This is what the Lord says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless…Their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good…But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.” (Jeremiah 10:2-3, 5, 10)

In this study we are covering Jeremiah 10:1-16, which is quite unique in the Book of Jeremiah. It is almost as if the Prophet takes a break from all the pressing issues of the day that usually occupy his attention. It is as though he decides to stand back from all the things that are happening in Jerusalem, in the provincial towns and villages and on the international scene. In this poem he simply contrasts the idols that people worship with the one true God of all Creation – the God of Israel.

It is a powerful piece that is very enlightening for our understanding of Jeremiah’s own faith. He doesn’t deny the reality of other gods, but directs his fire upon their uselessness. Three times he uses the Hebrew word hebel (10:3, 8, 15) which the NIV translates as ‘worthless’. Literally hebel means vapour or nothingness. These idols are false gods; they have no spirit or vitality – they are simply nothingness!

Powerful Contrast

Jeremiah then characterises the false gods by the things they cannot do: they cannot move, they cannot speak, they cannot walk, they cannot do evil, they cannot do good: in fact, they are all “senseless and foolish and nothingness” (verse 8). They have no life in them.

Then comes the contrast: the God of Israel is the God of Creation. He is the one true and only God; he is the living God who has made all things. He is the one who actually does things: he “made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding” (Jer 10:12).

Jeremiah doesn’t deny the reality of other gods, but directs his fire upon their uselessness.

In contrast to the idols who are fashioned by the hands of men and cannot move, but have to be carried, the God of Israel is a God of action – he actually does things. He has made, has established, has stretched out; he thunders, he sends lightning, he brings out and he forms things. In other words, the contrast is between the lifeless pieces of wood and metal shaped by human hands and the unchanging God of Creation.

The appellations of the God of Israel are stunning: he is “The True God”, “The Living God”, “The Eternal King” (Jer 10:10), He is “The Portion of Jacob”, “The Maker of all things”, “The Lord Almighty” is his name (Jer 10:16).

The contrast is so powerful that Jeremiah doesn’t have to draw any implications. It is sufficient simply to draw the contrast between the lifeless objects worshipped by idolaters and the God of Israel who is the one true and only God. He is the one who created the whole universe and who continues to exercise his power over the whole of Creation. He is in charge of the weather, sending storms with thunder and lightning and gale-force winds, demonstrating that he is a God of action - not a lifeless object.

The gods of the nations are unable to do anything, they cannot even talk, therefore they should not be feared (Jer 10:5). By contrast, the God of Israel, the Living God, is the one who should be feared: “When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath” (Jer 10:10). The idols will perish, but the God of Creation who founded the world is everlasting.

Just as Idolatrous Today

The background to this poetic declaration is that as the rumours concerning the approaching Babylonian army grew stronger in Judah and Jerusalem, the people increasingly began to make little images of the gods of Babylon and to offer prayers to them, in the hope that this would ward off the attack of their army. Jeremiah knew that not only was this worthless but it was a distraction from the only action that could save them, which was repentance and putting their trust in the God of Israel.

They had nothing to fear from the gods of Babylon that were only vapour, lifeless, useless! They certainly had no power to save the people of Israel from the judgment they richly deserved for their faithlessness in breaking the covenant with God and worshipping idols.

Jeremiah knew that the idolatry of the people was not only worthless – it was a distraction from the only action that could save them.

It is quite amazing how attractive idolatry was to the people of Israel. Even among the exiles in Babylon there was idolatry: they had not learned the lesson of their folly in not being faithful to the God of Creation. Powerful warnings had to be given to them: “All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless” [hebel] (Isa 44:9). Ezekiel had to deal with the same problem: “You continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day” (Ezek 20:31).

Despite all our education and sophistication today, we are just as idolatrous as those in the ancient world. We worship ourselves, or money – and anything which promises meaning or status, including art, paying huge sums of money for old paintings. We love collectables, we fill our houses with trinkets, we beat metal into the shape of cars and lovingly care for them as more than just vehicles – as status symbols. We worship technology, staring all day long at phones and ardently pursuing the latest gadgets. We are just as idolatrous as the people of Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s day.

This article is part of a series on the life and ministry of the Prophet Jeremiah. Click here to read previous instalments.