Jeremiah 7:30

Jer 7:30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.

Ver. 30. They have set their abominations in the house.] So do those now that broach heresies in the Church.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer 7:30-31. They have set up their abominations, &c. — They have set up images and altars for idolatrous worship even in my temple, and the courts near it. This seems to be spoken of what was done in the times of Manasseh, or Amon, 2Ki 21:4; 2Ki 21:7; 2Ch 33:4. And they have built the high places of Tophet — To burn their sons and their daughters in the fire. Concerning this unnatural and cruel custom of burning their children, by way of sacrifice to Moloch, which was derived from the Canaanites, see notes on Lev 18:21; 2Ki 23:10; Isa 30:33. Which I commanded them not — But, on the contrary, expressed the greatest detestation of it, and forbade it under the severest penalties: see Lev 20:1-5. The words are spoken by the figure called meiosis, by which a great deal less is expressed than is implied; a way of speaking frequent in Scripture. Thus, Deu 17:3, God, speaking of the worship of the host of heaven, adds, Which I have not commanded, meaning, which I expressly forbade. So God, reproving the idolatry of the Jews, says, Isa 65:12, They choose things wherein I delighted not, that is, which I utterly abhorred. And Jeremiah (Jer 2:8) calls idols, things that do not profit, meaning, that their worship was not only insignificant, but likewise extremely wicked and destructive. Thus St. Paul expresses the vilest sins, by calling them things which are not convenient, Rom 1:28.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7:30–8:3 This message decreed death for the people of Judah. It was finally fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem (586 BC).

7:30-34 The valley of Ben-Hinnom began on the west side of Jerusalem and continued around the south side. This narrow, steep-sided valley opened into the Kidron Valley and was the city’s combined garbage dump and graveyard. The bodies of the poor who were murdered or died of disease were dumped there, and child sacrifice (a practice totally abhorrent to the Lord; see 2 Chr 28:3; 33:6) was performed there. The valley was also known as Topheth (2 Kgs 23:10; Isa 30:33), perhaps referring to the ritual drums (Hebrew top) or to the sacrificial fires (tap) that were used there. In the New Testament it is called Gehenna, and Jesus compared hell to the fire that burned continuously in that valley (see study note on Matt 5:29). Before long, it would be known as the Valley of Slaughter, because the siege and destruction of Jerusalem (588–586 BC) would fill the valley to overflowing with the bodies of the slain.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

set their abominations in the house-- (Jer 32:34; Kg2 21:4, Kg2 21:7; Kg2 23:4; Eze 8:5-14).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Lest the Jews should murmur and complain that God was too rigorous, the Prophet adds, that they were not given up to destruction without the justest reasons. How so? They had done evil To do evil here means, that they had not offended in one thing, but had given themselves up to wickedness and evil doings. It is the same as though he had said, that they were so corrupt that they were wholly inured to the doing of evil, and had by long use contracted evil habits; for they continually provoked God. But as they flattered themselves, the Prophet reminds them here of God’s judgment: “It is enough, “he says, “that the Judge condemns you; for if ye see not your wickedness nor acknowledge your sin, yet this will not avail you; for God declares that you are guilty in his sight.”

We see that there is an implied contrast between the sight of God and the delusions by which hypocrites soothed themselves, while they made evasions or perversely excused their sins, or sought to escape by circuitous windings. God then shews that his own sight, or knowledge, is sufficient, how blind soever man may be, and however the whole world may connive at their sins.

He adds one kind of sin, that they had set up their abominations in the Temple. This refers to superstitions. But as we have seen elsewhere, and shall often have to observe, the Prophets frequently reproved sins by mentioning only one sin for the whole. Then what was especially wicked in the people he states, and that was, that the Temple was polluted with superstitions. We have already said, that it was an intolerable sacrilege to pollute the Temple with abominations, which was then the only true Temple in the world: for it was God’s will that sacrifices should be offered to him in that one place; and he had carefully described everything necessary for a right worship. When, therefore, the Jews polluted that very Temple, how abominable was such a profanation? It was not then without reason that the Prophet brings forward what was especially wicked in the people, — that God’s house was polluted with superstitious and many spurious ceremonies, and that there his whole worship was vitiated. The rest to-morrow.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(30) In the house which is called by my name.—This had been done by Ahaz (2Ch_28:2), and after the Temple had been cleansed by Hezekiah (2Ch_29:5) had been repeated by Manasseh (2Ki_21:4-7; 2Ch_33:3-7). Josiah’s reformation again checked the tendency to idolatry (2Ki_23:4; 2Ch_34:3); but it is quite possible that the pendulum swung back again when his death left the idolatrous party in Judah free to act, and that this special aggravation of the evil, the desecration of the Temple of Jehovah by “abominations” of idol-worship, re-appeared together with the worship of the Queen of Heaven and the sacrifices to Molech.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. they have set their abominations] as Manasseh had done (2Ki_21:5; 2Ki_21:7).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord,.... Meaning not a single action only, but a series, a course of evil actions; and those openly, in a daring manner, not only before men, but in the sight of God, and in contempt of him, like the men of Sodom, Gen 13:13,

they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it; that is, set their idols in the temple; here Manasseh set up a graven image of the grove, Kg2 21:7 which was done, as if it was done on purpose to defile it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Abominations. Hebrew. We have literally, "stumbling-blocks," offendicula. (Haydock) --- Manasses placed idols in the very temple, as the last kings of Juda did, 4 Kings xxiii. 4., and Ezechiel viii. 3.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The children of Judah; either Judah’s posterity, Jos 14:6, or Judah’s inhabitants, which are often called their children; so Jer 2:16. In my sight, i.e. though they will not see it, yet I see it, and they shall know that it is in my sight, i.e. that it displeaseth me.

They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name: here he instanceth in one species of their abominations for all the rest, whereby it appears they were grown to a great height of impiety. It was not enough to have their idols and superstitions abroad in the hills and groves, nor in private in their own houses, Isa 57:6-8; Jer 19:13; but they must bring them into God’s house, as Manasseh did, 2Ki 21:4; God having but one house in the world, as it were, to confront him, 2Ch 36:14; Jer 32:31; Eze 43:8.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. Have set their abominations in the house… called by my name — Probably alluding to the profanation of the temple by Manasseh. 2Ki_21:5; 2Ki_21:7.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They have set their abominations, etc.; alluding, doubtless, to the altars which Manasseh built "for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah," and especially to the image of the Canaanitish goddess Asherah, which he set up in the temple itself. (2Ki_21:5, 2Ki_21:7)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the house - It was not enough to have their idols abroad in the hills and groves, but they must bring them into God's house.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.