Jeremiah 6:20 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Bible Comments

To what purpose incense from Sheba? Sheba was a part of Arabia Felix, and famous for its spices and perfumes, Isaiah 9:6. Here the prophet reproves the hypocrisy of the Jews, who sought to cover their inward corruption by the external shows of religion; which the prophets often declare to be of no value, when they do not proceed from a devout mind. See Jeremiah 7:21-22; Isaiah 1:11. And the sweet cane from a far country Respecting which, see on Isaiah 43:24. A far country seems equivalent with Sheba before mentioned, whose queen is said, Matthew 12:42, to have come from the uttermost parts of the earth, namely, from the southern extremity of the peninsula of Arabia, which, with respect to Judea, was a far country, and at the extreme parts of the earth, or bordering upon the ocean on the south.

Jeremiah 6:20

20 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.