FRAMEWORKS:
Jeremiah 7: Confrontation at the Temple
[Preliminary
Comment: This chapter continues the challenge to the
idolatry in the land with a call to confront the religious people
of Jerusalem who commit their idolatry even inside the temple.
It is a chapter of challenge and confrontation that reveals their
sins in detail. It is a call to repentance mixed with the realization
that the people are so set in their ways they are unlikely to
respond positively. For this reason the judgment WILL come.]
v.1,2
Jeremiah to prophesy outside the temple
v.1
This
is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
v.2
‘Stand
at the gate of the Lord's house and there proclaim this message:
‘“Hear
the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through
these gates to worship the Lord.
v.3
A call to change
v.3
This
is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: reform your
ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.
[Comment:
Jeremiah is to confront those who go to the temple,
to worship their idols [see. v.30] with a call to change.]
v.4-7
Things they need to do to be saved
v.4
[i] Do
not trust in deceptive words and say, ‘This is the temple of the
Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord !'
v.5
If
[ii] you
really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other
justly,
v.6
if
[iii] you
do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and
[iv] do not shed innocent
blood in this place, and if [v] you
do not follow other gods to your own harm,
v.7
then
I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave
to your ancestors for ever and ever.
v.8-11
Further things that show their deception
v.8
But
look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
v.9
‘“Will
you [i] steal
and [ii] murder, [iii]
commit adultery and [iv] perjury,
[v] burn incense to Baal and
[vi] follow other gods you
have not known,
v.10
and
then [vii] come
and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say,
‘We are safe'– safe to do all these detestable things?
v.11
Has
this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you?
But I have been watching! declares the Lord.
[Comment:
He is to confront them with their extensive sins.]
v.12-15
Look what happened to the northern kingdom and learn
v.12
‘“Go
now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my
Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my
people Israel.
v.13
While
you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to
you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but
you did not answer.
v.14
Therefore,
what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my
Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your
ancestors.
v.15
I
will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your fellow
Israelites, the people of Ephraim.”
v.16,17
Don't pray but observe what is going on
v.16
‘So
do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for
them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.
v.17
Do
you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the
streets of Jerusalem?
[Comment:
They should learn from what happened to Israel in the
north but because they won't heed Him, no amount of praying will
help. He should just look at what they are doing.]
v.18,19
See how they worship false idols to their own shame
v.18
The
children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women
knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven.
They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger.
v.19
But
am I the one they are provoking? declares the Lord. Are they not
rather harming themselves, to their own shame?
v.20
So, because of this judgment WILL come
v.20
‘“Therefore
this is what the Sovereign Lord says: my anger and my wrath will
be poured out on this place – on man and beast, on the trees
of the field and on the crops of your land – and it will
burn and not be quenched.
[Comment:
He will see their idol worship which is provoking Him
into action against them.]
v.21,22
So, by all means, carry on offering your sacrifices according
to the Law…
v.21
‘“This
is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: go ahead,
add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the
meat yourselves!
v.22
For
when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them,
I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices,
v.23
…but remember obedience was what I really wanted
v.23
but
I gave them this command: obey me, and I will be your God and
you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you,
that it may go well with you.
v.24-26
Ever since the Exodus they have failed to listen to me
v.24
But
they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the
stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backwards
and not forwards.
v.25
From
the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again
and again I sent you my servants the prophets.
v.26
But
they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked
and did more evil than their ancestors.”
[Comment:
Their religiosity is meaningless because the Lord had
asked for obedience but they have failed in that right from the
beginning until now.]
v.27-29
Because I know they will not listen, just warn them and lament
v.27
‘When
you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you
call to them, they will not answer.
v.28
Therefore
say to them, “This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord
its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has
vanished from their lips.
v.29
‘“Cut
off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren
heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned this generation
that is under his wrath.
v.30,31
They commit abominable worship in the temple and in the land
v.30
‘“The
people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord.
They [i] have
set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name
and have defiled it.
v.31
They
[ii] have
built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to
burn their sons and daughters in the fire – something I did
not command, nor did it enter my mind.
v.32-34
Where they worship in the land will be known for the destruction
that is coming
v.32
So
beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will
no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the
Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until
there is no more room.
v.33
Then
the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and
the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
v.34
I
will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the
voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets
of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.
[Comment:
So their refusal to heed His words and their continuing
to commit the most terrible acts of apostasy and idolatry, will
result in His judgment falling on the whole land.]
Continue
to Chapter 8