Jeremiah 7
Verse 4
Trust ye not in 1 lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
Believe not the false prophets, who say that for the temple's sake, and the sacrifices there the Lord will preserve you, and so nourish you in your sin, and vain confidence.
Verse 7
Then 1 will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
God shows on what condition he made his promise to this temple that they would be a holy people to him, as he would be a faithful God to them.
Verse 11
Is this house, which is called by my name, become 1 a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
As thieves hidden in holes and dens think themselves safe, so when you are in my temple, you think to be covered with the holiness of it, and that I cannot see your wickedness,
Verse 12
But go ye now to my place which was in Shiloh, 1 where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
Because they depended so much on the temple, which was for his promise, that he would be present and defend them where the ark was, he sends them to God's judgments against Shiloh, where the ark had remained about 300 years, and after was taken, the priests slain, and the people miserably discomfited, ,
Verse 13
And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spoke to you, 1 rising early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but 2 ye answered not;
That is, I never ceased to warn you, as in ,
He shows the only remedy to redress our faults: to allow God to lead us in the way, and to obey his calling,
Verse 15
And I will cast 1 you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
I will send you into captivity as I have done Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes.
Verse 16
Therefore 1 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.
To assure them that God had determined with himself to punish their wickedness, he shows the prayer of the godly cannot help them, while they remain in their obstinacy against God, and will not use the means that he uses to call them to repentance, ,
Verse 18
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes to 1 the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
That is, they sacrifice to the sun, moon and stars, which they called the queen of heaven, Kings 23:5
Verse 22
For 1 I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
Showing that it was not his chief purpose and intent, that they should offer sacrifices, but that they should regard, why they were ordained: that is, to be joined to the word as seals and confirmations of remissions of sins in Christ: for without the word they were vain and unprofitable.
Verse 25
Since the day that your fathers came forth from the land of Egypt to 1 this day I have even sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily 2 rising early and sending them:
Which was about fourteen hundred years.
Read
Verse 27
Therefore thou shalt speak all these words to them; but they 1 will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call to them; but they will not answer thee.
By which he shows that the pastors should not leave their flocks in their obstinacy, for the Lord will use the means of his servants to make the wicked more faulty and to prove his.
Verse 29
Cut off thy 1 hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his 2 wrath.
In sign of mourning, as in
Against whom he had just opportunity to pour out his wrath
Verse 31
And they have built the high places of 1 Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I 2 commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Of Topheth, read
But commanded the opposite, as in ,,