Jeremiah 10
v.1
Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel.
v.2
This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them.
v.3-4
For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.
Jeremiah details every step stage of the making of these worthless images… There is an exquisite touch of sarcasm in the mention of fastening the idol with nails. The mighty god has to be kept from tottering.
v.5
Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.”
Even after the image is secured, it has no more value than a scarecrow. Immovable, it has no power of speech to comfort the needy soul; it cannot walk to come to the aid of the harassed; instead, it is a burden to be carried. Incapable of moral decisions, it cannot counsel troubled souls.
v.6
No one is like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power.
v.7
Who should not revere you, O King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.
Human beings at the highest point of their reasoning can never approximate, let alone comprehend, the blessed God of the universe (1Co 1:21).
v.8
They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols.
v.9
Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple— all made by skilled workers.
v.10
But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.
v.11
“Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.‘“
v.12
But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
This section, repeated in 51:15-19, dwells on the theme of the might of the true God, especially in nature, and his relationship to Israel, particularly in his covenant promises. Both the power and the wisdom of God are clearly manifested in the creation of the heavens and the earth.
This description of Israel’s God portrays him both as a creator deity and a cosmic deity. He established order in the cosmos, and he maintains order in his governance of the operation of the cosmos. These two areas of operation did not often coexist in one deity in the ancient world. Marduk, the chief deity of Babylon, however, did have thunder and rain connections as well as being the creator god.
v.13
When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
v.14
Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them.
v.15
They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.
v.16
He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including Israel, the tribe of his inheritance— the LORD Almighty is his name.
v.17-18
Gather up your belongings to leave the land, you who live under siege. 18For this is what the LORD says: “At this time I will hurl out those who live in this land; I will bring distress on them so that they may be captured.”
The suggested date for the passage is 598-597 B.C., during the siege under Jeconiah… Now the doom of the city is at the very gates, so they had better gather up their bundles from the ground because they are to be cast out of the land. Only distress awaits them.
v.19-20
Woe to me because of my injury! My wound is incurable! Yet I said to myself, “This is my sickness, and I must endure it.” 20My tent is destroyed; all its ropes are snapped. My sons are gone from me and are no more; no one is left now to pitch my tent or to set up my shelter.
A new era was to begin for the nation! On other occasions when the nation was invaded, the enemy took spoils and imposed tribute. But this time invasion would result in expatriation. This means for Jeremiah an almost unbearable burden; so on behalf of the nation he laments the catastrophe.
v.21
The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the LORD; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered.
v.22
Listen! The report is coming— a great commotion from the land of the north! It will make the towns of Judah desolate, a haunt of jackals.
v.23
I know, O LORD, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.
We can never direct our lives as to achieve blessing without God’s help. We cannot decide the course of our lives. God is in ultimate control.
This was Jeremiah’s consolation, ‘I do not know what Nebuchadnezzar may do; but I do know that “the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” I know that, in God’s eternal purposes, every step of Judah’s way is mapped out, and he will make it all work for his own glory and the good of his chosen people in the end.’
v.24
Correct me, LORD, but only with justice— not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing.
v.25
Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the peoples who do not call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him completely and destroyed his homeland.
Verse 25 is recited annually at the Passover service of the Jews. The enemies of Israel and the executors of God’s wrath will one day experience his scourge also. This was fulfilled within a century. Nebuchadnezzar was punished with insanity. His grandson Belshazzar was slain in his revelry, and the empire was conquered by the Medo-Persians. Jeremiah’s prayer is not that of a nationalistic Jew against hated Gentiles. It is a plea for God to destroy Judah’s enemies before they are able to carry out their wicked aim to destroy his people. Thus closes this whole great section (chs. 7-10). Its undying message is that God seeks reality in life and worship, and no kind of ritual can ever be a substitute for piety.