Jeremiah 10:6-16

B. The Incomparable God of Israel Jeremiah 10:6-16

TRANSLATION

(6) There is none like You O LORD; great are You and great is Your name in power. (7) Who would not fear You, O King of the nations; for You are worthy of it. Because among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their royalty there is none like You. (8) They are altogether stupid and foolish; the instruction of vanities is wood. (9) Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of a craftsman and the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple is their clothing, all of them the work of wisemen. (10) But the LORD is the true God. He is the living God and eternal King. Before His wrath the earth trembles; nations cannot endure His indignation. (11) Thus you shall say to them: the gods which did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from beneath the heavens. (12) It is He who made the earth by His power who founded the world in His wisdom; and in His understanding stretched out the heavens. (13) When He gives forth His voice, there is the noise of the waters in the heavens, and He causes the vapors to go up from the ends of the earth; lightings He makes for the rain and brings forth wind from His treasures. (14) Every man is stupid, without knowledge! Every goldsmith is put to shame because of his image, for his molten image is a fraud, and there is no breath in them. (15) They are vanity, a ridiculous work; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. (16) Not like these is the Portion of Jacob; for He is the Maker of everything and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is His name.

COMMENTS

None of the idols can compare to the Lord in greatness and in power (Jeremiah 10:6). He is not merely a tribal deity restricted theologically and geographically in His sphere of influence. He is worthy of reverence by all mankind. No wise man of the earth can equal Him in wisdom. No prince of mankind is His equal in majesty and power (Jeremiah 10:7). On the other hand the idols are nothing but lifeless lumber. They are stupid and foolish and are utterly unable to render intelligent counsel. From an idol of wood one can only obtain wooden, lifeless, worthless guidance (Jeremiah 10:8). Men go to no little trouble in producing their idols. The wooden image is covered by the finest silver and gold sheets. Silver is secured from Tarshish, generally thought to be located on the southwest coast of Spain. Gold is imported from Uphaz the location of which is unknown. Since Tarshish is in the extreme west in relation to Palestine, Uphaz is perhaps equally far in the opposite direction. Some think that Uphaz, which is also mentioned in Daniel 10:5, is to be identified with Ophir.[191] Once the beautiful metal had been shaped and molded to fit the wooden base the image was clothed in blue and purple, the most expensive cloth in antiquity. Embellished with precious metals and adorned with costly garments an image was in reality a work of art produced by cunning and skillful men. It was no wiser and more powerful than the craftsmen who produced it (Jeremiah 10:9).

[191] This interpretation of Uphaz appears in the Syriac versions of the Old Testament and in the Aramaic Targum.

What a contrast exists between the God of Israel and the idols of the nations! They are false gods, but He is the true God; they are lifeless but He is living; they are temporal, but He is eternal; they are provincial, but He is sovereign over all the earth. All nations tremble before His indignation. (Jeremiah 10:10).

Jeremiah 10:11 is regarded as a gloss by most commentators. The verse is in the Aramaic language rather than Hebrew. It does seem strange, however, that a copyist would have inserted an Aramaic gloss into a Hebrew text either accidentally or purposely. It is best then to regard Jeremiah 10:11 as having originally been part of the text and written by Jeremiah himself. Why then is the verse in Aramaic? Probably Jeremiah is here utilizing some proverb which was current in his day in the Aramaic language. The basic idea of the verse is clear- All the gods of the nation which were in reality false gods will eventually perish.

Every man who engages in idolatry is stupid. Only when men accept the self-revelation of God through His word do they have any insight into the true meaning of life. Those who make the idols will be utterly ashamed in the day of judgment as they will be forced to admit that their images are powerless. In spite of the elaborate ceremonies in which the spirit of the god came to make its abode in the images Jeremiah declares there is no breath in them (Jeremiah 10:14). Those idols are utterly vain, empty, ridiculous. They, along with their worshipers, shall experience the visitation of judgment of the true God. In that time the images shall perish, unable to save themselves, let alone those who held them in esteem (Jeremiah 10:15). None of the gods so popular in the days of Jeremiah remain on the scene today. They have indeed perished. The Lord of hosts is not like the idols. He who is the Creator of everything is the Portion of Jacob and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance. Though He is God of all nations, yet He belongs to Israel in a special way (Psalms 73:26; Psalms 119:57; Psalms 142:5) and Israel belongs to Him in a special way (Jeremiah 10:16).