Jeremiah 7:22 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 7:22
For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
perhaps properly · verb, piel perfect, 1st person common singular
fathers
אֲבֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙'a.vo.tei.Khem
H1
father · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
commanded
צִוִּיתִ֔יםtzi.vi.Tim
H6680
(intensively) to constitute · verb, piel perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
day
בְּי֛וֹםbe.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
out
הוֹצִיאִ֥יho.tzi'
H3318
to go (causatively · verb, hiphil infinitive construct + pronominal suffix
land
מֵאֶ֣רֶץme.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Egypt
מִצְרָ֑יִםmitz.Ra.yim
H4714
Mitsrajim · proper noun, a place name
concerning
דִּבְרֵ֥יdiv.Rei
H1697
a word · noun, common masculine plural construct
offerings
עוֹלָ֖הo.Lah
H5930
a step or (collectively · noun, common feminine singular absolute
sacrifices
וָזָֽבַחva.Za.vach
H2077
properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is b…
Psalms 51:16-17 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Matthew 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repenta…
Psalms 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Psalms 50:8-17 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighb…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 7:21-28
God, having shown the people that the temple would not protect them while they polluted it with their wickedness, here shows them that their sacrifices would not atone for them, nor be accepted, while they went on in disobedience. See with what contempt he here speaks of their ceremonial service (Jer 7:21). "Put your burnt-offerings to your sacrifices; go on in them as long as you please; add one sort of sacrifice to another; turn your burnt-offerings (which were to be wholly burnt to the honour of God) into peace-offerings" (which the offerer himself had a considerable share of), "that you may eat flesh, for that is all the good you are likely to have from your sacrifices, a good meal's mea…
Not contradicting the divine obligation of the legal sacrifices. But, "I did not require sacrifices, unless combined with moral obedience" (Psa 50:8; Psa 51:16-17). The superior claim of the moral above the positive precepts of the law was marked by the ten commandments having been delivered first, and by the two tables of stone being deposited alone in the ark (Deu 5:6). The negative in Hebrew often supplies the want of the comparative: not excluding the thing denied, but only implying the prior claim of the thing set in opposition to it (Hos 6:6). "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice" (Sa1 15:22). Love to God is the supreme end, external observances only means towards that end. "The mere…
For I spake not unto your fathers,.... Meaning not Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but Moses, Aaron, and others, who were living at the time of the bringing of the children of Israel out of Egypt, as appears by what follows:
nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings, or sacrifices; these are not in the decalogue or ten commands; these are no part of that law or covenant, but are an appendage or addition to it; and though they are of early institution and use, yet they never were appointed for the sake of themselves, but for another end; they were types of Christ, and were designed to lead the faith of the people of God to him; they nev…
The Church Fathers
(Verses 22-23) For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.' Moreover, when He says, 'I did not speak with your fathers, nor did I command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices, it is clearly understood that He first gave the Decalogue on stone tablets, written by the finger of God, and after the offense of idolatry and the worship of the golden calf, He then ordered sacrifices to be made to Him instead of to the demons, thus setting aside the pure worship of God's commandments and allowing the offering of blood and the desire for meat.
He has therefore abolished these things, that the new law of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is without the yoke of necessity, might have a human oblation. And again He says to them, "Did I command your fathers, when they went out from the land of Egypt, to offer unto Me burnt-offerings and sacrifices? But this rather I commanded them, Let no one of you cherish any evil in his heart against his neighbour, and love not an oath of falsehood." We ought therefore, being possessed of understanding, to perceive the gracious intention of our Father; for He speaks to us, desirous that we, not going astray like them, should ask how we may approach Him. To us, then, He declares, "A sacrifice [pleasing] to God is a broken spirit; a smell of sweet savour to the Lord is a heart that glorifieth Him that made it." We ought therefore, brethren, carefully to inquire concerning our salvation, lest the wicked one, having made his entrance by deceit, should hurl us forth from our [true] life.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Pentateuch — The five-fold volume, consisting of the first five books of the Old Testament. This word does not occur in Scripture, nor is it certainly known when the roll was thus divided into five portions…
Burnt Offering, The · Obedience better than — Obedience better than
Condescension Of God · Expostulates with backsliding Israel — Expostulates with backsliding Israel
Impenitence · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Jeremiah 7:21-24
21. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
21. Sic dicit Jehova exercituum, Deus Israel, Holocausta vestra addite super victimas vestras et comedite carnem.
22. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
22. Quia non loquutus sum cum patribus vestris, et non praecepi illis quo die eduxi eos e terra Egypti super verbis (hoc est, rationibus, nam rvd proprie significat rationem Latine; Hebraei enim ita passim usurpant hanc vocem, sicuti Latini rationem, super rationibus ergo) holocaustorum et vi…
The multiplication of burnt and slain offerings will not avert judgment. Your burnt-offerings add to your slain-offerings. In the case of the זבחים, the greater part of the flesh was eaten at the sacrificial meals by those who brought them. Along with these they might put the burnt-offerings, which were wont to be burnt entire upon the altar, and eat them also. The words express indignation at the sacrifices of those who were so wholly alienated from God. God had so little pleasure in their sacrifices, that they might eat of the very burnt-offerings.
To show the reason of what is here said, Jeremiah adds, in Jer 7:22, that God had not commanded their fathers, when He led them out of Egypt, i…
The people’s offerings and sacrifices meant nothing to the Lord if disobedience ruled in their hearts. Their sacrifices did not manipulate God into doing something he would rather not do. Rather, they embodied the people’s trust in God’s gracious forgiveness. When the people tried to use the sacrificial system to manipulate God while living self-serving lives, it only infuriated him (Isa 1:10-16; Amos 5:21-27). Obedience to God allows for a personal relationship between God and his people that provides the basis for a wonderful future (Hos 6:6).
Rashi on Jeremiah 7:22
on the day I brought them forth The beginning of the condition was only (Exodus 19:5): “If you hearken to My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be a peculiar treasure to Me.”
