Jeremiah · chapter 7 of 52
Updated on
Jeremiah 7 is the famous temple sermon: at the gate of the Lord's house, Jeremiah warns that repeating the temple of the Lord does not protect people who oppress the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow and worship other gods. God recalls what he did to Shiloh, his earlier sanctuary, and announces that he will do the same to the temple and to Jerusalem unless they change their conduct.
Jeremiah 7 begins a new section of the book, with a message dated, according to chapter 26, to the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign. The prophet stands at the temple gate, the place where the people believe they are safest, to tell them that the presence of the temple does not replace obedience. It is one of the most important texts in the book and the one that will bring Jeremiah the most danger.
The Lord tells Jeremiah to stand in the gate of his house and proclaim to all who enter to worship. He asks them to amend their ways and not to trust in deceptive words that keep repeating the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. If they truly amend their ways, practice justice with one another, do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, do not shed innocent blood or go after other gods, the Lord will let them dwell in this place.
But they steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely and burn incense to Baal, and then come and stand before the Lord saying they are delivered, only to go on doing these abominations. The Lord asks whether this house has become a den of robbers in his eyes. He sends them to Shiloh, where he first made his name dwell, to see what he did to it because of his people's wickedness. He will do to the house that bears his name what he did to Shiloh and cast them out of his sight.
He tells Jeremiah not to pray for this people or lift up a cry, for he will not hear. Whole families make cakes for the queen of heaven, and his anger will be poured out on this place. The Lord recalls that when he brought their fathers out of Egypt he did not speak to them about burnt offerings and sacrifices; he commanded them to obey his voice, and he would be their God. Yet they did not listen, though he sent his servants the prophets every day.
In verses 29-34 the people must cut off their hair and raise a lament on the bare heights, for the Lord has rejected the generation of his wrath. They have built the high places of Topheth in the valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, which the Lord did not command and which never entered his mind. That valley will be called the Valley of Slaughter, the corpses will be food for the birds, and the voices of mirth and gladness will cease.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jeremiah warns them not to trust in deceptive words that repeat the temple of the Lord, three times. The presence of the sanctuary is not a charm: the people's safety depends on obedience.
The Lord asks whether this house, where his name is called, has become a den of robbers. A den is where robbers take refuge after robbing: the people committed injustices and then went to the temple to feel safe. Jesus takes up this phrase when he cleanses the temple.
God announces that he will do to the temple what he did to Shiloh, the ancient sanctuary where the ark once stood. For a people who believed God would never abandon his house, the warning was scandalous.
The Lord recalls that his essential command was to obey his voice and walk in his way, and then he would be their God and they his people. Sacrifices do not replace that covenant relationship.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: In the gate of the Lord's house. — Jeremiah 7:2
Answer: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. — Jeremiah 7:4
Answer: The foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. — Jeremiah 7:6
Answer: A den of robbers. — Jeremiah 7:11
Answer: Shiloh, where he first made his name dwell. — Jeremiah 7:12-14
Answer: They burned their sons and daughters in the fire, something the Lord did not command. — Jeremiah 7:31
The temple sermon speaks plainly to every church: attending, singing and giving do not replace living justly. A person can be very active in church and treat the foreigner, the poor or the weak badly during the week. A small group can ask which practices in its life show that Sunday worship is real.
The chapter also warns about false security. That God blessed a people, a church or a family in the past does not guarantee they will stay blessed if they turn away from him. It is an invitation to examine ourselves humbly and to obey again, which is what God asked from the start.
Jeremiah 7 ends with an unsettling silence: voices of joy hushed and a land turned to desolation. Chapter 8 goes on with the consequences, even for the dead, and with the prophet's lament over a wound that no one heals.
Shiloh was Israel's worship center in the time of the judges, where the tabernacle and the ark stood. The text implies that it was destroyed, and tradition links this to the years of Eli and the defeat by the Philistines. Jeremiah uses it as a reminder that a holy place is not safe from judgment.
She was a goddess to whom the women of Judah offered cakes, and commentators link her to deities of Mesopotamia. Jeremiah mentions her as an example of a worship that involved the whole family, from children gathering wood to mothers kneading dough.
Jesus quotes the phrase den of robbers when he cleanses the temple, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Like Jeremiah, he denounces that it had become a place where people were exploited while religion went on.