Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 7:18

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Jeremiah 7:18. The children gather wood — 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!

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

No hope for an idolatrous people (7:16-8:3)

God now tells Jeremiah that it is useless for him to persist in praying for the safety of the Judeans. They have so given themselves to idolatrous practices that nothing can save them from God’s judgment. Throughout the cities and towns of Judah people worship foreign gods, but in the process they harm themselves (16-19). The harm will be much greater when God’s judgment falls on them (20).
While openly worshipping heathen gods, the people also offer sacrifices to Yahweh. The offering of sacrifices was part of the religious system God gave to Israel through Moses, but the first thing God demanded of his people was always obedience (21-23). Israel’s history shows that sacrifices will never save a stubborn and disobedient people from punishment (24-26).

Most of the people will ignore the prophet’s warnings, but he must persist in announcing God’s message (27-28). Jeremiah tells the people to shave off their hair as a sign of mourning for the death that is soon to overtake their nation (29). They have brought idolatrous practices into God’s temple, and just outside Jerusalem they have established a site for the heathen practice of sacrificing children to the god Molech (30-31). But the place where they have slaughtered their children will become a dump for their own corpses. There they will rot in the sun and be eaten by foul birds (32-34; cf. 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Kings 23:10).

Not satisfied with butchering the helpless people, the invaders will do all they can to heap disgrace upon Judah. They will even drag out the bones of the nation’s honoured dead from their tombs and scatter them like garbage on the ground. But such disgrace is preferable to the horror that will be experienced by people who live through those days (8:1-3).

Tophet and the Valley of Hinnom

The place where the Judeans offered their children as burnt sacrifices was the Valley of Ben Hinnom, on the southern side of the city. The valley got its name from the son of Hinnom (the Hebrew ben meaning ‘son’) who at one time probably owned the land that stretched along the valley. The name Tophet seems to have meant ‘place of burning’ and was used originally in relation to the place in the Valley of Hinnom where people burnt their children as sacrifices. This was also the place where people from Jerusalem dumped broken pottery (see 19:1-2). In time it became a public garbage dump and fires burnt there continually.
When transliterated from Hebrew to Greek, ‘Valley of Hinnom’ (Hebrew: ge-hinnom) becomes gehenna. This was the word that Jesus used for the place of final punishment of the wicked, and is commonly translated ‘hell’ (Matthew 10:28; Matthew 18:9; Matthew 23:33). The Valley of Hinnom was associated with judgment and burning (see 7:31-32; 19:4-7), and therefore gehenna became a fitting word to denote the place or state of eternal punishment (Mark 9:43-48; cf Matthew 18:8-9; Revelation 20:10,Revelation 20:15).

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

"Therefore pray thou not for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear thee. 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 the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger? saith Jehovah; do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, mine anger and my wrath 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."

The repeated prohibition of Jeremiah's praying any more for Judah is also repeated again in Jeremiah 11:14; Jeremiah 14:11 ff; and from these repetitions, Ash concluded that. "In spite of their iniquity, Jeremiah had been praying for the people."Anthony L. Ash, Psalms (Abilene, Texas: A.C.U. Press, 1987), p. 95. As many a heartbroken parent has discovered, it is nearly impossible to stop praying for a wayward son or daughter, no matter how wicked they might have become.

The meaning of this is simply that, "Persistent idolatry of Judah could only bring upon her as a consequence the curses of the covenant; and that time had now arrived."J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972) p. 284.

"To make cakes to the queen of heaven" This pagan goddess originally was worshipped in Canaan.

"The Phoenicians, called the moon Ashtoreth or Astarte, the wife of Baal or Moloch, the king of heaven. This male and female pair of deities symbolized the generative powers of nature; and, from this, came the introduction of so-called sacred prostitution into their worship."

It is impossible, nor is it necessary, to describe the shameful, licentious worship which characterized the idolatry associated with the queen of heaven. Stephen's mention of Israel's worshipping "the host of heaven" (Acts 7:42) is a reference to this very goddess, who was also said to be represented by the planet Venus. She was also identified as Ishtar (in Babylon) and the moon-goddess. The attractiveness of this idolatry to Israel was due primarily to the gratification of the lust of the flesh which it abundantly supplied.

"Do they provoke me to anger" God's answer is, "No, they were only provoking themselves." So it still is. Men fancy that they are "breaking God's commandments"; but in reality, they are only "breaking themselves!" As Dummelow stated it, "Their sin did not provoke God to a mere helpless anger, but to a wrath that was quick to punish and destroy them."J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 462.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Children ... fathers ... women - All members of the family take part in this idolatry.

Cakes - Probably very similar to those offered at Athens to Artemis.

To the queen of heaven - A Persian and Assyrian deity, who was supposed to symbolize a quality possessed by moonlight of giving to nature its receptive power, as the sun represented its quickening power. The moon thus became generally the symbol of female productiveness, and was worshipped as such at Babylon. Disgraceful usages to which every woman was obliged once to submit formed part of her worship.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

The children, he says, gather wood He ascribes the collecting of wood to the young; for it was a more laborious work. As then that age excels in strength, they collected wood; and the fathers kindled the fire: the women, what did they do? They were busy with the meal. Thus no part was neglected. “What then is to be done? and what else can I do, but wholly to cut off a people so wicked?” Then he says, that they may make כונים, cunim, which is translated “cakes, “and this is the most common rendering. Some think that kindling is meant, deriving the word from כוה, cue, which means to kindle. But I prefer the opinion of those who derive the word from כון, cun, which is to prepare, as cakes are things prepared. I do not then doubt, but that cakes are meant here, as it appears also from other places. The second interpretation I regard as too refined. ⁽²⁰¹⁾

With regard to the word למלכת, lamelcath, many consider the letter א left out, and think that “works” are intended. In this case מ would be a servile: but others consider it a radical, and render the word, “Queen;” which appears to me probable; though I do not wholly reject what some hold that the workmanship of the heavens is here meant. Some understand the stars, others the sun, and others the moon: let every one enjoy his own opinion. However, I think, that if the workmanship of the heavens be meant, the whole celestial host is to be included, as the Scripture thus calls all the stars. But if “the Queen of the heavens” be adopted, then I am inclined to think that the moon is intended: and we know how much superstition has ever prevailed among most people as to the worship of the moon. Hence I approve of this meaning. Yet I readily admit that all the stars, not one only, may be here designated, and called the work or the workmanship of the heavens. And the Jews, we know, were very much given to this madness: for as the sun was considered by the Orientals as the supreme God, when the Jews became enamoured with this error, they also thought that some high and adorable divinity belonged to the sun: they turned also afterwards to the stars; and this absurdity is often referred to in the Law and also in the Prophets. ⁽²⁰²⁾

It is then added, That they may pour forth libations to foreign gods, to provoke me to wrath When God complains of being provoked, it is the same as though he had said, that the Jews now openly carried on war with him, — “They sin not through ignorance, nor is it unknown to them how much they offend me by these profanations; but it is as it were their object and design to provoke me and to carry on war with me by these acts of impiety.”

(201) The ancient versions (the Arabic excepted) and the Targum render the word, cakes — placentas It is only found elsewhere in Jeremiah 44:19. — Ed.

(202) The Septuagint render the words here, “the host of heaven,“ and in Jeremiah 44:17 and 19, “the queen of heaven.” The Vulgate in the three places, renders them “the queen of heaven,“— the Targum, “ the star of heaven,“ — and the Syriac, “the army of heaven,“ in the two first places, but in the last, “the queen of heaven.” There are several MSS., in the three places, which insert the א, so as to make the word “work,“ or workmanship: but this change has evidently arisen from the Septuagint. But this word is never used to designate the work of the visible heavens: the word used in that case is מעשה. See Psalms 8:3. Our version and the Vulgate are no doubt right. But what is intended by the queen of heaven is not the moon; for the word commonly used for the moon is always masculine, and the word generally used for the sun is commonly feminine. This may appear strange; but so it is. In South Wales the word for sun is always feminine, but in North Wales, masculine.

In Deuteronomy 4:19, the sun, the moon, and the stars, as constituting the host of heaven, are mentioned together: these the first, as including all the rest, seems to be intended. Instead of “queen,“ we should say in our language, “the king of the heavens.” We do not read that the Jews worshipped the moon; but the worship of the sun among them is specifically referred to and mentioned. See 2 Kings 23:11; Ezekiel 8:16. The Israelites adored the sun under the name of Baal, which was the Chemosh of the Moabites, and the Moloch of the Ammonites. — 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

The Queen of Heaven cult 7:16-20

This pericope continues Yahweh’s instructions to Jeremiah preparing him to deliver the Temple Sermon (cf. Jeremiah 7:1-2). Jeremiah may have received this message from the Lord at the same time or at some other time.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Whole families were involved in making offering cakes for the Queen of Heaven, a deity mentioned only by Jeremiah. They also poured out drink offerings to other gods to hurt, humiliate, and annoy the Lord.

The "Queen of Heaven" was most likely a title of the Assyrian-Babylonian goddess Astarte (or Ishtar; cf. Jeremiah 44:17), though some scholars believe the name applied to several pagan goddesses. [Note: Craigie, pp. 123, mentioned the Canaanite goddesses Anat, Ashtaroth, and Shapash, all of whom the Canaanites associated with heaven. See also Keil, 1:160.] Worship of the Queen of Heaven had been popular in Judah during the reign of Manasseh (2 Kings 21; 2 Kings 23:4-14), though it began earlier in Israel’s history (Amos 5:26). This "queen" was an astral deity that appealed particularly to women (cf. Jeremiah 19:13; Jeremiah 32:29; Zephaniah 1:5). Her worship involved offering cakes made in the shape of the deity or the moon, or stamped with her image, and drink offerings (cf. Jeremiah 44:19). Other symbols of this goddess were the planet Venus, a moon, and a star. This cult had evidently survived Josiah’s reforms, probably because people could worship Astarte in their homes. [Note: See also The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., s.v. "Queen of Heaven," by D. J. Wiseman.] Worship of the Queen of Heaven and all other idols constituted a rejection of Yahweh’s sole sovereignty as Lord of Israel’s covenant.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The children gather wood,.... In the fields, or out of the neighbouring forest; not little children, but young men, who were able to cut down trees, and bear and carry burdens of wood:

and the fathers kindle the fire; take the wood of their children, lay it in order, and put fire to it; which shows that they approved of what their children did, and that what they did was by their direction and order:

and the women knead their dough; so that every age and sex were employed in idolatrous service, which is here intended; the corruption was universal; and therefore the whole body was ripe for ruin; nor would the Lord be entreated for them: and all this preparation was,

to make cakes for the queen of heaven; the moon, as Abarbinel; which rules by night, as the sun is the king that rules by day; and which was much worshipped by the Heathens, whom the Jews imitated. Some render it,

to the work, or workmanship, of heavens; q that is, to the whole host of heaven, sun, moon, and stars, which were worshipped in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem, 2 Kings 23:5. The Targum renders it,

"to the star of heaven;''

and Jarchi interprets it of some great star in the heaven, called the queen of heaven; and thinks that these cakes had the impress of a star upon them; see Amos 5:26 where mention is made of "Chiun, your image, the star of your god". The word "chiun" is akin to the word here translated cakes, and thought to be explained by a star; see also Acts 7:43 but it seems rather to be the moon, which is expressly called by Apuleius r the queen of heaven; and often by others Coelestis; and Urania by the Africans, as Tertullian s and Herodian t affirm; as also Beltis, by Abydenus u; and Baaltis, by Philo-Byblius, or Sanchoniatho w; which have the signification of "queen"; and these cakes might have the form of the moon upon them, and be made and offered in imitation of the shewbread:

and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods; not different from the queen of heaven, and the hosts thereof; for to her and them drink offerings were poured out, Jeremiah 44:18 but other gods besides the one, only, living, and true God:

that they may provoke me to anger; not that this was their intention, but so it was eventually.

q למלכת השמים "operi coelorum", Piscator, Gataker, Cocceius "machinae coelorum", Munster, Tigurine version; so Kimchi and Ben Melech. r Metamorph. l. 11. principio. s Apologet. c. 24. t Hist. l. 5. 1. 15. u Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 41. p. 456. w Apud ib. l. 2. c. 10. p. 38.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.   17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?   18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.   19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?   20 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.

      God had shown them, in the foregoing verses, that the temple and the service of it, of which they boasted and in which they trusted, should not avail to prevent the judgment threatened. But there was another thing which might stand them in some stead, and which yet they had no value for, and that was the prophet's intercession for them; his prayers would do them more good than their own pleas: now here that support is taken from them; and their case is said indeed who have lost their interest in the prayers of God's ministers and people.

      I. God here forbids the prophet to pray for them (Jeremiah 7:16; Jeremiah 7:16): "The decree has gone forth, their ruin is resolved on, therefore pray not thou for this people, that is, pray not for the preventing of this judgment threatened; they have sinned unto death, and therefore pray not for their life, but for the life of their souls," 1 John 5:16. See here, 1. That God's prophets are praying men; Jeremiah foretold the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, and yet prayed for their preservation, not knowing that the decree was absolute; and it is the will of God that we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Even when we threaten sinners with damnation we must pray for their salvation, that they may turn and live. Jeremiah was hated, and persecuted, and reproached, by the children of his people, and yet he prayed for them; for it becomes us to render good for evil. 2. That God's praying prophets have a great interest in heaven, how little soever they have on earth. When God has determined to destroy this people, he bespeaks the prophet not to pray for them, because he would not have his prayers to lie (as prophets' prayers seldom did) unanswered. God said to Moses, Let me alone,Exodus 22:10. 3. It is an ill omen to a people when God restrains the spirits of his ministers and people from praying for them, and gives them to see their case so desperate that they have no heart to speak a good word for them. 4. Those that will not regard good ministers' preaching cannot expect any benefit by their praying. If you will not hear us when we speak from God to you, God will not hear us when we speak to him for you.

      II. He gives him a reason for this prohibition. Praying breath is too precious a thing to be lost and thrown away upon a people hardened in sin and marked for ruin.

      1. They are resolved to persist in their rebellion against God, and will not be turned back by the prophet's preaching. For this he appeals to the prophet himself, and his own inspection and observation (Jeremiah 7:17; Jeremiah 7:17): Seest thou not what they do openly and publicly, without either shame or fear, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? This intimates both that the sin was evident and could not be denied and that the sinners were impudent and would not be reclaimed; they committed their wickedness even in the prophet's presence and under his eye; he saw what they did, and yet they did it, which was an affront to his office, and to him whose officer he was, and bade defiance to both. Now observe,

      (1.) What the sin is with which they are here charged--it is idolatry, Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 7:18. Their idolatrous respects are paid to the queen of heaven, the moon, either in an image or in the original, or both. They worshipped it probably under the name of Ashtaroth, or some other of their goddesses, being in love with the brightness in which they saw the moon walk, and thinking themselves indebted to her for her benign influences or fearing her malignant ones, Job 31:26. The worshipping of the moon was much in use among the heathen nations, Jeremiah 44:17; Jeremiah 44:19. Some read it the frame or workmanship of heaven. The whole celestial globe with all its ornaments and powers was the object of their adoration. They worshipped the host of heaven,Acts 7:42. The homage they should have paid to their Prince they paid to the statues that beautified the frontispiece of his palace; they worshipped the creatures instead of him that made them, the servants instead of him that commands them, and the gifts instead of him that gave them. With the queen of heaven they worshipped other gods, images of things not only in heaven above, but in earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth; for those that forsake the true God wander endlessly after false ones. To these deities of their own making they offer cakes for meat-offerings, and pour out drink-offerings, as if they had their meat and drink from them and were obliged to make to them their acknowledgments: and see how busy they are, and how every hand is employed in the service of these idols, according as they used to be employed in their domestic services. The children were sent to gather wood; the fathers kindled the fire to heat the oven, being of the poorer sort that could not afford to keep servants to do it, yet they would rather do it themselves than it should be undone; the women kneaded the dough with their own hands, for perhaps, though they had servants to do it, they took a pride in showing their zeal for their idols by doing it themselves. Let us be instructed, even by this bad example, in the service of our God. [1.] Let us honour him with our substance, as those that have our subsistence from him, and eat and drink to the glory of him from whom we have our meat and drink. [2.] Let us not decline the hardest services, nor disdain to stoop to the meanest, by which God may be honoured; for none shall kindle a fire on God's altar for nought. Let us think it an honour to be employed in any work for God. [3.] Let us bring up our children in the acts of devotion; let them, as they are capable, be employed in doing something towards the keeping up of religious exercises.

      (2.) What is the direct tendency of this sin: "It is that they may provoke me to anger; they cannot design any thing else in it. But (Jeremiah 7:19; Jeremiah 7:19) do they provoke me to anger? Is it because I am hard to be pleased, or easily provoked? Or am I to bear the blame of the resentment? No; it is their own doing; they may thank themselves, and they alone shall bear it." Is it against God that they provoke him to wrath? Is he the worse for it? Does it do him any real damage? No; is it not against themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? It is malice against God, but it is impotent malice; it cannot hurt him: nay, it is foolish malice; it will hurt themselves. They show their spite against God, but they do the spite to themselves. Canst thou think any other than that a people, thus desperately set upon their own ruin, should be abandoned?

      2. God is resolved to proceed in his judgments against them, and will not be turned back by the prophet's prayers (Jeremiah 7:20; Jeremiah 7:20): Thus saith the Lord God, and what he saith he will not unsay, nor can all the world gainsay it; hear it therefore, and tremble. "Behold, my anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, as the flood of waters was upon the old world or the shower of fire and brimstone upon Sodom; since they will anger me, let them see what will come of it." They shall soon find, (1.) That there is no escaping this deluge of fire, either by flying from it or fencing against it; it shall be poured out on this place, though it be a holy place, the Lord's house. It shall reach both man and beast, like the plagues of Egypt, and, like some of them, shall destroy the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground, which they had designed and prepared for Baal, and of which they had made cakes to the queen of heaven. (2.) There is no extinguishing it: It shall burn and shall not be quenched; prayers and tears shall then avail nothing. When his wrath is kindled but a little, much more when it is kindled to such a degree, there shall be no quenching it. God's wrath is that fire unquenchable which eternity itself will not see the period of. Depart, you cursed, into everlasting fire.