusalem?
10. What is the prophet’s message, warning and lamentation in Jer 8:4-9:2 ?
11. What is the picture of Jer 9:3-9 ?
12. What is the picture of Jer 9:10-16 ?
13. What is the call of Jer 9:17-22 ?
14. What is the contrast of Jer 9:23-24 ?
15. What is the prophecy of Jer 9:25-26 ?
16. What is the prophecy of Jer 10:1-16 , what say the entice of this passage and what the reply?
17. What is the prophetic picture in Jer 10:17-25 ?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Jer 10:1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
Ver. 1. Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh. ] Exordium simplicissimum, saith Junius. A very plain preface calling for attention; (1.) From the authority of the speaker; (2.) From the duty of the hearers.

O house of Israel. ] The ten tribes, long since captivated, and now directed what to do, say some; the Jews, say others: and in this former part of the chapter, those of them that had been carried away to Babylon with Jeconiah.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jeremiah Chapter 10
Jer 10 closes the section with a solemn warning to Israel against the superstitious fear and idolatry of heathen ways, which are exposed in the ridicule of their falsehood. “They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The Lord of hosts is his name.” (Ver. 15, 16.) Verses 17, 18 speak of speedy and condign judgment. And the prophet (ver. 19-25) both resumes his outpourings of grief, pleads for correction only in judgment lest all should come to nought, and prays for His fury on the heathen that know Him not, the devourers of Jacob and desolaters of His habitation.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 10:1-5
1Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.
2Thus says the LORD,
Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens
Although the nations are terrified by them;
3For the customs of the peoples are delusion;
Because it is wood cut from the forest,
The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
4They decorate it with silver and with gold;
They fasten it with nails and with hammers
So that it will not totter.
5Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them,
For they can do no harm,
Nor can they do any good.
Jer 10:1 Hear the word This is the Hebrew word Shema (BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal IMPERATIVE, see note online at Deu 6:4), which means to hear so as to do. It is a recurrent demand in Jeremiah (cf. Jer 2:4; Jer 5:21; Jer 6:19; Jer 7:2; Jer 7:23; Jer 10:1; Jer 11:2; Jer 11:4; Jer 11:6; Jer 13:15; Jer 17:20; Jer 19:3; Jer 21:11; Jer 22:2; Jer 31:10; Jer 38:20; Jer 42:15; Jer 44:24; Jer 44:26; Jer 49:20; Jer 50:45). YHWH is communicating; His people are not listening and obeying!
house of Israel The title Israel in Jeremiah is so confusing because it is used in several senses. See Special Topic: Israel (the name) .
Jer 10:2 Do not learn the way of the nations Chapter 10 addresses the folly of idolatry. It reflects the metaphors and sarcasm of Isaiah (cf. Isa 2:20; Isa 31:7; Isa 40:18-20; Isa 41:7; Isa 44:9-20; Isa 45:16; Isa 46:5-7). God had given them the way in which they should walk (cf. Lev 18:3; Deu 12:30), but they chose the way (i.e., lifestyle) of idolatry. This is even reflected in Jer 10:2 by a seeming allusion to the Babylonian astral deities (i.e., signs of the heavens, cf. Isa 47:13).
There are two Qal IMPERFECTS used in a JUSSIVE sense (negated).
1. learn – BDB 540, KB 531
2. be terrified – BDB 369, KB 365
The pagan nations, without a knowledge of YHWH, were terrified (BDB 369, KB 365, Qal IMPERFECT) by the astrologers (cf. Isa 47:12-14). Superstitions are powerful instruments in the hand of Satan to frighten, intimidate, and control humans!
Jer 10:3 delusion This is the term nothingness or vanity (BDB 210, KB 236, cf. Jer 2:5; Jer 14:22; 2Ki 17:15). It is quite often used to describe the idols (cf. Deu 32:21), which were nonentities made by human hands. They had no power to act, in contradistinction to YHWH who acts for His people! Idols cannot hear, see, or act, but they are used by Satan to trick humans from knowing and following the only true God and His Messiah (cf. Eph 6:10-18).
SPECIAL TOPIC: SATAN
Jer 10:5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field This is an allusion to idols described as scarecrows. Some translate this as upright as a palm tree (NKJV, Peshitta). The LXX omits it.
They must be carried This is an INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and an IMPERFECT VERB from the same root (BDB 669, KB 724) used for intensity.
Do not fear them This is a Qal IMPERFECT (BDB 431, KB 432) used in a JUSSIVE sense. Fear can be paralyzing!
Notice those who know YHWH should not fear because the idols
1. cannot harm you
2. cannot do you good
They are non-existent (cf. Isa 41:23-24). Fear YHWH (cf. Jer 10:7)!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Chapter 10
Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven [or the Zodiac]; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold ( Jer 10:1-4 );
With strings of light and baubles. No, it doesn’t say that. Seeing things here.
they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not ( Jer 10:4 ).
Now there are some who believe that this is a reference to the ancient custom of taking the fir trees and decorating them with gold and silver streamers on the twenty-fifth of December in worshipping the god Tammuz, the Babylonian god whose birthday was worshipped on the twenty-fifth of December at the winter solstice. And some believe that this refers to that ancient custom that antedates Christ by a couple thousand years. There are others who say, no, it’s just a reference to an idol. Taking a tree, cutting it out of the forest, carving the thing out and then decking the little idol with all of these golden ornaments. Let me say that it’s strictly the opinion of man and you can’t prove either. It is true that the custom of decorating fir trees antedates Christianity by several thousand years. That is decorating them on the twenty-fifth of December in the time of the winter solstice as they worshipped Tammuz, the son of the queen of heaven Semiramis. And if you want to get into that deeper, I would recommend that you get the book The Two Babylons by Hislop, and he gives quite a thorough historical documentation on the origin of what we call Christmas trees. It will cause you to wonder.
They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must be carried, because they cannot go [on their own momentum]. Don’t be afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, but neither is it in them to do good. Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none that is like unto thee. But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock [or the little idol that has been made] is a doctrine of vanities. Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are the work of cunning men ( Jer 10:5-9 ).
These little gods of silver, gods of gold that they’ve carved out. Artists have carved them out and then they put blue and purple gowns upon them.
But the LORD [or Jehovah] is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion ( Jer 10:10-12 ).
So he is talking to the people concerning these gods that they had made themselves. The vast difference. There is a God who has made man, and then there are men who make their gods, gods who are made by men. A God who carries men, and a god who must be carried by men. And the prophet finds it rather ridiculous that they have to carry their gods around. They haven’t any power to get anywhere themselves. And yet they’re worshipping something they’ve got to carry around. Doesn’t even have enough gumption or ability to get where it needs to go on its own. The true God,
When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of water in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures. Every man is brutish in his knowledge ( Jer 10:13-14 ):
Man, poor man, so ignorant in that which he knows best. Every man is brutish in his knowledge.
every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things ( Jer 10:14-16 );
Rather than being formed, God is the One who has formed all things.
and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts [or Jehovah of hosts] is his name. Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress. For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so. Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth from me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and their flocks shall be scattered. Behold, the noise of the bruit [or the rumor] is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons. O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. O LORD, correct me ( Jer 10:16-24 ),
It’s an interesting prayer of the prophet. “God, I know that I don’t have enough sense to know what is the right way to go. So You correct me, God. You guide me.” I know that the ways of man are not in a man. A man hasn’t the ability to direct his own steps. Now the wise man, in recognizing his own limitations, is the man who will commit his life over to God. “God, You direct me. You direct my steps, O Lord.”
but not in your anger, lest I become nothing. Pour out your fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate ( Jer 10:24-25 ).
God has some heavy things. I think the heaviest of all is the cry, “The harvest is ended, the summer is over. We are not saved.” I hope that none of you ever make that cry. The Bible says, “Behold, today is the day of salvation” ( 2Co 6:2 ). “Call upon the Lord while He is near” ( Isa 55:6 ). “Lest those evil times come when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them'” ( Ecc 12:1 ). For God’s Spirit will not always strive with man. If you continue to reject God’s grace and love that He is offering to you through Jesus Christ, the day will come when God will say, “Let them alone. Don’t pray any more for them. Don’t intercede; I won’t listen if you do.” And the harvest will be over and the summer ended. And you will be eternally lost.
May that not be the case. May also you not be fooling yourself in thinking that you can live after your flesh and that the grace of God will just somehow compensate and cover it. God said, “Tear your heart, not your garments.” He doesn’t want an outward display. He wants an inward work in your heart and in your life of commitment to Him. If you feel like you need to settle some things with God tonight, I would encourage you to go back to the prayer room and the pastors will be back there to pray with you. For God wants you to experience His rest which He promised and that you can have as you surrender your life to Him.
Now may the Lord be with you. May He watch over you. May He keep you in His love as He strengthens you by His Holy Spirit and as He guides you into His path of righteousness. May the Lord keep you. In Jesus’ name. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Jer 10:1-2. Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
Among the heathen, if certain stars were in conjunction, it was considered unlucky; and certain days of the week were also regarded as unlucky, just as to this day, there are people who think that it is very unfortunate to commence anything on a Friday. There are a great many foolish superstitions floating about this silly world, but you Christian people should never allow such follies to have any influence upon you. Neither the fiends of hell, nor the stars of heaven, can ever injure those who put their trust in God.
Jer 10:3-4. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Those ancient prophets seemed to take delight in heaping scorn upon the god-making of the heathen. Even the heathen poets made sport of the god-making; one of them very wisely said that it would be more reasonable to worship the workmen who made the god, than to worship the god which the workmen had made.
Jer 10:5. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must need be borne, because they cannot go.
Pretty gods they must be, cannot move, and cannot even stand till they are nailed up, and cannot stir unless they are carried from place to place.
Jer 10:5-8. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
To teach people to worship mere stocks and stones, may well be called a doctrine of vanities.
Jer 10:9. Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.
Step into any Roman Catholic Joss-house in England, or on the Continent or, for the matter of that, into any Anglican Joss-house, for they are all very much alike and you will see that the modern gods are no better than those upon which the prophets of old poured scorn, and I think it is our duty to pour scorn upon these saints, and saintesses, and Madonnas, and Bambinos, and I know not what besides.
Jer 10:10-13. But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
To what a height of sacred imagery does Jeremiah mount! He seems to shake off his usual melancholy spirit when he comes to sing the praises of the Lord. He uses very similar language to that of Job, his fellow-sufferer.
Jer 10:14. Every man is brutish in his knowledge:
Every idolater proves that he knows no more than a brute beast when he worships a stock or a stone.
Jer 10:14-15. Every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
The next verse brings out very vividly the contrast between these false gods and the one living and true God:
Jer 10:16. The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.
What a blessed name that is for God: The portion of Jacob! And the other side of the truth is equally blessed: Israel is the rod of his inheritance. God belongs to his people, and they belong to him, if we can but realize that these blessings are ours, we are building on the solid foundation of the richest possible happiness. The form of the prophecy now changes, for God was about to send his people, because of their sin, into a long and sad captivity; so the prophet says, in the name of the Lord:
Jer 10:17-18. Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress. For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.
They had fled to their fortresses for shelter, for the Babylonians were coming up against them; but no hope of deliverance was held out to them, and they were told to pack up their little bundles, to put their small stores as closely together as they could, for they had to go away into a far distant country as captives of the mighty king Nebuchadnezzar. God compares their captivity to the forcible ejection of stones from a sling; I will slide out the inhabitants of the land at this once. How severely God chastened his people in Jeremiahs day! Yet, when we think of their innumerable provocations, and of how they revolted again and again against the Lord, we are not surprised that at last, the Lord sent them into captivity. Now listen to Jeremiahs lamentation over the people whom he looks upon as already in captivity; he speaks in the name of the nation, and says:
Jer 10:19. Woe is me for my hurt! My wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
Ah, child of God, you also must learn to say that! There are some trials and troubles, which come upon you, against which you may not contend, but you must say, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
Jer 10:20. My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
Alas, poor Israel! she was like a tent removed, with none to set her up again. There are some churches, in the present day, that are in this sad condition; the faithful fail from among them, there are no new converts, and no earnest spirits, so that the church has to say, My tent is spoiled and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains Yes, poor afflicted church, that may be all true, yet thy God can visit thee, and make the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children, and thou who hast lost thy dearest ones, and seemest now to have no stay left, thy children are all taken from thee, but thy God can build thee up; is he not better to thee than ten sons; and has he not said to thee, Thy Maker is thy Husband; the Lord of hosts is his name ?
Jer 10:21-22. For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. Behold, the noise of the bruit is come,
Bruit is an old Norman word; one wonders how it got in here. It might be rendered, The noise of the tumult is come,
Jer 10:22-24. And a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons. O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
What a suitable prayer this is for a sick man, for a tried believer, for the child of God in deep despondency of soul; I scarcely know any better words that any of us could use. The suppliant does not ask to go unchastised, but he says, O Lord, correct me, but with judgment: not in thine anger; lest thou bring me to nothing.
Jer 10:25. Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
So he asks God, instead of smiting his own children, to smite his enemies, and knowing what we do about the Babylonians, we do not wonder that Jeremiah put up such a prayer as that.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Jer 10:1-5
THE TRUE GOD CONTRASTED WITH IDOLS
In this chapter, we encounter a barrage of critical bias to the effect that, “This chapter presupposes a situation in which the people addressed are living among the heathen and need to be warned against idolatry.” “There is an interruption of thought … Most scholars question the authenticity of a major section of this chapter.” “Most scholars wish to date this passage during the exile and consider it post-Jeremiahic.” “Jer 10:1-16 here interrupt the connection between Jer 9:22 and Jer 10:17.” None of these allegations has any foundation whatever.
This whole chapter was written shortly before the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem the first time. At that time the Jews were a thoroughly idolatrous people. The horrible idolatries under Manasseh were still adored and secretly worshipped by the Jews; and the superficial reforms under Josiah had not really changed the hearts of the people. Idolatry was rampant in Judaea in the closing days of their apostasy and just before their deportation to Babylon. Any notion, therefore that the warning here regarding the “nothingness of idols” was not needed must be classified as ridiculous. Of course, the Jews desperately needed this warning; and, since this chapter mentions the near approach of the Babylonian invasion, it was especially appropriate that Jeremiah should have given the Jews another dramatic warning of the idolatry which they were sure to encounter in Babylon, as well as citing again their own idolatry which was a major cause of their divine punishment.
Of all the critical attacks upon the authenticity of Biblical books which we have encountered, the one here appears as the very weakest and unbelievable of all of them.
Green also agreed that this disputed passage, “could have been Jeremiah’s warning to Judah against falling under the spell of the Babylonian brand of idolatry.” How blind are the interpreters who do not see such an obvious truth.
There is no interruption of the sequence of thought; there is no break in the intimate connection evident in every line of these chapters. How natural it was that, in the same breath, where Jeremiah hailed the advance of the destroyers (Jer 10:17 ff), God’s great prophet should have warned the Jews of the Babylonian idolatry.
Another fact of the utmost importance that surfaces in this chapter is the fact that Jeremiah took this description of idols and their worthlessness almost verbatim from Isaiah’s description of the same things in chapters 40–44.
“The correspondence between Jeremiah’s description and that of Isaiah, is so manifest that no one can doubt that one is modeled upon the other. If Jeremiah, then, took the thoughts and phrases from Isaiah (which he most obviously did do), it is plain that the last twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah were prior in date to the times of Jeremiah, and that they were not written at the close of the Babylonian exile. This passage is a crucial one to the pseudo-Isaiah theory.
The critics, of course, realize that they must reply to this, or lose their case for a Deutero-Isaiah altogether; but R. Payne Smith has effectively refuted their attempted answers.
(1) There is the claim that the pseudo-Isaiah copied from Jeremiah. “This is refuted by the style,” which is Isaiah’s, not Jeremiah’s.”
(2) An alternative answer would make an interpolation out of the whole passage (Jer 10:1-16). “This is contradicted by the appearance of the passage in LXX.”
Even some writers who half-heartedly cling to the out-dated critical allegations, such as Dummelow, are impressed with these answers. Dummelow, after mentioning the theories about this chapter, stated that, “It should, however, be said, on the other hand, that the LXX, although omitting much that is in the Hebrew, yet contains this chapter!
In our view, such facts as these, coupled with many others cited throughout this series of commentaries, effectively dispose of the whole multiple-Isaiah nonsense.
Jer 10:1-5
THE NOTHINGNESS OF THE FALSE GODS
Hear ye the word which Jehovah speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: thus saith Jehovah, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are like a palm-tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.
Learn not the way of the nations. the nations are dismayed … the customs of the peoples are vanity …..
(Jer 10:2-3). There is absolutely no way that Jeremiah could have made it any plainer that the admonition of this chapter was designed to aid the Jews in rejecting the idolatry of the Gentiles, such as that they would encounter in Babylon.
Furthermore, this scathing denunciation of idolatry came right out of the experience of Jeremiah who was an eye-witness of the gross conduct of the Jews in that sector throughout his lifetime. “He had known it (the idolatry) first-hand, himself being held in awe only by the monotheistic faith cherished by the best of the people.”
The special need for Jeremiah’s warning against idolatry was mentioned by Halley. “It seems that the threat of Babylonian invasion had spurred the people of Judah into great activity in manufacturing idols, as if idols could save them. This gave Jeremiah the occasion for these verses.”
Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven…
(Jer 10:2). This does not refer to the sun, moon, and stars, or signs of the zodiac, meant by God to be signs (Gen 1:14), but to unusual phenomena like eclipses, meteorites, comets, etc. which were supposed by the ancients to portend extraordinary events. Such things struck terror into the hearts of ancient pagans. Egypt and Babylon were both addicted to this very thing.
Thus, Jeremiah could not have made it any plainer if he had cited Babylon by name as being the very people against whom the Israelites were here warned against taking up their false gods and customs.
To declare that these verses do not fit is to betray a total lack of understanding of Jeremiah’s purpose.
They cannot do evil. or do good …..
(Jer 10:5). Harrison paraphrased this verse as follows: The false gods are like a scarecrow in a patch of cucumbers! F13
In chapter 10 Jeremiah ridicules idolatry (Jer 10:1-5) and extols the incomparable God of Israel (Jer 10:6-16). He points out the folly of forsaking God (Jer 10:17-22). The chapter closes with a prophetic prayer (Jer 10:23-25). The Jeremian authorship of the first sixteen verses has been questioned by various scholars on the grounds that they interrupt the thought sequence of the section and on the grounds that they are written in a different style. But one author may employ more than one style of writing depending upon he subject he is treating and the audience he is addressing. As the present section of the Book of Jeremiah is in the nature of an anthology of prophetic utterances no appeal to the interruption of thought sequence would seem to be appropriate. In short there is no good reason to suspect that Jeremiah was not the author of the first sixteen verses of chapter 10.
The Folly of Idolatry Jer 10:1-5
Through His prophet God exhorts His people (Jer 10:1) not to learn, i.e., become accustomed to, the idolatrous ways of the heathen. The people of God need not become upset by the signs of the heavens-eclipses, meteors, and the like-which other nations regarded as portents of evil (Jer 10:2). Numerous tablets from the ancient Near East have been found which indicate how closely the heavens were observed and how carefully every movement of the heavenly bodies was recorded. Modern astrology had its birth in the pagan temples of Mesopotamia. Those who worship the God who created the heavens need have no superstitious fears regarding the position of the sun, moon and stars, The religious customs, practices and rituals of the heathen are utterly empty and without content (cf. Isa 40:19 f; Isa 44:12 ff.). Idols are in reality nothing more than a tree which has been cut out of the forest by the ax of a woodsman (Jer 10:3). Though beautifully adorned with gold and silver overlay that idol is still nothing more than lifeless wood. An idol cannot even stand on its own two feet. It must be fastened down with hammer and nails in order to prevent it from tottering (Jer 10:4). The description here is similar to that in Isa 40:19-20; Isa 41:7. The idol is as harmless as a post erected in a cucumber patch for the purpose of scaring away the birds. They cannot speak nor can they move about without being carried by someone. They cannot harm any one, nor for that matter, can they bring blessing upon anyone. For this reason there is no particular advantage in serving an idol and no harm in failing to do so.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Here begins the third movement in the commissioning of the prophet. In it the sin of idolatry is first dealt with. The prophet revealed the unutterable folly of idolatry in a powerful contrast between idols and Jehovah. He described the vanity of idols. They were the work of the hands of man. They were unable to move, but had to be carried.
In contrast, he declared the majesty of Jehovah. Continuing the contrast, he described the weakness of idols, and the might of the true and living God. The test as between idols and Jehovah he declared to be the test of creation. Gods that had not made the heavens and the earth must perish from the earth and from under the heavens. Jehovah God had made the earth and stretched out the heavens. He, therefore, was the God of power.
Once again, the prophet suggested a contrast, but it is now between the man and idolatry, and the man and Jehovah. The former becomes brutish, while the portion of Jacob is Jehovah Himself. On the sin of idolatry he then pronounced judgment. He next uttered the wail of the people, and ended by a cry of distress to Jehovah in the presence of the destruction of Jacob.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

the Folly of Idolatry
Jer 10:1-10; Jer 19:1-15; Jer 20:1-18; Jer 21:1-14; Jer 22:1-30; Jer 23:1-40; Jer 24:1-10; Jer 25:1-38
Jer 10:1-10
We are here introduced into an idol-factory. Contrasted with the manufactured idols is the majesty of our God. There is none like Him. His name is great in might; He is the King of the nations, the true and living God, and the everlasting King! Christian, fear not or be dismayed when enemies plot against you. It is a vain device that they frame. To hide in God is a sure defence from all that man can do for our hurt. O thou true and living Savior, in thy wounds harried and faithful souls become strong and brave again.
Jer 10:19-25
The prophet now bids the people prepare for their captivity. Their city would be as when a shepherd removed his slight and insubstantial tent, leaving no trace. But Jeremiahs soul is lacerated and torn with the message he must needs announce. Are we called to be shepherds? Let us see to it that we seek the Lord; so only shall our flocks not be scattered, Jer 10:21. Are we in perplexity as to our path in life? It is not for us to direct ourselves, but to look up for Gods sure guidance, which will be given to the soul that waits for it, Jer 10:23. Are we being corrected? Let us be patient; it is only when we endure without complaining that our trial works out the highest good, and God will not give us more than we can bear, Jer 10:24.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Of the 10th chapter I need say little. It is much like the 44th of Isaiah. It gives us the Lord’s condemnation of idolatry, and contrasts with the stocks and stones, to which His people had turned, Him who is “the portion of Jacob, ” “the former of all things,” (Jer 10:16) who would fain have comforted the afflicted nation, but must “sling out the inhabitants of the land” (Jer 10:18) as from a mighty catapult, causing them to cry, “Woe is me for my hurt!” (Jer 10:19)
The 11th verse (Jer 10:11) is in Chaldee, that the heathen might in their own tongue read the condemnation of their idolatry.
Solemn are the words with which this portion is brought to a close:
“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. O Lord, correct me, but with judgment, not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing.” (Jer 10:23-24)
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

CHAPTER 10
The Vanity of Idols
1. Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven (Jer 10:1-5)
2. The contrast: The vanity of idols and the Lord, the King of Nations (Jer 10:6-18)
3. The affliction of the prophet and his prayer (Jer 10:19-25)
Jer 10:1-5. The heathen paid attention to the signs of heaven, such as eclipses, comets, meteoric showers, etc. They were dismayed at these things. All they did, their customs and observances in connection with idol worship, was nothing but vanity.
Jer 10:6-18. Idols are nothing, but the Lord God of Israel is all. He is the King of Nations, who rules over all. He is the true God, the living God, the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth trembles and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation. He made the earth by His power; He established the world by wisdom; He stretched out the heavens by His discretion. But what is man? Brutish in his knowledge.
Jer 10:19-25. Here we see how Jeremiah identified himself with the afflictions and sorrows of Jerusalem. In his prayer he pleads that the judgment might be only for correction and not for a complete and perpetual consummation. O LORD correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. He calls for judgment upon the nations. Well may we see in pleading Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, who is afflicted in Jerusalems affliction, who identified himself with his people, a type and picture of Him who is greater than Jeremiah.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

am 3397, bc 607, Jer 2:4, Jer 13:15-17, Jer 22:2, Jer 42:15, 1Ki 22:19, Psa 50:7, Isa 1:10, Isa 28:14, Hos 4:1, Amo 7:16, 1Th 2:13, Rev 2:29
Reciprocal: Lev 20:23 – in the manners Jer 7:2 – Hear
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jer 10:1. House of Israel was used in the, general sense although the kingdom of Judah was specifically meant. The kingdom of Israel (the 10 tribes) had been in exile more than a century.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jer 10:1-2. Hear ye the word, &c. The prophet continues his remonstrances and exhortations to Judah. He said, at the conclusion of the preceding chapter, that the Lord would punish, without distinction, all the ungodly and unrighteous Jews, as well as Gentiles. He here informs them that if they would avoid this vengeance of the Lord they must quit their idolatries and other impieties, and have nothing to do with the superstitious practices of the Gentile nations. Learn not the way of the heathen Their manner of life or customs. And be not dismayed at the signs of heaven The Chaldeans, among whom the Jews were destined to live in captivity, were particularly addicted to astrology, and attributed to the heavenly bodies a considerable influence over human affairs. This naturally tended to beget a religious dread and awe of those objects, from whence so much good or evil was supposed to be derived. The sun, moon, and planets are said indeed to have been set in the firmament for signs. Gen 1:14. But hereby is meant, that they should serve, as natural marks, to distinguish, by their periodical revolutions and appearances, the various times and seasons; which, however, is a very different use from that of prognosticating future events, or causing an alteration in the fortunes of men. Blaney.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 10:2. Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; at the position of revolving planets on which the augurs found predictions, and discover their ignorance. Be not dismayed at solar eclipses, at the aurora borealis, which cheers the northern regions with light during their long and dreary winters. Job 37:22. At the luminous appearances of some of the comets. The Saxon chronicle records, that in the year of Christ, 678, a comet appeared, which shone every morning like a sunbeam. Fear may often produce good effects on the less instructed public, as the total eclipse of the sun which happened during the great battle between the Assyrians and the Medes, which probably saved the effusion of blood by stopping the fight.
Jer 10:4. They deck it with silver and gold, and fasten it with nails. Hebrews mesemeroth, nails of ornament, or splendid nails. Satire, as well in Horace, as in Isaiah and Jeremiah, seems the most successful armour against idolatry. See on Isa 40:19; Isa 44:9.
Jer 10:9. Tarshish is the same with Carthage. The LXX render this differently. See Isa 23:6. Uphas or Ophir, was Africa without a doubt. Bochart has led the critics astray by affirming it to be a place near Ceylon. See 1Ki 9:28.
Jer 10:10. The Lord [Hebrews JEHOVAH] is the true God. Though satire, as above, be powerful in covering idols with shame, it is a fact, that the demonstrations of the being and perfections of the Deity, drawn from the creation, fix in man the best ideas of the Godhead. Justin Martyr argues thus, in his apology for the christian religion; that though the heathens exclaimed continually, the godsand may the gods; yet when any catastrophe befel mankind, their exclamations were, Oh the great God oh the true Godor, oh the good God! The invisible things of him are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. Rom 1:20. The diffusion of divine knowledge will chase idolatry from the earth.
Jer 10:11. Thus shall ye saythe gods that have not made the heavens and the earthshall perish. This verse is written in the Chaldee language, that the Jews, when tempted by the Babylonians to idolatry, might have an answer in their own tongue. So St. Paul uses the word anathema maranatha, that the christians might answer the Jews in the Syriac, who loved not the Lord Jesus. It is acknowledged by all the Versions and MSS.
Jer 10:13. When he uttereth his voice, by loud peals of thunder, the trembling earth, the affrighted hinds, and the haughty heart bow beneath his terrors. Psalms 29. Job 37:4-5.
Jer 10:16. The portion of Jacob is not like them. Oh my soul, thou hast said to the Lord, thou art my portion. On the other hand, the Lords portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. The heathens placed their cities and countries under the care of imaginary gods; it was the same with their temples. But Israel rested under the shadow of Jehovahs wings. Rth 2:12. Psa 62:7.
Jer 10:21. The pastors are become brutish. Their princes, as in the Chaldaic. The whole head was sick, and the whole heart faint.
Jer 10:22. The noise of the bruit is come. Our translators have here used the French word bruit, which signifies noise, rumour, report. Every messenger brought a confirmation of the report, that the Chaldeans had entered the land.
REFLECTIONS.
Jeremiah, unable to save his country from captivity, endeavoured to preserve them in captivity; for if they were intermarried and corrupted with the heathen, as the ten tribes were, they could never be restored. He charges them, in the name of the Lord, not to believe in judicial astrology, not to practise gentile superstition, nor be dismayed at their omens. It is difficult to say, whether the Chaldees or the Egyptians were the first inventors of occult sciences; but all other nations had the calamity to derive it from them. These sciences had their origin in the ignorance and crimes of early society. Man, having involved himself in some atrocious guilt, looked every way to throw off the enormous load, and once more to taste the charms of a quiet conscience. Finding, after a thousand struggles, no associates on earth to share in his guilt, except his own impetuous passions, his revolting heart wished to palm all his errors on the Father of purity and love. To do this avowedly, was a thought too impious for the worst of ages, and the darkest of times: he therefore felt relieved and comforted by the strange notion, that all the moral actions of men, the vicissitudes of their lives, and the times of their death were fixed by an eternal fate. The book containing the laws of this fate he fancied to be the starry heavens; and to decypher their bearings he invented his horoscope, and attempted an infinitude of prognostications extremely insulting to common sense, and the moral feelings of the heart. Thus he perverted astronomy, the first of sciences, to the grossness of superstition, and made it the parent of guilt. Thus error in opinion was occasioned by depravity. The orbs of heaven are set for signs and for seasons, to govern the days and the years; to announce the glory and perfections of God, and to aid the intelligent universe in devotion. They revolve in their orbits, they attain an opposition, and ascend into a conjunction according to fixed laws, subject to human calculations: their influence is always benign and gracious. But read now our weekly papers, and see a daily catalogue of calamities happening to man. Read our sacred and profane historians concerning the rise, the revolutions, and the fall of empires, and say whether any fair connection can be traced between them, and the influence of the planetary world. Hence it may be concluded, that judicial astrology is an insult to reason, an opiate of grief and guilt. All anguish is soothed by the adage, It was to be so: it was fixed by the laws of an eternal fate. And when a christian carelessly suffers his mind to believe it, he offers violence to the sacred writings, which everywhere represent God as governing the world by his own presence, by his holy angels, and by a providence which numbers the hairs of our head.
Jeremiah, to save his people from idolatry, satirizes the vanity of idols: but while doing this, the insulting contrast between idols and his God fired his soul to cry out, Oh Lord, thou art great. Who would not fear thee, thou king of nations? He then resumes his favourite theme, lamentations for the ruin of his country: his soul was wounded in the wounds of his people. He heard the bruit from afar, and saw his city become the habitation of dragons or reptiles.
During the dark and evil day, he consoled himself in the protection of providence. Oh Lord, it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. His goings are of the Lord. In a moral view he may act a wise part, and rule his affairs with discretion. But there often occurs a crisis of calamities to men, and to nations, in which we must be borne away with the torrent, and leave the helm in the hands of God. So it was with Joseph in Egypt, with Job in his afflictions, with David in exile, and with the Hebrew nation in their long captivity. Our faith must rest on the promise, till we can say the Lord hath done excellent things.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 10:1-16. The Folly of Idolatry,This passage (like Jer 9:23-26) interrupts the connexion of Jer 9:22 and Jer 10:17; its denunciation of the idols of the heathen as utterly futile for good or evil relates it to the times of Deutero-Isaiah (cf. Isa 44:11 ff.), and sharply distinguishes it from the denunciation of Israels syncretistic worship, and the declaration of its penalty, found in Jeremiah 7-9. Israel is urged to hold aloof from the heathen religion of its environment. The idol is but a human product (Jer 10:3 mg.), as lifeless as a scarecrow in a cucumber garden, needing to be carried in a procession (Isa 46:7). Fear is not necessary before these things, which can do nothing; it is fitting towards Yahweh alone (Jer 10:7 mg.). The worshippers of idols are one and all senseless, and the instruction of idols is wood, i.e. without moral or spiritual force (so Driver, but the rendering is doubtful, and the sentence obscure). The idol is plated with costly metals, and dressed in fine clothes by human hands, but it is Yahweh who is truly God (Jer 10:10 mg.). There follows (Jer 10:11) a gloss in Aramaic, which breaks the connexion of Jer 10:10 and Jer 10:12, and is doubtless some marginal watchword of Jewish faith against heathenism, which has crept into the text. The remaining verses (Jeremiah 10″1216, repeated Jer 51:15-19) describe the manifestation of Yahwehs power in creation and in tempest (with Jer 10:13 cf. Psa 135:7). The result of the Divine visitation is that the idolater is struck dumb (Jer 10:14 a), and the idolmaker put to shame by the utter inability of the image to do such things. The idol is a lifeless mockery, doomed in the Day of Yahweh, when the power of Israels God shall be revealed.
Jer 10:2. the signs of heaven: i.e. eclipses, comets, etc., pointing to the astrology of Babylon, amid which this passage was probably written.
Jer 10:5. Read as mg., where the reference suggests that the pillar serves the purpose of a scarecrow.
Jer 10:9. Tarshish: Tartessus in Spain, Psa 48:7*, Isa 2:16*; for Uphaz, not known, read as mg.; Ophir was perhaps in S.E. Arabia (Isa 13:12*).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

A satire on idolatry 10:1-16
This scathing exposé of the folly of idolatry resembles several polemics in Isaiah (cf. Isa 40:18-20; Isa 41:6-7; Isa 44:9-20; Isa 46:5-7). Jer 10:12-16 appear again in Jer 51:15-19.
"Why did so easy a target as idolatry need so many attacks in the Old Testament? Jer 10:9 suggests one reason: the appeal of the visually impressive; but perhaps Jer 10:2 goes deeper, in pointing to the temptation to fall into step with the majority." [Note: Kidner, p. 56.]
A study of the architecture of the passage reveals alternating assertions about idols (Jer 10:2-5; Jer 10:8-9; Jer 10:11; Jer 10:14-15) and Yahweh (Jer 10:6-7; Jer 10:10; Jer 10:12-13; Jer 10:16). The effect produced by this structure is contrast.
"Theologically these verses are of great significance, for they set Yahweh apart from every other object of worship. . . . As Lord of the covenant Yahweh demanded total unswerving loyalty from his subjects. Any attempt to share allegiance to him with another merited judgment, for it amounted to a rejection of the covenant. In that case the curses of the covenant became operative." [Note: Thompson, p. 326.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The prophet again directed his Israelite audience to hear the message that Yahweh had for them. There were people in Judah who were venerating idols: who needed to hear this message.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER VI
THE IDOLS OF THE HEATHEN AND THE GOD OF ISRAEL
Jer 10:1-16
THIS fine piece is altogether isolated from the surrounding context, which it interrupts in a very surprising manner. Neither the style nor the subject, neither the idioms nor the thoughts expressed in them, agree with what we easily recognise as Jeremiahs work. A stronger contrast can hardly be imagined than that which exists between the leading motive of this oracle as it stands, and that of the long discourse in which it is embedded with as little regard for continuity as an aerolite exhibits when it buries itself in a plain. In what precedes, the prophets fellow countrymen have been accused of flagrant and defiant idolatry; {Jer 7:17 sqq., Jer 7:30 sqq.} the opening words of this piece imply a totally different situation. “To the way of the nations become not accustomed, and of the signs of heaven be not afraid; for the nations are afraid of them.” Jeremiah would not be likely to warn inveterate apostates not to “accustom themselves” to idolatry. The words presuppose, not a nation whose idolatry was notorious, and had just been the subject of unsparing rebuke and threats of imminent destruction; they presuppose a nation free from idolatry, but exposed to temptation from surrounding heathenism. The entire piece contains no syllable of reference to past or present unfaithfulness on the part of Israel. Here at the outset, and throughout, Israel is implicitly contrasted with “the nations” as the servant of Iahvah with the foolish worshippers of lifeless gods. There is a tone of contempt in the use of the term “goyim”-“To the way of the goyim accustom not yourselves for the goyim are afraid of them” (of the signs of heaven); or as the Septuagint puts it yet more strongly, “for they” (the besotted “goyim”) “are afraid” (i.e., worship) “before them”; as though that alone – the sense of Israels superiority-should be sufficient to deter Israelites from any bowings in the house of Rimmon. Neither this contemptuous use of the term “goyim,” “Gentiles,” nor the scathing ridicule of the false gods and their devotees, is in the manner of Jeremiah. Both are characteristic of a later period. The biting scorn of image worship, the intensely vivid perception of the utter incommensurableness of Iahvah, the Creator of all things, with the handiwork of the carpenter and the silversmith, are well known and distinctive features of the great prophets of the Exile (see especially Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13). There are plenty of allusions to idolatry in Jeremiah; but they are expressed in a tone of fervid indignation, not of ridicule. It was the initial offence, which issued in a hopeless degradation of public and private morality, and would have for its certain consequence the rejection and ruin of the nation. {Jer 2:5-13; Jer 2:20-28; Jer 3:1-9; Jer 3:23 sqq.} All the disasters, past and present, which had befallen the country, were due to it (Jer 7:9; Jer 7:17 sqq., Jer 7:30 sqq., Jer 8:2, etc.). The people are urged to repent and return to Iahvah with their whole heart, {Jer 3:12 sqq., Jer 4:3 sqq., Jer 5:21 sqq., Jer 6:8} as the only means of escape from deadly peril. The Baals are things that cannot help or save; {Jer 2:8; Jer 2:1} but the prophet does not say, as here, {Jer 10:5} “Fear them not: they cannot harm you!” The piece before us breathes not one word about Israels apostasy, the urgent need of repentance, the impending ruin. Taken as a whole, it neither harmonises with Jeremiahs usual method of argument, nor does it suit the juncture of affairs implied by the language which precedes and follows. {Jer 7:1-9; Jer 7:26; Jer 10:17-25} For let us suppose that this oracle occupies its proper place here, and was actually written by Jeremiah at the crisis which called forth the preceding and following utterances. Then the warning cry, “Be not afraid of the signs of heaven!” can only mean “Be not afraid of the Powers under whose auspices the Chaldeans are invading your country; Iahvah, the true and living God, wilt protect you!” But consolation of this kind would be diametrically opposed to the doctrine which Jeremiah shares with all his predecessors; the doctrine that Iahvah Himself is the prime cause of the coming trouble, and that the heathen invaders are His instruments of wrath (Jer 5:9 sq., Jer 6:6); it would imply assent to that fallacious confidence in Iahvah, which the prophet has already done his utmost to dissipate. {Jer 6:14; Jer 7:4 sq.}
The details of the idolatry satirised in the piece before us point to Chaldea rather than to Canaan. We have here a zealous worship of wooden images overlaid and otherwise adorned with silver and gold, and robed in rich garments of violet and purple. {cf. Jos 7:21} This does not agree with what we know of Judean practice in Jeremiahs time, when, besides the worship of the Queen of Heaven, the people adored “stocks and stones”; probably the wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah and rude sun pillars, but hardly works of the costly kind described in the text, which indicate a wealthy people whose religion reflected an advanced condition of the arts and commerce. The designation of the objects of heathen worship as “the signs of heaven,” and the gibe at the custom of carrying the idol statues in procession, {Isa 46:1; Isa 46:7} also point us to Babylon, “the land of graven images,” {Jer 50:38} and the home of star worship and astrological superstition. {Isa 47:13}
From all these considerations it would appear that not Israel in Canaan but Israel in Chaldea is addressed in this piece by some unknown prophet, whose leaflet has been inserted among the works of Jeremiah. In that case, the much disputed eleventh verse, written in Aramaic, and as such unique in the volume of the prophets proper, may really have belonged to the original piece. Aramaic was the common language of intercourse between East and West both before and during the captivity; {cf. 2Ki 18:26} and the suggestion that the tempted exiles should answer in this dialect the heathen who pressed them to join in their worship, seems suitable enough. The verse becomes very suspicious, if we suppose that the whole piece is really part and parcel of Jeremiahs discourse, and as such addressed to the Judeans in the reign of Jehoiakim. Ewald, who maintains this view upon grounds that cannot be called convincing, thinks the Aramaic verse was originally a marginal annotation on Jer 10:15, and suggests that it is a quotation from some early book similar to the Book of Daniel. At all events, it is improbable that the verse proceeded from the pen of Jeremiah, who writes Aramaic nowhere else, not even in the letter to the exiles of the first Judean captivity (chapter 29).
But might not the piece be an address which Jeremiah sent to the exiles of the Ten Tribes, who were settled in Assyria, and with whom it is otherwise probable that he cultivated some intercourse? The expression “House of Israel” (Jer 10:1) has been supposed to indicate this. That expression, however, occurs in the immediately preceding context, {Jer 9:26} as does also that of “the nations”; facts which may partially explain why the passage we are discussing occupies its present position. The unknown author of the Apocryphal Letter of Jeremiah and the Chaldee Targumist appear to have held the opinion that Jeremiah wrote the piece for the benefit of the exiles carried away with Jehoiachin in the first Judean captivity. The Targum introduces the eleventh verse thus: “This is a copy of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent to the remnant of the elders of the captivity which was in Babylon. And if the peoples among whom ye are shall say unto you, Fear the Errors, O house of Israel! thus shall ye answer and thus shall ye say unto them: The Errors whom ye fear are (but) errors, in which there is no profit: they from the heavens are not able to bring down rain, and from the earth they cannot make fruits to spring: they and those who fear them will perish from the earth, and will be brought to an end from under these heavens. And thus shall ye say unto them: We fear Him that maketh the earth by His power,” etc. (Jer 10:12). The phrase “the remnant of the elders of the captivity which was” (or “who were”) “in Babylon” is derived from Jer 29:1. But how utterly different are the tone and substance of that message from those of the one before us! Far from warning his captive countrymen against the state worship of Babylon, far from satirising its absurdity, Jeremiah bids the exiles be contented with their new home, and to pray for the peace of the city, The false prophets who appear at Babylon prophesy in Iahvahs name (Jer 9:15, Jer 9:21), and in denouncing them Jeremiah says not a word about idolatry. It is evident from the whole context that he did not fear it in the case of the exiles of Jehoiachins captivity. (See also the simile of the Good and Bad Figs, chapter 24, which further illustrates the prophets estimation of the earlier body of exiles.)
The Greek Epistle of Jeremiah, which in MSS is sometimes appended to Baruch, and which Fritzsche refers to the Maccabean times, appear to be partially based upon the passage we are considering. Its heading is: “Copy of a letter which Jeremiah sent unto those who were about to be carried away captives to Babylon, by the king of the Babylonians; to announce to them as was enjoined him by God.” It then begins thus: “On account of your sins which ye have sinned before God ye will be carried away to Babylon as captives by Nabuchodonosor king of the Babylonians. Having come, then, into Babylon, ye will be there many years, and a long time, until seven generations; but after this I will bring you forth from thence in peace. But now ye will see in Babylon gods, silver and golden and wooden, borne upon shoulders, showing fear” (an object of fear) “to the nations. Beware then, lest ye also become like unto the nations, and fear take you at them, when ye see a multitude before and behind them worshipping them. But say ye in the mind: Thee it behoveth us to worship, O Lord! For Mine angel is with you, and He is requiring your lives.” The whole epistle is well worth reading as a kind of paraphrase of our passage. “For their tongue is carven” (or polished) “by a carpenter, and themselves are overlaid with gold and silver, but lies they are and they cannot speak.” “They being cast about with purple apparel have their face wiped on account of the dust from the house, which is plentiful upon them” (13). “But he holds a dagger with right hand and an axe, but himself from war and robbers he will not” (cannot) “deliver.” {15, cf. Jer 10:15} “He is like one of the housebeams” (20, cf. Jer 10:8, and perhaps Jer 10:5). “Upon their body and upon their head alight bats, swallows, and the birds, likewise also the cats; whence ye will know that they are not gods; therefore fear them not”. {cf. Jer 10:5} “At all cost are they purchased, in which there is no spirit.” {25; cf. Jer 10:9-14} “Footless, upon shoulders they are carried, displaying their own dishonour to men” (26). “Neither if they suffer evil from any one, nor if good, will they be able to recompense” (34; cf. Jer 10:5). “But they that serve them will be ashamed” (39; cf. Jer 10:14). “By carpenters and goldsmiths are they prepared: they become nothing but what the craftsmen wish them to become. And the very men that prepare them cannot last long; how then are the things prepared by them likely to do so? for they left lies and a reproach to them that come after. For whenever war and evils come upon them, the priests consult together where to hide them. How then is it possible not to perceive that they are not gods, who neither save themselves from war nor from evils? For being of wood and overlaid with gold and silver they will be known hereafter, that they are lies. To all the nations and to the kings it will be manifest that they are not gods but works of mens hands, and no work of God is in them.” {45-51; cf. Jer 10:14-15} “A wooden pillar in a palace is more useful than the false gods” (59). “Signs among nations they will not show in heaven, nor yet will they shine like the sun, nor give light as the moon” (67). “For as a scarecrow in a cucumber bed guarding nothing, so their gods are wooden and overlaid with gold and silver.” {70 cf. Jer 10:5} The mention of the sun, moon, and stars, the lightning, the wind, the clouds, and fire “sent forth from above,” as totally unlike the idols in “forms and powers,” seems to show that the author had Jer 10:12-13 before him.
When we turn to the Septuagint, we are immediately struck by its remarkable omissions. The four verses Jer 10:6-8 and Jer 10:10 do not appear at all in this oldest of the versions: while the ninth is inserted between the first clause and the remainder of the fifth verse. Now, on the one hand, it is just the verses which the LXX translates, which both in style and matter contrast so strongly with Jeremiahs authentic work, and are plainly incongruous with the context and occasion; while, on the other hand, the omitted verses contain nothing which points positively to another author than Jeremiah, and, taken by themselves, harmonise very well with what may be supposed to have been the prophets feeling at the actual juncture of affairs.
There is none at all like Thee, O Iahvah!
Great art Thou, and great is Thy Name in might!
Who should not fear Thee, O King of the nations? for tis Thy due,
For among all the wise of the nations
And in all their kingdom there is none at all like Thee.
And in one thing they are brute-like and dull;
In the doctrine of Vanities. which are wood!
But Iahvah Elohim is truth;
He is a living God, and an eternal King:
At His wrath the earth quaketh
And nations abide not His indignation.
As Hitzig has observed, it is natural that now, as the terrible decision approaches, the prophet should seek and find comfort in the thought of the all-overshadowing greatness of the God of Israel. If, however, we suppose these verses to be Jeremiahs, we can hardly extend the same assumption to verses Jer 10:12-16, in spite of one or two expressions of his which occur in them; and, upon the whole, the linguistic argument seems to weigh decisively against Jeremiahs authorship of this piece (see Naegelsbach).
It may be true enough that “the basis and possibility of the true prosperity and the hope of the genuine community are unfolded in these strophes” (Ewald); but that does not prove that they belong to Jeremiah. Nor can I see much force in the remark that “didactic language is of another kind than that of pure prophecy.” But when the same critic affirms that “the description of the folly of idolatry is also quite new, and clearly serves as a model for the much more elaborate ones, Isa 40:19-24 (20), Isa 41:7, Isa 44:8-20, Isa 46:5-7”; he is really giving up the point in dispute. Jer 10:12-16 are repeated in the prophecy against Babylon; {Isa 51:15-19} but this hardly proves that “the later prophet, Isa 50:1-11 and Isa 51:1-23, found all these words in our piece”; it is only evidence, so far as it goes, for those verses themselves.
The internal connection which Ewald assumes, is not self-evident. There is no proof that “the thought that the gods of the heathen might again rule” occurred for one moment to Jeremiah on this occasion; nor the thought that “the maintenance of the ancient true religion in conflict with the heathen must produce the regeneration of Israel.” There is no reference throughout the disputed passage to the spiritual condition of the people, which is, in fact, presupposed to be good; and the return in verses Jer 10:17-25 “to the main subject of the discourse” is inexplicable on Ewalds theory that the whole chapter, omitting Jer 10:11, is one homogeneous structure.
“Hear ye the word that Iahvah spake upon you, O house of Israel! Thus said Iahvah.” The terms imply a particular crisis in the history of Israel, when a Divine pronouncement was necessary to the guidance of the people. Iahvah speaks indeed in all existence and in all events, but His voice becomes audible, is recognised as His, only when human need asserts itself in some particular juncture of affairs. Then, in view of the actual emergency, the mind of Iahweh declares itself by the mouth of His proper spokesmen; and the prophetic “Thus said Iahvah” contrasts the higher point of view with the lower, the heavenly and spiritual with the earthly and the carnal; it sets forth the aspect of things as they appear to God, in the sharpest antithesis to the aspect of things as they appear to the natural unilluminated man. “Thus said Iahvah”: This is the thought of the Eternal, this is His judgment upon present conditions and passing events, whatever your thought and your judgment may happen or incline to be! Such, I think, is the essential import of this vox solennis, this customary formula of the dialect of prophecy.
On the present occasion, the crisis, in view of which a prophet declares the mind of Iahvah, is not a political emergency but a religious temptation. The day for the former has long since passed away, and the depressed and scattered communities of exiled Israelites are exposed among other trials to the constant temptation to sacrifice to present expediency the only treasure which they have salted from the wreck of their country, the faith of their fathers, the religion of the prophets. The uncompromising tone of this isolated oracle, the abruptness with which the writer at once enters in medias res, the solemn emphasis of his opening imperatives, proves that this danger pressed at the time with peculiar intensity. “Thus said Iahvah: Unto the way of the nations use not yourselves, And of the signs of heaven stand not in awe, for that the nations stand in awe of them!”. {cf. Lev 18:3 Eze 20:18} The “way” of the nations is their religion, the mode and manner of their worship; {Jer 5:4-5} and the exiles are warned not to suffer themselves to be led astray by example, as they had been in the land of Canaan; they are not to adore the signs of heaven, simply because they see their conquerors adoring them. The “signs of heaven” would seem to be the sun, moon, and stars, which were the objects of Babylonian worship; although the passage is unhappily not free from ambiguity. Some expositors have preferred to think of celestial phenomena such as eclipses and particular conjunctions of the heavenly bodies, which in those days were looked upon as portents, foreshadowing the course of national and individual fortunes. That there is really a reference to the astrological observation of the stars, is a view which finds considerable support in the words addressed to Babylon on the eve of her fall, by a prophet, who, if not identical was at least contemporary with him whose message we are discussing. In the forty-seventh chapter of the Book of Isaiah, it is said to Babylon: “Let now them that parcel out the heavens, that gaze at the stars, arise and save thee, prognosticating month by month the things that will come upon thee”. {Isa 47:13} The “signs of heaven” are, in this case, the supposed indications of coming events furnished by the varying appearances of the heavenly bodies; and one might even suppose that the immediate occasion of our prophecy was some eclipse of the sun or moon, or some remarkable conjunction of the planets which at the time was exciting general anxiety among the motley populations of Babylonia. The prophecy then becomes a remarkable instance of the manner in which an elevated spiritual faith, free from all the contaminating and blinding influences of selfish motives and desires, may rise superior to universal superstition, and boldly contradict the suggestions of what is accounted the highest wisdom of the time, anticipating the results though not the methods nor the evidence of science, at an epoch when science is as yet in the mythological stage. And the prophet might well exclaim in a tone of triumph, “Among all the wise of the nations none at all is like unto Thee, O Lord, as a source of true wisdom and understanding for the guidance of life” (Jer 10:7).
The inclusion of eclipses and comets among the signs of heaven here spoken of has been thought to be barred by the considerations that these are sometimes alleged by the prophets themselves as signs of coming judgment exhibited by the God of Israel: that, as a matter of fact, they were as mysterious and awful to the Jews as to their heathen neighbours; and that what is here contemplated is not the terror inspired by rare occasional phenomena of this kind, but a habitual superstition in relation to some ever-present causes. It is certain that in another prophecy against Babylon, preserved in the Book of Isaiah, it is declared that, as a token of the impending destruction, “the stars of heaven and the Orions thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause his light to shine”; {Isa 13:10} and the similar language of the prophet Joel is well known. {Joe 2:2; Joe 2:10; Joe 2:30-31; Joe 3:15} But these objections are not conclusive, for what our author is denouncing is the heathen association of “the signs of the heavens,” whatever may be intended by that expression, with a false system of religious belief. It is a special kind of idolatry that he contemplates, as is clear from the immediate context. Not only does the parallel clause “Unto the way of the nations use not yourselves” imply a gradual conformity to a heathen religion; not only is it the fact that the Hebrew phrase rendered in our versions “Be not dismayed!” may imply religious awe or worship, {Mal 2:5} as indeed terms denoting fear or dread are used by the Semitic languages in general; but the prophet at once proceeds to an exposure of the absurdity of image worship: “For the ordinances” (established modes of worship; 2Ki 17:8; here, established objects of worship) “of the peoples are a mere breath” (i.e., naught)! for it (the idol) “is a tree, which out of the forest one felled” (so the accents); “the handiwork of the carpenter with the bill. With silver and with gold one adorneth it” (or, “maketh it bright”); “with nails and with hammers they make them fast, that one sway not” (or, “that there be no shaking”). “Like the scarecrow of a garden of gourds are they, and they cannot speak; they are carried and carried, for they cannot take a step” (or, “march”): “be not afraid of them, for they cannot hurt, neither is it in their power to benefit!” “Be not afraid of them!” returns to the opening charge: “Of the signs of heaven stand not in awe!”. {cf. Gen 31:42; Gen 31:53; Isa 8:12-13} Clearly, then, the signa coeli are the idols against whose worship the prophet warns his people; and they denote “the sun, the moon, the constellations” (of the Zodiac), “and all the host of heaven”. {2Ki 23:5} We know that the kings of Judah, from Ahaz onwards, derived this worship from Assyria, and that its original home was Babylon, where in every temple the exiles would see images of the deities presiding over the heavenly bodies, such as Samas (the sun) and his consort Aa (the moon) at Sippara, Merodach (Jupiter) and his son Nebo (Mercurius) at Babylon and Borsippa, Nergal (Mars) at Cutha, daily served with a splendid and attractive ritual, and honoured with festivals and processions on the most costly and magnificent scale. The prophet looks through all this outward display to the void within, he draws no subtle distinction between the symbol and the thing symbolised; he accepts the popular confusion of the god with his image, and identifies all the deities of the heathen with the materials out of which their statues are made by the hands of men. And he is justified in doing this, because there can be but one god in his sense of the word; a multitude of gods is a contradiction in terms. From this point of view, he exposes the absurdity of the splendid idolatry which his captive countrymen see all around them. Behold that thing, he cries, which they call a god, and before which they tremble with religious fear! It is nothing but a tree trunk hewn in the forest, and trimmed into shape by the carpenter, and plated with silver and gold, and fixed on its pedestal with hammer and nails, for fear it should fall! Its terrors are empty terrors, like those of the palm trunk, rough hewn into human shape, and set up among the melons to frighten the birds away.
“Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum,
Cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum,
Maluit esse deum. Deus inde ego, furum aviumque
Maxima formido.” (Hor., “Sat.” 1:8, 1, sqq.)
Though the idol has the outward semblance of a man, it lacks his distinguishing faculty of speech; it is as dumb as the scarecrow, and as powerless to move from its place; so it has to be borne about on mens shoulders (a mocking allusion to the grand processions of the gods, which distinguished the Babylonian festivals). Will you then be afraid of things that can do neither good nor harm? asks the prophet: in terms that recall the challenge of another, or perchance of himself, to the idols of Babylon: “Do good or do evil, that we may look at each other and see it together.” {Isa 41:23} In utter contrast with the impotence, the nothingness of all the gods of the nations, whether Israels neighbours or his invaders, stands, forever the God of Israel. “There is none at all like Thee, O Iahweh! great art Thou, and great is Thy Name in might!” With different vowel points, we might render, “Whence (cometh) Thy like, O Iahvah?” This has been supported by reference to Jer 30:7 : “Alas! for great is that day. Whence” (is one) “like it?” (meayin?); but there too, as here, we may equally well translate, “there is none like it.” The interrogative, in fact, presupposes a negative answer; and the Hebrew particle usually rendered “there is not, are not” (“ayin, en”) has been explained as originally identical with the interrogative “where?” (“ayin,” implied in “meayin,” “from where?” “whence?” cf. Job 14:10 : “where is he?” =” he is not”). The idiom of the text expresses a more emphatic negation than the ordinary form would do; and, though rare, is by no means altogether unparalleled. {see Isa 40:17; Isa 41:24; and other references in Gesenius} “Great art Thou and great is Thy Name in might”; that is to say, Thou art great in Thyself, and great in repute or manifestation among men, in respect of “might,” virile strength or prowess. {Psa 21:13} Unlike the do nothing idols, Iahvah reveals His strength in deeds of strength. {cf. Exo 15:3 sqq.} “Who should not fear Thee, Thou King of the nations?” (cf. Jer 5:22) “for Thee it beseemeth” it is Thy due, and Thine only): “for among all the wise of the nations and in all their realm, there is none at all” (as in Jer 10:6) “like Thee.” Religious fear is instinctive in man; but, whereas the various nations lavish reverence upon innumerable objects utterly unworthy of the name of deity, rational religion sees clearly that there can be but One God, working His supreme will in heaven and earth; and that this Almighty being is the true “King of the nations,” and disposes their destinies as well as that of His people Israel, although they know Him not, but call other imaginary beings their “kings” (a common Semitic designation of a national god: Psa 20:9; Isa 6:5; Isa 8:20. He, then, is the proper object of the instinct of religious awe; all the peoples of the earth owe Him adoration, even though they be ignorant of their obligation; worship is His unshared prerogative.
“Among all the wise of the nations and in all their realm, not one is like Thee!” Who are the wise thus contrasted with the Supreme God? Are the false gods the reputed wise ones, giving pretended counsel to their deluded worshippers through the priestly oracle? The term “kingdom” seems to indicate this view, if we take “their kingdom” to mean the kingdom of the wise ones of the nations, that is, the countries whose “kings” they are, where they are worshipped as such. The heathen in general, and the Babylonians in particular, ascribed wisdom to their gods. But there is no impropriety from an Old Testament point of view in comparing Iahvahs wisdom with the wisdom of man. The meaning of the prophet may be simply this, that no earthly wisdom, craft, or political sagacity, not even in the most powerful empires such as Babylon, can be a match for Iahvah the All-wise, or avail to thwart His purposes. {Isa 31:1-2} “Wise” and “sagacious” are titles which the kings of Babylon continually assert for themselves in their extant inscriptions; and the wisdom and learning of the Chaldeans were famous in the ancient world. Either view will agree with what follows: “But in one thing they”-the nations, or their wise men-“will turn out brutish and besotted”: (in) “the teaching of Vanities which are wood.” The verse is difficult; but the expression “the teaching (or doctrine) of Vanities” may perhaps be regarded as equivalent to “the idols taught of”; and then the second half of the verse is constructed like the first member of Jer 10:3 : “The ordinances of the peoples are Vanity,” and may be rendered, “the idols taught of are mere wood.” {cf. Jer 10:3 b, Jer 2:27; Jer 3:9} It is possible also that the right reading is “foundation” (“musad”) not “doctrine” (“musar”): “the foundation” (basis, substratum, substance) “of idols is wood.” The term “Vanities-habalim”-is used for “idols.” {Jer 8:19; Jer 14:22; Psa 31:7} And, lastly, I think, the clause might be rendered: “a doctrine of Vanities, of mere wood, it”-their religion-“is!” This supreme folly is the “one thing” that discredits all the boasted wisdom of the Chaldeans; and their folly will hereafter be demonstrated by events (Jer 10:14).
The body of the idol is wood, and outwardly it is decorated with silver and gold and costly apparel; but the whole and every part of it is the work of man. “Silver plate” (lit. “beaten out”) “from Tarshish”-from far away Tartessus in Spain-“is brought, and gold from Uphaz,” {Dan 10:5} “the work of the smith, and of the hands of the founder”-who have beaten out the silver and smelted the gold: “blue and purple is their clothing”: {Exo 26:31; Exo 28:8} “the work of the wise”-of skilled artists {Isa 40:20} -“is every part of them.” Possibly the verse might better be translated: “Silver to be beaten out”-argentum malleo diducendum-“which is brought from Tarshish, and gold” which is brought “from Uphaz,” are “the work of the smith and of the hands of the smelter; the blue and purple” which are “their clothing,” are “the work of the wise all of them.” At all events, the point of the verse seems to be that, whether you look at the inside or the outside of the idol, his heart of wood or his casing of gold and silver and his gorgeous robes, the whole and every bit of him as he stands before you is a manufactured article, the work of mens hands. The supernatural comes in nowhere. In sharpest contrast with this lifeless fetish, “Iahvah is a God that is truth,” i.e., a true God, {cf. Pro 22:21} or “Iahvah is God in truth”-is really God-“He is a living God, and an eternal King”; the sovereign whose rule is independent of the vicissitudes of time, and the caprices of temporal creatures: “at His wrath the earth quaketh, and nations cannot abide His indignation”: the world of nature and the world of man are alike dependent upon His Will, and He exhibits His power and his righteous anger in the disturbances of the one and the disasters of the other.
According to the Hebrew punctuation, we should rather translate: “But Iahvah Elohim” the designation of God in the second account of creation, {Gen 2:4-25; Gen 3:1-24} “is truth,” i.e., reality; as opposed to the falsity and nothingness of the idols; or “permanence,” “lastingness,” {Psa 19:10} as opposed to their transitoriness (Jer 19:11-13).
The statement of the tenth verse (Jer 10:10) respecting the eternal power and godhead of Iahvah is confirmed in the twelfth and thirteenth (Jer 10:12-13) by instances of His creative energy and continual activity as exhibited in the world of nature. “The Maker of the earth by His power, Establishing the habitable world by His wisdom, And by His insight He did stretch out the heavens: At the sound of His giving voice” {Psa 77:18; i.e., thundering} “there is an uproar of waters in the heavens, And He causeth the vapours to rise from the end of the earth; Lightnings for the rain He maketh, And causeth the wind to go forth out of His treasuries.” There is no break in the sense between these sentences and the tenth verse. The construction resembles that of Amo 5:8; Amo 9:5-6, and is interrupted by the eleventh verse, which in all probability was, to begin with, a marginal annotation.
The solid earth is itself a natural symbol of strength and stability. The original creation of this mighty and enduring structure argues the omnipotence of the Creator; while the “establishing” or “founding” of it upon the waters of the great deep is a proof of supreme wisdom, {Psa 24:2; Psa 136:6} and the “spreading out” of the visible heavens or atmosphere like a vast canopy or tent over the earth, {Psa 104:2 Isa 40:22} is evidence of a perfect insight into the conditions essential to the existence and well-being of man.
It is, of course, clear enough that physical facts and phenomena are here described in popular language as they appear to the eye, and by no means with the severe precision of a scientific treatise. It is not to be supposed that this prophet knew more about the actual constitution of the physical universe than the wise men of his time could impart. But such knowledge was not necessary to the enforcement of the spiritual truths which it was his mission to proclaim; and the fact that his brief oracle presents those truths in a garb which we can only regard as poetical, and which it would argue a want of judgment to treat as scientific prose, does not affect their eternal validity, nor at all impair their universal importance. The passage refers us to God as the ultimate source of the world of nature. It teaches us that the stability of things is a reflection of His eternal being; that the persistence of matter is an embodiment of His strength; that the indestructibility which science ascribes to the materials of the physical universe is the seal which authenticates their Divine original. Persistence, permanence, indestructibleness, are properly sole attributes of the eternal Creator, which He communicates to His creation. Things are indestructible as regards man, not as regards the Author of their being.
Thus the wisdom enshrined in the laws of the visible world, all its strength and all its stability, is a manifestation of the Unseen God. Invisible in themselves, the eternal power and godhead of Iahvah become visible in His creation. And, as the Hebrew mode of expression indicates, His activity is never suspended, nor His presence withdrawn. The conflict of the elements, the roar of the thunder, the flash of the lightning, the downpour of waters, the rush of the storm wind, are His work; and not less His work, because we have found out the “natural” causes, that is, the established conditions of their occurrence; not less His work, because we have, in the exercise of faculties really though remotely akin to the Divine Nature, discovered how to imitate, or rather mimic, even the more awful of these marvellous phenomena. Mimicry it cannot but appear, when we compare the overwhelming forces that rage in a tropical storm with our electric toys. The lightnings in their glory and terror are still Gods arrows, and man cannot rob His quiver.
Nowadays more is known about the machinery of the world, but hardly more of the Intelligence that contrived it, and keeps it continually in working order, nay, lends it its very existence. More is known about means and methods, but hardly more about aims and purposes. The reflection, how few are the master conceptions which modern speculation has added to the treasury of thought, should suggest humility to the vainest and most self-confident of physical inquirers. In the very dawn of philosophy the human mind appears to have anticipated as it were by sudden flashes of insight some of the boldest hypotheses of modern science, including that of Evolution itself.
The unchangeable or invariable laws of nature, that is to say, the uniformity of sequence which we observe in physical phenomena, is not to be regarded as a thing that explains itself. It is only intelligible as the expression of the unchanging will of God. The prophets word is still true. It is God who “causes the vapours to rise from the end of the earth,” drawing them up into the air from oceans and lakes by the simple yet beautiful and efficient action of the solar heat; it is God who “makes lightnings for the rain,” charging the clouds with the electric fluid, to burst forth in blinding flashes when the opposing currents meet. It is God who “brings the wind out of His treasuries.” In the prophets time the winds were as great a mystery as the thunder and lightning: it was not known whence they came nor whither they went. But the knowledge that they are but currents of air due to variations of temperature does not really deprive them of their wonder. Not only is it impossible, in the last resort, to comprehend what heat is, what motion is, what the thing moved is. A far greater marvel remains, which cries aloud of Gods wisdom and presence and sovereignty over all; and that is the wonderful consilience of all the various powers and forces of the natural world in making a home for man, and enabling so apparently feeble a creature as he to live and thrive amidst the perpetual interaction and collision of the manifold and mighty elements of the universe.
The true author of all this magnificent system of objects and forces, to the wonder and the glory of which only custom can blind us, is the God of the prophet. This sublime, this just conception of God was possible, for it was actually realised, altogether apart from the influence of Hellenic philosophy and modern European science. But it was by no means as common to the Semitic peoples. In Babylon, which was at the time the focus of all earthly wisdom and power, in Babylon the ancient mother of sciences and arts, a crude polytheism stultified all the wisdom of the wise, and lent its sanction to a profound moral corruption. Rapid and universal conquests, enormous wealth accruing from the spoils and tributes of all nations, only subserved the luxury and riotous living which issued in a general effeminacy and social enervation; until the great fabric of empire, which Nabopalassar and Nebuchadrezzar had reared by their military and political genius, sank under the weight of its own vices.
Looking round upon this spectacle of superstitious folly, the prophet declares that “all men are become too brute-like for knowledge”; too degraded to appreciate the truth, the simplicity of a higher faith; too besotted with the worship of a hundred vain idols, which were the outward reflection of their own diseased imaginations, to receive the wisdom of the true religion, and to perceive especially the truth just enunciated, that it is Iahvah who gives the rain and upon whom all atmospheric changes depend: {Jer 14:22} and thus, in the hour of need, “every founder blushes for the image, because his molten figure is a lie, and there is no breath in them”; because the lifeless idol, the work of his hands, can lend no help. Perhaps both clauses of the verse rather express a prophecy: “All men will be proven brutish, destitute of knowledge; every founder will blush for the graven image.” Wise and strong as the Babylonians supposed themselves to be, the logic of events would undeceive them. They were doomed to a rude awakening; to discover in the hour of defeat and surrender that the molten idol was a delusion, that the work of their hands was an embodied lie, void of life, powerless to save. “Vanity”-a mere breath, naught-“are they, a work of knaveries” (a term recurring only in Jer 51:18; the root seems to mean “to stammer,” “to imitate”); “in the time of their visitation they will perish!” or simply “they perish!”-in the burning temples, in the crash of falling shrines.
It has happened so. At this day the temples of cedar and marble, with their woodwork overlaid with bronze and silver and gold, of whose glories the Babylonian sovereigns so proudly boast in their still existing records, as “shining like the sun, and like the stars of heaven,” are shapeless heaps or rather mountains of rubbish, where Arabs dig for building materials and treasure trove, and European explorers for the relics of a civilisation and a superstition which have passed away forever. Vana sunt, et opus risu dignum. In the revolutions of time, which are the outward measures of the eternally self-unfolding purposes of God, the word of the Judean prophets has been amply fulfilled. Babylon and her idols are no more.
All other idols, too, must perish in like manner. “Thus shall ye say of them: The gods who the heavens and earth did not make, perish from the earth and from under the heavens shall these!” The assertion that the idols of Babylon were doomed to destruction, was not the whole of the prophetic message. It is connected with and founded upon the antithetic assertion of the eternity of Iahvah. They will perish, but He endures. The one eternal is El Elyon, the Most High God, the Maker of heaven and earth. But heaven and earth and whatever partakes only of their material nature are also doomed to pass away. And in that day of the Lord, when the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burnt up, {2Pe 3:10} not only will the idols of the heathen world, and the tawdry dolls which a degenerate church suffers to be adored as a kind of magical embodiment of the Mother of God, but all other idols which the sense bound heart of man makes to itself, vanish into nothingness before that overwhelming revelation of the supremacy of God.
There is something amazing in the folly of worshipping man, whether in the abstract form of the cultus of “Humanity,” or in any of the various forms of what is called “Hero worship,” or in the vulgar form of self-worship, which is the religion of the selfish and the worldly. To ascribe infallibility to any mortal, whether Pope or politician, is to sin in the spirit of idolatry. The Maker of heaven and earth, and He alone, is worthy of worship. “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding”. {Job 38:4} No human wisdom nor power presided there: and to produce the smallest of asteroids is still a task which lies infinitely beyond the combined resources of modern science. Man and all that man has created is naught in the scale of Gods creation. He and all the mighty works with which he amazes, overshadows, enslaves his little world, will perish and pass away; only that will survive which he builds of materials which are imperishable, fabrics of spiritual worth and excellence and glory. {1Co 3:13} A Nineveh, a Babylon, a London, a Paris, may disappear; “but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” {1Jn 2:17} “Not like these” (cf. Jer 10:11 ad fin.) “is Jacobs Portion, but the Maker and Moulder of the All-He is his heritage; Iahvah Sabaoth is His name!” (Both here and at Jer 51:19 the LXX omits: “and Israel is the tribe,” which seems to have been derived from Deu 32:9. Israel is elsewhere called “Iahvahs heritage,” Psa 33:12, and “portion,” Deu 32:9; but that thought hardly suits the connection here.)
“Not like these”: for He is the Divine Potter who moulded all things, including the signs of heaven, and the idols of wood and metal, and their foolish worshippers. And he is “Jacobs portion”; for the knowledge and worship of Him were, in the Divine counsels, originally assigned to Israel Deu 4:19; Deu 32:8, according to the true reading, preserved in the LXX; and therefore Israel alone knows Him and His glorious attributes. “Iahvah Sabaoth is His name”: the Eternal, the Maker and Master of the hosts of heaven and earth, is the aspect under which He has revealed Himself to the true representatives of Israel, His servants the prophets.
The portion of Israel is his God-his abiding portion; of which neither the changes of time nor the misconceptions of man can avail to rob him. When all that is accidental and transitory is taken away, this distinction remains: Israels portion is his God. Iahvah was indeed the national God of the Jews, argue some of our modern wise ones; and therefore He cannot be identified with the universal Deity. He has been developed, expanded, into this vast conception; but originally He was but the private god of a petty tribe, the Lar of a wandering household. Now herein is a marvellous thing. How was it that this particular household god thus grew to infinite proportions, like the genres emerging from the unsealed jar of Arab fable, until, from His prime foothold on the tent floor of a nomad family, He towered above the stars and His form overshadowed the universe? How did it come to pass that His prophet could ask in a tone of indisputable truth, recognised alike by friend and foe, “Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith Iahvah”? {Jer 23:24} How, that this immense, this immeasurable expansion took place in this instance, and not in that of any one of the thousand rival deities of surrounding and more powerful tribes and nations? How comes it that we today are met to adore Iahvah, and not rather one of the forgotten gods of Canaan or Egypt or Babylon? Merodach and Nebo have vanished, but Iahvah is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It certainly looks very much as if the Hebrew prophets were right; as if Iahvah were really the God of the creation as well as the Portion of Jacob.
“The portion of Jacob.” Is His relation to that one people a stumbling block? Can we see no eternal truth in the statement of the Psalmist that “the Lords portion is His people?” Who can find fault with the enthusiastic faith of holy men thus exulting in the knowledge and love of God? It is a characteristic of all genuine religion, this sweet, this elevating consciousness that God is our God; this profound sense that He has revealed Himself to us in a special and peculiar and individual manner. But the actual historical results, as well as the sacred books, prove that the sense of possessing God and being possessed by Him was purer, stronger, deeper, more effectual, more abiding, in Israel than in any other race of the ancient world.
One must tread warily upon slippery ground; but I cannot help thinking that many of the arguments alleged against the probability of God revealing Himself to man at all or to a single nation in particular, are sufficiently met by the simple consideration that He has actually done so. Any event whatever may be very improbable until it has happened; and assuming that God has not revealed Himself, it may perhaps be shown to be highly improbable that He would reveal Himself. But, meanwhile, all religions and all faith and the phenomena of conscience and the highest intuitions of reason presuppose this improbable event as the fact apart from which they are insoluble riddles. This is not to say that the precise manner of revelation-the contact of the Infinite with the Finite Spirit-is definable. There are many less lofty experiences of man which also are indefinable and mysterious, but none the less actual and certain. Facts are not explained by denial, which is about the most barren and feeble attitude a man can take up in the presence of a baffling mystery. Nor is it for man to prescribe conditions to God. He who made us and knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows also how best to reveal Himself to His creatures.
The special illumination of Israel, however, does not imply that no light was vouchsafed elsewhere. The religious systems of other nations furnish abundant evidence to the contrary. God “left not Himself without witness,” the silent witness of that beneficent order of the natural world, which makes it possible for man to live, and to live happily. St. Paul did not scruple to compliment even the degenerate Athenians of his own day on the ground of their attention to religious matters, and he could cite a Greek poet in support of his doctrine that man is the offspring of the one God and Father of all.
We may see in the fact a sufficient indication of what St. Paul would have said, had the nobler non-Christian systems fallen under his cognisance; had heathenism become known to him not in the heterogeneous polytheism of Hellas, which in his time had long since lost what little moral influence it had ever possessed, nor in the wild orgiastic nature worships of the Lesser Asia, which in their thoroughly sensuous basis did dishonour alike to God and to man; but in the sublime tenets of Zarathustra, with their noble morality and deep reverence for the One God, the spirit of all goodness and truth, or in the reformed Brahmanism of Gautama the Buddha, with its grand principle of self-renunciation and universal charity.
The peculiar glories of Bible religion are not dimmed in presence of these other lights. Allowing for whatever is valuable in these systems of belief, we may still allege that Bible religion comprises all that is good in them, and has, besides, many precious features peculiar to itself; we may still maintain that their excellences are rather testimonies to the truth of the biblical teachings about God than difficulties in the way of a rational faith; that it would be far more difficult to a thoughtful mind to accept the revelation of God conveyed in the Bible, if it were the fact that no rays of Divine light had cheered the darkness of the millions of struggling mortals beyond the pale of Judaism, than it is under the actual circumstances of the case: in short, that the truths implicated in imperfect religions, isolated from all contact with Hebrew or Christian belief, are a witness to and a foreshadowing of the truths of the gospel.
Our prophet declares that Jacobs portion-the God of Israel-is not like the gods of contemporary peoples. How, then, does he conceive of Him? Not as a metaphysical entity-a naked, perhaps empty abstraction of the understanding. Not as the Absolute and Infinite Being, who is out of all relation to space and time. His language-the language of the Old Testament-possesses no adjectives like “Infinite,” “Absolute,” “Eternal,” “Omniscient,” “Omnipresent,” nor even “Almighty,” although that word so often appears in our venerable Authorised Version. It is difficult for us, who are the heirs of ages of thought and intellectual toil, and whose thinking is almost wholly carried on by means of abstract ideas, to realise a state of mind and a habit of thought so largely different from our own as that of the Hebrew people and even of the Hebrew prophets. Yet unless we make an effort to realise it, however inadequately, unless we exert ourselves, and strive manfully to enter through the gate of an instructed imagination into that far off stage of life and thought which presents so many problems to the historical student, and hides in its obscurity so many precious truths; we must inevitably fail to appreciate the full significance, and consequently fail of appropriating the full blessing of those wonderful prophecies of ancient Israel, which are not for an age but for all time.
Let us, then, try to apprehend the actual point of view from which the inspired Israelite regarded his God. In the first place, that point of view was eminently practical. As a recent writer has forcibly remarked, “The primitive mind does not occupy itself with things of no practical importance, and it is only in the later stages of society that we meet with traditional beliefs nominally accepted by every one but practically regarded by none; or with theological speculations which have an interest for the curious, but are not felt to have a direct bearing on the concerns of life.”
The pious Israelite could not indulge a morbidly acute and restlessly speculative intellect with philosophical or scientific theories about the Deity, His nature in Himself, His essential and accidental attributes, His relation to the visible world. Neither did such theories then exist ready made to his hand, nor did his inward impulses and the natural course of thought urge him to pry into such abstruse matters, and with cold irreverence to subject his idea of God to critical analysis. Could he have been made to understand the attitude and the demands of some modern disputants, he would have been apt to exclaim, “Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out Shaddai unto perfection? It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than hell, what canst thou know?” To find out and to know God as the understanding finds out and knows, how can that ever become possible to man? Such knowledge depends entirely upon processes of comparison; upon the perception of similarity between the object investigated and other known objects: upon accurate naming and classification. But who can dream of successfully referring the Deity to a class? “To what will ye liken God, or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?” In the brief prophecy before us, as in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, with which it presents so many points of contact, we have a splendid protest against all attempts at bringing the Most High within the limitations of human cognition, and reducing God to the category of things known and understood. Directed in the first instance against idolatry-against vain efforts to find an adequate likeness of the Supreme in some one of the numberless creations of His hand, and so to compare and gauge and comprehend Himself, -that protest is still applicable, and with even greater force, against the idolatrous tendencies of the present age: when one school of devotees loudly declares,
“Thou, Nature, art our goddess; to thy law
Our services are bound:
Wherefore should we
Stand in the plague of custom?”
and another is equally loud in asserting that it has found the true god in man himself; and another proclaims the divinity of brute force, and feels no shame in advocating the sovereignty of those gross instincts and passions which man shares with the beasts that perish. It is an unworthy and an inadequate conception of God, which identifies Him with Nature; it is a deplorably impoverished idea, the mere outcome of philosophic despair, which identifies him with Humanity; but what language can describe the grovelling baseness of that habit of though which knows of nothing higher than the sensual appetite, and seeks nothing better than its continual indulgence; which sees the native impress of sovereignty on the brow of passing pleasure, and recognises the image and likeness of God in a temporary association of depraved instincts?
It is to this last form of idolatry, this utter heathenism in the moral life, that all other forms really converge, as St. Paul has shown in the introduction of his Epistle to the Romans, where, in view of the unutterable iniquities which were familiar occurrences in the world of his contemporaries, he affirms that moral decadence of the most appalling character is ultimately traceable to a voluntary indulgence of those idolatrous tendencies which ignore Gods revelation of Himself to the heart and reason, and prefer to find their deity in something less awful in purity and holiness, less averse to the defilements of sin, less conversant with the secrets of the soul; and so, not liking to retain the true and only God in knowledge, change His truth into a lie, and worship and serve the creature more than the Creator: changing the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, or even to birds and fourfooted beasts and creeping things.
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

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