Jeremiah 8 - Introduction

Address delivered by Jeremiah at the gate of the Temple

The first question to be answered in regard to these Chapter s as a whole is the date to which they are to be referred, whether to the reign of Josiah or Jehoiakim. This seems to be answered by ch. 26, for while its Jeremiah 7:1 have a marked resemblance to these, it is expressly stated (Jeremiah 7:1) to have been delivered in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (b.c. 608 7). Others (e.g. Wellhausen and Marti) place it as early as the crisis brought about by the death of Josiah at Megiddo (b.c. 608), but accepting the date in Jeremiah 26:1, we may conclude that the two are respectively a longer and shorter summary of the same discourse, while the latter adds (Jeremiah 26:7-24) the danger which resulted to the prophet and his rescue. The announcement that the fate of the Temple should be that which had befallen Shiloh (Jeremiah 7:8 ff., Jeremiah 26:4 ff.), while helping to identify the two discourses, accounts sufficiently for their hostile reception. Irregularities in metre or its absence in Jeremiah 7:4 to Jeremiah 8:3, compel Du. with his rigid metrical theories to make most of this section to be post-Jeremianic, while he also holds that there are considerable interpolations in the whole section. As Co. points out, however, we can hardly suppose that Jeremiah spoke, as well as wrote, in metre, and we may well nave here in substance his oral prophecy, not yet put into metrical form. It accords with the later date that (a) Jeremiah seems to be now dwelling not at Anathoth but at Jerusalem, since he is told not as in Jeremiah 2:2 to "go and cry," etc. but simply (Jeremiah 7:2) to "stand in the gate of the Lord's house," etc.; (b) idolatry is represented as practised openly in the streets of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 7:17 f.) and in the Temple itself (Jeremiah 7:30); (c) children are burned in the valley of Topheth in honour of Molech (Jeremiah 7:31).

The discourse has five natural divisions. (a) Jeremiah 7:1 to Jeremiah 8:3, Denunciation for shameless idolatry and pollution of the very Temple. (b) Jeremiah 8:4 to Jeremiah 9:1, Forecast of punishment as the result of sin. (c) Jeremiah 9:2-26, Judah's corruption described. Her consequent sufferings. The recognition of Jehovah alone secures the weal of any nation. (d) Jeremiah 10:1-16, The folly of idolatry. (e) Jeremiah 10:17-25, Exile is at hand. Appeal to Jehovah even in punishing to remember mercy.

Chs. Jeremiah 7:1 to Jeremiah 8:3. Contrast between real and false grounds for confidence. Warning of approaching judgements

This section may be broken up as follows. (i) Jeremiah 7:1. Introduction. (ii) Jeremiah 7:3. The guarantee for Judah's security is not, as she imagines, the existence of the Temple, but loyalty to Jehovah. (iii) Jeremiah 7:8. Can it be that occasional worship of Him in the intervals of profligacy suffices to give them a sense of security? (iv) Jeremiah 7:12. Let them take warning from the fate of Shiloh and the northern kingdom. (v) Jeremiah 7:16. The people are past interceding for: their idolatry is too gross. (vi) Jeremiah 7:21. They have never realised that from the first God's demands were not for sacrifices but for holiness of life. (vii) Jeremiah 7:29 to Jeremiah 8:3. Topheth, the scene of idolatrous excesses, shall also be that of terrible retribution.