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| INSIGHTS FROM THE SCRIPTURE: The fall of Judah was caused by the behavior of the people--they were self-righteous. They committed sins such as theft, murder, adultery, worshiping idols, and oppressing the weak, yet they believed that the temple of the Lord covered their sins. “They had come to think that the presence of the temple in Jerusalem was their guarantee of security and continuity.”1 They had false trust in the temple. They not only believed in the security of the temple but also of the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12) and in the Davidic Covenant (II Samuel 7:8ff). This passage of Jeremiah was probably at the time of the Festival of Weeks in 608 B.C when the people gathered at the temple in Jerusalem. This sermon was given to the people of Judah at the gate of the Lord’s house. At the festival a servant at the temple usually greeted the people, but Jeremiah probably unofficially took the position of being the greeter. The greeter would ask the pilgrims to examine themselves to see if they were living moral lives before they could pass through the gate and enter into the worship. The people, even though they were committing all types of sins, believed that they were living moral lives—they thought nothing of their sin because they had the temple of the Lord. They thought that the temple was important to God, but in reality the building was not important to God--his people were important--and how they lived their lives was important.2 Jeremiah’s plea, direct from God, was asking the people to change their ways or else God would not allow them to have the temple or dwell in the land. He was asking them to eliminate the oppression, respect the innocent and weak, and abandon the pagan religions. Continued |
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