Bible Commentaries

Trust ye not in ^a lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, [are] these.

(a) Believe not the false prophets, who say that for the temple's sake, and the sacrifices there the Lord will preserve you, and so nourish you in your sin, and vain confidence.

Then ^b will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

(b) God shows on what condition he made his promise to this temple that they would be a holy people to him, as he would be a faithful God to them.

Is this house, which is called by my name, become ^c a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen [it], saith the LORD.

(c) As thieves hidden in holes and dens think themselves safe, so when you are in my temple, you think to be covered with the holiness of it, and that I cannot see your wickedness, (Matthew 21:13).

But go ye now to my place which [was] in Shiloh, ^d where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

(d) Because they depended so much on the temple, which was for his promise, that he would be present and defend them where the ark was, he sends them to God's judgments against Shiloh, where the ark had remained about 300 years, and after was taken, the priests slain, and the people miserably discomfited, (1 Samuel 4:11) ; (Jeremiah 26:6).

And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spoke to you, ^e rising early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ^f ye answered not;

(e) That is, I never ceased to warn you, as in (Isaiah 65:2) ; (Proverbs 1:23).

(f) He shows the only remedy to redress our faults: to allow God to lead us in the way, and to obey his calling, (Isaiah 66:4).

And I will cast ^g you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, [even] the whole seed of Ephraim.

(g) I will send you into captivity as I have done Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes.

Therefore ^h pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

(h) To assure them that God had determined with himself to punish their wickedness, he shows the prayer of the godly cannot help them, while they remain in their obstinacy against God, and will not use the means that he uses to call them to repentance, (Jeremiah 11:14) , (Jeremiah 14:11).

The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes to ⁱ the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

(i) That is, they sacrifice to the sun, moon and stars, which they called the queen of heaven, (Jeremiah 44:17) ; (2 Kings 23:5).

For ^k I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

(k) Showing that it was not his chief purpose and intent, that they should offer sacrifices, but that they should regard, why they were ordained: that is, to be joined to the word as seals and confirmations of remissions of sins in Christ: for without the word they were vain and unprofitable.

Since the day that your fathers came forth from the land of Egypt to ^l this day I have even sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily ^m rising early and sending [them]:

(l) Which was about fourteen hundred years.

(m) Read (Jeremiah 7:13).

Therefore thou shalt speak all these words to them; but they ⁿ will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call to them; but they will not answer thee.

(n) By which he shows that the pastors should not leave their flocks in their obstinacy, for the Lord will use the means of his servants to make the wicked more faulty and to prove his.

Cut off thy ^o hair, [O Jerusalem], and cast [it] away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his ^p wrath.

(o) In sign of mourning, as in (Job 1:20).

(p) Against whom he had just opportunity to pour out his wrath (Micah 1:6).

And they have built the high places of ^q Tophet, which [is] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I ^r commanded [them] not, neither came it into my heart.

(q) Of Topheth, read (2 Kings 23:10).

(r) But commanded the opposite, as in (Leviticus 18:21) , (Leviticus 20:3) ; (Deuteronomy 18:10).