Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 19:4
Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
4. have estranged ] have refused to recognise its claims.
they and their fathers and the kings of Judah ] rather, as LXX, they and their fathers; and the kings of Judah have filled, etc., generalizing from Manasseh’s acts (2Ki 21:16; 2Ki 24:4).
innocents ] not children, the sacrifice of whom is first mentioned in the next verse, but in general innocent persons slain in persecution or by malversation of justice.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Have estranged this place – They have not recognized the sanctity of this place, but have treated it as a strange place, by worshipping in it strange gods.
Innocents – i. e., guiltless persons.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Estranged this place] Ye have devoted my temple to a widely different purpose from that for which it was erected.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Because they have forsaken me; the laws, statutes, and ordinances which God had given them, to direct them both in their religious behaviour towards him, and in their civil conversations.
Have estranged this place; either this city, or this temple, (which stood very nigh to this valley,) or this particular valley, which they had turned to a use quite contrary to the end for which God gave it them; for in it they had paid a religious homage to idols, strange idols, which their fathers knew not, and had filled that place with the blood of such as had not deserved death, either innocent men, or children, that they had there sacrificed to idols; of which he afterward speaketh more particularly.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. (Isa65:11).
estranged this placedevotedit to the worship of strange gods: alienating a portion of the sacredcity from God, the rightful Lord of the temple, city, and whole land.
nor their fathersnamely,the godly among them; their ungodly fathers God makesno account of.
blood of innocentsslainin honor of Molech (Jer 7:31;Psa 106:37).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Because they have forsaken me,…. My worship, as the Targum; they had apostatized from God, relinquished his service, neglected and despised his word and ordinances, and left the religion they had been brought up in, and was agreeable to the will of God. This, with what follows, contain reasons of the Lord’s threatening them to bring evil upon them, as before:
and have estranged this place; or made a strange place of it, so that it could scarcely be known to be the same, nor would the Lord own it as his; meaning either the city of Jerusalem, to which the prophet was near, and could point to it; or the temple, which was in sight, and which they had strangely abused, by offering strange sacrifices to strange gods; or the valley of Hinnom, the spot he was upon, and which they had alienated from its original use:
and have burnt incense in it unto other gods; to strange gods, the gods of the Gentiles; and this they did both in the city of Jerusalem and in the temple, and very probably in the valley of Hinnom, where they sacrificed their children: gods
whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah; of whose wisdom, power, and goodness, neither they nor their fathers before them, nor any of their kings, had had any instance; and whose help and assistance, in times of danger and difficulty, they had had no experience of; and, till now, neither they nor their ancestors had ever owned them, or acknowledged them; nor scarce had heard of their names; nor any of their pious kings, as David, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah:
and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; young children that were sacrificed here to idols, as they were in the valley of Hinnom, which seems to be the place principally intended; so that they were not only guilty of idolatry, but of murder; and of the murder of innocent creatures, and even, of their own babes; which was shocking and unheard of cruelty!
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The reason is given why God would so severely deal with that place. We indeed know that hypocrites are ever ready with their answer; as soon as God threatens them, they bark and bring forward their evasions. The Prophet then shews that the judgment announced would be just, lest the Jews should pretend that it was extreme.
God first complains that he had been forsaken by them, because they had changed the worship which had been prescribed in his Law. And this is what ought to be carefully considered; for no one would have willingly confessed what Jeremiah charged upon them all; they would have said, — “We have not forsaken God, for we are the children of Abraham; but what we wish to do is to add to his worship; and why should it be deemed a reproach to us, if we are not content with our own simple form of worship, and add various other forms? and we worship God not only in the Temple, but also in this place; and further, we do not spare our own children.” But God shews by one expression that these were frivolous evasions; for he is not acknowledged except what he orders and commands is obediently received. Let us know, that God is forsaken as soon as men turn aside from his pure word, and that all are apostates who turn here and there, and do not follow what God approves.
Then he says that they had alienated the place. God had consecrated to himself the whole of Judea: he would not indeed have sacrifices offered to him in every place; but when the Jews worshipped him, as they were taught by Moses and the prophets, the whole land was as it were an altar and a temple to him. Then God complains that his authority in that part of the suburbs was taken away; as though he had said, — “The whole of Judea is my right and my jurisdiction, and Jerusalem is the royal palace in which I dwell; but ye, deluded beings, do by force take away my right and transfer it to another, as though one gave to a robber a place nigh a royal residence.” Thus God justly complains that they had alienated that place (213)
But we must remember the reason, which immediately follows, because they had burned incense to Baal. They pretended, no doubt, the name of God; but yet it was a most preposterous superstition, when they worshipped inferior gods, as the Papists do at this day. The word Baal is sometimes used in the singular number by the prophets, and sometimes in the plural: but what is Baal? a patron. They were not content with one patron, but every one desired a patron for himself: hence under the words Baal and Baalim, the prophets characterized all fictition is modes of worship: when they worshipped God’s name, they blended the worship of patrons, who had not been made known to them; hence he adds, They have made incense in it to foreign gods. He afterwards says, that these foreign gods were such as neither they nor their fathers nor their kings knew. By saying that they were gods unknown to their fathers as well as to themselves and to their kings, he no doubt calls their attention to the doctrine of the law, and to the many certain proofs by which they had found that he was the only true God.
The Jews might have raised such an objection as the Papists do at this day, — that their modes of worship were not devised in their time, but that they had derived them from their ancestors. But God regarded as nothing those kings and the fathers, who had long before degenerated from true and genuine religion. It must be here observed, that true knowledge is connected with verity: for they who had first contrived new forms of worship, doubtless followed their own foolish imaginations; as when any one in the present day asks the Papists, why they weary themselves so much with their superstitions, good intention is ever their shield, — “O, we think that this is pleasing to God.” Therefore rightly does God here repudiate their inventions as wholly vain, for they possess nothing solid or permanent. At the same time, he by implication condemns the Jews for rejecting his law, whose authority had been established among them, so that they ought not to have entertained any doubt: for it would have been the greatest ingratitude to say, “We know not who introduced the Law!” God had indeed sanctioned the law by so many miracles, that it could not have been disputed; and they had also found by many evidences and proofs that he was the only brue God. tie had then been known by their fathers as well as by their kings, even by David and by all his godly successors. Hence their crime was exaggerated, by seeking for themselves foreign gods.
Now we also see how foolishly the Papists lay hold on this passage and similar passages, in order to commend their abominations by the pretext of antiquity, for vain are their disguises when they say, “O, we have been thus taught by our ancestors, and we have the authority of kings.” But the Prophet here does not speak of fathers indiscriminately; but by fathers he means those who had embraced the true and pure worship of God, as they had been taught by the law; and those kings were alone worthy of imitation, who had faithfully worshipped God according to the doctrine of the law: and thus he excludes all those fathers and kings who had degenerated from the law of Moses.
(213) Perhaps the idea would be better expressed, if we were to say, “They had alienized the place,” or heathenized it, made it a heathen place. To alienate is to transfer a right or property from one to another. This was indeed true, for they separated as it were the place from God and transferred it to heathen deities. But the idea here seems to be, that they made the place heathenish: “and have heathenized this place.” “Alienated” is the Septuagint; “made it alien,” the Vulgate; “polluted,” the Syriac; and “defiled,” the Targum. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Have estranged this place.i.e., have alienated it from Jehovah its true Lord, and given it to a strange god. The words refer specially to the guilt of Manasseh (2Ch. 33:4).
The blood of innocents.The words seem at first to refer to the Molech sacrifices, which had made the valley of Hinnom infamous. These, however, are mentioned separately in the next verse, and the prophet probably spoke rather here, as in Jer. 2:34; Jer. 7:6, of the innocent blood with which Manasseh had filled Jerusalem (2Ki. 21:16; 2Ki. 24:4, where the same word is used).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Estranged this place Rather, disowned this place. The same verb occurs in Job 21:29. The meaning is, they have treated it as a strange place, perhaps by worshipping strange gods. Neither they nor, etc. The exact construction of the original is: Other gods which they knew not: they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; these nouns being subjects, not of have known, but of the verbs of the principal clause.
Innocents Not, as some have hastily concluded, children slain to Moloch, but guiltless persons who were victims of persecution and judicial murder. See 2Ki 21:16, and Jer 7:6; Jer 22:3; Jer 22:17.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 19:4. And have estranged this place And have turned this place to improper uses. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 19:4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
Ver. 4. Because they have forsaken me. ] Jer 16:11 .
And estranged this place.
Whom neither they, nor their fathers,
And have filled this place with the blood of innocents.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
forsaken Me. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 28:20; Deu 32:15). Compare Jer 5:7, Jer 5:19. App-92.
whom . . . they. . . have known. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 32:17).
innocents = people, not merely babes.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
they have: Jer 2:13, Jer 2:17, Jer 2:19, Jer 2:34, Jer 5:6, Jer 15:6, Jer 16:11, Jer 17:13, Deu 28:20, Deu 31:16-18, Deu 32:15-23, 2Ki 22:16, 2Ki 22:17, Isa 65:11, Dan 9:5-15
estranged: 2Ki 21:4, 2Ki 21:5, 2Ki 21:7, 2Ki 23:11, 2Ki 23:12, 2Ch 33:4-7
burned: Jer 7:9, Jer 11:13, Jer 18:15, Jer 32:29-35, Deu 13:6, Deu 13:13, Deu 28:36, Deu 28:64, Deu 32:17
filled: Jer 2:30, Jer 2:34, Jer 7:31, Jer 7:32, Jer 22:17, Jer 26:15, Jer 26:23, 2Ki 21:6, 2Ki 21:16, 2Ki 24:4, Isa 59:7, Lam 4:13, Mat 23:34, Mat 23:35, Luk 11:50, Rev 16:6
Reciprocal: Deu 18:10 – maketh Deu 32:27 – lest their Jer 1:16 – who have Jer 44:3 – of their Jer 51:5 – though Eze 8:17 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 19:4. Estranged this place lias reference to the misuse that was made of it. The place had formerly been used ns disposal plant or Incinerator for the waste materials of Jerusalem. Such a use was right and could truly be regarded as a service pleasing to the Lord since he requires that man he cleanly and careful about that which pertains to health. But in using it for the practices of idolatry they estranged or took it away from the service that God had sanctioned. Filled with blood of innocents was literally true for among the fearful practices of idolatry was that of burning their children as sacrifices, (See Lev 18:21; 2Ki 16:3; 2Ki 17:31.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The calamity would strike because the people had forsaken Yahweh and had turned the valley of Hinnom, and all Jerusalem (cf. 2Ki 21:12), into a place of heathen worship-including child sacrifice (cf. Jer 7:31). Their forefathers did not do this, and Yahweh had never commanded these atrocities.