NO ONE TO PUT UP THE TENT
Jeremiah did his work among the last kings of Judah (Jeremiah 12:2,3). He saw Judah rise to greatness under the leadership of Josiah as reform began to take place in the nation. There was hope for the nation to turn around and put things back the way they should be. But ,alas, the short greatness faded into darkness under the leadership of Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and finally Zedekiah. His work for Josiah helped this good king to value God and the things of God. The three kings that followed saw Jeremiah as an enemy. Even though their faces were hard and their hearts as stone, Jeremiah kept pleading with them to reform their ways.
In the tenth chapter, God speaks to His people about Himself. God reasons with them that there is no one to "...stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains"(Jeremiah 10:20). This pointed them back to an earlier time when the tabernacle was a tent that had to be assembled and then broken down to move. The point of truth was for Judah to consider that there was no one who was making an effort to worship God. If one goes back and looks at the work of Isaiah, we find that God no longer accepted the false worship given to Him by His own people (Isaiah 1:12-14). The great reform under Josiah came after his dad and granddad had made a mess out of following God.
What Jeremiah is showing is that after so long God would no longer accept their worship and, hence, there was no one to put up the tent or the curtains. There was the outer curtain of 100x50 cubits that separated the camp of Israel that was camped about the tabernacle. The tabernacle itself was a tent. This tent separated the work being done in the holy place and the most Holy Place from all the Israelite nation. If there was no one to put up the tent or the curtains, how could worship be conducted? Bear in mind, that at the time Jeremiah is writing there is a temple and not the moveable tent. The point then God is making is that no one is coming to worship.
Jump ahead several years to the end of the Babylonian captivity when the Jews returned to their homeland. What problem was Malachi having to deal with? The people were bringing improper animals for sacrifice and their mindset was that it was weariness to come and worship God (Malachi 1:10-13). After seventy years in captivity they once more reached a stage in their thinking that said they really did not want to be in worship. Think of how many years have come and gone since then. Today the problem is much the same. People just do not want to come to worship God. There is among such individuals the attitude that there is no one to "put up the tent".
Some parents foolishly argue that I am not going to make my child go to worship. I phrase it that way so that we can clearly understand the problem. If one says, I will not make my child go to church, then it is a location and not an attitude of heart which is being addressed. When we speak then about a child being made to go to worship we move it into the correct area. Since God is the One to be worshiped, a child who is not made to so go, is in effect being told that they do not need to honor God nor respect Him. The answer that sometimes comes is that a person will say, "I was made to go to church, and I just do not want my children to have to go through that." Is there a way to answer this claim?
As Christians we have to obey the laws of the land (Romans 13:1). The laws of the land require children to be educated. It may be in a public school, private school or home schooling but going to school is required. At a certain age, a child can quit school. However, before they reach that age, how many parents make their children go to school? We have learned over the years about proper diet that includes getting all the food groups involved as we prepare meals for our children. How many parents have made their children eat meals consisting of things other than hamburgers and French-fries?
In every phase of the growth of children, we make them do certain things. Take a bath, brush your teeth, take out the garbage and so forth. Then we come to the most important thing that any person has and that is his soul (Matthew 16:26). Suddenly parents who interject themselves into the lives of their growing children step back and say "I am not going to force my child to go to worship God."
You may be comforted in thinking that you are a super parent by not making them go, but when the next generation comes, "who will put up the tent and the curtains?"