“But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. Now, because you have done all these works,” says Yahweh, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn’t hear; and I called you, but you didn’t answer; therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole offspring of Ephraim.
“Therefore don’t pray for this people. Don’t lift up a cry or prayer for them or make intercession to me; for I will not hear you. Don’t you see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger?” says Yahweh. “Don’t they provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?”
Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, on animal, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and will not be quenched.”
Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I didn’t speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices; but this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. Walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ But they didn’t listen or turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they didn’t listen to me or incline their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers.
“You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. You shall tell them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to Yahweh their God’s voice, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’ Cut off your hair, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
“For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight,” says Yahweh. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind. Therefore behold, the days come”, says Yahweh, “that it will no more be called ‘Topheth’ or ‘The valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’; for they will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury. The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth. No one will frighten them away. Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a waste.”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv13–34 The Prophet confirms by an example what he said…
The Prophet confirms by an example what he said yesterday, — that the Jews deceived themselves in thinking that they were covered by the shadow of the Temple, while yet they disclosed themselves, and when the whole world were witness of their impious rebellion. He therefore mentions what had before happened. The Ark of the Covenant, as it is well known, had long rested in Shiloh. Now the Temple did not excel in dignity on its own account, but on account of the Ark of the Covenant and the altar. It was indeed splendidly adorned; but the holiness of the Temple was derived from the Ark of the Covenant, the altar, and the sacrifices. This Ark had been in Shiloh. Hence Jeremiah shews how foolish were the Jews in being proud, because they had among them the Ark of the Covenant and the altar, for the first place, where sacrifices had been offered to God, was not preserved in safety. This is the import of the whole.
But he did not in vain say, Even go to Shiloh The כי, ki, here, though commonly a causal particle, seems to be taken as explanatory. If yet it be viewed only as an affirmative, I do not object, “Well, go to Shiloh.” But the language in this case is ironical, “Ye glory in the Temple; forsooth! go to Shiloh.” And God calls it his place — my place, in order that the Jews might understand that it had nothing superior in itself. The Ark of the Covenant had indeed been removed into Mount Sion, and there God had chosen a perpetual habitation for himself; but the other place was superior as to antiquity. This is the reason why he calls it “my place, “and adds, Where I made my name to dwell, that is, where I designed the Ark to be: for the Ark of the Covenant and the altar, with all their furniture, were properly the name of God; nor was it by chance that all the tribes had placed the Ark in Shiloh; but it was God’s will to be there worshipped for a time. Hence he says, that the place was sacred before Jerusalem; and therefore he says at the first, בראשונה, berashune; that is, the Shilomites are not only equal with you, but antiquity brings them a greater honor: if then a comparison is made, they excel you as to what is ancient.
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See, he says, what I did to that place for the iniquity of my people Israel. He calls here Israel his people, not for honor’s sake, but that he might again remind the Jews that they were only equal to the Israelites; and yet that it profited all the tribes nothing, that they were wont to assemble there to worship God. For when we reason from example, we must always see that there be no material difference. Jeremiah then shews that the Israelites were equal to the Jews, and that if the Jews claimed a superiority, the claim was neither just nor right, for Israel were also the people of God, inasmuch as it was God’s will to fix there the Ark of the Covenant, that sacrifices might be there offered to him; and then antiquity was in its favor, for it was a holy place before it was known that God had chosen Mount Sion as a situation for his Temple.
Hence he draws this conclusion, Now, then, as ye have done all these works, that is, as ye have become like the Israelites, therefore, etc. But he first amplifies their crime, — that they had not only imitated the wickedness of the twelve tribes, but had also perversely despised all warnings, I spake to you, he says, and rose up early By this metaphor he intimates, that he was as solicitous for preserving the kingdom of Judah, as parents are wont to be for the safety of their children: for as a father rises early to see what is necessary for his family, so also God says, that he rose early, inasmuch as he had been assiduous in exhorting them. He appropriates to his own person what properly belonged to his prophets: but as he had roused them by his Spirit and employed them in their work, he justly claims to himself whatever he had done by them as his instruments: and it was an exaggeration of their guilt, that they were slothful, nay, stupid, when God sedulously labored for their safety.
He adds, I spoke, and ye heard not; I cried to you, and ye did not answer, he inveighs more at large against their hardness; for had he only once warned them, some pretense might have been made; but as God, by rising early every day, labored to restore them to himself, and as he had not only employed instruction, but also crying, (for by crying he doubtless means exhortations and threatenings, which ought to have produced greater effect upon them,) there appeared in this contumacy the highest degree of mad audacity. The meaning is, — that God had tried all means to restore the Jews to a sound mind, but that they were wholly irreclaimable; for he had called them not only once, but often; and he had also endued his prophets with power to labor strenuously in the discharge of their office: he had not only shewed by them what was useful and necessary, but he had cried, that is, had employed greater vehemence, in order to correct their tardiness. Since then God, in using all these means, could effect nothing, what remained for them was miserably to perish, as they willfully sought their own destruction.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 22, 25, 27, 29, 31 Because they depended so much on the Temple, which…
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 sendeth 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, 1 Sam. 4:11; Jer. 26:6.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–34 Jer 7:12 But go ye now unto my place…
Jer 7:12 But go ye now unto my place which [was] in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
Ver. 12. But go ye now.] Non passibus sed sensibus. Summon the sobriety of your senses before your own judgments, and consider what I did of old to Shiloh, a place no less privileged than yours, and wherefore I did it, and be warned by their woes. Alterius perditio, tua sit cautio; seest thou another shipwrecked, look well to thy tackling. Reason should persuade, and therefore lodgeth in the brain; but when reason cannot persuade, example should, and mostly will.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12–34 Shiloh; a place that did belong to the tribe…
Shiloh; a place that did belong to the tribe of Ephraim, Psa 78:60, compare Psa 78:67; the situation whereof see Jdg 21:19; and called God’s house, as the temple is, 1Sa 1:3,7; he sends them hither for an example, which had the same privileges and holiness with the temple; not to go thither locally, but to cast their thoughts back, and consider of it, that they might know that God’s presence is not tied to places, Act 7:48.
Where I set my name at the first; where I did at first give you the token and pledges of my presence among you, when you first entered into the pleasant land, noting the antiquity of Shiloh before the temple.
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What I did to it, i.e. he utterly forsook it; he did not only deliver up his people into the Philistines’ hands, but the ark also, the token of his presence, which never returned to Shiloh more; and afterwards delivered the ten tribes, wherein Shiloh was situate, into captivity to the Assyrian; see Jer 7:14,15; wherein he upbraids them for their folly ill thinking that the ark or altar in the temple should any more privilege them than it did Shiloh.
For the wickedness of my people; he gives them the reason of it in these words, the wickedness of his people, and chiefly the priests, Hophni and Phinehas, Eli’s sons, 1Sa 2:12, &c.; and why should they think to escape, who did equal, if not exceed them?
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv16, 21, 29 God had shown them, in the foregoing verses, that…
God had shown them, in the foregoing verses, that the temple and the service of it, of which they boasted and in which they trusted, should not avail to prevent the judgment threatened. But there was another thing which might stand them in some stead, and which yet they had no value for, and that was the prophet's intercession for them; his prayers would do them more good than their own pleas: now here that support is taken from them; and their case is said indeed who have lost their interest in the prayers of God's ministers and people.
I. God here forbids the prophet to pray for them (Jer 7:16): "The decree has gone forth, their ruin is resolved on, therefore pray not thou for this people, that is, pray not for the preventing of this judgment threatened; they have sinned unto death, and therefore pray not for their life, but for the life of their souls," Jo1 5:16. See here, 1. That God's prophets are praying men; Jeremiah foretold the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, and yet prayed for their preservation, not knowing that the decree was absolute; and it is the will of God that we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Even when we threaten sinners with damnation we must pray for their salvation, that they may turn and live. Jeremiah was hated, and persecuted, and reproached, by the children of his people, and yet he prayed for them; for it becomes us to render good for evil. 2. That God's praying prophets have a great interest in heaven, how little soever they have on earth. When God has determined to destroy this people, he bespeaks the prophet not to pray for them, because he would not have his prayers to lie (as prophets' prayers seldom did) unanswered. God said to Moses, Let me alone, Exo 22:10. 3. It is an ill omen to a people when God restrains the spirits of his ministers and people from praying for them, and gives them to see their case so desperate that they have no heart to speak a good word for them. 4. Those that will not regard good ministers' preaching cannot expect any benefit by their praying. If you will not hear us when we speak from God to you, God will not hear us when we speak to him for you.
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II. He gives him a reason for this prohibition. Praying breath is too precious a thing to be lost and thrown away upon a people hardened in sin and marked for ruin.
1. They are resolved to persist in their rebellion against God, and will not be turned back by the prophet's preaching. For this he appeals to the prophet himself, and his own inspection and observation (Jer 7:17): Seest thou not what they do openly and publicly, without either shame or fear, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? This intimates both that the sin was evident and could not be denied and that the sinners were impudent and would not be reclaimed; they committed their wickedness even in the prophet's presence and under his eye; he saw what they did, and yet they did it, which was an affront to his office, and to him whose officer he was, and bade defiance to both. Now observe,
(1.) What the sin is with which they are here charged - it is idolatry, Jer 7:18. Their idolatrous respects are paid to the queen of heaven, the moon, either in an image or in the original, or both. They worshipped it probably under the name of Ashtaroth, or some other of their goddesses, being in love with the brightness in which they saw the moon walk, and thinking themselves indebted to her for her benign influences or fearing her malignant ones, Job 31:26. The worshipping of the moon was much in use among the heathen nations, Jer 44:17, Jer 44:19. Some read it the frame or workmanship of heaven. The whole celestial globe with all its ornaments and powers was the object of their adoration. They worshipped the host of heaven, Act 7:42. The homage they should have paid to their Prince they paid to the statues that beautified the frontispiece of his palace; they worshipped the creatures instead of him that made them, the servants instead of him that commands them, and the gifts instead of him that gave them. With the queen of heaven they worshipped other gods, images of things not only in heaven above, but in earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth; for those that forsake the true God wander endlessly after false ones. To these deities of their own making they offer cakes for meat-offerings, and pour out drink-offerings, as if they had their meat and drink from them and were obliged to make to them their acknowledgments: and see how busy they are, and how every hand is employed in the service of these idols, according as they used to be employed in their domestic services. The children were sent to gather wood; the fathers kindled the fire to heat the oven, being of the poorer sort that could not afford to keep servants to do it, yet they would rather do it themselves than it should be undone; the women kneaded the dough with their own hands, for perhaps, though they had servants to do it, they took a pride in showing their zeal for their idols by doing it themselves. Let us be instructed, even by this bad example, in the service of our God. [1.] Let us honour him with our substance, as those that have our subsistence from him, and eat and drink to the glory of him from whom we have our meat and drink. [2.] Let us not decline the hardest services, nor disdain to stoop to the meanest, by which God may be honoured; for none shall kindle a fire on God's altar for nought. Let us think it an honour to be employed in any work for God. [3.] Let us bring up our children in the acts of devotion; let them, as they are capable, be employed in doing something towards the keeping up of religious exercises.
(2.) What is the direct tendency of this sin: "It is that they may provoke me to anger; they cannot design any thing else in it. But (Jer 7:19) do they provoke me to anger? Is it because I am hard to be pleased, or easily provoked? Or am I to bear the blame of the resentment? No; it is their own doing; they may thank themselves, and they alone shall bear it." Is it against God that they provoke him to wrath? Is he the worse for it? Does it do him any real damage? No; is it not against themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? It is malice against God, but it is impotent malice; it cannot hurt him: nay, it is foolish malice; it will hurt themselves. They show their spite against God, but they do the spite to themselves. Canst thou think any other than that a people, thus desperately set upon their own ruin, should be abandoned?
2. God is resolved to proceed in his judgments against them, and will not be turned back by the prophet's prayers (Jer 7:20): Thus saith the Lord God, and what he saith he will not unsay, nor can all the world gainsay it; hear it therefore, and tremble. "Behold, my anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, as the flood of waters was upon the old world or the shower of fire and brimstone upon Sodom; since they will anger me, let them see what will come of it." They shall soon find, (1.) That there is no escaping this deluge of fire, either by flying from it or fencing against it; it shall be poured out on this place, though it be a holy place, the Lord's house. It shall reach both man and beast, like the plagues of Egypt, and, like some of them, shall destroy the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground, which they had designed and prepared for Baal, and of which they had made cakes to the queen of heaven. (2.) There is no extinguishing it: It shall burn and shall not be quenched; prayers and tears shall then avail nothing. When his wrath is kindled but a little, much more when it is kindled to such a degree, there shall be no quenching it. God's wrath is that fire unquenchable which eternity itself will not see the period of. Depart, you cursed, into everlasting fire.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–34 But go ye now unto my place, which was…
But go ye now unto my place, which was in Shiloh,.... A city in the tribe of Ephraim, on the north of Bethel, and the south of Lebonah, and not far from Shechem, Jdg 21:19 here were the tabernacle, the ark and altar of the Lord, and the sacrifices; and therefore the tabernacle is called the tabernacle of Shiloh, Psa 78:60, and here the Lord calls it his place; the place of the house of his Shechinah, as the Targum paraphrases it; and where he would have those people go; which is not to be understood locally, but of their taking this place into the consideration of their minds, and observe what was done to it, and became of it; though it was once the place where the Lord dwelt, and where his name was called formerly; as follows:
where I set my name at the first; when the children of Israel first entered into Canaan's land, the tabernacle was set up and established in Shiloh, in Joshua's time, Jos 18:1 and there it continued to the times of Eli:
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and see what I did to it, for the wickedness of my people Israel; he refused and forsook his tabernacle there; he suffered the ark, which was fetched from thence in the times of Eli, to be taken and carried captive, and that because of the sins of his people, Psa 78:60. Jerom (m) says, in his time, the altar that was pulled down was shown, though scarce the foundations of it were to be seen. Now the Lord would have these people consider what was done to Shiloh; that though this was the first place where the tabernacle was set in the land of Canaan, and so the inhabitants of it had antiquity on their side; yet this did not secure them, nor the tribe it was in, from being rejected by the Lord, when they sinned against him; nor should the tribes of Judah and Benjamin think themselves secure because of the temple of the Lord, since they might expect he would do to them for their sins what he had done to others before.
(m) Comment. in Zeph. ch. 1. fol. 94. L. Epitaph. Paulae, fol. 59. L.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31 Shiloh - A place in the tribe of Ephraim.…
Shiloh - A place in the tribe of Ephraim. Where - Where I did at first give you the pledges of my presence. What I did - He utterly forsook it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16, 18, 21, 23, 28, 29, 31, 32, 34 Verse 12. But go ye now unto my place…
Verse 12. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh] See what I did to my tabernacle and ark formerly: after a long residence at Shiloh, for the iniquity of the priests and the people, I suffered it to fall into the hands of the Philistines, and to be carried captive into their land, and to be set up in the house of their idols. And because of your iniquities, I will deal with you and this temple in the same way; for as I spared not Shiloh, though my ark was there, but made it a victim of my wrath, so will I do to Jerusalem and her temple.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, 29, 30, 32 Jer 7:12. But go ye now to Shiloh —…
Jer 7:12. But go ye now to Shiloh — Shiloh was the place where, upon the first coming of the Israelites into Canaan, the tabernacle, in which was the ark of God’s presence, was set up; and there it continued for a long space of time, even until the days of Samuel. It was during this period that the Israelites, as a punishment of the iniquitous and scandalous lives of the priests and people, received that signal defeat from the Philistines, when the ark of God was taken, as related 1Sa 4:10, &c., the pathetic description of which disaster, given by the psalmist, Psa 78:60-64, has caused it to be generally believed, that an allusion to it was likewise designed here by Jeremiah. “But a due consideration of the context,” Blaney thinks, “will lead us rather to conclude that the prophet refers to a more recent event, the vestiges of which were still fresh to be seen. Shiloh was in the tribe of Ephraim, and this place, once so favoured and sanctified by God’s particular residence, had shared the fate of the rest of the kingdom of Israel, and was become a scene of misery and ruin. This they might literally go and see at present; and this, says God, have I done because of the wickedness of my people Israel. In which words Israel, meaning the ten tribes, is acknowledged to have been God’s people no less than Judah; and Shiloh, it is observed, had once enjoyed the same privileges, which now belonged to the temple at Jerusalem. But as God spared not Shiloh, but made it the victim of his wrath, so he says he would do to Jerusalem and her temple; and would cast off Judah for their wickedness from being his people, in like manner as he had already cast off their brethren, whom he distinguishes by the name of the children of Ephraim.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 34 Go ye unto my place in Shiloh - This…
Go ye unto my place in Shiloh - This argument roused the indignation of the people Jer 26:8-9, Jer 26:11. The ark, Jeremiah shows, had not always been at Jerusalem. The place first chosen, as the center of the nation’s worship, was Shiloh, a town to the north of Bethel, situated in the powerful tribe of Ephraim (Jos 18:1 note). The ruin of Shiloh is ascribed Psa 78:58-64 to the idolatry which prevailed in Israel after the death of Joshua; a similar ruin due to similar causes should fall on Jerusalem Jer 7:14. The site of Shiloh is identified with Seilun, the ruins of which are so insignificant as to bear out Jerome’s remark, “At Silo, where once was the tabernacle and ark of the Lord, there can scarcely be pointed out the foundation of an altar.”
At the first - In the first stage, the first period of the existence of the Jewish commonwealth, Shiloh was to the Judges what Jerusalem subsequently was to the kings; and as the fall of Shiloh through the wickedness of Eli’s sons marked the period when the government by Judges was to pass away, and the second stage begin; so the power of the kings perished at the fall of Jerusalem, and left the way clear for the third stage of Jewish polity, government by the scribes.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 21, 22, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34 Beginning, under Josue. (Haydock) --- The sins of a…
Beginning, under Josue. (Haydock) --- The sins of a few priests caused this place to be abandoned, (1 Kings ii. 22., and iii. 4., and Psalm lxxviii. 60.) and shall the crimes of a whole people escape? (Calmet) --- It is true, that place and Jerusalem were once sanctified: but the people being criminal, God retires. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12–34 my place . . . in Shiloh--God caused His…
my place . . . in Shiloh--God caused His tabernacle to be set up in Shiloh in Joshua's days (Jos 18:1; Jdg 18:31). In Eli's time God gave the ark, which had been at Shiloh, into the hands of the Philistines (Jer 26:6; Sa1 4:10-11; Psa 78:56-61). Shiloh was situated between Beth-el and Shechem in Ephraim.
at the first--implying that Shiloh exceeded the Jewish temple in antiquity. But God's favor is not tied down to localities (Act 7:44).
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my people Israel--Israel was God's people, yet He spared it not when rebellious: neither will He spare Judah, now that it rebels, though heretofore it has been His people.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 18, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34 12. Unto my place… in Shiloh — Shiloh, north…
12. Unto my place… in Shiloh — Shiloh, north of Jerusalem, was the place where the ark of the covenant was kept for a long period, and so was a sort of predecessor to Jerusalem as a place of the divine presence. There were, perhaps, in Shiloh permanent buildings for sanctuary purposes, though the holy ark itself abode in a tabernacle. To the ruins of these the prophet alludes, virtually saying, It is possible for even a sanctuary of Jehovah to be destroyed, as witness Shiloh.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 12. The central position of Shiloh (Seilûn) in Ephraim…
12. The central position of Shiloh (Seilûn) in Ephraim is clearly set forth in Jdg_21:19. It was the resting-place of the Ark till it was carried off in the battle of Ebenezer (1Sa_4:11). The destruction referred to here (and in Jer_26:6; Psa_78:60) probably followed upon that Philistine victory. At any rate thenceforward Shiloh was a place of insignificance. In Jeremiah’s time it existed as a village (ch. Jer_41:5).
12–15. See introd. note on the section.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 (12) My place which was in Shiloh.—The history of…
(12) My place which was in Shiloh.—The history of the past showed that a Temple dedicated to Jehovah could not be desecrated with impunity. Shiloh had been chosen for the centre of the worship of Israel after the conquest of Canaan (Jos_18:1), and was reverenced as such through the whole period of the Judges. It had not, however, been a centre of light and purity. It had been defiled by wild dances of a half-idolatrous character; by deeds of shameless violence (Jdg_21:19-21), and by the sins of the sons of Eli (1Sa_2:22). And so the judgment came. It lost the presence of the ark (1Sa_4:17; Psa_78:58-64); its people were slaughtered by the Philistines; it fell into decay. It is possible, as the words “temple” (1Sa_1:9; 1Sa_3:3) and “house” (1Sa_3:15; Jdg_18:31) applied to it suggest, that substantial buildings may have gathered round the original tabernacle, and that those wasted ruins may have given a special force to Jeremiah’s allusion. It will be seen from Jer_26:6; Jer_26:9; Jer_26:11, that it was this reference that more than anything else provoked the wrath of priest and people. They thought with a half-concealed exultation of the fate of the earlier sanctuary in Ephraim, which had given way to that of Judah. They forgot that like sins bring about like punishments, and were startled when they heard that as terrible a doom was impending over the Temple of which they boasted. It would appear from Jer_41:5 that the ruin was not total, perhaps that it was still visited by pilgrims. Jerome describes it as a heap of ruins. It has been identified by modern travellers with the village of Seilun.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 But go ye now unto my place which was…
But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh. Jeremiah attacks this false confidence in the temple of Jerusalem, by pointing to the destruction of an earlier sanctuary, of which very little is known, indeed only so much as to give an edge to our desire for more. It is certain, from Jos_18:1 and 1Sa_4:3, that the tabernacle and the ark found a resting-place at Shiloh (an Ephraimitish town to the north of Bethel), nearly the whole of the period of the judges, or more exactly between the latter days of Joshua (Jos_18:1) and the death of Eli. (1Sa_4:3) Manifestly, then, there must have been some sort of "house," i.e. temple, at Shiloh; a mere tent would not have been sufficient for so long a period. This presumption is confirmed by the language of Jeremiah, and by the expressions of the narrative books. The fate which the prophet is bidden to announce for the existing temple is analogous to that which fell upon "Jehovah"s place in Shiloh." The latter was, therefore, not merely a deportation of the ark, such as is referred to in 1Sa 5. And when the narrator of the times of Samuel speaks of Eli as "sitting by the door-post of the temple of Jehovah", (1Sa_1:9) is it more natural to suppose t the word "temple" is here applied to the tabernacle, or that there was really a house, however rude, as sacred in the eyes of the faithful as was afterwards the splendid temple at Jerusalem? The latter view is strongly confirmed by Jud_1:18:31, "All the time that the house of God in Shiloh existed" (Authorized Version is misleading), and Jud_1:19:18, where the Levite travelling to Mount Ephraim says, "I am going to the house of Jehovah." It is no doubt strange at first sight that so little information is given us as to this central sanctuary of the true religion; but are there not other omissions (especially in the history of the judges), which are equally strange as long as we look upon the Old Testament as primarily a historical document? We do know something, however, and more than is generally suspected; for when the right translation is restored Jud_1:18:31, it follows, from a comparison of this and the preceding verse, that the temple of Shiloh was destroyed simultaneously with the captivity of the northern tribes. The impression produced by this emphatic announcement of Jeremiah is revealed to us by a later passage in his book. (see Jer 26)
Vers. 12-16. Warning voices.
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I SUCH VOICES ARE PERPETUALLY HEARD. The prophet speaks of three such here.
1. Shiloh (Ver. 12).
2. The Lord himself (Ver. 13).
3. Ephraim (Ver. 15).
II And THEY TELL EVER THE SAME TRUTHS.
1. The Divine anger against sin (Ver. 12).
2. The utter uselessness of their "trust in lying words" to escape that auger (Ver. 14).
3. The absolute need of repentance.
III And MEET, ALL TOO OFTEN, WITH THE SAME RECEPTION. They were rejected. "Ye heard not; and I called you," etc. (Ver. 13).
IV But are VINDICATED IN LIKE AWFUL MANNER.
1. By their sin becoming ineradicable, so that they are given over to a reprobate mind, and are "guilty of an eternal sin". (cf. Mar_3:29) Hence (Ver. 16) the prophet is forbidden to pray for them. (cf. 1Jn_5:16)
2. By the judgment of God falling upon them (Ver. 15). CONCLUSION.
a. Watch and pray against unbelief in these warnings.
b. Take heed to them yourselves.
c. Hold them up to others.
3. Bless God for them. C.
Vers. 12-14. Shiloh, or the God-forsaken shrine.
It is to many minds impossible to avoid a feeling of deep sadness when we look upon the ruins, noble even in their desolation, of some former beautiful and august sanctuary of God. There are many such scattered over this and other lands: Tintern, Furness, Melrose, etc. Our imagination pictures them when in the zenith of their glory, with their many stately towers and tapering spires, their long-drawn aisles and lofty roofs, the glorious vista of high-arched nave and choir and glittering sanctuaries stretching away further still in the dim distance, the gleaming altars, the magnificent service, the vast throng of kneeling worshippers, the soul-enchanting music, and the murmur of myriad prayers. The memories of saintly men and women who have worshipped and are buried there crowd upon the mind, and we wistfully wonder where and why that consecrated genius has flown which had power to rear for God shrines so glorious as those whose ruins we are beholding must once have been. It is sad to think of such glory and beauty as these forsaken shrines once had gone forever. The Jews who came back from the Captivity wept when they thought of the glory of the ancient temple, which they never more might see. But if the departure of material glory may cause sadness to the mind, how much more the departure of that which is spiritual! If we mourn that we shall no more have the presence of some fair temple of the Lord, how much more when we lose the Lord of the temple! And it is such sadder loss that Shiloh, the God-forsaken shrine, has to tell of. And we observe upon it that
I THERE ARE FEW MORE MOURNFUL HISTORIES THAN THAT OF SHILOH. Shiloh was one of the earliest and most sacred of the Hebrew sanctuaries. There for full three hundred years the ark of God remained and the priests of the Lord ministered. As soon as the promised land was mainly subdued, Joshua brought the ark of God from Gilgal, near the Jordan, to Shiloh. The place was probably chosen for its seclusion and hence its safety, it being off the great highways of the land. Bethel, which otherwise might have been chosen as especially sacred, was yet in the hands of the Canaanites. Hence Shiloh, in the territory of the powerful tribe of Ephraim, and of their great ancestor Joseph, a tribe which more and more had been coming to the front amongst their brethren, was chosen for the sanctuary of the ark of God. There, as afterwards at Jerusalem, "the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord." What glad festivals; what gracious deliverances; what Divine responses to their inquiring of the Lord; what holy memories of thronging worshippers, of accepted sacrifices, of saintly priests and prophets who had dwelt there, were all associated with that shrine at Shiloh! There Eli ministered, and Hannah came to present her offerings, to pour out her prayers and to pay her vows. There she brought Samuel, and there the Lord called him to his high service as he ministered before him. All their truest and noblest life drew its inspiration from the God who had placed his Name there, and whom there they went to worship. But at length, under the rule of Eli, that well-meaning but weak-willed high priest, priesthood and people alike sank down into a state of moral and religious degradation from which Eli was powerless to deliver them. His own sons led the way in abominable wickedness, and became sons of Belial even beyond others. So low had they fallen, that they had come to regard the ark of God as a kind of fetish, and hence they carried it down to battle against the Philistines, thinking thereby to certainly win the day. But the ark of God was taken, its besotted priests slain, and Eli, hearing the dreadful tidings suddenly, died, a worn-out and broken-hearted old man. From that hour, as the seventy-eighth psalm tells, "God forsook Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; ... he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim." And it was all because, as the same psalm tells, Israel "tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies: but turned back, and dealt deceitfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images." Wherefore "he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel." And now, ages after, Jeremiah bids the people of his day go to Shiloh, and see what God did to it for the wickedness of the people. They might trace out, perhaps, the foundations of her ancient walls, and discover the vestiges of the former sanctuary; but now no altar bore the sacred fire, the smoke of no sacrifice ascended, no priest ministered, no God gave answer, no song of the Lord went up; the whole place was probably ravaged and overthrown by the enemies of Israel, who had carried off their great treasure, the ark of God. Well might the wife of Phinehas, in the hour of her agony, call her new-born, but now fatherless, and soon to be altogether her orphan, child, Ichabod, for indeed the glory had departed, the ark of God was taken, and the Lord had forsaken Shiloh. Oh, the sorrow, the shame, the unavailing remorse which would overwhelm the faithless priesthood and the godless people, when they beheld that God-abandoned shrine, and remembered wherefore this calamity had come upon them! Yes, this story is a sad one; but it is most salutary also, and therefore we may well heed the word of the Lord which says to us, ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my Name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel." But we observe
II THAT SHILOH HAS MANY PARALLELS. Shiloh is not the only God-forsaken shrine of which the Bible tells or of which we have had knowledge. No; there are all too many like it. There was the temple of the Lord in Jeremiah"s time. All its splendor, its solemn ritual, its lavish sacrifices, its ever-burning altar fire, could not save it. The stern sentence went forth against it, and it was burnt with fire and laid in ashes on the ground. There was the temple which was afterwards built on the return from Captivity, and which was so beautiful and adorned in the time of our Lord; concerning that, too, Jesus said, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate!" And it was the same with many Churches, those "spiritual houses" which, after our Lord"s time and in his Name, were reared for a habitation of God through the Spirit. The Christian Church at Jerusalem. The honor of being the mother Church of Christendom was taken from her and transferred to Antioch, and ultimately it was overwhelmed altogether in the destruction that came on the city in which it was gathered. And there were the Churches of Asia; their "candlestick was removed out of its place," as the Lord warned them would be the case, and now secular historians bear their testimony to the truth of that warning word. Gibbon tells how "in the loss of Ephesus the Christians deplored the fall of the first angel, the extinction of the first candlestick of the Revelation; the desolation is complete; and the Temple of Diana or the Church of Mary will equally elude the search of the curious traveler. The circus and the three stately theatres of Laodicea are now peopled with wolves and foxes. Sardis is reduced to a miserable village; the god of Mahomet, without a rival or a son, is invoked in the mosques of Thyatira and Pergamos; and the populousness of Smyrna is supported by the foreign trade of Franks and Armenians. Philadelphia alone has been saved by prophecy or courage. At a distance from the sea, encompassed on all sides by the Turks, her valiant citizens defended their religion and freedom above four score years; and at length capitulated with the proudest of the Ottomans. Among the Greek colonies and Churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect; a column in a scene of ruins." They have thus all disappeared, as Christian Churches almost utterly; they are as Shiloh and Jerusalem their houses in which they worshipped God left unto them desolate. And there have been many other Churches since, and some nearer our own time and in our own land. And many still, perhaps, need sorely the admonitory counsel to go to Shiloh, and see what the Lord has done there. But not in material edifices alone, nor even in those gathered communities to which more properly the name of Churches belongs, need we go to find instances of God-forsaken shrines. For inasmuch as we all are "temples of the Holy Ghost," so St. Paul tells us, and our own experience confirms his word, it is possible to find only too many illustrations of this same mournful fact. Take the ever-memorable example and warning of the fallen apostle Judas. What a shrine of the Holy Ghost he once was! How richly gifted! how gloriously endowed! He came with the rest, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us through thy Name." He with the rest" ate and drank in Christ"s presence, and in his Name did many wonderful works." He enjoyed the fellowship of Christ, and by him was sent forth in his Name. But behold him giving place to the devil, yielding his soul up to the demon of covetousness and worldly ambition, and then acting as the guide to them who arrested the Lord, betraying the Son of man with a kiss, and then, when too late he awoke to see the madness and horror of what he had done, rushing forth to seek and find a suicide"s grave in the Aceldama, "the field of blood," purchased by the price of his traitorous gain. And Ananias and Sapphira and Demas and yet others, what are they all but deplorable instances and names of these God-forsaken shrines? And have we not known such? Men who prayed, and worshipped, and taught, and preached, and. then, having denied the Lord who bought them, fell away, and found henceforth nothing but "a fearful looking for of judgment" and of the "fiery indignation" of God destined to be poured out on all such as they. Ah! it is a sight which might well make angels weep, and which drew forth the bitter tears of the Son of God himself.
III AND IN EVERY CASE THE CAUSE OF THIS FORSAKING OF THEM BY GOD WAS ONE AND THE SAME. It was always "wickedness." Not any outward circumstance, not any of those secondary causes which we are so apt to regard as the real cause. But this which these verses so plainly declare. It was so even in those ruined edifices to which we referred at the beginning of this homily. History will tell you how gross immorality and horrible corruption found a too-ready home in those fair fabrics which had been reared for far other purposes and with far other design. But "wickedness" having made them its haunt and home, the people, roused to fierce wrath, rose up and tore them down, and their gray, ivy-clad stones utter forth to this day such message as that in our text. And in all those other instances to which we have pointed, whether temples made with hands, whether Churches or individual men, it has ever been sin, sin, which has wrought all this evil. And in that every-day fact of bodily death We have the standing type of this terrible truth, "The wages of sin is death." That body once so bright, so full of energy, so lit up with intelligence and love, so possessed too, it may have been, with the Spirit of God, so fall so lovely to look upon when life dwelt in it, now in death, what is it but a God-forsaken shrine, and hence doomed to return, "earth to earth, dust to dust, and ashes to ashes?" We are so accustomed to death that this its solemn lesson we are ever forgetting or putting out of sight.
IV BUT ALL THESE SHILOHS HAVE A MESSAGE FROM GOD UNTO US, ACCORDING TO WHAT WE ARE. We every one of us are either examples of these forsaken ones, or becoming so, or, blessed be God, still habitations for.him through the Spirit. Now, if we be already forsaken of God, then if this fact be as surely it should be, and as we trust it is a matter of sore distress to us, then there is a gracious word to us if we be willing to hear it. All of us were once "temples of God." We can look back to the time when none of the unclean spirits that now haunt and harm us so terribly had any home in our souls; when thoughts were pure, hands undefiled, and our lips unpolluted with evil. Our fathers and mothers brought us to be baptized, or in other ways recognized the blessed truth that we belonged to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And in our childhood days we, as all children are, were members of the kingdom of heaven. But what are we now? O God, it is dreadful to think of what some are now] The desolate ruins of once glorious Churches; the lifeless bodies that we carry to the grave are but faint types of what some of these Godforsaken ones have become. And can it be that any are willing to continue so, and thus make it inevitable that God should sweep you away into the hell of all corruption? Oh no; you cannot be willing that that should be. Well, then, if you tremble at such doom, as well you may, listen: God will re-enter his shrine, and make you once again his temples. Yes, he will do that. He will "restore your souls and lead you in," etc. But first, as when Hezekiah cleansed the temple, you must cast out the manifold uncleanness that is there. There must be a thorough purging, a real repentance. God will not come back to a sin-inhabited and evil-loving soul. You must thoroughly amend your ways." This is indispensable. See how in this chapter and throughout his Word God insists upon this. And then, as the high priest was wont to do, come bearing the blood of atonement into the presence of God; come, that is, pleading the Name of Jesus for acceptance and pardon and restoration, and you shall behold, in the shrine of your soul, the cloud of glory once again shining there and the presence of God again manifested there. Thus come day by day, and you shall find how Christ saves "to the uttermost all that," etc. But are you of those whom God is now forsaking? Is the dread process of crowding out God by the bringing into the shrine of your heart those many things God hates and with which he will not abide, going on in you? Ah! that may be so. As others, so you were once the temple of the Holy Ghost, and perhaps there came a day when more than ever you welcomed him as your Ruler, because he had taken of the things of Christ and had shown them unto you. You made your open confession and avowal of your desire to be ruled and governed by him; you pledged yourself by his help to be Christ"s faithful servant always. And for a time you were so: you were careful, conscientious; you remembered your Lord"s word, "Watch and pray;" you readily abandoned all that stood between you and the doing of his will; you walked with God. But a change has come over you. One by one you received into your heart likings, and desires, and beliefs, and dispositions which were contrary to the Spirit of Christ. These suggestions you listened to, their counsels you obeyed. And so the love of the world fastened on you, propensities and habits which war against the soul took hold of you, and now you, whose heart was once a shrine of God, will, if the sad process I have spoken of goes on much longer, be forsaken of him altogether. Oh that the consideration of the doom of Shiloh may fill us with a holy fear, and lead us to such prayer as that which the well-known verse expresses!Search me, O Lord, and try my heart, For thou that heart canst see, And turn each cursed idol out That dares to rival thee.
But some of you are to be congratulated that you are still temples of God, still shrines of the Holy Ghost. Well, then, cherish his presence as the greatest joy of your life. For "he is your life." You would not invite to meet and abide with a dear and honored earthly friend those with whom you well knew he had no sympathy nor they with him, who were distasteful and hostile to him. You would not treat an earthly friend so. Be careful, then, not so to treat the Spirit of God, who now dwells within you. Be full of solicitude not to grieve him, yet more to do naught that would drive him from you. "Walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." So shall God dwell in you and you in God, and that more and more to your ever-increasing strength and purity and joy. Thus though, as we have now done, you may go in devout thought to Shiloh, and behold what God has done there, yet you shall be able with thankful joy to know that never, never shall you be as that God-forsaken shrine. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv13, 16, 17, 18, 24, 27 I spake unto you, rising up early.
Jer_7:13
I spake unto you, rising up early.
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Gods call to sinners
I. A gracious call. We are utterly undeserving of it. Though we are transgressors, guilty, corrupt, depraved,--yet God calls upon us--to escape--to live--to be saved--to turn unto Him, and be forever blest and happy.
II. An affectionate call. The call of a merciful Creator who hath no pleasure in the death and destruction of His fallen creatures: and would rather they should repent and live; the call of a tender Father, who looks with compassion upon the prodigal wanderer, invites and urges him to abandon his wretchedness and want, and come back to his home of plenty, and his Fathers bosom again, and assures him of a joyous welcome if he will; the call of a Friend--that Friend that sticketh closer than a brother--even of Jesus our best friend, our elder brother.
III. A varied call. From every part of the outspread volume of creation, there issues a voice calling upon us, to know, fear, adore, worship, the great Creator. And as well as by His works, we are called upon by His ways--by His dealings with the children of men. The misfortunes and calamities that occur to others; and the bereavements, afflictions, and trials that happen to ourselves--the constant experience we have of the uncertainty of our present existence, and of the instability of all earthly good, by these and many similar things we are addressed and admonished to seek a more enduring substance, a more incorruptible and unfading inheritance. From every page, also, of the book of God there proceedeth a call, exhorting us to depart from iniquity, and follow after holiness,--to supplicate for pardoning mercy and for assisting grace.
IV. An oft-repeated--a reiterated call. We are not appealed to once or twice, and then abandoned to our folly. Forbearance is exercised towards us from year to year; line is given upon line, and precept upon precept,--here a little and there a little; so that we may have the last possible opportunity of being saved, and may not be left in despair until the last moment of the day of grace hath expired, and our souls be beyond the region of impression and awakening.
V. An earnest call. Men may be light and trifling. God is always serious--always in earnest. He is in earnest in what He does, and in what He speaks. All the appeals and persuasions by which the Almighty follows you, as children hastening madly on to destruction, are embodied in the very terms, and wear the very air of the utmost earnestness; yea, so serious and earnest are they, that, when it is considered from whom they come, and to what they relate, the wonder is, that men are not at once startled by them, and arrested in their downward course, and constrained to hasten to the only safe Refuge from the gathering and impending storm.
VI. An urgent call. Its reference is to the present: it demands immediate attention and instant compliance. (C. Cook.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv22, 33 nor commanded
nor commanded
Cf. (See Scofield "Exo 20:4"), note 2, the threefold giving of the law. The command concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices was not given to the people till they had broken the decalogue, the law of obedience.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv16, 19 The Idolatry and Disobedience of the Jews
The Idolatry and Disobedience of the Jews
v. 16. Therefore pray not thou for this people, the Lord expressly forbidding the prophet to make intercession for the reprobate nation, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me; for I will not hear thee. As strong as the prayers of the righteous are in holding back the wrath of God, the time will come when they are unavailing, due to the hardness of men’s hearts, which provokes the punishment of the Lord.
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v. 17. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The wickedness which Jeremiah was obliged to witness wherever he looked was bound to convince him that the course of the Lord was right, that He was fully justified in rejecting all prayers made in behalf of the apostate Jews. The extent of their idolatry is now described.
v. 18. The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven, the female goddess Ashtoreth, or Astarte, the counterpart of the male idol Baal, in whose honor the cakes, made of honey, fine flour, and other ingredients, bore a round, flat surface to resemble the disk of the moon, and to pour out drink-offerings, the libations made as sacrifices, unto other gods that they may provoke Me to anger, the expression implying design on their part, the deliberate intention to arouse His wrath.
v. 19. Do they provoke Me to anger? saith the Lord. Do they truly believe that they can aggrieve Him by such acts? Will they reduce the bliss which He enjoys? Do they not provoke themselves, bringing grief and sorrow upon their own heads, to the confusion of their own, faces? That is ever the consequence of sin: the perfect blessedness of God is not reduced by man’s transgression, but his own peace of mind is disturbed, and he loads grief and sorrow upon himself.
v. 20. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Jehovah, the All-powerful: Behold, Mine anger and My fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon Jerusalem, as the center of His nation and from there over the entire land, upon man, and upon beast, on the cattle owned by them, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground, that resulting from its tilling by the hand of man; and it, the fury of the Lord, shall burn and shall not be quenched, the very irrational and inanimate creation being included in the Lord’s punishment, in order to strike terror to the heart of men.
v. 21. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, still the Lord of those who are truly His Israel, His people, but who here addresses the apostate nation: Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, the former, which were required to be wholly burned, being mingled with the latter, of which only parts were placed on the altar of burnt offerings, and eat flesh. It is a cry of disgust: So far as I am concerned, you may treat the one the same as the other; they are both equally loathsome to Me, since I despise your entire worship.
v. 22. For I spake not unto your fathers nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices, it was not His object to establish a mere external worship without true piety of the heart,
v. 23. but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people, that being the fundamental principle upon which the entire relation between God and Israel was built up, and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well unto you. All the Jewish rites and ceremonies presupposed faith and obedience on the part of the people. God required no sacrifice, unless it was the outgrowth of obedience grounded in faith. The actual claims of the Moral Law always preceded the ordinances pertaining to the outward form of worship. Cf 1Sa 15:22.
v. 24. But they hearkened not, they ignored the Lord and His precepts entirely, nor inclined their ear, they did not even attempt to listen, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination, the stubbornness, of their evil heart and went backward and not forward, literally, "they were to the back and not to the face," that is, they turned their backs to the Lord.
v. 25. Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, beginning with Moses, the servant of Jehovah, I have even sent unto you all My servants, the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them, with unremitting diligence and eager kindliness;
v. 26. yet they hearkened not unto Me nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck, like a stubborn ox under the yoke, Deu 31:27; they did worse than their fathers, the later generations, particularly that now addressed, being much farther removed from the true service of Jehovah than the generation of the Exodus.
v. 27. Therefore thou shall speak all these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee, Jeremiah would have as little success as the other prophets had had; thou shall also call unto them, but they will not answer thee, being utterly indifferent to the Word of the Lord.
v. 28. But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord, their God, being therefore classed with the Gentile nations, nor receiveth correction, hardened to the point that all rebukes make no impression upon them; truth is perished, all reliability, all fidelity is lost, and is cut off from their mouth. There is a fine bit of sarcasm in this phrase, for the Jews confessed the Lord with their mouths only, and not with their hearts. The use of God’s name for the purpose of mouth-worship only is a flagrant offense against the Second Commandment and is bound to bring down the wrath of God upon the offenders.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 16, 19, 21, 24, 27, 29, 31, 33 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Yahweh continues giving Jeremiah his message to the people of Judah.
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General Information:
The words "you" and "your" in these verses refer to the people of Judah.
my place that was in Shiloh, where I allowed my name to stay there in the beginning
Here "where I allowed my name to stay" is an idiom that means this was a place where Yahweh was worshiped. AT: "the place in Shiloh where I first allowed my people to worship me" (See: Idiom)
on account of your doing all of these practices
"because you were doing all these things"
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
time and time again
This hendiadys is also an idiom that means something is done many times. AT: "repeatedly" or "persistently" (See: Hendiadys and Idiom)
this house that is called by my name
This is a metonym for Yahweh's temple. It can be expressed in active form. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 7:10. AT: "this house that belongs to me" or "this temple where you worship me" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)
translationWords
Shiloh
evil
people of God
house
send
brother
descend
Ephraim
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 24, 27, 30 7:12-15 God had allowed the Philistines to capture the…
7:12-15 God had allowed the Philistines to capture the Ark of the Covenant and destroy the Tabernacle at Shiloh when the people tried to use the Ark as a magical talisman (1 Sam 4:1-11). In the same way, he would allow the Babylonians to destroy the Temple.
7:12 Shiloh was a hill located halfway between Shechem and Jerusalem. The Tabernacle had been set up there after the conquest of Canaan led by Joshua (Josh 18:1, 6-19; Judg 18:31). It remained the center of worship for the tribes of Israel until Shiloh was destroyed about 1045 BC by the Philistine army (see Jer 26:6; Ps 78:60).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.