Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.
Jeremiah 10:17 belongs to a denunciation of Israel's idolatry, showing that outward temple worship is of no avail while the people remain ungodly, treacherous and shameless and practice abominations such as those of Topheth. Its surrounding passage describes heathen idols and their worship in order to set forth the power to create and the work of creation as the distinguishing characteristics of the true God, so that the gods that did not make heaven and earth shall perish while the portion of Jacob is the Maker and Former of all things. Because the fact that God made heaven and earth lies at the foundation of the Sabbath institution, the chapter presents the creation Sabbath as God's seal, sign and memorial of the exercise of creative power.
Sabbath truth and Sabbath obligation center in the work of creation and in the right of the Creator. The Sabbath alone in the law shows who the Lawgiver is, distinguishes Him from other gods, and furnishes His title of royalty, the extent of His dominion as Creator of heaven and earth, and His right to reign. Willfulness, including sin against the Sabbath in which there is always true recognition of God as Creator and Redeemer, will soon be punished by the swift avenger Babylon, so that without heeding the Sabbath with all that the Sabbath means Jerusalem would not stand forever and the nation would not be preserved. The verse reflects a desperate state of sin over which the prophet weeps and is almost discouraged by lack of response, yet still pleads with God not to disgrace the throne of His glory.
Jeremiah 10:17 belongs to a denunciation of Israel's idolatry, showing that outward temple worship is of no avail while the people remain ungodly, treacherous and shameless and practice abominations such as those of Topheth. Its surrounding passage describes heathen idols and their worship in order to set forth the power to create and the work of creation as the distinguishing characteristics of the true God, so that the gods that did not make heaven and earth shall perish while the portion of Jacob is the Maker and Former of all things. Because the fact that God made heaven and earth lies at the foundation of the Sabbath institution, the chapter presents the creation Sabbath as God's seal, sign and memorial of the exercise of creative power.
Sabbath truth and Sabbath obligation center in the work of creation and in the right of the Creator. The Sabbath alone in the law shows who the Lawgiver is, distinguishes Him from other gods, and furnishes His title of royalty, the extent of His dominion as Creator of heaven and earth, and His right to reign. Willfulness, including sin against the Sabbath in which there is always true recognition of God as Creator and Redeemer, will soon be punished by the swift avenger Babylon, so that without heeding the Sabbath with all that the Sabbath means Jerusalem would not stand forever and the nation would not be preserved. The verse reflects a desperate state of sin over which the prophet weeps and is almost discouraged by lack of response, yet still pleads with God not to disgrace the throne of His glory.