CHAPTER X _The Jews, about to be carried into captivity, are here warned_ _against the superstition and idolatry of that country to which_ _they were going. Chaldea was greatly addicted to astrology, and_ _therefore the prophet begins with warning them against it_, 1, 2. _He then exposes the a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:2. _LEARN NOT THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN_] These words are more particularly addressed to the ten tribes scattered among the heathen by the Assyrians, who carried them away captive; they may also regard those in the land of Israel, who still had the customs of the former heathen settle... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:3. _THE CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE_ ARE _VAIN_] חקות _chukkoth_; the statutes and principles of the science are vain, empty, and illusory. They are founded in nonsense, ignorance, idolatry, and folly. ONE _CUTTETH A TREE OUT OF THE FOREST_] Isaiah 40:19, and _"_Isaiah 44:9_"_, c., whic... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:5. _THEY ARE UPRIGHT AS THE PALM TREE_] As straight and as stiff as the trees out of which they are hewn.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:7. _WHO WOULD NOT FEAR THEE_] Who would not _worship_ thee as the Author and Giver of all good? The _fear of God_ is often taken for the whole of true _religion_. _AMONG ALL THE WISE_ MEN _OF THE NATION_] Not even the wisest and most cultivated of the nations have ever found out a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:8. _THE STOCK_ IS _A DOCTRINE OF VANITIES._] Dr. _Blayney_ translates,-"The wood itself is a rebuker of vanities." The very tree out of which the god is hewn demonstrates the vanity and folly of the idolaters; for, can all the art of man make out of a log of wood an animate and int... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:9. _BROUGHT FROM TARSHISH_] Some suppose this to be _Tartessus_ in _Spain_, from which the Phoenicians brought much silver. _Uphaz, Calmet_ thinks to be the river _Pison_; some think _Ophir_ is intended. _BLUE AND PURPLE_ IS _THEIR CLOTHING_] These were the most precious dyes; ver... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:10. _BUT THE LORD_] The original word should be preserved, however we agree to pronounce it: יהוה _Yehovah is the true God_. He is without beginning, and without end. This is _true_ of no being else. _HE_ IS _THE LIVING GOD_] His being is underived; and he gives _life_ to all. He... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:11. _THUS SHALL YE SAY UNTO THEM_] This is the message you shall deliver to the Chaldean idolaters. _THE GODS THAT HAVE NOT MADE THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH_, even _they_ _shall perish_] Both they and their worshippers shall be destroyed; and idolatry shall finally be destroyed fro... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:13. _WHEN HE UTTERETH HIS VOICE_, THERE IS _A MULTITUDE OF_ _WATERS_] This is a plain allusion to a storm of thunder and lightning, and the abundance of rain which is the consequence. Water is composed of two _gases, hydrogen_ and _oxygen_: the electric or galvanic spark decomposes... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:14. _EVERY MAN IS BRUTISH_] נבער _nibar_, is a boor, acts as a brute, who may suppose that a _stock_ of a _tree_, formed _like a_ _man_, may be an intellectual being; and therefore shuns the _form_ as though it had _life_. See Isaiah 44:10. Of which verses, by the way, Dr. _Blayney... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:16. _THE PORTION OF JACOB_ IS _NOT LIKE THEM_] Every nation had its tutelary god; this was its _portion_; in reference to this God says Deuteronomy 4:19, "He has divided the sun, moon, and stars, to all the nations under the heaven." And the Lord had taken the Israelites to be his... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:17. _GATHER UP THY WARES_] Pack up your goods, or what necessaries of life your enemies will permit you to carry away; for,-... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:18. _I WILL SLING OUT THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND_] I will _project_ you with _violence_ from your country. I will send you all into captivity. This discourse, from Jeremiah 10:17, is supposed to have been delivered in the _eleventh year_ of Jehoiakim.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:19. _THIS_ IS _A GRIEF, AND I MUST BEAR IT._] Oppressive as it is, I have deserved it, and worse; but even in this _judgment_ God remembers _mercy_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:20. _MY TABERNACLE IS SPOILED_] The city is taken, and all our villages ruined and desolated.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:21. _THE PASTORS ARE BECOME BRUTISH_] The king and his counsellors, who, by refusing to pay the promised tribute to Nebuchadnezzar, had kindled a new war.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:22. _THE NOISE OF THE BRUIT IS COME_] How this silly French word _bruit_, which signifies _noise_, got in here, I cannot imagine. The simple translation is this: "The voice of the report! behold, it is come; yea, great commotion from the land of the north; (Chaldea;) to make the ci... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:23. _O LORD, I KNOW THAT THE WAY OF MAN_ IS _NOT IN HIMSELF_] I will not pretend to dispute with thee; thou dost every thing wisely and justly; we have sinned, and thou hast a right to punish; and to choose that sort of punishment thou thinkest will best answer the ends of justice.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:24. _CORRECT ME, BUT WITH JUDGMENT_] Let not the punishment be to the uttermost of the demerit of the offence; else _we shall_ _be brought to nothing_-totally and irrecoverably ruined.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 10:25. _POUR OUT THY FURY UPON THE HEATHEN_] Even those who are now the executors of thy justice upon us will, in their turn, feel its scourge; for if judgment begins at us, who have been called _thy house_ and _thy people_, shall they who have _not acknowledged_ _thee_ escape? It is... [ Continue Reading ]