Глава 7

After this, the Prophet announces that he was commanded to stand at the gates of God’s church and offer a prophetic word to everyone who enters; it contained advice and a promise of good things. Jer.7:3. Correct your ways and your undertakings, and you will make peace in this place. And also exposes the false prophecy; for it is said: Jer.7:4. Don't rely on yourself or with lying words, “before they take advantage of you greatly, saying: the church of the Lord, the church of the Lord, the church of the Lord is.” The false prophets, deceiving them, said: is it possible for anyone to overcome God's church? The Prophet inspires them not to rely on these words, but to begin with diligence the correction of their lives, to fear God’s judgments, to take care of those who need it, to stop previous murders and serving idols. By doing this, says God, you will not become exiles, but will remain in your native land; and if you dare to do the opposite of this, and follow the path of all lawlessness, then you will reap fruits corresponding to your undertakings. For I do not count false repentance as anything, and I do not tolerate lying words; because I see everything that is being done. Jer.7:11. And lo, I have seen, says the Lord. I will not tolerate the house dedicated to Me to be a refuge for robbers. Then he assures of what has been said by what has already happened. Jer.7:12. For this reason, go to My house, which is “in Shiloh, where My name has been made known from the beginning, and you see that I have done evil to it for the sake of My people Israel.” The village of Shiloh was located in the land of the ten tribes, and during the invasion of the Assyrians it was destroyed. Therefore, the Lord commands us to place our trust not in the church, but in a life consistent with the law. And therefore he adds that the house of God will also suffer, and they will suffer the same punishment as their brothers. Jer.7:15. I will reject you from before Me, just as I have rejected your brethren, all your seed. sons of Israel. Yes, and God forbids the Prophet any intercession about them; for he says: Jer.7:16. As if I won’t hear you. And showing that he was rightly turning away from them, he added: Jer.7:17. Do you not see what these things are doing in the cities of Judah and on the roads of Jerusalem? Jer.7:18. Their sons gather wood, and their fathers kindle the fire, and their wives knead flour, that they may make unleavened bread for the host of heaven, and pour out drink offerings to a strange god, that they may provoke Me to anger. Whoever had currants, dates and anything else like that in the house brought it to the idols. God speaks about this through the mouth of another Prophet (Hos. 3:1.). Jer.7:19. Do these anger me, says the Lord? Food not for yourself? Let their faces be ashamed, He will tell you how they will be put to shame; for it threatens the death of not only people, but also livestock, the destruction of plants and the desolation of the land; and also prohibits worship by law. Jer.7:21. This says the Lord the mighty, the God of Israel: Gather up your burnt offerings with your sacrifices, and eat away the flesh: (Jer. 7:22) “For you did not speak to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that he brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Jer.7:23). “But only this word commanded them, saying: Hear My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people, and walk in all My ways, which I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you.” And by this he showed that, due to the weakness of the Jews, something superfluous was added to the law. since in Egypt they learned to make sacrifices to idols; then, with the intention of turning them away from this (for through the mouth of all the Prophets he rejects these sacrifices), and condescending to their weakness, he says: “Eat up the meat,” that is, and rejecting the sacrifices, I will not forbid you to eat meat. For the law commands those who wish to eat meat in their cities or villages, but not as sacrificial, but as unconsecrated; He forbade making sacrifices outside the legal place. Therefore he says: eat this “like chamois or cherry” (Deut. 12:15), that is, as if it were not offered to the altar. Then he describes the disobedience of their fathers, who, when God gave them this advice, Jer.7:24. Walk in the lusts of your evil heart. He also shows what fruits have grown from this: “And it was made to be the back, and not the front,” (Jer. 7:25) “from the day in which their fathers came up from the land of Egypt, and even to this day. For “for their iniquity they were given over, now to the Moabites, now to the Ammonites, sometimes to the Midianites, and very often to the Philistines. But God also shows His care. For he says: I did not cease constantly telling them through the Prophets, instilling what was best for them; but they continued to argue, and became worse than their fathers. However, you, says God to the Prophet, convict them in clear words and say: Jer.7:28. This tongue, which did not obey the voice of the Lord its God, will not receive punishment. And this is the reason for this disobedience: “faith is lost, and food is taken out of their mouth.” Then God commands the Prophet to cry, take on a sad look, and shave his head; because the chosen people are rejected. And showing that wrath is just, reveals the greatest proof of 4 wickedness; for he says: (Jer.7:30). Many “have set up their abominations in the house, and in it I am called to eat My Name, that they may defile it.” Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, dared to do this; but even after him the former competed with this wickedness. Witness to this is the divine Ezekiel, who was led in spirit from Babylon to Jerusalem, and who said that he saw such iniquities in the church (Ezek. 8:6-17). God also accuses them of offering sons and daughters as burnt offerings to demons. He says, “I did not command them; I thought lower in My heart.” Having allowed that, due to their weakness, dumb sacrifices be performed among them, will I agree to legitimize such a murder? He speaks (Jer. 7:32) about the church of Tatheotha, some so-called idol; and the word “Tafef” translated means closing or devouring. He says that in this place in large numbers they will be put to death, thrown “into food” and prey for birds and beasts; the very name of the place will be changed, and it will no longer be called “the vale of the son of Hinnoml,” but “the vale of the slain.” He also predicts that the city will lose all fun. Here, another reading is preferred to ὄνομα: δείγμα.