Bible Study: Jeremiah 10:1-25

In today's Scripture, God mocks the idolater and encourages His followers to not be afraid of false gods.

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Jeremiah Chapter 10

Lessons from the text

Hear Ye the Word
Today's Scripture opens up with a very simple thought:  hear the word of the Lord.  What exactly does it mean to hear the word of the Lord? Do you listen to the word of the Lord? Do you know how to listen to the word of the Lord?

God has so much wisdom, and He wants to share it with us.  He desires to put truth as plainly as He can so that we are able to understand it.  God's word is not hard to understand; He just wants us to sit down and give Him our full attention so that we can truly listen to what He has to say.  And when we do listen, we find that He is giving us very practical knowledge that deals directly with our current choices in life.

God wants to guide and direct us.   He wants to warn us of things that we should avoid and praise us for doing the things which are good.  All we have to do is silence ourselves, the world around us, and open our hearts to His voice.  When we do so, then God will instruct us in everything that we could possibly need to know.

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Verse by Verse Commentary

As wood rots over time, so shall idols fall apart.

1  Jeremiah opens a new message from the Lord directed at Israel as a whole. 

2  The stars and planets were given for signs and the telling of time (Gen. 1:14).  The heathen, or ungodly, are amazed when something takes place in the sky because they do not have the correct interpretation of celestial events that the word of God provides.

3-5  Human knowledge and interpretation of heavenly affairs (such as horoscopes) are vain.  To prove this point God reminds the listeners that these diviners are the same people who will literally make a statue through craftsmanship and yet claim it to be a living god.  Whenever such people going to panic protecting the end of the world or previous events, I believe it is to ignore the predictions. 

6-8  Compared to the knowledge of traditions of the ungodly, God's knowledge and wisdom should make everybody afraid of him.  People should all acknowledge that in God alone is truth, accurate prophecy, and endurance in strength.  God created all the stars and the signs of heaven, and so people should respect and fear His knowledge and authority over His own creation.  God's mighty authority is contrasted to the brutish, foolish doctrine and the ungodly, who make up explanations to satisfy their own earthly wisdom.

9-10  Every other god has been made out of material goods or man’s imagination.  The Lord, however, God, can affect earth and the people therein. Considering verse five, God is making the point that one should not fear these false gods because they are a created image.  Instead, one is to fear for living God whose breath can actually affect people.

11  The false gods, being made from created materials, will perish.  As wood rots over time, so will these gods literally fall apart.

12-13  God proclaims that He is a living God who affects creation.  He made the earth and everything that lies therein. 

14-15  God repeats that man's knowledge is brutish and that the false gods are vain (v. 8).  It does one no good to trust in a statue that can be destroyed.

16  Before there were any false gods, God existed.  On "portion of Jacob" see Deuteronomy 32:9.

17-18  God will distress the house of Israel so that they may realize that He is the living God and that these false gods are vain.

19-21  God is hurt on three fronts:  the Jews have left Him, they have turned to other gods, and they have defiled His house.  He is a Father who has been abandoned by His children, and then His children have the gall to find a new "father" and neglect their real Father's house until it falls into ruin.  See II Kings 12:4-6 for an example.

God repeats that the religious leaders are brutish, forsaking the knowledge of God for the knowledge of the heathen (v. 14).  As a result, they will be unable to prosper, and they will lose all of their congregation.

22  Repeating the declaration made in the forth chapter, God proclaims that a country from the north will come down to destroy Israel (Jer. 4:6, 6:1).  Noteworthy is that the Jews have exchanged the knowledge of the Lord for the knowledge of how to be brutish, and it is a brutish people who will destroy them.  Sin will destroy those who pursue it.

23-25  In response to God's message, Jeremiah prays on behalf of his people.  He reminds God that there is a distinction between the Jew and the heathen, God has claimed Israel as His sons, and on that basis He should bring judgment and not wrath upon the nation.  Jeremiah wants God to deal with the nation to correct it, not destroy it.  God's punishment can act as a corrective tool to an individual and to a nation.  Jeremiah also prays that God will completely destroy those who have led Israel away into sin.

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Thank you for your faithfulness in studying God’s word.
Please comment below to share what you learned from today's lesson.

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