The Strand Study Bible

JEREMIAH JEREMIAH Street), and in human wisdom (academic world), which is the opposite of what God says to glory in (vs 24): lovingkindness (biblical charity), judgment (biblical justice), and righteousness (biblical principles). Our strength as a nation is not found in our might, but in His might, which is based upon spiritual principles and moral values. Today America is just coasting along, and when you start coasting, you are going downhill. NOTE – People of intellect ( Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom ), people in politics ( neither let the mighty man glory in his might ) and people of wealth ( let not the rich man glory in his riches ) should never impress us as believers. What should impress us is a knowledge and understanding of the Lord (vs 24). 10:1 Chapter 10 ( Hear ye the word ) concludes Jeremiah’s fifth and final message in the gate of the Temple . 10:2 People today are still doing what they did in Jeremiah’s day–substituting something for God. Sadly, God’s people have always had substitutes for God. While some make “themselves” the object of their worship (Dan 4:29-32), others worship the world, its money, fame, intellect and approval ( II Tim 4:10 ). Here in chapter 10:1-2 Jeremiah points to another god, an old god, that the Israelites were worshipping other than God –astrology ( the signs of heaven ). NOTE – The oldest depiction we have of the classical constellations comes from the marble statue of the ancient Greek Titan Atlas (c. 150 AD) On his back, Atlas is holding up the heavens, displaying 41 of the 48 constellations. This means, whoever invented the constellations didn’t live in the southern hemisphere, where 7 of the constellations that are missing can be clearly seen from the south celestial pole. The size of the unmapped region of the southern sky on Atlas’ globe can tell us the latitude of the people who created the constellations. Since there are no classical constellations within 36 degrees of the South Pole, the inventors of the Zodiac must have lived at a latitude of about 36 degrees north, a latitude which would have included only 41 of the 48 constellations. Since we know that the Greeks, under Eudoxus (390-340 BC), copied their constellations from the Egyptians, and the Egyptians copied their constellations from the Babylonians, then the Babylonians had to be the inventors of the Zodiac... and they were ( Gen 11:4 ). Edward M. Murphy in Our Night Sky notes: 1161

Our modern constellations are based on 48 Greek constellations described by the ancient astronomer Claudius Ptolemaeus in Almagest, a mathematical treaties written around A.D. 150. The constellations that he recorded had been part of the Greek tradition for hundreds of years. In fact, evidence indicates that some of the classical constellations arose in Mesopotamia around 2000 B.C. in the Sumerian and Babylonian cultures. 1

10:3-4 Unfortunately, there are some who hold to the belief that these two verses (vs 3-4) speak out against the celebration of Christmas and against the cutting down of Christmas trees in order to decorate them. However, these verses are in reference to idols made out of wood, not Christmas trees. J. Vernon McGee in Thru the Bible Commentary : The Prophets (Jeremiah/ Lamentations ) notes:

There are some folks who interpret Jeremiah’s denunciation of idolatry to be condemnation of the modern Christmas tree. That is utterly preposterous and ridiculous. Jeremiah is not talking about Christmas trees–nobody in his day had a Christmas tree! He is talking to his people about worshipping idols. “The customs of the people are vain”–they are empty. Obviously Jeremiah is talking about idolatry. He is ridiculing with bitter irony the idolatry of his day. He reminds them that they go out to the woods, cut down a tree, shape it into an image, deck it with silver and gold, fasten it with nails–and that’s their god! It is like worshiping a scarecrow! Now, my friend, if at Christmas time you fall on your knees before your Christmas tree and worship it, Jeremiah’s warning could have reference to you. But I don’t know of even an unsaved pagan in the country who worships a Christmas tree. They use it as a decoration, then throw it out with the trash when Christmas is over. Rather than worshiping a Christmas tree, the danger I see is the worship of self at Christmastime– getting everything possible for self. 2

NOTE – The tradition of cutting down Christmas trees didn’t even originate for another 2,000 years. Which means: While it is true that CHRIST probably wasn’t born on December 25th (He was probably born in the summer or early fall) and that December 25th just happened to be a pagan holiday (the festival of Dies Invicti Solis, the Day of the Invincible Sun), which celebrated the birthday of a false god; it is also true that the early Church, sometime during the fourth century, purposely picked this same day to celebrate “the Day of the Unconquerable SON,” so as to rival that pagan festival. The same is true for Easter ( Acts 12:4 ). Although Christmas and Easter have certainly become overly traditionalized and commercialized events, as Christians, we should keep in mind the reason why the early Church chose these days to celebrate the birth, death, burial, and resurrection of our SAVIOR –it was to rival pagan festivals.

1 Murphy, Edward M. Our Night Sky , Chantilly, VA, The Great Courses, 2010. Print. 2 McGee, J. Vernon. Thru the Bible Commentary: The Prophets (Jeremiah/Lamentations), Nashville, TN, Thomas Nelson, 1991. Print