Jeremiah 7:23-28 is found in a context that describes Judah's continued disobedience to Yahweh and its consequences. The place of this selection within the whole of chapter 7 is shown below:
| vv. 1-15 | The Temple Sermon |
| vv. 16-20 | "Do not intercede for this people" |
| vv.21-32 | Judah's Disobedience and God's Judgment |
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The temple which should have been a place where God's name is honored has a become a symbol of the institutionalization of Judah's disobedience to its God. Indeed it has become a sign that fidelity to the God of the covenant has perished (v. 28). The people of Judah has begun to think that the continuous sacrifices offered at the altar has "immunized" them from the demands of moral justice enshrined in the Law of the covenant. But Jeremiah reminds them that Yahweh did not ask for sacrifices when He led them out of Egypt (v. 22). Instead what He asked for was obedience (v. 23).
Obey my voice
and I shall be your God and
you shall be my people
You shall live according to the life-style
I command you
and all will be well with you.
The obedience that Yahweh demands from his people flows from the covenant He entered into with the sons of Israel. He was to protect Israel, sustain it in life and give it security. The sons of israel, on their part, promised under oath that they will obey his voice as expressed in the statutes, decrees, ordinances and laws that He gave them through Moses. The continued existence ofthe Israelites in the land promised to Abraham hanged on the fulfillment of their part of the covenant. The tribes of Northern Israel had disappeared in 721 BC because of their disobedience (vv. 11-15). The same will happen to Judah (see v. 34).
Throughout these verses, there is a constant refrain: "They did not listen to me; they did not turn their ears to me" (vv. 24.26). Instead of walking in His ways, i.e. according to the lifestyle of righteousness He wanted for them, "they walked according to their thoughts, in the stubborness of their evil hearts" (v. 24). Instead of facing Yahweh as a student would to his teacher, they turned their backs on Him. In the language of the OT, this is "teshubah", rebellion.Like a work animal that has stiffened its neck, Judah can no longer be guided to go where God wanted it to god. They have turned the temple, the dwelling place of Yahweh's name, into an idol, thus, doing worse than their fathers (v. 26).
Yahweh had been patient enough.
From the day your fathers went out from the land of Egypt until this day
I have been sending you all my servants the prophets continually
"Continually", "untiringly" are words that fail to translate the phrase yom hashkem wesheloah: "each day, from early morn, I was sending them." But still Judah would not obey.Even Jeremiah will not be heeded. God is like a father calling to his children, but Judah would not answer back. The selection ends with a chilling conclusion:
This is a nation which does not obey
the voice of its God
They would not accept discipline
Fidelity has perished
It has been cut off from their mouth.
Judah is no longer called "people" here; to the eyes of Yahweh it is just another "goy". The Hebrew word Me ('am which we translate as "people" is the equivalent of "family." In using the word for "nation", Yahweh has begun distancing itself from Judah.
rowm (musar), "discipline" is the father's way of moulding a son so as to prepare him to take his place in society. This familial word taken up to describe Yahweh's covenantal "obligation" towards Judah designates a father-son relationship that Judah itself rejects. Yahweh is distancing itself from Judah because Judah has refused His tutelage and remains adamant in its infidelity and untruthfulness to the covenant.
Finally, the two words which Yahweh uses to describe the death of fidelity -- "perish" and "be cut off" -- are filled with the premonitions of exile. Judah itself will perish and be cut off from the promised land (see vv. 32-34)
