Jeremiah 10:17 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, the prophet warns, in God’s name, of the near destruction of Judah and Jerusalem (Jeremiah 10:17-18). The Jews who still stayed in their own land after some had already been taken away were confident and careless. They thought of their country as a strong fortress, safe from attack. But they are told to get ready to leave, to pack up what they own, and to expect exile, as Micah said, “Arise, depart, this is not your rest” (Micah 2:10).

They must not leave their belongings spread out, because the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, are coming again to carry out God’s sentence. God says, “I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time” (Jeremiah 10:18). Before, people had been carried off in smaller groups, but this next captivity would be a complete clearing out. They would be thrown out as easily and fully as a stone flying from a sling, and little would remain of them. The image shows a sudden and total expulsion, like utter destruction (1 Samuel 25:29). God would shake the land again and remove the wicked from it (Hebrews 12:26).

God adds, “I will bring distress on them so they will feel it” (Jeremiah 10:18). He would not only drive them out of their land. Wherever they went, trouble would follow them. They would be restless, troubled, and unable to find peace within themselves. No one can make easy those whom God has chosen to distress, especially when he does so to make them feel what they once refused to believe. They had been warned often about the weight of God’s anger and their own helplessness before it. They had been told that sin would ruin them, but they would not listen. Now they would find it all true, and God’s judgments would force them to admit it. Sooner or later, sinners discover that God’s word was exactly right, and the warnings were not empty threats.

The prophet then brings in the people mourning their misery (Jeremiah 10:19). He says, “Woe is me for my hurt.” Some take this as Jeremiah’s own sorrow, not for himself, but for his country’s ruin. He mourned for those who would not mourn for themselves. Since no one else seemed to care enough, he wept in secret and cried out in grief. In times of sorrow, it is fitting to have a sorrowful spirit. But these words may also be the people’s own complaint, spoken as one body in the voice of one person. The prophet puts the words in their mouths, because whether they said them or not, they had reason to say them.

They first lament that their suffering is very great, and very hard to bear. It is all the worse because they were not used to trouble and did not expect it. “Woe is me for my hurt” means, “I am not grieving over what I fear, but over what I actually suffer.” This is not a small injury, but a deep wound, painful and dangerous. They also admit there is no remedy except patience. They cannot fix it, so they must endure it. Yet the spirit of their words is more sour than humble. It is a kind of forced patience, not a willing trust in God. A better response would be to say, “This is evil, but I will bear it, because God has willed it and his grace will turn it for good.” That is true submission, like Job’s words (Job 2:10). To say only, “I must bear it because I cannot help it,” is a low kind of patience. It shows little of the good thoughts we should keep about God even in suffering.

They also admit that the country is ruined and wasted (Jeremiah 10:20). “My tent is destroyed,” they say. Jerusalem, though it had seemed strong, now proves as fragile and movable as a tent when it is taken down and its cords are broken. The word may also point to the temple, the holy place, which had once been a tabernacle and is here spoken of in that way. Their church is in ruin, and the supports of it have failed. This is a full destruction of both church and state, city and country, and there is no one left to repair the damage. “My children have gone from me,” they say. Some have fled, some have been killed, and some taken captive. So far as they are concerned, they are gone. Jerusalem is left like an outcast, with no shelter, no one to stretch out her tent again, and no children left to set up her curtains or help her. Jerusalem has none to guide her from among her sons (Isaiah 51:18).

Finally, they complain that the leaders have done nothing to heal these wounds or rebuild what is broken (Jeremiah 10:21). “The shepherds have become foolish.” When the shepherds’ tents were destroyed, it should have moved the rulers to act. But they were senseless shepherds. The kings and princes cared little for the nation’s good and seemed unaware of the land’s ruin. The priests, who should have cared for God’s house, did much to bring religion down, but nothing to restore it. They are truly foolish because they have not sought the Lord. They did not seek peace with him or pray to him. They made plans without looking to God’s rule and did not believe either judgment or rescue would come from his hand.

Those are foolish people who do not seek the Lord, who live without prayer, and who live without God in the world. In that sense, every person is either holy or foolish. It is especially sad when the leaders, who should feed the people with knowledge and understanding, are themselves foolish. The result is clear: they will not prosper. No effort for public safety can succeed when God is left out. And when the shepherds are foolish, what else should be expected but that the flock will scatter? If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch.

The ruin of a people often comes from the dullness and spiritual blindness of their pastors. The report of the enemy’s approach was also very frightening, as Jeremiah 10:22 says. At first it had only been a rumor, passed around without proof, but now it proved to be true. A great uproar was rising out of the northern land, and it threatened to leave all the cities of Judah empty and ruin them like a den of wild animals.

Jerusalem and Judah had made themselves a den of thieves by their sin, so it was fitting that they would become a den of dragons. In the same way, when people harden themselves in evil, they cannot expect safety. What else can a place expect when it has filled itself with sin but to face judgment? The Chaldean army was coming with greed and fury, and the land was being brought low under their attack.

Jeremiah then turns from the people to God, because he finds it of little use to keep speaking to those who will not listen. This is a comfort to faithful ministers, if people refuse to hear them, God will hear them. They always have free access to him. When they finish preaching with prayer, as Jeremiah does here, they can know they have not labored in vain.

The prophet first admits the rule and power of God’s providence, his wise care over all events. It is not human choice or skill that directs the affairs of nations or individuals, as Jeremiah 10:23 says. This is a truth we should confess before God when we are suffering or asking for help. “Lord, I know and believe that human life is not directed by man alone. Nebuchadnezzar did not come against our land on his own, but by your providence.”

We cannot help ourselves unless God works with us and orders our deliverance. It is not in man, who is walking, to direct his own steps, even though he seems free to choose his path. Those who had promised themselves long possession of their land learned by bitter experience, when the Chaldeans drove them out, that the way of man is not in himself. Plans that men lay deep and think are secure can be shattered in a moment.

We must apply this to ourselves. We are not under our own control, but under God’s direction. Events often turn out opposite to what we intended or expected. We are not masters of our own way, so we must commit ourselves to God and accept his will. Some think Jeremiah also says this to comfort himself, since the Chaldean army’s way was not in their own hands either. They could do only what God allowed, and he can set limits for the proud waves and say, “So far, and no farther.”

That is a peaceful thought, because even the most threatening enemies have no power over us except what is given them from above. Jeremiah then pleads that God’s wrath would not fall on his own people, as in Jeremiah 10:24. He speaks not just for himself, but for the whole nation. “Lord, correct me, but with justice, in measure and with wisdom, only as much as is needed to drive out the foolishness that is bound up in our hearts. Do not correct me in anger.”

However severe the discipline may be, let it come from your love and be meant for our good. Do not let it destroy us, but bring us back to yourself. Let it be shaped by your grace, not by our sins alone. We cannot ask in faith never to be corrected while we know we need correction and deserve it. We also know that the Lord disciplines everyone he loves.

The main thing we should fear in trouble is the wrath of God. We should not only say, “Lord, do not correct me,” but, “Lord, do not correct me in anger.” His anger would add bitterness to suffering and bring us to ruin. We can bear the pain of his rod, but we cannot bear the weight of his wrath.

Finally, Jeremiah calls for God’s wrath against the oppressors and persecutors of Israel, in Jeremiah 10:25. “Pour out your fury on the nations that do not know you.” This is not the speech of hatred or personal revenge. Jeremiah is not trying to tell God whom to judge or in what order. Rather, he is appealing to God’s justice.

In effect, he is saying, “Lord, we are a sinful people, but are there not other nations that are even more guilty? Should we alone be punished? We are your children, so we may expect fatherly correction. They are your enemies, so your anger should fall on them, not on us.” This is usually how God deals. The cup given to his people is mixed with mercy, but the bitter dregs are kept for the wicked of the earth (Psalm 75:8).

This is also a prediction of God’s judgments on all stubborn enemies of his church and kingdom. If judgment begins with the house of God, what will happen to those who do not obey the gospel? (1 Peter 4:17). The nations here are described as people who are strangers to God and are willing to remain that way. They do not know him, and they do not want to know him. They are households with no prayer and no religion, and they do not call on God’s name.

People who hold back from prayer show that they do not know God. Those who know him will seek him and ask for his favor. These nations are also persecutors of God’s people, and they are determined to keep on being so. They have devoured Jacob with the greed of hungry people devouring food. They have consumed him and made his dwelling desolate, whether that means the land where he lives or the temple where God dwells among them.

What the nations do in rage and hatred against God’s people, even when God uses them as instruments of correction, will still bring down his anger on them. This prayer comes from Psalm 79:6, 7.