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771. Bible Study: Jeremiah 10 (God and Idols) · Faith by annm2705

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  Jeremiah chapter 10. Dear Lord, please be with us as
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  we read through this chapter and give us wisdom and insight.
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  We ask for this in Jesus name. Hear what the Lord says to you
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  people of Israel. This is what the Lord says.
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  Do not lead, learn the ways of the nations, or be terrified by
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  signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them,
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  for the practices of the people are worthless.
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  They cut a tree out of the forest.
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  A Craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
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  They adorn it with silver and gold.
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  They fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter like
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  a scarecrow in a cucumber field. Their idols cannot speak, they
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  must be carried because they cannot walk.
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  Do not fear them. They can do no harm, nor can
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  they do any good. No one is like you, Lord.
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  You are great and your name is mighty in power.
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  Who should not fear you? Who should not fear you, King of
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  the nations? This is your due.
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  Among all the wise leaders of the nations and in all their
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  kingdoms, there is no one like you.
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  They all are senseless and foolish.
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  They are taught by worthless wooden idols.
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  Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Euphaz.
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  What the Craftsman and Goldsmith have is is dressed in blue and
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  purple, all made by skilled workers.
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  But the Lord is the true God. He is the living God, the
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  eternal King. When he is angry, the earth
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  trembles. The nations cannot endure his
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  wrath. Tell them this.
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  These gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will
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  perish from the earth and from under the heavens.
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  But God made the earth by his power.
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  He founded the world by his wisdom, and he stretched out the
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  heavens by his understanding. When he thunders, the waters in
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  heaven roar, He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth,
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  He sends lightning with the rain, and he brings out the wind
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  from his storehouses. Everyone is senseless and
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  without knowledge. Every Goldsmith is shamed by his
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  idols. The images he makes are a fraud.
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  They have no breath in them. They are worthless, the objects
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  of mockery. When their judgment comes, they
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  will perish. He who is the portion of Jacob
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  is not like these, for he is the maker of all things, including
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  Israel, the people of his inheritance.
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  The Lord Almighty is His name. Gather up your belongings to
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  leave the land, you who live under siege.
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  For this is what the Lord says. At this time I will hand out, I
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  will hurl out those who live in this land.
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  I will bring distress on them so they may be captured.
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  Woe to me because of the of my injury.
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  My wound is incurable, yes. Yet I said to myself, this is my
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  sickness and I must endure it. My tent is destroyed, all its
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  ropes are snapped. My children are gone from me and
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  are no more. No one is left now to pitch my
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  tent or to set up my shelter. The shepherds are senseless and
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  do not inquire of the Lord. They do not prosper, and all
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  their flock is scattered. Listen, the report is coming, a
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  great commotion from the land of the North.
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  It will make the towns of Judah desolate, a haunt of jackals.
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  Lord, I know that people's lives are not their own.
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  It is not for them to direct their steps.
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  Decide or discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure, not in
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  your anger, or you will reduce me to nothing.
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  Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge
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  You, on the peoples who do not call on your name, For they have
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  devoured Jacob, and they have devoured him completely and
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  destroyed his homeland. So I'll go through the questions
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  and answers for this. So what were the frightening
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  signs in the heavens? Eclipses, meteorites, comets,
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  and other celestial occurrences were considered signs of good or
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  evil in the ancient Near East. People who thought astrology
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  influenced their lives could easily find they had omens in
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  the stars. Why would people believe that
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  wooden and metal figures had power?
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  They probably believed that a God, a spiritual being, resided
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  within each idol. But there may have been other,
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  more practical concerns to stay on good terms with their
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  Assyrian overlords. For example, the people of Judah
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  had imported Assyrian idols. Why did Jeremiah write this
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  verse? In Aramaic, the specific message
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  highlighting the differences between the one true God and the
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  false gods of the nations was targeted to Pagan idolaters who
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  probably understood aromatic Aramaic better than Hebrew.
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  Aramaic was the language of diplomacy during this period.
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  The other major Aramaic passages in the Old Testament are Ezra,
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  and then there's some in Daniel. Also the earth.
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  God made the earth by his power. This section, repeated almost
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  verbatim in other parts of the Bible, is also repeated in
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  Psalms. Prophets sometimes drew from
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  other scriptures and incorporated them into their
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  teaching. How was God the portion of
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  Jacob? As Jacob, meaning all the people
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  of Israel belonged to God, so God in another sense belonged to
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  Jacob. This was an expression of the
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  intimate relationship between God and his people.
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  What was Jeremiah's injury? He was suffering mental torment
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  and spiritual anguish over the sin of the people of Israel.
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  He also saw that his countrymen were headed for suffering and
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  torment, the unavoidable results of their sinful ways.
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  The coming invaders would ensure would would injure Judah, taking
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  its sons into captivity. Why was he worried about his
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  tent? Jeremiah described his people's
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  impending suffering by using the image of a Bedouin family whose
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  home and children are destroyed. Since nomadic tribes owned no
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  real estate, their tents represented all their personal
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  possessions. What shepherds was he talking
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  about? Shepherds is a metaphor for the
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  leaders of Judah. Flock is a metaphor for the
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  people of Judah. Jeremiah considered the leaders
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  mostly to blame for Judah's predicament.
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  What was this land of the north? This refers to Babylon and her
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  allies. Although Babylon was actually
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  located east of Judah, the normal military route from
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  Babylon to Judah was not a straight east West line.
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  Instead, the Babylonians had to travel around the expansive
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  Arabian desert that lay between Babylon and Judah.
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  The attackers from the east would therefore enter Judah from
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  the north. Why did Jeremiah pray so humbly?
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  After all his previous accusations, Jeremiah fully
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  identified with his people. He wanted to be judged by the
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  same standards by which he had judged them.
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  In spite of, in spite of all the indications of God's wrath,
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  Jeremiah prayed that God would finally judge him and Judah with
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  justice, not anger. Why did Jeremiah ask God to
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  judge the nations that God used to punish Judah?
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  Because sin is still sin. It is true that Babylon's
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  destruction of Judah was put to a holy use by God.
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  Nevertheless, rape, murder, and pillage went were sins for which
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  Babylon would eventually be judged.
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  Though the Babylonians unwittingly fulfilled God's
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  purposes, they still had to answer for the excessive methods
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  and ungodly motives. They slaughtered God's people
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  and raised Jerusalem for their own interest, not God's.
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  And that's the end of chapter 10 for today, and the next time we
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  will hit, I'll go to Chapter 11.