7:1 The Lord said to Jeremiah:
Jehovah spoke to Jeremiah. This was not Jeremiah’s human opinion or speculation.
7:2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s temple and proclaim this message: ‘Listen, all you people of Judah who have passed through these gates to worship the Lord. Hear what the Lord has to say.
Jeremiah was probably standing in one of the three inner gates of the temple. In this way, he could face outward and address the people. He was probably speaking on one of the three feast days (Passover, Pentecost, or Tabernacles), as all of the people of Judah would be present for the required national festivals of Leviticus 23.
The people from all over Judah were entering the gates to worship, but their worship was external. They were not interested in true repentance. They would not like Jeremiah’s message, because it would not tickle their ears. This Jewish audience was very much like the audiences in modern seeker-churches today.
7:3 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land.
Jeremiah told the people at the feast that they must change the way that they are living. Instead of doing evil, they needed to do what was right. If they did not change their ways, then God would not allow them to live in His land. Jeremiah was repeating the requirements of the conditional Mosaic Covenant which Israel had refused to keep.
7:4 Stop putting your confidence in the false belief that says, “We are safe! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here!”
The Jews had become very superstitious. They thought that as long as the temple stood in Jerusalem, then God would not allow anyone to take the city. They began to develop this attitude after the Assyrians were not allowed to take Jerusalem 120 years earlier. The Angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrians. They began to repeat a superstitious chant, “We are safe! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here!” They believed that this chant would help them against their enemies. This is very similar to baby Christians, carnal Christians, or an unbeliever repeating the Lord’s Prayer during a calamity or before a football game. It is superstitious for Christians to think that the Lord’s Prayer will protect football players before a game.
7:5 You must change the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly.
If Judah wanted real security, then they needed to keep the Mosaic Law.
7:6 Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop paying allegiance to other gods. That will only bring about your ruin.
The Jews were violating the Mosaic Law in several ways. They were oppressing foreigners who desired to become Jewish proselytes and worship the one true God. They oppressed orphans who had lost both of their parents. They oppressed widows who lost their husbands. They killed innocent people in the land through human sacrifices. They worshiped other gods. If Judah continued in this way, then God would remove them from the land by either death or captivity.
7:7 If you stop doing these things, I will allow you to continue to live in this land which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession.
God gave the land to Israel forever. However, they could only live in the land if they were obedient to the Mosaic Law. Since Israel would never be able to keep the Law, then God would have to raise up a new generation and give them a new heart and a new covenant. A new heart means a new attitude about the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah and the Savior of Israel. The details of this future generation of Jews and this New Covenant were predicted by the prophet in Jeremiah 31.
7:8 “ ‘But just look at you! You are putting your confidence in a false belief that will not deliver you.
Israel was trusting in false prophets, just as much of the modern world is trusting in evolutionists. Evolution will not save the souls of men. The lie of evolution will cause a man to reject their Creator and send them to hell.
7:9 You steal. You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to other gods whom you have not previously known.
Judah was consistently disobedient to the Mosaic Law. To them, Jehovah was one of several gods. Israel enjoyed the festivities, but they were not interested in keeping the Mosaic Law. Instead, they were thieves, murderers, and adulterers. They made oaths but did not keep them. They sacrificed to Baal and worshiped other gods.
Jeremiah was not tickling ears. America is no better. America worships the almighty dollar, sports heroes, movie stars, evolution, political parties, and even their own children.
Most modern churches would not hire Jeremiah as their pastor. They would rather hire a false prophet who will tell them what they want to hear. One reason that charismatics love tongues, prophecies, and miracle workers is because these three groups tickle ears. They tell the congregation what they want to hear. They mix truth with error, just as Satan did in the Garden of Eden. Charismatics need to study and teach the entire counsel of the WRITTEN Word of God.
7:10 Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins!
With all of this guilt, Israel claimed that they were delivered. This claim is very similar to many churches who use 1 John 1:9 as their catch-all for cleansing of sins. Many churches will ritually repeat this confession every Sunday, expecting to enter back into fellowship with God, yet there is no inner repentance. They just repeat their sins during the weak and then reclaim 1 John 1:9 every Sunday.
Catholics do the same thing when they confess to a priest. They confess on Sunday, then repeat their sins during the week. The Italian-based Mafia likes Catholicism, because they can steal, kill, and destroy during the week and then confess their sins on Sunday. This is one reason why crime is so high in many Catholic-dominated Latin American countries.
7:11 Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own is to be a hideout for robbers? You had better take note! I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.
Jeremiah told the people that their temple had become a den of robbers. Jesus accused the religious leaders of His day of the same sin. Basically, the Jews thought that the temple was a good luck charm. As long at it stood, then they could sin all they wanted. They thought that God would not allow anyone to knock down His temple. They thought that since the Assyrians tried and were killed, then the same thing would happen to all of their enemies who attempted to invade them.
7:12 So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped in the early days. See what I did to it because of the wicked things my people Israel did.
Jeremiah commanded the people to learn their lesson from Shiloh. God chose Shiloh as the first city to keep His tabernacle. The tabernacle pointed to the throne room in heaven. The Shechinah Glory was present in the tabernacle. The offerings pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, when the people rebelled, then God allowed the Philistines to take the Ark of the Covenant and destroy the city. The city of Shiloh was now just a minor, rundown, insignificant little village. Jeremiah predicted that the same thing would happen to the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem would become the next Shiloh.
7:13 You also have done all these things, says the Lord, and I have spoken to you over and over again. But you have not listened! You have refused to respond when I called you to repent!
God called Israel to become His wife and His special chosen, people. However, she did not listen to the call. Jehovah called over and over, but she refused to respond.
7:14 So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own, this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors, just like I destroyed Shiloh.
What God did at Shiloh, then He will also do at Jerusalem. The temple and the city would be destroyed.
7:15 And I will drive you out of my sight just like I drove out your relatives, the people of Israel.’ ”
God was going to drive Judah out of the land, just as He did with Israel.
7:16 Then the Lord said, “As for you, Jeremiah, do not pray for these people! Do not cry out to me or petition me on their behalf! Do not plead with me to save them, because I will not listen to you.
Judah is beyond prayer. Jeremiah is not to pray for them anymore. Their cup of wrath was full. They would be destroyed.
7:17 Do you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Jehovah asked Jeremiah to look and see the daily activity on the streets of Jerusalem.
7:18 Children are gathering firewood, fathers are building fires with it, and women are mixing dough to bake cakes to offer to the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven. They are also pouring out drink offerings to other gods. They seem to do all this just to trouble me.
The families of Judah were involved in worshiping the Queen of Heaven. The Queen of Heaven was also known as Astarte to the Canaanites, Ishtar to the Babylonians, Venus to the Romans, and Aphrodite to the Greeks. She was known as the Madonna of the Babylonian Religious System. She was worshiped through temple prostitution, homosexuality rituals, and bridal prostitution. The brides were expected to perform ritual prostitution before their bridal ceremony. This fertility cult started at the Tower of Babel. After the languages were confused, then this cult was spread through all of the languages of the nations of the world. It seeped into the Catholic Church as Mariology. The Pope is not the Vicar of Christ on earth. He is the Pope of Mary. He is the Pope of the Queen of Heaven. The Holy Spirit is the true Vicar of Christ on earth. The Pope is a satanically-implanted imposter. He is stealing the Vicar of Christ title from the Holy Spirit.
The entire Jewish family was involved in this fertility ritual worship. Children were gathering firewood. Fathers built the fire. Mothers baked special cakes in the image of the goddess. The cake was laid upon the altar as a sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven. Drink offerings were also poured out to other gods. Many of these rituals have seeped into the modern holiday of Easter. Easter is the English name for Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven.
Notice that the Jews hated God so much, that they were doing these things to provoke God to anger. Modern atheists often do the same thing by boldly defying God with their words, actions, literature, and song. This hatred and disrespect for God is part of the mind of those who are totally depraved and evil. The Christ-rejecters hate God, hate Christians, hate the Bible, but they loves to sin. According to Romans 1, God will allow these Christ-rejecters to follow their own human lusts to destruction. God will simply leave the liberals alone and allow them to destroy themselves.
7:19 But I am not really the one being troubled!” says the Lord. “Rather they are bringing trouble on themselves to their own shame!
The Jews were worshiping other gods in order to make Jehovah angry. This attitude would backfire on them. It is important to note that modern Christ-rejecters think that they are causing God trouble, but they are actually bringing trouble to themselves.
7:20 So,” the Lord God says, “my raging fury will be poured out on this land. It will be poured out on human beings and animals, on trees and crops. And it will burn like a fire which cannot be extinguished.”
God’s wrath will pour upon the land of Judah like an unquenchable fire. Every man, animal, tree, and plant would be consumed by this fire.
7:21 The Lord said to the people of Judah, “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says: ‘You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too!
Multiplying sacrifices would not save Judah from destruction. This was Jewish superstition.
7:22 Consider this: When I spoke to your ancestors after I brought them out of Egypt, I did not merely give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Obedience always had priority over rituals.
7:23 I also explicitly commanded them: “Obey me. If you do, I will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you and things will go well with you.”
Judah cannot survive and live in the land, unless they became obedient to the Mosaic Law.
7:24 But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They followed the stubborn inclinations of their own wicked hearts. They acted worse and worse instead of better.
The fathers disobeyed the Mosaic Law. The sons followed in their footsteps.
7:25 From the time your ancestors departed the land of Egypt until now, I sent my servants the prophets to you again and again, day after day.
God repeatedly sent Israel prophets, but they were rejected and even killed.
7:26 But your ancestors did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’ ”
The sons repeated the sins of their fathers and became even worse than their fathers.
7:27 Then the Lord said to me, “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not respond to you.
The people would not listen to Jeremiah.
7:28 So tell them: ‘This is a nation that has not obeyed the Lord their God and has not accepted correction. Faithfulness is nowhere to be found in it. These people do not even profess it anymore.
Judah had not obeyed Jehovah. They had not accepted correction. Truth had perished from the land. The people did not even profess to following Jehovah anymore.
This is a similar position in which modern America finds herself today. The political leaders of the land continually proclaim that “America is no longer a Christian nation.” Instead, they have become a nation of many cults, isms, atheists, feminists, homosexuals. lesbians transgenderists, evolutionists secularists, and agnostics. These godless political leaders are correct when they boast about the decaying spiritual condition of America. However, the biblically-ignorant electorate is wrong when they vote these type of men into office. For this reason, truth has disappeared from America. People are beginning to believe the lies of secular humanism.
7:29 So, mourn, you people of this nation. Cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a song of mourning on the hilltops. For the Lord has decided to reject and forsake this generation that has provoked his wrath!’ ”
Judah was called to mourn. According to Numbers 6, when a Nazarite made a vow, he was to allow his hair to grow until the vow was accomplished. After the vow was accomplished, then he was to cut his hair and offer it to Jehovah on the altar.
If the Nazarite touched a dead person or animal during his vow period, then he was defiled. He was to immediately cut off the hair, throw it into the field, and burn it. The defiled hair would defile the altar.
Judah was like the Nazarite who had touched a dead thing and defiled herself. She was to cut off her hair and throw it away.
The bare hilltops were the places where Judah worshiped false gods. Judah was to sing her funeral songs on these bare hilltops, since these hilltops led to her destruction.
7:30 The Lord says, “I have rejected them because the people of Judah have done what I consider evil. They have set up their disgusting idols in the temple which I have claimed for my own and have defiled it.
Jehovah gave the reason why He rejected Judah. She had set up Baal images in the temple and defiled it.
7:31 They have also built places of worship in a place called Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that they can sacrifice their sons and daughters by fire. That is something I never commanded them to do! Indeed, it never even entered my mind to command such a thing!
Topheth possibly is an Aramaic root, meaning “fireplace.” It was a slang word for the worship of Baal. Ball means shameful thing or disgusting thing.
The Valley of Hinnom was also known as Gehenna. It was a valley of fire where Judah burnt human sacrifices to a Moabite god named Moloch. It is very similar to the Lake of Fire, which will continually burn the physical man in the eternal Lake of Fire. It seems that the demonic world wanted to mock God by enticing humans to build their own human rendition of the actual Lake of Fire. Humans are totally depraved and evil, so their human depravity will cause them to willingly follow the seductions of demons. Those who reject God often dwleve into darkness and superstition of the occult. They get involved in death metal music and Goth apparel. They prefer darkness over light.
7:32 So, watch out!” says the Lord. “The time will soon come when people will no longer call those places Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom. But they will call that valley the Valley of Slaughter and they will bury so many people in Topheth they will run out of room.
Jeremiah predicted that Judah would sacrifice so many humans in this valley, that the name would be eventually changed from “the Valley of Hinnom” to “the Valley of Slaughter.”
7:33 Then the dead bodies of these people will be left on the ground for the birds and wild animals to eat. There will not be any survivors to scare them away.
After Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah, then the Roman General Titus would destroy Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The Roman soldiers would kill many of the Jews who rejected Jesus in this same valley. The birds of the air would eat the bodies of the Jews who rejected Jesus as their Messiah. There will be no survivors left to scare the birds away. At this 70 A.D slaughter, this valley would be renamed “the Valley of Slaughter.”
7:34 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, or the glad celebration of brides and grooms throughout the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. For the whole land will become a desolate wasteland.”
There would be no more joy in Jerusalem. There would be no more Jewish marriages. Jerusalem would become a wasteland.
This was not a prophecy about the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., because many of the captives survived and were departed to Babylon. This is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans.