Yirmiyahu, in chapter 7, delivers a condemnation of Israel’s idolatry from the gates of the Temples. Yet again, it is not enough to offer sacrifices, one must be faithful and just as well. Neither the priests, nor the prophets, nor the people have done either, and idolatry has run rampant. Given the times, it’s hardly a surprise. With city after city falling to the Chaldeans, all the local peoples must have tried every form of magic they could think of to avert disaster, and the Israelites did, too.
2 Melechim (2 Kings) 23 tells us that even the Temple was used for the worship of Baal–one of the many things that Yosiyahu (Josiah) stopped. Yirmiyahu’s message in this chapter must have been delivered shortly before Yosiyahu’s reforms started. We are told that the Israelites have gone so far as to offer their children as idolatrous burnt sacrifices in a valley alongside Jerusalem called Topheth, which bordered on Mt. Zion. Topheth means “the roasting place.” As a consequence, Hashem warns that the region will face radical depopulation, and Topheth will be filled with the corpses of the slain, earning it a new name: the valley of slaughter. Yirmiyahu will later prophecy at Topheth regarding the horrors of the seige against Jerusalem.
The desecration of graves prophesied at the beginning of chapter 8 is a discussion of another of Yosiyahu’s reforms. According to 2 Melechim 23, Yosiyahu destroyed all the tombs except for that of a righteous prophet from Samaria (23:16-18). Chapter 8 also includes a reference to the partially self-inflicted nature of the end of Beit David’s rule (verse 3):
And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
In chapter 9, Yirmiyahu returns his attention to the aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem and the desolation resulting from siege and conquest. But chapter 10 returns to the theme that superstition and idols are not Hashem. And Hashem has a special interest in the children of Israel. They are his heirs, his children. It pains Him to punish us, but punished we must be when we work wickedness. These are words of comfort spoken to those living under siege in Jerusalem (10:17). And Yirmiyahu prays that Hashem will do His work as measured discipline and not out of pure anger (10:23-25).
Silver Trumpets 