There is none like unto thee, Jehovah; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
Jeremiah 10 warns Israel not to copy the religion of the nations around them, with their idols that are dead and cannot speak. Verse 6 is the prophet's answer: he turns from those idols to the God who has no equal.
Verse 6 opens a section that runs to verse 18. One writer sums up its whole argument:
Verses 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 endure His indignation. He made the earth by His power; He established the world by wisdom; He stretched out the heavens by His understanding. But what is man? Brutish in his knowledge.
Verse 6 is a comparison, and the two sides could not be further apart:
The prophet exalts the Lord in His divine eminence. He sets His marvellous might and majesty against the poor helplessness of these dead and speechless idols, and says, "There is none like you, O LORD"… Again, "The Lord is the God of Truth, He is the Living God, and the King of Eternity" (v. 10).
If God has no equal, fear belongs to Him alone. One writer draws that out, along with a title that marks out this book:
Their idols are nothing; the only one to fear is God Himself. And here you notice more. Jeremiah was a prophet to the nations, and the Lord Himself carries the title "King of nations" — another feature peculiar to the Book of Jeremiah. The nations have their place on a broad scale in this prophecy. I may note here that this is the true sense in Revelation 15:3. There "King of saints" ought to read "King of nations."
How does such greatness show itself? In what happens to kings and empires:
Jeremiah shows us that the Lord is the true Ruler. Above all earthly kings, He is "the King of Eternity" and "the King of nations" (Jer. 10:7-10). "Who would not fear You?" asks the prophet. "At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation." … And this overturning of kings and nations and empires has gone on, and will go on. It will last until He comes and establishes justice and fairness in the earth. Then He will reign as universal Emperor — the Prince of the kings of the earth, the King of kings, the Lord of lords.
The same title became a question in a time of war:
The whole world is ablaze as these lines are being written. But has God ceased to care for His creatures? Is He not still the "King of nations"? (Jer. 10:7). Does He not now, as always, "do according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth"? (Dan. 4:35). His hand has gone out against the guilty nations of every continent because they have ignored His word, and because of their growing contempt for everything divine.
That verse in Revelation sits inside a song, and the names it uses show who is in view:
The song celebrated God's works and ways in judgment. The names used for Him are not the ones that show His special relationship to the church. They are the names that relate to Israel and the nations — the Jehovah, Elohim, Shaddai, of the Old Testament. There is a strong resemblance here to Jeremiah 10:6-7, where prophecy announces the wrath of God against the nations. The King of nations will subdue all nations in His wrath, and vindicate and glorify His elect.
- Nothing. The chapter first empties the rivals: "idols are nothing, but the Lord God of Israel is all."
- None. Against that background, "none like you" is fact, not flattery. God stands alone as the living God, the God of truth, the Creator.
- Name. His name is "great in might," so fear belongs to Him and not to the idols.
- Nations. The title "King of nations" marks Jeremiah's book. It reaches past Israel to every empire God overturns, until He reigns as King of kings.
- Never silenced. Jeremiah's words return in the song of Revelation 15, where God is still praised as King of nations.
Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? For to thee doth it appertain; for among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.
Jeremiah 10 puts the handmade gods of the nations next to the God of Israel. Verse 7 answers that contrast with a question, and a claim: no wise man or kingdom on earth comes close to God.
The chapter first describes the gods people make with their own hands. Against that background the prophet turns to speak to the living God.
The prophet exalts the Lord in His divine greatness. He sets His marvellous might and majesty against the pitiful helplessness of these dead and dumb idols. So he says, "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 nations?" (v. 6).
The verse says this fear is His due. It belongs to Him alone, because the rival gods are not there at all.
Their idols are nothing; the only one to fear is God Himself. And notice here: Jeremiah was not only a prophet to the nations. The Lord Himself also bears the title "King of nations" — another feature that marks out the Book of Jeremiah. The nations have their place on a broad scale in this prophecy.
The title reaches past Israel's borders. Earthly kings rise and fall, and the whole history of empires runs under Him.
Jeremiah shows us that the Lord is the true Potentate. Above all earthly kings, He is "the King of Eternity" and "the King of nations" (Jer. 10:7-10). "Who would not fear You?" asks the prophet. "At His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to endure His indignation."… And this overturning of kings and nations and empires has gone on, and will go on. It will continue until He comes and establishes justice and fairness in the earth. Then He reigns as universal Emperor — the Prince of the kings of the earth, the king of kings, the Lord of lords.
The verse does not stop at power. It searches the wise men of the nations and all their kingdoms, and finds no equal there either. The verses that follow press the same charge against human knowledge.
He is the King of Nations, who rules over all. He is the true God, the living God, the everlasting King. He made the earth by His power. He established the world by wisdom. He stretched out the heavens by His understanding. But what is man? Stupid in his knowledge.
The skill behind the idols was organised and impressive. It was doomed all the same.
The wise men with their teaching of empty things, and the workmen with their skilful arts in silver and gold and wood, may work together with Chaldean scholarship to hold the nations by idolatry. But they are all the works of error. Therefore, "they shall perish" (Jer. 10:15). The God of truth shall triumph over this falsehood!
Jeremiah's words return in the song of Revelation 15:3. That raises a question: whom is He King over there?
The allusion is to Jeremiah 10:7. There all may find "king of nations," along with other words quoted here… To the saints the Lord Jesus stands as their Lord and Master. But "King" describes a relationship with a nation living on the earth… Those in particular who were Gentiles themselves would and ought to rejoice in praising Him as King of nations, as the Jewish prophet fully recognised long ago.
Another writer states the reading plainly, and says what this King will do with the nations.
The correct reading here is clearly "King of nations," and not "King of saints." There is a strong likeness here to Jeremiah 10:6-7, where the prophet announces the wrath of God against the nations. The King of nations will subdue all nations in His wrath, and vindicate and glorify His elect.
- Nothing — the idols are dead and dumb, and count for nothing; so fear has only one rightful object.
- None like You — the wise men of the nations and all their kingdoms produce no equal; He stands in a class of His own.
- King of nations — a title that stands out in Jeremiah, reaching far beyond Israel to every throne on earth.
- Not King of saints — "King" describes a relationship with a nation on earth; to His own the Lord Jesus is Lord and Master.
- Sung at the end — Revelation 15:3 takes up this verse: the King of nations subdues them all and vindicates His own.
But they are one and all senseless and foolish; the teaching of vanities is a stock.
Jeremiah is mocking a factory. He has just described workmen making a god with axe and hammer, then covering it with silver. Now he gives his verdict on the object and on the people who look to it for guidance.
Older translations use a different word for the first charge here: "brutish." It pictures a man dropping to the level of an animal. A Bible dictionary lists this among the symbolic uses of the word for "beast":
the ignorance of man (Psalm 73:22), and his acting like a creature without reason — that is, without conscience before God. The word is beir, translated "brutish" in Psalm 94:8; Jeremiah 10:8, 14, 21; Jeremiah 51:17.
The same word comes back twice more in this chapter, and again in Jeremiah 51.
The verse does not only say the idol is wooden. It says the instruction is wooden. The lesson these gods give is no better than the timber they are cut from. One writer runs through what the prophet exposes:
With axe and hammer they make their gods! They cannot speak! They have to be carried, for they cannot go themselves! Silver and gold and blue and purple may cover them, but they are just blocks of wood! There is no breath in them! The "wise men" who teach their doctrines are foolish. So the prophet exposes the utter emptiness of idolatry.
Behind the images stood an educated class with a whole body of teaching to defend them. Jeremiah announces the end of that whole system, and he does it in the Chaldeans' own language:
The wise men with their doctrine of empty things, and the workmen with their skilled arts in silver and gold and wood, may work together with Chaldean scholarship to hold the nations by idolatry. But they are all works of error, and so "they shall perish." The God of truth will triumph over this falsehood! This chapter declares the greatness of His glorious Name. And in verse 11 the Spirit records that these false gods will utterly perish — in the Chaldean language! It is the only verse so written in the whole book.
Why does the prophet call the idolater stupid and not just mistaken? Because a lifeless teacher makes lifeless pupils. One writer traces the effect on the worshipper:
What can these senseless deities do but degrade the men who bow before them into beings as senseless? And this is the just penalty on those who can forsake God to follow what are plainly their own inventions.
Another writer adds God's side of it, quoting an older saying:
It is only just on God's part that those who lack grace should lack sense too. And it is the work of superstition to turn men into the wood and stone they worship.
The verse sits inside a comparison. What Jeremiah takes from the idol he gives back to God, and he shows where fear belongs:
Their idols are nothing. The only one to fear is God Himself. And notice here that Jeremiah was not only a prophet to the nations. The Lord Himself is called "King of nations" — another feature peculiar to the book of Jeremiah.
The charge is not limited to people with statues. One writer argues that dropping the image does not end the practice:
Here and there a stronger intellect does see such folly and despise it. But that only makes him an unbeliever who denies God altogether. He is still an idolater. He does not fall down before a carved image, but he does bow to his own intellect, and he is just as much the slave of sin.
- Wood. The idol's teaching matches the idol: a doctrine of empty things, dressed up by skilled workmen and clever scholars.
- Brutish. The word behind "stupid" means acting like a creature without reason. It describes a man who is ignorant of God and has no conscience before Him.
- Downward. Senseless gods drag their worshippers down to their own level. Superstition turns men into the wood and stone they bow to.
- Doomed. All of it is the work of error and will perish. God recorded that verdict in the Chaldeans' own language.
- Contrast. Strip the idols of everything and one Person remains: the God of truth, King of nations, the only one to fear.
Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artizan and of the hands of the founder; blue and purple is their clothing they are all the work of skilful [men].
The verse reads like an invoice: silver from Tarshish, gold from Uphaz, then the bill for the workmen and the dyed cloth. Jeremiah lists the cost of an idol on purpose, and the list itself is the argument.
The two place names are trade names. Tarshish stood at the far end of a sea route, known for the metals its ships carried:
A place ships sailed to from Palestine. Some think it refers to a Spanish city called Tartessus. That would be a suitable place to get silver, iron, tin, and lead.
Uphaz is harder to place on a map, and the writers do not pretend otherwise:
Some place that gold came from. Jer. 10:9; Dan. 10:5; some ancient versions take it to be the same as OPHIR.
So the god has a supply chain. Someone must import it, shape it and clothe it before anyone can worship it.
The expensive materials are only a covering. What is underneath never changes:
With axe and hammer they make their gods! They cannot speak! They have to be carried! For they cannot go themselves! Silver and gold and blue and purple may cover them, but they are just blocks of wood! There is no breath in them!
(Older translations read "blue" where the ESV has "violet".)
The choice of the most expensive materials is not accidental. Idolatry runs on what a person already treasures:
"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands," says the psalmist (Ps. 115:4). "Their land also is full of silver and gold … their land also is full of idols," says the prophet (Isa. 2:7-8). Whatever man considers most precious, whatever his heart craves, whatever serves his own glory — that he makes into a god. This is the root of idolatry. In lifting up his idol, man displaces God and exalts himself.
The verse credits real expertise — craftsman, goldsmith, skilled men. Jeremiah admits the skill and still writes off the whole trade — teachers and workmen alike:
The wise men teach vanities. The workmen use their skilled arts in silver and gold and wood. Together with Chaldean scholarship they may labour to hold the nations by idolatry. But they are all the works of error; therefore, "they shall perish" (Jer. 10:15). The God of truth will triumph over this falsehood! … The fact that these false gods will perish completely is recorded by the Spirit in verse 11, in the Chaldean language! … It is the only verse so written in the whole book. The idolatrous Chaldeans were to take Israel captive, but in their very language God records the complete overthrow of their false gods.
The Lord needs no shipping, no forging and no dressing. He is the only one to fear, and this book gives Him a title of its own:
Their idols are nothing; the only one to fear is God Himself. And notice this. Jeremiah was not only a prophet to the nations; the Lord Himself is called "King of nations." That title is another feature special to the Book of Jeremiah.
Nobody today ships silver from Tarshish. The principle survives the change of materials:
How sad, to find in our home things which do not please God. … "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." (1 John 5:21). Besides the idols of gold, silver, wood, stone or paper, there may be idols inside our hearts. They may be money or knowledge, or the idols of drinking, eating, and pleasures — anything that takes the place of God in our eyes. God wants us always to put Him first.
- Imported. The silver came by ship from Tarshish, a source of silver, iron, tin and lead. The gold came from Uphaz, which old versions link with Ophir. A god that needs delivering is no god.
- Made. Axe and hammer produce it; craftsmen and goldsmiths finish it. Every stage is human work, and human work cannot put breath into what it makes.
- Dressed. Silver, gold, blue and purple cover the thing, and the covering is all there is. Men make a god out of whatever they value most. That displaces God and exalts man.
- Doomed. Scholars and skilled workers labour together. The verdict on their work is that it is error and will perish. God records that verdict in the language of the empire that lived by it.
- Answered. Against the workshop stands the King of nations. He is not made and not carried, and He alone is worth fearing. A heart that keeps a substitute for Him has only changed the materials.
But Jehovah Elohim is truth; he is the living God, and the King of eternity. At his wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations cannot abide his indignation.
Jeremiah 10 sets two things side by side: gods that people make and carry, and the God who made everything. Verse 10 answers with three titles — true, living, everlasting King — and each one names something no idol can be.
Jeremiah speaks to the nations, not only to Israel. One writer notes that God carries a title to match, and that it leaves the idols with nothing:
Their idols are nothing; the only one to fear is God Himself. And notice here that Jeremiah was not only a prophet to the nations. The Lord Himself is called "King of nations." That is another distinctive feature of the Book of Jeremiah. This is also the true idea in Revelation 15:3, where "King of saints" ought to read "King of nations."
The idols in this chapter are not rivals to God. They are objects that need people to make them and move them:
With axe and hammer they make their gods! They cannot speak! They have to be carried, because they cannot walk! Silver and gold and blue and purple may cover them, but they are only blocks of wood! There is no breath in them! ... So the prophet exposes how empty and worthless idolatry is. The nations compete in clever, skilful arts to make these worthless things.
Israel used this title to mark their God off from every rival. It also makes a claim about number:
That speaks of one, and only one, Divine Being. There are not two living Gods. Their fathers had understood what this title meant. It marked out their God, the Lord Jehovah, as completely different from the idols of the surrounding nations. Those idols had no life... The Thessalonian believers had turned to Him from idols, to serve Him, the living and true God (1 Thess. 1:9). He was the desire of God's people in earlier days too, as the psalmist puts it: "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (Psalm 42:2). Nothing short of being in the presence of the true God, who is the living God, could satisfy the psalmist. Idols could not satisfy him.
Commentators differ over how to translate the titles. Some read "the true God," others "the God of truth" and "the King of Eternity":
Just before this, God tells Israel not to learn the way of these idol-worshipping nations. Their wise men, every one of them, were senseless and foolish. But the LORD is the God of truth; He is the living God, the King of Eternity. The next verse credits creation to Him. Idols and false gods must perish before Him.
This title outranks every throne in the book. One writer follows it through Jeremiah's later chapters:
Jeremiah shows us that the Lord is the true Ruler. Above all earthly kings, He is "the King of Eternity" and "the King of nations" (Jer. 10:7-10)... In chapter 46, God punishes Pharaoh-necho, King of Egypt, according to the word of "the King whose name is the Lord of Hosts." He does it through the King of Babylon, who also carries Israel into captivity. Yet Babylon's punishment must surely follow, and Israel must go free again. This overturning of kings and nations and empires has gone on, and will go on, until He comes and establishes justice and fairness in the earth, and reigns as Emperor over the whole world.
The last line of the verse is not stuck in the past. One writer hears the same wrath in Revelation 15:3:
There is a strong resemblance here to Jeremiah 10:6-7, where the prophet announces the wrath of God against the nations. The King of nations will subdue all nations in His wrath, and will vindicate and glorify His chosen people.
Christ takes this title for Himself, and one writer draws the two together:
"The Living One" is the next divine title (Rev. 1:18). He was, is, and ever shall be the source of life. He is the Living One, and He does not depend on any creature for it. When the Lord became man, that did not start His life; it showed the life that already existed (1 John 1:2). "The Living One was the title the Hebrews used above all others to distinguish the true God from all false ones." ... What the Old and New Testament Scriptures say of God (Jer. 10:10; 1 Tim. 3:15) is just as true of Christ.
- Contrast — The verse stands against the idols beside it: gods that people make and carry, and the God whose anger makes the earth shake.
- Living — This title set Israel's God apart from every rival. There is only one living God. No idol has life, and no idol satisfies the heart.
- True — Some translate the phrase "the true God," others "the God of truth." Either way, the gods people make are false.
- Everlasting — He outlasts every throne. Egypt and Babylon both fell under His word, and He goes on overturning kingdoms until He reigns over the whole world.
- Christ — Christ holds the same title, the Living One. He is the source of life, and He depends on no creature for it.
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 the middle of this Hebrew chapter, one verse is written in the language of Babylon. It sentences every god who did not make the world to vanish — so why did God switch languages for a single sentence?
The rest of the chapter runs in Hebrew. This one verse was written for other people to read:
We may observe that Jeremiah 10:11 contains a message to the heathen written in their own language — the Aramean or Syriac.
Why that language? Chaldee was Babylon's tongue, and one writer traces God's purpose in choosing it:
Before the Jews had dropped pure Hebrew, God chose Chaldee. By it He could better make known to the nations what they needed to know. He first used it in Jeremiah 10:11, for the message He sent to the Gentiles. Later it carried God's messages to Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar… God would teach the Gentiles this: they had triumphed over the kingdom of Judah, but they had not triumphed over Jehovah. Their gods had not given them the victory. He, and He alone, was the true God, the God of heaven.
Its first readers were heading into exile in Babylon. The verse reached them in the language they would soon hear all around them:
Note it carefully — it tells us that the gods of Babylon shall perish. The very strength of the Chaldean system was to be destroyed… Here God steps outside His usual rule to impress the reader and make him think. There are many such instances in the Scriptures of Truth… The people of the true God were about to go into captivity in the land of Chaldea. This verse, in the language of their captors, would strengthen the faithful in the middle of Babylon's religious corruption. It would also demand the attention of men like Cyrus and others after him, whom God used to overthrow the idols of Chaldea.
Babylon looked like the victor. The verse says the opposite, and says it where Babylon could read it:
The wise men with their doctrine of empty things, and the workmen with their clever skill in silver and gold and wood, may work together with Chaldean scholarship to hold the nations by idolatry. But they are all works of error. Therefore "they shall perish"… The God of truth shall triumph over this falsehood! It is the only verse in the whole book written that way. The idolatrous Chaldeans were about to take Israel captive; but in their very language God records the complete overthrow of their false gods.
The verse does not ask which god is stronger. It asks who did the making — and an idol is something people make:
With axe and hammer they make their gods! They cannot speak! They have to be carried, for they cannot walk! Silver and gold and blue and purple may cover them, but they are just blocks of wood! There is no breath in them! The "wise men" who teach their doctrines are foolish. So the prophet exposes the utter emptiness of idolatry. The nations compete in curious and clever skills to form these empty things. But "the Portion of Jacob is not like them; for He is the Former of all things," the prophet cries out with joy.
The same test exposes gods everywhere, not only Babylon's. Notice what even their own teachers never claimed:
Here is the remarkable fact. None of the quarrelling leaders of religion or philosophy claimed that their gods — home, foreign or unknown — had made the world and everything in it. They did not credit that wonderful work to any one god that came near to being supreme. Nor did they credit it to all the gods working together, each in its own sphere, towards that common end. So far, they told the truth without knowing it. The demons had nothing to do with making the world, or with any one of the things in it. The true God, whom they did not know, made them all.
- Reach. God spoke this one sentence in the language of the nations, so the Gentiles could read the message He sent them.
- Steadying. In their captors' own language, the verse held the faithful firm while Babylon's idolatry surrounded them.
- Test. The dividing line is making. Idols are hammered out of wood and carried about; the Portion of Jacob is the Former of all things.
- Silence. No teacher of religion or philosophy ever claimed his gods made the world. So far, they told the truth without knowing it.
- Result. Babylon's whole system — wise men, craftsmen and scholarship — is a work of error. It perishes, and the God of truth triumphs.
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
Jeremiah has just described gods that are cut from a forest, nailed down so they won't topple, and carried because they cannot walk — and then, in one line, he names the God who made everything those craftsmen work with. The question the chapter forces is simple: which "god" made which?
The verse does not stand alone. It is the counter-punch in a contrast that runs through the whole chapter.
In Jeremiah 10 the idols and the vanities of the nations are put in contrast with Jehovah.
The people being addressed were tempted to copy the nations around them, including their dread of eclipses and comets. The reply is that these things are His work.
Their idols are nothing; the only one to fear is God Himself. And notice this. Jeremiah was not only a prophet to the nations; the Lord Himself is called "King of nations." That is another feature found only in the Book of Jeremiah.
Three things in God went into making the world: power, wisdom, understanding. The chapter then measures man's knowledge against them.
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 will not be able to endure His indignation. He made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom; He stretched out the heavens by His understanding. But what is man? Stupid in his knowledge.
God's understanding shaped the world, so the world will always hold more than people have found out. One writer finds an example in the next verse, which links lightning and rain.
He is the Creator. His power, wisdom and understanding worked in creating and establishing the earth and the heavens (v. 12)… And just here the Spirit records a scientific fact, made known over 2500 years ago: "He makes lightnings for the rain" (v. 13). Scientists have only recently discovered this relation of lightning and rain. Like many other discoveries, it was stated in a few words in the Scriptures of Truth ages ago. God is the Creator and Former of all things. He has hidden vast riches in the created universe that no one has discovered yet. There are far greater riches still in the new creation, and true believers through grace form part of it in Christ… It is the same blessed God who has graciously worked this out, the same God whom Jeremiah rejoices to exalt. He was known then as "Jehovah"; He is known to us now as "Father," in a relationship of love and eternal life that cannot be broken.
These same words come back later in the book, in the message against Babylon. The answer to Judah's idols is the answer to Babylon too.
This is followed by a noble testimony to God, in contrast with idols and those who worship them… This differs from Jeremiah 10:12-16 only in leaving out Israel in the last verse.
This verse comes right after a word about idols. One writer reads that order as pointing to an outcome, not just to an argument won.
In the following verse creation is ascribed to Him. Idols and false gods must perish before Him… The glory of the God of Israel must yet cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. This will come through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died and rose again to bring it to pass. He will return to Israel and establish the pleasure of the Lord in the earth. Gladness and song shall fill every heart. The peoples — Israel first, and the nations also — shall come under His righteous rule, and be blessed in Him.
- Made. The chapter's case turns on one word. Idols are nothing. This God made the earth, the world and the heavens.
- Power. He made the earth by His power. At His wrath the earth trembles, and no idol has anything like it.
- Wisdom. His wisdom established the world. Beside it, man's own knowledge counts as stupid.
- Understanding. He stretched out the heavens, and they still hold riches no one has found. Far greater riches still belong to the new creation in Christ.
- Forever. The same testimony answers Babylon too. Idols perish, and His glory will cover the earth.
When he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the end of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.
Jeremiah has just mocked the idols: cut from a tree, nailed down so they cannot fall, carried about because they cannot walk. Then he looks up at the storm and points to the God at work in it.
These words are not an isolated poem. One commentator notes what this testimony is for, and that the same words appear a second time in the book.
A noble testimony to God follows, in contrast with idols and those who worship them... These words differ from Jeremiah 10:12-16 only in leaving out Israel in the last verse.
The chapter sets idols and the living God side by side. Notice where man's own cleverness ends up in that comparison.
Verses 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 cannot endure His anger. He made the earth by His power. He established the world by wisdom. He stretched out the heavens by His understanding. But what is man? Senseless in his knowledge.
The wind comes out of God's storehouses. One writer follows that word through to riches God still keeps hidden.
He is the Creator. His power, wisdom and understanding worked in creating and establishing the earth and the heavens (v. 12). The wind He brings out of His treasures. And right here the Spirit records a scientific fact, made known over 2500 years ago: "He makes lightning for the rain" (v. 13)... God is the Creator, the One who formed all things. In the created universe He has hidden vast riches that no one has found yet. In the new creation there are far greater riches still. Through grace, true believers form part of that new creation in Christ.
The verse packs in three things: where the mist comes from, what it does, and what turns it into rain. One writer takes them one at a time.
How scientifically accurate these ancient Scriptures are! They speak of vapour gathering from the ends of the earth—a worldwide area. They speak of how it rises. And they speak of an electrical discharge that turns the vapour into a multitude of waters in the heavens. It is indeed most striking! People often say that the Scriptures were not given to teach science. But when they do touch on science, they make no mistakes.
Mist, lightning, rain and wind appear together in this one verse. A writer points out whose hand holds them all, and what they are for.
Vapour and rain, lightning and wind — all the machinery of the storm is in His hand. He makes it serve His good purposes.
If God alone sends the rain, leaving Him is a bad trade. One writer applies that to anyone who drifts away under pressure.
Trouble and weakness come in. How many have then turned aside from the path of faith, into associations that Scripture does not support! Some have even gone back into the world, hoping to find an easier path and blessing. But are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Of course not. "Are you not he, O LORD our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things." Oh, the folly and the loss of departing from the Lord!
- Contrast — The verse sits in a passage that puts the living God next to hand-made gods; Jeremiah writes almost the same words a second time later in the book.
- Creator — He made the earth, established the world and stretched out the heavens. Next to that, man's own knowledge is senseless.
- Control — Vapour, lightning, rain and wind are not loose forces. They are the equipment of the storm, held in His hand and put to work for good ends.
- Accuracy — Vapour rises from the whole earth. An electrical discharge turns it to water overhead. Scripture recorded both over 2500 years ago.
- Consequence — No idol has ever produced a single shower. So leaving Him for an easier path is pure loss. And the God you would leave still holds treasures in reserve, with greater ones in Christ.
Every man is become brutish, bereft of knowledge; every founder is put to shame by the graven image, for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
Jeremiah is exposing the idol trade. He sets the God who made the earth against the gods men manufacture, and here the craftsman's own skill leaves him ashamed.
Older translations use the word "brutish" here. The term means more than a lack of information.
The word is beir, translated "brutish" in Psalm 94:8; Jeremiah 10:8, 14, 21; Jeremiah 51:17. It stands for man's ignorance, and for his acting like an animal that cannot reason — that is, without conscience before God.
The charge lands on man at the height of his knowledge. The same passage first describes the God who made the earth, then turns to man.
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... He made the earth by His power; He established the world by wisdom; He stretched out the heavens by His understanding. But what is man? Brutish in his knowledge.
No enemy shames the goldsmith. His own product shames him, because it cannot do the one thing a god is for. One writer sets the idol and its maker side by side.
Idols do not see and do not know, and their helplessness brings shame on their makers.
Another writer looks at an image shaped part fish, part man.
This false god is far below man. It is mostly a fish, with a head and hands that show human intelligence and power. Yet man dreads it and worships it. The idol is always like this, in all its forms: below those who make it.
A maker can get everything right except life. One writer names the one thing no craftsman can supply.
Man could shape the metal into human form, modelled on the noblest of God's creatures on earth. But where was the life? Where the will? Where the power? ... Mouth, eyes, ears, nose, hands, feet, throat, all were there. Outwardly, there was nothing wanting. Yet they lacked one thing, the breath of life. That came from God; and man with all his will could not impart it. Like a corpse, with all the members complete, there was no life.
The verse names the man's stupidity and the idol's lifelessness in one breath. One writer traces how the two are joined.
The idol can stretch out no hand to help. His foot will not move to bring relief. Not even a murmur comes from his idle throat. What can these senseless deities do but degrade the men who bow before them into beings as senseless? And this is the just penalty upon those who can forsake God to follow their own inventions.
That "every man" leaves no one outside. Even the man clever enough to despise carved images does not escape.
Even if here and there a stronger intellect sees and despises such folly, it is only to become an unbeliever and deny God altogether. Yet he is still an idolater. He does not bow before a carved image, but he bows before his own intellect, and he is just as much the slave of sin.
Idolatry had wise men, craftsmen and scholars behind it. One writer shows how God answered it, and where He recorded that answer.
The wise men with their teaching of empty things, and the workmen with their skilled arts in silver and gold and wood, may work together with Chaldean scholarship to hold the nations by idolatry. But they are all the works of error. So "they shall perish" (Jer. 10:15). The God of truth shall triumph over this falsehood! ... In verse 11 the Spirit records, in the Chaldean language, that these false gods will perish completely! This is very striking and significant. It is the only verse so written in the whole book. The idolatrous Chaldeans were to take Israel captive, but in their very language God records the utter overthrow of their false gods.
- Knowledge. The word translated "stupid" or "brutish" describes a man acting like an animal, with no conscience before God. Jeremiah says it of him at the height of his skill.
- Shame. No critic humiliates the craftsman. His own product does it: the idol's helplessness shames the man who made it.
- Breath. A maker can copy every feature except life. The breath of life comes from God, and no one can put it into what he makes.
- Degradation. What has no life cannot lift anyone. Senseless gods drag their worshippers down to their own level. That is the just penalty for forsaking God.
- Perishing. The images are false, so they are works of error and must perish. The God of truth triumphs, and He wrote that verdict in the idolaters' own language.
They are vanity, a work of delusion in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
Jeremiah 10 has just described how men make an idol — cutting down a tree, nailing on silver and gold. This verse gives the verdict on the finished product: what idols are now, and what becomes of them when God acts.
The chapter works by exposure. It shows the gods of the nations for what they are, then announces their end.
Jeremiah 10 closes the section with a solemn warning to Israel. It warns against the superstitious fear and idolatry of the ways of the nations. The chapter exposes those ways by holding their falsehood up to ridicule… Verses 17 and 18 speak of swift and fitting judgment.
"A work of delusion" points at the makers as much as at the idols. Skill and learning went into them, and what came out was still a lie marked to perish.
The wise men teach vanities. The workmen use their clever arts in silver and gold and wood. Together with Chaldean scholarship they may work to hold the nations by idolatry. But they are all works of error; therefore, "they shall perish" (Jer. 10:15). The God of truth will triumph over this falsehood! … In verse 11 the Spirit records, in the Chaldean language, that these false gods will perish completely! This is very striking and significant. It is the only verse so written in the whole book.
Verse 11 was aimed at the captors themselves.
We may notice that Jer. 10:11 contains a message to the nations written in their own language — the Aramean or Syriac.
Older translations read "the time of their visitation" — the moment God comes to deal with them. Idols do not fade away on their own. God has set a day for them, and that day of ruin opens the door to blessing.
It is the day of the Lord against all the pride of man, to bring it low. It is the day when God sweeps away every refuge of lies and exposes all the emptiness of man's thoughts. "The idols He will utterly abolish." Yes, those who have been their slaves will fling them to the moles and the bats. "And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day." Then the way is open for blessing, as wide as the judgment that brought it in.
Jeremiah does not say this only once. He repeats nearly the whole passage in his prophecy against Babylon, the empire that would carry Judah away. Only one thing changes:
This differs from Jeremiah 10:12-16 only in leaving out Israel in the last verse.
So God measures the conqueror's religion by the same rule as everyone else's.
The fall of Babylon was a judgment on idolatry. Jehovah, the portion of Jacob, might discipline His people, but He was not like the vanities of the nations. After disciplining them, He would show His righteousness, in contrast with the nations that oppressed them.
The blunt announcement that idols will perish is not cold. It is one more appeal, delivered before the sentence lands.
In Jeremiah 10 the idols and the vanities of the nations stand in contrast with Jehovah… The reader will do well to notice how God repeats His pleadings with Israel. That repetition is the most touching proof of the kindness of God. He multiplies His appeals to a rebellious and stubborn people, "rising up early," as He puts it, to protest to them.
Israel later sang about this, after Babylon fell and the Persian king let the captives go home. Events had proved the prophecy true.
It is fitting that this Psalm of the returned captives, written for those who stand in the courts of the Lord, declares the emptiness of the idols. Babylon's downfall had just shown that emptiness, and so had the Persian king's decree that let Israel leave that stronghold of idolatry. The name of the only true God, the God of Israel, endures for ever, while the memorials of everything else perish for ever.
- Made — craftsmen, wise men and scholars work together to make idols, and all their skill produces only "works of error."
- Marked — in verse 11 God wrote the sentence in the Chaldeans' own language. It is the only verse in Jeremiah written that way, so the captors could read it themselves.
- Punished — the day is fixed, not vague. On it God sweeps away every refuge of lies, and the Lord alone is exalted.
- Repeated — God speaks the same verdict over Babylon, so the empire that carried Judah away is measured by the same rule.
- Enduring — everything men make for themselves perishes. The name of the true God remains. And the warning itself is His kindness, given early and often before that day arrives.
The portion of Jacob is not like them; for it is he that hath formed all [things], and Israel is the rod of his inheritance Jehovah of hosts is his name.
The chapter that runs up to this verse mocks the gods people make for themselves, and verse 16 is the contrast. One writer describes how those idols are produced, and what the prophet says in answer:
With axe and hammer they make their gods! They cannot speak! They have to be carried, for they cannot go themselves! Silver and gold and blue and purple may cover them, but they are just blocks of wood! There is no breath in them! ... The nations compete with each other in curious and clever crafts to form these empty things. But the prophet exclaims with joy: "The Portion of Jacob is not like them; for He is the Former of all things."
The whole chapter is read as a closing warning in a section of the book, and the verse belongs to that warning:
Jeremiah 10 closes the section with a solemn warning to Israel against the superstitious fear and idolatry of heathen ways, which are exposed by ridiculing their falsehood.
The ESV says "he is the one who formed all things"; older translations read "the Former of all things." One writer takes that title as the proper glory of Christ:
The proper glory of Christ as the Former of all things (Jer. 10:16) — the pre-existent originator of all beginning ... He is the eternal Survivor, as well as the Ancestral Source of all created being. The creature, even in its fairest form and under its grandest character, is by nature subject to decay. It depends wholly for its continuance on the sustaining power of the Creator.
The Hebrew word behind "former" also carries a note of safety:
The Ordainer of all things is the security of His people ... These senses seem linked together: forming, refuge, and salvation. So Peter says, "committing their souls to Him, as to a faithful Creator." This carries the security implied in "formed for Myself." And since that care of purpose is certain, there is also the "formed all things" — with reference to this purpose.
Jeremiah gives God many titles, and this one is aimed at a particular need:
For Israel, in a unique way, Jeremiah speaks of Him beautifully and movingly. He is "The Fountain of Living Waters," from whom alone comes true vitality and freshness. He is "The Hope of Israel," and again "The Saviour of Israel." As their Stay He is "The Confidence of Israel," and "The Holy One of Israel." For their hearts, "The Portion of Jacob."
To have God as your portion sounds thin to a mind that wants something it can hold. Writing on the same claim in Lamentations, one commentator answers that objection:
It is a good portion, without doubt, though unbelief thinks it nothing. Unbelief longs for someone to show any good in a tangible way — the grain and wine and oil of this creation. But He has all things, and He is Himself infinitely more than all He has. To have Him is beyond comparison a better portion, as anyone must admit who by grace believes it.
The claim runs both ways. God is Israel's portion; Israel is God's — "the rod of His inheritance" in older translations, "the tribe of his inheritance" in the ESV. Jeremiah says this just as Babylon is about to carry the nation away:
The idolatrous Chaldeans were to take Israel captive. But in their own language God records the utter overthrow of their false gods. He declares that Israel, whom He allows them to carry into captivity, is His rod (Jer. 10:16). Through them He will yet bring about order, when they turn to our Lord Jesus Christ. ... Later Israel will own Him truly as the Living Lord; they will swear, "The Lord lives"; and great will be the blessing that follows.
Almost the whole verse reappears in Jeremiah 51, where Babylon falls. The later passage differs only by leaving out the word "Israel" (William Kelly). There the title carries a promise about God's discipline of His own people:
The fall of Babylon was a judgment pronounced on idolatry. The portion of Jacob — Jehovah — might chastise His people, but He was not like the empty things of the Gentiles. After chastising them, He would bring forth His righteousness, in contrast with the Gentiles who oppressed them. In the end He would use Israel as His weapons of war.
- Contrast. Idols cannot speak, cannot walk, and have no breath. The Portion of Jacob is not like them: He made the very material the idol-makers use.
- Maker. "Former of all things" names Him as the source of all created being — a glory commentators give to Christ Himself.
- Security. The word for forming also carries refuge and salvation. He formed a people for Himself, and He formed all things with that purpose in view.
- Portion. Faith counts having God Himself — who has all things and is infinitely more than all He has — as the better share.
- Possession. Israel is His rod of inheritance even on the road to captivity. God chastens His people, but He never gives them up. They will yet own Him as the Living Lord.
Gather up thy baggage out of the land, O inhabitress of the fortress.
Jeremiah has just spent a chapter mocking the idols of the nations and setting the living God beside them. Then comes this short, sharp order to pack a bundle. It is spoken to a city with the enemy already at its walls.
Verse 17 comes at the end of a long section of warning. The judgment it announces is both quick and deserved:
Jeremiah 10 closes the section with a solemn warning to Israel. It warns them against the superstitious fear and idolatry of the nations, and it exposes those ways by ridiculing their falsehood. Verses 17 and 18 speak of swift and well-deserved judgment.
Older translations address the hearer as "inhabitant of the fortress." Translators have long disagreed about that word:
The word Matzor, of which Mitzraim is the dual form, occurs many times. The King James Version translates it in various ways. In 2 Kings 19:24 and Isaiah 37:25 it is "besieged places"; in Isaiah 19:6, "defence"; and in Jeremiah 10:17, "fortress." But it is a proper name and refers to Egypt. Later revisers and others translate it as Egypt in every passage.
So the word behind "fortress" is the same word used elsewhere for besieged places, and this writer takes it as a name for Egypt.
Judah must pack because of the idolatry the chapter has been exposing. And God announced the doom of those idols in a striking way. One verse of this chapter is not written in Hebrew at all:
The wise men with their doctrine of empty things, and the workmen with their skilled arts in silver and gold and wood, may work together with Chaldean scholarship to hold the nations by idolatry. But they are all works of error. Therefore "they shall perish" (Jer. 10:15)... In verse 11 the Spirit records, in the Chaldean language, that these false gods shall perish completely! This is remarkably striking and significant. It is the only verse so written in the whole book. The idolatrous Chaldeans were to take Israel captive, but in their very language God records the complete overthrow of their false gods.
The order to pack is not the last word of a defeated local god. It is issued by the One the chapter has just called King of the nations:
Verses 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 endure His indignation. He made the earth by His power; He established the world by wisdom; He stretched out the heavens by His understanding. But what is man? Senseless in his knowledge.
Jeremiah does not deliver this order without feeling. The verses that follow break into pain. The reason lies in what he knew about Israel's place before God:
It was because Jeremiah knew the love of the Lord for Israel, and the importance of their national position before Him, that he cries out in pain when he pronounces their overthrow again (Jer. 10:17-25)... In the presence of all their sinful doings, and with full knowledge of it, the prophet suffers like his Lord, of whom he is a picture.
This command comes after many appeals from God. The repetition of those appeals is itself the point:
In verses 19-25 we have the grief of the prophet. He speaks of the desolation of Jerusalem as though he were himself the ruined city. He prays that God's dealings might be only chastisement, and not cutting off. The reader will do well to notice the repetition of God's pleadings with Israel. It is the most touching proof of the kindness of God. He multiplies His appeals to a rebellious and perverse people, "rising up early," as He puts it, to warn them.
- Cause. Judah must pack because it copied the idols of the nations around it. The chapter mocks those gods, then sends their worshippers away.
- Sentence. Verses 17 and 18 announce judgment that is swift and deserved — no delay left, and no injustice in it.
- Authority. The One who empties the land is the King of the nations. He is the living God at whose wrath the earth trembles, not a local god beaten by a stronger empire.
- Irony. One verse of this chapter is written in the captors' own language. In it God dooms the idols of the very people who would carry Israel away.
- Mercy. The prophet feels the blow as if he were the ruined city. He prays for correction, not for the nation to be cut off. And the appeals God made before the blow show His kindness.
For thus saith Jehovah Behold, I will this time sling out the inhabitants of the land, and will distress them, that they may be found.
Jeremiah has just warned Israel against the idols of the nations and held them up to ridicule. Now God speaks about His own people. He will sling them out of their land, and the distress is deliberate — so that they feel what words alone never made them feel.
The verse leaves no room for blaming enemy armies or bad politics. The one who slings is the Lord. One commentator describes what faith does when the blow lands:
The prophet feels the anguish of such desolation from Jehovah's hand very sharply — not just famine in the land, but a sweeping captivity out of it. Faith in such circumstances always accepts the blows as measured out justly from His hand. It does not treat them as the result of a mistake on the people's part, or of skill and strength in their enemies. God ruled in it all, and this in view of His people's shameless departure from Himself.
The verse fixes the timing — "at this time." The long pleading is over, and what follows is earned.
Jeremiah 10 closes the section with a solemn warning to Israel. It warns them against the superstitious fear and idolatry of the nations' ways, which the chapter exposes by ridiculing their falsehood… Verses 17, 18 speak of speedy and well-deserved judgment.
Being flung from the land looks like abandonment. The chapter says the opposite. The people God expels are still His own, and the empire He uses is not the winner. One commentator points to a detail that is easy to miss. Verse 11 announces the death of the false gods, and God recorded it in the language of the people who would carry Judah off:
The Spirit records in verse 11, in the Chaldean language, that these false gods will perish completely! This is very striking and significant. It is the only verse written that way in the whole book. The idolatrous Chaldeans were to take Israel captive. But in their very language God records the complete overthrow of their false gods. He proclaims that Israel, whom He allows them to carry into captivity, is His rod (Jer. 10:16). And by them He will yet bring about order when they turn to our Lord Jesus Christ.
God states His aim: the people must feel the distress. One writer applies that to everyone, not just Judah:
This is a solemn warning for all, believers and unbelievers alike. If we will not learn in God's presence that what God says is true, as to the evil of our hearts and the effect of sinning, we shall have to learn by coming under governmental judgment, or eternal judgment in the case of unbelievers.
The one who announces the sentence does not stand at a distance from it. From verse 19 Jeremiah speaks in the voice of the ruined city. He prays that the blow would stop short of destruction. Behind that prayer lies a long record of God pleading with the same people:
In verses 19–25 we have the affliction of the prophet. He speaks of the desolation of Jerusalem as though he himself were the desolate city. He prays to God that His dealings might be only chastisement, and not a cutting off. The reader will do well to observe this: the repetition of God's pleadings with Israel is the most touching proof of the kindness of God. He multiplies His appeals to a rebellious and perverse people, "rising up early," as He expresses it, to protest to them.
One writer traces the prophet's grief to its source. Jeremiah knew "the love of the Lord for Israel, and the importance of their national position before Him" (H J Vine).
The sling is not the last act. The God who scatters is the King of the nations, and the same chapter that announces exile points forward:
The glory of the God of Israel must yet cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. This will come through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died and rose again to bring it to pass. He will return to Israel and establish the pleasure of the Lord in the earth; and gladness and song will fill every heart.
- Hand — the exile is not politics or bad luck. Faith takes the blow as justly measured out from God's own hand, not from a mistake or an enemy's strength.
- Speed — after long pleading, verses 17–18 announce judgment that is both swift and deserved.
- Purpose — God means the distress to be felt. What we refuse to learn in His presence, we learn under His governmental dealing.
- Kindness — God pleaded again and again before the blow fell. That patience, and the prophet's prayer for chastening instead of a cutting off, prove His kindness.
- Horizon — the people slung out are still God's own rod (verse 16). The God who scatters will yet fill the earth with His glory through Jesus Christ.