Jeremiah 10:1-25--Idols and the Living God

Jeremiah 10
English Standard Version

Idols and the Living God
10 Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the LORD:

“Learn not the way of the nations,
    nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
    because the nations are dismayed at them,
3 for the customs of the peoples are vanity.
A tree from the forest is cut down
    and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold;
    they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so that it cannot move.
5 Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
    and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
    for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
    for they cannot do evil,
    neither is it in them to do good.”

6 There is none like you, O LORD
    you are great, and your name is great in might.
7 Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
    For this is your due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms
    there is none like you.
8 They are both stupid and foolish;
    the instruction of idols is but wood!
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
    and gold from Uphaz.
They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
    their clothing is violet and purple;
    they are all the work of skilled men.
10 But the LORD is the true God;
    he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
    and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

11 Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”

12 It is he who made the earth by his power,
    who established the world by his wisdom,
    and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
13 When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
    and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
14 Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
    every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
    and there is no breath in them.
15 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
16 Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    the LORD of hosts is his name.

17 Gather up your bundle from the ground,
    O you who dwell under siege!
18 For thus says the LORD:
“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
    at this time,
and I will bring distress on them,
    that they may feel it.”

19 Woe is me because of my hurt!
    My wound is grievous.
But I said, “Truly this is an affliction,
    and I must bear it.”
20 My tent is destroyed,
    and all my cords are broken;
my children have gone from me,
    and they are not;
there is no one to spread my tent again
    and to set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds are stupid
    and do not inquire of the LORD;
therefore they have not prospered,
    and all their flock is scattered.

22 A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!--
    a great commotion out of the north country
to make the cities of Judah a desolation,
    a lair of jackals.

23 I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself,
    that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
24 Correct me, O LORD, but in justice;
    not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not,
    and on the peoples that call not on your name,
for they have devoured Jacob;
    they have devoured him and consumed him,
    and have laid waste his habitation.

---

Since the book of 1 Samuel, we've seen the people trying to become like all the other nations around them, though we've seen indications that this is what would happen to them ever since their wanderings in the wilderness and the LORD and Moses warning them to be separate and to not become like all the other nations, or the judgment due those nations would fall upon them.  The LORD then makes the argument how stupid it is to worship creation rather than the Creator.  Why would you worship an idol of wood when that same wood is used as firewood?

The idols are not alive.  They are deaf and dumb.  They have taken on the image of something living, but have no life.  They are like a scarecrow that look kind of like a man, but has no spirit within it to make it live.  So it is with these idols.  They cannot hear or see the needs of the people or act on behalf of them.  They are vain and worthless.

The LORD alone is the Living God who can hear the cries of His people and act on them to save them.  He is the King of all the nations (the King of Kings and Lord of Lords) and all nations should fear Him.  At the heart of the idol is lifeless wood.  You can coat it with silver and gold and dress it up in royal clothes, but it is still stupid and foolish to worship a carved piece of wood (even though it is expertly crafted) when you could worship the Living God--the everlasting King who will judge and rule the nations and pour out His wrath on all ungodliness.

Their idols will be destroyed, for they pretend to be something they are not.  The Creator will show everyone the folly of worshiping the creature and the creation.  The LORD even controls the weather that we so often think as simply a "force of Nature" that is untamable.  Yet, it obeys the command of the LORD.  He brings the mist, the dew and the rain.  He causes the storms and tells the thunderbolts where they should go.  The idols can do none of these things as was proven by the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.  They believed Baal was the god of fertility and fire--that he could bring conditions for a good groining season but it was the LORD that caused fire to come from heaven when Baal could not answer with fire or lightning or anything of the sort.  Then the LORD showed the people that Baal could not give them rain or crops by causing a draught and famine in the land.  Either the people of Judah completely missed what happened to their neighbors to the north (doubtful) or they have forgotten it or have intentionally ignored it.

The world--the Gentile nations--are supposed to be the ones without the special revelation of the LORD that stumble around in darkness and worship what they see because they do not know the invisible God who is Creator and Sustainer or all things.  They are deaf, dumb, and blind when it comes to spiritual things, just like the idols they worship.  The children of Jacob however are not supposed to be like this.  They are supposed to be like the God they worship--made in His image.  How sad it is that they have chosen to be like the other nations and be like their gods that they have chosen to worship.  

How is the LORD going to help them understand when they have hard heads and hard hearts?  He will have to cast them out of the Land and pour out a measure of His wrath on them.  He cannot even send them away with the Tabernacle, because there will be no one to set it up and worship Him.  The leaders that are supposed to be the shepherds of His sheep (the people of Israel) are stupid and too busy trying to act in their own best interest.  They do not love the sheep.  They instead use them to get and advantage that they can for themselves.

Jeremiah calls for the LORD correction instead of His wrath.  He knows if they bore the full fury of His wrath, they would be consumed and would all perish.  They are all guilty.  Instead, He prays for the LORD to use His fire to refine and purify His people once again.  They are in need of correction, but Jeremiah fears destruction.  Jeremiah asks for the LORD to pour out his wrath on the nations and perhaps the people will see by example what they deserved.  Jeremiah is asking the LORD for special treatment and favor, not because they deserve it, but because they need it.  In no way can they earn the LORD's favor--it is something unmerited that they must ask for.  He asks for all those that would try to destroy the LORD's people to themselves be destroyed--the things that they planned to do to the Land would be done to their land.  The LORD will do this and more to those nations, but that won't stop Him from using them to accomplish His purposes for His people in the mean time.