Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 7:19

Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: [do they] not [provoke] themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

Do they not provoke … – literally, Is it not themselves (that they provoke) to the shame of their faces?

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Do they think to grieve me, and trouble my mind? They are deceived, I am without passion, and can be without their offerings. Will not they themselves feel the smart of it? Jer 7:6. Will they not procure anger to themselves, as an arrow falls on the head of him that shoots? 1Co 10:22; of the phrase see Jer 3:25.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

19. Is it I that theyprovoke to anger? Is it not themselves? (Deu 32:16;Deu 32:21; Job 35:6;Job 35:8; Pro 8:36).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord,…. No: he cannot be provoked to anger as men are; anger does not fall upon him as it does on men; there is no such affection in God as there is in men; his Spirit cannot be irritated and provoked in the manner that the spirits of men may be; and though sin, and particularly idolatry, is disagreeable to him, contrary to his nature, and repugnant to his will; yet the damage arising from it is more to men themselves than to him; and though he sometimes does things which are like to what are done by men when they are angry, yet in reality there is no such perturbation in God as there is in men:

do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? the greatest hurt that is done is done to themselves; they are the sufferers in the end; they bring ruin and destruction upon themselves; and therefore have great reason to be angry with themselves, since what they do issues in their own shame and confusion. The Targum is,

“do they think that they provoke me? saith the Lord; is it not for evil to themselves, that they may be confounded in their works?”

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

But instead of vexing Him (Jahveh) they rather vex themselves, inasmuch as God causes the consequences of their idolatry to fall on their own head. is used reflexively: se ipsos; cf. Ew. 314, c; Gesen. 124, 1, b. For the cause of the shame of their face, i.e., to prepare for themselves the shame of their face, to cover their face with shame; cf. Jer 3:25. – For (Jer 7:20) because of this idolatrous work, the wrath of the Lord will pour itself over the land in the consuming fire of war (cf. Jer 4:4 with Jer 5:17, Nah 1:6, etc.), so as to cut off men and beasts, trees and fruit.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

He then subjoins, Do they provoke me, and not rather to the shame of their own faces? God here intimates, that however reproachfully the Jews acted towards him, they yet brought no loss to him, for he stood in no need of their worship. Why then does he so severely threaten them? Because he had their sins in view: but yet he shews that he cared not for them nor their sacrifices, for he could without any loss be without them. Hence he says, that they sought their own ruin, and whatever they devised would fall on their own heads. They seek to provoke me; they shall know with whom they have to do.” It is like what is said by the Prophet Zechariah, “They shall know whom they have pierced: I indeed continue uninjured; and though they provoke me as much as they can, I yet despise all their wickedness, for they cannot reach me; they can neither hurt me nor take anything from me.” But he says, they provoke themselves, that is, their fury shall return on their own heads; and hence it shall be, that their faces shall be ashamed. (203)

(203) The verb rendered “provoke,“ means to disturb, to disquiet, to cause an annoyance, to irritate, —

Is it I they are annoying, saith Jehovah? Is it not themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?

They were not disturbing, as it were, the repose of God, but their own. They could do no hurt or annoyance to God, but they were annoying and injuring themselves; and this would turn out to their own shame and confusion. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(19) Do they not provoke themselves . . .?The interpolated words, though they complete the sense, mar the abrupt force of the Hebrew. Is it not themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

The Judgment Pronounced

v. 29. Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, shearing it off as the sign of the deepest mourning, Jerusalem here being considered a virgin consecrated to the Lord, and cast it away and take up a lamentation on high places, on account of the uncleanness and desecration of her guilt; for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath, the people against whom His indignation has been aroused, against whom His anger is burning.

v. 30. For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight, saith the Lord, things which are loathsome before His eyes; they have set their abominations, altars for the host of heaven and graven images of various idols, 2Ki 21:4-7, in the house which is called by My name to pollute it. Jer 32:34.

v. 31. And they have built the high places of Tophet, idolatrous altars with their sanctuaries at this point, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, southwest of Jerusalem, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, in the terrible child sacrifices made in honor of Moloch; which I commanded them not, neither came it into My heart, He had not even thought of permitting such abominations, much less of sanctioning them, His prohibition being strictly against such practices. Cf Deu 17:3; Deu 12:31.

v. 32. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called, Tophet, nor the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, or Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, a name applied to it as the result of the great number of burials of Jews slaughtered in the siege of the city; for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place, all available space being occupied by the graves of the fallen.

v. 33. And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, the birds of prey, particularly the buzzards, feeding on the unburied corpses, and for the beasts of the earth, and none shall fray them away, no person being present then to frighten them away from their loathsome repast.

v. 34. Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the reference being made to the joyous processions in the Orient in which the bride and the bridegroom are led through the streets, accompanied by bands of musicians and singers; for the land shall be desolate. So completely was the punishment of the Lord carried out upon reprobate Judah for having rejected Him and His mercy.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Jer 7:19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: [do they] not [provoke] themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

Ver. 19. Do they provoke me to anger? ] i.e., Hurt they me by their provocations? or hope they to get the better of me, and to cause me to lay down the bucklers first? Surely, as Ulysses’s companions said to him, when he would needs provoke Polydamas, may we better say to such as provoke the Almighty,

“ S, .”

Or as the wise man, “Contend not with him that is mightier than thou”; meddle with thy matchman.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

provoke. Note the Figure of speech Ploke, by which the one word implies a second meaning. “Do they provoke Me . . . ? No: they bring on themselves” the judgments of Jehovah. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 32:21).

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

they provoke: Jer 2:17, Jer 2:19, Deu 32:16, Deu 32:21, Deu 32:22, Isa 1:20, Isa 1:24, Eze 8:17, Eze 8:18, 1Co 10:22

the confusion: Jer 20:11, Ezr 9:7, Isa 45:16, Dan 9:7, Dan 9:8

Reciprocal: 2Ki 23:19 – to provoke the Lord Job 35:6 – General Isa 1:4 – provoked Isa 65:7 – therefore Jer 25:7 – that ye Jer 44:7 – against

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jer 7:19. Many times a man’s acts Intended as an injury to another will rebound against himself. The Lord declared that in committing idolatry they were spiting themselves. It was like a patient who would swallow poison in order to spite the physician who had prescribed wholesome medicine. The people of Judah were told that their foolish conduct wouid result in their own confusion which referred to the shame or humiliation that the Babylonian captivity would bring upon them.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

By provoking the Lord, the people were really hurting and humiliating themselves. Their flagrant disobedience would come back on them, and they would suffer for their sins.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)