Truth and Consequences: A study in the prophecy of Jeremiah
Chapter 10
To watch this on video: https://youtu.be/FFK9xfW6Ib8
INTRODUCTION
Today’s lesson is a combination of pain and anger expressed by the Almighty to our Jewish people. It’s heartfelt and is the summary and finale of the section we began a few weeks ago of things that are not true. False confidences, false prophets, false worship and today, we end with the summary of the four: false gods.
I hear it often from people, even this week, “It doesn’t matter what deity you believe in… there are so many religions… peace and comfort, joy and love…those are all the same in every religion, no matter what you call your god… it doesn’t matter.”
I understand that the ethics of humanity which the United Nations seeks, certainly compared to the anti-social and wrong ethics depicted in the sabre-rattling of Russia just now in their surrounding Ukraine, all of that can be summarised in religious terminology. And wars and rumours of wars go against the grain of the human enterprise of love and respect. I get that.
Standing up and insisting that there is but one God and that He (if I can be representing the single Deity in male terminology) wants all of humanity to know and love him, to respect him and his wishes for how to live life, that’s downright particular and NOT the way we have been taught in the beginning of the 21st Century. Tolerance and live-and-let-live are more the way of the world. And it’s the representation of the way of the world of Jeremiah in 588 BCE as well. Calling anything a god doesn’t make it so. In fact it shows the narishkeit of those who claim such. That is what we will see in today’s lesson.
- 1. A satire on idolatry (1-.16)
The first 16 verses would be a satire in any playwright’s pen. The nations and the false gods of the nations are held in scorn and derision. And what is Jeremiah saying by that? That Judah… God’s people… should not be acting like them! We know better, or at least should know better, and our actions of false worship and false assumptions are derived from this ridiculous and laughable commitment to the nations around us and to their gods, which, he will say, are not gods at all.
Look at verse 1: Jeremiah is proclaiming the word of the Lord. This is not his opinion. This is not human enterprise. This is not the recommendation of the son of the priest. This is a direct message from heaven for the Jewish people. And when you think about the young man who was a bit reluctant to speak in chapter 1 of this book, you will see how he has grown in his faith and in his love for the Lord.
Some of you are new to Messiah and his love. Excellent. We welcome you. There’s much to learn in this sacred text. Beyond information, however, is the personal God who welcomed you first. He sent his son Yeshua to die for you and to bear your guilt and shame. And to bring you to himself. That’s awesome. Everything we learn about him from this book is designed to get us closer to him, not to an academic degree at the uni. Watch and learn Jeremiah in his personal growth and his כֹּחַ his strength in communicating the love of God for all people.
Verse 2: Don’t learn the way of the nations. Singular. Their ‘way’ is religion which is false religion. See how hard that is to say in these days? It was hard for Jeremiah in those days as well.
Verse 3: It's clear to me that this scene of the chop and decorate a tree are not related to Christmas trees at all, although I heard that when I was much younger. It’s simply put as Craigie said, a mockery, a satire of the way idols were manufactured in those days. Here’s his quote:
Craigie says this in his commentary: “These verses portray the idol-gods as no more than the creations of men. They begin as a tree, are overlaid with precious metals, and are secured so they will stand up. These gods, however, cannot move or speak and are incapable of doing anything, either good or bad. The gods are no more than the materials out of which they are made (Carroll).”
Remember the story from the midrash of Abraham and his father’s idol shop?
This appears in Genesis Rabbah chapter 38. It is a post-biblical story imagining the early life of Abraham when he was a young boy working in his father's idol shop.
Terah was an idol manufacturer who once went away and left Abraham in charge of the store. A man walked in and wished to buy an idol. Abraham asked him how old he was and the man responded “50 years old.” Abraham then said, “You are 50 years old and would worship a day old statue!” At this point the man left, ashamed.
Later, a woman walked into the store and wanted to make an offering to the idols. So Abraham took a stick, smashed the idols and placed the stick in the hand of the largest idol. When Terah returned, he asked Abraham what happened to all the idols. Abraham told him that a woman came in to make an offering to the idols. The idols argued about which one should eat the offering first, then the largest idol took the stick and smashed all the other idols. Terah responded by saying that they are only statues and have no knowledge. Whereupon Abraham responded by saying that you deny their knowledge, yet you worship them!
Back to our text: in verse 2 we see the ‘signs of the heavens’ and wonder if the love of astrology and the commitment so many have to star signs and such is not in view.
This from a Bible blog online titled, “Got Questions?” about the Jewish people, the children of Abraham:
“Joshua 24.2 says that Abraham and his father worshiped idols. We can make some educated guesses about their religion by looking at the history and religious artifacts from that period.
The great ziggurat of Ur was built by Ur-Nammu around 2100 BCE and was dedicated to Nanna, the moon god. The moon was worshiped as the power that controlled the heavens and the life cycle on earth. To the Chaldeans the phases of the moon represented the natural cycle of birth, growth, decay, and death and also set the measurement of their yearly calendar. Among the pantheon of Mesopotamian gods, Nanna was supreme, because he was the source of fertility for crops, herds, and families. Prayers and offerings were offered to the moon to invoke its blessing.
When God called Abraham (then called Abram) in Genesis 12.1 He told Abraham to leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house. Everything familiar was to be left behind, and that included his religion…The moon god and other deities were distant objects of worship, and they did not personally interact with men…Though Abraham forsook moon worship, the worship of heavenly objects became a continual problem with his descendants. Many times in the Old Testament, God rebuked the children of Abraham for their idolatry and renewed His call to worship Him alone.”
https://www.gotquestions.org/Abraham-religion.html
That’s how to read verses 3 and 4 of our text.
Now to verse 5, the power of God continues to be contrasted with the uselessness of the idols of the nations. The picture of the scarecrow made me laugh at first read and to this day as well. Chris Wright says of this image it’s “possibly the most richly comic metaphor for idolatry ever invented.” (page 136) You want to save the nation, so you put up gold and silver and precious commodities to preserve the miniscule field of cucumbers? Ha! What a waste! And again the image of powerlessness is showcased, “they cannot speak… they cannot walk…they can do no harm NOR can they do any good!” A serious waste of your own energies. Stay away from them!
So in verse 6, “there is none like you, o Lord!” The compare and contrast cannot be clearer. One God. Only one. No others. All the rest are fake. I love how Jeremiah, in his declaration about the emptiness of the false gods, breaks into the doxology of praise to the Living God. Celebration and Hallelujah!
Then back to the ironic and satirical degradation of the false gods.
Verse 8, they are altogether stupid and foolish. And again in verse 11, “the gods did not make the heavens and the earth…” in direct contrast to the One True God who DID make heaven and earth.
When speaking with some about the Lord, you will often hear compelling arguments about which god is the real god, but Jeremiah well knew that the One who started the whole shebang was worthy of all the attention and love and admiration and worship that we could muster.
Contrast verses 9 and 10; we know where natural construction items originate, but God is the True God. Truth vs Falsehood; there it is. God is living and living on (everlasting). Then real judgment comes—at his wrath the earth quakes. Why don’t you? The nations cannot endure; why do you think you can?
Verse 11 introduces an odd sentence. It’s a line like in a drama. It’s the response God wants his people to say when captured. And it’s not in Hebrew. Rashi and Radak speak to this
The reason for the presence of this Aramaic verse in the midst of the Hebrew has puzzled commentators from the start. Both Rashi and Kimchi accepted the evidence of the Targum as an explanation of the sudden change from Hebrew to Aramaic. The Tg prefaces v 11 with these words: “This is the copy of the letter which the Prophet Jeremiah sent to the leaders of the exile in Babylon: ‘If the Chaldeans say to you, worship our idols, then answer them as follows.’” This suggests that v 11 was a shortened version of a letter sent by Jeremiah to Jehoiachin and the other exiles in Babylon between 598 and 587 BC (compare 29:1–32).
God is giving the Jewish people a statement to read to the press. Tell the Babylonians that their gods are not real god. They are Fake gods.
Then verses 12 and following is Jeremiah’s description, again, of the folly of following the false gods. They are worthless frauds.
Craigie says this of idolatry:
“Idolatry is an ever-present threat to the people of God. It involves both a turning away from God and a turning toward something that becomes a substitute for God. It involves rejecting God as Creator and ascribing to created things an [vol. 26, p. 161] authority that belongs to him alone. It is always an evasive manoeuvre, a subtle form of escapism. How easy it is for us to make idols out of our particular system of ritual, our tradition, a particular place of worship, or even an infallible book. Anything that helps us to avoid the tension and demand of a personal encounter with Almighty God has become for us a form of idolatry. It is not merely as bad as the idolatry that Jeremiah condemned; it is far worse, for we should know better.”
- 2. Those false gods are being removed (17-22)
Really the introduction of this section is in verse 16. Israel is the tribe of God’s inheritance. God is the Maker of all. Thus when judgment comes on Israel, it will also come on the nations that traumatised us and removed us from our and thus his land. The false gods are going to be removed.
Verse 19: I must bear it, and even though the entire nation went into captivity, he was taken to Egypt.
- 3. Final prayer (23-25)
The final section today is a prayer, a gorgeous prayer announcing God is, and we are not. Our ways are in his hands, and if you have been alive in the last two years, you know that our movements are not up to us, nor honestly to our governors; God is sovereign and leads us well.
CONCLUSION
God is calling each of us to know him and to walk with him, today and throughout our days. Have you received Yeshua as your messiah and Lord? Have you renounced your sin, your idolatry, your forsaking God and given him First Place in your life? If not, please, do so now, just now, as we pray together. Use your own words, if you want, but yield, surrender, to the Lord of life.
PRAYER
Then please write us (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) to tell us what you have just done, and we will send you literature and encourage you. You are part of our family; we love and appreciate you. And we want you to enjoy the presence of the Lord who calls, who knows, who blesses and builds us up.
We hope to see you again next week as we study chapter 9. Until then, Shabbat shalom!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert, Albert Barnes’ Commentary on the Old Testament,
Craigie, Peter; Kelley, Page; Drinkard, Joel. Word Biblical Commentary. Book of Jeremiah. 1991.
Henry, Matthew, Commentary.
Weirsbe, Warren. Be Decisive. David Cook Publishers, Colorado Springs 1991.
Wright, Christopher, The Message of Jeremiah, The Bible Speaks Today, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2014.
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ACTUAL TEXT
10 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, house of Israel. 2 This is what the Lord says:
“Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens,
Although the nations are terrified by them;
3 For the customs of the peoples are futile;
For it is wood cut from the forest,
The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
4 They decorate the idol with silver and gold;
They fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not totter.
5 They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them,
For they can do no harm,
Nor can they do any good.”
6 There is none like You, Lord;
You are great, and Your name is great in might.
7 Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
For it is Your due!
For among all the wise men of the nations
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
8 But they are altogether stupid and foolish;
The instruction from idols is nothing but wood!
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
And gold from Uphaz,
The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;
Their clothing is of violet and purple;
They are all the work of skilled people.
10 But the Lord is the true God;
He is the living God and the everlasting King.
The earth quakes at His wrath,
And the nations cannot endure His indignation.
11 [a]This is what you shall say to them: “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”
12 It is He who made the earth by His power,
Who established the world by His wisdom;
And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.
13 When He utters His voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens,
And He makes the clouds ascend from the end of the earth;
He makes lightning for the rain,
And brings out the wind from His storehouses.
14 Every person is stupid, devoid of knowledge;
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
For his cast metal images are deceitful,
And there is no breath in them.
15 They are worthless, a work of mockery;
At the time of their punishment they will perish.
16 The Portion of Jacob is not like these;
For He is the [b]Maker of everything,
And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
The Lord of armies is His name.
17 Pick up your bundle from the ground,
You who live under siege!
18 For this is what the Lord says:
“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
At this time,
And I will cause them distress,
So that they may [c]be found.”
19 Woe to me, because of my [d]injury!
My wound is incurable.
But I said, “This certainly is a sickness,
And I must endure it.”
20 My tent is destroyed,
And all my ropes are broken.
My sons have gone from me and are no more.
There is no one to stretch out my tent again
Or to set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become stupid
And have not sought the Lord.
Therefore they have not prospered,
And all their flock is scattered.
22 The sound of a report! Behold, it is coming—
A great roar from the land of the north—
To make the cities of Judah
A desolation, a haunt of jackals.
23 I know, Lord, that a person’s way is not in himself,
Nor is it in a person who walks to direct his steps.
24 Correct me, Lord, but with justice;
Not with Your anger, or You will [e]bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You,
And on the families who do not call upon Your name;
For they have devoured Jacob;
They have devoured him and consumed him,
And have laid waste his [f]settlement.
