7:4 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.
7:7 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.
7:11 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, (Mt 21:13).
7:12 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,
(1Sa 4:11, Jer 26:6).
7:13 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
(Isa 65:2, Pro 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, (Isa 66:4).
7:15 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.
7:16 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,
(Jer 11:14,14:11).
7:18 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,
(Jer 44:17, 2Ki 23:5).
7:22 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.
7:25 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 (Jer 7:13).
7:27 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.
7:29 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 (Mic 1:6).
7:31 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.
