Jeremiah 7:22

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: 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 - not contradicting the divine obligation of the legal sacrifices. But, "I did not require sacrifices, unless combined with moral obedience (; Psalms 51:16, "Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise"). The superior claim of the moral above the positive precepts of the law was marked by the ten commandments having been del...

The Prophet therefore adds, _I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them, in the day I brought them forth from the land of Egypt, concerning sacrifices or burnt _—_offerings: but this only I commanded them, to hear my voice, and to walk in all the way which I commanded them. _Jeremiah seems to have condemned sacrifices too much; for we know they were designed for certain purposes: they were intended to promote penitence; for when an animal was killed at the altar, all were reminded that they were guilty of death, which the animals underwent instead of men. Hence God did thereby represent to the Jews, as in a mirror, the dreadful judgment they deserved; and the sacrifices were also living images of Christ; they were sure pledges of that expiation through which men are reconciled to God. Jeremiah then seems here to speak too contemptibly of sacrifices; for they were seals of God’s grac...

21-28 God shows that obedience was required of them. That which God commanded was, Hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God. The promise is very encouraging. Let God's will be your rule, and his favour shall be your happiness. God was displeased with disobedience. We understand the gospel as little as the Jews understood the law, if we think that even the sacrifice of Christ lessens our obligation to obey....

EXPOSITION Ch. 7-10.—Severe rebukes of idolatry alternating with announcements of the impending judgment. The circumstances connected with this discourse, or part thereof, appear to be detailed in Jeremiah 26:1. Among the parallelisms between the two sections, notice especially the reference to the fate of the temple of Shiloh (comp. Jeremiah 26:14 with Jeremiah 26:6). The date of the original utterance of the prophecy is thus fixed for one of the early years of the reign of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah 10:1, however, requires separate consideration....

FOR I SPAKE NOT UNTO YOUR FATHERS,.... Meaning not Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but Moses, Aaron, and others, who were living at the time of the bringing of the children of Israel out of Egypt, as appears by what follows: NOR COMMANDED THEM IN THE DAY THAT I BROUGHT THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, CONCERNING BURNT OFFERINGS, OR SACRIFICES; these are not in the decalogue or ten commands; these are no part of that law or covenant, but are an appendage or addition to it; and though they are of early institution and use, yet they never were appointed for the sake of themselves, but for another end; they were types of Christ, and were designed to lead the faith of the people of God to him; they never were intended as proper expiations of sin, and much less to cover and encourage immorality; whenever therefore they were offered up in a hypocritical manner, and without faith in Christ, and in ord...

Jeremiah 7:21. _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:_ You have heard what God said to them when they came out of Egypt. Jeremiah 7:23. _But this thing commanded I them, saying, 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. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their car, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward._ Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the lan

NOR COMMANDED (_ See Scofield) - (Exodus 20:4), note 2, _ the threefold giving of the law. The command concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices was not given to the people till they had broken the decalogue, the law of obedience....

THE PROPHET'S TEMPLE ADDRESS (7-9) CHAPTER 7 _ 1. Amend your ways and your doings (Jeremiah 7:1) _ 2. No prayer-answer to be expected (Jeremiah 7:16) 3. Sacrifices rejected; Obedience demanded (Jeremiah 7:21) 4. Jerusalem's rejection (Jeremiah 7:29) Jeremiah 7:1. We call this next address of the prophet “the temple address,” because he was commanded to stand in the gate of the LORD's house. There he stood, a solitary figure, and said: “Hear the Word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in a

OBEDIENCE NECESSARY, NOT SACRIFICE. Yahweh scornfully tells these formal worshippers to eat even the burnt-offering (wholly offered to God), as well as the peace-offering (which was eaten by the worshippers, except the blood and portions of the fat); both are mere flesh, without sacrificial value in the hands of the disobedient. In the desert days He asked for obedience, not sacrifice; but Israel has refused it, notwithstanding the continued ministry of the prophets, nor will Jeremiah's own message be heard. Jeremiah 7:22 f. clearly show that the Pentateuch in its present form was not known to Jeremiah (_cf._ Amos 5:25), for the Priestly Code lays the greatest stress on sacrifice as Divinely prescribed from the beginning....

I SPAKE NOT... CONCERNING... SACRIFICES. Reference to Pentateuch (Exodus 15:26; Exodus 19:5), which was _before any law was given._ This vindicates the passage from modern criticism. Compare Leviticus 26:3, and 1 Samuel 15:22, with Psalms 50:8; Psalms 50:9; Psalms 51:16; Psalms 51:17;...