J E R E M I A H.
CHAP. X.
We may conjecture that the prophecy of this chapter was delivered after the first captivity, in the time of Jeconiah or Jehoiachin, when many were carried away to Babylon; for it has a double reference:-- I. To those that were carried away into the land of the Chaldeans, a country notorious above any other for idolatry and superstition; and they are here cautioned against the infection of the place, not to learn the way of the heathen (Jeremiah 10:1; Jeremiah 10:2), for their astrology and idolatry are both foolish things (Jeremiah 10:3-5), and the worshippers of idols brutish, Jeremiah 10:8; Jeremiah 10:9. So it will appear in the day of their visitation, Jeremiah 10:14; Jeremiah 10:15. They are likewise exhorted to adhere firmly to the God of Israel, for there is none like him, Jeremiah 10:6; Jeremiah 10:7. He is the true God, lives for ever, and has the government of the world (Jeremiah 10:10-13), and his people are happy in him, Jeremiah 10:16. II. To those that yet remained in their own land. They are cautioned against security, and told to expect distress (Jeremiah 10:17; Jeremiah 10:18) and that by a foreign enemy, which God would bring upon them for their sin, Jeremiah 10:20-22. This calamity the prophet laments (Jeremiah 10:19) and prays for the mitigation of it, Jeremiah 10:23-25.