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Jeremiah 7

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The Temple Sermon 1–7

1
The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ​
2
Stand in the gate of Jehovah’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship Jehovah. ​
3
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. ​
4
Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, are these. ​
5
For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;
6
if ye oppress not the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt: ​
7
then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even for evermore.

False Trust in the Temple 8–15

8
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
9
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods that ye have not known, ​
10
and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that ye may do all these abominations? ​
11
Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, saith Jehovah. ​
12
But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. ​
13
And now, because ye have done all these works, saith Jehovah, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not: ​
14
therefore will I do unto the house which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. ​
15
And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. ​

Idolatry and Unquenchable Wrath 16–20

16
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear thee. ​
17
Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. ​
19
Do they provoke me to anger? saith Jehovah; do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? ​
20
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, mine anger and my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

Obedience Trumps Sacrifice 21–28

21
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat ye flesh. ​
22
For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices: ​
23
but this thing I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you. ​
24
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
25
Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
26
yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers. ​
27
And thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. ​
28
And thou shalt say unto them, This is the nation that hath not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

Judgment for Abominable Practices 29–34

29
Cut off thy hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Jehovah hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. ​
30
For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, saith Jehovah: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
31
And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded not, neither came it into my mind. ​
32
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury. ​
33
And the dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away. ​
34
Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Jeremiah 7

Verse 1

The word that came to Jeremiah — This chapter is the sermon given at the temple gate, and chapter 26 tells what followed. It begins 'In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim' (26:1), and the people turned on the prophet for saying 'This house shall be like Shiloh' (26:9). Jeremiah's name (Yirmeyahu) means 'Jah will rise'.

Verse 2

Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house — The message is delivered where the worshippers pass, 'all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship' (shachah, to bow down). Chapter 26:2 repeats the order with a warning to the prophet: 'diminish not a word'.

Verse 3

Amend your ways — Yatab is to make good. The promise 'I will cause you to dwell in this place' uses shakan, to settle, the verb of the LORD's own dwelling, 'that I may dwell among them' (Exod 25:8). The same call is made in 26:13, 'amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God'.

Verse 4

The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD — 'Temple' is heykal, the large house or palace. The threefold cry is called 'lying words' (sheqer), since it treated the building as a guarantee. Micah 3:11 gives the same trust: 'yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.'

Verse 6

the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow — The law had forbidden each: 'Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him' (Exod 22:21) and 'Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child' (Exod 22:22). Shedding 'innocent blood' and walking 'after other gods' complete the list; the last was warned against with the words 'ye shall surely perish' (Deut 8:19).

Verse 9

Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery — The questions run through the second table of the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:13–15) and end with 'other gods whom ye know not', the first (Exod 20:3). Hosea lists the same crimes: 'swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery' (Hos 4:2). The people did these and then came to the temple.

Verse 10

We are delivered — Natsal is to be rescued. The people stand in the house 'which is called by my name', as Solomon had prayed 'that they may know that this house… is called by thy name' (1 Kgs 8:43), and say they are safe, in order 'to do all these abominations' again. In their use the house had become a shelter for the sins.

Verse 11

a den of robbers — A 'den' (me'arah) is a cave, where robbers take shelter after their violence, and 'robbers' (parits) are violent men. Christ cites this verse when he drives out the sellers, joining it to Isaiah's 'My house shall be called the house of prayer' (Matt 21:13; Luke 19:46; Isa 56:7), where the KJV prints 'den of thieves'.

Verse 12

my place which was in Shiloh — The tabernacle was set up at Shiloh (Josh 18:1), and the ark was fetched from there in Eli's time and taken in battle (1 Sam 4:4, 11); the Psalm says 'he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men' (Ps 78:60). The LORD 'set my name' there with the verb shakan, the 'dwell' of v.3.

Verse 13

rising up early — Shakam is to start at dawn, a figure of unwearied sending. Jeremiah has it in eleven verses (7:13, 25; 11:7; 25:3, 4; 26:5; 29:19; 32:33; 35:14, 15; 44:4), almost always of the LORD's own speaking and sending. The Chronicles say the same of his messengers, 'rising up betimes, and sending' (2 Chr 36:15). The people 'heard not' and 'answered not'.

Verse 14

as I have done to Shiloh — 'Wherein ye trust' is the verb of v.4, batach: they trusted in the house as a safeguard. The verdict is the one given again in 26:6, 'Then will I make this house like Shiloh', and for saying it 'all the people were gathered against Jeremiah' (26:9). The house 'called by my name' receives no exemption.

Verse 15

the whole seed of Ephraim — Ephraim is the chief tribe of the northern kingdom, Israel, taken into exile as 2 Kgs 17:20 records, 'the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel… until he had cast them out of his sight'. Judah is told the same words will be used of her. Chapter 15:1 says it again: 'cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth'.

Verse 16

pray not thou for this people — The command is repeated in 11:14 and 14:11. 'Make intercession' is paga', the verb of Isa 53:12 where the Servant 'made intercession for the transgressors'. Chapter 15:1 names those who stood in that place before: 'Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people.'

Verse 18

cakes to the queen of heaven — The whole household takes part: the children gather the wood, the fathers light the fire, the women knead. The 'cakes' (kavvan) are named in only two verses, here and Jer 44:19, where the women say 'we burned incense to the queen of heaven' and defend the custom (44:17). The drink offerings were poured to 'other gods'.

Verse 19

provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces — 'Confusion' is boshet, shame. The question asks whether the LORD is the one harmed. Elihu says the same of sin: 'If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him?' (Job 35:6). The damage returns on the worshippers' own faces.

Verse 21

Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh — The burnt offering was burned whole: 'the priest shall burn all on the altar' (Lev 1:9). The peace offering was eaten by the worshipper (Lev 7:15). The people are told to add one to the other and eat everything, since their offerings had lost the meaning of the obedience they were meant to express (Hos 8:13).

Verse 22

I spake not unto your fathers… concerning burnt offerings — At the Exodus the first word was, 'if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant' (Exod 19:5), before the law of sacrifice was given. Samuel says the same: 'to obey is better than sacrifice' (1 Sam 15:22), and Hosea, 'I desired mercy, and not sacrifice' (Hos 6:6).

Verse 23

Obey my voice, and I will be your God — The covenant formula in its short form. It is given in Lev 26:12, 'I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people', and recalled in 11:4, 'in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt… Obey my voice'. 'Walk ye in all the ways' links the promise of well-being to conduct.

Verse 26

hardened their neck — Qashah is to be hard and 'oreph is the back of the neck: the same picture as Exod 32:9, 'it is a stiffnecked people'. Hezekiah's letters to Israel and Judah said, 'be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were' (2 Chr 30:8). Here the later generation 'did worse than their fathers', as 16:12 says, 'ye have done worse than your fathers'.

Verse 27

they will not hearken to thee — The LORD's own words in v.13, 'I called you, but ye answered not', are now put on the prophet's lips. Ezekiel is sent with the same knowledge: 'thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear' (Ezek 2:7). The prophet is told the result before he starts.

Verse 29

Cut off thine hair — The Hebrew nezer is the long hair of consecration, the Nazirite's 'consecration of his God… upon his head' (Num 6:7). Jerusalem is told to shear what marked her as set apart. 'Rejected' is ma'as, the verb of 'reprobate silver' (6:30), and the 'high places' (shephayim) are the bare heights of 4:11.

Verse 31

the high places of Tophet — Tophet lay in 'the valley of the son of Hinnom', where children were burned in the fire. Josiah 'defiled Topheth… that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech' (2 Kgs 23:10). The LORD adds that it was a thing 'which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart'; 19:5 says 'nor spake it, neither came it into my mind'.

Verse 32

the valley of slaughter — The same renaming is given again in 19:6, 'this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter'. The place of the children's burning would receive the dead of the city: 'they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place'.

Verse 33

meat for the fowls of the heaven — The words are those of the covenant curse: 'thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away' (Deut 28:26). 'Fray' (charad) is to frighten off. The people had been told in the law what disobedience would bring, and the sentence matches it.

Verse 34

the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride — Four voices of joy are silenced, as also in 16:9 and 25:10, because 'the land shall be desolate'. The promise of return in 33:11 gives them back in the same words, 'The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride', 'for I will cause to return the captivity of the land'.