Jeremiah 16:20

Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? SHALL A MAN MAKE GODS UNTO HIMSELF - indignant protest of Jeremiah against idols. AND THEY ARE NO GODS - (; ; ). "They" refers to the idols. A man (a creature himself) making God is a contradiction in terms. The Vulgate takes "they" thus: 'Shall man make gods, Though men themselves are not gods?'...

Some frigidly explain this verse, as though the Prophet said that men are doubly foolish, who form for themselves gods from wood, stone, gold, or silver, because they cannot change their nature; for whatever men may imagine, the stone remains a stone, the wood remains wood. The sense then they elicit from the Prophet’s words is this — that they are not gods who are devised by the foolish imaginations of men. But the Prophet reasons differently, — “Can he who is not God make a god?” that is, “can he who is created be the creator?” No one can give, according to the common proverb, what he has not; and there is in man no divine power. We indeed see what our condition is; there is nothing more frail and perishable: as man then is all vanity, and has in him nothing solid, can he create a god for himself? This is the Prophet’s argument: it is drawn from what is absurd, in order that men might...

14-21 The restoration from the Babylonish captivity would be remembered in place of the deliverance from Egypt; it also typified spiritual redemption, and the future deliverance of the church from antichristian oppression. But none of the sins of sinners can be hidden from God, or shall be overlooked by him. He will find out and raise up instruments of his wrath, that shall destroy the Jews, by fraud like fishers, by force like hunters. The prophet, rejoicing at the hope of mercy to come, addressed the Lord as his strength and refuge. The deliverance out of captivity shall be a figure of the great salvation to be wrought by the Messiah. The nations have often known the power of Jehovah in his wrath; but they shall know him as the strength of his people, and their refuge in time of trouble....

Verse Jeremiah 16:20. _SHALL A MAN MAKE GODS UNTO HIMSELF?_] Can any be so silly, and so preposterously absurd? Yes, fallen man is capable of any thing that is base, mean, vile, and wicked, till influenced and converted by the grace of Christ....

EXPOSITION With this chapter should be taken the first eighteen verses of Jeremiah 17:1. The heading of the Authorized Version well expresses the contents of Jeremiah 17:1, provided that "the types" are understood to be typical actions of the prophet himself. "The prophet, under the types of abstaining from marriage, from houses of mourning and feasting, foreshoweth the utter ruin of the Jews." To the inquiry, why these calamities should come upon them, the old and well-known answer is to be given (Jeremiah 17:10), accompanied by a definite prediction of captivity (Jeremiah 17:13). Then, to relieve the p

SHALL A MAN MAKE GODS UNTO HIMSELF,.... Can a man make his own gods? a poor, weak, mortal man? can he make gods of gold, silver, brass, wood, or stone? can he put deity into them? and when he has made images of these, can he be so stupid as to account them gods, and worship them? can he be so sottish, and void of understanding, as to imagine that anything that is made by himself or any other, can be God? AND THEY ARE NO GODS; that are made by men; he only is the true God, that is the Maker and Creator of all things; or they are no gods themselves that pretend to make them, and therefore how should they make gods? can they give that which they have not? or impart deity to others which they have not themselves? These words are a continuation of the speech of the Gentiles, and contain their reasonings, exposing the folly of their idolatrous ancestors: though some take them to be the words...

THE COMING CALAMITIES: RESTORATION PROMISED, RUIN IMMINENT ON ACCOUNT OF JUDAH'S SIN AND CONCERNING THE SABBATH (16-17) CHAPTER 16 _ 1. The coming calamities (Jeremiah 16:1) _ 2. The coming days of restoration and blessing (Jeremiah 16:14) Jeremiah 16:1. In view of the coming calamities Jeremiah is bidden to remain unmarried and not to raise a family. The verses which describe the coming calamities need no further annotations. Jeremiah 16:14. The great dispersion was announced by the Lord in the preceding verse: “Therefore will I cast you out of this land, into a land that ye know

JEREMIAH 16:1 TO JEREMIAH 17:18. THE COMING DISTRESS A PENALTY FOR SIN. The prophet is forbidden to found a family, because of the coming sorrows (_cf._ 1 Corinthians 7:29 ff.), in which death will be too common even for due mourning and burial. He is to stand aloof from the ordinary expressions of grief (Jeremiah 16:5) or social joy (Jeremiah 16:8 f.; _cf._ Jeremiah 7:34), as a sign that Yahweh will make both to cease in the universal dis

MAN. Hebrew. _'adam_. App-14....

Du. rejects all these _vv_. Co. omits 9 13, suspects the genuineness of 14, 15 both here and in Jeremiah 23:7 f., and rejects 16, as well as portions of 17 21. Gi. retains of the whole series only Jeremiah 16:19, while admitting (_Metrik_) that 20, 21 _may_be genuine. Schmidt denies the genuineness of 14 21. There is thus a considerable consensus of authorities against the passage, but their arguments do not appear conclusive except as to 14, 15. See further in individual notes. According to Gi. (_Metrik_) metre is doubtful or non-existent, except in 7, 8, 19 21....