Jeremiah 10:20

My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. MY TABERNACLE IS SPOILED - metaphor from the tents of nomadic life; as these are taken down in a few moments, so as not to leave a vestige of them, so Judea (). CORDS - with which the coverings of the tent are extended. CURTAINS - tent-curtains....

This metaphor may have been taken from shepherds, and it seems suitable here; yet the prophets often compare the Church to a tent. Though indeed it is said elsewhere that the Church is built on the holy mountains, (Psalms 87:1) and great firmness is ascribed to it, yet, as to its external condition, it may justly be said to be like a tent, for there is no fixed residence for God’s children on earth, for they are often constrained to ehange their place; and hence Paul speaks of the faithful as unsettled. (1 Corinthians 4:11.) But as, in the next verse, mention is made of shepherds, the Prophet seems here to refer to the tents of shepherds. Though indeed he takes hereafter the similitude more generally, or in a wider sense, yet there is no reason why he should not allude to the shepherds of whom he afterwards speaks, and yet retain the metaphor which so often occurs

17-25 The Jews who continued in their own land, felt secure. But, sooner or later, sinners will find all things as the word of God has declared, and that its threatenings are not empty terrors. Submission will support the believer under every grief allotted to him; but what can render the load of Divine vengeance easy to be borne by those who fall under it in sullen despair? Those cannot expect to prosper, who do not, by faith and prayer, take God with them in all their ways. The report of the enemy's approach was very dreadful. Yet the designs which men lay deep, and think well formed, are dashed to pieces in a moment. Events are often overruled, so as to be quite contrary to what we intended and expected. If the Lord has directed our steps into the ways of peace and righteousness, let us entreat him to enable us to walk therein. Say not, Lord, do not correct me; but, Lord, do not corr...

Verse Jeremiah 10:20. _MY TABERNACLE IS SPOILED_] The city is taken, and all our villages ruined and desolated....

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 tent is plundered and her children carried into exile, and so “are not,” are dead Matthew 2:18, either absolutely, or dead to her in the remote land of their captivity. They can aid the widowed mother no longer in pitching her tent, or in hanging up the curta

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...

MY TABERNACLE IS SPOILED,.... Not the temple at Jerusalem only, rather Jerusalem itself, as Kimchi; or the whole land, as the Targum, "my land is wasted:'' the allusion is to the tents of shepherds, and denotes the unstable condition of the Jewish nation: AND ALL MY CORDS ARE BROKEN: all the rest of the cities of the land are destroyed, as Kimchi; and so the Targum, "my cities are spoiled:'' as the cords are what the parts of the tabernacle or tent are fastened and kept together with, they may intend the strength of the nation, which lay in its wealth, its fortresses, and the numbers of its people, now weakened, loosed, and broke. MY CHILDREN ARE GONE FORTH OF ME; into captivity, as the Targum interprets it; the prophet, representing Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah. The Septuagint adds, "and my sheep"; keeping on the metaphor of a shepherd, his tent, and flock. And t

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 DEPARTURE INTO EXILE. The personified community is told to pick up its bundle (_mg.),_ and prepare for the inevitable exile. She bewails her hurt and her spoilt dwelling. These troubles, says the prophet, come from her unwise rulers (shepherds), and already are upon her. Identifying himself with the people, he pleads with Yahweh for mercy in judgment, on the ground of man's weakness. (Jeremiah 10:23 should be repointed and rendered, Not for man is it to walk and direct his steps.) Jeremiah 10:25 can hardly be Jeremiah's; its cry for vengeance on the heathen contradicts his attitude towards the nations as the Divinely commissioned instruments of Yahweh's wrath against His people's sin. (Omit yea, they have devoured him, with LXX, and with the parallel cited in _mg._)...