Jeremiah 10

The prophet arms the Jews against the idolatry of the < Chaldeans, among whom they were to live during the captivity, by setting forth the vast disparity between the true God and idols: then he bewails the calamities which were coming upon them, and beseeches God not - to deal with them according to the utmost rigour of his justice.

Jeremiah 10:1

O HOUSE of Israel. -See the note on v. 15.

Jeremiah 10:2

Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not afraid at the signs of heaven. Do not follow the fond opinions of the heathen, amongst whom ye are to sojourn during the time of your captivity. Both the Chaldeans and Egyptians were famous for their skill in astrology. The prophet therefore warns the Jews, that when they were to live among those people, they should not regard the predictions which they made from the appearances of the heavenly bodies, from whose different aspects they pretend to foretell wars, the death of great men, and other calamities; whereby they terrified the people with the apprehension of impending evils.

Jeremiah 10:3

One cutteth the tree out of the forest, &c. He exposeth the folly of men’s worshipping the works of their own hands, by the same arguments which are made use of by Isaiah, xliv. 10, 11. and have been explained in the notes upon that place.

Jeremiah 10:5

They are upright as the palm-tree, but speak not. The Hebrew may more properly be rendered, thus, They aremadewith due proportion, like a pillar; the word tomar is rendered pillar by our translators, Cant. iii. G. Joel ii. 80. They make a pretty figure, when they are set up, as being put together by the rules of art,- but cannot speak, or shew any signs of sense. Images are elsewhere called dumb idols. (Sec Habak. ii. 19. 1 Cor. xii. 2.) They cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.’] See the note upon Isa. xli. 23.

Jeremiah 10:7

Who wotdd not fear thee, OKing of nations? for to thee doth it appertain. Or, to thee doth honour belong. The Hebrew word yaatha, is rather a noun than a verb, and signifies honour and excellency. To the same sense the Chaldec translates the words, For thine is the kingdom. Some critics suppose the word Jah, the name of God, not to be a contradiction of Jehovah; but to be derived from the same root Yaah, and to import the. superlative excellency of the Divine Majesty. Forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.] The princes and great men among the heathens, who were remarkable for their wisdom, and understanding the arts of government, were commonly deified after their death, and had Divine honours paid to them, as heroes, or Baalim; (see note on ii. 23.) but none of these can be compared with the supreme God. (See Psal. lxxxix. 6.)

Jeremiah 10:8

But they are altogether brutish and foolish; the stock is a doctrine of vanities. They that make images are like unto them, saith the Psalmist, (Psal. cxv. 8.) equally stupid and insensible. The use and worship of them is grounded upon a false and foolish opinion> and tends to confirm the ignorant in that absurd fancy, that God is like the work of men’s hands, and that images have some Divine power lodged within them. For the same reason an image is called a teacher of lies, Habak. ii. 18.

Jeremiah 10:9

Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish. Ships of Tarshish sometimes signify any trading or merchant ships. But Tarshish may probably here denote some port in Spain, whither the merchants of Tyre and Zidon trafficked. (See the note on Isa. ii.16. xxiii. 1.) And gold from Uphaz.] Bochart supposes Uphaz to be the same with Ophir in India, near Zeilan; a place famous for gold. (See the note on Isa. xiii. 12.) Uphaz is probably the same place which is called Paz in Job xxviii. 17; where our translation reads, Jetvels of fine gold, but it is in the Hebrew, Jewels of Paz. Blueandpurple are their clothing.]. SeeBaruch vi. 12.72.

Jeremiah 10:10

He is the living God. Images are dead and senseless things. (See ver. 14.) Whereas God is the author and fountain of life and understanding, and we all live in and by him. The present copies of the Septuagint are defective here; but the learned Dr. Grabe conjectures, that the Septuagint anciently read here, Qwg Z,wvtu>v, the God of the living, which is still read in Theodotion’s translation, and followed by the Syriac and Arabic versions; and that our Saviour alludes to this place, when he saith; (Matt. xxii. 32.) God is not the God of the dead; but of the living. (See hisDissert.de vitiisLXX. Interpretum,p.44.)

Jeremiah 10:11

Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that % have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens. This verse is writ in Chaldce, as if the prophet designed to put these words in the mouths of the Jews, wherewith they might make a public profession of their own faith in the true God, and be able to answer the heathens that would entice them to idolatry. 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. xiii. 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.

Jeremiah 10:12

He hath made the earth by his power, &c. Here follows a noble and lofty description of God’s power and providence, whereby he sets forth his pre-eminence above dead and senseless idols.

Jeremiah 10:13

When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, &c. When God giveth the word of command, and 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: and as God causes the vapours to ascend up in clouds from every quarter of the earth, so he joins two contrary things together, ordaining great flashes of lightning to break forth with the rain: the moisture of the rain preventing the ill’ effects that might otherwise proceed from the scorching heat of tho lightning. Andbringeth the winds out of his treasures.] He causeth great and mighty winds to come from unknown places and causes, asif he brought them-out of a hidden treasure or