Does Jeremiah 10:3-5 Talk About Christmas Trees?
I remembered the time I was newly reading the Bible, after I switched to the King James Bible that I read Jeremiah 10:3-5 which seemed to suggest about Christmas trees. The passage says, "For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of a forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree but they speak not: they must needs be borne because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them: for they cannot do evil, neither also it in them to do good."
When one looks at Jeremiah 10:3-5 in context, one has to even see the rest of the context. The more I read it, the more I really see that it in context, we can read in Jeremiah 10:14 talks about graven images when it says, "Every man is brutish in his knowledge, every founder is confounded by the grave iamge: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them."
Even Jeremiah 10:5 is already suggesting that the whole entry is not about Christmas trees but about idols when you need the phrases that they speak not and that they need to be carried because they cannot walk. Take a look at the diagram above and you will see that Psalm 115 mentions also about idols having mouths but they cannot speak and having feet but they cannot walk.
While the Puritans didn't celebrate Christmas because of its links to Roman Catholicism, even classical Protestant and Baptist commentators did not talk about Christmas trees. In the Geneva study Bible, the comments all talk about idolatry. For some Baptists who made the mistake, here's what John Gill has to say about Jeremiah 10:3-5:
For the customs of the people are vain
Or, "their decrees", or "statutes" F15, their determinations and conclusions, founded upon the observation of the stars; or, their "rites and ceremonies" F16 in religion, in the worship of the sun and moon, and the hosts of heaven. The Syriac version is, "the idols of the people are nothing"; and which appears by what follows: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest (the work of the hands of the workman) with the axe:
not for building, or for burning, but to make a god of; the vanity, stupidity, and folly of which are manifest, when it is considered that the original of it is a tree that grew in the forest; the matter and substance of it the body and trunk of a tree cut down with an axe, and then hewed with the same, and planed with a plane, and formed into the image of a man, or of some creature; and now, to fall down and worship this must be vanity and madness to the last degree; see ( Isaiah 44:13-17 ) ( 45:20 ) .
They deck it with silver and with gold
Cover it with plates of silver and gold, for the sake of ornament, that it may look grand, majestic, and venerable; and by this means draw the eye and attention, and so the devotion of people to it: they fasten it with nails and hammers, that it move not.
The sense is, either that the idol was fastened to some post or pillar, or in some certain place on a pedestal, that it might not fall, it not being able otherwise to support itself; or the plates of silver and gold, as Kimchi thinks, were fastened to the idol with nails and hammers, that so they might not be taken away from it; for, were it not for the nails, the god would not be able to keep his silver and golden deckings.
They are upright as the palm tree
Being nailed to a post, or fastened to a pillar, or set upon a pedestal, and so stand erect without bending any way; and are like a palm tree, which is noted for its uprightness; hence the church's stature is compared to it, ( Song of Solomon 7:7 ) , here it is a sarcasm, and a bitter one: but speak not; man, that is of an erect stature, in which he differs from other creatures, has the faculty of speech, which they that go upon four feet have not; but the idols of the Gentiles, though erect, have not the power of speaking a word; and therefore can give no answer to their worshippers; see ( Psalms 115:5 ) ( 1 Kings 18:26 ) , they must needs be borne:
or, "in carrying be carried" F17; when being made they are fixed in the designed place, or are moved from place to place; they are then carried in men's arms, or on their shoulders: because they cannot go;
they have no life, and so are incapable of motion of themselves; they have feet, but walk not; and cannot arise and bestir themselves for the help of those that pray unto them, ( Psalms 115:7 ) , be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil;
that is, inflict judgment, cause drought, famine, or pestilence, or any other evil or calamity: neither is it also in them to do good;
to give rains and fruitful seasons, or bestow any favour, temporal or spiritual; see ( Jeremiah 14:21 ) .
While I certainly can't blame the Puritans for choosing not the celebrate Christmas during their time because of all the debauchery and idolatry involved, a lot of Christians today aren't reading the Bible like the Puritans do. Some of them lack expository preaching that even if they get salvation and sanctification right, you might seldom hear them preaching Rapture of the Church from John 11 or condemning others using Jeremiah 10:3-5 without understanding the context. Even some sound Christian preachers ended up driving into silly conclusions if they do not read the Bible based on its exegesis, get the meaning and understand what it means.
Also, there are a lot of logical fallacies that is being committed in the process like I even read even a Christian writing nonsense like, "Well pagans brought plants into their home." The argument is guilt by association considering that Christians also do what pagans do like drinking milk, drinking water, buying shirts and the like. Did you know that paganism also copied from the Bible like the virgin birth, the strength of Samson was later used to write the fictitious character known as Hercules, the story of Moses found in a basket is also copied downright into pagan myths, that the Old Testament priests wore miters and later the priests of Dagon also wore miters presumably the pagan priests found it fancy to wear one so they wore one? If one were to argue based on guilt by association then the Bible is also guilty of paganism. Bringing plants into one's home is not a religious practice. The only time it becomes idolatry is to worship that plant.