Chapter 7
2024 - Back to regular formatting.
This begins the third message, introduced with the phrase "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord", Jer 7:1. Leaves little doubt as to the source.
This message is to be delivered as a "sermon", or a speech, at the entrance to the Temple. Jeremiah himself is to stand there and proclaim this message. This verse:
4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.' [Jer 7:4 ESV]
This is a warning that the current religious authorities are mistaken in saying that Jerusalem "cannot" fall because it is the home of God's own Temple. So Jeremiah is not making any friends among the clergy with this speech. He is calling them all liars in fact.
Going to paste all of vss 5-7:
5 "For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. [Jer 7:5-7 ESV]
These are the conditions for withdrawal of the coming catastrophe. There is nothing here about sacrificing bulls, donating money, perfect church attendance, or time in prayer. God does not care about the external show of religious fervor. God cares about the most basic, fundamental desires of the heart. He wants us to do good without expectation of payment, to do justice without need of a court, to cherish innocent blood even if the Supreme Court says we don't have to. He wants our hearts to be this way because His heart is this way. He just wants us to be as much like Him as we can be.
FB 10/24/19
9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'--only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD. [Jer 7:9-11 ESV]
Jesus quotes this verse in the NT. These people are the worst kind of hypocrites. We see this so much today, also, in "Sunday only Christians". Such was I for much of my life. In fact, I didn't show up on Sunday a lot of the time. But I "considered" myself a Christian, saved by grace, and exempt from hell no matter what I did. This is a very dangerous attitude to have. Might make you feel better in good times, but as things start to go south (where did this figure of speech come from? Going south is a bad thing???), as the dam nears the breaking point, you better get things right because your opportunity to do so is now. If you wait, events will overcome you, and there won't be a quiet, reflective moment to repent of all the sins we've let ourselves indulge in because we convinced ourselves we were "safe".
This is a MUST FB post, and soon. 10/4/20
This chapter is a truly great sermon, no punches pulled. Jeremiah was putting himself in harms way when he attacked the powers that were in Jerusalem at that time.
2023 - All in vss 9-11, we see the necessity of repentance - not just a "be good on Sunday", not just a "bring in a sacrifice when you're supposed to", but a life changing constant effort to OBEY the things that God commands for us.
2023 - Also, in Jeremiah's context, the people were seeing the priests as robbers because they begrudged the offering they were bringing to them. They saw the priests as parasites, and perhaps at that time they were. Think of that, and think about Jesus pronouncing the Temple a den of robbers in the New Testament. In the NT, the priests were had taken "fleecing the congregation" to a whole new level with their currency exchanges and their sacrifice inspections and so on. BUT, in context, Jesus wasn't just upset at the priests but also at the unrepentant, religion by rote pilgrims who came to Passover. This was not just a one-sided thing.
God orders Jeremiah not to pray for "this people", because He will not hear that prayer. God is requiring performance of the people, not the intercession of one who's heart is true. Sooner or later, it is individuals who must truly change. Good people required, not good intercessors! This tells us that sometimes, perhaps for long periods, the only thing that holds back God's judgement are the prayers of those committed to intercession. Surely we would have to consider this "borrowed time". This too would be a good FB post, as we come down to the election.
2023 - Here are the verses reference above:
16 "As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. [Jer 7:16 ESV]. Wow. Jeremiah is told NOT to bother praying for Jerusalem, because he is punishing them and will not be turned aside. Today, as we saw in those verses from Romans, God is punishing them. Are we really sure we ought to be praying for them? How does this fit with Psa 122:6-9? Pray for the peace of Jerusalem...but perhaps the way to understand that is to pray that God will turn his wrath away from them, rather than praying that he will help them through the wrath? Help is not what wrath is about!
I am only seeing this things this year because Oct 7, 2023 is so current.
In vss 22-23 God reminds Jeremiah that when He brought Israel out of Egypt, he said nothing about sacrifices. He required ONLY this:
22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.' [Jer 7:22-23 ESV]23
They just had to hear Him, and do what He said. FB.
2023 - The Law was NOT for God. All God required was obedience to His word! The Law was to teach them about holiness, about their, and OUR, extreme lack of holiness.
Another statement from God as to His clear message that Israel was wrong. He has tried, with countless warnings from countless messengers to avoid sending the devastation that is about to come:
25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. 26 Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. [Jer 7:25-26 ESV]
vss 30-34 foretell that there will be so many dead in Jerusalem that the bodies will be buried in The Valley of the Son of Hinnom, the same place the people are sacrificing their own children to false gods. They will be thrown there, and the birds will eat their bodies, and no one will try and stop the desecration of their bodies. They consider this valley a "sacred place", and their bodies will be desecrated there. It's new name will be "The Valley of Slaughter". Even the bones of the dead will be desecrated, removed from their burial places and laid out under the sun and moon that the people worship. Their bones will be treated like dung.