Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Jeremiah 10:1-16
The House Of Israel Are Not To Learn The Way Of The Nations Because, While YHWH Is Great Beyond Describing, Their Idols Are Utterly Futile (Jeremiah 10:1).
This passage, in a sequence of verses, compares the futility of idols with the greatness of YHWH. They are introduced here so as to expand on what has been said in Jeremiah 9:24 about ‘understanding and knowing YHWH'. In order to bring out what understanding and knowing YHWH means he compares Him in a fourfold way with other so-called gods. It is clear that Jeremiah sees it as important that the people of Judah fully recognise just Who and What YHWH is. He is not just the greatest of all gods. He is the God Who is totally and uniquely different.
It is quite possible that Jeremiah is here partly citing an earlier prophet such as Isaiah, for the concepts are very Isaianic and lack much of Jeremiah's unique style. But if so he makes the ideas his own. There are no real grounds for denying it to him as part of his central message. The verses can be divided up as follows, and as so often in Scripture can be seen either as a sequence or as a chiasmus:
a The house of Israel are not to learn the way of the nations because the customs of the peoples are a like puff of wind (Jeremiah 10:1 a).
b The futility of idols is described - they are man-made (Jeremiah 10:3).
c The greatness of YHWH is described - He is incomparable (Jeremiah 10:6).
d The futility of idols is described - they are made of earthly materials (Jeremiah 10:8).
e The greatness of YHWH is described - He is the living everlasting King before Whom the earth and the nations tremble (Jeremiah 10:10).
d The futility of idols is described - they are perishable and foreign to Israel (Jeremiah 10:11).
c The greatness of YHWH is described - He created the earth and the heavens and controls the rain and wind (Jeremiah 10:12).
b The futility of idols is described - they are without life (Jeremiah 10:14).
a The greatness of YHWH is described - He formed all things and Israel are His inheritance (Jeremiah 10:16)
So the idols are seen to be man made, whereas YHWH Himself made everything. The idols are all similar to each other (there is little to choose between them) whilst YHWH is incomparable. The idols are made of earthly materials whilst YHWH is the everlasting King before Whom the earth trembles. The idols are devoid of life whilst YHWH is the LIVING everlasting King. And yet He has chosen Israel as His inheritance.
We can gain from this a recognition of why God so forcefully condemned representations of Him in any physical form. The utilisation of a physical form immediately degrades Him to the level of these false gods, or even to a caricature of Himself. Think how many people think of God as an old man with a white beard because of artistic representations of Him. All such representations brings Him down to the level of His creation, and they can even in some forms bestialise His worshippers (Romans 1:18). And it can soon result in the undiscerning worshipping the image instead of God Himself. (It was in order to prevent this that He hid the Ark of the Covenant behind a curtain). Of course if we want to control Him, or control people through Him, or minimise His effectiveness in our lives once we have left the site of the image, or want to avoid too much moral application, it is a good idea to make an image of Him. Then at least we can delude ourselves, thinking that by using an image we have got God where we want Him, there to be called on when we feel like it, and to be ignored at other times. But thereby we miss the force of what Jeremiah is saying, that God is not like that. He is the living God, Who cannot be limited to His creation, Who observes us all in the all the details of our daily lives, and before Whom we are all accountable for what we do within those daily lives.
His People Are Not To Follow The Customs of The Peoples.
‘Hear you the word which YHWH speaks to you,
O house of Israel, thus says YHWH,
“Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be dismayed at the signs of the heavens,
For the nations are dismayed at them,
Because the customs of the peoples are vanity.”
The importance of the message being delivered here is initially brought out by the dual reference to YHWH as speaking. It is a special dual call to the house of Israel to hear His word. The lesson being emphasised is that they are not to learn the way of the nations or the customs of the peoples, because they are nothing but a puff of wind (hebel = breath, vanity, puff of wind). And this includes being dismayed at ‘the signs of the heavens', which ‘the nations are dismayed at'. Isaiah had spoken of ‘those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons predict what will befall you' (Isaiah 47:13) as a warning against using astrology to predict events. These were practises which were common throughout the Ancient Near East and especially in Babylon to which a number of exiles had already gone (Isaiah 11:11; possibly 2 Chronicles 36:6; 2 Kings 24:12; Daniel 1), and such signs could cause great perturbation. But Israel were to pay no heed to them.
This warning is a necessary introduction to his contrasts of YHWH with idols. Nothing seemed more convincing to ‘heathen' minds than the portents in the skies. Surely these were evidence of the activities of the gods? So that argument is immediately dismantled. In fact, He says, such signs and portents are false and unreliable. To take any notice of them is to grasp after a puff of wind, for they do not affect issues one way or another. And it is this very folly that leads on to idolatry. There was a right way to discern the skies, and that was by recognising that, ‘the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handywork, day unto day issues speech, and the night unto night reveals knowledge' (Psalms 19:1). It is through this that we learn of His ‘eternal power and Godhead' (Romans 1:20) because from their overall impression we gain the concepts of beauty, design and purpose and recognise that they reveal a beautiful, intelligent and purposeful God. But once we go beyond that without special revelation we are getting involved with fantasy.
Idols Are Man-Made And Can Do Nothing.
His first emphasis is on the fact that idols are merely man-made. Today they would bear the label ‘made in China', or some such thing. But what they are not is divine.
“For one cuts a tree out of the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold,
They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
They are like a pillar (palm-tree), of turned work, and speak not,
They must needs be borne, because they cannot go.
Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil,
Nor is it in them to do good.”
YHWH goes on to deal with another aspect of the customs of the nations, the worship of idols that they have made for themselves. As explained above this is being used by Jeremiah in preparation for contrasting such idols with YHWH in a series of four contrasts. Such idols, He points out, are man-made. Their existence commences when the forester cuts down a tree with his axe, part of which is then decked with silver and gold, and fastened with nails and hammers so that it will not move or fall over (compare Isaiah 41:7). In other words it cannot support itself, and if left to itself it would collapse. Nor, being of turned work like a pillar made from a palm tree, do such idols speak. Furthermore they cannot ‘go' on their own with the result that they have to be carried wherever they do go. Thus they can work neither evil things (e.g. storms, invasions, etc.) nor good things (e.g. rain and helpful wind). Contrast Isaiah 45:7. In consequence they can be seen to be helpless and useless. Compare Isaiah's vivid dismissal of them in Isaiah 44:12. The sudden change of the verbs from singular to plural brings out that in the end they are all the same.
‘Like a pillar (palm-tree), of turned work, that it move not.' Ancient pre-Grecian statues were usually made with arms firmly pressed against their sides, devoid of any impression of movement, thus further emphasising the lifelessness of the idol. However, the word for ‘turned (or beaten) work, can also mean ‘in a garden of gourds/cucumbers'. If we take the latter meaning it is describing an image with a function similar to that of our scarecrows as watchers over the fields, although in this case with ‘divine' connotations.
YHWH Is Great Above All Things.
In contrast with the man-made idols is the One Who is great above all things, the incomparable King of the Nations
There is none like to you,
O YHWH,
You are great,
And your name is great in might.
“Who would not fear you,
O King of the nations?
For to you is it due,
Forasmuch as among all the wise of the nations,
And in all their royal estate,
There is none like you.”
Thus YHWH stands out alone. There is none like Him, something stressed in both the first and the last lines. For He is great, and His Name (representing His essential being and attributes) is great in might. Indeed He is king of the nations (compare Psalms 22:29; Psalms 47:8; Psalms 96:10), Lord of the world, and worthy to be looked on with awe, something which is in fact His due. In all the world there are none as wise and kingly as He.
Idols Are Simply Gilded Tree-Stumps.
In contrast to YHWH idols are but gilded tree stumps, covered in gold and silver and clothed in blue and purple. They are man's attempt to give an impression of glory, hoping that it will at least deceive the innocent.
“But they are together brutish and foolish,
The instruction of idols!
It is but a tree stump.”
Silver beaten into plates,
Which is brought from Tarshish,
And gold from Uphaz,
The work of the craftsman,
And of the hands of the goldsmith,
Blue and purple (or purple and scarlet) for their clothing,
They are all the work of skilful men.
The series of contrasts of YHWH with idols continues with a further mocking of idols. In fact the wise of the nations are simply like brute beasts and are foolish, something brought out by the fact that they receive their instruction from a tree trunk! The further different materials from which they are made are brought from different parts of the world, silver plate from Tarshish (possibly Spain or Sardinia), gold from Uphaz (whereabouts unknown, but compare Daniel 10:5). The craftsman and goldsmith then bring the different materials together, after which they are clothed in blue and purple (the colours of royalty) in order to try to give them some kind of royal status. The whole, however, is simply the work of skilful men. It is like erecting an expensive scarecrow.
‘Uphaz.' Some versions have Ophir instead of Uphaz, (in the original consonants the change of one similar letter), and we know that gold from Ophir was famous (1 Kings 9:28). But this appears too easy a way out, and, if the scribe was used to hearing the text read, an unlikely error to make. Alternately some have seen the ‘from uphaz' (m'pz) as meaning ‘refined' (compare 1 Kings 10:18, mpz), thus paralleling ‘beaten' silver. However, it is probably best to leave Uphaz as signifying an at present unknown place famous for its gold.
YHWH Is The True And Living God, And The Everlasting King Before Who All Trembles.
In this second description of YHWH we learn that He is the true God, the living God, Who is the everlasting King at Whose wrath the whole earth trembles, the One Whom none on earth can resist. Note especially that this is the second emphasis on His kingship and His Lordship over the nations. What a contrast with their mute gods.
‘But YHWH is the true God,
He is the living God, and an everlasting King,
At his wrath the earth trembles,
And the nations are not able to abide his indignation.'
So in contrast to the expensive tree stump, which was all dressed up and nowhere to go, is YHWH, the true God, the living God, the everlasting King (compare Psalms 10:16; Psalms 29:10; Exodus 15:18), seated in splendour, before Whose wrath the earth trembles, Whose indignation the nations cannot live with. It is He Who is the One Who is truly worthy of worship.
The Gods Are Perishable And Had No Part In Creation.
The false gods are not only man-made but are also made of perishable materials (some of them are even in our museums). They are in no sense creators of Heaven and earth.
‘Thus shall you say to them,
The gods which have not made the heavens and the earth,
These will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.'
Speaking in Aramaic YHWH then tells Jeremiah to remind Judah/Israel that it is not these gods who have made heaven and earth. They are indeed a part of the earth, and will thus perish like all earthly things which are under the heavens.
The question must be raised as to why this verse alone is in Aramaic. Certainly it brings out that the gods being spoke of are foreign gods, but it may, also in fact, have been a riposte to a well known phrase or claim in Aramaic which was circulating in Jerusalem concerning the gods, a phrase which made the opposite claim to Jeremiah's, possibly one being stressed by Babylonian representatives in court. The Aramaic nature of Jeremiah's response would then have made obvious to all who was being refuted without him actually having to say it. Perhaps then he wanted to make clear, without bringing down on them the wrath of Babylon, that while he did not recommend rebellion against Babylon, it and its gods would finally perish (all would know that their gods could not perish without it having the same result for them).
Or it may be that Jeremiah was seeking to bring out in a striking way the foreign nature of the vanities that he has been describing, indicating that ‘These gods are not native to Judah. We can only speak of them in another tongue'. This would add to the impression already given that some of the materials of which they were made came from foreign parts, namely Tarshish and Uphaz. Aramaic was an international language used in foreign affairs of state (compare 2 Kings 18:26) and would have been very familiar in Jerusalem.
Another alternative is that it was a well known saying in Aramaic well known to all educated Judeans (in the same way as we might know Latin phrases and cite them). The Targums (Aramaic paraphrases of the Hebrew text) claim that it was part of a letter which Jeremiah sent to the exiles already in Babylon. The verse is not an interpolation. It is necessary in order to prepare for the thought in Jeremiah 10:12, and as a part of the sequence described above.
YHWH Is The Unique Creator Of All Things.
There is only one God Who has made heaven and earth, and that is YHWH. He established them by His wisdom and by His understanding. And it is He also Who controls the activities of nature.
‘He has made the earth by his power,
He has established the world by his wisdom,
And by his understanding,
Has he stretched out the heavens,'
‘When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
And he causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth,
He makes lightnings for the rain,
And brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.'
What a contrast with the earthiness and the perishable natures of these foreign gods is the One Who has made the earth by His power, and established it by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His understanding. Indeed when He speaks the heavens are filled with tumultuous waters, constantly renewed from the earth, the rain is accompanied by His lightnings, and He produces winds from His treasuries. It is thus He Who is the true storm God, not Baal, or Hadad, or any other, and all the resources of heaven and earth are under His control.
This idea of YHWH seen in terms of a powerful storm is a constant one in Scripture. See, for example, 2 Samuel 22:8; Psalms 29; etc.
Idols Are Without The Breath Of Life.
The skilful workmen who make idols are (theoretically) put to the blush when it is discovered that there is no life in them. They are unable to make an idol that has life. And they are unable to make one that does not perish when its time comes. They are thus all nothing but a puff of wind and a delusion.
‘Every man is become brutish, without knowledge,
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image,
For his molten image is falsehood,
And there is no breath (spirit - ruach) in them.
They are vanity, a work of delusion,
In the time of their visitation they will perish.'
The emphasis in Jeremiah's fourth critique of idols is that they are without life, and are a delusion which will perish. Men's response towards them is simply an indication that man has become ‘brutish', emphasising his own connection with the animal world rather than with heaven (compare Romans 1:18). This brings out that such men are without the true knowledge, the knowledge of God. Furthermore such idols will only bring shame on their creators, the goldsmiths, and their worshippers, brutish men, for they represent falsehood and are without life (they have no ‘ruach' - breath, spirit). Thus they are a vanity (a puff of wind) and a work resulting from men's delusion, a work which will perish when such men are ‘visited' by YHWH in judgment.
The word for ‘delusion, errors, mockery' (ta‘tu‘im) is deliberately similar to the word tsa‘tsu‘im which in 2 Chronicles 3:10 represents the ‘image' part of ‘image-work'. Their images are in fact a delusion and an error and a mockery.
YHWH Is The Moulder And Shaper Of All Things, Choosing Israel/Judah As His Portion And Making Them His Inheritance.
In vital contrast is the One Who moulds and shapes all things, the One Who is the portion of His people, the One Who is Israel's God of deliverance, the One Whose Name is YHWH OF HOSTS, Lord of the hosts of heaven and the hosts of sun and stars, the Lord of all the hosts of the nations, and the Lord of the host of Israel.
‘The Portion of Jacob is not like these,
For he is the former of all things,
And Israel is the tribe of his inheritance,
YHWH of hosts is his name.'
In total contrast to these idols is YHWH, the Portion of Jacob. He is the One Who formed (moulded, fashioned, determined) all things and chose Israel as His inheritance. And His Name is YHWH of hosts (controller of the hosts of heaven, the hosts of earth, and of all things - Genesis 2:1).
‘The Portion of Jacob.' He has given Himself to His people as their ‘portion', that is, as the most important thing allotted to them in His scheme of things. Compare how in Deuteronomy/Joshua YHWH was Levi's inheritance (Deuteronomy 10:9; Joshua 13:33). It was His will and service for which they were responsible and on which they had to concentrate. So the idea here is that it was the Name of YHWH and His truth and covenant for which they were given responsibility, in return for which they received the assurance of His provision and protection. This includes all who in truth call on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who are the true descendants of Abraham (Galatians 3:29) and Jacob, who are the true Israel (Matthew 16:18; Romans 11:17; Galatians 6:16; Ephesians 2:11; 1Pe 2:9; 1 Peter 1:1; James 1:1; etc.), Who are God's elect (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:1; 1 Peter 2:9).
In response Israel were the tribe of His inheritance, given responsibility to watch over it. There is here an indication of the two-way relationship between God and His people. He is their God and their Father, they are His people and His children. He is their Provider and Protector, they are responsible to watch over His interests, obeying Him and walking in His ways.