Jeremiah 7:16 - Meaning and Application

God had already shown, in the verses before this, that the temple and its worship, which the people boasted about and trusted in, would not keep them from the judgment he had threatened. But there was another support they might have counted on, and that was the prophet’s prayer for them. His prayers would have done them more good than their own excuses, yet they did not value that either. Here that support is also taken away, and it is a sad case when people lose any share in the prayers of God’s ministers and people.

God first forbids the prophet to pray for them (Jeremiah 7:16). The decree had already gone out, and their ruin was settled. So God says, “Do not pray for this people,” meaning, do not pray to keep this judgment from coming. They had sinned in a way that led to death, and therefore Jeremiah was not to pray for their physical safety, but for the life of their souls (1 John 5:16). This shows, first, that God’s prophets are praying men. Jeremiah foretold the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, yet he still prayed for their safety, not knowing whether the decree was final. God still wills us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Even when we warn sinners about damnation, we must still pray for their salvation, that they may turn and live.

It also shows that God’s praying prophets have great standing in heaven, even if they have very little standing on earth. When God has decided to destroy a people, he may tell his prophet not to pray, because he does not want those prayers to go unanswered. He said something like this to Moses, “Leave me alone” (Exodus 32:10). It is a bad sign for a people when God keeps his ministers and people from praying for them, and lets them see such hopelessness that they cannot even speak a good word for them. Those who will not listen to good preaching cannot expect any benefit from prayer. If you will not hear us when we speak to you from God, then God will not hear us when we speak to him for you.

God then gives the reason for this command. Prayer is too precious to waste on a people hardened in sin and marked for ruin. They were determined to keep rebelling against God, and the prophet’s preaching would not turn them back. God points Jeremiah to what he himself can see openly and publicly in Judah and Jerusalem (Jeremiah 7:17). The sin was plain and could not be denied, and the sinners were shameless. They did these things right in the prophet’s sight, as if they were defying both his office and the God who sent him.

The sin named here is idolatry (Jeremiah 7:18). They were showing honor to the queen of heaven, likely the moon, either as an image or in the heavenly body itself, or both. They may have worshiped her under the name of Ashtaroth, or some other goddess, drawn by the moon’s brightness and by the false idea that it helped or harmed them by its influence (Job 31:26). The worship of the moon was common among heathen nations (Jeremiah 44:17, Jeremiah 44:19). Some take the phrase to mean the whole frame of heaven, that is, the whole starry sky with all its beauty and power. In that case, they were worshiping the host of heaven (Acts 7:42).

They gave to creatures the honor that should have gone to their Creator. They worshiped the decorations of the king’s palace instead of the king himself, the servants instead of the master, and the gifts instead of the giver. Along with the queen of heaven, they worshiped other gods, images of things in heaven, on earth, and in the waters below. When people leave the true God, they keep wandering after false gods. To these idols, they offered cakes as grain offerings and poured out drink offerings, as if their food and drink came from them and they owed them thanks.

The passage also shows how busy they were in idol service. Every hand was used. The children gathered wood, the fathers kindled the fire, and the women kneaded the dough. Some were poor and could not hire servants, yet they were willing to do the work themselves so that the idolatry would not go undone. The women may even have taken pride in showing their zeal by doing it with their own hands.

Even from this bad example, we can learn how to serve our God. We should honor him with our possessions, since we receive our living from him and should eat and drink to his glory. We should not shrink from hard work or think it beneath us to do lowly tasks if God is honored by them. No one should think it too much to light a fire on God’s altar for nothing. And we should bring up our children in devotion, letting them take part as they are able in the work of worship.

This sin was aimed at provoking God to anger, and that was all it could do. Yet God asks whether they really imagine they are hurting him (Jeremiah 7:19). Is he difficult to please? Is he quick to be provoked? Is he the one who bears the blame for their resentment? No, the fault is theirs alone, and they must bear it. Their rebellion does no real harm to God. It is against him in intent, but it cannot damage him. In fact, it is foolish anger, because it only brings harm on themselves. They show spite against God, but they are doing the harm to their own souls and faces. A people so determined to ruin themselves can hardly expect to be spared.

God is also resolved to carry out his judgments against them, and the prophet’s prayers will not turn him back (Jeremiah 7:20). “Thus says the Lord God” is enough. What he says, he will not take back, and no one can successfully oppose it. So the people must hear it and tremble.

“See how my anger and wrath will be poured out on this place,” the Lord says, like the flood in Noah’s day or the fire and burning sulfur that fell on Sodom. Since they have angered him, they will see what comes of it.

They will soon learn that no one can escape this flood of judgment. No one can run from it, and no one can build a defense against it. It will be poured out on this place, even though it is a holy place, the Lord’s house. It will reach both people and animals, like the plagues in Egypt. Some of those plagues also ruined the trees and crops, and those were the very things the people had set aside for Baal and used to make cakes for the queen of heaven.

They will also learn that this judgment cannot be stopped. It will burn and will not be put out. At that time, prayers and tears will not help. If God’s anger is terrible when it is only a little stirred, how much worse when it rises to this level. God’s wrath is that unquenchable fire whose end even eternity will never see. “Depart, you cursed, into everlasting fire.”