Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 7:24
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels [and] in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
24. in their own counsels ] lit. in counsels. The words are best omitted (with LXX).
stubbornness ] Cp. Jer 3:17.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Imagination – Better, as in the margin.
And went backward – literally, as in the margin; i. e., they turned their back upon Me to follow their own devices.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 7:24
Went backward, and not forward.
Backward
I. Illustrations of going backward in regard to religion.
1. From Jewish history. Compare best days of Solomon, when temple was dedicated, with these when jeremiah preached at gate. National mind darkened, conscience enfeebled, heart hardened.
2. Churches. Galatia (Gal 3:1-3; Gal 5:7-8), Ephesus (Rev 2:4), Sardis (Rev 3:1).
3. Individual life.
(1) Brought up in Christian home; back into thoughtlessness, dissipation, infidelity.
(2) Awakened by power of truth, and gained a place in household of faith; go backward and make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience.
(3) Trod noblest heights of Christian service; back to stagnation and ease.
II. Causes of this going backward.
1. Negatively.
(1) God never causes a human being to go backward from what is pure and good and true.
(2) Nor must the charge be laid at the door of men or of Satan.
2. Positively.
(1) The primary cause must be sought in man himself, his inclination to the things which are behind. Spiritual feebleness.
(2) The secondary causes are temptations; the lusts, pleasures, and gains he desires to enjoy.
(3) His weakness in yielding results from neglect of the means of strength, the Word of God, prayer, means of instruction and grace.
III. Consequences of going backward.
1. Displeasure of God.
2. Such as turn back are liable to sink into lowest depths of irreligion.
3. Experience of deepest remorse and reproach of conscience.
Conclusion–
1. Stand fast in the Lord.
2. Despair not, but return. (R. Ann.)
The backslider defenceless
When Christian, in the Pilgrims Progress, thought about going back, he recollected that he had no armour for his back. He had a breastplate, he was covered from head to foot by his shield, but there was nothing to protect his back, and therefore, if he retreated, the adversary could spit him with his javelin in a moment. So he thought that bad as it was to go forward, it would be worse to go backward, and therefore he bravely cut a path for himself straight onward for glory. Look at that fact whenever you are tempted: do not endure the idea of turning tail in the day of battle. May retreat be impossible to you! God makes it Impossible by His grace. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Nor inclined their ear: it notes something of a higher degree of non-attention than bare not hearkening, viz. their not listening that they might obey what they hear, Jer 7:26; 11:8, noting not only their slightness, but their stiffness.
The imagination, or stubbornness. See Jer 3:17.
Went backward, and not forward, like restive beasts; see Jer 2:27; a sign of their contempt; implying either,
1. They were worse by their admonitions and corrections, and so nothing did thrive with them. Or,
2. From the very first they have gone further and further from me, as Jer 7:25,26.
3. Or else depending upon their outward services, they set not my commands before their eyes, but cast my true worship behind their backs, Mat 23:23.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
24. hearkened notThey did notgive even a partial hearing to Me (Psa 81:11;Psa 81:12).
imaginationrather, asMargin, “the stubbornness.”
backward, c. (Jer 2:27Jer 32:33; Hos 4:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear,…. Neither to the law that was given them, nor to the promises that were made unto them, this was the case of the Jewish fathers, and also of their posterity, to whom belonged the law, and the promises, and the service of God:
but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart; what their evil heart imagined, advised and directed to, that they attended to, walked in, and pursued after. The heart of man is evil; it is desperately wicked, even wickedness itself; and so is every thought and every imagination of the thoughts of it and all its counsels, machinations and contrivances; and therefore the consequence of walking in these, or steering the course of life according to them, must be bad:
and went backward, and not forward; they went backwards from the ways of God, and walked not in them. The Targum is,
“they turned the back in my worship, and did not put my fear before their face;”
or else this may design, not their sin, but their punishment, as Kimchi interprets it; they did not prosper, but suffered adversity; a curse, and not a blessing, attended the works of their hands.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But they have not regarded that which was foremost and most cardinal in the law. They hearkened not, sc. to my voice; and instead of walking in the ways commanded, they walked in the counsels of the stubbornness of their evil heart. is stat. absol., and is co-ordinated with it in apposition, instead of being subordinated; cf. Ew. 289, c. The lxx have not seen their way to admit such a co-ordination, and so have omitted the second term; and in this, Movers, Hitz., and Graf have followed them, deleting the word as a mere gloss. As to “the stubbornness of their evil heart,” see on Jer 3:17. , they were backwards, not forwards, i.e., they so walked as to turn to me the back and not the face. with expresses the direction or aim of a thing. The subject to these clauses is the Israelites from the time of Moses down to that of Jeremiah. This is shown by the continuation of the same idea in Jer 7:25 and Jer 7:26. From the time the fathers were led out of Egypt till the present time, God has with anxious care been sending prophets to exhort and warn them; but they have not hearkened, they have made their neck hard, i.e., were stiffnecked, and did worse than their fathers, i.e., each succeeding generation did more wickedly than that which preceded it. On , (the period) from the day…until…cf. the remarks on Hag 2:18. The gives to the mention of the time the value of an independent clause, to which that which is said regarding that time is joined by consec. is adverbial accusative: by the day, i.e., daily, in early morn, i.e., with watchful care sending (on this expression, see at Jer 7:13). acquires this sense, not in virtue of its standing for , but by reason of its connection with the two infinitives absoll.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
They hearkened not nor inclined their ear Here the Prophet shews, that the Jews did not then begin to be rebellious against God and his word; for they imitated the impious contumacy of their fathers: and he dwells on this more at large. He now says, “I gave no command about sacrifices, but only this one thing I required of your fathers, to obey me.” They hearkened not, he says. What could have been a juster demand than that they should obey God? How great, then, and how base an indignity it was, to reject his authority? Nay, still more, they inclined not the ear: for by this phrase the Prophet means not only a contempt of his word and indifference, but their obstinacy and willfulness, inasmuch as they had hardened themselves against God. Hypocrites do, indeed, sometimes incline the ear, and wish to know what is said, and in some measure consider it: but the Prophet here sets forth as it were the insane contumacy of the Jews, for they inclined not, no, not even the ear to God speaking to them.
He afterwards adds, that they walked in their tortuous counsels, and also, in the wickedness of their evil heart (206) This comparison aggravates their sin, — the Jews preferred to follow their own humor rather than to obey God and his commands. Had anything been set before them, which might have deceived them and obscured the authority of the law, there would have been some excuse: but when there was nothing to prevent them from obeying the command of God, except that they followed their own foolish imaginations, they were wholly inexcusable. For what excuse could they have made? That they wished to be wiser than God! How great a madness was this, and how diabolical? But the Prophet leaves them nothing but this vain excuse, which doubled their guilt. They thought, no doubt, that their heart was well fitted for the purpose: but he does not here allow them to judge, but distinctly condemns them as they deserved.
We ought to take particular notice of this passage; for the majority of men at this day set up their own fictions against God’s word. The Papists indeed pretend antiquity; they say that they have been taught by their ancestors; and at the same time they plead councils and the ordinances of the fathers: but yet there is not one of them, who is not addicted to his own figments, and who does not take the liberty, nay, an unbridled license, to reject whatever he pleases. Moreover, if the origin of the whole Papal worship be considered, it will appear, that those who first devised so many strange superstitions, were only impelled by audacity and presumption, in order that they might trample under foot the word of God. Hence it is, that all things are become corrupt; for they brought in all the strange figments of their own brains. And we see that the Papists at this day are so perversely fixed in their own errors, that they prefer themselves and their own trumperies to God. And the same is the case also with all heretics. What then is to be done? Obedience, as I have said, is to be held as the basis of all true religion. If, then, on the other hand, we wish to render our worship approved by God, let us learn to cast aside whatever is our own, so that his authority may prevail over all our reasons.
Let us further notice how detestable a sacrilege it is, to follow the wickedness of our heart rather than to obey God, when he shews to us, as by the finger, the way of salvation. Let us also observe, that nothing will then do us good, though we may seem to ourselves to be very wise, and praise ourselves in our folly; for God declares here that our heart is evil whenever we turn aside from his pure word.
He says, that they were behind and not before By this phrase he intimates that the Jews turned the back, that they might not look at him or go forward. For when one promises to be our leader to conduct us in the way, we immediately turn our eyes to him; but when we turn our back, it is a proof of our contempt. And thus God complains of his people, that he was despised by them; for they had not only been deaf to the prophetic teaching and admonitions, but had also turned their faces another way, as a proof of a contumacy still worse, so that they forsook him, and as it were bade him to be gone. (207) This is the import of the last sentence. We shall proceed to-morrow.
(206) The words are literally, —
And they walked in the counsels, — In the resolutions of their evil heart.
They not only devised their own ways, but resolved to walk in them. They formed their own counsels, and made resolutions to follow them, and they were the counsels and resolutions of a disordered and perverted heart. In rendering the last word “wickedness,“ Calvin has followed the Vulgate; and our version, “imagination,“ is the Targum. It is omitted in the Septuagint, and “desires” in Syriac. See note on Jer 3:17. — Ed.
(207) The words are, —
And they were for behind, and not for before them;
which seem to mean, that they were bent on turning back to their own ways rather than to go on in the ways of God. The version of the Septuagint is, “They were for things behind, and not for things before;” the Syriac and Arabic, “ They retrograded and did not advance, “or go forward. The allusion seems not to be, as Blayney thinks, to refractory oxen under the yoke; but to those travelers who, when shewn the right way, go back instead of going forward. And this was especially true of the Israelites, who, after having left Egypt, wished often to return, instead of going forward to Canaan. Hence it is said, that they were going back to their old ways, and not going forward in the way which God bad pointed out to them. The phrase in Jer 2:27, is of another kind, and ought not to be confounded with this. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
B. Persistent Obstinacy Jer. 7:24-28
TRANSLATION
(24) But they would not hearken and they did not stretch out the ear but walked in the counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart and they went backwards and not forwards. (25) Even from the day when your fathers went out from the land of Egypt unto this day I sent unto them all My servants the prophets (urgently and persistently sending). (26) But they did not hearken unto Me nor did they incline their ears, but made hard the neck and committed evil more than their fathers. (27) When you speak unto them all these words they will not hearken unto you; when you call unto them they will not answer you. (28) Therefore you shall say unto them: This is the nation which will not hearken to the voice of the LORD their God nor will they accept correction. Faith has perished, it is cut off from their mouth.
COMMENTS
The people of Israel had a record of obstinacy. They had no desire to listen to the commandments of God. They followed instead the inclinations of their own evil hearts. In relationship to God they had gone backward and not forward (Jer. 7:24). In other words they had turned their back to God and not their faces. Religious experimentation always masquerades as progressive development. In the view of Jeremiah, to depart from the old paths of truth and fidelity was retrogressive.
From the days of the Exodus from Egypt God had continually and earnestly communicated with His people through prophets (Jer. 7:25). But the people paid no heed to these servants of the Lord. Rather than inclining their ears in the direction of these messengers of God they made their necks hard. Each generation seemed to become more sinful than the preceding one (Jer. 7:26). The people will not listen to Jeremiah any more than they listened to his predecessors in the prophetic ministry (Jer. 7:27). All he can do is publicly accuse them of obstinacy: This is the nation which will not hearken to the voice of the Lord their God nor accept correction. No other nation had been so blessed, so honored, so trained and guided. Yet this is the nation which refuses to heed the word of God. Faith or truth has vanished from their prayers and from their praise (Jer. 7:28).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(24) Imagination.Better, stubbornness, as in Jer. 3:17.
Went backward and not forward.The whole sacrificial system, even at its best, to say nothing of its idolatrous corruptions, was accordingly, from Jeremiahs point of view, a retrograde movement. The apostasy of the people in the worship of the golden calf involved a like deflection, necessary and inevitable though it might be as a process of education, from the first ideal polity, based upon the covenant made with Abraham, i.e., upon a pure and spiritual theism, the emblems and ordinances of which, though shadows of good things to come, were in themselves weak and beggarly elements (Heb. 10:1; Gal. 4:9).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
24. Went backward Literally, were backward. That is, they turned the back and not the face.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 7:24. And went backward, &c. And they turned from me, and not towards me, (Jer 7:25.). Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt, unto this day. And I sent unto them, &c.
Jer 7:27. Therefore, &c. And when thou shalt speak all these things unto them, they will not hearken unto thee.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 7:24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels [and] in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
Ver. 24. But they hearkened not, nor inclined. ] So cross grained they were, and thwart from the very first.
In the imagination of their evil hearts.
They went backward, and not forward.
a Trem.
b Cent. xvi. p. 802.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
imagination. See note on Jer 3:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
they: Jer 7:26, Jer 11:7, Jer 11:8, Exo 32:7, Exo 32:8, Neh 9:16-20, Psa 81:11, Psa 81:12, Psa 106:7-48, Eze 20:8, Eze 20:13, Eze 20:16, Eze 20:21
walked: Jer 23:17, Deu 29:19
imagination: or, stubbornness, Jer 3:17, *marg.
went: Heb. were
backward: Jer 7:26, Jer 2:27, Jer 8:5, Jer 32:33, Neh 9:29, Hos 4:16
Reciprocal: Gen 3:17 – and hast Exo 24:7 – All that Ecc 11:9 – walk Isa 65:2 – after Jer 3:6 – backsliding Jer 9:14 – walked Jer 13:10 – walk Jer 15:6 – thou art Jer 16:12 – imagination Jer 17:23 – they obeyed Jer 18:12 – we will walk Jer 25:4 – ye Jer 29:19 – General Jer 31:22 – backsliding Jer 32:23 – but Jer 35:14 – but ye Jer 42:21 – but Jer 44:5 – they Jer 49:4 – O backsliding Hos 10:6 – ashamed Mic 6:16 – ye walk Zec 7:11 – they refused Luk 13:34 – and ye Heb 3:12 – an
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 7:24. Inclined not their ear indicates not only failure to observe the commands of the Lord, but it shows they were not even interested to the extent of listening to see what was expected of them. Walked in the counsels means they followed the opinions of their own hearts regardless of the divine law. The popular theory of man is that the inventions he has produced in religion indicates progress forward, but the people are told here that the evil productions of man are a backsliding instead of a move in the right direction.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
In spite of these promised blessings, the Israelites had not obeyed or even listened to the Lord’s voice. They had followed their own advice, and their evil hearts had stubbornly refused to yield to His will. Instead of progressing toward blessing, they regressed into cursing.