Jeremiah 10:2

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. LEARN NOT THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN, AND BE NOT DISMAYED AT THE SIGNS OF HEAVEN. Eichorn thinks the reference here to be to some celestial portent which had appeared at that time, causing the Jews dismay. Probably the reference is general, namely, to the Chaldees, famed as astrologers, through contact with whom the Jews were likely to fall into the same superstition. WAY - the precepts or ordinances (, "If he found any of this way," i:e., religion). SIGNS OF HEAVEN. The Gentiles did not acknowledge a Great First Cause: many thought events depended on the power of the stars, which some, as Plato, thought to be endued with spirit and reason. All heavenly phenomena are included,...

_Learn not, _he says, _the way of the nations _The Hebrew grammarians take אל _, al _ את _at. _(2) Way, we know, is everywhere taken for all those customs and habits by which human life is regulated, He then forbids them to pay attention to the rules of life observed by the Gentiles. And one thing he specifies, _Be not terrified by celestial signs. _He afterwards shews how vain were the practices of the Gentiles; being devoted to idols, they worshipped them in the place of God, though framed by the skill of man. But there are other words added, _For the heathens are terrified by them _There is a threefold exposition of this clause. Some take כי, _ki, _properly a causative, in the sense of כ _, caph, _which denotes likeness, “as the Gentiles are terrified by them.” Others r

1-16 The prophet shows the glory of Israel's God, and exposes the folly of idolaters. Charms and other attempts to obtain supernatural help, or to pry into futurity, are copied from the wicked customs of the heathen. Let us stand in awe, and not dare provoke God, by giving that glory to another which is due to him alone. He is ready to forgive, and save all who repent and believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. Faith learns these blessed truths from the word of God; but all knowledge not from that source, leads to doctrines of vanity....

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 settlers before their eyes. _BE NOT DISMAYED AT THE SIGNS OF HEAVEN; FOR THE HEATHEN ARE_ _DISMAYED_] The Chaldeans and Egyptians were notoriously addicted to astrology; and the Israelites here are cautioned against it. The _signs_ of the heavens may mean either the _sun, moon, planets_, and particular _stars_ or _constellations_; or the _figures_ or _characters_ by which they represented these heavenly bodies....

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....

EXPOSITION Whoever wrote the prophecy in Jeremiah 10:1 of this chapter, it was not Jeremiah; but of course, as the passage forms part of a canonical book, its claims to the character of a Scripture remain the same as if it were the work of our prophet. It is obvious at the very outset that it interrupts the connection; verses 17-25 stand in no relation to verses 1-16, but attach themselves most naturally (see below) to the concluding verses of Jeremiah 9:1. The author tolls us himself, as clearly as he can, that the people whom he addresses are free as yet (or at any rate have freed themselves) from the guilt of idolatry, and consequently cannot be the same as those who are so severely chastised for their polytheism in...

THUS SAITH THE LORD, LEARN NOT THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN,.... Of the nations round about them, particularly the Chaldeans; meaning their religious ways, their ways of worship, their superstition and idolatry, which they were very prone unto, and many of which they had learned already; and were in danger of learning more, as they were about to be dispersed in divers countries, and especially in Chaldea, which was a very superstitious and idolatrous nation: AND BE NOT DISMAYED AT THE SIGNS OF HEAVEN; by which are meant, not any extraordinary signs, such as are predicted in Joel 2:30, and by our Lord, as signs of the last destruction of Jerusalem, and of his coming, and of the end of the world, Matthew 24:3, but ordinary signs, which are no other than the sun, and moon, and stars, which are set up for

Jeremiah 10:1. _Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them._ Among the heathen, if certain stars were in conjunction, it was considered unlucky; and certain days of the week were also regarded as unlucky, just as to this day, there are people who think that it is very unfortunate to commence anything on a Friday. There are a great many foolish superstitions floating about this silly world, but you Christian people should never allow such follies to have any influence upon you. Neither the fiends of hell, nor the stars of heaven, can ever injure those who put their trust in God. Jeremiah 10:3. For the customs of the

CHAPTER 10 The Vanity of Idols _ 1. Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven (Jeremiah 10:1) _ 2. The contrast: The vanity of idols and the Lord, the King of Nations (Jeremiah 10:6) 3. The affliction of the prophet and his prayer (Jeremiah 10:19) Jeremiah 10:1. The heathen paid attention to the signs of heaven, such as eclipses, comets, meteoric showers, etc. They were dismayed at these things. All they did, their customs and observances in connection with idol worship, was nothing but vanity. J

THE FOLLY OF IDOLATRY, This passage (like Jeremiah 9:23) interrupts the connexion of Jeremiah 9:22 and Jeremiah 10:17; its denunciation of the idols of the heathen as utterly futile for good or evil relates it to the times of Deutero-Isaiah (_cf._ Isaiah 44:11 ff.), and sharply distinguishes it from the denunciation of Israel's syncretistic worship, and the declaration of its penalty, found in Jeremiah 7-9. Israel is urged to hold aloof from the heathen religion of its environment. The idol is but a human product (Jeremiah 10:3 _mg._)