YHWH Explains To Jeremiah Why He Sees His People As Having Gone Beyond What Was Acceptable, And What The Consequences Must Inevitably Be, Because They Have Constantly Refused To Hear His Voice (Jeremiah 7:16-28).
Jeremiah was called on no longer to pray for the people of Judah because there was no longer any possibility that such a prayer would be heard (compare Jeremiah 14:11; and note Jeremiah 18:19-23). And the reason for that was because of their total addiction to idolatrous worship, including that of ‘the Queen of Heaven' (compare Jeremiah 44:17). This has been identified by some in terms of Ashtoreth/Ishtar/Astarte although it is nowhere said so. However, numerous clay plaques depicting naked female images have been discovered in Palestine from the bronze and iron ages, and an Egyptian stele at Bethshean speaks of Anath, Baal's sister, as the Queen of Heaven. The consequence of all this was that they had brought on themselves total ‘confusion'. That indeed was why YHWH's anger was about to be poured out on the whole land, including man, animals, trees and crops in a way which could not be prevented (‘it will not be quenched').
For at the very root of the problem was the fact that they had refused to hear Him to obey Him or to walk in His ways. It was such activity that had always been His first priority. Thus their offerings and sacrifices, which had always been of secondary importance, were in vain. And this situation had been exacerbated even more by the fact that He had sent to them His servants the prophets, to whom also they had refused to listen, just as they would now not listen to Jeremiah. That is why they are to be branded as the people who would not listen to the voice of YHWH their God, truth having been cut off from their mouths.
Jeremiah Is Not Even To Pray For ‘This People' Because Of The Terrible Things That They Are Doing.
“Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them, nor make intercession to me, for I will not hear you.”
In a threefold manner YHWH now called on Jeremiah no longer to pray for the people of Judah because He simply would not listen to him. The end had been reached and mercy was no longer available. ‘Do not pray -- nor lift up cry or prayer -- nor make intercession'. Note the advancement in intensity, with intercession involving personal involvement. It was an emphatic statement for which there was to be no exception. It is a reminder to us that although God is continually longsuffering, there regularly comes a time when, because of people's intransigence, He finally brings things to a conclusion, in order to begin again. It happened for the people in the time of Noah, with the Flood (Genesis 6:7). It happened for the Canaanites when, after waiting for four hundred years for them to repent (Genesis 15:16), He finally sent in the Israelites to destroy them. It had happened for Israel when it had continually refused to listen to His prophets, so that Samaria had been destroyed and they had at last been exiled. Now it had happened to Judah, who could thus only await their certain end.
“Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?”
God recognised the shock that this strange request not to pray for the people must have been to Jeremiah and so He makes clear His reasons, asking him to consider what he can see with his own eyes, the activities of the people in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. The whole land is involved.
“The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to other gods, so that they may provoke me to anger.”
All were involved. The children gather the wood, the fathers kindle the fire, the women knead the dough. All are concerned in making cakes for the Queen of Heaven, as well as pouring out drink-offerings to other gods, thus provoking Him to anger. While the formal worship of YHWH continued in the Temple, and they paid lip service to it, it was these other gods and goddesses, accompanied by their depraved practises, who took all of the people's attention and affection, and because the celebrations were carried out indoors they had no doubt escaped Josiah's attempts at reformation. They could no longer blatantly offer blood sacrifices to such gods, but cake-offerings and drink-offerings were a different matter
While this is the first mention of the Queen of Heaven individually (compare also Jeremiah 44:17-25), worship of the queen of heaven may well have been prominent in Israel in the days of Amos (consider Amos 5:26 where mention is made of ‘the star god' - there was no Hebrew word for goddess), and it may have been encouraged in Judah by Manasseh, through the worship of ‘the host of Heaven' (2 Kings 21:3).
Some, however, would repoint malkat (queen) as meleket, signifying ‘heavenly handiwork', thus having more in mind ‘the host of Heaven' (2 Kings 21:3), the very worship of the stars which Josiah had sought to quell (2 Kings 23:5).
But What They Are Doing Will Rebound On Themselves.
“Do they provoke me to anger?” says YHWH, “is it not themselves (who were being provoked), to the confusion of their own faces?”
The words in brackets are not in the Hebrew text but are required for the sense. That was the way in which men wrote. YHWH's question was rhetorical. They had certainly succeeded in provoking Him to anger. But what they also needed to recognise was that what they were doing was provoking confusion (shame) to their own faces, bringing shame and ignominy on themselves (compare Jeremiah 3:25, where they had recognised that fact, but had failed to make it good, so that they were without excuse because they were continuing to do it). By their folly they were putting themselves beyond the pale.
“Therefore thus says the Lord YHWH, Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, and on beast, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground, and it will burn, and will not be quenched.”
As a result (‘therefore') their Sovereign Lord YHWH had now determined to pour out His wrath on the whole land, involving all of nature, man, beast, trees and crops. The land itself would burn with unquenched fire, a regular picture of final judgment (compare Isaiah 34:10; Isaiah 66:24), although here not said to be ‘for ever'.
Adding More Offerings Will Be A Waste Of Time For What He Requires is Obedience.
‘Thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt-offerings to your sacrifices, and eat you flesh.”
The people would no doubt have argued that they were still fulfilling their obligations with regard to offerings and sacrifices, and so ‘YHWH of hosts, God of Israel' calls on them sarcastically to add to them as much as they liked, and to partake of them all, even the burnt offerings which were strictly for YHWH only and had to be wholly burned up. The implication is that such restrictions had become irrelevant because He no longer saw them as being offered to Him. And the implication was that it would do them no good, because this was not YHWH's prime requirement.
Note that it is YHWH of hosts Who says this, the One Who not only controls the hosts that will come against them, but is also over all the hosts of Heaven. Before Him the Queen of Heaven was a nonentity, simply another star. (compare ‘He made the stars also' - Genesis 1:16).
“For I did not speak to your fathers, nor commanded 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 will be my people, and walk you in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.' ”
This is not saying that they were unaware of the idea of sacrifices, for not only would that have been unlikely for people who had been living in Egypt, but in fact the offering of sacrifices to YHWH had been one of the reasons for their wanting to leave Egypt, and such sacrifices were their first thought when they rebelled against YHWH and set up the golden calf. Rather it is pointing out that what had been YHWH's stress immediately after they left Egypt was not that they should offer to Him burnt offerings and sacrifices, but that they should listen to His voice, recognise Him as their God and obey His commandments. In other words He was emphasising that obedience was more important than sacrifices.
What they should now recognise was what had been His prime concern on delivering them from Egypt. It had not been to command them to offer offerings and sacrifices (even though that had been the originally idea cited for leaving Egypt, and would have been a priority in other religions), but to command them to hear His voice and obey His commandments. It was this latter that had come immediately on leaving Egypt, whilst the regulations concerning offerings and sacrifices had come some long time after. Thus His original command immediately after the deliverance of the Red Sea had been (as found in Exodus 15:25-26), ‘If you will diligently listen to the voice of YHWH and will give ear to His commandments (compare ‘listen to My voice --- and walk in all the way that I command you'), and will keep all His statutes, (the statute and ordinance given in Jeremiah 7:25 b) I will put on you none of these diseases which I have put on the Egyptians (compare ‘that it may be well with you'), for I am YHWH Who heals you.' Thus He had revealed from the beginning that what He was primarily concerned to receive from them was obedience to His commandments, and that it was that on which their well being would depend. Note also in Jeremiah 7:24-26 the twice repeated ‘inclined their ear', which parallels with ‘give ear to His commandments' in Exodus 15:26. It is thus clear that YHWH's words here in Jeremiah contain clear echoes of Exodus 15:26, whilst it was Exodus 15:26 that was spoken while they were still in the throes of their first love (Jeremiah 2:2).
And these words had then been further confirmed in Exodus 19:5 where He had stated that ‘if they obeyed His voice' and kept His covenant they would be ‘a unique treasure to Him from among all peoples' --- and ‘a holy nation', and that covenant had then been seen as prominently including the ten words (Exodus 20:1-18). Note also that in Deuteronomy 5:33 alone do we find the phrase ‘you shall walk in all the way which YHWH your God has commanded you' (compare ‘walk you in all the way that I command you'), and that that was also spoken in the context of the giving of the ten words.
Thus what YHWH is saying here is that once they had left Egypt, purportedly to offer offerings and sacrifices, it was not that which had been His first concern, but their willingness to listen to Him, obey His commandments and walk in His ways.
“But they did not listen, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backwards, and not forwards.”
And what had followed had been that they had not listened, or inclined their ear, nor had they walked in all the way that He had commanded them. Rather they had walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their own evil hearts and had gone backwards and not forwards. In other words their hearts had gone backwards to Egypt (as witness the moulten calf) and all its connections with idol worship, rather than forwards in obedience to their covenant with YHWH.
He Has Given Them Plenty Of Opportunity To Repent But They Refuse To Listen.
“Since the day that your fathers came forth 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,”
And from the day that their fathers had come out of Egypt right up to this point in time, He had sent to them all His servants the prophets, ‘daily rising up early and sending them'. The idea of ‘rising up early' (compare Jeremiah 7:13) was not intended to be taken literally but as being in order to emphasise the urgency that had been behind His sending them. (He did not literally arise each morning and send a prophet a day). His supply of prophets had been constant, with Jeremiah now being the most recent one to be on their case. That there had been prophets other than Moses before the time of Samuel comes out in Numbers 11:25-29; Judges 4:4; Judges 6:8.
“Yet they did not listen to me, nor did they incline their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers.”
But they had not listened, nor inclined their ear (compare Jeremiah 7:24; Jeremiah 34:14; Jeremiah 44:5; Exodus 15:26). Rather they had stiffened their necks (see Jeremiah 19:15; and compare 2 Kings 17:14), stubbornly refusing to hear and holding back on obedience. Thus they had done even worse than their fathers.
“And 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.”
So while Jeremiah was to speak all these words to them He was not to be surprised when they did not listen and did not respond to his call. For the wording compare Jeremiah 7:13; Jeremiah 35:17; see also Isaiah 65:12; Isaiah 66:4.
They Are Therefore Marked Off As The Nation Which Will Not Listen.
“And you shall say to them, “This is the nation which has not listened to the voice of YHWH their God, nor received instruction. Truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.”
And he was then to declare to them, “This is the nation which has not listened to the voice of YHWH their God, nor received instruction. Truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.” In other words He was to make clear that they had as a whole adamantly failed to listen to the voice of YHWH, and had not received His instruction, the consequence being that as far as they were concerned truth was dead, and all that they spoke was lies.