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Commentary on Jeremiah 10 verses 17–25
In these verses,
I. The prophet threatens, in God's name, the approaching ruin of Judah and Jerusalem, Jer 10:17, Jer 10:18. The Jews that continued in their own land, after some were carried into captivity, were very secure; they thought themselves inhabitants of a fortress; their country was their strong hold, and, in their own conceit, impregnable; but they are here told to think of leaving it: they must prepare to go after their brethren, and pack up their effects in expectation of it: "Gather up thy wares out of the land; contract your affairs, and bring them into as small a compass as you can. Arise, depart, this is not your rest," Mic 2:10. Let not what you have lie scattered, for the Chaldeans will be upon you again, to be the executioners of the sentence God has passed upon you (Jer 10:18): "Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once; they have hitherto dropped out, by a few at a time, but one captivity more shall make a thorough riddance, and they shall be slung out as a stone out of a sling, so easily, so thoroughly shall they be cast out; nothing of them shall remain. they shall be thrown out with violence, and driven to a place at a great distance off, in a little time." See this comparison used to signify an utter destruction, Sa1 25:29. Yet once more God will shake their land, and shake the wicked out of it, Heb 12:26. He adds, And I will distress them, that they may find it so. He will not only throw them out hence (that he may do and yet they may be easy elsewhere); but, whithersoever they go, trouble shall follow them; they shall be continually perplexed and straitened, and at a loss within themselves: and who or what can make those easy whom God will distress, whom he will distress that they may find it so, that they may feel that which they would not believe? They were often told of the weight of God's wrath and their utter inability to make head against it, or bear up under it. They were told that their sin would be their ruin, and they would not regard nor credit what was told them; but now they shall find it so; and therefore God will pursue them with his judgments, that they may find it so, and be forced to acknowledge it. Note, sooner or later sinners will find it just as the word of God has represented things to them, and no better, and that the threatenings were not bugbears.
II. He brings in the people sadly lamenting their calamities (Jer 10:19): Woe is me for my hurt! Some make this the prophet's own lamentation, not for himself, but for the calamities and desolations of his country. He mourned for those that would not be persuaded to mourn for themselves; and, since there were none that had so much sense as to join with them, he weeps in secret, and cries out, Woe is me! In mournful times it becomes us to be of a mournful spirit. But it may be taken as the language of the people, considered as a body, and therefore speaking as a single person. The prophet puts into their mouths the words they should say; whether they would say them or no, they should have cause to say them. Some among them would thus bemoan themselves, and all of them, at last, would be forced to do it. 1. They lament that the affliction is very great, and it is very hard to them to bear it, the more hard because they had not been used to trouble and now did not expect it: "Woe is me for my hurt, not for what I fear, but for what I feel;" for they are not, as some are, worse frightened than hurt. Nor is it a slight hurt, but a wound, a wound that is grievous, very painful, and very threatening. 2. That there is no remedy but patience. They cannot help themselves, but must sit still, and abide it: But I said, when I was about to complain of my wound, To what purpose is it to complain? This is a grief, and I must bear it as well as I can. This is the language rather of a sullen than of a gracious submission, of a patience per force, not a patience by principle. When I am in affliction I should say, "This is an evil, and I will bear it, because it is the will of God that I should, because his wisdom has appointed this for me and his grace will make it work for good to me." This is receiving evil at the hand of God, Job 2:10. But to say, "This is an evil, and I must bear it, because I cannot help it," is but a brutal patience, and argues a want of those good thoughts of God which we should always have, even under our afflictions, saying, not only, God can and will do what he pleases, but, Let him do what he pleases. 3. That the country was quite ruined and wasted (Jer 10:20): My tabernacle is spoiled. Jerusalem, though a strong city, now proves as weak and moveable as a tabernacle or tent, when it is taken down, and all its cords, that should keep it together, are broken. Or by the tabernacle here may be meant the temple, the sanctuary, which at first was but a tabernacle, and is now called so, as then it was sometimes called a temple. Their church is ruined, and all the supports of it fail. It was a general destruction of church and state, city and country, and there were none to repair these desolations. "My children have gone forth of me; some have fled, others are slain, others carried into captivity, so that as to me, they are not; I am likely to be an outcast, and to perish for want of shelter; for there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, none of my children that used to do it for me, none to set up my curtains, none to do me any service." Jerusalem has none to guide her of all her sons, Isa 51:18. 4. That the rulers took no care, nor any proper measures, for the redress of their grievances and the re-establishing of heir ruined state (Jer 10:21): The pastors have become brutish. When the tents, the shepherds' tents, were spoiled (Jer 10:20), it concerned the shepherds to look after them; but they were foolish shepherds. Their kings and princes had no regard at all for the public welfare, seemed to have no sense of the desolations of the land, but were quite besotted and infatuated. The priests, the pastors of God's tabernacle, did a great deal towards the ruin of religion, but nothing towards the repair of it. They are brutish indeed, for they have not sought the Lord; they have neither made their peace with him nor their prayer to him; they had no eye to him and his providence, in their management of affairs; they neither acknowledged the judgment, nor expected the deliverance, to come from his hand. Note, Those are brutish people that do not seek the Lord, that live without prayer, and live without God in the world. Every man is either a saint or a brute. But it is sad indeed with a people when their pastors, that should feed them with knowledge and understanding, are themselves thus brutish. And what comes of it? Therefore they shall not prosper; none of their attempts for the public safety shall succeed. Note, Those cannot expect to prosper who do not by faith and prayer take God along with them in all their ways. And, when the pastors are brutish, what else can be expected but that all their flocks should be scattered? For, if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch. The ruin of a people is often owing to the brutishness of their pastors. 5. That the report of the enemy's approach was very dreadful (Jer 10:22): The noise of the bruit has come, of the report which at first was but whispered and bruited abroad, as wanting confirmation. It now proves too true: A great commotion arises out of the north country, which threatens to make all the cities of Judah desolate and a den of dragons; for they must all expect to be sacrificed to the avarice and fury of the Chaldean army. And what else can that place expect but to be made a den of dragons which has by sin made itself a den of thieves?
III. He turns to God, and addresses himself to him, finding it to little purpose to speak to the people. It is some comfort to poor ministers that, if men will not hear them, God will; and to him they have liberty of access at all times. Let them close their preaching with prayer, as the prophet, and then they shall have no reason to say that they have laboured in vain.
1.The prophet here acknowledges the sovereignty and dominion of the divine Providence, that by it, and not by their own will and wisdom, the affairs both of nations and particular persons are directed and determined, Jer 10:23. This is an article of our faith which it is very proper for us to make confession of at the throne of grace when we are complaining of an affliction or suing for a mercy: "O Lord, I know, and believe, that the way of man is not in himself; Nebuchadnezzar did not come of himself against our land, but by the direction of a divine Providence." We cannot of ourselves do any thing for our own relief, unless God work with us and command deliverance for us; for it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps, though he seem in his walking to be perfectly at liberty and to choose his own way. Those that had promised themselves a long enjoyment of their estates and possessions were made to know, by sad experience, when they were thrown out by the Chaldeans, that the way of man is not in himself; he designs which men lay deep, and think well-formed, are dashed to pieces in a moment. We must all apply this to ourselves, and mix faith with it, that we are not at our own disposal, but under a divine direction; the event is often overruled so as to be quite contrary to our intention and expectation. We are not masters of our own way, nor can we think that every thing should be according to our mind; we must therefore refer ourselves to God and acquiesce in his will. Some think that the prophet here mentions this with a design to make this comfortable use of it, that, the way of the Chaldean army being not in themselves, they can do no more than God permits them; he can set bounds to thee proud waves, and say, Hitherto they shall come, and no further. And a quieting consideration it is that the most formidable enemies have no power against us but what is given them from above.
2.He deprecates the divine wrath, that it might not fall upon God's Israel, Jer 10:24. He speaks not for himself only, but on the behalf of his people: O Lord, correct me, but with judgment (in measure and with moderation, and in wisdom, no more than is necessary for driving out of the foolishness that is bound up in our hearts), not in thy anger (how severe soever the correction be, let it come from thy love, and be designed for our good and made to work for good), not to bring us to nothing, but to bring us home to thyself. Let it not be according to the desert of our sins, but according to the design of thy grace. Note, (1.) We cannot pray in faith that we may never be corrected, while we are conscious to ourselves that we need correction and deserve it, and know that as many as God loves he chastens. (2.) The great thing we should dread in affliction is the wrath of God. Say not, Lord, do not correct me, but, Lord, do not correct me in anger; for that will infuse wormwood and gall into the affliction and misery that will bring us to nothing. We may bear the smart of his rod, but we cannot bear the weight of his wrath.
3.He imprecates the divine wrath against the oppressors and persecutors of Israel (Jer 10:25): Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not. This prayer does not come from a spirit of malice or revenge, nor is it intended to prescribe to God whom he should execute his judgments upon, or in what order; but, (1.) It is an appeal to his justice. As if he had said, "Lord, we are a provoking people; but are there not other nations that are more so? And shall we only be punished? We are thy children, and may expect a fatherly correction; but they are thy enemies, and against them we have reason to think thy indignation should be, not against us." This is God's usual method. The cup put into the hands of God's people is full of mixtures, mixtures of mercy; but the dregs of the cup are reserved for the wicked of the earth, let them wring them out, Psa 75:8. (2.) It is a prediction of God's judgments upon all the impenitent enemies of his church and kingdom. If judgment begin thus at the house of God, what shall be the end of those that obey not his gospel? Pe1 4:17. See how the heathen are described, on whom God's fury shall be poured out. [1.] They are strangers to God, and are content to be so. they know him not, nor desire to know him. They are families that live without prayer, that have nothing of religion among them; they call not on God's name. Those that restrain prayer prove that they know not God; for those that know him will seek to him and entreat his favour. [2.] They are persecutors of the people of God and are resolved to be so. They have eaten up Jacob with as much greediness as those that are hungry eat their necessary food; nay, with more, they have devoured him, and consumed him, and made his habitation desolate, that is, the land in which he lives, or the temple of God, which is his habitation among them. Note, What the heathen, in their rage and malice, do against the people of God, though therein he makes use of them as the instruments of his correction, yet he will, for that, make them the objects of his indignation. This prayer is taken from Psa 79:6, Psa 79:7.
(Verse 19.) Woe is me for my brokenness, my grievous wound. LXX: Woe is you for your brokenness, your grievous wound. According to the Hebrew text, Jerusalem itself speaks, expressing that it has been heavily afflicted and endures an incurable wound. However, according to the LXX, it is the Prophet who speaks to Jerusalem and laments over its brokenness and its wound.
But I say, truly this is my weakness (or my wound), and I will bear it (or it seizes me). Jerusalem itself speaks: whatever I suffer, I suffer by my own fault: I understand my wound which seizes me, or I will endure the wrath of the Lord, for I have sinned against Him.
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SUMMARY
Jeremiah 10:19 captures the prophet Jeremiah's profound personal lament and sorrow over the impending, grievous judgment upon the kingdom of Judah. Despite the intense pain and the devastating nature of the coming "wound" and "grief," Jeremiah expresses a sorrowful resignation, acknowledging that this calamity is a just consequence of the nation's unfaithfulness and one that he, as both prophet and citizen, must bear. This verse encapsulates the prophet's deep empathy for his people's suffering, even as he faithfully declares God's righteous decree.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: Jeremiah 10:19 is strategically placed within a chapter that starkly contrasts the incomparable power and sovereignty of the true God with the impotence and vanity of idols. The preceding verses, Jeremiah 10:1-16, serve as a powerful theological polemic, asserting Yahweh's unique role as Creator and Sustainer, in stark opposition to the crafted images of human hands. Following this grand theological declaration, the tone abruptly shifts in Jeremiah 10:17-18, where the prophet issues a dire warning for the inhabitants of Judah to prepare for exile, as God is about to "sling out" the inhabitants of the land. It is into this immediate context of national judgment and impending displacement that Jeremiah 10:19 introduces a deeply personal lament, making the abstract threat of judgment concrete through the prophet's own anguish. The verses immediately following, Jeremiah 10:20-22, continue this lament, portraying Jerusalem as a desolate tent and describing the terrifying approach of the enemy from the North, confirming the reality of the prophesied destruction.
Historical & Cultural Context: Jeremiah prophesied during a tumultuous period in Judah's history, spanning the reigns of several kings (Josiah, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah) leading up to the Babylonian exile. The nation was steeped in idolatry and had repeatedly rejected God's covenant, despite numerous warnings from prophets like Jeremiah. The "hurt" and "wound" in this verse refer to the impending invasion and destruction by the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which would culminate in the siege of Jerusalem and the exile of its people. This was not merely a political defeat but a theological catastrophe, as it represented the breaking of the covenant and the loss of the promised land. Culturally, lament was a common and accepted form of expression in ancient Israel, often found in psalms and prophetic books, allowing individuals and communities to voice their pain, grief, and even protest to God, while often concluding with an act of trust or resignation. Jeremiah's lament here is deeply rooted in this tradition, expressing the collective anguish of his people through his own personal suffering.
Key Themes: This verse powerfully contributes to several overarching themes in the book of Jeremiah. Firstly, it highlights Prophetic Anguish and Burden, showcasing Jeremiah's profound suffering as he embodies the message of judgment he is compelled to deliver. His pain is not selfish but an empathetic identification with his people's fate, reflecting the heavy cost of being God's messenger (Jeremiah 9:1). Secondly, it underscores the theme of Consequences of Disobedience, as the "hurt" and "wound" are direct results of Judah's persistent idolatry and rebellion against God's covenant (e.g., Jeremiah 7:24). The "grief" is a deserved outcome, demonstrating God's righteous judgment against sin. Thirdly, it speaks to Sovereignty and Submission, as Jeremiah's painful resignation ("I must bear it") signifies an acceptance of God's unalterable decree, even when it brings immense personal sorrow. This submission to divine will, despite the anguish, is a recurring motif in the prophet's life (Jeremiah 20:9).
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Jeremiah 10:19 is rich in Lament and Pathos, immediately drawing the reader into the prophet's profound emotional state. The use of the interjection "Woe is me!" serves as an Exclamation, signaling intense distress and setting a mournful tone. The terms "hurt" and "wound" function as Metaphors for the national catastrophe, personalizing the impending destruction and making it tangible as a physical injury to the prophet. This Personification of the national suffering through Jeremiah's body emphasizes his deep empathy and identification with his people's fate. The phrase "Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it" employs Resignation and Acceptance, marking a shift from raw anguish to a somber acknowledgment of an inescapable reality. The Repetition of ideas related to pain and suffering ("hurt," "wound," "grievous," "grief") amplifies the sense of overwhelming sorrow and the severity of the impending judgment.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Jeremiah 10:19 stands as a poignant testament to the prophet's unique role as a bridge between God and His rebellious people. It highlights the theological truth that God's judgment, while painful, is always righteous and a consequence of persistent sin. Jeremiah's personal suffering mirrors the divine sorrow over human rebellion, revealing a God who does not delight in punishment but allows it as a necessary outcome of covenant breaking. The prophet's willingness to "bear" the grief, even when it is not his personal sin but the nation's, foreshadows a greater suffering servant who would bear the sins of many. This verse underscores the reality that faithfulness to God's word often involves sharing in the suffering of a fallen world, even when one is innocent of the specific transgressions.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Jeremiah 10:19 offers a profound invitation to acknowledge and process deep sorrow, even when that sorrow stems from circumstances beyond our control or from the consequences of collective sin. Jeremiah's lament is not a sign of faithlessness but a raw, honest expression of a heart broken by the reality of sin and its devastating effects. It teaches us that true empathy means feeling the pain of others, even when their suffering is self-inflicted. Furthermore, the prophet's eventual resignation—"I must bear it"—speaks to the difficult but necessary acceptance of certain realities. There are burdens, whether personal or communal, that we are called to endure, not in passive despair, but in a posture of submission to God's ultimate sovereignty and justice. This verse challenges us to consider our own responses to suffering, both personal and societal, and to cultivate a heart that grieves over sin and its consequences, while also trusting in the righteous purposes of God.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why is Jeremiah often called the "weeping prophet," and how does this verse exemplify that title?
Answer: Jeremiah is known as the "weeping prophet" due to the pervasive themes of lament, sorrow, and deep emotional anguish found throughout his book. His prophecies are filled with expressions of personal pain and despair over the impending judgment on Judah, which he faithfully proclaimed despite his own suffering. Jeremiah 9:1 is another prime example where he wishes his head were a spring of tears to weep for his slain people. Jeremiah 10:19 exemplifies this title perfectly, as it is a raw, personal cry of "Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous," directly expressing his profound sorrow and empathetic identification with the national catastrophe. His tears were not just for himself, but for the spiritual and physical devastation awaiting his beloved people.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Jeremiah's lament in Jeremiah 10:19 finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, bore the grief and anguish of his people's sin and the impending judgment, identifying deeply with their suffering. Yet, his burden was a shadow of the infinitely greater burden that Jesus would willingly take upon Himself. Jesus, the true suffering servant, bore not merely the consequences of one nation's sin, but the collective "hurt" and "wound" of all humanity's rebellion against God. His cry in the Garden of Gethsemane, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39), echoes Jeremiah's painful resignation, "I must bear it," but on a cosmic scale. On the cross, Jesus truly became the one who "bore our griefs and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4), taking upon Himself the "grievous wound" of sin and death, not as a consequence of His own wrongdoing, but as the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Thus, Jeremiah's personal lament, while deeply significant, points forward to the divine sorrow and redemptive suffering of Christ, who bore the ultimate grief so that we might find healing and eternal life.