Jeremiah

Chapter 10:1-10 (ESV) - Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the LORD:

“Learn not the way of the nations,
    nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
    because the nations are dismayed at them,
for the customs of the peoples are vanity.
A tree from the forest is cut down
    and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
They decorate it with silver and gold;
    they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so that it cannot move.
Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
    and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
    for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
    for they cannot do evil,
    neither is it in them to do good.”

There is none like you, O LORD;
    you are great, and your name is great in might.
Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
    For this is your due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms
    there is none like you.
They are both stupid and foolish;
    the instruction of idols is but wood!
Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
    and gold from Uphaz.
They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
    their clothing is violet and purple;
    they are all the work of skilled men.
But the LORD is the true God;
    he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
    and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

Question to consider: Why would people worship a carved idol when it can’t move, talk, or do anything for them?

Even though Moses described the creation of the planets and stars as signs for appointed times (seasons), days and years, the LORD did not mean them to be used as omens to predict world events. Even Daniel, the king of the Magi, may have used star mappings to point to the era in which the Messiah would arrive in Bethlehem, but he did not encourage the Magi to use the stars to predict the future. Daniel did not receive his prophetic word from the stars but from the angel Gabriel who announced the immutable word of God.

Philosophers like Plato actually believed that spiritual power and reason were given to the stars themselves so the LORD described their practices as vanity because they were worthless pursuits. In addition to their vain astrology, the pagans fashioned their gods out of wood, metal and stone. The LORD’s description of their craftsmanship and effort in building them demonstrated what a waste of time their efforts were, for their objects of worship were incapable of movement or speech, and could do no evil (nor any good).

Jeremiah’s response was to marvel at the uniqueness of God and wonder why kings would stupidly fear idols over the living God. When I was growing up, I used to watch the Brady Bunch, and I remember a two-part episode where the family traveled to Hawaii, and Peter and Bobby found a Tiki idol which people warned would bring them bad luck. After a series of creepy misfortunes, the boys try to return the idol to a Tiki cave to ward off their bad luck. Attributing powers to a stone statue is as stupid and foolish as worshiping the false gods of the nations after being delivered from Egypt by the one true God of Israel.

A craftsman carved a beautiful idol out of a desire to control it. The living God has commands and expectations. A false god lets a person worship in the manner they desire and holds no power over them. People want to have the experience of worship without accountability to the object of their worship. They want to worship God in the manner they choose which only works if God does not exist. The living God has an opinion about how we are to come to Him in worship.

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, thank You for demonstrating Your love for us in giving us life and salvation through Christ. May we seek to worship You in the manner in which You deserve, and love Your church in the same manner as Christ who gave Himself up for her. Amen.