Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 7:11

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

7:1-20:18 THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF JUDAH

Jeremiah at the temple (7:1-15)

This message seems to belong to the period of religious decline that followed the death of Josiah. Though Josiah had done well to restore the temple, the people developed a wrong, even superstitious, attitude towards it. They felt that it was sacred, that it belonged to God, and that therefore he would not allow any enemy to destroy it. They thought that the presence of the temple in Jerusalem guaranteed the city against capture by the enemy. God now tells Jeremiah to stand outside the temple and announce to the people that in thinking this way they are deceiving themselves. Only by changing their ways and replacing injustice with godliness will they save their temple, their city and their nation from certain destruction (7:1-7).

Jeremiah points out the stupidity of the people in thinking they can do as they wish and still expect God to save them. They are immoral, dishonest, violent and idolatrous, yet they think they are safe because they offer sacrifices in his temple (8-11). Shiloh was once the religious centre of the nation, the place where the tabernacle was set up; but God allowed Shiloh and the tabernacle to be invaded and smashed because of the people’s wickedness. For the same reason he will now allow Jerusalem and its temple to be destroyed (12-15; cf. Joshua 18:1; 1 Samuel 1:3; 1 Samuel 1:3; Psalms 78:60).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

JEREMIAH'S TEMPLE SERMON

Another title of this chapter would be, "Repentance the Only Hope of Israel." God commanded Jeremiah to stand in the gate, or entrance, to the Temple and to denounce the grievous sins and debaucheries of the people, probably upon one of the great festive occasions when the crowds were thronging to the temple.

How strange it is that the people denounced by this address were the very people of whom it might be supposed that they were the true worshippers of God. The symbolism is dramatic. The temple itself was a stronghold of false priests, "a den of thieves and robbers," even as Christ referred to it at a far later date. The picture is startling. Jeremiah, the true preacher of God's Word, cannot get into the temple at all. He must stand in the gate, on the steps, at the entrance!

We shall observe the following chapter divisions. First, there is a statement of the case against Judah, coupled with a reiteration of the Law of God and a ringing command for the people of God to repent of their apostasy (Jeremiah 7:1-7). Then there is a further description of the people's apostasy and of their rejection of God's Word (Jeremiah 7:8-12). This is followed by the announcement of God's judgment against them (Jeremiah 7:13-15). There follows an attack against the false worship of the Queen of Heaven (Jeremiah 7:16-20). The prophet denounced their supposition that sacrifices could be substituted for true obedience to God's Word (Jeremiah 7:21-28). The chapter concludes with a vehement condemnation of the sacrifice of children to Molech in the Valley of Hinnom, and other evil practices (Jeremiah 7:29-34).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Behold, ye trust in lying words that cannot profit. 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, 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? 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."

The sins enumerated here constituted violations of the Decalogue as given in Exodus and Deuteronomy. The specific commandments broken were the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th, with the necessary inference that the 10th also was broken, stealing and adultery both being a direct result of the covetousness forbidden in the last commandment. As Green noted, "This amounted to a near-total breach of the covenant stipulations." Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), p. 62.

"Here is further and conclusive evidence of Jeremiah's deep anchorage in the Mosaic faith."Ibid.

"We are delivered" The Jews actually believed that merely because they frequented the temple and brought their sacrifices as usual, that, they were fully protected in the commission of every crime in the catalogue, "all of this on the mere grounds of their external presentation of themselves before God at the place called by his name."E. Henderson, The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (London: Hamilton, Adams, and Company, 1851), p. 50. They deluded themselves into thinking they were safe no matter what they did.

"Behold, I, even I have seen it, saith Jehovah" Anchor Bible suggests a paraphrase here: "God says, Look! I'm not blind! Of course, I've seen it!"Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), p. 56.

"Is this house… become a den of robbers" These very words were spoken by Christ himself as a solemn indictment of the temple during his personal ministry, "Ye made it (the temple) a den of robbers" (Matthew 21:13). This is a reference to the blasphemous manner in which the Jews used that temple. The Hebrew word here "actually means a robber's `cave,' "J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972) p. 281. The figure is that of a den, or cave, or some other supposedly safe and secure place to which robbers retired after each of their crimes. What a terrible misuse of holy religion was this abuse by the Jews.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Robbers - literally, tearers, those who rob with violence. The temple was the place which sheltered them. It had been consecrated to God. Now that it harbors miscreants, must it not as inevitably be destroyed as a den of robbers would be by any righteous ruler?

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

He afterwards adds, Is this house, which is called by my name, a den of robbers? This is the conclusion of the passage, which contains an amplification of their vices. For the Prophet had allowed the Jews to form a judgment, as though he had been discussing an obscure or doubtful subject, “Behold, be ye yourselves judges in your own case; is it right for you to steal, to murder, and to commit adultery? and then to come into this Temple, and to boast that impunity is granted to you as to all your evils?” This indeed ought to have been enough; but as the obstinacy and stupor of the Jews were so great, that they would not have given way without being most fully and in various ways proved guilty, the Prophet adds this sentence, Is this house, which is called by my name, a den of robbers? that is, “Have I chosen this place for myself, that ye might worship me, in order that ye might be more licentious than if there was no religion? For what purpose is religion? Is it not that men may by this bridle restrain themselves, that they may not be libertines? For surely the worship and fear of God are the directors of equity and justice. Now, would it not be better to have no Temple and no sacrifices, than that men should take more liberty to sin by making their ceremonies as an excuse? Away then with your ceremonies: conscience shews that it is a wretched thing to oppress or injure a neighbor; all are constrained by common sense to own that adultery is a filthy and a detestable thing; and men think the same of rapines and murders. As to superstitions, when they are seen as such, all are constrained to allow the worship of God ought to be preserved in its purity. Well then, had there been no Temple among you, this truth must have been impressed on your minds, — that God ought to be worshipped in purity. Now, because the Temple has been built at Jerusalem, because ye offer sacrifices there, ye are thieves, ye are adulterers, ye are murderers; and ye think that I am in some sort blind, that I am no longer the avenger of so many and of such atrocious evils. A den of robbers then is my house become to you.” But this sentence is to be read interrogatively, “Can it be, that this Temple, this sanctuary, is become a den of robbers?” ⁽¹⁹⁴⁾

But we must consider the import of the comparison: Robbers, though they are most audacious and wholly savage, do not yet dare openly to use their sword; they dare not kill helpless men. Why? they fear the punishment allotted to them by the laws; they are cautious. But when they seize on men in some hidden place, then they take more liberty in their robberies; they kill men, and then take their property. We hence see that dens and hidden places have in them more safety for robbers. The comparison then is most suitable, when the Prophet says that the Jews made the Temple of God the den of robbers: for had there been no Temple, some integrity might have remained, secured by the common feeling of men. But when they covered their baseness with sacrifices, they thought that they thus escaped all judgment.

And hence, Christ applied this prophecy to his time; for the Jews had even then profaned the Temple. Though they presumptuously and falsely called on God’s name, they yet sought the Temple as an asylum for impurity. This folly Christ exposed, as the Prophet had done.

He afterwards adds, Even I, behold I see, saith Jehovah Jeremiah here no doubt touches ironically on the false confidence with which the Jews deceived themselves: for hypocrites seem to themselves to know whatever is necessary. And hence also it is, that as they think themselves to be acute, they are bolder and more presumptuous in contriving deceitful schemes, by which they seek to delude God and men. And hence the Prophet here tauntingly touches them to the quick, by intimating that they wished to make God as it were blind, Even I, behold I see, he says. It would not yet be sufficiently evident how emphatical the phrase is, were it not for a similar passage in Isaiah 29:15,

“I also am wise.” The Prophet had said, “Woe to the crafty and the wise, who have dug pits for themselves.”

He there condemns ungodly men, who thought that they could somehow by their falsehoods deceive God; which seems to be and is monstrous: and yet it is an evil which commonly prevails among men. For hardly a man in a hundred can be found who does not seek coverings to hide himself from the eyes of God. This is the case especially with courtiers and clever men, who assume to themselves so much clear-sightedness, that God sees nothing in comparison with them. The Lord therefore, by Isaiah, gives this answer, “I also am wise: if ye are wise, allow me at least some portion of wisdom, and think not that I am altogether foolish.” So also in this place, “Before my eyes, this house is made a den of robbers;” that is, “If there be any sense in you, does it not appear evident that you have made a den of robbers of my Temple? and can I be yet blind? If you think that you are very clear-sighted, I also do see, saith the Lord.”

We hence see what force there is in the particle גם, gam, also, and in the pronoun אנכי, anoki, I, and in הנה , ene, behold; for these three words are heaped together, that God might shew that he was not unobservant, when the people so audaciously ran headlong into all kinds of vices, and sought by their falsehoods to cover his eyes, that he might not see anything. ⁽¹⁹⁵⁾

(194) It is to be observed that one only of the vices mentioned in verse 9 is here referred to, the first in the catalogue. But as the Temple was the den of thieves, so it was also made the asylum of murderers, adulterers, and of idolaters. It seems then, that the Jews thought that by sacrifices they purchased immunity not only for theft, murder, adultery, false swearing, but also for idolatry, and that having sacrificed they were free to commit all these evils. How unaccountably strange is the conduct of deluded man!

The words “Which is called by my name,“ are literally, “Which called is my name upon it,“ an idiomatic mode of speaking, with which the Welsh exactly corresponds, —

(lang. cy) Yr hwn y gelwir fy enw arno.

The pronoun relative without a preposition is afterwards followed by a pronoun substantive with a preposition prefixed. — Ed.

(195) The verb is in the past tense,-

I also, behold, seen have I, saith Jehovah.

That is, He had seen all they did. If anything be put after “seen,“ it should be “these things,“ and not “it;” for the reference is to the particulars before mentioned. See Psalms 10:14; Ezekiel 8:12. — Ed.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 7

So chapter 7. King Josiah, who was reigning at the beginning of Jeremiah's ministry, in the eighteenth year of his reign, ordered the temple restored. It had fallen into disrepair. It sort of lay in ruins. They had in the outer courts built altars unto Baal and unto Molech, and they had forsaken the worship of God, of the Lord in the temple for years. So Josiah now ordered that the temple be restored and he gave to Hilkiah, the high priest, a great sum of money that he might hire carpenters and all, that they might come in and just refurbish the whole place. And while they were in cleaning out the debris and all, they found a scroll of the law. And so as they read the law of the Lord unto king Josiah, he began to weep as he saw how far they had gone in their turning away from God and how God in the law had promised His judgments would come if they forsook Him and forsook the law. And so Josiah cried out unto the Lord. He was really disturbed when the law was read. Deeply convicted for the evil of the people. And the word of the Lord came unto a prophetess, whose name was Huldah, and she sent a message to the king and said because of his attitude of repentance and turning to God that the evil that God was going to bring upon the people, the judgment, would not come during his reign but after his reign. Josiah was the last of the good kings of Judah. After his death, his son plunged downhill, just straight down. He only reigned for three months until he was taken out of the way and another king set up by the Pharoah of Egypt. But after Josiah's death things just went downhill fast.

Now as they read to Josiah the book of the law, he saw how that the Lord had ordered that the people were to gather together each year for the Passover feast there in Jerusalem. And so he ordered a great celebration of the Passover in the eighteenth year of his reign as king. And the people were invited to come, and according to the record in Second Kings, this was one of the grandest observances of the Passover in the history of the nation, as far as the number of people attending and the sacrifices that were offered. And so there was a great popular religious movement as the people could see that their king wanted to serve Jehovah. It became a popular thing for the people to go to church, go to the temple. It's always dangerous when a person's motivation of going is because it's popular. You know, everybody's going so join the crowd. Rather than coming out of a desire of your own heart to know God and to worship God.

So the LORD came to Jeremiah, and said, Now go down to the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim these words, say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter into these gates to worship Jehovah ( Jeremiah 7:1-2 ).

So in the midst of this great movement, all these people coming into the temple, he goes down to the temple gate and starts to cry unto the people. "Hear the word of the Lord, all of you that are coming here to worship Jehovah."

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these ( Jeremiah 7:3-4 ).

Now the prophet is rebuking the people that are coming to worship because, number one, they are coming out of wrong motivation. Somehow they feel that because the temple has been restored and rebuilt, that they are going to be safe now from their enemies. They haven't altered their lifestyle at all. They're still doing all of the same wicked things that they were doing before. They are still burning their incense to Baal. They're still sacrificing their children to the fires of Molech. They're doing all of these abominable things as far as God is concerned, but now we've got the temple and because the temple is here, surely God is going to spare us. And they were looking at the temple as sort of a magical charm, an amulet of some sort that is going to keep us from being destroyed. But the prophet is declaring, "You're trusting in lying words. When you think that just the fact that you have a temple that that building is going to somehow be a magical charm for you to keep you from the judgments that are coming upon you because of your deeds, your ways, your activities."

God, again, is interested in a relationship with you that changes your life. And coming to church isn't really where it's at. Unless your heart and your life is dedicated to God. There are a lot of people trying to appease their conscience. Resting in church membership. Resting in past spiritual experiences or past rituals. But God declares here that you are trusting in lying words. That there is no salvation in these things. The church cannot save you. A ritual cannot save you. Only a living, life-changing faith in Jesus Christ can save you. And if your faith in Christ has not altered your life, then your faith must be challenged and questioned.

If I would say to you, "Folks, I believe that there is a bomb planted in this church, an extremely powerful bomb that's going to go off in three minutes. I believe this because somehow I just have a strong feeling that this bomb is about ready to explode." And I just go on and ignore it and keep talking and everything else, you'd say, "Oh, you don't really believe there's a bomb there. Your actions are not in keeping with what you say you believe." If I really believed there was a bomb here, I'd say, "All right, now no one panic, but let's all get up and exit as quickly as you can out of this place." My actions would agree with what I declare I believe. There's got to be a harmony, if I really believe something, between what I believe and the actions of my life. And if you say that you really believe in Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, and that He died to save us from our sins, then that belief should be matched by your life and your lifestyle.

It is wrong and it is inconsistent for me to talk about my believing in God and believing in the Spirit and all and to be living totally after my flesh. Now that was exactly what was going on in this situation. Their words...they were deceiving themselves with their words, because they could mouth the right phrases. They had deceived themselves and they were trusting in lying words rather than trusting in a living relationship with God. And so the prophet is warning them to not trust in these lying words. Just because they were awed by the fact, "Oh, the temple of Jehovah. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Don't you feel good? Temple of Jehovah." I don't care what you feel. It's what you're doing that God is interested in. And so He said, "Amend your ways, your doings. And that I will cause you to dwell in this place. I'll protect you then. I will be with you then. I'll be your defense then. But this temple isn't going to save you. This building isn't going to save you. If you want Me to work in your behalf, then change your ways."

For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor; if you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and you do not shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever ( Jeremiah 7:5-7 ).

Hey, if you live right, if you'll walk right, you can live here forever. I will be a defense to you. I will watch over you. I will keep you. But not just because you have the temple. Not just because you have a religious observance. Let Me see it proved in your life and in your lifestyle. Amend your ways and the things you're doing. Start living right.

God wants us to be honest. God wants us to be just. God wants us to be fair. God does not want us to oppress the poor or to take advantage of another person's situation. God wants us to love each other as we love ourselves. Now, is there anything evil with that? Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in a world where people were doing what God wanted them to do? How glorious this world would be if we were all doing what God wants us to do. If we were all genuinely loving one another and caring for one another. Interested in one another. Helping one another. Lifting the person that has fallen. Helping the person that is weak. If we were all concerned and loving one another, it would be a glorious world to live in. And that's what God requires. That's what God wants of us.

But the people were all doing their own thing. They were all living for their own selfish motivations and they were all so covetous. Trying to gain for themselves and not caring who they hurt or who was destroyed by it. And their greed had overcome them. God said, "So just having a temple, just going, coming to temple, that's not going to do it. I want more than that. Just coming to church. That's not going to do it." God wants more than that. He wants a commitment of your life. He wants you to change your ways. He wants you to start living according to His will.

Behold [the prophet said], you trust in lying words, that cannot profit [or save you] ( Jeremiah 7:8 ).

The words cannot save you. Mouthing right phrases cannot save. Mouthing the Apostles' Creed won't save you. Mouthing the Psa 23:1-6 won't save you. Salvation is more than just a creed that is recited. It is a commitment of my heart and life to Jesus Christ. So the Lord shows the inconsistency.

Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are free to do all these abominations? ( Jeremiah 7:9-10 )

You say, "Oh, could people really do that? Could they be committing adultery and fornication and all during the week and then come to the house of God and say, 'Oh, we have the grace of God that covers us and we have freedom in Christ to do anything we want'?" And so the prophet speaks out against it. It was happening then. It happens today. There are people who live after their own flesh during the week. They're dishonest in their business practices. They lie. They steal. They commit adultery. Commit fornication. And then they dare to come and stand in the house of God and think because they have come to the house of God that that should somehow take care of all they've done. Because after all, Lord, I put a five in the plate last week, you know. Buy my way out. No way. God says, "Change your way. Amend your life. Amend your doings and then I will keep you and I will watch over you and you'll dwell safely in this place."

Is this house, [God said,] which is called by my name, become a den of robbers? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD ( Jeremiah 7:11 ).

You remember when Jesus came to the temple and He found those that were changing money and selling doves. He took and made a whip and He began to overturn the tables of the moneychangers. And He began to drive them out. And He said, "My Father's house was to be called a house of prayer; but you've made it a den of thieves" ( Matthew 21:13 ). The Lord said, "It's My house which is called by My name." You see, they were saying, "Oh, the temple of Jehovah. The temple of Jehovah." It was called by His name, but they... it became a gathering place for a bunch of robbers. A den of robbers.

Now the Lord said,

Go to the place [where you used to worship] in Shiloh ( Jeremiah 7:12 ),

The place that was built there to worship Me.

where I set my name at the beginning ( Jeremiah 7:12 ),

When they first came into the land and began to inherit the land, the first place the tabernacle was set was in Shiloh. And so God said, "Go up to Shiloh, the place where My name was placed at the first."

and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel ( Jeremiah 7:12 ).

Look at its desolation.

And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but you heard not; and I called you, but you did not answer; Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein you trust ( Jeremiah 7:13-14 ),

You see, they were trusting in the house, not in God. People trusting in the church, not in Christ. Trusting in a ritual, not in a living relationship.

and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh ( Jeremiah 7:14 ).

I'm going to do the same thing to this place. I'm going to make it desolate. I'm going to destroy it.

And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim ( Jeremiah 7:15 ).

Or that is the northern tribes of Israel.

Therefore ( Jeremiah 7:16 )

And now God is saying to Jeremiah, to the message, "Therefore, Jeremiah,"

pray not for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee ( Jeremiah 7:16 ).

What solemn, harsh words as God says, "That's it, Jeremiah. I've had it. Don't cry to Me for them. Don't pray to Me for them. Don't lift up your voice anymore for them, because I won't even hear you."

You remember back in the book of Genesis when men began to multiply on the face of the earth. That the Lord looked throughout the earth and there was none righteous except Noah in his generation. And the Lord spake unto Noah saying, "My Spirit will not always strive with man" ( Genesis 6:3 ). Now in that there is a blessing and there is a curse. There is a blessing that God's Spirit strives with us at all. That's so beautiful that God would strive with me. That God would take time for me. That God is interested enough in me that He sends His Spirit to strive with me to live the right life and to follow after Him in order that I might receive all of the blessings and the goodness and the glory of being a child of God. God actually strives with me for something which is so good for me. Seems to me that men would be clamoring after Him. So that God does strive with man is a blessing.

But the curse is, God won't always strive. A person can turn his back upon the Lord. He can harden himself to God to the place where God's Spirit will no longer strive and with Jeremiah, God will say, "All right, that's it. They've gone too far. Don't pray anymore for their good. If you do, I'm not going to hear you. Don't cry unto me for them. That's it. No more. I don't want to hear another prayer. I don't want you to ask anymore for them because I won't hear you." When God says of a person, "That's it. They've gone too far," you say, "Is such a thing possible?" The scripture teaches that it is.

God said, "Ephraim is joined to her idols. Let her alone. Don't try anymore. Just let her alone." Paul tells us in Romans. "Wherefore God has given them up" ( Romans 1:24 ). How tragic when God gives a person up, when God gives up on a man.

Now you see, God isn't under any obligation to strive with you at all. The fact that He strives at all is just a marvel that I can't fully understand. He's under no obligation. God doesn't owe me a thing. But yet because of His love He strives with man. But there comes a time we know not when, a place we know not where that marks the destiny of man twixt sorrow and despair. There is a line though by man unseen. Once it has been crossed even God Himself in all of His love has sworn that all is lost.

In Joh 12:39 it says, "Therefore they could not believe." It didn't say they would not believe; they could not believe. They came to the place where they could not believe. They had gone too far. And when God says to Jeremiah, "Therefore pray thou not for this people, neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me, for I will not hear thee." The people have gone too far. They've gone beyond the point of no return.

Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven ( Jeremiah 7:17-18 ),

They're worshipping Ashtoreth, Semiramis, the queen of heaven, the goddess of fertility.

and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger ( Jeremiah 7:18 ).

So here, God's people, the little children are out gathering sticks. And the fathers, they bring them home to the fathers who kindle the fire, and the women are there kneading the dough so they can bake these little cakes to the goddess of fertility, Semiramis, the queen of heaven. God said, "That's it, that's more than I can take. Just leave, don't pray anymore. Don't intercede anymore. I'm through. I've had it. That's it."

Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury 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. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. 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: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice ( Jeremiah 7:19-23 ).

God said, "I didn't set up sacrifices to begin with." The burnt offerings and the peace offerings, God didn't establish them until after He'd given the law and they disobeyed the law. Then God set the sacrifices for burnt offering and all. But He said, "I said unto them, 'Obey My voice.'"

and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you ( Jeremiah 7:23 ).

"Just obey Me," God says, "and walk with Me. In harmony with My desires and wishes."

But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imaginations of their own evil hearts, and went backward ( Jeremiah 7:24 ),

Away from Me instead of towards Me.

Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them ( Jeremiah 7:25 ).

God had not left them. From the beginning He had sent His messengers, His servants to warn them and to challenge them to commit their lives to God.

Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken ( Jeremiah 7:26-27 ):

Now you're to go out, Jeremiah, and say the words, but they're not going to listen.

Oh man, what a heavy-duty trip Jeremiah had. It's a ministry that has a promise of failure. Now know this, though the ministry was destined for failure from the beginning, yet it was a necessary ministry that God required of Jeremiah. And because Jeremiah was faithful and obedient, God blessed Jeremiah as His instrument, though there was to be no success coming from his ministry.

Now, we have in our minds sort of a carryover in our service to the Lord. We have a carryover from the secular world concepts. For if I'm a salesman, I only get commission when I get the signature on the dotted line. And so sometimes I feel discouraged and defeated because I didn't get the signature on the dotted line. I witnessed to them but they rejected the witness. And I feel, "Oh, I'm so defeated, you know, because they didn't hear. Oh, what a waste of time. You know, I spent all afternoon with them and then they rejected anyhow. Oh, what a waste." Wait a minute. Not so. God rewards you for the witnessing whether or not anybody ever listens, hearkens or changes. You see, God only requires that I witness for Him. And God knows that some of the witnessing is just going to fall on deaf ears. But He still requires me to do it.

"Now Jeremiah you go out and speak all these things. They're not going to listen to you. It's all right. You go out and tell them anyhow." Because God wants His witness to be left so that men are without excuse. So God requires us to go out and to witness, and not always are we going to be successful. That doesn't make any difference. It has no difference and no standing at all upon my reward when I stand before God. God will not reward me for the number of people that responded to my witness. God will reward me for witnessing. God will reward me the same if ten responded or no one responded. Because the response isn't my territory at all. That's God's territory. Only God can create a response in the heart of the people. It isn't up to me to argue people into a faith for believing in Jesus Christ; it's only up to me to witness to them of God and of God's Word and of God's truth. And then it's up to the Spirit of God to take that witness and do with it what He wants in the heart of the individual. And quite often we don't know the real work of the Spirit in the heart of a person.

I had a drunk man come to the door one night, all upset because he had been in a big fight with his family. And they called the police because he ripped the phone off the wall. Violent; wanted help. I said, "Well, what do you want?" He said, "I want to get right with God. I want you to call my wife," and all this kind of stuff. "Tell her how horrible she is. Treating me like she has." He said, "I can't get anybody to pray through with me." Well, I didn't really know what he meant by that, but I thought, "Well, I'll pray with you as long as you want to pray." So I took him over to the church, which was next door to our house, and we started praying together. And the first half hour he is praying vengeance and judgment upon all those that had treated him so wrong, you know. And I just sort of prayed along quietly. Then after the first half hour he began to change and said, "Lord, I haven't been so good myself and I have done some pretty bad things." And he began to really get somewhere, I thought, in prayer as he changed the whole tenor of the prayer from vindictiveness upon those that he felt were treating him ill and he began to really ask God for himself, confess his own guilt and ask God to help him. And I was encouraged by that. The next half hour he was praying about himself and seeking God to really work in his life. And then he went into a period of just sort of praising the Lord, and I could tell that he was getting sleepy because he'd say, "Oh, thank You, Lord." And so finally he was, "Oh, thank You, Jesus," and he sort of drifted off. So I continued to pray for a little while until I was sure that he was sound asleep. And so I got a blanket and covered him and went home because he said he couldn't go home. They'd kicked him out. So I thought, "Well, he can sleep in the church, it won't hurt."

So when I got home, my wife said, "Well, how did it go?" I said, "I really don't know." When you're dealing with a man who's drunk you really don't know how, whether it really got through or took or whatever. You just really don't know. Next morning I went over to the church and the blanket was all folded and lying there and he was gone. But the next evening ,dressed in a suit, looking sharp as could be, he was at the door. He says, "When in the world does the Bible study start?" And I knew God got through.

But you never really know always at the time. God can be doing a work in a person's life and you'd not really know it until you see the fruit and the evidence of it later. But Jeremiah's ministry was destined for failure. They're not going to hearken.

you're going to call to them; but they're not going to answer. But you shall say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Jehovah their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth. Cut off your hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it ( Jeremiah 7:27-30 ).

They had altars to Baal and all right in the temple of God.

And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom ( Jeremiah 7:31 ),

Or Gehenna there on the outskirts of Jerusalem, the Hinnom valley that goes on down on the outside of the mount of Zion.

to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command of them, neither came it into my heart ( Jeremiah 7:31 ).

God said never would I require the sacrifice of the children unto Me.

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall be buried in Tophet, until there is no place left to bury them. And the carcasses of these people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away. Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, the inhabitants, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of merriment, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate ( Jeremiah 7:32-34 ).

Now you go and you warn them; they're not going to listen. But I'm going to do it.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon 7:1-15

This message demonstrates a structure that is quite typical of many others in the Book of Jeremiah (cf. Jeremiah 11:1-17; Jeremiah 17:19-27; Jeremiah 34:8-22). First there is an explanation of Yahweh’s will (word, law; Jeremiah 7:1-7), then a description of Israel’s departure from it (Jeremiah 7:8-12), and then an announcement of divine judgment (Jeremiah 7:13-15). A similar message, or the same message in abbreviated form, appears later in the book (Jeremiah 26:1-6). [Note: Scholars differ about what they call Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon. Some refer to all of 7:1-8:3 as the temple sermon, and a few consider 7:1-10:25 the temple sermon.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

By treating the temple in this way, the people had turned it into "a den of robbers," a gathering place for those who stole from others and God, and violated God’s Word with impunity (cf. Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46).

"They have profaned God’s house by making it a place of retreat between acts of crime . . ." [Note: Harrison, Jeremiah and . . ., p. 86.]

The Lord assured the people that He had seen what they were doing; they had not deceived Him.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Is this house, which is called by my name,.... Meaning the temple:

become a den of robbers in your eyes? or do you look upon it, and make use of it, as thieves do of dens; who, when they have robbed and murdered men, betake themselves to them, not only to share their spoil, but to hide themselves? just so those thieves, murderers adulterers, perjurers, and idolaters, after they had committed such gross enormities, came into the temple and offered sacrifices; thinking hereby to cover their sins, and expiate the guilt of them, and to be looked upon as good men, and true worshippers of God, when they were no better than thieves and robbers; and such were the Pharisees in Christ's time, and such was the temple as made by them; see Matthew 21:13:

behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord; not only all the abominations committed by them, but the use they made of the temple and the worship of it; all the hypocrisy of their hearts, and the inward thoughts of them, and their views and intentions in their offerings and sacrifices; as well as what ruin and destruction the Lord designed to bring shortly upon them, and upon that house which they had made a den of robbers; as follows:

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,   2 Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.   3 Thus saith the LORD 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 the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.   5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;   6 If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:   7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.   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 whom ye know not;   10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?   11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.   12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name 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 the LORD, 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 this 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 have done 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.

      These verses begin another sermon, which is continued in this and the two following chapters, much to the same effect with those before, to reason them to repentance. Observe,

      I. The orders given to the prophet to preach this sermon; for he had not only a general commission, but particular directions and instructions for every message he delivered. This was a word that came to him from the Lord,Jeremiah 7:1; Jeremiah 7:1. We are not told when this sermon was to be preached; but are told, 1. Where it must be preached--in the gate of the Lord's house, through which they entered into the outer court, or the court of the people. It would affront the priests, and expose the prophet to their rage, to have such a message as this delivered within their precincts; but the prophet must not fear the face of man, he cannot be faithful to his God if he do. 2. To whom it must be preached--to the men of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord; probably it was at one of three feasts, when all the males from all parts of the country were to appear before the Lord in the courts of his house, and not to appear empty: then he had many together to preach to, and that was the most seasonable time to admonish them not to trust to their privileges. Note, (1.) Even those that profess religion have need to be preached to as well as those that are without. (2.) It is desirable to have opportunity of preaching to many together. Wisdom chooses to cry in the chief place of concourse, and, as Jeremiah here, in the opening of the gates, the temple-gates. (3.) When we are going to worship God we have need to be admonished to worship him in the spirit, and to have no confidence in the flesh,Philippians 3:3.

      II. The contents and scope of the sermon itself. It is delivered in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who commands the world, but covenants with his people. As creatures we are bound to regard the Lord of hosts, as Christians the God of Israel; what he said to them he says to us, and it is much the same with that which John Baptist said to those whom he baptized (Matthew 3:8; Matthew 3:9), Bring forth fruits meet for repentance; and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father. The prophet here tells them,

      1. What were the true words of God, which they might trust to. In short, they might depend upon it that if they would repent and reform their lives, and return to God in a way of duty, he would restore and confirm their peace, would redress their grievances, and return to them in a way of mercy (Jeremiah 7:3; Jeremiah 7:3): Amend your ways and your doings. This implies that there had been much amiss in their ways and doings, many faults and errors. But it is a great instance of the favour of God to them that he gives them liberty to amend, shows them where and how they must amend, and promises to accept them upon their amendment: "I will cause you to dwell quietly and peaceably in this place, and a stop shall be put to that which threatens your expulsion." Reformation is the only way, and a sure way to ruin. He explains himself (Jeremiah 7:5-7; Jeremiah 7:5-7), and tells them particularly,

      (1.) What the amendment was which he expected from them. They must thoroughly amend; in making good, they must make good their ways and doings; they must reform with resolution, and it must be a universal, constant, preserving reformation--not partial, but entire--not hypocritical, but sincere--not wavering, but constant. They must make the tree good, and so make the fruit good, must amend their hearts and thoughts, and so amend their ways and doings. In particular, [1.] They must be honest and just in all their dealings. Those that had power in their hands must thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour, without partiality, and according as the merits of the cause appeared. They must not either in judgment or in contract oppress the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor countenance or protect those that did oppress, nor refuse to do them justice when they sought for it. They must not shed innocent blood, and with it defile this place and the land wherein they dwelt. [2.] They must keep closely to the worship of the true God only: "Neither walk after other gods; do not hanker after them, nor hearken to those that would draw you into communion with idolaters; for it is, and will be, to your own hurt. Be not only so just to your God, but so wise for yourselves, as not to throw away your adorations upon those who are not able to help you, and thereby provoke him who is able to destroy you." Well, this is all that God insists upon.

      (2.) He tells them what the establishment is which, upon this amendment, they may expect from him (Jeremiah 7:7; Jeremiah 7:7): "Set about such a work of reformation as this with all speed, go through with it, and abide by it; and I will cause you to dwell in this place, this temple; it shall continue your place of resort and refuge, the place of your comfortable meeting with God and one another; and you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers for ever and ever, and it shall never be turned out either from God's house or from your own." It is promised that they shall still enjoy their civil and sacred privileges, that they shall have a comfortable enjoyment of them: I will cause you to dwell here; and those dwell at ease to whom God gives a settlement. They shall enjoy it by covenant, by virtue of the grant made of it to their fathers, not by providence, but by promise. They shall continue in the enjoyment of it without eviction or molestation; they shall not be disturbed, much less dispossessed, for ever and ever; nothing but sin could throw them out. An everlasting inheritance in the heavenly Canaan is hereby secured to all that live in godliness and honesty. And the vulgar Latin reads a further privilege here, Jeremiah 7:3; Jeremiah 7:7. Habitabo vobiscum--I will dwell with you in this place; and we should find Canaan itself but an uncomfortable place to dwell in if God did not dwell with us there.

      2. What were the lying words of their own hearts, which they must not trust to. He cautions them against this self-deceit (Jeremiah 7:4; Jeremiah 7:4): "Trust no in lying words. You are told in what way, and upon what terms, you may be easy safe, and happy; now do not flatter yourselves with an opinion that you may be so on any other terms, or in any other way." Yet he charges them with this self-deceit arising from vanity (Jeremiah 7:8; Jeremiah 7:8): "Behold, it is plain that you do trust in lying words, notwithstanding what is said to you; you trust in words that cannot profit; you rely upon a plea that will stand you in no stead." Those that slight the words of truth, which would profit them, take shelter in words of falsehood, which cannot profit them. Now these lying words were, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. These buildings, the courts, the holy place, and the holy of holies, are the temple of the Lord, built by his appointment, to his glory; here he resides, here he is worshipped, here we meet three times a year to pay our homage to him as our King in his palace." This they thought was security enough to them to keep God and his favours from leaving them, God and his judgments from breaking in upon them. When the prophets told them how sinful they were, and how miserable they were likely to be, still they appealed to the temple: "How can we be either so or so, as long as we have that holy happy place among us?" The prophet repeats it because they repeated it upon all occasions. It was the cant of the times; it was in their mouths upon all occasions. If they heard an awakening sermon, if any startling piece of news was brought to them, they lulled themselves asleep again with this, "We cannot but do well, for we have the temple of the Lord among us." Note, The privileges of a form of godliness are often the pride and confidence of those that are strangers and enemies to the power of it. It is common for those that are furthest from God to boast themselves most of their being near to the church. They are haughty because of the holy mountain (Zephaniah 3:11), as if God's mercy were so tied to them that they might defy his justice. Now to convince them what a frivolous plea this was, and what little stead it would stand them in,

      (1.) He shows them the gross absurdity of it in itself. If they knew any thing either of the temple of the Lord or of the Lord of the temple, they must think that to plead that, either in excuse of their sin against God or in arrest of God's judgment against them, was the most ridiculous unreasonable thing that could be. [1.] God is a holy God; but this plea made him the patron of sin, of the worst of sins, which even the light of nature condemns, Jeremiah 7:9; Jeremiah 7:10. "What," says he, "will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, be guilty of the vilest immoralities, and which the common interest, as well as the common sense, of mankind witness against? Will you swear falsely, a crime which all nations (who with the belief of a God have had a veneration for an oath) have always had a horror of? Will you burn incense to Baal, a dunghill-deity, that sets up as a rival with the great Jehovah, and, not content with that, will you walk after other gods too, whom you know not, and by all these crimes put a daring affront upon God, both as the Lord of hosts and as the God of Israel? Will you exchange a God of whose power and goodness you have had such a long experience for gods of whose ability and willingness to help you you know nothing? And, when you have thus done the worst you can against God, will you brazen your faces so far as to come and stand before him in this house which is called by his name and in which his name is called upon--stand before him as servants waiting his commands, as supplicants expecting his favour? Will you act in open rebellion against him, and yet herd among his subjects, among the best of them? By this, it should seem, you think that either he does not discover or does not dislike your wicked practices, to imagine either of which is to put the highest indignity possible upon him. It is as if you should say, We are delivered to do all these abominations." If they had not the front to say this, totidem verbis--in so many words, yet their actions spoke it aloud. They could not but own that God, even their own God, had many a time delivered them, and been a present help to them, when otherwise they must have perished. He, in delivering them, designed to reduce them to himself, and by his goodness to lead them to repentance; but they resolved to persist in their abominations notwithstanding. As soon as they were delivered (as of old in the days of the Judges) they did evil again in the sight of the Lord, which was in effect to say, in direct contradiction to the true intent and meaning of the providences which had affected them, that God had delivered them in order to put them again into a capacity of rebelling against him, by sacrificing the more profusely to their idols. Note, Those who continue in sin because grace has abounded, or that grace may abound, do in effect their idols. Note, Those who continue in sin because grace has abounded, or that grace may abound, do in effect make Christ the minister of sin. Some take it thus: "You present yourselves before God with your sacrifices and sin-offerings, and then say, We are delivered, we are discharged from our guilt, now it shall do us no hurt; when all this is but to blind the world, and stop the mouth of conscience, that you may, the more easily to yourselves and the more plausibly before others, do all these abominations." [2.] His temple was a holy place; but this plea made it a protection to the most unholy persons: "Has this house, which is called by my name and is a standing sign of God's kingdom of sin and Satan--has this become a den of robbers in your eyes? Do you think it was built to be not only a rendezvous of, but a refuge and shelter to, the vilest of malefactors?" No; though the horns of the altar were a sanctuary to him that slew a man unawares, yet they were not so to a wilful murderer, nor to one that did aught presumptuously, Exodus 21:14; 1 Kings 2:29. Those that think to excuse themselves in unchristian practices with the Christian name, and sin the more boldly and securely because there is a sin-offering provided, do, in effect, make God's house of prayer a den of thieves, as the priests in Christ's time, Matthew 21:13. But could they thus impose upon God? No: Behold, I have seen it, saith the Lord, have seen the real iniquity through the counterfeit and dissembled piety. Note, Though men may deceive one another with the appearances of devotion, yet they cannot deceive God.

      (2.) He shows them the insufficiency of this plea adjudged long since in the case of Shiloh. [1.] It is certain that Shiloh was ruined, though it had God's sanctuary in it, when by its wickedness it profaned that sanctuary (Jeremiah 7:12; Jeremiah 7:12): Go you now to my place which was in Shiloh. It is probable that the ruins of that once flourishing city were yet remaining; they might, at least, read the history of it, which ought to affect them as if they saw the place. There God set his name at the first, there the tabernacle was set up when Israel first took possession of Canaan (John 18:1), and thither the tribes went up; but those that attended the service of the tabernacle there corrupted both themselves and others, and from them arose the wickedness of his people Israel; that fountain was poisoned, and sent forth malignant streams; and what came of it? No; God forsook it (Psalms 78:60), sent his ark into captivity, cut off the house of Eli that presided there; and it is very probable that the city was quite destroyed, for we never read any more of it but as a monument of divine vengeance upon holy places when they harbour wicked people. Note, God's judgments upon others, who have really revolted from God while they have kept up a profession of nearness to him, should be a warning to us not to trust in lying words. It is good to consult precedents, and make use of them. Remember Lot's wife; remember Shiloh and the seven churches of Asia; and know that the ark and candlestick are moveable things, Revelation 2:5; Matthew 21:43. [2.] It is as certain that Shiloh's fate will be Jerusalem's doom if a speedy and sincere repentance prevent it not. First, Jerusalem was now as sinful as ever Shiloh was; that is proved by the unerring testimony of God himself against them (Jeremiah 7:13; Jeremiah 7:13): "You have done all these works, you cannot deny it:" and they continued obstinate in their sin; that is proved by the testimony of God's return and repent, rising up early and speaking, as one in care, as one in earnest, as one who would lose no time in dealing with them, nay, who would take the fittest opportunity for speaking to them early in the morning, when, if ever, they were sober, and had their thoughts free and clear; but it was all in vain. God spoke, but they heard not, they heeded not, they never minded; he called them, but they answered not; they would not come at his call. Note, What God has spoken to us greatly aggravates what we have done against him. Secondly, Jerusalem shall shortly be as miserable as ever Shiloh was: Therefore I will do unto this house as I did to Shiloh, ruin it, and lay it waste, Jeremiah 7:14; Jeremiah 7:14. Those that tread in the steps of the wickedness of those that went before them must expect to fall by the like judgments, for all these things happened to them for ensamples. The temple at Jerusalem, though ever so strongly built, if wickedness was found in it, would be as unable to keep its ground and as easily conquered as even the tabernacle in Shiloh was, when God's day of vengeance had come. "This house" (says God) "is called by my name, and therefore you may think that I should protect it; it is the house in which you trust, and you think that it will protect you; this land is the place, this city the place, which I gave to you and your fathers, and therefore you are secure of the continuance of it, and think that nothing can turn you out of it; but the men of Shiloh thus flattered themselves and did but deceive themselves." He quotes another precedent (Jeremiah 7:15; Jeremiah 7:15), the ruin of the kingdom of the ten tribes, who were the seed of Abraham, and had the covenant of circumcision, and possessed the land which God gave to them and their fathers, and yet the idolatries threw them out and extirpated them: "And can you think but that the same evil courses will be as fatal to you?" Doubtless they will be so; for God is uniform and of a piece with himself in his judicial proceedings. It is a rule of justice, ut parium par sit ratio--that in similar cases the same judgment should proceed. "You have corrupted yourselves as your brethren the seed of Ephraim did, and have become their brethren in iniquity, and therefore I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast them." The interpretation here given of the judgment makes it a terrible one indeed; the casting of them out of their land signified God's casting them out of his sight, as if he would never look upon them, never look after them, more. Whenever we are cast, it is well enough, if we be kept in the love of God; but, if we are thrown out of his favour, our case is miserable though we dwell in our own land. This threatening, that God would make this house like Shiloh, we shall meet with again, and find Jeremiah indicted for it, Jeremiah 26:6; Jeremiah 26:6.