In Jer. 7–10 he addresses the people as they flocked into Jerusalem from the country, to attend the solemn services in the temple upon a fastday. Jehoiakim Jeremiah 26 had just ascended the throne, and was so incensed at this sermon that he would have put Jeremiah to death but for the influence of A... [ Continue Reading ]
If the people repented, instead of being led into captivity, God would maintain their national existence. It is a promise of the continuance of an old blessing.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD - Thrice repeated, to emphasize the rejection of the cry ever upon the lips of the false prophets. In their view the maintenance of the temple-service was a charm sufficient to avert all evil. THESE - The buildings of the temple, to which Jeremiah is supposed to point. The Je... [ Continue Reading ]
A summary of the conditions indispensable on man’s part, before he can plead the terms of the covenant in his favor. Jeremiah 7:6 IN THIS PLACE - i. e., in Jerusalem. The prophet refers to innocent blood shed there judicially. Of one such judicial murder Jehoiakim had already been guilty Jeremiah... [ Continue Reading ]
WE ARE DELIVERED - Jeremiah accuses them of trusting in the ceremonial of the temple instead of leading holy lives. “You break,” he says, “the Ten Commandments, and then you go to the Temple; and when the service is over you say, We are delivered. We have atoned for our past actions, and may start a... [ Continue Reading ]
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?... [ Continue Reading ]
GO YE UNTO MY PLACE IN SHILOH - This argument roused the indignation of the people Jeremiah 26:8, Jeremiah 26:11. The ark, Jeremiah shows, had not always been at Jerusalem. The place first chosen, as the center of the nation’s worship, was Shiloh, a town to the north of Bethel, situated in the power... [ Continue Reading ]
RISING UP EARLY AND SPEAKING - A proverbial expression for “speaking zealously and earnestly.” It is used only by Jeremiah.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WHOLE SEED OF EPHRAIM - i. e., the whole of the nine northern tribes. Their casting out was a plain proof that the possession of the symbols of God’s presence does not secure a Church or nation from rejection, if unworthy of its privileges.... [ Continue Reading ]
They had reached that stage in which men sin without any sense of guilt (see 1 John 5:16). NEITHER MAKE INTERCESSION TO ME - In Jeremiah 14:7 we have an intercessory prayer offered by Jeremiah, but not heard. The intercession of Moses prevailed with God Numbers 11:2; Numbers 14:13; Numbers 16:22, be... [ Continue Reading ]
The proof of the hopeless immorality of the people is this, that they worship pagan deities (1) generally in the cities of Judah, and not in the capital only; and (2) publicly in the streets of Jerusalem. Such public idolatry could have been practiced only in the reign of a king like Jehoiakim.... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
DO THEY NOT PROVOKE ... - literally, Is it not themselves (“that they provoke”) to the shame of their faces?... [ Continue Reading ]
UPON MAN, AND UPON BEAST - All creation in some mysterious way shares in man’s fall and restoration Romans 8:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
The meaning is, Increase your sacrifices as you will. Acid burnt-offering to peace-offerings. All is in vain as long as you neglect the indispensable requirements of obedience and moral purity. Eat flesh is equivalent to sacrifice. The flesh of animals offered in sacrifice was usually eaten by the o... [ Continue Reading ]
OBEY ... - These words are not found verbatim in the Pentateuch, but are a sum mary of its principles. Sacrifice is never the final cause of the covenant, but always obedience (Exodus 19:5; Leviticus 11:45. Compare Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 11, in which the moral object of the Mosaic dispensation is mo... [ Continue Reading ]
IMAGINATION - Better, as in the margin. AND WENT BACKWARD - literally, as in the margin; i. e., they turned their back upon Me to follow their own devices.... [ Continue Reading ]
Rather, Though thou ... yet etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
A NATION - The “nation.” Israel holds so unique a position among all nations that for it to disobey God is marvelous. TRUTH ... - Fidelity to God. Though they have the name of Yahweh often upon their lips and swear by Him Jeremiah 5:2, yet it is only profession without practice.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah summons the people to lament over the miserable consequences of their rejection of God. In the valley of Hinnom, where lately they offered their innocents, they shall themselves fall before the enemy in such multitudes that burial shall be impossible, and the beasts of the field unmolested... [ Continue Reading ]
Silence and desolation are to settle upon the whole land.... [ Continue Reading ]