(12) He hath made . . . he hath established.--The words are participial in form, making . . .establishing, and complete the list of divine attributes in Jeremiah 10:10, contrasting the creative might of Jehovah with the impotence of the gods of the heathen.
The world.--As contrasted with the material earth, the inhabited world, the world considered in its relation to man, as in Proverbs 8:31.
Verses 12-16. - Repeated with a slight variation in Jeremiah 51:15-19. Verse 12. - He hath made the earth, etc. (comp. the frequent references to the Divine creatorship in the latter part of Isaiah (Isaiah 40:22; Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 45:12, 18; Isaiah 51:13). By his discretion; rather, by his understanding.
10:1-16 The prophet shows the glory of Israel's God, and exposes the folly of idolaters. Charms and other attempts to obtain supernatural help, or to pry into futurity, are copied from the wicked customs of the heathen. Let us stand in awe, and not dare provoke God, by giving that glory to another which is due to him alone. He is ready to forgive, and save all who repent and believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. Faith learns these blessed truths from the word of God; but all knowledge not from that source, leads to doctrines of vanity.
He hath made the earth by his power,.... The Targum considers these words as a continuation of the answer of the Jews to the Chaldeans, paraphrasing them thus,
"and so shall ye say unto them, `we worship him who hath made the earth by his power':''
who stands opposed to the gods that made not the heavens and the earth, that had no title to deity, nor right to worship; but the true God has both; and his making the earth out of nothing, and hanging it upon nothing, and preserving it firm and stable, are proofs of his almighty power, and so of his deity; and consequently that he ought to be worshipped, and he only.
He hath established the world by his wisdom; upon the rivers and floods; or he hath poised it in the air; or he hath disposed it in an orderly, regular, and beautiful manner, as the word (u) used signifies; by making it terraqueous, partly land, and partly water; by opening in it fountains and rivers; by diversifying it with hills and vales, with wood and arable land, &c.; all which show the wisdom as well as the power of God.
And hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion; as a canopy over the earth, as a tent to dwell in; and which is beautifully bespangled with the luminaries in it; hence it has the name of expanse, or the firmament of heaven.
(u) "aptavit", Cocceius; "preparans", Schmidt; a "aptavit, disposuit", Gussetius.
The world.--As contrasted with the material earth, the inhabited world, the world considered in its relation to man, as in Proverbs 8:31.
Discretion.--Better, skill.
"and so shall ye say unto them, `we worship him who hath made the earth by his power':''
who stands opposed to the gods that made not the heavens and the earth, that had no title to deity, nor right to worship; but the true God has both; and his making the earth out of nothing, and hanging it upon nothing, and preserving it firm and stable, are proofs of his almighty power, and so of his deity; and consequently that he ought to be worshipped, and he only.
He hath established the world by his wisdom; upon the rivers and floods; or he hath poised it in the air; or he hath disposed it in an orderly, regular, and beautiful manner, as the word (u) used signifies; by making it terraqueous, partly land, and partly water; by opening in it fountains and rivers; by diversifying it with hills and vales, with wood and arable land, &c.; all which show the wisdom as well as the power of God.
And hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion; as a canopy over the earth, as a tent to dwell in; and which is beautifully bespangled with the luminaries in it; hence it has the name of expanse, or the firmament of heaven.
(u) "aptavit", Cocceius; "preparans", Schmidt; a "aptavit, disposuit", Gussetius.