Jeremiah’s Message at the Temple Gate
Jeremiah corrected the people who believed that God's...
Jeremiah corrected the people who believed that God's Temple would ensure their safety (compare Jeremiah 26:1–6).
The people were likely at the entrance of...
The people were likely at the entrance of the Lord’s Temple for an annual festival (see also Jeremiah 17:19; 26:2).
1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2“Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD.
Pagans believed a symbol was the same as...
Pagans believed a symbol was the same as what it represented. In Jeremiah's time, people thought the temple was God's heavenly house. They found it absurd to think enemies could destroy it. To support this belief, they repeatedly chanted, This is the temple of the LORD. However, the Lord of Hosts did not need an earthly house (2 Samuel 7:6–7; 1 Kings 8:27). The Israelites' security from the Temple came from the Lord himself, and only on his terms (1 Kings 6:12).
3Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place. 4Do not trust in deceptive words, saying:
‘This is the temple of the LORD,the temple of the LORD,the temple of the LORD.’
Idol worship harmed the people in several ways....
Idol worship harmed the people in several ways. Spiritually, idols were illusions. Socially, idol worship ruined their community bonds. Politically, it made them overconfident against foreign armies. Without change, they had no future in the Promised Land (Exodus 22:21–24; Deuteronomy 4:40; 6:14–15).
5For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another, 6if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm, 7then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury: The...
steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury: The people's actions broke most of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3–7, 13–17).
burn incense...follow: Israel's relationship with God did not rely on any magical or ritual connection. It depended on following the terms of his covenant. Their actions broke that relationship and disrespected the Lord's holy character.
steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury: The people's actions broke most of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3–7, 13–17).
burn incense...follow: Israel's relationship with God did not rely on any magical or ritual connection. It depended on following the terms of his covenant. Their actions broke that relationship and disrespected the Lord's holy character.
8But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail. 9Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known, 10and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue with all these abominations’? 11Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers† in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.
God allowed the Philistines to capture the Ark...
God allowed the Philistines to capture the Ark of the Covenant and destroy the Tabernacle at Shiloh. The people had tried to use the Ark as a magical object (1 Samuel 4:1–11). Similarly, he would allow the Babylonians to destroy the Temple.
12But go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.
The people of the northern kingdom had acted...
The people of the northern kingdom had acted like Judah was acting now. God sent many prophets to speak to them (2 Kings 17:22–23; 2 Chronicles 36:15–16), but they did not listen or respond. The Lord spared Jerusalem and the Temple when the Assyrians exiled the northern tribes in 722 BC. This time, the Temple would be destroyed.
13And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and again† but you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer, 14therefore what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears My Name, the house in which you trust, the place that I gave to you and your fathers. 15And I will cast you out of My presence, just as I have cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.
Judah’s Idolatry Persists
16As for you, do not pray for these people, do not offer a plea or petition on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.
Pagan worship became a family activity. Each family...
Pagan worship became a family activity. Each family member contributed to the ritual. They worshipped Ashtoreth, the Queen of Heaven, the mother goddess of the Canaanites, along with her family of deities (see Jeremiah 44:17–19).
17Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger. 19But am I the One they are provoking? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?
The people's offerings and sacrifices meant nothing to...
The people's offerings and sacrifices meant nothing to the Lord if they were disobedient. Their sacrifices could not force God to act against His will. Instead, these offerings showed the people's trust in God's forgiveness. When people tried to use sacrifices to manipulate God while living selfishly, it only angered Him (Isaiah 1:10216; Amos 5:21–27). Obeying God allows for a personal relationship with Him, which is the foundation for a bright future (Hosea 6:6).
20Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.
21This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! 22For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices, 23but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you.
Throughout their history, the Israelites ignored the messages...
Throughout their history, the Israelites ignored the messages from the Lord's prophets (2 Chronicles 36:15; Mark 12:1015010).
24Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. 25From the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets again and again.† 26Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers.
The Lord told Jeremiah to keep sharing his...
The Lord told Jeremiah to keep sharing his messages, even though the people of Judah had completely rejected the Lord and would not listen (compare Ezekiel 2:7). Jeremiah should shave his head, mourn, and weep alone on the mountains (compare Job 1:20).
27When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer. 28Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips. 29Cut off your hair and throw it away. Raise up a lamentation on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’
The Valley of Slaughter
The valley of Ben-Hinnom started on the west...
The valley of Ben-Hinnom started on the west side of Jerusalem and continued around the south side. This narrow, steep valley opened into the Kidron Valley and served as the city's garbage dump and graveyard. The bodies of the poor, whether murdered or dead from disease, were dumped there. Child sacrifice, a practice completely abhorrent to the Lord (see 2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6), also took place there. The valley was known as Topheth (2 Kings 23:10; Isaiah 30:33), possibly referring to ritual drums (Hebrew top) or sacrificial fires (tap) used there.
In the New Testament, it is called Gehenna, and Jesus compared hell to the fire that burned continuously in that valley (see study note on Matthew 5:29). Soon, it would be known as the Valley of Slaughter because the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, which lasted from 588 to 586 BC, would fill the valley with the bodies of the slain.
This message announced death for the people of...
This message announced death for the people of Judah. It came true with the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC.
30For the people of Judah have done evil in My sight, declares the LORD. They have set up their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it. 31They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.
32So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. 33The corpses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to scare them away.
34I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”