Jer 7:2 | KingComments | STEP | In Jeremiah 2-4 Jeremiah spoke of family life and in Jeremiah 5-6 of political life. In this chapter he speaks of religious life. The speeches in Jeremiah 7-10 are known as the “temple speeches”, which, incidentally, need not all have been spoken on the same occasion. They are a frontal attack on the trust the people place in the temple as the sure protection of Jerusalem against all enemies. These speeches have earned Jeremiah lasting enemies. Jeremiah 1-6 form a unity. They contain prophecies in the days of Josiah. In Jeremiah 7 we are in a later time. The temple speech in Jeremiah 26, which many commentators believe is the same as here, is given at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim ( ). There, the reaction to the preaching is especially highlighted. Jeremiah’s preaching has lasted about eighteen years by then, so that he is around forty years old here. Jehoiakim is a wicked man. He undoes all the reforms of his father Josiah. He serves idols and leads a life of luxury. This man becomes one of Jeremiah’s greatest enemies. In the midst of his life filled with the satisfaction of his own pleasures, Jeremiah suddenly appears. So far we have read about Jeremiah’s preaching, but not yet of opposition, of reactions. That is going to happen here. Jeremiah preaches against the temple itself. This is the greatest insult to the Jew. He who attacks the temple attacks the deepest being of the Jew. In this speech, then, lies the seed of the hatred that takes root ever deeper and reveals itself ever more fiercely. The deadly hatred of the Jews about this is also experienced by the Lord Jesus when He speaks of the destruction of the temple ( ). The word of the LORD has come to Jeremiah ( ), meaning that Jeremiah has been given a commission by the LORD. He is to stand in the gate of the temple – thus ensuring a large audience – and proclaim the word to all who go to the temple to bow down before the LORD ( ). Jeremiah is to proclaim the word to them on behalf of “the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel” ( ). It is as if God is addressing these people in all His greatness to make clear the contrast between what they are doing and Who He is. He knows them through and through. He sees what these people are doing. It appears good, but He knows their motives, and these are not good, nor are their actions. They can be recognized today in people who, when they go to church, believe that they are not all that bad. But God knows their ways and their deeds. He calls them to repentance. The call is simple, direct and unmistakable. The point is not to keep up appearances that they are going in good ways and doing good deeds, but to really amend their ways and deeds. If they do that, He will let them “dwell in this place”, in Jerusalem, what is not to be taken for granted. The Jews presumptuously do take that for granted. The utterance of a triple “the temple of the LORD” does show how convinced they are of the presence of the LORD in their midst in the temple ( ). They believe that because they are God’s people, they have a right to the temple, while they are totally oblivious to the God of the temple. Jeremiah’s voice thunders against it – surely these words must have sounded like that in their ears – that a temple without Godliness is deception. He tells them that these are lying words of false prophets. They are “deceptive words”, words that sound like a mantra. A mantra is the repetition of words over and over again, giving a person the feeling that the words spoken represent reality. If you repeat something often enough, it is so, they believe. They feel themselves God’s chosen people. They think they have nothing to fear. Time and again God has delivered His people from the power of hostile nations. Thereby they cling to the promise of the eternal kingship to David ( ) and the LORD’s choice of Zion as His earthly dwelling place ( ). Therefore, in their opinion, nothing can happen to the temple. Surely under Hezekiah God also worked a great deliverance, didn’t He ( )? This is, of course, because of the temple that stands there, they reason. How could it ever be surrendered by God? In their superstition, they see the temple as a mascot. It is the same superstition that Hophni and Phinehas have when they take the ark as a mascot into battle against the Philistines ( ). They also believe that ‘of course’ God will not let the ark fall into the hands of the Philistines. How wrong they are and how wrong the people of Jerusalem are. Hypocritically they pronounce it three times that this is the temple of the LORD. That is how blinded these people are. We see this throughout the history of professing Christianity and also in our hearts. The roman catholic church has also thought that nothing can happen to it. Then God gives the work of reformation. The Reformation has thought the same thing. We hear it also in the further reformation, when it is said by some in the so-called ‘brethren movement’: ‘The testimony of the Lord, that is us, isn’t it? The Table of the Lord is with us!’ This is repeated over and over again and people believe it absolutely. When the heart no longer abides with God’s Word and it becomes only an outward religion, God must pronounce His judgment on it. Professing Christianity teaches us that what began faithfully may continue in name, but God can no longer connect with it because it is only outward appearance. Jeremiah shakes them up from their false security. The LORD does not accept a mere keeping of outward statutes, but true piety. He seeks and “desires truth in the innermost being” ( ). Jeremiah holds out to them the ways in which they can truly amend their ways and deeds ( ). For this he refers to the words of Moses, to the ancient paths, to the words of the beginning. From these he quotes three precepts. If they act on them, they can show that they are sincere before the LORD. 1. Two precepts deal with the attitude toward one’s neighbor. The first is to truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, without regard to personal interest. 2. The second is that they do not oppress the vulnerable and defenseless, with the worst outgrowth being the shedding of innocent blood, murder, “in this place”, which is the temple ( ). These are people who are easy prey for exploiters, for people who know no compassion. The LORD specifically wants His mind toward the weak in His own to be shown ( ; ; ). What they are doing now is diametrically opposed to this. 3. The third precept concerns their attitude toward the LORD. At the moment they still taunt Him by pursuing other gods, which brings ruin on them. When they no longer walk after other gods, they will thereby show that they are serious about serving the LORD (cf. ). The LORD, when He sees these good things with them, will respond ( ). He will not then drive them out of Jerusalem and the land, but let them live there. After all, it is the land He gave their fathers. They will continue to live there, “forever and ever”, that is, always. That means that He too will dwell there.

‏ Jeremiah 7:2

Introduction

In Jeremiah 2-4 Jeremiah spoke of family life and in Jeremiah 5-6 of political life. In this chapter he speaks of religious life.

The speeches in Jeremiah 7-10 are known as the “temple speeches”, which, incidentally, need not all have been spoken on the same occasion. They are a frontal attack on the trust the people place in the temple as the sure protection of Jerusalem against all enemies. These speeches have earned Jeremiah lasting enemies.

Jeremiah 1-6 form a unity. They contain prophecies in the days of Josiah. In Jeremiah 7 we are in a later time. The temple speech in Jeremiah 26, which many commentators believe is the same as here, is given at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (Jer 26:1). There, the reaction to the preaching is especially highlighted. Jeremiah’s preaching has lasted about eighteen years by then, so that he is around forty years old here.

Jehoiakim is a wicked man. He undoes all the reforms of his father Josiah. He serves idols and leads a life of luxury. This man becomes one of Jeremiah’s greatest enemies. In the midst of his life filled with the satisfaction of his own pleasures, Jeremiah suddenly appears. So far we have read about Jeremiah’s preaching, but not yet of opposition, of reactions. That is going to happen here.

Jeremiah preaches against the temple itself. This is the greatest insult to the Jew. He who attacks the temple attacks the deepest being of the Jew. In this speech, then, lies the seed of the hatred that takes root ever deeper and reveals itself ever more fiercely. The deadly hatred of the Jews about this is also experienced by the Lord Jesus when He speaks of the destruction of the temple (Mt 26:59-68).

Misplaced Trust

The word of the LORD has come to Jeremiah (Jer 7:1), meaning that Jeremiah has been given a commission by the LORD. He is to stand in the gate of the temple – thus ensuring a large audience – and proclaim the word to all who go to the temple to bow down before the LORD (Jer 7:2).

Jeremiah is to proclaim the word to them on behalf of “the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel” (Jer 7:3). It is as if God is addressing these people in all His greatness to make clear the contrast between what they are doing and Who He is. He knows them through and through. He sees what these people are doing. It appears good, but He knows their motives, and these are not good, nor are their actions. They can be recognized today in people who, when they go to church, believe that they are not all that bad. But God knows their ways and their deeds.

He calls them to repentance. The call is simple, direct and unmistakable. The point is not to keep up appearances that they are going in good ways and doing good deeds, but to really amend their ways and deeds. If they do that, He will let them “dwell in this place”, in Jerusalem, what is not to be taken for granted. The Jews presumptuously do take that for granted. The utterance of a triple “the temple of the LORD” does show how convinced they are of the presence of the LORD in their midst in the temple (Jer 7:4). They believe that because they are God’s people, they have a right to the temple, while they are totally oblivious to the God of the temple.

Jeremiah’s voice thunders against it – surely these words must have sounded like that in their ears – that a temple without Godliness is deception. He tells them that these are lying words of false prophets. They are “deceptive words”, words that sound like a mantra. A mantra is the repetition of words over and over again, giving a person the feeling that the words spoken represent reality. If you repeat something often enough, it is so, they believe.

They feel themselves God’s chosen people. They think they have nothing to fear. Time and again God has delivered His people from the power of hostile nations. Thereby they cling to the promise of the eternal kingship to David (2Sam 7:11-17) and the LORD’s choice of Zion as His earthly dwelling place (Psa 132:13-16). Therefore, in their opinion, nothing can happen to the temple.

Surely under Hezekiah God also worked a great deliverance, didn’t He (2Kgs 19:32-37)? This is, of course, because of the temple that stands there, they reason. How could it ever be surrendered by God? In their superstition, they see the temple as a mascot. It is the same superstition that Hophni and Phinehas have when they take the ark as a mascot into battle against the Philistines (1Sam 4:3-11). They also believe that ‘of course’ God will not let the ark fall into the hands of the Philistines. How wrong they are and how wrong the people of Jerusalem are. Hypocritically they pronounce it three times that this is the temple of the LORD. That is how blinded these people are.

We see this throughout the history of professing Christianity and also in our hearts. The roman catholic church has also thought that nothing can happen to it. Then God gives the work of reformation. The Reformation has thought the same thing. We hear it also in the further reformation, when it is said by some in the so-called ‘brethren movement’: ‘The testimony of the Lord, that is us, isn’t it? The Table of the Lord is with us!’ This is repeated over and over again and people believe it absolutely. When the heart no longer abides with God’s Word and it becomes only an outward religion, God must pronounce His judgment on it. Professing Christianity teaches us that what began faithfully may continue in name, but God can no longer connect with it because it is only outward appearance.

Jeremiah shakes them up from their false security. The LORD does not accept a mere keeping of outward statutes, but true piety. He seeks and “desires truth in the innermost being” (Psa 51:6). Jeremiah holds out to them the ways in which they can truly amend their ways and deeds (Jer 7:5). For this he refers to the words of Moses, to the ancient paths, to the words of the beginning. From these he quotes three precepts. If they act on them, they can show that they are sincere before the LORD.

1. Two precepts deal with the attitude toward one’s neighbor. The first is to truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, without regard to personal interest.

2. The second is that they do not oppress the vulnerable and defenseless, with the worst outgrowth being the shedding of innocent blood, murder, “in this place”, which is the temple (Jer 7:6). These are people who are easy prey for exploiters, for people who know no compassion. The LORD specifically wants His mind toward the weak in His own to be shown (Deu 14:29 ; Deu 16:11 ; Deu 24:19; Psa 94:6; Deu 19:10-13 ; Deu 21:1-9). What they are doing now is diametrically opposed to this.

3. The third precept concerns their attitude toward the LORD. At the moment they still taunt Him by pursuing other gods, which brings ruin on them. When they no longer walk after other gods, they will thereby show that they are serious about serving the LORD (cf. 1Sam 7:3).

The LORD, when He sees these good things with them, will respond (Jer 7:7). He will not then drive them out of Jerusalem and the land, but let them live there. After all, it is the land He gave their fathers. They will continue to live there, “forever and ever”, that is, always. That means that He too will dwell there.