Land Biblical Widows
Posted By admin on November 13, 2008
Land Biblical Widows
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need your help with Jeremiah 7:1-7?
Jeremiah 7:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : 2 "Stand at the gate of the LORD's house and there proclaim this message: " 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. 3 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!" 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.
1. What did this mean in their town? and
2. What did those passages mean to the biblical audience?
This is such a beautiful passage of scripture.
God was speaking through the prophet Jeremiah to His people in Judah, especially to those who often entered the gates of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem to worship Jehovah, the God of Israel. Jeremiah was commanded to stand at the entrance of the Temple and proclaim publicly this message.
The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, reminded His people that they were not to depend on the fact that they had the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, in their land Judah, as a guarantee of divine protection from the impending invasion of the Babylonians. God's holiness demands that they reform their ways and their actions - Jehovah was their God but He would not, indeed could not, keep 'one eye shut' on their evil deeds. If they continue to live sinful lives and continue their idolatrous practices, then He would no longer protect them and they would be taken away into another land as captives. The prophet Jeremiah, speaking for Jehovah, also outlined what was expected of them:
1. change their ways and their actions
2. deal justly with each other - God hates injustice
3. do not oppress the stranger, or foreigners, in the land
4. do not oppress the fatherless or the widow
5. do not commit murder
6. stop praying to idols
Sure enough, in 586 B.C., the Babylonian invaders destroyed the city of Jerusalem, the Temple of Solomon, slaughtered the Jews, and many of Judah were taken into captivity.
To answer Part 2...
This message speaks to the biblical audience in much the same way. As Christians, now called the people of God, we are also expected to live holy lives, and those 6 conditions also apply to us. Otherwise, God will allow judgment to come into our lives, because as a Holy God He does not condone sin even in the lives of His people.
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