Jeremiah listened to these joyous shouts and observed sorrowfully the self-satisfaction of those who had come to offer their sacrifices. He was much alone these days. His parents had been dead some years and a new Priest was in charge of the Temple. Shaphan and all Josiah's old counsellors were either gone to their reward or had been dismissed from service by Jehoiakim. Shaphan's two sons, Ahikam and Gemariah, were indeed high in the counsels of the king, but they bothered little about Jeremiah and his teachings.
So Jeremiah stood alone, on the first day of the festival, at the Temple gates. A multitude of people passed him, taking their turn at bringing their offerings. From within the Temple he heard the sounds of cattle being slaughtered and smelt the odor of burning flesh. The noise deafened him; the odors choked him. Here were king, priest and people leading unrighteous lives and believing that this wholesale slaughtering and burning was what God demanded of them! Here were elaborate form and ritual, but no justice and love!
Jeremiah fairly gasped for breath when the full meaning of this came to him. Turning upon a great crowd that was jammed at the gates, waiting their turn to enter the Temple, he cried:
"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel:
"'Add your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat ye
flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them
in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices.
"'But this thing I commanded them, saying: Hearken unto my
voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people;
and walk ye in all the way that I command you that it may
be well with you.
"'Yet they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart. This is the nation that hath not hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, nor received instruction. Truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth.'"
What an amazing outburst! God did not command them concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices! The man is ridiculous!
Religious discussions and controversies had often taken place in the Temple courts. Here was the Forum of the People, in fact, and several men who had often proclaimed themselves as prophets, speaking the word of God, joined issue with Jeremiah, whom they now recognized.
"Here is the Temple—the Temple of the Lord," they exclaimed. "What was it built for, if not for sacrifices?" they wanted to know. "What other way is there for men to worship God than to bring their offerings to him?"