‘Amend Your Ways’

Understand; hear me o Israel!

Jeremiah 7:3 ESV-CE

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.

Jeremiah 7:4 ESV-CE

Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

Jeremiah 7:5 ESV-CE

“For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another,

The call for justice & mercy

is clear enough

but what’s this about ‘The Temple of the Lord!’ ‘The Temple of the Lord!’ ‘The Temple of the Lord!’

Sinai covenant

Jeremiah 7:23 ESV-CE

But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

This came to be seen as a transaction;

So long as the ritual laws were obeyed, and sacrifices offered, God would prosper and protect his people.

The triple phrase, “The Temple of the Lord!” is repeated like an incantation, the Temple itself is seen as a talisman or magical object,

apart from the commands that also require justice and mercy for people.

This is what Jeremiah insists is God’s true purpose:

“know that it is mercy I desire and not sacrifice.”