Jeremiah 7:17
Ver. 17. Seest thou not what they do in the cities Judah,.... Not in one city only, but in all of and particularly the chief of them; as follows:
and in the streets of Jerusalem? these words, with what is said next, show the reason why the prophet was forbid to pray for this people, and the Lord was so provoked with them as to cast them out of his sight; and he appeals to the prophet, and to what he saw, or which he might see; for what was done was done not in secret, but openly, in the very streets of the city; by which he might be sufficiently convinced it was but just with God to do what he determined to do with them. Jeremiah 7:18Ver. 18. The children gather wood,.... In the fields, or out of the neighbouring forest; not little children, but young men, who were able to cut down trees, and bear and carry burdens of wood:and the fathers kindle the fire; take the wood of their children, lay it in order, and put fire to it; which shows that they approved of what their children did, and that what they did was by their direction and order:and the women knead their dough; so that every age and sex were employed in idolatrous service, which is here intended; the corruption was universal; and therefore the whole body was ripe for ruin; nor would the Lord be entreated for them: and all this preparation was,to make cakes for the queen of heaven; the moon, as Abarbinel; which rules by night, as the sun is the king that rules by day; and which was much worshipped by the Heathens, whom the Jews imitated. Some render it,to the work, or workmanship, of heavens; {q} that is, to the whole host of heaven, sun, moon, and stars, which were worshipped in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem, 2Ki 23:5. The Targum renders it,"to the star of heaven;''and Jarchi interprets it of some great star in the heaven, called the queen of heaven; and thinks that these cakes had the impress of a star upon them; see Am 5:26 where mention is made of "Chiun, your image, the star of your god". The word "chiun" is akin to the word here translated cakes, and thought to be explained by a star; see also Ac 7:43 but it seems rather to be the moon, which is expressly called by Apuleius {r} the queen of heaven; and often by others Coelestis; and Urania by the Africans, as Tertullian {s} and Herodian {t} affirm; as also Beltis, by Abydenus {u}; and Baaltis, by Philo-Byblius, or Sanchoniatho {w}; which have the signification of "queen"; and these cakes might have the form of the moon upon them, and be made and offered in imitation of the shewbread:and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods; not different from the queen of heaven, and the hosts thereof; for to her and them drink offerings were poured out, Jer 44:18 but other gods besides the one, only, living, and true God:that they may provoke me to anger; not that this was their intention, but so it was eventually.{q} Mymvh tklml "operi coelorum", Piscator, Gataker, Cocceius "machinae coelorum", Munster, Tigurine version; so Kimchi and Ben Melech. {r} Metamorph. l. 11. principio. {s} Apologet. c. 24. {t} Hist. l. 5. 1. 15. {u} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 41. p. 456. {w} Apud ib. l. 2. c. 10. p. 38. Jeremiah 7:19Ver. 19. Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord,.... No: he cannot be provoked to anger as men are; anger does not fall upon him as it does on men; there is no such affection in God as there is in men; his Spirit cannot be irritated and provoked in the manner that the spirits of men may be; and though sin, and particularly idolatry, is disagreeable to him, contrary to his nature, and repugnant to his will; yet the damage arising from it is more to men themselves than to him; and though he sometimes does things which are like to what are done by men when they are angry, yet in reality there is no such perturbation in God as there is in men:do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? the greatest hurt that is done is done to themselves; they are the sufferers in the end; they bring ruin and destruction upon themselves; and therefore have great reason to be angry with themselves, since what they do issues in their own shame and confusion. The Targum is,"do they think that they provoke me? saith the Lord; is it not for evil to themselves, that they may be confounded in their works?'' Jeremiah 7:20Ver. 20. Therefore thus saith the Lord God,.... Since these are their thoughts, and this the fruit of their doings:behold, my anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place; like fire, to consume and destroy it; meaning Jerusalem, which was burned with fire; as an emblem of God's wrath, and an instance of his vengeance upon it, for sins; which came down in great abundance, like a storm or tempest:upon man and upon beast; upon beasts for the sake of man, they being his property, and for his use; otherwise they are innocent, and do not deserve the wrath of God, nor are they sensible of it:and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of your ground; which should be blighted by nipping winds, or cut down and trampled upon by the Chaldean army:and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched; that is, the wrath of God shall burn like fire, and shall not cease until it has executed the whole will of God in the punishment of his people. Jeremiah 7:21Ver. 21. Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,.... The Lord of armies above and below, and the covenant God of the people of Israel; who were bound to serve him, not only by the laws of creation, and the bounties of Providence, but were under obligation so to do by the distinguishing blessings of his goodness bestowed upon them; wherefore their idolatry, and other sins committed against him, were the more heinous and aggravated:put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh; that is, add one offering to another; offer every kind of sacrifice, and, when you have done, eat the flesh of them yourselves; for that is all the advantage that comes by them; they are not acceptable to me, as Jarchi observes, therefore why should you lose them? burnt offerings were wholly consumed, and nothing was left of them to eat; but of other sacrifices there were, particularly the peace offerings; which the Jewish commentators think are here meant by sacrifices; and therefore the people are bid to join them together, that they might have flesh to eat; which was all the profit arising to them by legal sacrifices. The words seem to be sarcastically spoken; showing the unacceptableness of legal sacrifices to God, when sin was indulged, and the unprofitableness of them to men. Jeremiah 7:22Ver. 22. 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 order to atone for sinful actions, without any regard to the sacrifice of Christ, they were an abomination to the Lord. These were not the only things the Lord commanded the children of Israel; nor the chief and principal ones; and in comparison of others, of more consequence and moment, were as none at all; and which are next mentioned. Jeremiah 7:23Ver. 23. But this thing commanded I them, saying,.... This was the sum and substance of what was then commanded, even obedience to the moral law; this was the main and principal thing enjoined, and to which the promise was annexed:obey my voice: the word of the Lord, his commands, the precepts of the decalogue; obedience to which was preferable to the sacrifices of the ceremonial law; see 1Sa 15:22, wherefore it follows:and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; the meaning is, that while they were obedient to him, he would protect them from their enemies, and continue them in their privileges and blessings, which he had bestowed upon them as his peculiar people:and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you; not only in some of them, but in all of them; not merely in the observance of legal sacrifices, but chiefly in the performance of moral actions; even in all the duties of religion, in whatsoever is required in the law, respecting God or man:that it may be well unto you; that they might continue in the land which was given them for an inheritance, and enjoy all the blessings promised to their obedience. Jeremiah 7:24Ver. 24. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear,.... Neither to the law that was given them, nor to the promises that were made unto them, this was the case of the Jewish fathers, and also of their posterity, to whom belonged the law, and the promises, and the service of God:but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart; what their evil heart imagined, advised and directed to, that they attended to, walked in, and pursued after. The heart of man is evil; it is desperately wicked, even wickedness itself; and so is every thought and every imagination of the thoughts of it and all its counsels, machinations and contrivances; and therefore the consequence of walking in these, or steering the course of life according to them, must be bad:and went backward, and not forward; they went backwards from the ways of God, and walked not in them. The Targum is,"they turned the back in my worship, and did not put my fear before their face;''or else this may design, not their sin, but their punishment, as Kimchi interprets it; they did not prosper, but suffered adversity; a curse, and not a blessing, attended the works of their hands. Jeremiah 7:25Ver. 25. Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day,.... That is, in all generations; ever since their first coming out of Egypt, they had been disobedient to the commands of God, and had walked after their own hearts' lusts, and had gone backward, and not forward; for this is not to be connected with what follows:I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early, and sending them; which should be rendered, "although I have sent" {x}; which is an aggravation of their sin, that they should continue in their disobedience, though the Lord sent to them to exhort and warn them, not one, or two, of his servants the prophets, but all of them, and that daily; who rose early in the morning, which denotes their care and diligence to do their message; and which, because they were sent of the Lord, and did his work as he directed them, it is attributed to himself; and of these there was a constant succession, from the time of their coming out of Egypt unto that day; which shows the goodness of God to that people, and their slothfulness, hardness, and obstinacy.{x} xlvaw "et quamvis miserim", Ar. lnterpr. "cum tamen mitterem", Syr. Jeremiah 7:26Ver. 26. Yet they hearkened not unto me,.... Speaking by the prophets:nor inclined their ear; to what was said to them; would not listen to it, and much less obey what was commanded them:but hardened their neck; and so became stiffnecked, and would not submit to bear the yoke of the law:they did worse than their fathers; every generation grew more and more wicked, and went on to be so until the measure of their iniquity was filled up; hence it follows: Jeremiah 7:27Ver. 27. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them,.... Before mentioned in the chapter; exhortations to duty, dehortations from sin, promises and threatenings:but they will not hearken to thee: so as to reform from their evil ways, and do the will of God; they will neither be allured by promises, nor awed by menaces:thou shalt also call unto them; with a loud voice, showing great vehemency and earnestness, being concerned for their good, and knowing the danger they were in:but they will not answer thee; this the Lord knew, being God omniscient; and therefore, when it came to pass, it would be a confirmation to the prophet of his mission; and being told of it beforehand, was prepared to meet with and expect such a reception from them; so that he would not be discouraged at it; and at the same time it would confirm the character given of this people before. Jeremiah 7:28Ver. 28. But thou shalt say unto them,.... Having found by experience, after long speaking and calling to them, that they are a disobedient and incorrigible people:this is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God; who, though the Lord is their God, and has chosen and avouched them to be his special people, whom he has distinguished by special favours; yet what he says by his prophets they pay no regard unto, and are no better than the Gentiles, which know not God:nor receiveth correction; or "instruction" {y}; so as to be reclaimed, and made the better; neither by the word, nor by the rod; neither had any effect upon them:truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth; neither faith nor faithfulness is in them; nothing but lying, hypocrisy, and insincerity.{y} rowm wxql alw "neque acceperunt disciplinam", Schmidt. Jeremiah 7:29Ver. 29. Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away,.... This supplement is made, because the word is feminine; and therefore cannot be directed to the prophet, but to Jerusalem, and its inhabitants; shaving the head is a sign of mourning, Job 1:20 and this is enjoined, to show that there would soon be a reason for it; wherefore it follows:and take up a lamentation on high places: that it might be heard afar off; or because of the idolatry frequently committed in high places. The Targum is,"pluck off the hair for thy great ones that are carried captive, and take up a lamentation for the princes:''for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath; a generation of men, deserving of the wrath of God, and appointed to it, on whom he determined to pour it out; of which his rejection and forsaking of them was a token: this was remarkably true of that generation in which Christ and his apostles lived, who disbelieved the Messiah, and had no faith in him, and spoke lying and blasphemous words concerning him; and therefore were rejected and forsaken by the Lord; and wrath came upon them to the uttermost. Jeremiah 7:30Ver. 30. For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord,.... Meaning not a single action only, but a series, a course of evil actions; and those openly, in a daring manner, not only before men, but in the sight of God, and in contempt of him, like the men of Sodom, Ge 13:13:they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it; that is, set their idols in the temple; here Manasseh set up a graven image of the grove, 2Ki 21:7 which was done, as if it was done on purpose to defile it. Jeremiah 7:31Ver. 31. And they have built the high places of Tophet,.... Where was the idol Moloch; and which place had its name, as Jarchi thinks, from the beating of drums, that the parents of the children that were burnt might not hear the cry of them: which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom; a valley near Jerusalem, and lay to the south of it, Jos 15:8:to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire: which was done, as Jarchi says, by putting them into the arms of the brasen image Moloch, heated hot. The account he gives of Tophet is this,"Tophet is Moloch, which was made of brass; and they heated him from his lower parts; and his hands being stretched out, and made hot, they put the child between his hands, and it was burnt; when it vehemently cried out; but the priests beat a drum, that the father might not hear the voice of his son, and his heart might not be moved:''but in this he is mistaken; for "Tophet" was not the name of an idol, but of a place, as is clear from this and the following verse. There is some agreement between this account of Jarchi, and that which Diodorus Siculus {z} gives of Saturn, to whom children were sacrificed by the Carthaginians; who had, he says, a brasen image of Saturn, which stretched out his hands, inclining to the earth; so that a child put upon them rolled down, and fell into a chasm full of fire:which I commanded them not: not in my law, as the Targum; nor by any of the prophets, as Jarchi paraphrases it; he commanded them, as Kimchi observes, to burn their beasts, but not their sons and daughters. The instance of Abraham offering up Isaac will not justify it. The case of Jephthah's daughter, if sacrificed, was not by divine command. The giving of seed to Moloch, and letting any pass through the fire to him, is expressly forbidden, Le 18:21:neither came it into my heart; it was not so much as thought of by him, still less desired, and much less commanded by him. Jarchi's note is,"though I spoke to Abraham to slay his son, it did not enter into my heart that he should slay him, but to make known his righteousness.''{z} Bibliothec. Par. 2. l. 20. p. 756. Jeremiah 7:32Ver. 32. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord,.... And they were coming on apace; a little longer, and they would be come; for it was but a few years after this ere Jerusalem was besieged and taken by the army of the Chaldeans, and the slaughter made after mentioned:that it shall no more be called Tophet: no more be used for such barbarous and idolatrous worship; and no more have its name from such a shocking circumstance:nor the valley of the son of Hinnom; as it had been from the times of Joshua:but the valley of slaughter: or, "of the slain"; as the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; because of the multitude of men that should be killed there, or brought there to be buried; as follows:for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place: till there be no more room to bury there; or, "because there was no place" {a} elsewhere; the number of the slain being so many: this was in righteous judgment, that where they had sacrificed their children, there they should be slain, at least buried.{a} Mwqm Nyam "quod, [vel] eo quod nullus (alius. sit) locus", Munster; "ideo quod non (erie) locus", Schmidt. Jeremiah 7:33Ver. 33. And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth,.... That is, those which remain unburied, for which there will be found no place to bury them in; all places, particularly Tophet, being so full of dead bodies; not to have a burial, which is here threatened, was accounted a great judgment:and none shall fray them away; or frighten them away; that is, drive away the fowls and the beasts from the carcasses. The sense is, either that there should be such a vast consumption of men, that there would be none left to do this, and so the fowls and beasts might prey upon the carcasses without any disturbance; or else that those that were left would be so devoid of humanity, as not to do this office for the dead. Jeremiah 7:34Ver. 34. Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem,.... Signifying that the devastation should not only be in and about Jerusalem, but should reach all over the land of Judea; since in all cities, towns, and villages, would ceasethe voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness; upon any account whatever; and, instead of that, mourning, weeping, and lamentation:the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; no marrying, and giving in marriage, and so no expressions of joy on such occasions; and consequently no likelihood, at present, of repeopling the city of Jerusalem, and the other cities of Judah:for the land shall be desolate; without people to dwell in it, and till it. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read, "the whole land".
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.