Jeremiah 7:12-15

C. A Forceful Threat Jeremiah 7:12-15

TRANSLATION

(12) For go now to My place which was in Shiloh where I caused my Name to dwell at the first and observe what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel. (13) And now because you have done all these things (oracle of the LORD) and I spoke earnestly and persistently unto you but you did not hear; and I called you but you did not respond; (14) therefore I will do to the house which is called by My Name, in which you are trusting, and to the place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. (15) And I will cast you forth from My presence as I cast forth all your brethren, all the seed of Ephraim.

COMMENTS

If the people of Judah had been more aware of their history they would have been more correct in their theology. In Jeremiah 7:12 Jeremiah attacks the popular false confidence in the Temple by pointing to another sacred sanctuary which had been destroyed. When the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan under Joshua they erected the Tabernacle at Shiloh north of Bethel. Shiloh remained the center of worship for over three hundred years. The old tent which had been transported through the wilderness wanderings was eventually replaced by or perhaps encased in some type of permanent structure which is called a house (Judges 18:31; Judges 19:18) or temple (1 Samuel 1:9). The historical books of the Old Testament do not specifically mention the destruction of Shiloh. The place was probably captured and destroyed by the Philistine after the battle of Ebenezer (1 Samuel 4:1 ff.) in the days of the judgeship of Eli. On the basis of their excavations archaeologists have dated the destruction at about 1070 B.C. If God not only permitted but even instigated the destruction of the shrine at Shiloh it is sheer folly to think that in the present instance He is under some solemn obligation to preserve Jerusalem.

In spite of the fact that God had earnestly and persistently called the people to repentance, they had not responded to the appeal (Jeremiah 7:13). To emphasize the zeal of the Lord in speaking to His people Jeremiah uses the idiom rising early and speaking. It is an expression peculiar to Jeremiah and means that the appeals were oft repeated and eager. In view of this rebuff and rejection God will destroy the Temple in Jerusalem just as he destroyed Shiloh (Jeremiah 7:15). Jeremiah does not deny that the Temple is God's house; nor does he deny that the Temple had been given to the people of God as a place of worship. But he emphatically denies the conclusion to which the men of Judah had jumped viz., that God would never allow the Temple to be destroyed. History had proved that God was no respecter of sanctuaries. In more recent history Jeremiah finds another analogy. Just as God had cast forth into exile the seed of Ephraim, the ten tribes of the northern kingdom,[174] so now He will cast forth the inhabitants of Judah (Jeremiah 7:15). The land of Israel belonged to the Lord (Hosea 9:3; Leviticus 25:23) and here the divine Landlord is issuing an eviction notice to His tenants.

[174] See Isaiah 7:2; Hoses Jeremiah 4:17; Jeremiah 5:1-9 Jeremiah 12:1.