Jeremiah 10:25, commentary and pictures

The verse is a prayer asking God to pour out His fury on the nations that do not know Him and on the households that do not call on His name, because they have devoured Jacob and laid his dwelling waste. It places prayerless families in the same class as the heathen, separate from those who call on God, a distinction that applies to His professed people now as much as to Israel and the nations then. To call on His name is for the whole household to acknowledge and worship Him together in daily family prayer, morning and evening around the family altar with the father as priest, after the pattern of the morning and evening sanctuary service. A home where that altar has fallen and vocal prayer is heard no more lies under His indignation and curse and cannot expect His blessing, and for those who profess to love God and look for His coming there is no excuse in cares, business, or weariness. Where the altar is kept, with Scripture, song, thanksgiving, confession, and prayer for guidance and protection, God gives special blessing with strength against temptation and trial, but where it is neglected holy influence and power are lost and children drift into the world and are lost.

Words and Context

The chapter sets the living God apart from false gods by the single fact that he made heaven and earth, and that fact of creation lies at the foundation of the Sabbath institution, so that the seventh-day Sabbath stands as the sign of allegiance to the one true and living God as distinguished from all other gods.

It is a prayer that fury be poured out on the heathen who do not know God and on the families who do not call on his name, because they have eaten up Jacob and devoured and consumed him and made his habitation desolate. Neglect of daily morning and evening prayer and of drawing near through the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour puts even Christian families among those who have eaten up and devoured Jacob and made his habitation desolate, leaves them outside the life of worship, and is one of the chief causes of a worldly state and unfruitfulness. A household that fails to call on God places itself under divine judgment with the ungodly, and the warning applies not to neglect, hurry through, or omit worship in the home.

Families that call not on God's name are classed with the heathen that know him not and fall under indignation and fury, and are set apart as distinct from those who call on him. Their failure to acknowledge and worship him together as families is offensive to him, whether they are among the nations or among Israel, and families are accountable to invoke him in the family setting. This obligation applies to God's people now as much as in Jeremiah's time, and is no less serious among them than among other nations. The same classification applies to habitual neglect of public worship as home heathenism, while blessing belongs to families that call upon him.

The distinction between those who call on God's name and families who do not, upon whom fury is poured out, shows Lot was pious, since he and his family were delivered from the destruction of Sodom, which implies he maintained a family altar.

Call to Family Worship

To call upon the name of God is for a household to acknowledge and worship him together in united family prayer, and not merely for its members to pray apart as individuals, and though no express command enjoins family prayer, the prophetic denunciation and the threatened outpouring of divine wrath show it to be a required duty.

To call upon his name is to keep morning and evening worship in the home after the pattern of the sanctuary, where the morning and evening burnt offering was made, incense was burned, the lamps were trimmed, and the people without joined in prayer. In that worship the father acts as priest of the household, gathering all its members night and morning around the family altar in prayer and praise, with the early morning hours set apart as the best time for the whole household to meet together.

That meeting is to join reading of the Word of God with song and grateful praise for daily providence, with earnest prayer of thanksgiving committing all to God, with confession of sins, and with invoking heaven's guidance, protection, and help before the duties, dangers, temptations, and trials of the day and for keeping from sin. It belongs with daily Bible reading and self-examination in the light of the Word, with earnest secret prayer continued until petitions are heard, and with parents praying daily both with and for their families, instead of hurrying through worship or omitting it.

The prayer pronounces indignation, fury, wrath, and a curse for this time upon prayerless families, so a home where the family altar has fallen down and vocal prayer is heard no more is in a sad and dangerous condition and cannot expect the blessing of God. That danger is especially solemn for those who profess to love God and to belong to him while looking for the Lord, who have no excuse whether they never began the duty or once kept it and then let cares of the world, riches, pleasures, pressing business in the morning, and weariness at night make the heart cold until prayer ceases, for to crowd out family worship by making the cares of life first is backsliding from the day it is omitted.

Even Christian families that neglect daily morning and evening prayer and the daily religion of drawing near to God through the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour are thereby numbered among those that have eaten up Jacob and devoured him and made his habitation desolate. Their neglect of prayer and praise leaves them outside the life of worship that belongs to the people of God, and to pass days without remembering God, praying to him, and thanking him for his care and provision is ingratitude and disrespect that brings judgment. Such neglect is one of the chief causes of a worldly and unfruitful state, and the same placing among the heathen that call not on his name applies to habitual neglect of public worship as home heathenism.

Where the family altar is neglected the spiritual influence suffers and the spiritual atmosphere changes, and holy influence, strength against temptation, comfort in sorrow, and power for burden-bearing are lost, until children drift into the world and are lost to sorrow. Where God is loved and honored and the altar is rightly kept, his special blessing rests upon the home with strength, with a taste of divine things, with a relish for public worship, and with power to withstand temptation and trial from the world, self, and Satan.