Jeremiah 10:2
SIGNS OF HEAVEN - Extraordinary appearances, such as eclipses, comets, and the like, which seemed to the pagan to portend national calamities. To attribute importance to them is to walk in pagan ways.... [ Continue Reading ]
SIGNS OF HEAVEN - Extraordinary appearances, such as eclipses, comets, and the like, which seemed to the pagan to portend national calamities. To attribute importance to them is to walk in pagan ways.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CUSTOMS - Better, as the marg, “the ordinances,” established institutions, “of the peoples, i. e.” pagan nations.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DECK IT - It was covered with plates of gold and silver, and then fastened with nails in its place, that it might not “more, i. e.” tumble down. The agreement in this and the following verses with the argument in Isa. 40–44 is so manifest, that no one can doubt that the one is modelled upon th... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE UPRIGHT ... - Rather, “They are like a palm tree of turned work, i. e.” like one of those stiff inelegant pillars, something like a palm tree, which may be seen in oriental architecture. Some translate thus: “They are like pillar’s in a garden of cucumbers, i. e.” like the blocks set up to... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AS MUCH AS - Or, “No one is like unto thee, O Jehovah.” In Jeremiah 10:6, the prophet contrasts God’s greatness with the impotence of idols.... [ Continue Reading ]
O KING OF NATIONS - i. e., pagan nations. Yahweh is not the national God of the Jews only, but He reigns over all mankind Psalms 22:28. IT - i. e., everything. IN ALL THEIR KINGDOMS - More correctly, “in all their royalty or kingship.”... [ Continue Reading ]
BRUTISH - Jeremiah 10:21 and foolish Theirs was the brutishness of men in a savage state, little better than mere animals: their folly that of stupidity. THE STOCK ... - Rather, the instruction of idols is a piece of wood. That is what they are themselves, and “ex nihilo nihil fit” (from nothingnes... [ Continue Reading ]
Or, “It is a piece of wood (Jeremiah 10:8 note); yea, beaten silver it is, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz: it is the work etc.” TARSHISH ... UPHAZ - See the marginal reference and Genesis 10:4. Possibly Uphaz was a place in the neighborhood of the River Hyphasis. BLUE AND PURP... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse is (in the original) in Chaldee. It was probably a proverbial saying, which Jeremiah inserts in its popular form.... [ Continue Reading ]
DISCRETION - Or, understanding. The three attributes ascribed to the Creator are very remarkable. The creation of the earth, the material world, is an act of “power;” the “establishing,” i. e., the ordering and arranging it as a place fit for man’s abode, is the work of his “wisdom;” while the sprea... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN ... - i. e., the rushing downpour of rain follows immediately upon the thunder. The rest of the verse is identical with marginal reference; but probably the words belong to Jeremiah, the Psalm being of comparatively late date. WITH RAIN - For the rain Psalms 135:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HIS KNOWLEDGE - Rather, “without knowledge; i. e., on comparing his powerless idols with the terrific grandeur of a tropical thunderstorm the man who can still worship them instead of the Creator is destitute of knowledge. EVERY FOUNDER ... - Or, “every goldsmith is put to shame etc.” He has exh... [ Continue Reading ]
Rather, “They are vanity, a work of mockery,” deserving only ridicule and contempt.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PORTION, OF JACOB - i. e., Yahweh. He is not like gods made by a carpenter and goldsmith. OF ALL THINGS - literally, of the all, the universe. THE ROD OF HIS INHERITANCE - See Psalms 74:2; compare Isaiah 63:17. The rod is the scepter, and Israel the people over whom Yahweh especially rules.... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophet now returns to the main subject of his sermon, the conquest of Judaea. THY WARES - Rather, thy bundle, which could contain a few articles for necessary use, and be carried in the hand. They are going into exile. O INHABITANT OF THE FORTRESS - i. e., thou that art besieged, that inhabit... [ Continue Reading ]
SLING OUT - A similar metaphor for violent ejection occurs in Isaiah 22:18 (see the note). AT THIS ONCE - Or, “at this time.” Previous invasions had ended either in deliverance, or at most in temporary misfortune. God’s long-suffering is exhausted, and this time Judaea must cease to be an independe... [ Continue Reading ]
The lamentation of the daughter of Zion, the Jewish Church, at the devastation of the land, and her humble prayer to God for mercy. Jeremiah 10:19 GRIEVOUS - Rather, “mortal,” i. e., fatal, incurable. A GRIEF - Or, “my grief.” Jeremiah 10:20 TABERNACLE - i. e., “tent.” Jerusalem laments that her... [ Continue Reading ]