Jeremiah 7:23

23 But I did command them to obey me, so that I would be their God and they would be my people. And I told them to live the way I had commanded them, so that things would go well for them.

Jeremiah 7:23 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 7:23

But this thing commanded I them, saying
This was the sum and substance of what was then commanded, even obedience to the moral law; this was the main and principal thing enjoined, and to which the promise was annexed: obey my voice:
the word of the Lord, his commands, the precepts of the decalogue; obedience to which was preferable to the sacrifices of the ceremonial law; see ( 1 Samuel 15:22 ) , wherefore it follows: and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people;
the meaning is, that while they were obedient to him, he would protect them from their enemies, and continue them in their privileges and blessings, which he had bestowed upon them as his peculiar people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you;
not only in some of them, but in all of them; not merely in the observance of legal sacrifices, but chiefly in the performance of moral actions; even in all the duties of religion, in whatsoever is required in the law, respecting God or man: that it may be well unto you;
that they might continue in the land which was given them for an inheritance, and enjoy all the blessings promised to their obedience.

Jeremiah 7:23 In-Context

21 "My people, some sacrifices you burn completely on the altar, and some you are permitted to eat. But what I, the Lord, say is that you might as well eat them all.

22 I gave your ancestors no commands about burnt offerings or any other kinds of sacrifices when I brought them out of Egypt.

23 But I did command them to obey me, so that I would be their God and they would be my people. And I told them to live the way I had commanded them, so that things would go well for them.

24 But they did not obey or pay any attention. Instead, they did whatever their stubborn and evil hearts told them to do, and they became worse instead of better.

25 From the day that your ancestors came out of Egypt until this very day I have kept on sending to you my servants, the prophets.