Jeremiah 7

and eat flesh.] The burnt offerings, after they were flayed, were to be consumed wholly upon the altar, Lev. i. 9; whereas in the sacrifices of the peace offering, only the fat was burnt upon the altar, the remainder belonging partly to the priest, and the rest was spent in a religious entertainment. See Lev. vii. 29— 34; Deut. xii. 11, 12. Here the Prophet tells the Jews, they may, if they please, eat the flesh of their burnt offerings, as well as of their peace offerings, for God will accept neither of them from their hands; (see chap. vi. 20;) and books upon them only as common meats; compare Hos. viii. 13. W. Louth. 22. For I spake not—concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.] God hereby intimates, that He did not primarily intend to appoint this way of worship, and to impose it upon the Jews, as that which was most suitable to his own nature, and most agreeable to Him; but that he condescended to it, as most accommodated to their state and inclination, because of the carnality of their hearts, and the proneness of the people to idolistry. Abp. Tillotson. It is a way of speaking, usual in Scripture, to express the preference due to one thing over another, in terms which express the rejecting of that which is less worthy: and thus we may understand the text here in correspondence with the parallel passage of Hosea, “I desired mercy, and not sacrifice,” chap. vi. 6: the words in both places implying, that God always laid a greater stress upon sincere obedience, than on external observances; and designed the latter, as so many mounds and fences to guard and preserve the former. W. Louth.

—the generation of his wrath.] That is, a race of men obnoxious to God’s wrath: in the same sense the Apostle speaks of “the children of wrath,” Eph. ii. 3. Dr. Blayney.

the bones &c.] The calamity, which I will bring upon the Jews and Jerusalem, shall not rest in the living, but shall reach to the very dead: for the very bones of their kings and princes, and priests, and prophets, shall be torn up out of their graves. Bp. Hall.

Jeremiah 7:2

2.—they shall not be gathered, nor be buried;] The bones, thus scattered about, shall not be gathered or laid up in their sepulchres. Not to enjoy the common rites of burial is spoken of as an aggravation of men’s calamities, chap. xxii. 19; xxxvi. 30; Isa. xiv. 19, 20; Eccles. vi. 3. W. Lowth. The terrible and just vengeance of God upon the crimes and idolatries of the Jews, in destroying their city, and in causing their carcasses to be exposed in the very place where they had exercised their abominable idolatries, ought to excite our very serious attention. God, provoked with the sins of the Jews, destroyed them and their temple, and gave them up to their enemies, as He had before done the kingdom of the ten tribes. Let us grow wise by their example, as well as by the example of those Christian churches, whose candlestick, that is, the light of God’s word, has been removed from them, because they abused it. Such considerations should produce in our hearts a wholesome dread of the judgments of God, and should effectually move us to regard Him with fear, and to serve Him with sincerity. Ostervald.

Jeremiah 7:3

3.—of this evil family.] See note on chap. i. 15.

Jeremiah 7:4

4. Trust ye not in lying words.] Uttered by your false prophets, who foretell peace, and encourage you in impentency. See chap. iv. 10; xiv. 13, 14. W. Louth. —The temple of the Lord, are these.] As much as to say, God hath placed his name here, ver. 10, and hath chosen these stately buildings, as the place of his peculiar residence; and what reason is there to believe, that He will ever forsake it, and give it up to be destrived by strangers and idolaters? Compare chap. xviii. 18; Micah iii. 11. W. Louth. In the same manner our Saviour’s disciples, immediately after their Lord had been foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem, came to Him, and with similar notions in their heads, as from our Saviour’s reply may be collected, pointed out to Him the magnificent buildings of the temple, Matt. xxiv. 1, 2. Dr. Blayney. The triple repetition of “The temple of the Lord” denotes a remarkable earnestness, and extreme presumption in the people. The Prophet employs the same repetition afterwards, in his apostrophe to Judea, “O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord,” chap. xxii. 29. Calmet. Before CHRIST about 600. a Chap. 18. 11. & 26. 13. God rejecteth the vain confidence of the Jews. Before CHRIST about 600. neither walk after other gods to your hurt:

5. Moreover thou shalt say unto them, &c.] In that part of the prophecy which next follows, the difference of speakers requires to be attended to; the transitions being quick and sudden, but full of life and energy. The prophet at first in the name of God reproves the

Jeremiah 7:11

11. Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers &c.] Ye think all is well if ye present yourselves into my temple, though you bring with you the guilt of manifold sins: ye come hither full of theft, of oppression, of injustice: is my temple, think ye, for such worshippers? Is this house, which is called by my name, fit to be a den of thieves and robbers? Behold, I have well seen and noted with how wicked dispositions and hollow hearts ye come hither, saith the Lord. Bp. Hall.

Jeremiah 7:12

12. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh.] Shiloh was the place, where, upon the first coming of the Israelites into Canaan, the tabernacle, in which was the ark of God’s presence, was set up, by Divine appointment, no doubt; and there it continued for a space of time, until the days of Samuel. It was during this residence that the Israelites received that signal defeat from the Philistines, when the ark of God was taken, as related, 1 Sam. iv. 10. 11: the pathetick description of which disaster, made by the Psalmist, Ps. lxxviii. 60—64, has caused it to be generally believed, that an allusion to it was likewise designed upon this occasion. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 7:13

13. — rising up early and speaking.] The phrase “rising up early,” signifies diligence and assiduity: see Isa. 1. 4. The same sense is elsewhere expressed in the Hebrew, by doing any thing “in the morning,”

Jeremiah 7:15

15. — the whole seed of Ephraim.] That is, all the ten tribes, who are often called by the name of Ephraim, that being the principal tribe among them. Their first king Jeroboam was of that tribe. See Isa. vii. 2. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 7:16

16. Therefore pray not thou for this people, &c.] Nothing but an universal reformation, which God foresaw would not be effected, could deliver the Jews from that captivity and desolation, which He had threatened to bring upon them. In some cases the intercessions of good men have been so far prevalent, as to rescue sinners from the punishments they deserved; but here God declares that nothing but a general amendment shall avert the judgments threatened. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 7:18

18. The children gather wood, &c.] All the sort of them, of all ages and both sexes, conspire together in their idolatry: children, fathers, women, put their hands to the work, and all agree to offer cakes, in the way of sacrifice, to the sun or moon. Bp. Hall.

— cakes] Certain idolatrous cakes, artificially prepared of dough, and offered to the moon under the title of the queen of heaven. Parkhurst.

— queen of heaven.] When we consider that the moon was at the beginning appointed to “rule the night,” as well as the sun “to rule the day,” Gen. i. 16; and that she manifestly does so, since her light is greater than that of all the planets and stars put together; and that the idolaters called the sun, or solar fire, not only Lord of heaven, but also King, there can be little doubt, but by “the queen of heaven,” they meant the moon. Parkhurst.

Jeremiah 7:19

19. Do they provoke me to anger?—do they not provoke themselves &c.] Do they think to shew their

Before CHRIST about 600. f 1 Sam. 4. 10. 11. Ps. 78. 60. & 132. 6. ch. 26. 6. g Chap. 11. 14. & 14. 11. Exod. 32. 10. h Chap. 44. 19. or, work mansays of heaven. He rejecteth the sacrifices of the disobedient. Before CHRIST about 600. ch. 6. 20. Amos 5. 21. matter of. Lev. 26. 12. m 2 Chron. 36. 13. 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.

Jeremiah 7:24

24.—and went backward, and not forward.] The you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:

Jeremiah 7:30

30.—they have set their abominations in the house &c.] Meaning the image and altars for idolatrous worship, which Manasseh had set up in the temple and the courts near it. See chap. xxiii. 11; xxxii. 34; 2 Kings xxi. 4, 7; xxiii. 4. This gave occasion for other profanations of the temple in aftertunes. See Ezek. viii. 5, 6, &c. W. Louth.

Jeremiah 7:31

31. And they have built the high places of Tophet, &c.] Respecting “Tophet,” &c. see note at 2 Kings xxiii. 10. —which I commanded them not.] So far was God from commanding this practice, that He expressed the greatest detestation of it, and forbade it under the severest penalties; compare chap. xxiii. 35; and Lev. xx. 1—5. The words are spoken by the figure, called Meiosis, by which a great deal more is implied than expressed; see Deut. xvii. 3; where the text, speaking of the worship of the host of heaven, adds, “which I Before CHRIST about 600. n Chap. 16. 12. instruction. 10. ch. 19. 5. The calamity of the Jews. Before CHRIST about 600. upon my heart. p Chap. 19. 6. q Chap. 16. 4. & 34. 20. Ps. 79. 2. r Isa. 24. 7. ch. 16. 9. & 25. 10. & 33. 11. Ezek. 26. 13 Hos. 3. 11. valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither † came it into my heart.

Jeremiah 7:32

32.—it shall no more be called Tophet, &c.] So great a slaughter shall be therefore in Jerusalem, that there shall not be room enough in the valley of Tophet for the burial of the slam; and therefore that valley shall change its name, and be called, “the valley of slaughter.” Bp. Hall. King Josiah first of all “defiled” this place, as it is said in 2 Kings xxiii. 10; that is, polluted it, or unconsecuted it, by burying dead bodies in it; compare ver. 16 of that chapter. And afterwards, when great numbers died in the siege of Jerusalem, and the famine that followed, it became a common burying-place of the Jews; see chap. xix. 6; whereby was fulfilled that prophecy of Ezekiel, chap. vi. 5; “I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols.” Compare Lev. xxvi. 30; Ezek. vi. 4, 5. 13. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 7:34

34.—will I cause to cease—the voice of mirth, &c.] No more marriages shall be contracted in Jerusalem; no more shall there be heard in the cities of Judah the voice of mirth, and the songs of joy, and the noise of instruments of musick, which were wont to accompany these sorts of feasts. See chap. xvi. 9; xxv. 10; xxxiii. 11. Calmet. There is no feast in the East without musick and dances, certainly then they are not omitted in nuptial solemnities. The noise of the musick, &c. is probably to be understood by “the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride,” rather than the voices of the persons themselves. The voices of the “bridegroom” and of the “bride” appear to be distinctly mentioned, because in the East the women do not feast with the men. See note on Esth. i. 9. Sir J. Chardin, Harmer. their grievous judgment, 18 and bewaileth their desperate estate. Before CHRIST about 600. AT that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: