Jeremiah 32:26

"Then came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me? Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold. I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it: and the Chaldeans that fight against this city, shall come and set the city on fire, and burn it, with the houses, upon whose roofs they have burned incense to Baal, and poured out drink-offerings to other gods. to provoke me to anger. For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith Jehovah. For this city hath been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face, because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they have turned unto me the back and not the face: and though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction. But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin."

The purpose of God's answer in this first segment of it is that of announcing his justice in the punishment coming upon Israel. Here is a shameful catalogue of their, abominations. Several things here are of particular interest.

"Jerusalem a provocation to God since the day they built it ..." (Jeremiah 32:31). Ever diligent to find "inaccuracies" in the Bible, some commentators point out that the Jews did not actually build Jerusalem; David captured it. Yes, yes; but Solomon was the first king to pour vast riches into the rebuilding of the city, and that alone entitles it to be said that "they built it"; and from that very reign began the long road to total idolatry for Israel. Solomon's seven hundred wives all wanted temples built to their pagan gods; and Solomon accommodated them. Thus the words are strictly true as they stand in the sacred text; and there is no need to say that, "The prophet means `from the earliest times.' "[8] Again, we would like to protest the affinity which scholars have for telling us "what the prophet meant," instead of "what the prophet said!" This is sometimes necessary, but the habit easily spills over into situations where it is not necessary at all.

"The high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom ..." (Jeremiah 32:5). Note the close connection here between the high places of Baal and the horrible human sacrifices to Molech in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Baal worship is sometimes explained as being a lot more innocent than it actually was.

"Which I commanded them not ..." (Jeremiah 32:35). Today, there are some very aggressive and strident voices proclaiming that what God has not forbidden by specific commandment is allowable, in such matters as the appointment of women deacons and in the use of mechanical instruments of music in God's worship; but a passage like this indicates that "things which God has not commanded" are simply not allowable under any circumstances as elements of God's worship.