Jeremiah 10:6

Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord,.... None like him, for the perfections of his nature, for the works of his hands, and for the instances of his kindness and beneficence, both in a

Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.

Forasmuch; this particle Nj min, is to be taken here causally, and refers either to what goes before, showing there is no comparison between God and idols; or rather, to what follows, as the ground and reason of all due subjection to God, as in the next verse. Thy name is great, or, thou art transcendently great, in might, i.e. though idols may have something of a name in the world among the heathen, yet there was nothing of their real power or might seen; or if the devil might act something through them to delude the world, yet nothing to be compared with that might that hath manifested itself in God’ s works, 111:6. All the works of idols are either none, or feeble and weak, .

Jeremiah 10:6 Forasmuch as [there is] none like unto thee, O LORD; thou [art] great, and thy name [is] great in might.Ver. 6. Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee.] None of all these dii minutuli, these dunghill deities, are worthy to be named in the same day with thee. Thou art great.] God is great; greater; greatest; greatness itself. He is a degree above the superlative. Think the same of other his names and attributes, many of which we have here mentioned in this and the following verses; which are therefore highly to be prized, and oft to be perused. Leonard Lessius, a little before his death, finished his book concerning the fifty names of almighty God; often affirming, that in that little book he had found more light and spiritual support under those grievous fits of the stone which he suffered, than in all his voluminous commentaries upon Aquinas’ s sums, which he had well nigh fitted for the press. Ex Vita Lessii.

(6) Forasmuch as.—A somewhat flat addition to the Hebrew text, which opens with a vigorous abruptness, None is there like unto thee . . .Great in might.—The latter is an almost technical word (as in Isaiah 33:13; Psalms 21:13; Psalms 145:11) for the Divine Omnipotence. (Compare “the Mighty God” of Isaiah 9:6.)

Ch. Jeremiah 10:1-16. The folly of idolatry It is now generally recognised that this passage is a later insertion, for (a) it breaks the connexion between Jeremiah 9:1-22 and Jeremiah 10:17 ff.; while by its omission the train of thought in the former is carried on smoothly in the latter; (b) elsewhere the people have been rebuked for being already devoted to idolatry (Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 7:31), but here they are addressed as sincere and convinced worshippers of Jehovah, and are warned against imagining that idols are possessed of any real power, a warning which would be well adapted to the circumstances of the exiles in Babylon, surrounded as they were with its elaborate idol worship; (c) elsewhere Jeremiah’s argument is, “Expect no help from vain gods; they cannot save you” (Jeremiah 2:28, Jeremiah 11:12); here the argument is, “Do not fear them, they cannot harm you.” See LOT. p. 254. This does not indeed preclude the possibility that the passage is one which the prophet himself addressed at a later date to his brethren in captivity, and in fact it contains certain of his expressions, viz. vain, vanity, as applied to idols (Jeremiah 10:3; Jeremiah 10:15), in the time of their visitation (Jeremiah 10:15). But the style generally is not that of Jeremiah, and resembles that of the second Isaiah (chs. 40–66), so that it may at any rate be attributed to that period. The MT. is an expansion of the original form of the Hebrew. This is shewn both by the superiority in logical sequence exhibited on the whole (but see on Jeremiah 10:10) by the text of the LXX in the way of omission as well as change of order (see on Jeremiah 10:5-8; Jeremiah 10:10), and by the smoothness of metre which results from the adoption of the Greek form of text. Co. points out that we then have from Jeremiah 10:2 onwards a series of clauses arranged in triplets, presenting a clear and well articulated connexion of thought. So too Gi. (in Jeremias Metrik) with slight differences in detail. Du. shortens the passage still further. We may add that Baruch, ch. 6 (The Epistle of Jeremy) is partly an amplification of this passage by one who was very familiar with particulars of the idolatry as practised at Babylon. The passage may be summarized thus. (i) Jeremiah 10:1-5. Be not led away by heathen beliefs. The phenomena seen in the sky have no element of divinity about them. The gods are nothing beyond the materials put together by workmen. They are speechless, and incapable of movement. They are powerless both for good and for harm. (ii) Jeremiah 10:6-16. Jehovah is not as these. He is the supreme God, Creator of the heavens and of the world, and Wielder of the powers of nature. The peoples of the earth may well tremble before Him, who has created all things and has chosen Israel for His own.

For as much as - Or, “No one is like unto thee, O Jehovah.” In Jeremiah 10:6-11, the prophet contrasts God’s greatness with the impotence of idols.

THE JEHOVAH, Jeremiah 10:6-11.6. Forasmuch — A complete misapprehension of the force of the original, which is a double negative, doubtless employed for purposes of emphasis — none like unto thee.