Jeremiah 7:30,31 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

They have set up their abominations, &c. They have set up images and altars for idolatrous worship even in my temple, and the courts near it. This seems to be spoken of what was done in the times of Manasseh, or Amon, 2Ki 21:4; 2 Kings 21:7; 2 Chronicles 33:4. And they have built the high places of Tophet To burn their sons and their daughters in the fire. Concerning this unnatural and cruel custom of burning their children, by way of sacrifice to Moloch, which was derived from the Canaanites, see notes on Leviticus 18:21; 2 Kings 23:10; Isaiah 30:33. Which I commanded them not But, on the contrary, expressed the greatest detestation of it, and forbade it under the severest penalties: see Leviticus 20:1-5. The words are spoken by the figure called meiosis, by which a great deal less is expressed than is implied; a way of speaking frequent in Scripture. Thus, Deuteronomy 17:3, God, speaking of the worship of the host of heaven, adds, Which I have not commanded, meaning, which I expressly forbade. So God, reproving the idolatry of the Jews, says, Isaiah 65:12, They choose things wherein I delighted not, that is, which I utterly abhorred. And Jeremiah (Jer 2:8) calls idols, things that do not profit, meaning, that their worship was not only insignificant, but likewise extremely wicked and destructive. Thus St. Paul expresses the vilest sins, by calling them things which are not convenient, Romans 1:28.