The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
The verse is only a heading — a word arrives from the Lord for Jeremiah. What follows depends on where God told him to carry it. He had to take God's message to the one place the nation felt safest: the door of God's own house.
Chapter 7 opens a new block of prophecy. Kelly shows what holds these chapters together:
Jeremiah 7-10 begin with the house of God as the witness of the people's sin and the starting-point of His judgment.
A dictionary entry on the book puts the same thing in a sentence, and names what was wrong underneath the outward religion:
Jeremiah 7 to 10. This section is about the temple. The people boasted of possessing the temple, but there was insincerity and idolatry. Moving appeals are made, and judgements declared.
God had already sent Jeremiah to cry out in the hearing of Jerusalem. This time the task got harder, because of where he had to stand:
In chapter 2:1-2 he must "Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the Lord'."
The people he faced were on their way in to worship. Gaebelein pictures the scene at the gate:
That hollowness is the thread running through the whole address, and it is set against something better at the end of it:
Kelly explains why no privilege can cover ongoing sin:
God must have reality in His people.
Later in the same address God points them to Shiloh. Kelly draws the lesson:
Vine ties this warning to a rule Peter states in the New Testament:
- Word — the chapter starts with a message from the Lord, not from Jeremiah; the prophet's job was to carry it.
- Gate — the place makes the point: God sent the word to meet worshippers at the very door of His house.
- Reality — God wants truth in His people, not a form. Being near Him calls for more watchfulness, never less.
- Shiloh — God once profaned the place where the tabernacle first stood; He will not prop up an empty form.
- Us — when people twist the truth while still using His name, judgment begins at the house of God.
Stand in the gate of Jehovah's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear ye the word of Jehovah, all Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship Jehovah.
God gives Jeremiah a message and a place to deliver it. He must stand at the temple gate and speak to the crowd walking in to worship. Does the right building and the right routine count for anything when the lives behind them tell another story?
God chose the spot. One man stood at the door of God's own house, facing every worshipper who came through.
We call this next address of the prophet "the temple address," because God told him to stand in the gate of the LORD's house. There he stood, a lone figure, and said: "Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD." Their worship was only outward. They trusted in the temple of the Lord, as if the house itself carried a blessing and would shield them from disaster.
This was not Jeremiah's first assignment, and the demands on him kept rising with each one.
In chapter 2:1-2 he must "Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem." In chapter 7:1-2 the test becomes more severe, since he must stand in the gate of the Lord's house and speak to all who come in to worship. Later, after nineteen years of ministry, he must "Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah... all the words that I command you to speak to them." He must not leave out a word.
These people did the right thing in the right place. It did not help them.
Hypocrites may "enter these gates to worship the LORD," trusting in deceptive words and saying, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD" (Jer. 7:4). But such sayings never took the place of inward reality before God. They only made their case worse.
Gaebelein names what those same worshippers were like.
They trusted in lying words. They were thieves, murderers, adulterers, liars under oath and idol worshippers, and they thought that if they went to the house of the LORD they would be delivered from these evils.
Why were they so calm? They treated God's power as a guarantee for the building.
Man is loudest about his own security when he pays least attention to God's sovereign grace and to his own responsibility to bear true witness to Him. The Jew flattered himself that the temple must stand by God's power, whatever the people might be.
The same mistake has a modern form.
Huge numbers claim to be Christians, and most of them trust the symbols and ceremonies of Christianity instead of Christ the Son of God. Many trust in their baptism, in taking the Lord's supper, in their church going. All the while they neglect the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, and they have no living faith in Him.
God is not asking for more religion. He is asking for something real, and grace does not lower that standard.
God must have reality in His people. Grace was never meant to weaken the moral ways of God, and it never can be allowed to. In fact, grace is the only spring of power that makes those ways precious in our eyes and gives us firmness in walking by them… There is no more destructive trap than the idea that people who sin, and go on sinning, can plead privilege. God's righteous government of His people is as certain as the mercy which chose and blessed them. Let them forget neither!
The warning comes at God's house, and God's house is where judgment starts. It had happened once before, at Shiloh, the first place where God put His name.
And what a solemn fact it is — judgment fell upon the house "which was in Shiloh", where the Lord set His "Name at the first" (Jer. 7:12). Then it came upon the house at Jerusalem too. God said, "Therefore I will do to the house that is called by My Name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh" (v. 14). And so it happened. Likewise the apostle Peter tells us, "It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God" (1 Peter 4:17).
- Place — God sends His word to the temple gate, so the people most sure of their standing hear it first.
- People — the hearers are worshippers walking in, not outsiders. God aims the word at religious people.
- Pretence — walking through the gates while living another way covers nothing. It makes the case worse.
- Plea — God wants reality. Grace never weakens His moral demands, and privilege is no defence for going on in sin.
- Penalty — Shiloh had already fallen, and judgment begins at the house that carries His Name.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
God placed Jeremiah at the temple gate to speak to the crowds coming in to worship. His message was not about the building but about their conduct, and staying in the land depended on it.
The place of this message was itself part of it. God sent His prophet to the one spot where the nation felt most secure.
In chapter 2:1-2 he must go and cry out in the hearing of Jerusalem. In chapter 7:1-2 the test becomes harder. Now he must stand in the gate of the Lord's house and call every man of Judah who enters those gates to worship to hear the word of the Lord.
The word for "amend" means to put things back in working order. It is not about tidying the surface.
The Greek word comes from a verb meaning 'to amend, make right.' So we get the 'time of reformation,' or 'setting things right.' The prophets raised this thought, and the kingdom will fulfil it. It means putting things on earth in order according to the mind of God. Christianity looks forward to this. Heb. 9:10. The same Greek verb appears in the Greek Old Testament at Isa. 16:5; Isa. 62:7; Jer. 7:3, 5.
The people had a defence ready. They had the building, and they repeated the fact three times over as though repetition made it a shield.
In Jeremiah 7 he begins a new theme. He takes up the temple itself, and shows that the flood of evil in Judah had polluted the very sanctuary of Jehovah. What is more, while they stood in danger, they were trusting not in God nor in His word. They trusted lying words of their own: that the outward forms would be enough to hold back the Gentile power that was destroying them.
Israel had leaned on a sacred object once before, and it did not save them.
It is very sad when God's people trust the symbols of God's presence instead of God Himself… They trusted in the temple, not in God. If they had trusted Him, their ways would have matched that faith… The presence of the ark did not save Israel, and neither did the presence of the temple. Their ways did not please the God they claimed to serve.
Some treat a call to amend as a threat to grace. This writer says the opposite. Grace is the power that makes God's ways precious to us.
God must have reality in His people. Grace was never meant to weaken the moral ways of God, and it never can be allowed to. In fact, grace is the only source of power that makes those ways precious to us and gives us firmness in walking by them… There is no more destructive trap than pleading that privilege while you sin and keep on sinning. God's righteous government of His people is as certain as the mercy that chose and blessed them. Let them forget neither!
There is a real difference between coming to God broken over sin and coming to Him with a clear conscience. Both are welcome. A third posture is not.
There are two different conditions in which we may call on God. We may call on Him in deep sorrow over our sin, and He hears us. Or we may call on Him with a good conscience and a heart that does not condemn us, and He hears us… Both stand in sharp contrast to the indifference and hardness of heart that would dare to count on God while living in open disobedience and in unrighteousness day by day… To imagine that we can trust God while our feet walk the path of sin is nothing less than shocking contempt for God.
The "and I will" of this verse makes the whole message an open door. Judgment was announced, but it had not closed.
Jeremiah's prophecies are more conditional than any other, except Jonah's. In fact they state their condition even more plainly than Jonah's did. Jonah did not put the condition into words: "If you repent, God will spare Nineveh." But Jeremiah does state it: "If you repent, Jehovah will turn back from what He means to do."
The error did not die with Judah. The same reasoning appears wherever a religious body claims it cannot fail.
People claim they are safe most loudly when they pay least attention to God's sovereign grace and to their own duty to bear true witness to Him. The Jew told himself that the temple must stand by God's power, whatever the people were like. So Christendom, fallen and still falling, made claims that matched how far it had sunk: that it can never fail and never err, though that belongs to God alone.
- Place. God sent the message to the temple gate, to people walking in to worship at the height of their confidence.
- Word. "Amend" means setting things right according to the mind of God. It is not repair work on appearances.
- Trust. They trusted a symbol of God's presence instead of God Himself, and their ways proved it.
- Reality. God must have reality in His people; His righteous government is as certain as the mercy that chose them.
- Offer. God states the condition openly. Turn, and He will turn from the judgment He has declared. The same false confidence returns wherever people claim their group cannot fail.
Confide ye not in words of falsehood, saying, Jehovah's temple, Jehovah's temple, Jehovah's temple is this.
Crowds stream through the temple gates to worship, and what Jeremiah confronts there is not open unbelief but a slogan — a phrase repeated three times, as if the building itself guaranteed safety. The question is whether a people can claim God's presence while their conduct denies Him.
Judah was in real danger. Jeremiah names where their confidence had settled: not in God or His word, but in a formula of their own making.
In Jeremiah 7 the prophet begins on a new theme. He takes up the temple itself. He shows that the tide of evil in Judah had completely polluted the very sanctuary of the LORD. In the middle of their danger, they were not trusting God or His word. They were trusting lying words of their own: that the outward forms would be defence enough against the destroying Gentile power.
They used the repeated phrase like a charm. They treated the building as a shield: whatever happened outside its walls, disaster could not reach them.
Their worship was only external. They trusted in the temple of the Lord, as if the house itself carried some kind of blessing and would shield them from disaster. Micah describes the same delusion in the apostate people: "Yet they lean on the LORD and say, 'Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us'" (Micah 3:11). They trusted in lying words. They were thieves, murderers, adulterers, perjurers and idolaters. They thought that going to the house of the LORD would deliver them from these abominations.
The temple was God's house, so the words themselves were true. The problem was what the worshippers made of them.
A hypocritical group may "enter these gates to worship the LORD," trusting in deceptive words — "This is the temple of the LORD" (Jer. 7:4). But such sayings did not take the place of inward reality before God. It only made their case worse.
God's answer is not a better slogan but a set of terms. Privilege never covers sin, and mercy never suspends the way God governs His people.
God must have reality in His people. Grace was never meant to weaken the moral ways of God, and it never can. In fact, grace is the only spring of power that makes those ways precious to us and gives us firmness in walking in them. No snare is more destructive than the idea that people who sin, and go on sinning, can plead their privilege. God's righteous government of His people is as certain as the mercy which chose and blessed them: let them forget neither! "For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow ... then I will let you dwell in this place."
God does not just contradict the boast. He points to a ruin. Shiloh was where God's tent among Israel first stood, and its rubble answered anyone who thought a holy place was safe forever.
How empty and foolish the idea, that God would keep His seat where His people insulted Him to His face! "Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel."
The same mistake did not end with Judah. What ruined them was not the truth they quoted but the use they made of it.
That would be exactly what they did in Jeremiah's time, when judgment was coming, and it is what Christendom is doing now. They said, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD," and, "the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise" — while they were all on their way to Babylon. The faithfulness of God was unchanging. But the moment they used it to prop themselves up in a place of evil, it became the very ground of their ruin.
- Trust misplaced. The danger was not that they trusted, but what they trusted — a phrase about God's house instead of God and His word.
- Trust unmasked. God calls them lying words. The building never gave the protection they claimed, and saying it three times added nothing.
- Trust tested. God gives terms instead: change your ways, do justice, and stop oppressing the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.
- Trust judged. Shiloh already stood in ruins as proof that God does not stay where His people insult Him to His face.
- Trust today. Use a true thing about God to shelter your evil, and it stops being your security. It becomes the ground of your ruin.
But if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye really do justice between a man and his neighbour,
Judah trusted the temple to keep them safe. This verse is God's answer — an "if" that ties their future in the land to how they live and how they treat each other.
One reference work traces the word behind "amend" from this verse into the New Testament.
The word is diorthosis, from 'to amend, make right.' So we get the 'time of reformation,' or 'setting things right.' The prophets take up this thought, and the kingdom will fulfil it. It points to the setting in order of things on earth according to the mind of God. Christianity looks on to this and awaits it. Hebrews 9:10. The Greek verb occurs in the Greek Old Testament in Isaiah 16:5; Isaiah 62:7; Jeremiah 7:3, 5.
One writer describes what had gone wrong when Jeremiah spoke these words.
In Jeremiah 7 he starts a new theme. He takes up the temple itself. He shows that the flood of evil in Judah had completely polluted the very sanctuary of the Lord. What is more, they were in danger, yet they were not trusting in God or in His word. They trusted lying words of their own — that the outward forms would hold off the foreign power that was destroying them.
The same writer draws out why God attaches an "if" at all.
God must have reality in His people. Grace was never meant to weaken the moral ways of God, and it never can be allowed to. In fact, grace is the one spring of power that makes those ways precious to us and gives us firmness in walking in them. God shows grace to a soul. Even when that soul values it only a little, that grace bears the fruit of righteousness in everyday life between people, as surely as it sets everything right toward God. No trap is more destructive than pleading privilege while sinning and going on in it. God's righteous government of His people is as certain as the mercy that chose and blessed them: let them forget neither! Nearness to God, even outwardly, is a reason for more watchful holiness, never for indifference.
What does justice between neighbours actually require? One writer lists the specifics.
Notice what the Lord called His people back to in the days of their prosperity. It was the second table of the law — love to their neighbours. It is love to their neighbour, measured by the love they have for themselves. So He called them to do true judgment and to show no favouritism. He called them to have a tender and compassionate heart. He called them to keep from oppressing the helpless, the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, and the poor. All this shows the value God attaches to our practical conduct, and to a way of life with others shaped and ordered by His word.
The conditions are practical, so being on correct ground proves nothing by itself.
See how strongly this shows that a testimony which looks right on the outside is no security for us. It may even become a great trap to us in our practical life. The satisfaction of holding a position separate from the world may feed our spiritual pride. It can make us pass lightly over our moral looseness in our relationships with our brothers.
A failure honestly owned and a life honestly lived are two different things, and neither one may be swapped for the other.
We must not confuse the confession of sin, and the pardon of it, with practical righteousness. There are two distinct conditions in which we may call on God. We may call on Him in deep sorrow of heart, and He hears us. Or we may call on Him with a good conscience and an unaccusing heart, and He hears us. But the two things are very distinct. And they both stand in sharp contrast with something else: the indifference and hardness of heart that would dare to count on God while openly disobeying Him and living in practical unrighteousness.
- Command — "Amend" means to make right. It is the word for setting things in order according to the mind of God — the same setting right that the kingdom will bring.
- Condition — Staying in the land hangs on an "if." God governs His people as surely as He shows them mercy.
- Conduct — The test God names is the second table of the law: true judgment, no favouritism, no oppression of the helpless. Grace bears fruit between people, not only toward God.
- Counterfeit — A correct outward position gives no security. It can even feed pride and make moral looseness easy to overlook.
- Contrast — Pardon for confessed sin and a righteous daily walk are two different things. Neither replaces the other. To claim God's favour while walking in wrong is neither one.
[if] ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed no innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers from of old even for ever.
God sends Jeremiah to the temple gate to speak to the crowds coming in to worship. There He offers them a place to stay — but the offer hangs on conditions, and that raises a simple question: what keeps a people safe in their land, their building or their behaviour?
The people trusted their own words. They treated the temple building as a shield against an invading army.
In Jeremiah 7 he begins a new message. He takes up the temple itself, and shows that the tide of evil in Judah had completely polluted the very sanctuary of the LORD. And while they were in danger, they were trusting not in God nor in His word, but in lying words of their own. They thought the outward forms would be enough to hold back the destroying foreign power.
Israel had made the same mistake before, with the ark.
It is very sad when God's people put their trust in the symbols of God's presence rather than in God Himself. It happened in the days of the ark, and again just before the king of Babylon took Judah captive. Back then, the people thought they were perfectly safe because the ark was in the camp. Later they thought the enemy could not overthrow them because they had the temple in Jerusalem. They trusted in the temple, not in God — otherwise their ways would have matched their faith in Him.
God lists His conditions first: fair judgment, no oppression of the stranger, the fatherless or the widow, no innocent blood. These are duties toward people, not rituals.
It is the second table of the law — love to their neighbours — to which the Lord had recalled the attention of His people. He had called them to carry out true judgment and to show no favouritism. They were to have a tender and compassionate heart. They were to keep from oppressing the helpless, the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, and the poor. All this shows the value God attaches to our practical conduct, to a walk in relation to others as formed and ordered by His word.
"Then I will let you dwell" is God's government at work. Mercy chose this people; that does not cancel the moral conditions of staying.
God must have reality in His people. Grace was never meant to weaken the moral ways of God, and we must never let it. Grace is the one power that makes those ways precious in our eyes and gives us firmness in walking in them. No snare destroys more than this: people who sin and keep on sinning pleading their privilege. God's righteous government of His people is as certain as the mercy which chose and blessed them: let them forget neither!
The "if" governed life in the land. One writer marks off how this differs for Christians.
If the people honoured the Lord by submitting to His word, He would bless them in the land with temporal blessings, in keeping with the covenant they lived under. It is different with Christians. They are saved by pure unconditional grace. But once saved, their blessing and their enjoyment of spiritual blessing depend on their walk, on obedience to the Word. They do not obey to be saved.
Judah wanted a third option: keep the sin and keep the confidence. Scripture leaves only two doors open.
There are two distinct conditions in which we may call upon God. We may call on Him in deep sorrow over sin, and He hears us. Or we may call on Him with a good conscience and a heart that does not accuse us, and He hears us. The two are very different. Both stand in sharp contrast with the indifference and hard heart that counts on God while openly disobeying Him and living in unrighteousness. Practical righteousness He owns and approves. Confessed sin He can freely and fully pardon. But to think we can trust God while our feet walk the path of wickedness is nothing short of shocking irreverence.
The same misplaced trust did not stop with Judah.
False trust in ordinances and outward worship is only too evident in the Christian world as well. Crowds of unsaved people keep up their religious observances and think this protects them and secures the Lord's help and blessing. The Lord calls on them to amend their ways and their doings, to work a better righteousness.
- Words. Judah trusted lying words: outward forms treated as armour against an advancing army.
- Ways. The offer to remain turns on amended ways and doings, not on attendance at the house that bore God's name.
- Neighbour. The tests are neighbour-love: honest judgment, and no oppression of the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow.
- Dwelling. Mercy chose the nation; God's government decided whether it stayed in the land. Grace never loosens His moral ways.
- Warning. Trusting a building while living in sin is the one road to God that Scripture closes. Religious people still repeat the mistake.
Behold, ye confide in words of falsehood that cannot profit.
God had told Judah to mend their ways and stop repeating a slogan about His temple. Now He names their confidence for what it is: deceptive words that cannot help them. Older translations read "lying words." Can religious privilege shelter a person whose life contradicts it?
The lie was not a denial of God. It was a claim about His house — that the building itself guaranteed safety.
Their worship was only external. They trusted in the temple of the Lord, as if the house itself carried a blessing and would shield them from disaster. Micah describes the same delusion in people who had turned away from God: "Yet they lean on the LORD and say, 'Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us'" (Micah 3:11). Such a false trust in religious ceremonies and outward worship is only too clear in Christendom too.
That confidence had teachers behind it.
Although the moral condition of the people was so low, God still waited in mercy, pleading with them to mend their ways and not to trust in lying words. The false prophets were telling them that things would be all right — as long as they had the temple of the Lord, judgment could not overtake them.
The verses right after this one list what these worshippers were doing.
One verse convicts the people of breaking six of the ten commandments. They worshipped Baal and other idols, and at the same time they kept an outward form of relationship with the true God by standing before Him in His house. They were only a small remnant, whom God in His mercy had delivered from the enemy, and they seem to have thought He spared them so they could do their own will. They imagined that God did not notice their wicked ways, and that their formal recognition of His temple would satisfy Him.
Words that sound devout can make a bad situation worse rather than better.
A hypocritical crowd may "enter these gates to worship the LORD," trusting in deceptive words: "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD…" (Jer. 7:4). But such sayings did not take the place of inward reality before God. It only made their case worse.
The words could not profit, because privilege gives no cover for ongoing sin. God chose His people, and God governs them.
God must have reality in His people. Grace was never meant to weaken God's moral ways, and it never can. In fact, grace is the only source of power that makes those ways precious to us and gives us firmness to walk in them… There is no more destructive snare than privilege pleaded by people who sin and go on sinning. God governs His people in righteousness, and that is as certain as the mercy that chose and blessed them. Let them forget neither!
Judah's mistake was not trusting God. It was trusting Him while walking the other way.
There are two distinct conditions in which we may call on God. We may call on Him in deep sorrow over sin, and He hears us. Or we may call on Him with a good conscience and an unaccusing heart, and He hears us. But the two are very different. And both stand in sharp contrast with the indifference and hardness of heart that would presume to count on God in the face of open disobedience and practical unrighteousness. This is dreadful in the sight of the Lord, and it must bring down His heavy judgment. Practical righteousness He owns and approves. Confessed sin He can freely and fully pardon. But to imagine that we can trust God while our feet walk the path of sin is nothing short of the most shocking irreverence toward Him.
The same false confidence did not die with Judah.
He shows them that their boast in an unbroken succession of national privilege was an empty trust. The Jews held this false confidence just as strongly as others in Christendom ever have. The delusion was as destructive to them as it will be to Christendom. Nothing is more certain to bring destruction on Christendom than the idea of a security that cannot fail. I do not mean security for the soul, for the believer; that assurance is quite right.
What makes the mixture so dangerous is that it soothes rather than alarms.
The form suits the worldly heart, because it keeps the conscience at ease while the heart enjoys the world in all its attractiveness. What a delusion!… Satan's masterpiece is the blending of things that look Christian with things that are plainly unholy. He deceives more effectively with this scheme than with any other, so we need more spiritual perception to see it.
- The lie — They trusted a slogan about God's house, as though the building itself would shield them from disaster.
- The shelter — They kept an outward link with God while breaking His commandments. They assumed a nod to His temple would satisfy Him.
- The cost — Pious sayings did not replace inward reality; they made the case worse, not better.
- The verdict — Privilege pleaded by those who go on sinning is the most destructive snare there is. God's government is as sure as His mercy.
- The repeat — Nothing is more certain to ruin Christendom than the idea of a security that cannot fail. Satan's masterpiece is Christian appearance blended with unholy living.
What? steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not ...
God speaks these words to people on their way in to worship Him. It is a question, not a statement. He reads a list of crimes back to the worshippers, who still expected to be safe.
The items are not random. They line up with the ten commandments, and the count is damning.
In one verse the people are found guilty of breaking six of the ten commandments. While they worshipped Baal and other idols, they kept up an outward relationship with the true God by standing before Him in His house. They were only what was left of the nation. God in His mercy had rescued these few from the enemy, and they clearly thought He had spared them so they could do as they pleased. They imagined, foolishly, that God did not notice their wicked ways, and that He would be satisfied with their formal respect for His temple.
One writer describes these worshippers bluntly, and sees the same pattern wherever people treat religion as insurance.
Their worship was only outward. They trusted in the temple of the Lord, as if the building itself carried a blessing and would shield them from disaster… The same false trust in religious ceremony and outward worship is all too plain in the Christian world as well. Crowds of unsaved people think their religious routine protects them and secures the Lord's help and blessing. They trusted in lying words. They were thieves, murderers, adulterers, liars under oath and idol worshippers, and they thought that going to the house of the LORD would deliver them from these detestable deeds.
The list ends with incense burned to Baal and with following other gods. That is still worship, and one writer names who receives it.
The Bible also speaks often of burning incense to Baal and other false gods (Jer. 1:16; Jer. 7:9). Satan has his own incense and perfume, and he makes it a delight to those who willingly serve him.
The people's logic was that belonging to God covered them. One writer names that reasoning as the most dangerous trap of all, and turns it around.
God must have what is real in His people. Grace was never meant to weaken God's moral ways, and it never can be allowed to… There is no more destructive trap than this: that people who sin, and go on sinning, can plead their privilege. God rules His people in righteousness as surely as He chose and blessed them in mercy. Let them forget neither!… Being near to God, even outwardly, is a reason for more watchful holiness, never for indifference.
Their confidence rested on the temple building. The same writer answers that with the history of an earlier holy place.
Shiloh was the place where the tabernacle — the tent of worship — was first set up in the land. What was Shiloh now? God Himself had stripped it of its holiness, and He would do the very same thing where the ark now stood, in the sanctuary at Jerusalem. God cannot tie Himself to keeping up an empty form. He would no longer support what had been a beautiful picture of His truth, once the state of the people and the priests was, in His eyes, the most offensive evil under the sun. The greater the truth, the blessing, or at least the privileges God had given to the Jewish people and their priests, the greater the wickedness of their insults to His holiness in His own temple.
An outward form of religion still suits people who want to keep the world. One writer explains why that mixture is so hard to spot.
The outward form suits the worldly heart, because it keeps the conscience at ease while the heart enjoys the world in all its attraction. What a delusion!… Satan's masterpiece is the blending of things that look Christian with things that are plainly unholy. He deceives more successfully by this scheme than by any other, and so we need more spiritual insight to detect it.
- Six — one verse charges the worshippers with breaking six of the ten commandments. They still stood in God's house as if all was well.
- Baal — the list ends with incense burned to a false god. They were still worshipping — they had only changed who received it.
- Form — their religion was outward. They trusted the building to shield them, and people still trust religious routine the same way.
- Privilege — nearness to God calls for more watchful holiness, never for indifference. Pleading privilege while going on in sin is the most destructive trap of all.
- Shiloh — God will not tie Himself to an empty form. The greater the privilege He gives, the greater the insult when people defy His holiness in His own house.
then ye come and stand before me, in this house which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered, -- in order to do all these abominations!
In Jeremiah's message the people step out of a list of crimes, walk into the temple, and tell God they are safe. The verse raises two questions: what makes a place "called by my name," and can nearness to God protect someone who means to keep sinning?
One writer sets the scene: what the false prophets promised, and what the list of crimes in the previous verse adds up to.
God still waited in mercy, pleading with them to change their ways and not to trust in lying words. The false prophets were telling them that everything would be fine: as long as they had the temple of the Lord, judgment could not reach them… In one verse the people stand convicted of breaking six of the ten commandments. They worshipped Baal and other idols, and at the same time they kept an outward form of relationship with the true God by standing before Him in His house. They were only a remnant of the nation, a few whom God in His mercy had delivered from the hand of the enemy. It seems they thought God had spared them so they could do their own will. They wrongly imagined that God took no notice of their wicked ways, and that their formal recognition of His temple would satisfy Him.
That title is narrower than it sounds. Very few buildings have ever carried it.
The house of God is the one that bears His holy Name, as He says, "which is called by My Name" (Jer. 7:10-11, 12, 14, 30). In Old Testament times you could say this of the tabernacle or the temple, but of no other such structure then or since.
The people treated their access to God as cover. One writer turns that reasoning around.
God must have reality in His people. God never meant grace to weaken His moral ways, and He will never allow it to… There is no more destructive snare than for people who sin and go on sinning to plead their privilege. God's righteous government of His people is as certain as the mercy that chose and blessed them. Let them forget neither! … Nearness to God, even outward nearness, is the ground for a more watchful holiness, never for indifference.
There are honest ways to call on God, and there is presumption. These people claim God's protection while their feet stay on the road of sin.
There are two different conditions in which we may call on God. We may call on Him in deep sorrow for sin, and be heard. Or we may call on Him with a good conscience and a heart that does not condemn us, and be heard… Both stand in sharp contrast with the hardness of heart that would presume to count on God in the face of open disobedience and unrighteous living… Practical righteousness He owns and approves. Confessed sin He can freely and fully pardon. But to imagine that we can trust God while our feet walk the path of sin is nothing short of the most shocking irreverence.
The same excuse reappears wherever people admit the evil around them and then decide it cannot be helped.
It was a day too when they could boast, "The temple of the Lord are these" (Jer. 7:1-11), and yet add, "We are delivered to do all these abominations." How like the cry of some: we cannot help the evil, it is the best thing we can find, and so on.
Standing in God's house while serving Baal is a blend, not open rebellion. That is what makes it hard to spot.
The form suits the worldly heart, because it keeps the conscience at ease while the heart enjoys the world in all its attractiveness. What a delusion!… Satan's masterpiece is the mixing of things that look Christian with things that are plainly unholy. He deceives more effectively by this scheme than by any other, and we need more spiritual discernment to detect it as a result.
God had already dealt with one site that carried His name. One writer follows that warning well past Jeremiah's day.
And what a solemn fact it is — judgment fell on the house that was in Shiloh, where the Lord set His Name at the first (Jer. 7:12); and it came again on the house at Jerusalem, as He said, "therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust… as I did to Shiloh" (v. 14). And so it happened… "it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God" (1 Peter 4:17)… When the truth is falsified and true piety is gone, what can come but judgment from God? — and all the more so if this false thing bears His holy Name.
- Privilege. God's name rested on one house on earth: the tabernacle, and then the temple. Nothing else could claim that title.
- Presumption. False prophets told them the temple kept them safe. So they broke six of the ten commandments, then stood before God in that house, sure He took no notice.
- Pretence. Trusting God while walking in sin is shocking irreverence. Mixing things that look Christian with things that are plainly unholy is Satan's masterpiece: it keeps the conscience comfortable.
- Precedent. God judged Shiloh first. A house that carries His name is more exposed to judgment, not less, once the truth in it is falsified.
- Practice. God must have reality in His people. Nearness to Him, even outward nearness, calls for more watchful holiness, never for indifference.
Is this house, which is called by my name, a den of robbers in your eyes? Even I, behold, I have seen it, saith Jehovah.
The prophet turns to a crowd that leans on the temple building and asks what it has become in their eyes. The warning is plain: people can hide sin behind a place that carries God's name, and God says He has seen it.
The verse turns on the phrase "which is called by my name."
The house of God is what bears His holy name, as He says, "which is called by My name" (Jer. 7:10-11, 12, 14, 30). In Old Testament times you could say this of the tabernacle or the temple, but of no other building then or since.
The question targets people whose religion and behaviour point in opposite directions.
In chapter 7 the prophet exposes the double life of the people. On one hand they spoke of "the temple of the Lord" as their possession. They never failed to stand before the Lord in "this house which is called by My name." They even thought God had delivered them so that they could carry on in their abominations (v. 10). They had every appearance of godliness. They even gathered in the place God had chosen. But what about their actual behaviour? How much injustice, oppression and idolatry? Their actions contradicted what they claimed, so judgment would come on them and on their temple.
A den is a hideout. That is what the temple had become in their thinking.
Their worship was only external. They trusted in the temple of the Lord, as if the house itself carried a blessing and would shield them from disaster. Such false trust in ceremonies and outward worship is only too clear in the Christian world as well. Masses of unsaved people with their religious routines think this protects them and secures the Lord's help and blessing. They trusted in lying words. They were thieves, murderers, adulterers, liars under oath and idolaters. They thought that going to the house of the LORD would save them from these abominations. The Lord calls on them to amend their ways and their doings… They had made His house a den of robbers.
God ends the verse by saying He has seen it Himself. Privilege raises the standard; it never lowers it.
God must have reality in His people. Grace was never meant to weaken the moral ways of God, and it never can… There is no more destructive trap than for people who sin, and go on sinning, to plead their privilege. God rules His people in righteousness as surely as His mercy chose and blessed them. Let them forget neither! … Being near to God, even in outward form, is a reason for more watchful holiness, never for indifference.
The people assumed God had to defend His own house. Shiloh, where the tabernacle first stood in the land, says otherwise.
What was Shiloh now? God had profaned it, and God would do the very same thing where the ark was now placed, where the sanctuary was in Jerusalem. It is impossible for God to bind Himself to maintain an empty form. He would no longer sustain what was a beautiful picture of His truth. In His eyes, the state of the people and of the priests was the most offensive evil under the sun. God had granted the Jewish people and their priests greater truth and blessing, or at least greater privileges. That made their insults to His holiness in His own temple all the more wicked.
Later, the Lord Himself came into that temple and dealt with what He found.
They had refused to change their ways and their deeds. They had refused to judge justly between a man and his neighbour. They had gone on oppressing the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. They had trusted in lying words while keeping up every outward form of religion. They came into the house of God as if it belonged to them, with hearts full of greed… Then, at this extreme of evil, the Lord comes in. He casts out all who sold and bought. He makes what had been a den of robbers a place of healing and blessing. But this only brings out a more determined rejection of Him and the salvation He brought.
- Named — The house is "called by my name." That name is what makes its misuse serious, not the stonework.
- Misused — In their eyes it was a hideout. They ran to it and kept on stealing, murdering and serving other gods.
- Seen — God's closing "I myself have seen it" removes the cover. Nearness to God calls for more watchfulness, never less.
- Warned — Shiloh already proved God will not prop up an empty form. Greater privilege only makes the insult worse.
- Answered — The Lord came into that temple, drove out the traders, and made the den of robbers a place of healing. They rejected Him for it.