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.