Jeremiah (1-31) 7:29 Commentary and Bible Study

For most of the people, things have now gone too far. This is not an instruction to repent. This sorrow and anguish is the only possible response to what God is going to do. It is a prophecy of what is about to happen, but it is couched in the language of a command, because there is no way that Judah and Jerusalem can now avoid this. They are going to have to go through with this, and so whether they like it or not, this is going to happen – God, as it were, command future events and Judah as involved in those events. They are not being required to comply willingly with a command from God, but they are being told what is the providence which will force them to act in this way.‘Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away’, as you might cut off the hair of a slave to signify the slave’s supposed humiliation, or as you might cut off your hair if you are in mourning. Terrible things are about to take place. That is what there will be in Jerusalem: mourning and humiliation. Judgment is at the door, because their rebellion has gone too far. The high places where they have practiced their idolatry will be turned into places of lamentation. Israel has become so barefaced in its disobedience to God, that it has brought its sin into the very house of God. There is a tendency for those who are not punished, to become bolder in their wickedness. It is what they always wanted to do, but at first they were hesitant, waiting to see what God’s response would be. When he appears to do nothing – and his mere rebuke of their sin counts in their eyes as nothing – they draw the wrong conclusion and, like foxes that are prepared to come out of their holes and show themselves openly, they no longer hide the evil that they do. It is as if they think that God has become more and more blind.‘And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.’ There the people had worshipped Molech (Jeremiah 32:35), the god of the Ammonites (1 Kings 11:7), where they had offered up their living children to this abominable false god, as was the practice of the people of Ammon. How had Israel ever thought that this was the right thing to do, or what the Lord wanted? He had expressly forbidden it (Leviticus 18:21). He had commanded them to love their children and to teach them and protect them. It was against nature, against his word, and against every instinct that he has put within mankind that they should do such a thing. But this is what they had learnt by adopting the gods of the nations. What God commanded Abraham to do with Isaac, was no precedent to anyone else, but a unique test for the father of the faithful. And besides, the final act was averted by God who never intended that Abraham should carry through with this.‘Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter.’ Because they have done this, God will take that terrible place and use it for a fearful judgment on the nation. It will be there that, not the little children, but the adults of the nation will suffer slaughter on a massive scale. That will be the place where the Chaldeans will kill the Jews or dispose of their bodies, when they take the city of Jerusalem in the coming days. The name of the valley of Hinnom went back to the time of Joshua (Joshua 15:8); it was a valley that was adjacent to Jerusalem. The name appears in the New Testament as Gehenna, or valley of Hinnom, but is translated as ‘hell’ in the KJV (e.g. Matthew 5:22). It became the place where the bodies of the dead and the rubbish from the city were disposed of and burned, and was a fitting symbol of hell.‘And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.’ Several times the Bible uses this image. The Lord invites the birds of the air and the beasts of the field to a feast which he has prepared for them (Deuteronomy 28:26; Jeremiah 12:9; 16:4; 34:20; Revelation 19:17-18). It is a feast of judgment, to consume the dead bodies of those slain by the Lord. They will not be buried, but they will be treated as refuse, as fodder thrown out for the lowliest of creatures. No one will disturb them in their meal or drive them away.‘Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth.’ Similar words are found in Jeremiah 16:9 and 25:10, and are used by Isaiah and Ezekiel, and are repeated in Revelation 18:23. The people will be gone into captivity, and the place will be wrecked. ‘And the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom’ – no marriages – ‘and the voice of the bride, for the land shall be desolate.’ It is a scene of desolation and sadness. But see how many different, highly intelligent levels of appeal and reasoning follow one after the other. This is a great example of evangelistic reasoning, in this case to the religious lost. It is an instruction manual and an incentive and an encouragement to us in our work today.