1. Jérémie 51:15–19 (NEG79)
  2. Explication du texte

How is the Lord unlike idols created by human hands?  

Jérémie 51:15–19 (NEG79)

15 Il a créé la terre par sa puissance, Il a fondé le monde par sa sagesse, Il a étendu les cieux par son intelligence.

A poem follows, in Jeremiah 51:15–19, in which the Lord is compared to false man-made gods. The same poem, with a few changes, is used in Jeremiah 10:12–16 to expose Judah’s foolishness for trusting in idols instead of the Lord. The purpose of the poem in Jeremiah 51:1–64 is to declare the majesty and superiority of the Lord as the one who decrees the destruction of Babylon.1 This highlights again that idolatry is one of the major reasons that the Lord judges Babylon.

The Lord is the Creator who made the heavens and the earth by his great power and wisdom. He not only spoke it all into existence, but it is according to his design and purpose. There are clear similarities here with Proverbs 3:19–20. The Lord continues to sustain it and control it. When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from its storehouse. Even the most powerful and seemingly unruly elements of creation are commanded by the Lord. This is in stark contrast with the idols made by men and worshipped in Babylon. Those who create idols are left looking stupid and without knowledge as their false images fail them and put them to shame. These gods are dead and powerless, they have no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion. Man-made gods are a product of foolishness that comes from minds that have been darkened because of hearts that have suppressed the truth about the Lord and replaced him with images. These false, dead images will perish with their creators when the Lord comes in judgment. Not so the Lord. He is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The Lord not only created everything but he has and will show himself to be the faithful covenant God whose plans and purposes for his world, as revealed through his dealings with Israel, will not fail. Israel’s God is the true god, not the man-made gods of Babylon, or any other nation.