Some have believed that the sermon of this chapter was given in the first part of the reign of Jehoiakim, 608 B.C. The result of the sermon are explained in Jeremiah 26. But it is also possible that the message was given in the last years of Josiah, with similar thoughts given at a later date. The time of deliverance may have been during one of their national festivals.
Cook, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This prophecy was spoken in the first year of Jehoiachim, when the probation of Judah was virtually over, and it constitutes the final solemn appeal to the conscience of the people, and a protest while the new king was still young upon his throne, against the ruinous course upon which he so immediately entered.’
This message was delivered at the temple gate, Jeremiah 7:1-2. The first things Jeremiah is to proclaim is basically they have to change their behaviour, Jeremiah 7:3. Their repentance must be more than the outward reformation of ceremonies as that which took place during the days of Josiah when he destroyed the places of idol worship throughout Judah, their repentance must be sincere and from the heart.
The exhortations that Jeremiah makes in Jeremiah 7:4-9, indicate the moral low to which they had digressed to be considered such a vile society. The second thing which Jeremiah is to proclaim that they shouldn’t people who tell them to put their hope in the temple, Jeremiah 7:4. What they should trust is God’s Word, they should listen to what He says, Jeremiah 7:5-7.
They needed to repent of their ways, which would be demonstrated in their actions, Jeremiah 7:5. Notice the list of sins, they were committing. They weren’t acting justly towards one another, Jeremiah 7:5, they were oppressing the vulnerable in society, Jeremiah 7:6. They were killing innocent people and committing idolatry, Jeremiah 7:6.
Cook, in his commentary, says the following, concerning the innocent blood.
‘Of one such judicial murder, Jehoiachim had already been guilty, Jeremiah 26:23.’
God says if they repent He will allow them to live in the Promised Land, Jeremiah 7:7, but the reality is that they are trusting the deceptive lies, which are worthless, Jeremiah 7:8.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following, concerning the land.
‘The Jews received the land of Canaan under the terms of a covenant, itself called a covenant of eternity, Genesis 17:7, but that covenant had conditions which the Jews were obligated to observe, as spelled out in the closing chapters of Deuteronomy, with the divine warning that if they rebelled against the covenant God would indeed ‘pluck them off the land’, Deuteronomy 28:63. In this connection, be sure to read Jeremiah 18:5-10.’
God is saying that worship isn’t separated from life. You can’t live a sinful life and expect God to accept your worship of Him, Jeremiah 7:9-10. Worship means that one lives his life well before God. That he treats the people that he meets on Monday or any other day of the week, as he should. That he deals honestly with them, correctly with them. Worship has to affect the way we live, it must affect our lives. Judah lacked a relationship with God.
They thinking to themselves, since the temple is here, then that means we are safe, Jeremiah 7:10. A den of robbers was a place of safety for them, after the evil deeds that they performed, Jeremiah 7:11. So, what is God telling them? You can’t look upon my house as a place of safety, a place where you come after you have lived, for the other days of the week, as though you didn’t know me, Matthew 21:13. Don’t you think it was amazing? They were at the right place, they said the right words, they did the right things, but, they had no relationship with God.
When we move to Jeremiah 8, we will find Jeremiah saying in Jeremiah 8:20, ‘The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.’ This simply means that the last opportunity for Judah to repent and turn to the Lord has already slipped away. The harvest refers to the early Summer months, April to June. The ending of Summer means the approach of Autumn, the end of the final harvest for that year. There will be nothing more for another year. This is a metaphor for the termination of all of Judah’s lost opportunities. The Winter of God’s judgment is coming swiftly upon them.
They were incredibly audacious as they did all those things that were against the law of God and yet came to the temple that had been dedicated to God. They were like the Pharisees and priests who crucified Jesus. They planned and executed a murder scheme but would not take back the thirty pieces of silver they had given to Judas to betray Jesus, Matthew 26:15 / Matthew 27:3-8.
Jeremiah reminded them of their history in that the ark was at one time placed in Shiloh, Jeremiah 7:12-13 / 1 Samuel 1-3. The people subsequently made Shiloh a sacred place but eventually Shiloh was destroyed, 1 Samuel 4. God would do the same to Jerusalem, regardless of whether the ark was in the city, Jeremiah 7:14-15.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘After the conquest of Canaan, the ancient tabernacle was set up at Shiloh, ‘some eighteen miles north of Jerusalem,’ where it remained throughout practically the whole period of the Judges. In the days of Eli and Samuel, when Eli’s reprobate sons were actually committing adultery in the temple itself (Yes, there were buildings there also), God permitted the Philistines to ravage and destroy the place and capture the ark of the covenant itself, Joshua 18:l / Joshua 22:12 / Judges 21:19 / 1 Samuel 1:9 / 1 Samuel 1:24 / 1 Samuel 4:1-11.’
Man should never make any place sacred and thus assume that God condones His desire for holy places. God’s throne is in heaven, and there He will keep it. They had the example of their northern ten tribes who were taken into Assyrian captivity in 722/21 B.C. God said that the same would happen to Judah. But, you might say, at least they were in the right place, they were in the temple of the Lord. Yes, that’s true. Today we need to be in the right place, the church but when we are in the church we should say the right words and do the right things.
Jeremiah was moved to pray for the people but sometimes people are beyond prayer, Jeremiah 7:16 / 1 John 5:16-17. If they were set in sin, then they didn’t deserve the prayers of a righteous man, James 5:16. They were beyond any request that God would answer for their deliverance. God asks Jeremiah if he sees what happening in Judah and Jerusalem, Jeremiah 7:17. The people had become so accustomed to their idol gods that they openly made sacrifices to them in the towns and streets, Jeremiah 7:18.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Here is a description of a whole family gathered together, and acting unitedly in idolatrous worship.
1. The children go and collect wood and bring it to the place of sacrifice.
2. The fathers lay it in order, and kindle a fire.
3. The mother and her maids knead dough, make their batch, and out of it form cakes and bake them for the honour of the queen of heaven, most probably the moon, though perhaps not exclusive of the sun and planets, generally called the host of heaven.
Family worship is a most amiable and becoming thing when performed according to truth. What a pity that so few families show such zeal for the worship of God as those apostate Israelites did for that of their idols!’
The ‘Queen of Heaven’, Jeremiah 7:18, was the heathen goddess, Ishtar, the Babylonian fertility goddess. It isn’t possible to describe the shameful, licentious worship which characterised the idolatry of the Queen of Heaven. Stephen’s mention of Israel’s worshipping ‘the heavenly bodies’, in Acts 7:42, is a reference to this very goddess, who was also said to be represented by the planet Venus. As I’ve already said, she was also identified as Ishtar in Babylon and also to the moon-goddess. By offering things to the idols, they aroused God’s anger, they were provoking God and they were harming themselves to their own shame, Jeremiah 7:19-20.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Their sin did not provoke God to a mere helpless anger, but to a wrath that was quick to punish and destroy them.’
In other words, they continued to sin and thought this was alright with God since the temple was still there, Hebrews 10:26-27, therefore Jeremiah shouldn’t pray for them, 1 John 5:16-17.
God now tells them to go ahead and continue to disobey Him in your false worship by offering sacrifices to idols, Jeremiah 7:21.
Keil, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Jeremiah 7:21.
‘These words express God’s indignation at the sacrifices of those who were so wicked and alienated from God. God had so little pleasure in their sacrifices, that they might as well eat of the very burnt-offerings themselves.’
When God brought them out of Egypt, He didn’t just tell them about offering and sacrifices, He gave them a command which required obedience, Jeremiah 7:22-23. God says if they obeyed Him, then He would be their God and they would be His people, if they obeyed Him then all would go well with them, Jeremiah 7:23. What has God always asked of man? That we obey His will. The essence of a relationship with God is a knowledge of God, a surrender of human will, of self-rule, and then obedience to the commands of God.
This lays down the proper approach to worship of which the foundation of this is obedience. Listen to what God has to say, and obey Him. God has always directed how one should worship Him. To obey is pleasing and acceptable to Him. So simple is this statement and yet man is so slow to accept it. If you do what I ask, you will find rest in your souls but they don’t want to hear. Because of their hard hearts they refused to listen or pay attention to what God says, and as a result, they were going away from God rather than moving towards Him, Jeremiah 7:24.
Ash, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Such behavior after Sinai was incredible! It stresses the prolonged rebellion of Israel, the infinite patience and longsuffering of God, and showing that disobedience was as old as the Exodus itself.’
Despite God sending His prophets, they still didn’t listen or pay attention and His people become more stubborn and worse in terms of sins, Jeremiah 7:25-26. God now tells Jeremiah to keep preaching to the people even though God knows His people won’t listen, Jeremiah 7:27. Jeremiah is to tell them that they didn’t obey God and they didn’t respond to His message and as a result truth has perished, truth is no longer found in their mouth, Jeremiah 7:28 / Jeremiah 10:23-24.
So, what was God saying to Judah? I want you to say the right things but He also wants them to do the right things. After the reforms in Jeremiah’s day, the reforms of Josiah, they were doing the right things. They had found the book of the law. They were saying what the book of the law said. They began to do what the book of the law said. So, they were doing the right things.
These verses show how acceptable worship has been polluted and destroyed. The idea of cutting off your hair was a sign of being unclean, Numbers 6:9-18. ‘Cut off your hair and throw it away’, Jeremiah 7:29, is a reference to Jerusalem being commanded to go into mourning for herself, Ezra 9:3 / Isaiah 15:2 / Jeremiah 41:5. When a Nazarite touched a corpse, he was defiled. So, he was required to cut his hair. He announces His rejection of the once chosen race, Jeremiah 7:29. Here the cutting of the hair signifies Jerusalem being defiled and God finds no excuse for her, Jeremiah 7:30. God didn’t do this just because they worshipped the Queen of Heaven. He passed this terrible sentence upon them for many additional reasons.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Jeremiah 7:30.
‘2 Kings 21:5, records the acts of Manasseh in this desecration; but it leaves us wondering if the vulgar immorality of the pagan worship was actually perpetrated in the temple itself in connection with the pagan deities thus installed. The strong inference would appear to favour the actual practice of licentiousness in the temple itself.’
We don’t just bring whatever WE want to bring to the Lord’s Church and call that the worship of God. In the worship of God, we bring what HE wants us to bring. Whenever there was an innovation in Judah’s day that went beyond or fell short of what God had asked, that was pollution. I wonder what we would call it today? The right place, the right words, the right things but something was missing. A true relationship with God was lacking.
The Valley of Ben Hinnom, Jeremiah 7:31, is where they sacrificed to Molech, sacrificed their own children.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Tophet, Jeremiah 7:31.
‘Tophet was the place in that valley where the continual fires were kept up, in and through which they consecrated their children to Moloch.’
It will be called the Valley of Slaughter, Jeremiah 7:32, and they will bury their dead there until there is no more room for the bodies, Jeremiah 7:32 / Jeremiah 19:6-15. There will be so many dead bodies it will soon be filled up. In the New Testament, the word Gehenna stands for ‘hell’ and is derived from the ‘Valley of Ben Hinnom.’ It’s the infamous ravine south of Jerusalem where the statue of Molech was situated. This was the scene of Judah’s sacrificing their children to that pagan god. There were other horrible practices mentioned but the terrible sacrifices of their sons and daughters to Molech had God in the high heavens demanding His vengeance against the practice.
Henry, in his commentary, says the following.
‘They burned their children alive, killed them, killed them in the cruellest manner imaginable, to honour and appease those idols that were devils and not gods.’
Here we are given a picture which tells us that everything is going to be miserable. Where once God’s people had killed and sacrificed their own children, they would themselves be killed either exposed to birds of prey or left unburied and exposed, Jeremiah 7:33.
There will be an end to the bride and groom, Jeremiah 7:34, there will be no happy marriages. The horrible slaughter in the Valley of Ben Hinnom probably took place when Jerusalem fell to Babylon.