Deeper Commentary
Jeremiah 10:2 Thus says Yahweh, Don’t learn the way of the nations, and
don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at
them- There was still hope that there could be a miraculous last
minute deliverance of Jerusalem, as had happened in the time of Hezekiah.
The surrounding nations had all been "dismayed" and destroyed (2 Kings
19:26). Judah were not to be like them; but they were following their
astrology, and the results of that "dismayed" them. They were desperately
'learning' the religion of those who were about to destroy them, rather
than learning God's way through repentance (Jer. 9:23,24). They should
instead have been dismayed at Jeremiah's prophetic words; and to have seen
the connection with the frequent exhortations not to be dismayed
but to possess the Kingdom (Dt. 1:21; Josh. 1:9 etc.). Jeremiah had been
commanded not to be dismayed (Jer. 1:9 s.w.); he was to be their example,
as is every preacher to be the word made flesh. "Dismay" was a punishment
from God upon them (Jer. 17:18) but as with all Divine judgments, this was
just an extension of what the people had done to themselves. For they had
dismayed themselves.
Many
Jeremiah 10:3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a
tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe-
Judah were bidden look at things from a bird's eye view, and to
perceive how bizarre is idolatry. All idolatry is vanity because it is the
work of human hands. The way of spirituality is to accept God's work
rather than the work of our own hands. They were 'learning' the astrology
of the Babylonians who were about to destroy them (:2); and now they were
accepting the "statutes" or "customs" of those people, taking on the yoke
of a new law and religious system in the name of Yahweh worship. And
thereby ignoring His law.
Jeremiah 10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with
nails and with hammers, that it not move- This alludes to very
similar language in Is. 40:20; 41:7. See on :5. "Deck" is the word used of
how the Jews tried to make themselves attractive to the other nations by
as it were 'dressing themselves up' (Jer. 4:30). They did this through
worshipping their idols. This confirms the impression that on the eve of
destruction, they were turning to the idols of their attackers rather than
to Yahweh.
Jeremiah 10:5 They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak-
"Turned work" is a word only used about the beaten work of the tabernacle
(Ex. 25:18,31,36 etc.). We will suggest on :9 that they were building a
new kind of tabernacle for their idols.
Jeremiah 10:6 There is none like You, Yahweh; You are great, and Your name
is great in might- The supreme, ultimate greatness of Yahweh meant
that all claims of other gods were worth nothing. This continues the
allusions to later Isaiah, this time to Is. 46:9. See on :5.
Jeremiah 10:7 Who should not fear You, King of the nations? For it is
appropriate for You; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in
all their royal estate, there is none like You- It was the prophetic
potential that Israel and Judah would repent together, return from
captivity, and re-establish the Kingdom of God in Israel under a Messianic
ruler, with the surrounding nations also repentant and acceptant of
Israel's God. "Who should not..." accept Yahweh out of the nations? We
marvel how with Israel so deeply resistant to God's purpose at this point,
still the prophets allude to this massive potential. See on :11. This was
not fulfilled at the time, but this passage is quoted in Rev. 15:4 as
having ultimate fulfilment in the last days.
Jeremiah 10:8 But they are together primitive and foolish: the instruction
of idols! It is but a stock- The idea that a piece of wood could
teach God's people is mocked; but this is in the context of how :1,2 have
condemned Judah for earnestly seeking to "learn" the religious ways of
Babylon. They stood in front of a piece of wood in order to be taught by
it. "Primitive" translates a word which effectively means 'kindling wood'
(s.w. Ex. 35:3). They were wooden, and would be the kindling which brought
about the final burning of Jerusalem. See on Jer. 11:16.
Jeremiah 10:9 There is silver beaten into plates which is brought from
Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands
of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the
work of skilful men- Silver, plates, gold, blue, purple and the work
of skilled craftsmen is all language reminiscent of the construction of
the tabernacle and high priestly robes. The new religious system and laws
which they were desperately learning (see on :1,2) was a quasi law of
Moses. And yet it was done in the name of Yahweh worship; this explains
the similarities, and also how the people also called to Yahweh at this
time. See on :5,12,20.
Jeremiah 10:10 But Yahweh is the true God; He is the living God and an
everlasting King- A bald statement, urging the Jews on the eve of
destruction to quit their idolatry and return wholeheartedly to Yahweh. He
was alive, whereas the idols were just dead wood (:8). He would last for
ever, whereas the idols of that age, as of every age, stand only for a
short time.
Jeremiah 10:11 You shall say this to them: The gods that have not made the
heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under
the heavens-
Jeremiah 10:12 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- This contrast between the idols and Yahweh as the creator of
all things is typical of the later part of Isaiah; see on :5. The language
of setting up ("established", literally 'to make stand erect') and
stretching out suggests that the heavens and earth are a tent or
tabernacle. This alludes to how the Jews were desperately constructing a
tabernacle to idols; see on :9,20.
Jeremiah 10:13 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- This could refer to a literal thunderstorm that burst
over Jerusalem as Jeremiah was speaking. The waters which arose from the
ends of the land represented the nations arising from the boundaries of
eretz Israel, who were to come in judgment upon Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 10:14 Every man has become primitive and without knowledge; every
goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is
falsehood, and there is no breath in them- This is the ultimate end
of all idolatry, of all life lived without total devotion to God-
disappointment. Life is only in Yahweh; both eternal life, and meaningful
life now. The same word for "disappointed" is used of what would happen to
the idols of Babylon (Jer. 50:2). Just before the Babylonian conquest of
Jerusalem, the Jews within the city were making those very same idols, and
would be disappointed in them just as Babylon was to be. It was the idols
who were primitive and without knowledge (:8); and those who make and
worship idols become like unto them, also "primitive..." (Ps. 115:8). The
desire to worship is built within the human condition. And we become like
what we worship. It is therefore critically important to worship the right
thing.
Jeremiah 10:15 They are vanity, a work of delusion-
Jeremiah 10:16 The portion of Jacob is not like these- See on :15.
Jeremiah 10:17 Gather up your wares out of the land, you who live under
siege-
Jeremiah 10:18 For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will sling out the
inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they
may feel it- But in wrath, God remembered mercy. For not all the
inhabitants of the land were taken into captivity. Only the ruling classes
were.
Jeremiah 10:19 Woe is me because of my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I
said, Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it-
Jeremiah 10:20 My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my
children are gone forth from me, and they are no more: there is none to
spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains- God speaks of the
tabernacle rather than the temple because it seems from :9 that they were
constructing another tabernacle, but to the gods of Babylon. We noted on
:9,12 that God had set up His tabernacle / tent just as He had stretched
out the skies at creation. But the Jews were building another tabernacle
to other gods. They had taken down Yahweh's tent thereby, and so God was
as it were left homeless, able to identify with those left homeless. We
deduce from the argument here how Almighty God is in a sense "in need of
man", as Avraham Heschel put it. He had nobody to spread out His tent- He,
the God who spread out the skies of the cosmos by His great power.
Jeremiah 10:21 For the shepherds are become primitive, and have not
inquired of Yahweh: therefore they have not prospered, and all their
flocks are scattered- Those who ought to have set up the tabernacle
in :20 were the priests and Levites, and they had turned away from Yahweh.
This was especially hard for Jeremiah to utter, seeing he was from a
priestly family. The shepherds, the priests, became "primitive", the same
word used of the idols themselves in :8,14. They became like that which
they worshipped (Ps. 115:8). Any shepherd / teacher should themselves be
ever 'inquiring' of Yahweh. But they instead were learning all they could
about idol worship (:1,2). They did not 'prosper', Heb. 'understand'; and
so new pastors were needed, who would teach understanding (Jer. 3:15
s.w.).
Jeremiah 10:22 The voice of proclamation, behold, it comes, and a great
commotion out of the north country-
Jeremiah 10:23 Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is
not in man who walks to direct his steps- The passage from :23-25
could be a prayer of Jeremiah, who recognizes his own sinfulness on a
personal level. In this case we see how he prayed despite being asked by
God not to pray (Jer. 7:16; 11:14; 14:7). But it could also be the wish or
even fantasy of God for the repentance of the people; these are the words
He imagines an individual repentant Israelite saying. The idea is perhaps
that man cannot direct his path whilst he is walking; he must firstly
direct his steps, and then walk accordingly. The way of Adam (Heb.) would
allude to how Adam could not direct his own way back to the tree of life;
the Angel cherubim would keep that way and direct man upon it (Gen. 3:24).
Jeremiah sees the exile of Judah to the east as the driving out of Adam
eastward from Eden, the same eretz Israel. And he knew now that
it would not be of man, of Israel as it was not of Adam, to get back; it
required the Angel cherubim to bring them back. And that was just the
message of Ezekiel at this same time and context. It is Yahweh alone who
can direct the steps of man (same words in Prov. 16:9).
Jeremiah 10:24 Yahweh, correct me, but in measure: not in Your anger, lest
you bring me to nothing- If this is a personal prayer of Jeremiah on
behalf of the people, then perhaps God did hear; because He did indeed
correct them "in measure" (s.w. Jer. 30:11 "I will correct you in measure,
and not leave you altogether unpunished"), but the full extent of His
prophesied anger [such as the destruction of all animal and human life in
the land by fire] was not carried out. Judah were not literally 'brought
to nothing'. This was in response to Jeremiah's prayer here- to correct /
punish [s.w.] Judah, but not bring them to nothing. The same phrase "bring
to nothing" is found in Jer. 30:19, where God promises that He will not
bring Judah to nothing. This was in direct response to Jeremiah's prayer
here. Jeremiah here is praying as representative of all Israel, just as he
personally says "Amen" to the offer of the new covenant in Jer. 11:5.
Jeremiah 10:25 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that don’t know You, and
on the families that don’t call on Your name: for they have devoured
Jacob, yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste
his habitation
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