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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 7:1 - 7:7
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God's Requirement And Promise
v. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, the fact that he received his messages by inspiration of God being brought out time and again, saying,
v. 2. Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, very likely that which led from the outer court to the Court of Israel, and proclaim there this word, where the worshiping multitudes from the entire country might hear him, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. The address seems to indicate that the sermon here recorded was held at one of the great festivals of the Jews, when great throngs visited the capital and the Temple.
v. 3. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, He whose power and mercy the children of Israel had so often experienced. Amend your ways and your doings, their habits of living and the individual acts of their life, and I will cause you to dwell in this place, permitting them to continue their residence in Jerusalem, the seat of the Lord's Temple.
v. 4. Trust ye not in lying words, in those words of falsehood which were so often dinned in their ears by their wicked leaders, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, are these! the various buildings making up the entire Temple. The repetition of the proud cry is intended to picture the sublime self-assurance of the people under the leadership of the false prophets.
v. 5. For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings, making a decided stand for a behavior in complete accordance with the holy will of God; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, so that justice is exercised in all conditions of life, toward all men;
v. 6. if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, the three points which were emphasized time and again in the Law of God, and shed not innocent blood in this place, throughout Jerusalem and Judah, neither walk after other gods to your hurt, idolatry invariably challenging the punishment of the Lord, provoking Him to righteous anger:
v. 7. then will I cause you to dwell in this place, permitting them to continue as inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah, in the land that I gave your fathers, forever and ever, for a long period of uninterrupted possession. The Lord is eager to show His kindness and mercy to all those who will hearken to Him; His blessings, also in temporal goods, are upon those that fear Him.