Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
The verse belongs to the warning of Jeremiah 7, set within the larger reading of Jeremiah 7-9 against the idolatry, abominations and disobedience of Judah and Israel. More narrowly it stands in Jeremiah 7:17-20, which denounces their idolatrous worship and the idolatrous worship and feasts carried on by the kings and the people. In that setting it shows that formal temple worship is of no avail to the ungodly.
The offerings in view were offered in such a state of heart that they were no offerings at all. God does not separate the law from incense, burnt offerings and sacrifices as two different things. The spirit in which an act is done gives it its character as obedience or disobedience, and where that spirit cannot be seen in the act itself it is made known by other acts that reveal its true character.
Rebellion and false worship do not harm, injure or provoke God, but turn back upon the rebels themselves to their own shame, confusion and ruin. Their conduct brings confusion of face and shame upon themselves rather than injury to Him. Their sin leads to their own destruction.
The people rejected God's warning, for the prophets warned them but they would not listen. Despite God's good statutes they chose their own rules, and their rejection of God led to loss of independence.
Their wilful sin was to be punished soon by Babylon. That punishment meant loss of independence and captivity and enforced exile from Jerusalem. Judah's kings and people gave themselves to false worship and idolatrous feasts, and the fruit was captivity and enforced exile with Zion lying in utter ruin, a harvest Daniel and his companions were reaping in Babylon. Their idolatrous worship and feasts thus brought upon the people the bitter results of their own wrongdoing.
The verse is part of God's warning of unquenchable fire upon Jerusalem and the cities of Judah because of their idolatries. Unquenchable does not mean everlasting, but means a judgment fire sent by God that no man can quench or put out. The fire burns as long as there is material for the flames to feed upon, and when that material is devoured it goes out by itself. This proves that the unquenchable fire means the complete destruction of the wicked in the second death, which is the wages of sin.
The verse belongs to the warning of Jeremiah 7, set within the larger reading of Jeremiah 7-9 against the idolatry, abominations and disobedience of Judah and Israel. More narrowly it stands in Jeremiah 7:17-20, which denounces their idolatrous worship and the idolatrous worship and feasts carried on by the kings and the people. In that setting it shows that formal temple worship is of no avail to the ungodly.
The offerings in view were offered in such a state of heart that they were no offerings at all. God does not separate the law from incense, burnt offerings and sacrifices as two different things. The spirit in which an act is done gives it its character as obedience or disobedience, and where that spirit cannot be seen in the act itself it is made known by other acts that reveal its true character.
Rebellion and false worship do not harm, injure or provoke God, but turn back upon the rebels themselves to their own shame, confusion and ruin. Their conduct brings confusion of face and shame upon themselves rather than injury to Him. Their sin leads to their own destruction.
The people rejected God's warning, for the prophets warned them but they would not listen. Despite God's good statutes they chose their own rules, and their rejection of God led to loss of independence.
Their wilful sin was to be punished soon by Babylon. That punishment meant loss of independence and captivity and enforced exile from Jerusalem. Judah's kings and people gave themselves to false worship and idolatrous feasts, and the fruit was captivity and enforced exile with Zion lying in utter ruin, a harvest Daniel and his companions were reaping in Babylon. Their idolatrous worship and feasts thus brought upon the people the bitter results of their own wrongdoing.
The verse is part of God's warning of unquenchable fire upon Jerusalem and the cities of Judah because of their idolatries. Unquenchable does not mean everlasting, but means a judgment fire sent by God that no man can quench or put out. The fire burns as long as there is material for the flames to feed upon, and when that material is devoured it goes out by itself. This proves that the unquenchable fire means the complete destruction of the wicked in the second death, which is the wages of sin.