Jeremiah 10

Jeremiah 10:1-25 . CONTRAST BETWEEN THE IDOLS AND JEHOVAH. THE PROPHET'S LAMENTATION AND PRAYER.

1. Israel--the Jews, the surviving representatives of the nation.

2. 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 Chaldeans, famed as astrologers, through contact with whom the Jews were likely to fall into the same superstition.
way--the precepts or ordinances ( Leviticus 18:3 , Acts 9:2 ).
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, eclipses, comets, &c. are included.
one cutteth a tree, &c.--rather, "It (that which they busy themselves about: a sample of their 'customs') is a tree cut out of the forest" [MAURER].

4. fasten . . . move not--that is, that it may stand upright without risk of falling, which the god (!) would do, if left to itself ( Isaiah 41:7 ).

5. upright--or, "They are of turned work, resembling a palm tree" [MAURER]. The point of comparison between the idol and the palm is in the pillar-like uprightness of the latter, it having no branches except at the top.
speak not--( Psalms 115:5 ).
cannot go--that is, walk ( Psalms 115:7 , Isaiah 46:1 Isaiah 46:7 ).
neither . . . do good--( Isaiah 41:23 ).

6. none--literally, "no particle of nothing": nothing whatever; the strongest possible denial ( Exodus 15:11 , Psalms 86:8 Psalms 86:10 ).

7. ( Revelation 15:4 ).
to thee doth it appertain--to Thee it properly belongs, namely, that Thou shouldest be "feared" (taken out of the previous "fear Thee") (compare Ezekiel 21:27 ). He alone is the becoming object of worship. To worship any other is unseemly and an infringement of His inalienable prerogative.
none--nothing whatever Psalms 89:6 ).

8. altogether--rather, "all alike" [MAURER]. Even the so-called "wise" men ( Jeremiah 10:7 ) of the Gentiles are on a level with the brutes and "foolish," namely, because they connive at the popular idolatry (compare Romans 1:21-28 ). Therefore, in Daniel and Revelation, the world power is represented under a bestial form. Man divests himself of his true humanity, and sinks to the level of the brute, when he severs his connection with God ( Psalms 115:8 , Jonah 2:8 ).
stock is a doctrine of vanities--The stock (put for the worship of all idols whatever, made out of a stock) speaks for itself that the whole theory of idolatry is vanity ( Isaiah 44:9-11 ). CASTALIO translates, "the very wood itself confuting the vanity" (of the idol).

9. Everything connected with idols is the result of human effort.
Tarshish--Tartessus, in Spain, famed for precious metals.
Uphaz--( Daniel 10:5 ). As the Septuagint in the Syrian Hexapla in the Margin, THEODOTUS, the Syrian and Chaldee versions have "Ophir," GESENIUS thinks "Uphaz" a colloquial corruption (one letter only being changed) for "Ophir." Ophir, in Genesis 10:29 , is mentioned among Arabian countries. Perhaps Malacca is the country meant, the natives of which still call their gold mines Ophirs. HEEREN thinks Ophir the general name for the rich countries of the south, on the Arabian, African, and Indian coasts; just as our term, East Indies.
cunning--skilful.