6 If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves:
These evil people who say they will not give ear to my words, who go on in the pride of their hearts and have become servants and worshippers of other gods, will become like this band which is of no use for anything.
And in the skirts of your robe may be seen the life-blood of those who have done no wrong: ...
And the curse if you do not give ear to the orders of the Lord your God, but let yourselves be turned from the way which I have put before you this day, and go after other gods which are not yours.
Do not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples round about you; For the Lord your God who is with you is a God who will not let his honour be given to another; or the wrath of the Lord will be burning against you, causing your destruction from the face of the earth.
Do no wrong to a man from a strange country, and do not be hard on him; for you yourselves were living in a strange country, in the land of Egypt. Do no wrong to a widow, or to a child whose father is dead. If you are cruel to them in any way, and their cry comes up to me, I will certainly give ear; And in the heat of my wrath I will put you to death with the sword, so that your wives will be widows and your children without fathers.
It is because of the sins of her prophets and the evil-doing of her priests, by whom the blood of the upright has been drained out in her.
The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world.
Saying, I have done wrong in giving into your hands an upright man. But they said, What is that to us? it is your business.
So that on you may come all the blood of the upright on the earth, from the blood of upright Abel to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom you put to death between the Temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, All these things will come on this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, putting to death the prophets, and stoning those who are sent to her! Again and again would I have taken your children to myself as a bird takes her young ones under her wings, and you would not!
And I will come near to you for judging; I will quickly be a witness against the wonder-workers, against those who have been untrue in married life, against those who take false oaths; against those who keep back from the servant his payment, and who are hard on the widow and the child without a father, who do not give his rights to the man from a strange country, and have no fear of me, says the Lord of armies.
This is what the Lord of armies has said: Let your judging be upright and done in good faith, let every man have mercy and pity for his brother: Do not be hard on the widow, or the child without a father, on the man from a strange country, or on the poor; let there be no evil thought in your heart against your brother. But they would not give attention, turning their backs and stopping their ears from hearing; And they made their hearts like the hardest stone, so that they might not give ear to the law and the words which the Lord of armies had said by the earlier prophets: and there came great wrath from the Lord of armies.
And you are to say, This is what the Lord has said: A town causing blood to be drained out in her streets so that her time may come, and making images in her to make her unclean! You are responsible for the blood drained out by you, and you are unclean through the images which you have made; and you have made your day come near, and the time of your judging has come; for this cause I have made you a name of shame to the nations and a cause of laughing to all countries. Those who are near and those who are far from you will make sport of you; your name is unclean, you are full of sounds of fear. See, the rulers of Israel, every one in his family, have been causing death in you.
Be upright in judging the cause of the man from a strange country and of him who has no father; do not take a widow's clothing on account of a debt:
And they took Uriah out of Egypt and came back with him to Jehoiakim the king; who put him to death with the sword, and had his dead body put into the resting-place of the bodies of the common people.
Are you to be a king because you make more use of cedar than your father? did not your father take food and drink and do right, judging in righteousness, and then it was well for him? He was judge in the cause of the poor and those in need; then it was well. Was not this to have knowledge of me? says the Lord. But your eyes and your heart are fixed only on profit for yourself, on causing the death of him who has done no wrong, and on violent and cruel acts.
This is what the Lord has said: Do what is right, judging uprightly, and make free from the hands of the cruel one him whose goods have been violently taken away: do no wrong and be not violent to the man from a strange country and the child without a father and the widow, and let not those who have done no wrong be put to death in this place. For if you truly do this, then there will come in through the doors of this house kings seated on the seat of David, going in carriages and on horseback, he and his servants and his people
Because they have given me up, and made this place a strange place, burning perfumes in it to other gods, of whom they and their fathers and the kings of Judah had no knowledge; and they have made this place full of the blood of those who have done no wrong;
For if your ways and your doings are truly changed for the better; if you truly give right decisions between a man and his neighbour;
I gave your children blows to no purpose; they got no good from training: your sword has been the destruction of your prophets, like a death-giving lion.
And gave the blood of their sons and their daughters who had done no wrong, offering them to the images of Canaan; and the land was made unclean with blood.
Give ear to the cause of the poor and the children without fathers; let those who are troubled and in need have their rights. Be the saviour of the poor and those who have nothing: take them out of the hand of the evil-doers.
If I did wrong in the cause of my man-servant, or my woman-servant, when they went to law with me; What then will I do when God comes as my judge? and what answer may I give to his questions? Did not God make him as well as me? did he not give us life in our mothers' bodies? If I kept back the desire of the poor; if the widow's eye was looking for help to no purpose; If I kept my food for myself, and did not give some of it to the child with no father; (For I was cared for by God as by a father from my earliest days; he was my guide from the body of my mother;) If I saw one near to death for need of clothing, and that the poor had nothing covering him; If his back did not give me a blessing, and the wool of my sheep did not make him warm; If my hand had been lifted up against him who had done no wrong, when I saw that I was supported by the judges; May my arm be pulled from my body, and be broken from its base.
And because of the death of those who had done no wrong, for he made Jerusalem full of the blood of the upright; and the Lord had no forgiveness for it.
And he made his son go through the fire, and made use of secret arts and signs for reading the future; he gave positions to those who had control of spirits and to wonder-workers; he did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Jeremiah 7
Commentary on Jeremiah 7 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 7
Jer 7:1-34. The Seventh through Ninth Chapters. Delivered in the Beginning of Jehoiakim's Reign, on the Occasion of Some Public Festival.
The prophet stood at the gate of the temple in order that the multitudes from the country might hear him. His life was threatened, it appears from Jer 26:1-9, for this prophecy, denouncing the fate of Shiloh as about to befall the temple at Jerusalem. The prophecy given in detail here is summarily referred to there. After Josiah's death the nation relapsed into idolatry through Jehoiakim's bad influence; the worship of Jehovah was, however, combined with it (Jer 7:4, 10).
2. the gate—that is, the gate of the court of Israel within that of the women. Those whom Jeremiah addresses came through the gate leading into the court of the women, and the gate leading into the outer court, or court of the Gentiles ("these gates").
3. cause you to dwell—permit you still to dwell (Jer 18:11; 26:13).
4. The Jews falsely thought that because their temple had been chosen by Jehovah as His peculiar dwelling, it could never be destroyed. Men think that ceremonial observances will supersede the need of holiness (Isa 48:2; Mic 3:11). The triple repetition of "the temple of Jehovah" expresses the intense confidence of the Jews (see Jer 22:29; Isa 6:3).
these—the temple buildings which the prophet points to with his finger (Jer 7:2).
5. For—"But" [Maurer].
judgment—justice (Jer 22:3).
6. this place—this city and land (Jer 7:7).
to your hurt—so Jer 7:19; "to the confusion or their own faces" (Jer 13:10; Pr 8:36).
7. The apodosis to the "if … if" (Jer 7:5, 6).
to dwell—to continue to dwell.
for ever and ever—joined with "to dwell," not with the words "gave to your fathers" (compare Jer 3:18; De 4:40).
8. that cannot profit—Maurer translates, "so that you profit nothing" (see Jer 7:4; Jer 5:31).
9, 10. "Will ye steal … and then come and stand before Me?"
whom ye know not—Ye have no grounds of "knowing" that they are gods; but I have manifested My Godhead by My law, by benefits conferred, and by miracles. This aggravates their crime [Calvin] (Jud 5:8).
10. And come—And yet come (Eze 23:39).
We are delivered—namely, from all impending calamities. In spite of the prophet's threats, we have nothing to fear; we have offered our sacrifices, and therefore Jehovah will "deliver" us.
to do all these abominations—namely, those enumerated (Jer 7:9). These words are not to be connected with "we are delivered," but thus: "Is it with this design that ye come and stand before Me in this house," in order that having offered your worthless sacrifices ye may be taken into My favor and so do all these abominations (Jer 7:9) with impunity? [Maurer].
11. den of robbers—Do you regard My temple as being what robbers make their den, namely, an asylum wherein ye may obtain impunity for your abominations (Jer 7:10)?
seen it—namely, that ye treat My house as if it were a den of thieves. Jehovah implies more than is expressed, "I have seen and will punish it" (Isa 56:7; Mt 21:13).
12. my place … in Shiloh—God caused His tabernacle to be set up in Shiloh in Joshua's days (Jos 18:1; Jud 18:31). In Eli's time God gave the ark, which had been at Shiloh, into the hands of the Philistines (Jer 26:6; 1Sa 4:10, 11; Ps 78:56-61). Shiloh was situated between Beth-el and Shechem in Ephraim.
at the first—implying that Shiloh exceeded the Jewish temple in antiquity. But God's favor is not tied down to localities (Ac 7:44).
my people Israel—Israel was God's people, yet He spared it not when rebellious: neither will He spare Judah, now that it rebels, though heretofore it has been His people.
13. rising … early—implying unwearied earnestness in soliciting them (Jer 7:25; Jer 11:17; 2Ch 36:15).
14. I gave—and I therefore can revoke the gift for it is still Mine (Le 25:23), now that ye fail in the only object for which it was given, the promotion of My glory.
Shiloh—as I ceased to dwell there, transferring My temple to Jerusalem; so I will cease to dwell at Jerusalem.
15. your brethren—children of Abraham, as much as you.
whole seed of Ephraim—They were superior to you in numbers and power: they were ten tribes: ye but two. "Ephraim," as the leading tribe, stands for the whole ten tribes (2Ki 17:23; Ps 78:67, 68).
16. When people are given up to judicial hardness of heart, intercessory prayer for them is unavailing (Jer 11:14; 14:11; 15:1; Ex 32:10; 1Jo 5:16).
17. Jehovah leaves it to Jeremiah himself to decide, is there not good reason that prayers should not be heard in behalf of such rebels?
18. children … fathers … women—Not merely isolated individuals practised idolatry; young and old, men and women, and whole families, contributed their joint efforts to promote it. Oh, that there were the same zeal for the worship of God as there is for error (Jer 44:17, 19; 19:13)!
cakes … queen of heaven—Cakes were made of honey, fine flour, &c., in a round flat shape to resemble the disc of the moon, to which they were offered. Others read as Margin, "the frame of heaven," that is, the planets generally; so the Septuagint here; but elsewhere the Septuagint translates, "queen of heaven." The Phœnicians called the moon Ashtoreth or Astarte: the wife of Baal or Moloch, the king of heaven. The male and female pair of deities symbolized the generative powers of nature; hence arose the introduction of prostitution in the worship. The Babylonians worshipped Ashtoreth as Mylitta, that is, generative. Our Monday, or Moon-day, indicates the former prevalence of moon worship (see on Isa 65:11).
that they may provoke me—implying design: in worshipping strange gods they seemed as if purposely to provoke Jehovah.
19. Is it I that they provoke to anger? Is it not themselves? (De 32:16, 21; Job 35:6, 8; Pr 8:36).
20. beast … trees … ground—Why doth God vent His fury on these? On account of man, for whom these were created, that the sad spectacle may strike terror into him (Ro 8:20-22).
21. Put … burnt offerings unto … sacrifices … eat flesh—Add the former (which the law required to be wholly burnt) to the latter (which were burnt only in part), and "eat flesh" even off the holocausts or burnt offerings. As far as I am concerned, saith Jehovah, you may do with one and the other alike. I will have neither (Isa 1:11; Ho 8:13; Am 5:21, 22).
22. Not contradicting the divine obligation of the legal sacrifices. But, "I did not require sacrifices, unless combined with moral obedience" (Ps 50:8; 51:16, 17). The superior claim of the moral above the positive precepts of the law was marked by the ten commandments having been delivered first, and by the two tables of stone being deposited alone in the ark (De 5:6). The negative in Hebrew often supplies the want of the comparative: not excluding the thing denied, but only implying the prior claim of the thing set in opposition to it (Ho 6:6). "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice" (1Sa 15:22). Love to God is the supreme end, external observances only means towards that end. "The mere sacrifice was not so much what I commanded, as the sincere submission to My will gives to the sacrifice all its virtue" [Magee, Atonement, Note 57].
23. (Ex 15:26; 19:5).
24. hearkened not—They did not give even a partial hearing to Me (Ps 81:11, 12).
imagination—rather, as Margin, "the stubbornness."
backward, &c.—(Jer 2:27; 32:33; Ho 4:16).
25. rising … early—(Jer 7:13).
26. hardened … neck—(De 31:27; Isa 48:4; Ac 7:51).
worse than their fathers—(Jer 16:12). In Jer 7:22 He had said, "your fathers"; here He says, "their fathers"; the change to the third person marks growing alienation from them. He no longer addresses themselves, as it would be a waste of words in the case of such hardened rebels.
27. Therefore—rather, "Though thou speak … yet they will not hearken" [Maurer], (Eze 2:7), a trial to the prophet's faith; though he knew his warnings would be unheeded, still he was to give them in obedience to God.
28. unto them—that is, in reference to them.
a nation—The word usually applied to the Gentile nations is here applied to the Jews, as being east off and classed by God among the Gentiles.
nor receiveth correction—(Jer 5:3).
truth … perished—(Jer 9:3).
29. Jeremiah addresses Jerusalem under the figure of a woman, who, in grief for her lost children, deprives her head of its chief ornament and goes up to the hills to weep (Jud 11:37, 38; Isa 15:2).
hair—flowing locks, like those of a Nazarite.
high places—The scene of her idolatries is to be the scene of her mourning (Jer 3:21).
generation of his wrath—the generation with which He is wroth. So Isa 10:6; "the people of My wrath."
30. set their abominations in the house—(Jer 32:34; 2Ki 21:4, 7; 23:4; Eze 8:5-14).
31. high places of Tophet—the altars [Horsley] of Tophet; erected to Moloch, on the heights along the south of the valley facing Zion.
burn … sons—(Ps 106:38).
commanded … not—put for, "I forbade expressly" (De 17:3; 12:31). See on Jer 2:23; Isa 30:33.
32. valley of slaughter—so named because of the great slaughter of the Jews about to take place at Jerusalem: a just retribution of their sin in slaying their children to Moloch in Tophet.
no place—no room, namely, to bury in, so many shall be those slain by the Chaldeans (Jer 19:11; Eze 6:5).
33. fray—scare or frighten (De 28:26). Typical of the last great battle between the Lord's host and the apostasy (Re 19:17, 18, 21).
34. Referring to the joyous songs and music with which the bride and bridegroom were escorted in the procession to the home of the latter from that of the former; a custom still prevalent in the East (Jer 16:9; Isa 24:7, 8; Re 18:23).