1The Word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, 2Stand in the gate of the house of Jehovah, and proclaim there this Word, and say, Hear the Word of Jehovah, all Judah, who enter in at these gates to bow down to Jehovah. 3Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Make your ways and your doings good, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4Do not trust in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah, This is the temple of Jehovah. 5For if you thoroughly make your ways and your doings good; if you work to execute justice between a man and his neighbor; 6if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your hurt; 7then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever. 8Behold, you trust in lying words that are of no benefit. 9Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know; 10and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all those abominations? 11Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Jehovah. 12But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel. 13And now, because you have done all these works, says Jehovah, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear; and I called you, but you did not answer; 14therefore I will do to this house, which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, the whole seed of Ephraim. 16Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry nor prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. 17Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. 19Do they provoke Me to anger? says Jehovah. Is it not themselves, to the shame of their own faces. 20Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, My anger and My fury shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on beast, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched. 21Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Snatch away your burnt offerings from your sacrifices, and eat flesh. 22For I did not speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23But this is what I commanded them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, so that it may be well with you. 24But they did not listen, nor extend their ear, but walked in their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. 25Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26Yet they did not listen to Me, nor extend their ear, but hardened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. 27Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; you shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. 28But you shall say to them, This is a nation which does not obey the voice of Jehovah their God, nor receives instruction; truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth. 29Cut off your hair and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights. For Jehovah has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath. 30For the sons of Judah have done evil in My eyes, says Jehovah. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, in order to defile it. 31They have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command them, nor did it even come into My heart. 32Therefore behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they shall bury in Tophet, until there is no more room. 33And the carcasses of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. 34Then I will cause the voice of gladness to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 2 THE SEVENTH THROUGH NINTH CHAPTERS. DELIVERED IN THE BEGINNING OF JEHOIAKIM'S REIGN, ON THE OCCASION OF SOME PUBLIC FESTIVAL. (Jer. 7:1-34)
the gate--that is, the gate of the court of Israel within that of the women. Those whom Jeremiah addresses came through the gate leading into the court of the women, and the gate leading into the outer court, or court of the Gentiles ("these gates").
3 cause you to dwell--permit you still to dwell (
Jer 18:11;
Jer 26:13).
4 The Jews falsely thought that because their temple had been chosen by Jehovah as His peculiar dwelling, it could never be destroyed. Men think that ceremonial observances will supersede the need of holiness (
Isa 48:2;
Mic 3:11). The triple repetition of "the temple of Jehovah" expresses the intense confidence of the Jews (see
Jer 22:29;
Isa 6:3).
these--the temple buildings which the prophet points to with his finger (
Jer 7:2).
5 For--"But" [MAURER].
judgment--justice (
Jer 22:3).
6 this place--this city and land (
Jer 7:7).
to your hurt--so
Jer 7:19; "to the confusion or their own faces" (
Jer 13:10;
Pro 8:36).
7 The apodosis to the "if . . . if" (
Jer 7:5-
Jer 7:6).
to dwell--to continue to dwell.
for ever and ever--joined with "to dwell," not with the words "gave to your fathers" (compare
Jer 3:18;
Deut 4:40).
8 that cannot profit--MAURER translates, "so that you profit nothing" (see
Jer 7:4;
Jer 5:31).
9 "Will ye steal . . . and then come and stand before Me?"
whom ye know not--Ye have no grounds of "knowing" that they are gods; but I have manifested My Godhead by My law, by benefits conferred, and by miracles. This aggravates their crime [CALVIN] (
Judg 5:8).
10 And come--And yet come (
Ezek 23:39).
We are delivered--namely, from all impending calamities. In spite of the prophet's threats, we have nothing to fear; we have offered our sacrifices, and therefore Jehovah will "deliver" us.
to do all these abominations--namely, those enumerated (
Jer 7:9). These words are not to be connected with "we are delivered," but thus: "Is it with this design that ye come and stand before Me in this house," in order that having offered your worthless sacrifices ye may be taken into My favor and so do all these abominations (
Jer 7:9) with impunity? [MAURER].
11 den of robbers--Do you regard My temple as being what robbers make their den, namely, an asylum wherein ye may obtain impunity for your abominations (
Jer 7:10)?
seen it--namely, that ye treat My house as if it were a den of thieves. Jehovah implies more than is expressed, "I have seen and will punish it" (
Isa 56:7;
Matt 21:13).
12 my place . . . in Shiloh--God caused His tabernacle to be set up in Shiloh in Joshua's days (
Josh 18:1;
Judg 18:31). In Eli's time God gave the ark, which had been at Shiloh, into the hands of the Philistines (
Jer 26:6;
1Sam 4:10-11;
Ps 78:56-
Ps 78:61). Shiloh was situated between Beth-el and Shechem in Ephraim.
at the first--implying that Shiloh exceeded the Jewish temple in antiquity. But God's favor is not tied down to localities (
Acts 7:44).
my people Israel--Israel was God's people, yet He spared it not when rebellious: neither will He spare Judah, now that it rebels, though heretofore it has been His people.
13 rising . . . early--implying unwearied earnestness in soliciting them (
Jer 7:25;
Jer 11:17;
2Chr 36:15).
14 I gave--and I therefore can revoke the gift for it is still Mine (
Lev 25:23), now that ye fail in the only object for which it was given, the promotion of My glory.
Shiloh--as I ceased to dwell there, transferring My temple to Jerusalem; so I will cease to dwell at Jerusalem.
15 your brethren--children of Abraham, as much as you.
whole seed of Ephraim--They were superior to you in numbers and power: they were ten tribes: ye but two. "Ephraim," as the leading tribe, stands for the whole ten tribes (
2Kgs 17:23;
Ps 78:67-
Ps 78:68).
16 When people are given up to judicial hardness of heart, intercessory prayer for them is unavailing (
Jer 11:14;
Jer 14:11;
Jer 15:1;
Exod 32:10;
1John 5:16).
17 Jehovah leaves it to Jeremiah himself to decide, is there not good reason that prayers should not be heard in behalf of such rebels?
18 children . . . fathers . . . women--Not merely isolated individuals practised idolatry; young and old, men and women, and whole families, contributed their joint efforts to promote it. Oh, that there were the same zeal for the worship of God as there is for error (
Jer 44:17,
Jer 44:19;
Jer 19:13)!
cakes . . . queen of heaven--Cakes were made of honey, fine flour, &c., in a round flat shape to resemble the disc of the moon, to which they were offered. Others read as Margin, "the frame of heaven," that is, the planets generally; so the Septuagint here; but elsewhere the Septuagint translates, "queen of heaven." The Phśnicians called the moon Ashtoreth or Astarte: the wife of Baal or Moloch, the king of heaven. The male and female pair of deities symbolized the generative powers of nature; hence arose the introduction of prostitution in the worship. The Babylonians worshipped Ashtoreth as Mylitta, that is, generative. Our Monday, or Moon-day, indicates the former prevalence of moon worship (see on
Isa 65:11).
that they may provoke me--implying design: in worshipping strange gods they seemed as if purposely to provoke Jehovah.
19 Is it I that they provoke to anger? Is it not themselves? (
Deut 32:16,
Deut 32:21;
Job 35:6,
Job 35:8;
Pro 8:36).
20 beast . . . trees . . . ground--Why doth God vent His fury on these? On account of man, for whom these were created, that the sad spectacle may strike terror into him (
Rom 8:20-
Rom 8:22).
21 Put . . . burnt offerings unto . . . sacrifices . . . eat flesh--Add the former (which the law required to be wholly burnt) to the latter (which were burnt only in part), and "eat flesh" even off the holocausts or burnt offerings. As far as I am concerned, saith Jehovah, you may do with one and the other alike. I will have neither (
Isa 1:11;
Hos 8:13;
Amos 5:21-
Amos 5:22).
22 Not contradicting the divine obligation of the legal sacrifices. But, "I did not require sacrifices, unless combined with moral obedience" (
Ps 50:8;
Ps 51:16-
Ps 51:17). The superior claim of the moral above the positive precepts of the law was marked by the ten commandments having been delivered first, and by the two tables of stone being deposited alone in the ark (
Deut 5:6). The negative in Hebrew often supplies the want of the comparative: not excluding the thing denied, but only implying the prior claim of the thing set in opposition to it (
Hos 6:6). "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice" (
1Sam 15:22). Love to God is the supreme end, external observances only means towards that end. "The mere sacrifice was not so much what I commanded, as the sincere submission to My will gives to the sacrifice all its virtue" [MAGEE, Atonement, Note 57].
23 (
Exod 15:26;
Exod 19:5).
24 hearkened not--They did not give even a partial hearing to Me (
Ps 81:11-
Ps 81:12).
imagination--rather, as Margin, "the stubbornness"
backward, &c.-- (
Jer 2:27;
Jer 32:33;
Hos 4:16).
25 rising . . . early-- (
Jer 7:13).
26 hardened . . . neck-- (
Deut 31:27;
Isa 48:4;
Acts 7:51).
worse than their fathers-- (
Jer 16:12). In
Jer 7:22 He had said, "your fathers"; here He says, "their fathers"; the change to the third person marks growing alienation from them. He no longer addresses themselves, as it would be a waste of words in the case of such hardened rebels.
27 Therefore--rather, "Though thou speak . . . yet they will not hearken" [MAURER], (
Ezek 2:7), a trial to the prophet's faith; though he knew his warnings would be unheeded, still he was to give them in obedience to God.
28 unto them--that is, in reference to them.
a nation--The word usually applied to the Gentile nations is here applied to the Jews, as being east off and classed by God among the Gentiles.
nor receiveth correction-- (
Jer 5:3).
truth . . . perished-- (
Jer 9:3).
29 Jeremiah addresses Jerusalem under the figure of a woman, who, in grief for her lost children, deprives her head of its chief ornament and goes up to the hills to weep (
Judg 11:37-
Judg 11:38;
Isa 15:2).
hair--flowing locks, like those of a Nazarite.
high places--The scene of her idolatries is to be the scene of her mourning (
Jer 3:21).
generation of his wrath--the generation with which He is wroth. So
Isa 10:6; "the people of My wrath."
30 set their abominations in the house-- (
Jer 32:34;
2Kgs 21:4,
2Kgs 21:7;
2Kgs 23:4;
Ezek 8:5-
Ezek 8:14).
31 high places of Tophet--the altars [HORSLEY] of Tophet; erected to Moloch, on the heights along the south of the valley facing Zion.
burn . . . sons-- (
Ps 106:38).
commanded . . . not--put for, "I forbade expressly" (
Deut 17:3;
Deut 12:31). See on
Jer 2:23;
Isa 30:33.
32 valley of slaughter--so named because of the great slaughter of the Jews about to take place at Jerusalem: a just retribution of their sin in slaying their children to Moloch in Tophet.
no place--no room, namely, to bury in, so many shall be those slain by the Chaldeans (
Jer 19:11;
Ezek 6:5).
33 fray--scare or frighten (
Deut 28:26). Typical of the last great battle between the Lord's host and the apostasy (
Rev 19:17-
Rev 19:18,
Rev 19:21).
34 Referring to the joyous songs and music with which the bride and bridegroom were escorted in the procession to the home of the latter from that of the former; a custom still prevalent in the East (
Jer 16:9;
Isa 24:7-
Isa 24:8;
Rev 18:23).
