“Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 7:14 Mean?
"Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh." God threatens to do to Solomon's Temple what He did to the Tabernacle at Shiloh — destroy it. The precedent is terrifying: Shiloh was the first permanent worship site in Israel, and God abandoned it (Psalm 78:60). The Temple that Judah trusts in will be treated the same way. The precedent has already been set.
The phrase "wherein ye trust" (asher attem botchim bo — which you are trusting in) identifies the sin: Judah trusts in the BUILDING, not in the God OF the building. The Temple has become a talisman — an object of superstitious confidence. The people believe the Temple's existence guarantees their safety. God says: the Temple's existence guarantees nothing if the people inside are corrupt.
The "as I have done to Shiloh" (ka'asher asiti leShiloh — as I did to Shiloh) is the historical proof that God CAN and WILL destroy His own worship site: Shiloh housed the Tabernacle for centuries. God destroyed it. The precedent exists. If God destroyed the first house, He can destroy the second. The Temple is not more sacred than Shiloh was. The building doesn't protect itself.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What institution or structure are you trusting instead of the God who fills it?
- 2.What does the Shiloh precedent teach about God's willingness to destroy His own worship site?
- 3.How does trusting the BUILDING rather than the God of the building describe modern institutional religion?
- 4.What would it look like to trust God rather than the structures God built?
Devotional
I'll do to THIS Temple what I did to Shiloh. God invokes the precedent that nobody wants to remember: He already destroyed one worship site. He can do it again. Shiloh was the first house of God in the Promised Land. It was destroyed. The Temple in Jerusalem — bigger, grander, more permanent — is not immune.
The 'wherein ye trust' exposes the idolatry of building-worship: Judah trusts the TEMPLE rather than the God of the Temple. The building has become a good luck charm. The architecture has become a talisman. The people believe that as long as the Temple stands, they're safe — regardless of how they live. God says: your trust is in the wrong thing. The building doesn't save you. I save you. And I can remove the building.
The 'as I have done to Shiloh' is the historical atom bomb: Shiloh was sacred. Shiloh held the ark. Shiloh was where Hannah prayed and Samuel grew up. And God abandoned it. The Tabernacle there was destroyed. The ark was captured. The glory departed (1 Samuel 4:21). If God did THAT to Shiloh, God can do this to Jerusalem. The precedent eliminates every argument that 'God would never destroy His own house.'
The verse demolishes every form of institutional trust: the church building doesn't save you. The denomination doesn't protect you. The religious tradition doesn't guarantee God's presence. If God can abandon Shiloh — and He did — then no institution, no building, no religious structure is immune from divine departure when the people inside trust the structure instead of the God who filled it.
What 'Temple' are you trusting — what institution, structure, or tradition — that isn't immune from the Shiloh treatment?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name,.... The temple, as in Jer 7:11, for though it was…
These verses begin another sermon, which is continued in this and the two following chapters, much to the same effect…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture