JEREMIAH 10
OPENS WITH...The GREATNESS of Yahweh over the Idols of the Nations
Verses 1-5 tells us The custom of the decorated tree made an idol.
“Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.
Thus says the Lord:
Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the peoples are futile;
For one cuts a tree from the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
They decorate it with silver and gold;
They fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not topple.
They are upright, like a palm tree,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot go by themselves.
Do not be afraid of them,
For they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.”
Do NOT learn the way of the Gentiles…
At the end of Jeremiah 9, God pointed out that His people were like the uncircumcised nations in their lack of knowing God and their wicked conduct. Here is a plea to separate themselves from the foolish customs of the nations THAT WORSHIP TREES AND MAKE THEM INTO IDOLS, that do not know God.
Do not learn the way of the Gentiles…
"The verb learn (Hebrew tilmadu) may have overtones of 'becoming a disciple.' Hence one translation is, 'Do not be disciples of the religion of the nations.'"
Why did so easy a target as idolatry need so many attacks in the Old Testament? Jeremiah 10:9 suggests one reason: the appeal of the visually impressive; but perhaps verse 2 goes deeper, in pointing to the temptation to fall into step with the majority...TO NOT BE SET APART FROM THE WORLD.
Do NOT be dismayed at the signs of heaven…
Through the use of astrology, ancient people often discerned signs and warnings from the sky, seeing fearful things in the signs of heaven.
The signs of the heavens referred to are not the sun, moon, and stars, or signs of the zodiac, meant by God to be signs (Genesis 1:14), but unusual phenomenon like eclipses, comets, and meteors, which were supposed to portend extraordinary events.
For the customs of the people are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest they decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple…
Jeremiah described the pagan custom of cutting a tree, setting it in a special place, decorating it, and worshipping it. The worship of the tree is indicated by the warning, Do not be afraid of them, in the sense that one would give reverence to a pagan idol.
Jeremiah mocked the idolatry of Judah, especially as it imitated the idolatry of the surrounding nations. Similar passages mocking the idolatry of the heathen are found in Isaiah 40:18-20 and 44:9-20. Yet, it's difficult to read this description and condemnation of an ancient pagan custom and not immediately think of the custom of the Christmas tree as practiced in the modern Christian world.
If, based on a passage like this, a Christian would be convinced that they should not have a Christmas tree or even celebrate Christmas, then they should stand in that conviction. It is good to remember what Paul wrote: whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23).
Nevertheless, there are many reasons to believe that despite some similarities, the differences are even greater and do not prohibit the modern custom of the Christmas tree IF THE HEART AND PURPOSE IS TO CELEBRATE JESUS’ BIRTH AND NOT SANTA CLAUS.
Jeremiah spoke regarding the customs of the Gentiles, and in the modern world the appropriate celebration of Christmas is an expression of believe in God and His Son, NOT a custom of unbelievers.
Jeremiah spoke of believers borrowing customs of unbelievers; in the modern world, when an unbeliever has a Christmas tree, it is a case of unbelievers borrowing the customs of believers.
Jeremiah spoke of a tree regarded as an idol, and (properly understood) the modern Christmas tree is not an idol. If for a family it is or becomes an idol, it should be discarded with.
Jeremiah spoke to a time in history when trees were often directly connected with idolatry, either literal trees or their representations (Jeremiah 2:27). Chaldeans, Wiccans & other Earth religions believed & still do believe and worship the trees, the earth, rocks, rivers, and skies as their Gods. This is what Jeremiah is referring too.
Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good…
Jeremiah gently mocked the idolatrous worship of inanimate objects such as decorated trees. No particular reverence should be given to them; they are powerless to do anything, either good or evil.
The line in Jeremiah 10:5. They are upright, like a palm tree is also translated like a scarecrow in a cucumber field. The idol is worthless; "It is like an immobile and speechless scarecrow in a patch of cucumbers."
Verses 6-10 tells us The greatness of God over all idols.
“Inasmuch as there is none like You, O Lord
(You are great, and Your name is great in might),
Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
For this is Your rightful due.
For among all the wise men of the nations,
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish;
A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine.
Silver is beaten into plates;
It is brought from Tarshish,
And gold from uphaz,
The work of the craftsman
And of the hands of the metalsmith;
Blue and purple are their clothing;
They are all the work of skillful men.
But the Lord is the true God;
He is the living God and the everlasting King.
At His wrath the earth will tremble,
And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.”
Inasmuch as there is none like You, O Lord…
Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel is different than the inanimate idols men worship. The pagan gods are altogether dull-hearted, foolish, useless, and not real.
A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine…
As it did then, for lovers and followers of Almighyt God and Jesus Christ, I am saddened beyond belief that anyone would actually BLINDLY AND WILLING cling to, pray to, bow down, worship ANY man made thing. Do they not understand the very ACT of clutching, clinging to, praying for, bowing to, worshipping images of Mary, the dead prophets, the disciples, the apostles, a priest, a preacher, a pope, or anyone else is an ABOMINATION TO JESUS. Giving honor to anything or anyone above Almighty God’s precious Son is SACRILEGE, BLASPHEMOUS, AND AN ABOMINATION.
They are all the work of skillful men. But the Lord is the true God…
The inescapable contrast between Yahweh and the idols of the nations is that they are the work of men's hands; He is the Creator of those very hands.
Men make idols...NOT ALMIGHTY GOD.
ALMIGHTY GOD makes men."
AND WE KNOW FROM PREVIOUS STUDIES...As for the idols, they spared no expense in decorating them; blue and purple are their clothing: These were the most precious dyes; very rare, and of high price.
At His wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to endure His indignation…
The gods of the nations were nothing; the projections of the corrupt imaginations of men. Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, is the God who exists, intervenes, and brings judgment.
Verses 11-16 tells us The glory of the Creator God.
“Thus you shall say to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.
He has made the earth by His power,
He has established the world by His wisdom,
And has stretched out the heavens at His discretion.
When He utters His voice,
There is a multitude of waters in the heavens:
And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
He brings the wind out of His treasuries.
Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge;
Every metalsmith is put to shame by an image;
For his molded image is falsehood,
And there is no breath in them.
They are futile, a work of errors;
In the time of their punishment they shall perish.
The Portion of Jacob is not like them,
For He is the Maker of all things,
And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
The Lord of hosts is His name.”
The gods that have NOT made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth…
In the contrast between Yahweh and the idols, Yahweh pronounced the doom of the pagan gods.
Jeremiah 10:11 may have been a popular anti-idolatry proverb or saying of that time, quoted in Aramaic.
INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH...DID YOU KNOW...
It is the ONLY verse in Jeremiah in Aramaic, a language quite similar to Hebrew, and the chosen language of Jesus Christ.
He has made the earth by His power…
In contrast to the pagan gods, Yahweh is a living, active God who made the earth and established the world, and who stretched out the heavens.
The prophet Jeremiah’s final word on idols given to him by God is that they are not only worthless, but also a work of mockery, worthy only of being ridiculed.
Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge…
Jeremiah spoke to the FOOLISH conduct of those who make and worship idols. Many of the idols recovered by archaeology are not even beautiful; surely they are futile, a work of errors.
The Portion of Jacob is not like them…
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Yahweh is different than the idols worshipped among the Gentiles. He is the Maker, He has chosen Israel as the tribe of His inheritance, and He is the God of heavenly armies (The Lord of hosts is His name).
The Portion of Jacob…
The idea is that in some sense, Yahweh belonged to the people of Israel. "A man's 'portion' referred to some possession that belonged to him."
Verses 17-18 tells us A warning to hurriedly flee from the invaders.
“Gather up your wares from the land,
O inhabitant of the fortress!
For thus says the Lord:
Behold, I will throw out at this time
The inhabitants of the land,
And will distress them,
That they may find it so.”
Gather up your wares from the land…
Jeremiah prophetically saw the invading army of the Babylonians, coming as an instrument of God's judgment. He warned the people of the land to quickly prepare.
I will throw out at this time the inhabitants of the land…
Despite whatever hurried preparations they might make, none would be able to stand before the judgment of God against Judah. They would be cast out of the land.
I will throw out is a vivid phrase; it literally means to slingshot out. God will cast Judah out of the land that fast, that hard, and that far. "I will easily and speedily sling them, and sling them into Babylon; so God will one day hurl into hell all the wicked of the earth.
AND DID YOU KNOW…
As it turned out, following Nebuchadnezzar's second invasion in 587 b.c. destruction was widespread. Modern archaeological investing has shown a uniform picture. Many towns were destroyed at the beginning of the sixth century b.c. and never again occupied. There is no known case of a town in Judah proper which was continuously occupied through the exilic period.
Verses 19-20 tells us Jeremiah’s prayer. A prayer in the voice of those under the Babylonian invasion.
“Woe is me for my hurt!
My wound is severe.
But I say, Truly this is an infirmity,
And I must bear it.
My tent is plundered,
And all my cords are broken;
My children have gone from me,
And they are no more.
There is no one to pitch my tent anymore,
Or set up my curtains.”
Woe is me for my hurt! My wound is severe…
Jeremiah prayed in the voice of someone enduring the Babylonian invasion to come. The prayer is filled with pain and distress.
My tent is plundered my cords are broken. My children have gone from me, and they are no more…
Jeremiah captures the despair, shock, and loneliness of those who would endure the severe season of judgment.
Verses 21-22 tells us The trouble that comes from dull-hearted shepherds.
“For the shepherds have become dull-hearted,
And have not sought the Lord;
Therefore they shall not prosper,
And all their flocks shall be scattered.
Behold, the noise of the report has come,
And a great commotion out of the north country,
To make the cities of Judah desolate, a den of jackals.”
For the shepherds have become dull-hearted, and have not sought the Lord…
In thinking of the despair of Judah under the Babylonian invasion, Jeremiah also considered a significant part of the cause. The leaders of Judah - both spiritual and political - did not seek the Lord.
THIS IS A CLEAR WARNING FROM THE LORD TO HOW HE FEELS ABOUT corrupt prophets and priests and political leaders who seduced the people from the truth, were persons that made no conscience of prayer; hence all went to wrack and ruin.
Therefore they shall not prosper, and their flocks shall be scattered…
The unfaithfulness of the shepherds meant trouble for them, and for the people they were supposed to faithfully lead. No one would benefit from their dull-hearted, detached from the Lord leadership.
MEYER says it well, "We must avoid generalizing too widely, but on the whole, it is incontestable that a dwindling flock and waning cause point to prayerlessness perhaps on the part of the members, but almost certainly on the part of the shepherd himself."
Verses 23-25 tells us A humble plea to God for recompense to the invading army.
“O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
O Lord, correct me, but with justice;
Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.
Pour out Your fury on the Gentiles, who do not know You,
And on the families who do not call on Your name;
For they have eaten up Jacob,
Devoured him and consumed him,
And made his dwelling place desolate.”
O Lord, I know the way of man in not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps…
As Jeremiah considered the great judgment to come upon Judah through the Babylonian army, he also considered that God sent them. The Babylonians did not think of this apart from God; He would direct their steps.
Morgan also connects this with the prior discussion of idolatry. "The idols which men make are always man's attempts to project, from their own inner consciousness, gods to whom they can yield obedience; or in other words, the making of idols is an attempt on the part of man to direct his own steps.
SPURGEON says it well, "This was Jeremiahs consolation, 'I do not know what Nebuchadnezzer 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 Gods 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.'
O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing…
Know that the great judgment to come was directed by God, Jeremiah appealed to God for mercy. He knew that Judah must be corrected, but asked for God to show mercy and to not destroy His people.
Pour out Your fury on the Gentiles, who do not know You…
When Jeremiah considered that God would use the Babylonians as the instrument of His correction against Judah, he asked God to also judge them.
SPURGEON wisely adds, "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."
AND DID YOU KNOW...JEREMIAH’S PRAYER WAS ANSWERED.
"This was fulfilled in the Chaldeans. Nebuchadnezzar was punished with madness, his son was slain in his revels, and the city was taken and sacked by Cyrus; and the Babylonish empire was finally destroyed!"
JOHN MACARTHUR says, Of the book of Jeremiah, we learn THREE things about God and the PROMISES from Him in our calling from Him.
FIRST: Divine Preparation by God.
Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born I consecrated you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations."
God says Jeremiah, long before you were ever conceived, long before you were ever woven as the psalmist calls it in your mother's womb, long before you were ever born, I had decided that you were to be My prophet for a unique place, a unique time.
In other words, you have been prepared by Me. That's a divine preparation. God gives in these very brief words the biography of Jeremiah. In fact I believe it's eleven short Hebrew words. But it's a life history. And it extends from eternity past to the time of Jeremiah's proclamation to the nations. He is a man called by God from before he was ever conceived to a divine mandate. That's a compelling thing. That's a driving force in the life of one who belongs to God. To know that long before we were ever born we were set for a certain purpose. That sense of mission is an overpowering and compelling thing.
When men face a crisis inevitably they come up with a program. When God faces a crisis, he starts with a baby. Always. When God wants to deal with a crisis it is a man he calls. Unique and chosen and prepared and gifted. All in His sovereignty.
That extends to ALL OF US WHO LOVE JESUS CHRIST. For you were predestined in Christ BEFORE the world began. You were chosen in Him from BEFORE the foundations of it. Your name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life BEFORE ever the world was spun into space.
God not only designed that you should belong to him but designed that the Spirit of God would redeem you and gift you to serve within the framework of the kingdom in a unique way that NO ONE ELSE could match.
Every believer in the Kingdom of God is under divine mandate to fulfill a task, an obligation, a ministry. We were created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk even in them.
And yet it's so tragic most people in the church have no sense of divine mission. Have absolutely no sense of mandate. It's as if all of life was a smorgasbord from which they could choose whatever they wanted.
There are no compelling things. No compunctions. It doesn't make much difference whether you go to church or play golf. I mean it really doesn't matter. That's your choice.
There is NO sense of compelling. There is NO overwhelming sense of mission. And we become so busy with creature comforts and so busy with fitting into the current fashion of the world that that sense of mandate just is NOT there.
God help us to get the sense of mission. I was thinking about it this week. I don't know if you SHARED JESUS with an unsaved friend or unsaved family member. Perhaps you did. Perhaps you didn't. Perhaps it NEVER even entered your mind to do that. If you name the name of Christ and ask yourself if you're compelled in your service to God. Do you know what your spiritual gift is? Are you using that gift? Are you compelled to use it? Do you feel burdened in your heart and a sense of some shame if you are not using it? Are you left with a bit of guilt because you don't do what you really believe in your heart you ought to do and what God's Word says to do?
Jeremiah wasn't the only person who was to be a witness to the nations. The whole of his nation were to be witnessing to the nations. But they weren't doing that and Jeremiah stood out as absolutely unique.
You who have been chosen by God to be separated.
You who have been chosen by God to be unique.
You who have been chosen by God to be pure.
You who have been chosen by God to confront the paganism of the nations around you. Why do you choose the world and all that it offers instead of God?
Because you have no sense of mission. You have no sense of mandate. You have no sense of separation. You fail to be separate.
It's my conviction in the day in which we live that the church has lost its separateness. The church has become "the world". We're so engulfed in it. We're so up to our ears in materialism and creature comfort and scheduling our life around the things we want to do rather than the things God wants us to do. Christianity has become sort of a sick subculture in many ways. With people more concerned about their own feelings than they are about the mission.
SECONDLY: GOD promises Divine provision.
Jeremiah admits that. He says, "Alas, Lord God. But I do not know how to speak because I am a youth." As best we can reconstruct he was probably about 30 years of age, the age of our Lord when he began his ministry. And there's a lot of anguish here. Alas, Lord God. It is very much like woe is me in Isaiah 6. I'm not adequate. And Jeremiah shutters at the thought of such a task as being prophet to the nations, doing what the people of God failed to do. I cannot! I'm unqualified! I am a child! Does that sound familiar? Moses said it. Gideon said it. And Isaiah said it. I can't do it!
We can ALL understand that feeling of being fearful and inadequate. But notice the response of God.
Jeremiah 1:7-8, "But the Lord said to me, 'Do not say I am a youth because everywhere I send you you shall go.'"
In other words, I'm gonna make your way prosperous. You're gonna start and I'm gonna make sure you finish. "And all that I command you, you will speak." You're not gonna be without words. "Do not be afraid of them for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord." That's the very same promise the Lord Jesus gave with the command called the great commission. "And, lo, I am with you always." You're not going alone. That's the divine provision.
And I want you to notice. He says I'm young and I'm unskilled. I'm unprepared. I don't know what I'm gonna say. Know this, our success is NOT dependent on our voice. It's NOT dependent on our looks. It's NOT dependent on out experience. It's NOT dependent on our abilities. It's NOT dependent on our homiletic cleverness. Our success is dependent on the passion of our heart. And THE PASSION FOR JESUS AND HIS WORD in our heart will ride right over the top of all of our own personal inadequacies.
And God adds a promise, "They will fight against you but they will not overcome you for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord." What a wonderful promise. A promise of provision.
REMEMBER God said to Abraham, "Fear not." God said to Moses, "Fear not." God said to Daniel, "Fear not." God said to Mary, "Fear not." God said to Peter, "Fear not." God said to Paul, Acts 27:24, "Fear not." And that's essentially what he's saying to Jeremiah. Because everyone who is to stand in a unique place of service to God has a very natural fear. Paralyzing human emotions of inadequacy. And the promise of God comes I'll be there.
NOW THE THIRD: GOD’S DIVINE POWER
Jeremiah 1:9-10, "Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said to me, 'Behold I have put My words in your mouth.'" See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
I have set you - that literally means in a position of supervising. Since I am the ruler of the universe, you're my vice ruler. You're in charge. It's amazing. God picks out a little young man, very obscure, 30 years of age, from a tiny little country and says, "I set you over the whole earth." Why? Because you speak My Words. That's the issue. That's the mandate. To recognize that if we're called to confront it with the Word of the Living God.
And what is it of the Word of God that we speak? What do we say to this generation? What do we give them? Well, if we listen to the people out there in this PC World, we're supposed to give them a little bit of self-esteem and we're supposed to soft soap and skirt issues and try to be popular and make them feel good and give them a lot of sensation and some sentimentality. But what did Jeremiah give them? What are they to hear from us?
Jeremiah 14:7, "Although our iniquities testify against us, oh Lord act for Thy name's sake. Truly our apostasies have been many. We have sinned against thee."
That's the message. The message is to confront sin.
Jeremiah 17:9. "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately wicked."
We are to confront a dying nation with its sin. The message needed today is not a message of self-esteem. It's not a message of sentimentality. It's not a message of psychological self-help. It's not a message of positive thinking. It is a message of sin. Of two TRUE choices: salvation grace in Jesus alone or eternal damnation.
The society in which we live needs to be blatantly indicted for its false religion. That's the SECOND sin that Jeremiah is concerned about that I would mention to you. False religion. The people have drifted away from a covenant of God into idolatry.
False religion is a deceitful religion. A religion that says oh, yes God. We worship you. We worship you. We worship you. But the heart is after false gods. Sounds so familiar to me. The false gods of our society. The false religions of our society are myriad. Everything from the worship of self, materialism, the earth, animals, spiritualism, universalism clear to the false religious systems created by man, not God, that are highly defined and high in profile of rites, rituals, idol worship, and far preferred over The Lord and His Word.
One of the major sins I believe of the death of our own nation is the proliferation of false Christianity, the proliferation of liberalism, cults, self-worship, atheistic humanism, replacement theology, word of faith doctrines, universalism, progressive Christianity, we are all God’s children, we are all going to heaven, and false evangelicalism. ALL of them parading and proclaiming everywhere as THE TRUTH. False religion is not anything new. But it inevitably dominates a nation headed for judgment, then and now.
The Lord God calls the false prophets, priests, preachers, goddesses, imams, apostles, and teachers of any of the above USELESS windbags that means they are NOTHING but hot air. They preach a lot of platitudes and a lot of sermonettes for Christianettes. And a lot of possibility thinking and a lot of other stuff. Psychology and whatever. They give their own ideas. They consider them more important than the Word of God. No respect for truth. Where is the teaching and proclamation of the Word? The delusion is so pervasive in that land of Israel and of Judah then, and around the world today, the delusion is so pervasive that even the prophets are deluded.
Why?
They forsook the only source of water, the one who gave the living water, Jesus Christ. The one who is the fountain of life, the Living God. The second thing they hewed for themselves cisterns or wells, broken cisterns that can hold no water. They hold dirt, dust, dead animals, debris. No water. Man endeavoring to work out his own salvation by his own self-styled religion leaves the clear, fresh water of God for empty, broken wells.
The people in Jeremiah’s day did not have easy access to and could not majorly afford Old Testament scrolls...so they DEPENDED on the priests to READ them the truth, teach them the truth, TELL them the truth.
People today do NOT have that excuse. We do NOT have to DEPEND ON any person to tell us what The Lord, what The Bible says.
People today have easy access to the Bible. Even if you are in the far reaches of the world you have cell phones, radios, internet & satellite connections. And free apps to see, hear, and read The Bible. If the Old English KJV is hard to read and understand, you have the NKJV, NASB Bible that are easier to read, translated into almost every language under heaven and stay true and accurate to The Lord’s word.
I have said it before, there are 10,000 of gods in this world, then and now. The Lord Jesus reads our hearts. The Lord KNOWS if we are His or not, but that is not the point. Many say God bless you and most who hear that are not bothered by that at all.
Why?
Many fals