Jeremiah · chapter 10 of 52
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Jeremiah 10 contrasts idols, carved by human hands and unable to speak or move, with the Lord, the true, living God and everlasting King, who made the earth by his power. The people are warned that exile is near, and the prophet ends with a prayer: he knows a person's way is not in his own hands and asks to be corrected in justice, not in anger.
Jeremiah 10 closes the block of chapters 7 through 10. After denouncing the false security of the temple and the deceit of the leaders, the prophet examines the root of the problem: idolatry. The chapter is one of the clearest critiques of idols in the Bible and a hymn to the Creator God. It is addressed to a people tempted to imitate the customs of the surrounding nations.
The Lord tells Israel not to learn the way of the nations or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens, though the nations are dismayed at them. The customs of the peoples are vanity. They cut a tree from the forest, a craftsman shapes it with an axe, they decorate it with silver and gold, and fasten it with hammer and nails so it cannot move. They are like scarecrows in a cucumber field: they cannot speak, and they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them: they can do no harm or good.
In contrast, the prophet says there is none like the Lord, great, with a name great in might. Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? Idols are a doctrine of vanities, made of silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. But the Lord is the true God, the living God and the everlasting King; at his wrath the earth quakes and the nations cannot endure his indignation. Verse 11, in Aramaic, says the gods who did not make the heavens will perish. The Lord made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. Every man is stupid and without knowledge, and the goldsmith is put to shame by his idol, which has no breath. The portion of Jacob is not like these.
Verses 17-22 announce exile: gather up your bundle from the ground, you who dwell under siege, for the Lord will sling out the inhabitants of the land. The people cry: woe is me because of my hurt, my wound is grievous, but this is my sickness and I must bear it. My tent is destroyed and my children are gone. From the north comes a great commotion that will make the cities of Judah a desolation.
The chapter ends with a prayer: Lord, I know that the way of a man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. Correct me, Lord, but in justice, not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field: they cannot speak, they must be carried because they cannot walk, and they can do neither harm nor good. That is why God says not to fear them.
The Lord is the true God, the living God and the everlasting King; at his wrath the earth quakes. In contrast to silent idols, God acts and reigns, and every nation must acknowledge him.
The Lord made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. Creation is the proof that he alone deserves worship.
Jeremiah acknowledges that a person's way does not depend on himself and asks to be corrected in just measure and not in anger. It is a humble prayer: someone who confesses he cannot direct his own life asks God to guide him with compassion.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Scarecrows in a cucumber field, which cannot speak and must be carried. — Jeremiah 10:5
Answer: That the Lord is great, his name is great in might, and he is King of the nations. — Jeremiah 10:6-7
Answer: As the true God, the living God and the everlasting King. — Jeremiah 10:10
Answer: He made the earth by his power and established the world by his wisdom. — Jeremiah 10:12
Answer: That their wound is grievous and that it is a sickness they must bear. — Jeremiah 10:19
Answer: In just measure, not in anger. — Jeremiah 10:24
Today's idols are seldom statues, but they still exist: anything that takes God's place and to which we give time, money and trust. Jeremiah 10 invites us to ask what we have carved and decorated with our effort that cannot speak or save. A group can honestly name those areas and acknowledge God as the only one worthy of trust.
The closing prayer also teaches something valuable: asking for correction. It is a hard prayer because nobody wants to be disciplined, but Jeremiah trusts that God corrects with justice. For a youth leader or a Sunday school class, it is a good model of humility in asking for direction.
Jeremiah 10 ends with a prayer that admits a person's way is not in his own hands. Chapter 11 opens a new block on the theme of the broken covenant: the Lord recalls what he commanded their fathers when he brought them out of Egypt.
No. It is about wooden idols covered with metal and fastened with hammer and nails, part of the critique of the nations' idolatry. Some people have linked the passage to modern customs, but the text describes an image that is worshiped, not a seasonal decoration.
That verse is written in Aramaic, a language close to Hebrew that was the international language of the time. It is probably a phrase the exiles could say to those who asked them to worship their gods, declaring that false gods did not make the heavens or the earth.
Jeremiah does not ask to escape discipline, but that it be proportionate and not destroy. He recognizes that God has the right to correct his people, yet hopes he will do it with measure, like a father who seeks to restore and not to annihilate.