Jeremiah 7

18. children . . . fathers . . . women--Not merely isolated individuals practised idolatry; young and old, men and women, and whole families, contributed their joint efforts to promote it. Oh, that there were the same zeal for the worship of God as there is for error ( Jeremiah 44:17 , 19:19:13 )!
cakes . . . queen of heaven--Cakes were made of honey, fine flour, &c., in a round flat shape to resemble the disc of the moon, to which they were offered. Others read as Margin, "the frame of heaven," that is, the planets generally; so the Septuagint here; but elsewhere the Septuagint translates, "queen of heaven." The Phoenicians called the moon Ashtoreth or Astarte: the wife of Baal or Moloch, the king of heaven. The male and female pair of deities symbolized the generative powers of nature; hence arose the introduction of prostitution in the worship. The Babylonians worshipped Ashtoreth as Mylitta, that is, generative. Our Monday, or Moon-day, indicates the former prevalence of moon worship
that they may provoke me--implying design: in worshipping strange gods they seemed as if purposely to provoke Jehovah.

19. Is it I that they provoke to anger? Is it not themselves? ( Deuteronomy 32:16 Deuteronomy 32:21 , Job 35:6 Job 35:8 , Proverbs 8:36 ).

20. beast . . . trees . . . ground--Why doth God vent His fury on these? On account of man, for whom these were created, that the sad spectacle may strike terror into him ( Romans 8:20-22 ).

21. Put . . . burnt offerings unto . . . sacrifices . . . eat flesh--Add the former (which the law required to be wholly burnt) to the latter (which were burnt only in part), and "eat flesh" even off the holocausts or burnt offerings. As far as I am concerned, saith Jehovah, you may do with one and the other alike. I will have neither ( Isaiah 1:11 , Hosea 8:13 , Amos 5:21 Amos 5:22 ).

22. Not contradicting the divine obligation of the legal sacrifices. But, "I did not require sacrifices, unless combined with moral obedience" ( Psalms 50:8 , Psalms 51:16 Psalms 51:17 ). The superior claim of the moral above the positive precepts of the law was marked by the ten commandments having been delivered first, and by the two tables of stone being deposited alone in the ark ( Deuteronomy 5:6 ). The negative in Hebrew often supplies the want of the comparative: not excluding the thing denied, but only implying the prior claim of the thing set in opposition to it ( Hosea 6:6 ). "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice" ( 1 Samuel 15:22 ). Love to God is the supreme end, external observances only means towards that end. "The mere sacrifice was not so much what I commanded, as the sincere submission to My will gives to the sacrifice all its virtue" [MAGEE, Atonement, Note 57].

23. ( Exodus 15:26 , 19:5 ).

24. hearkened not--They did not give even a partial hearing to Me ( Psalms 81:11 Psalms 81:12 ).
imagination--rather, as Margin, "the stubbornness"
backward, &c.--( Jeremiah 2:27 , 32:33 , Hosea 4:16 ).

25. rising . . . early--( Jeremiah 7:13 ).

26. hardened . . . neck--( Deuteronomy 31:27 , Isaiah 48:4 , Acts 7:51 ).
worse than their fathers--( Jeremiah 16:12 ). In Jeremiah 7:22 He had said, "your fathers"; here He says, "their fathers"; the change to the third person marks growing alienation from them. He no longer addresses themselves, as it would be a waste of words in the case of such hardened rebels.

27. Therefore--rather, "Though thou speak . . . yet they will not hearken" [MAURER], ( Ezekiel 2:7 ), a trial to the prophet's faith; though he knew his warnings would be unheeded, still he was to give them in obedience to God.

28. unto them--that is, in reference to them.
a nation--The word usually applied to the Gentile nations is here applied to the Jews, as being east off and classed by God among the Gentiles.
nor receiveth correction--( Jeremiah 5:3 ).
truth . . . perished--( Jeremiah 9:3 ).

29. Jeremiah addresses Jerusalem under the figure of a woman, who, in grief for her lost children, deprives her head of its chief ornament and goes up to the hills to weep ( Judges 11:37 Judges 11:38 , Isaiah 15:2 ).
hair--flowing locks, like those of a Nazarite.
high places--The scene of her idolatries is to be the scene of her mourning ( Jeremiah 3:21 ).
generation of his wrath--the generation with which He is wroth. So Isaiah 10:6 ; "the people of My wrath."

30. set their abominations in the house--( Jeremiah 32:34 , 2 Kings 21:4 2 Kings 21:7 , 23:4 , Ezekiel 8:5-14 ).

31. high places of Tophet--the altars [HORSLEY] of Tophet; erected to Moloch, on the heights along the south of the valley facing Zion.
burn . . . sons--( Psalms 106:38 ).
commanded . . . not--put for, "I forbade expressly" ( Deuteronomy 17:3 , 12:31 ).

32. valley of slaughter--so named because of the great slaughter of the Jews about to take place at Jerusalem: a just retribution of their sin in slaying their children to Moloch in Tophet.
no place--no room, namely, to bury in, so many shall be those slain by the Chaldeans ( Jeremiah 19:11 , Ezekiel 6:5 ).

33. fray--scare or frighten ( Deuteronomy 28:26 ). Typical of the last great battle between the Lord's host and the apostasy ( Revelation 19:17 Revelation 19:18 Revelation 19:21 ).

34. Referring to the joyous songs and music with which the bride and bridegroom were escorted in the procession to the home of the latter from that of the former; a custom still prevalent in the East ( Jeremiah 16:9 , Isaiah 24:7 Isaiah 24:8 , Revelation 18:23 ).