Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 7:11

"Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 7:11 (ASV)

A den of robbers. The words had a special force in a country like Palestine, where the limestone rocks presented many caves, which, like that of Adullam (1 Samuel 22:1–2), were the refuge of outlaws and robbers. Those who now flocked to the courts of the Temple, including even priests and prophets, were essentially robbers, finding shelter there and soothing their consciences by their worship, much as bandits in Italy do by their devotions at the shrine of a favorite Madonna. It had no higher sanctity for them than “a den of robbers.” The word for “robber” implies the more violent form of lawless plunder.

These words are memorable, as they reappeared in our Lord’s rebuke of the money-changers and traffickers in the Temple (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46). Taken together with the reference at the Last Supper to the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31, these words also suggest that our Lord was leading His disciples to see the prophet’s work as a foreshadowing of His own relation to the evils of His time. Indeed, it was more than a foreshadowing, pointing to the great remedy He was to work out for them.