Chapter Seven

1–15. God’s wrath upon Jerusalem and its temple. 16–20. The prophet’s requests for the people – are futile. 21–28. Sacrifices also will bring no benefit when the Judeans disobey Jehovah. 29–34. A terrible punishment will come upon the apostates.

Jer 7:1-15. The Judeans relied too much on their safety, believing that Jehovah would not allow His temple to be destroyed. But God can only promise them this safety if they repent. Now, when they themselves have made God’s temple a refuge for criminals of all kinds, they can expect only its destruction and the ruin of their entire state.

Jeremiah 7:1. “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Jeremiah 7:2. “Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord, and proclaim there this word, and say, “Hear the word of the Lord, all you Judeans who enter through these gates to worship the Lord. From here begins what is called the “temple sermon” of the prophet Jeremiah, which was delivered in the temple of Jerusalem. It ends in the ninth chapter. Its similarity to the sermon (Jer 26) spoken at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim gives us reason to ascribe it to the same time. – “In the gate of the house of the Lord” – that is, at the gates leading to the outer court, where the people stood, and not in the inner or priestly court, where the people were not admitted (Ezek 40:17).

Jeremiah 7:3. “Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.’ Jeremiah 7:4. “Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. The temple in itself is not a protection for sinners! Meanwhile the Jews were insisting that the temple is a sure refuge for them, even though they were in fact complete apostates from Jehovah.

Jeremiah 7:9. “How! Do you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and go after other gods whom you have not known, Jeremiah 7:10. “and then come and stand before Me in this house, over which My name is called, and say, “We are delivered!” that you may do all these abominations? The Judeans apparently found it possible to combine the worship of Baal with the service of Jehovah. But one definitely excludes the other.

Jeremiah 7:11. “Has this house, over which My name is called, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I Myself have seen it,” says the Lord. The Judeans themselves turned the very temple into a den or cave where robbers hide from the pursuit of the authorities.

Jeremiah 7:12. “Go now to My place that was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel. “Shiloh,” a city of the tribe of Ephraim, until the death of the high priest Eli was the same theocratic center as Jerusalem is now. However, because of the sins of the house of Eli and all the Israelite people, it was deprived of its great advantage and now, in the time of Jeremiah, it represented only ruins.

Jeremiah 7:13. “And now, because you have done all these things, says the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, Jeremiah 7:14. “I will do to this house over which My name is called, in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. Jeremiah 7:15. “And I will cast you out of My sight, as I cast out all your brothers, all the offspring of Ephraim. In exactly the same way the Lord will deal with the present center of theocracy – Jerusalem and its temple. – “The offspring of Ephraim” – the ten tribes of Israel, named here by the name of the strongest tribe.

Jeremiah 7:16. “As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me, for I will not hear you. Jeremiah 7:17. “Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? Jeremiah 7:18. “The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger. Jeremiah 7:19. “But is it I whom they provoke to anger? Is it not themselves, to their own shame?” says the Lord. Jeremiah 7:20. “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place – on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the ground – and it will burn and not be quenched.’ To show the inevitability of the punishment announced to the Judeans, the Lord forbids the prophet to even pray for this people. “The queen of heaven” – more accurately from the Hebrew: the queen of heaven. This is the Babylonian-Assyrian goddess Astarte. In her honor in Assyria and Babylon special pastries were made, called in Assyrian kattani, in Hebrew – kawan; they had the form of small circles, which recalled the moon (Astarte was the goddess, properly, of the moon). Jer 7:21-28. If the Judeans count on safety on account of the sacrifices they offer in the temple, then this expectation has no foundation. God does not need the sacrifices themselves. Sacrifices should only be an expression of the inner devotion of the Judeans to Jehovah, which in fact they do not have.

Jeremiah 7:21. “Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat meat;’ “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices.” In a burnt offering the animal was burned entirely, while from other sacrifices certain parts went to the use of those offering the sacrifice or to the priests. God is now saying that they may eat of the burnt offerings as well – He does not need them, of course, because they do not express genuine devotion to God on the part of those offering them.

Jeremiah 7:22. “For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices; Jeremiah 7:23. “but this command I gave them: ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and walk in all the ways that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ This passage is for biblical critics the chief basis for denying the antiquity of what is called the priestly code contained in the Pentateuch. Jeremiah, they say, knew nothing of the Mosaic institutions concerning sacrifices. But how could the prophet speak of the high sanctity of the places of sacrifice (Jer 7:12 and following) if he believed the laws of sacrifice were a later invention? Also from Jer 17:26; Jer 31:14 and Jer 33:11 it is clear that Jeremiah himself considered the offering of sacrifices a normal and pleasing thing to Jehovah (cf. Jer 33:17-24). Therefore the rabbis correctly interpret this passage by saying that the prophet here specifically speaks of the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, excluding the Sinaitic legislation. It is clear that the prophet wants to teach the Hebrews that the first thing God requires is obedience (cf. Exod 6:7; Exod 15:26), while sacrifices are of secondary importance... Jer 7:29-34. The Judeans have defiled the very temple with pagan abominations, set up altars for burning their children in the valley of Topheth. For this there is no forgiveness for them and the Lord will turn their country into a wasteland.

Jeremiah 7:29. “Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath. The command to cut off your hair is addressed to the daughter of Zion, as is clear from the fact that in the Hebrew text the verb is in the feminine gender. – “On the bare heights.” Where the Judeans sinned by offering unlawful sacrifices, there they should also mourn (cf. Jer 3:21).

Jeremiah 7:30. “For the children of Judah have done what is evil in My sight,” says the Lord; “they have set their detestable things in the house that is called by My name, to defile it; This refers to the introduction of idols into the Jerusalem temple during the reign of King Manasseh (2 Sam 21:3-5).

Jeremiah 7:31. “And they have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My mind. “The high places of Topheth,” situated in the “Valley of the Son of Hinnom” – for an explanation see the Commentary on the Bible vol. 2, p. 533. – “I did not command.” Jeremiah, obviously here as in other places (Jer 19:5 and Jer 32:35), speaks of sacrifices that were being made in this valley in honor of Jehovah. The idea that it was necessary to offer Jehovah the sacrifice of children may have arisen from the influence of (Exod 13:2) (cf. also Mic 6:7).

Jeremiah 7:32. “Therefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; and they will bury in Topheth until there is no more room. “Therefore.” Although these terrible sacrifices were abolished by King Josiah and not resumed under Jehoiakim (this is evident from the fact that the defeat of the Judeans under Jehoiakim is attributed in the book of Kings to the transgressions only of Manasseh; 2 Sam 24:3 cf. 2 Sam 21:11), nevertheless only 18 years have passed since their abolition (until the fifth year of Jehoiakim), and the contemporaries of Manasseh had not yet atoned for their participation in these unlawful sacrifices with any sufferings. Now they must endure the punishment. – “Valley of Slaughter.” Into this valley of the Sons of Hinnom will be carried so many corpses of murdered Jerusalemites for burial that it can be renamed the valley of slaughter or the slain.

Jeremiah 7:34. “And I will 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. Wedding processions among the Judeans were always accompanied by a choir of singers who performed joyful songs. Special Remarks – at the end of the ninth chapter, as chapters seven, eight, and nine form one sermon delivered in the temple.