John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 7

Here the Prophet gives a short account of the sermon in which he severely reproved the people, because his labor had been useless, even though he had sharply and severely reproved them. He says then that he had a command from above to stand at the gate of the Temple. This was indeed usually done by the prophets, but God seems to have intended that this reproof should be heard by all. He says further that he was commanded to address the whole tribe of Judah.

It is therefore probable, and can be easily concluded, that this discourse was delivered on a feast day, when there was the usual assembly of the people. He could not indeed have made this address on other days, for then only the inhabitants of the city frequented the Temple. But on the feast days, they usually came from the neighboring towns and from the whole country to celebrate God’s rightful worship, which had been prescribed in the law. Since Jeremiah then addressed the whole tribe of Judah, we therefore conclude that he spoke not only to the inhabitants of the city but also to the whole tribe, which came together to keep the feast day.

Now the object of his sermon was to exhort them to repent seriously if they wished God to be reconciled to them. So the Prophet shows that God did not regard their sacrifices and external rites, and that this was not the way, as they thought, of appeasing him. For after they had celebrated the feast, everyone returned home, as though they all, after having made an expiation, had God propitious to them. The Prophet shows here that the way of worshipping God was very different: namely, to reform their lives.

Make good, he says, your ways and your doings, then will I dwell in this place. This promise contains an implied contrast, for the Prophet intimates that the people would not long survive unless they sought in another way to pacify God. “I will dwell,” he seems to say, “in this place, when your life is changed.” It then follows, on the other hand, “God will drive you into exile unless you change your life. In vain then do you seek a quiet and happy state through offering your sacrifices. God indeed esteems as nothing this external worship unless it is preceded by inward sincerity, unless integrity of life accompanies your profession.” This is one thing.

Then the Prophet comes closer to them when he says, Trust ye not in words of falsehood. For had this not been expressly said, the Jews might, according to their usual way, have found out some evasion.

They might ask: “Have we then lost all our labor in celebrating our festivals with so much diligence, in leaving our homes and families to present ourselves before God? We have spared no expense; we have brought sacrifices and spent our money. And is all this of no value before God?”

For hypocrites always magnify their worthless displays, as we find in Isaiah chapter 58, where they expostulated with God, as though he were unkind to them: We have from day to day sought the Lord. To this the Lord answered: In vain you seek me from day to day and search for my ways.

Therefore, the Lord disregarded that diligence with which hypocrites sought to render him propitious without real sincerity of heart.

It is for the same purpose that the Prophet now adds, Trust ye not, etc. It is an anticipation to prevent them from making their usual objection: “What then? Has the Temple been built in vain?” But he says, “Is not God worshipped here in vain? They are words of falsehood when religious sincerity is absent.”

We therefore see that external rites are here repudiated when men seek in a false way to gain favor before God and seek to redeem their sins by false compensations, while their hearts yet continue perverse.

This truth might be enlarged upon, but as it often occurs in the prophets, I only notice it briefly. It is enough to regard the main point: that while the Jews were satisfied with the Temple, the ceremonies, and the sacrifices, they were self-deceivers, for their boasting was fallacious.

“The words of falsehood” are to be taken as meaning that false and vain glorying in which the Jews indulged, while they sought to ward off God’s vengeance by external rites and at the same time made no effort to return into favor by improving their life.

Regarding the expressions The Temple, etc., some explain them this way: they were “words of falsehood” when they said that they came to the Temple. And so the supplement is, “when they said that they came,” for the demonstrative pronoun is plural. Therefore, they understand this of the people; not that the Jews called themselves the Temple of God, but that they boasted that they came to the Temple and worshipped God there. But I rather agree with others who explain this of the three parts of the Temple. There was, we know, the court, then the Temple, and lastly, the interior part, the Holy of holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was. The prophets often speak of the Temple only; but when they spoke distinctly of the form of the Temple, they mentioned the court, as I have said, where the people usually offered their sacrifices; then the holy place, into which only the priests entered; and lastly, the secret place, which was more hidden and was called the Holy of holies.

But we must observe the Prophet's design, which interpreters have omitted. The Prophet then made this repetition especially because the Temple was, as it were, a triple defense to hypocrites, like a city which, when surrounded not by one but by three walls, is deemed impregnable. Since, then, the Jews exalted their Temple, consisting of three parts, it was as if they set up a triple wall or a triple rampart against God’s judgments! “We are invincible! How can enemies come to us? How can any calamity reach us? God dwells in the midst of us, and here he has his habitation—and not one single fort, but a triple fort; he has his court, his Temple, and his Holy of holies.” We now then understand why the Prophet made this repetition and also used the plural number.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we so abuse Your forbearance that You are constrained by our depravity to deal sharply with us, O grant that we may not also be hardened against Your chastisements. May we, with a submissive and tractable neck, learn to take Your yoke and be so obedient to Your government that we testify our repentance, not for one day only, and give no false evidence. Instead, may we truly prove through the whole course of our life the sincerity of our conversion to You, by regarding this as our main object: to glorify You in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Interpreters do not agree regarding the meaning of this passage. Some translate כי אם, ki am, as "But rather," or "But." I indeed acknowledge that it is taken this way in many places; but those who read כי אם, ki am, as one word are mistaken. For the Prophet, on the contrary, repeats what he had said: that God would not be gracious to the Jews unless their life proved that they had truly repented.

The words are sometimes taken as one in Hebrew and mean "but"; yet in other places they are often taken as separate words, as we found in the second chapter, "Though you wash yourself with nitre"; and for the sake of emphasis, the particle 'surely' is put before 'though.' But in this place, the Prophet simply means that the Jews were deceived in seeking to prescribe a law for God according to their own will, since it belongs only to Him either to approve or to reject their works.

And this meaning is confirmed by the latter part of the verse, for we do not read there כי אם, ki am, but אם, am; "If by doing you shall do judgment"; and then in the same form he adds, "If you will not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow"; and at last he adds, "Then (I acknowledge a copulative is here, but it is to be understood as an adverb) I will make you dwell in this place."

The main point of the whole is—that sacrifices are of no importance or value before God, unless those who offer them wholly devote themselves to God with a sincere heart. The Jews sought to bind God, as it were, by their own laws: He shows that He was thus impiously put under restraint. He therefore lays down a condition, as though He had said, "It belongs to Me to prescribe to you what is right. Away, then, with your ceremonies, by which you think to expiate your sins; for I regard them not, and esteem them as nothing." What then is to be done? He now shows them, "If you will rightly order your life, you shall dwell in this place."

For yesterday the Prophet exhorted the people to repent, and he employed the sentiment which he now repeats. He commanded the people to come to God with an upright and pure mind; he afterwards added another sentence, "Trust not in words of falsehood, saying, The Temple of the Lord, etc." He now again repeats what he had said, "If you will make your ways good." He shows now more clearly that no wrong was done to the people when God repudiated their ceremonies, for He required a pure heart, and external rites without repentance are vain and useless.

This then is what the Prophet had in view: "Though God seems to treat you with great severity, He yet promises to be kind to you if you order your lives according to His law: is this unjust? Can the condition which God proposes to you be liable to any false accusations, as though God treated you cruelly?" This then is the meaning of the Prophet.

If you will make good your ways (that is, if your life is amended), and if you will do judgment, etc. He now comes to particulars, and first he addresses the judges, whose duty it was to render to everyone his right, to redress injuries, and to pronounce what was just and right when any contention arose. If, then, he says, you will do justice between a man and his neighbor—that is, if your judgments are right, without favor or hatred, and if no bribes lead you from what is right and just while pronouncing judgment on a case between a man and his brother.

Then he adds, "If you will not oppress the stranger and the orphan and the widow." This also belonged to the judges, but God no doubt shows here generally that injustice greatly prevailed among the people, as He condemns the cruelty and perfidy of the judges themselves.

As for strangers, orphans, and widows, they are often mentioned, for strangers—as well as orphans and widows—were almost destitute of protection and were subject to many wrongs, as though they were exposed as prey.

Hence, whenever a just government is referred to, God mentions strangers, orphans, and widows. For from this it might be easily understood what kind of public administration of justice existed; for when others obtain their right, it is no matter of wonder, since they have advocates to defend their cause, and they also have the aid of friends. Thus, everyone who defends his own cause obtains at least some portion of his right.

But when strangers, orphans, and widows are not unjustly treated, it is evidence of real integrity, for we may therefore conclude that there is no respect of persons among the judges. But as this subject has been dealt with elsewhere, I only touch on it lightly here.

"And if you will not shed," he says, "innocent blood in this place." Here the Prophet accuses the judges of a more heinous crime and calls them murderers. They had, however, no doubt some plausible pretexts for shedding the blood of the innocent. But the Prophet, speaking here in the name of God and by the guidance of His Spirit, regards all these as entirely vain, though the judges might have thought them sufficient excuses. By saying, in this place, he shows how foolish was their confidence in boasting of God's worship, sacrifices, and Temple, while yet they had polluted the Temple with their cruel murders.

He then passes to the first table of the law: "If you will not walk after foreign gods to your evil." By stating a part for the whole, he condemns every kind of impiety, for what is it to walk after alien gods but to depart from the pure and legitimate worship of the true God and to corrupt it with superstitions?

We see then what the Prophet means: he recalls the Jews to the duty of observing the law, that they might thereby give genuine evidence of their repentance. "Prove," he says, "that you have repented from the heart." He shows how they were to prove this: even by observing the law of God. And, as I have said, he refers to the first Table by stating a part for the whole. As for the second Table, he mentions some particulars intended to show that they violated justice and equity, and also that cruelty, treachery, frauds, and plundering greatly prevailed among them.

Then follows the latter part, "Then I will make you dwell, etc." God sets this clause in opposition to the false confidence of the people, as though He had said, "You wish Me to be gracious to you; but do not mock Me by offering sacrifices without sincerity of heart, without a devout feeling. Be consistent, and do not think that I am pacified by you when you come to the Temple with empty display and pollute your sacrifices with impure hands. I therefore do not allow this state of things; but if you come on the condition of returning into favor with Me, then I will make you dwell in this place and in the land which I gave to your fathers."

The last part of the verse, from age to age, ought to be connected with the verb "I will make you dwell." The Hebrew שכנתי, shekanti, means "I will make you dwell from age to age"; that is, as your fathers formerly dwelt in this land, so shall you remain quiet in it, and you shall have a peaceable possession there, but not in any other place. We must bear in mind the contrast which I noticed yesterday, for he indirectly denounces exile on the Jews because they had contaminated the land by their vices and gloried only in their sacrifices.

He again teaches what we observed yesterday — that the glorying of the Jews was foolish, while they boasted of the Temple and of their sacrifices to God. He calls their boastings the words of falsehood, as we have explained, because they completely turned what God had instituted to a contrary purpose.

It was His will that sacrifices should be offered to Him in the Temple — for what purpose? To preserve unity of faith among the whole people. And sacrifices, what was their design? To show the people that they deserved eternal death, and also that they were to flee to God for mercy, there being no other expiation but the blood of Christ.

But there was no repentance; they were not sorry for their sins. Indeed, as we will shortly see, they took liberty to indulge more in them because of their ceremonies, which, however, ought to have been the means of leading them to repentance. They were then the words of falsehood when they separated the signs from their purposes.

The reality and the sign ought indeed to be distinguished from each other, but it is an intolerable divorce when people cling to mere signs and overlook the reality. In the sacrifices, there was the reality I have now mentioned: they were reminded by the spectacle that they were worthy of eternal death; and then, they were to exercise repentance and thus flee to God’s mercy. Since Christ was not taken into account, and there was no care for repentance, no sorrow for sins, no fear of God, and no humility, it was an impious separation of what ought to have been united.

So now we see more clearly why the Prophet designates as words of falsehood that false glorying in which hypocrites indulge, in opposition to God, when they would have Him satisfied with mere ceremonies. Hence he adds that they were words that could not profit, as though he had said, "As you seek to trifle with God, so He will also frustrate your design."

It is indeed certain that they dealt dishonestly with God when they attempted to satisfy His judgment by frigid ceremonies. He therefore shows that a reward was prepared for them, for they would eventually find that no fruit would come from their false dealings.

The meaning seems to be suspended in the first verse, when he says, Whether to steal, to kill, and to commit adultery, etc.; but there is nothing ambiguous in the passage. For although the words are somewhat abrupt, we still infer the meaning to be: “Will you steal,” etc.?

Verbs in the infinitive mood, we know, are often to be considered as verbs in the future tense: “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, burn incense to Baal,” etc.? The Prophet shows how foolishly the Jews sought to make an agreement with God, so that they might with impunity provoke Him by their many vices.

When they entered the Temple, they thought He was obligated to receive them, as though that was a proper reconciliation. But the Prophet exposes this folly. For what can be more absurd than that God should allow people to commit murders, thefts, and adulteries with impunity? Hypocrites do not express this in words; but when they make external ceremonies a sort of expiation, and seek by such means to bury their sins, do they not make God their associate?

Do they not make Him a partner, as it were, with them, when they would have Him cover their adulteries? When they take sacrifices from their plunder to expiate their crimes, do they not make Him a participant in their robberies? The Prophet, therefore, plainly condemns hypocrites in this place, because they acted most contemptuously toward God, by involving Him in their own vices, as though He were the associate of thieves, murderers, and adulterers.

Will you steal, he says, and then, will you kill, commit adultery, and swear falsely? These four sins are against the Second Table, in which God forbids us to steal, to kill, to commit adultery, and to deceive our neighbors by false swearing. These four vices are mentioned in order that the Prophet might show that all the duties of love were wholly disregarded by the Jews.

He then adds things which belong to the First Table, even the offering of incense to Baal, and the walking after alien gods, which yet were unknown to them. By these two clauses he proves their impiety. He mentions one kind of idolatry—that they offered incense to Baal.

The Prophets often refer in the plural number to Baalim, regarded by the Jews as advocates, by whose intercession, as they thought, they gained favor with God; as is the case to this day under the Papacy, whose Baalim are angels and dead men. For they do not regard them as gods, but think that by employing these as advocates they conciliate God and obtain His favor.

Such was the superstition which prevailed among the Jews. But the Prophet here includes all idols under the word Baal. There is afterwards a general complaint—that God was neglected, and that they had perfidiously departed from Him, for they walked after alien gods; and he exaggerates the crime by saying that they were unknown.

The Prophet, no doubt, here suggests a contrast with the certain knowledge that is the basis of true religion. God had given evident proofs of His glorious power through many miracles when the Israelites were redeemed. He had afterwards confirmed this with many blessings, and the law had been proclaimed, accompanied by many signs and wonders (Exodus 20:18; Deuteronomy 5:22, 23). Therefore, the Jews could not have pleaded involuntary error, for after so many proofs, there could have been no excuse on the ground of ignorance.

Now, concerning alien gods, how did they come to know that they were gods? There was no proof; they had no reason to believe them to be so. Thus, we see how grievously wicked the Jews were, for they had departed from the worship of the true God—who had made Himself known to them by many miracles and had confirmed the authority of His law so that it could not be questioned—and they had gone after unknown gods!

The Prophet now adds, You come—that is, after you have allowed yourselves to steal, murder, commit adultery, and corrupt the whole worship of God—at last, You come and stand before me in this temple.

God proceeds with the same subject. For it was not only His purpose here to condemn the Jews as murderers, thieves, and adulterers, but He proceeds further, even to show their shameless effrontery in coming with an unblushing front and entering the Temple, as though they were the true worshippers of God.

“What do you mean,” he says, “by this? You bring with you murders, thefts, adulteries, and abominable filth; you are contaminated with the most disgraceful things. Presently you enter the Temple and think that you are at liberty to do anything.” Similar is the language we find in the first chapter of Isaiah, verses 12 and 15 (Isaiah 1:12, 15): God complains there that they trod the pavement of His Temple and brought hands polluted with blood.

So also in this place, You come, he says, intimating his detestation, and you stand before me in this Temple. Although God was not enclosed in that Temple, yet we know that the Ark of the Covenant was the symbol of His presence. Hence, we often meet in the law with this expression, You shall stand before me. Here then, God shows that it was a detestable and monstrous thing that the Jews dared to rush into His presence when polluted and contaminated with so many vices.

And he adds, In this house, on which my name is called, that is, which has been dedicated to me. For to call God’s name on the Temple means nothing else but that the Temple was consecrated to Him, so that He was worshipped there. When God is truly worshipped, those who seek Him find that He Himself is present by His grace and power.

Since God had commanded the Temple to be built for Him, that He might be worshipped there, He says His name was called there, that is, according to its first and sacred appointment. Absurdly indeed did the Jews call on His name, for there was no religion, no piety in them. But according to God’s institution, His name was called upon in the Temple, as He had consecrated it to Himself.

Therefore, God reminds them of the first institution, which was holy and ought to have remained inviolable: “Do you not know that this place has been chosen by me, that my name might be invoked there? You stand before me in the holy place, and you stand polluted! And though polluted, not with one kind of vice, but my whole law has been violated by you, and my Tables despised, you still stand!”

Thus, we see the Prophet's design, for he condemns the effrontery and perversity of the Jews because they dared to rush into God’s presence in all their pollutions.

He adds, And you say—that is, while standing in the Temple—you say, Oh, we are freed to do all these abominations. This means, “You think that the Temple is a cover for you to hide all your vices. And so you think that you have escaped from my hand, as though no account is any longer to be made of your sins, my Temple being regarded by you as an asylum, under whose shade you take shelter.”

It is indeed certain that the Jews did not speak this way; for if they had been asked whether their life was abominable, they would have denied it. He speaks of the reality of the situation, and he speaks in the person of God and according to His command.

He therefore condemns hypocrites for thinking themselves freed because they came to the Temple, and for believing that all those abominations he had mentioned—their impiety toward God and their injustice toward their neighbors—would go unpunished.

He afterwards adds, Is this house, which is called by my name, a den of robbers? This is the conclusion of the passage, which contains an amplification of their vices. For the Prophet had allowed the Jews to form a judgment, as though he had been discussing an obscure or doubtful subject: “Behold, judge for yourselves in your own case: is it right for you to steal, to murder, and to commit adultery, and then to come into this Temple and to boast that impunity is granted to you for all your evils?”

This indeed ought to have been enough. But as the obstinacy and stupor of the Jews were so great that they would not have yielded without being most fully and variously proven guilty, the Prophet adds this sentence: Is this house, which is called by my name, a den of robbers? That is, “Have I chosen this place for myself, that you might worship me, in order that you might be more licentious than if there were no religion?”

For what purpose is religion? Is it not so that people may by this bridle restrain themselves, that they may not be libertines? For surely the worship and fear of God are the directors of equity and justice. Now, would it not be better to have no Temple and no sacrifices, than for people to take more liberty to sin by making their ceremonies an excuse?

Away then with your ceremonies! Conscience shows that it is a wretched thing to oppress or injure a neighbor. All are constrained by common sense to own that adultery is a filthy and detestable thing, and people think the same of robberies and murders. As for superstitions, when they are seen as such, all are constrained to allow that the worship of God ought to be preserved in its purity.

Well then, if there had been no Temple among you, this truth must have been impressed on your minds—that God ought to be worshipped in purity. Now, because the Temple has been built at Jerusalem, because you offer sacrifices there, you are thieves, you are adulterers, you are murderers! And you think that I am somehow blind, that I am no longer the avenger of so many and such atrocious evils! ‘A den of robbers then is my house become to you.’ But this sentence is to be read interrogatively: “Can it be that this Temple, this sanctuary, has become a den of robbers?”

But we must consider the significance of the comparison. Robbers, though they are most audacious and wholly savage, do not yet dare openly to use their swords; they dare not kill helpless people in public. Why? They fear the punishment allotted to them by the laws; they are cautious.

But when they seize people in some hidden place, then they take more liberty in their robberies: they kill them and then take their property. Thus, we see that dens and hidden places offer more safety for robbers.

The comparison, then, is most suitable when the Prophet says that the Jews made the Temple of God a den of robbers. For if there had been no Temple, some integrity might have remained, secured by the common feelings of humanity. But when they covered their baseness with sacrifices, they thought they thus escaped all judgment.

Thus, Christ applied this prophecy to his time, for the Jews had even then profaned the Temple. Though they presumptuously and falsely called on God’s name, they yet sought the Temple as an asylum for impurity. This folly Christ exposed, as the Prophet had done.

He afterwards adds, Even I, behold I see, says Jehovah. Jeremiah here no doubt touches ironically on the false confidence with which the Jews deceived themselves, for hypocrites seem to themselves to know whatever is necessary.

And so it is, that because they think themselves to be acute, they are bolder and more presumptuous in contriving deceitful schemes by which they seek to delude God and humanity. Thus, the Prophet here tauntingly touches them to the quick by intimating that they wished to make God, as it were, blind: Even I, behold I see, he says.

It would not yet be sufficiently evident how emphatic the phrase is, were it not for a similar passage in Isaiah 29:15:

I also am wise. The Prophet had said, Woe to the crafty and the wise, who have dug pits for themselves.

He there condemns ungodly people who thought that they could somehow by their falsehoods deceive God—which seems to be, and is, monstrous. Yet it is an evil that commonly prevails among humanity, for hardly one person in a hundred can be found who does not seek coverings to hide from the eyes of God.

This is the case especially with courtiers and clever people, who assume for themselves so much clear-sightedness that God sees nothing in comparison with them. The Lord therefore, by Isaiah, gives this answer: “I also am wise. If you are wise, allow me at least some portion of wisdom, and do not think that I am altogether foolish.”

So also in this place: “Before my eyes, this house is made a den of robbers.” That is, “If there is any sense in you, does it not appear evident that you have made a den of robbers of my Temple? And can I still be blind? If you think that you are very clear-sighted, I also do see, says the Lord.”

Thus, we see what force there is in the particle gam, also, and in the pronoun anoki, I, and in ene, behold; for these three words are heaped together, that God might show that He was not unobservant when the people so audaciously ran headlong into all kinds of vices and sought by their falsehoods to cover His eyes, that He might not see anything.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as You do not build a temple among us today of wood and stones, and as the fullness of Your Godhead dwells in Your only begotten Son, and as he by his power fills the whole world, and dwells in our midst, and even in us—O grant, that we may not profane his sanctuary by our vices and sins, but so strive to consecrate ourselves to Your service, that Your name through his name may be continually glorified, until we are at length received into that eternal inheritance, where that glory which we now see in the truth contained in Your gospel will appear to us openly, and face to face. Amen.

The Prophet confirms by an example what he said previously. He shows that the Jews deceived themselves by thinking they were covered by the shadow of the Temple, even while they exposed themselves and the whole world witnessed their impious rebellion. He therefore mentions what had happened before. The Ark of the Covenant, as is well known, had long rested in Shiloh. Now, the Temple did not excel in dignity on its own account, but because of the Ark of the Covenant and the altar. It was indeed splendidly adorned, but the holiness of the Temple was derived from the Ark of the Covenant, the altar, and the sacrifices. This Ark had been in Shiloh. Hence, Jeremiah shows how foolish the Jews were to be proud because they had the Ark of the Covenant and the altar among them, for the first place where sacrifices had been offered to God was not kept safe. This is the meaning of the whole passage.

But he did not say in vain, Even go to Shiloh. The כי, ki, here, though commonly a causal particle, seems to be taken as explanatory. If it is viewed only as an affirmative, I do not object: “Well, go to Shiloh.” But the language in this case is ironical: “You glory in the Temple; indeed! Go to Shiloh.” And God calls it his place—my place, so that the Jews might understand that it had nothing superior in itself. The Ark of the Covenant had indeed been removed to Mount Zion, and there God had chosen a perpetual dwelling for himself; but the other place was superior in antiquity.

This is the reason why he calls it “my place,” and adds, Where I made my name to dwell, that is, where I designed the Ark to be. For the Ark of the Covenant and the altar, with all their furnishings, were properly the name of God; and it was not by chance that all the tribes had placed the Ark in Shiloh, but it was God’s will to be worshipped there for a time.

Hence he says that the place was sacred before Jerusalem; and therefore he says at the first, בראשונה, berashune; that is, the Shilonites are not only equal to you, but antiquity gives them greater honor. If, then, a comparison is made, they surpass you in antiquity.

See, he says, what I did to that place for the iniquity of my people Israel. He calls Israel his people here, not to honor them, but so that he might again remind the Jews that they were only equal to the Israelites. And yet, it was of no benefit to all the tribes that they were accustomed to assemble there to worship God. For when we reason from example, we must always ensure there is no material difference. Jeremiah then shows that the Israelites were equal to the Jews. If the Jews claimed superiority, that claim was neither just nor right, for Israel was also the people of God, since it was God’s will to establish the Ark of the Covenant there so that sacrifices might be offered to him. Moreover, antiquity was in its favor, for it was a holy place before it was known that God had chosen Mount Zion as a site for his Temple.

Hence he draws this conclusion, Now, then, as you have done all these works, that is, as you have become like the Israelites, therefore, etc. But first, he amplifies their crime: they had not only imitated the wickedness of the twelve tribes but had also perversely despised all warnings. I spoke to you, he says, and rose up early. By this metaphor, he suggests that he was as concerned for preserving the kingdom of Judah as parents are accustomed to be for the safety of their children. For as a father rises early to see what is necessary for his family, so also God says that he rose early, since he had been diligent in exhorting them.

He attributes to himself what properly belonged to his prophets. But as he had stirred them by his Spirit and engaged them in their work, he justly claims for himself whatever he had done through them as his instruments. And it was an exaggeration of their guilt that they were slothful, even stupid, when God diligently labored for their safety.

He adds, I spoke, and you did not hear; I cried to you, and you did not answer. He condemns their hardness more extensively. For if he had only warned them once, some excuse might have been offered.

But since God, by rising early every day, labored to restore them to himself, and since he had employed not only instruction but also crying (by which he doubtless means exhortations and threats, which ought to have produced a greater effect on them), their stubbornness showed the highest degree of reckless boldness.

The meaning is that God had tried all means to restore the Jews to a sound mind, but they were wholly irreclaimable. He had called them not only once, but often. He had also endowed his prophets with power to labor vigorously in the discharge of their office.

He had not only shown by them what was useful and necessary, but he had also cried, that is, he had employed greater vehemence to correct their slowness. Since, then, God could achieve nothing by using all these means, what remained for them was to perish miserably, as they willfully sought their own destruction.

Therefore, he says, I will do to this house, which is called by my name, etc. He no doubt anticipates all objections, as though he had said, “I know what you will say: that this place is sacred to God, that his name is invoked here, and that sacrifices are offered here. All these things,” he says, “are argued in vain, for in Shiloh also his name was invoked, and he dwelt there. Though you foolishly trust in this place, it shall not escape the judgment that happened to the former place.”

He adds, which I gave to you and to your fathers. So be it; for this is to be considered a concession. At the same time, objections are anticipated so that the Jews might understand that it was of no benefit to them that God had chosen to build his sanctuary on Mount Zion, for the object was to promote religion.

But since the place was used for a completely different purpose, and since God’s name was shamefully profaned there, he says, “Though I gave this place to you and your fathers, yet its fate shall be no better than the fate of Shiloh.”