Jeremiah 10

— the rod of his inheritance.] This expression is taken from the first division of the land of Canaan, when the inheritance of each tribe and family was meted out with a line or a rod. W. Lowth.

&c.] The prophecy contained in this and the following chapter may not improperly be assigned to the reign of Josiah; only to the latter end of it, when the people, who in the eighteenth year of that prince had solemnly

engaged to perform the obligations of the Divine covenant, may in course of time be supposed to have relapsed into their former disregard and neglect. The

Prophet is therefore sent to recall them to their duty, by proclaiming sues the terms of the covenant, and rebuking them sharply for their hereditary disobedience, ver. 1—8. He denouneth evil against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem for their idolatrous apostasy, ver. 9—17; and being informed of the conspiracy of the men of Anathoth against his life by Divine revelation, he prayeth against them, and is authorized to foretel their utter destruction. Dr. Blayney. 3. — Cursed be the man &c. It is a way of speaking usual in Scripture, to denounce God’s judgments in the form of imprecation: so the Apostle pronounces an excommunication, by saying, “Let him be accursed,” or “Anathema,” Gal. i. 8; 1 Cor. xvi. 22. To the same sense St. Paul saith of Alexander the coppersmith, “The Lord reward him according to his works,” 2 Tim. iv. 14. Thus the imprecations we meet with in several of the Psalms are to be understood as so many predictions, or denunciations of God’s judgments. Accordingly St. Peter, speaking of the 109th Psalm, saith, that in it the Holy Ghost “spake before (or prophesied) by the mouth of David concerning Judas,” Acts i. 16. W. Louth. A wholesome instruction is to be derived from the curse, which God denounces against those who keep not his covenant. Let us reflect on this, and remember that God hath made a more excellent covenant with us than with the Jews; and that this covenant engages us still more strictly to hear his voice, and to do all that He hath commanded us; so that, if we break it, we shall incur a much heavier punishment. We ought farther to consider, that it is not only by worshipping doors that the Divine covenant is broken; but that may be done likewise by breaking the vows which we have made to God, and by withdrawing our hearts from Him and giving them to the world. Ostervald.

Jeremiah 10:5

5. They are upright as the palm tree.] This comparison agrees very well with those ancient statues which

were seen in Egypt and elsewhere, before the Greeks had carried the art of sculpture to that perfection, to which it afterwards arrived. The Orientals, before the empire of the Greeks, had very little taste for things of this sort. Their figures were carved in a straight line, with their hands hanging down and fixed to their sides, their eyes closed, their feet joined: so that they differed

little from the trunks of the palm trees, to which Jeremiah here compares them. Calmet.

Jeremiah 10:7

7. — for to thee doth it appertain:] To Thee doth fear appertain. Dr. Durell. — among all the wise men of the nations, &c.] The phrase, “among all the wise,” or the wisest, “of the nations,” may signify, either all those nations which

were most distinguished for the cultivation and improvement of their rational faculties; or else those from

whom better notions of God and religion might have been expected, than from the rude and illiterate vulgar. And yet the fact was, that all their boasted wisdom and knowledge had failed of leading them to an object of worship, in any degree corresponding with the infinite perfections and majesty of the Divine nature. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 10:8

8. But they are altogether brutish &c.] “They that make images are like unto them,” saith the Psalmist, Ps. xxv. 8; that is, they are equally stupid and insensible. An image is called “a teacher of lies,” Hab. ii. 18. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 10:9

9. — Tarshish, — Uphaz.] For “Tarshish,” see the notes at 1 Kings ix. 28; x. 22. Bochart supposes “Uphaz” to be the same with Ophir in India. W. Lowth. Concerning Ophir see the former note on Kings.

— blue and purple is their clothing.] The excellency of the Tyrian purple is celebrated by both sacred and profane authors. And the blue, which from many passages in Scripture we find to have been in great request, was also imported from remote countries, as an article of elegant and expensive luxury. See Ezek. xxvii. 7. 24. Dr. Blayney.

— they are all the work of cunning men.] As the insignificance of idols may be argued from the vile and perishable matter out of which they are composed, (see Isa. xlv. 19.) the same may be inferred from their being indebted to the art and labour of man for all their costly ornaments, their splendid outward shew. “They are all,” says the Prophet, internally and externally “the work of cunning” or skilful men. And so says the prophet Hosea, “All of it the work of the craftsman,” chap. xii. 2. Upon what ground then could the thing formed pretend to a nature more excellent than its former? Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 10:10

10. — at his wrath the earth shall tremble.] Jeremiah here represents the power and the greatness of God by the effects which they produce in nature. The things which strike men with most astonishment are earthquakes, thunder, lightning, the production of rain and winds, the creation of the universe. All these things are the work of the Lord. In his wrath He makes the earth tremble. When He speaks, He causes the thunder. If He makes the lightning shine, it is to cause the rain to descend from the clouds. The winds are shut up in his treasuries; He confines them by his power. He draws from the ends of the earth the materials, of which He forms the clouds. Such was the notion of the Hebrews concerning the production of these effects, which strike mortals with astonishment. They referred them immediately to God, as their natural cause. Calmet.

Jeremiah 10:11

11. Thus shall ye say unto them, &c.] This verse is written in Chaldee, as if the Prophet designed to put these words in the mouths of the Jews, wherewith they might make a publick profession of their own faith in the true God, and be able to answer the heathens that would entice them to idolatry. W. Lowth. The title, “Creator of heaven and earth,” that is, of the universe, (see note on Gen. i. 1.) is that which most especially characterizes and distinguishes the true God from all false and fictitious deities: see Ps. xxvi. 5; 2 Kings xix. 15. 19; Acts xiv. 15; xvii. 24. Dr. Isaac Barrow.

— even they shall perish from the earth, &c.] The Prophet foretells, that there shall be a final period put to idolatry: see ver. 15; Isa. ii. 18; xlv. 16; Zech. xii. 2. God hath already blotted out the names of many of the heathen idols, as an earnest of the utter destruction of the remainders of idolatry in his due time. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 10:13

13. When he uttereth his voice, &c.] When God signifies his will and pleasure; (compare Job xxxviii. 34;) or when He sends his thunder, called in Scripture the “voice of God:” the clouds immediately fall down in abundance of rain; and that moisture, coming upon the ground that was scorched with heat before, does not only cool and refresh it, but makes all vegetables grow and flourish in it. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 10:14

14. Every man is brutish in his knowledge: &c.] Every workman is brutish, while he so employs his skill as to make a god to himself by his own art: every founder, if he had but reason to consider it, must needs be confounded in himself, at the sight of his own folly, in making that image which he will adore. Bp. Holl.

Jeremiah 10:15

15. They are—the work of errors:] The making of them is owing to men’s erroneous notions concerning the nature of God. See ver. 8. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 10:16

16. The portion of Jacob is not like them:] Upon the principles of heathenism, every nation was committed to the care and superintendency of its own tutelary god; who might with propriety be styled its own “portion,” on account of the peculiar relation that subsisted between them. “The portion of Jacob” therefore is the same as the God of Jacob; He who had taken upon Himself the guardianship and protection of that family. But He was distinguished from all the rest, who, as before observed, were falsehood and vanity all of them, having no other existence than as lifeless images, the

The prophet lamenteth the spoil of the tabernacle. Before CHRIST about 600. inhabitress.

things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.

Jeremiah 10:17

17. Gather up thy wares out of the land, &c.] The Prophet here returns to his former denunciations against Jerusalem, and warns her to move her effects, and prepare for her going into captivity; compare Ezek. xii. 3; for though she thought herself secure, as dwelling in a place of great strength and well fortified, yet her enemies should prevail and take it. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 10:18

18. — Behold, I will sling out &c.] Behold, I will suddenly and violently cast out the inhabitants of the land, as a stone out of a sling. Bp. Hall.

— at this once.] Or, “at this time.” This implies, that though they had been often saved by God’s providence from hostile attacks, they would however on this occasion find it otherwise. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 10:19

19. Woe is me &c.] In this and the following verses, the Prophet seems by anticipation to suggest motives of patience and consolation to his country, in regard to the evils that were coming upon her. These he puts into her own mouth, and makes her observe, first, that her affliction, though great, was such as by experience she had found to be tolerable: secondly, that she had less reason to complain of what she suffered, as it was no other than might have been expected from the misconduct of those who had the direction of her affairs: and lastly, that she was not without hope in the mercy of God, who, upon the humble supplication of his people, might be moved to mitigate their chastisement, and turn his hand against the heathen that oppressed them. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 10:20

20. My tabernacle is spoiled, &c.] My cities and

is come, and a great commotion out of the ³ north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a ¹ den of dragons.

Jeremiah 10:23

23. O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: &c.] Success does not depend upon human endeavours, but upon God’s good pleasure: compare Ps. xxxvii. 23; Prov. xx. 24; and therefore Thou canst easily disappoint all the designs of our enemies. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 10:24

24. O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; &c.] O Lord, correct me, but in a gracious moderation; not in the extreme rigour of thy justice; not, as we have deserved, in thy wrath and displeasure. Bp. Hall.

The speaker here humbly entreats Almighty God to deal out his corrections in such a moderate degree, as to shew that He aimed at the amendment, and not the destruction of the offender. The Hebrew word here translated “judgment,” properly signifies “calm and dispassionate judgment,” which stands opposed to the hasty sallies of anger and furious revenge. And though the latter cannot actually exist in God, it is sometimes however nominally attributed to Him, whenever the effects of his displeasure are so violent, as to stop nothing short of utter ruin; although such a proceeding may be justifiable upon the most solid principles of reason and equity. As therefore to “punish with anger,” implies an unrelenting rigour and severity; so to “correct with judgment,” admits the use of such moderation, as is consistent with the sinner’s personal safety, whilst it promotes his reformation. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 10:25

25. Pour out thy fury upon the heathen &c.] Let thy justice be made known, by bringing an exemplary punishment upon the Chaldeans and their allies, see chap. i. 15; who do not acknowledge thy providence, but ascribe all their successes to their own idols. W. Lowth.

God’s covenant proclaimed. Evil denounced against the Jews, Before CHRIST about 608. THE word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,