When theology is mixed with geography what we get is a territorial religion with strong nationalistic and often toxic overtones that can be be a roadmap to disaster.
Jeremiah points an accusing finger at the people of Jerusalem for somehow messing it up on multiple counts.
On the one hand - they have turned the Temple of YHWH into a meaningless bureaucracy of shallow piety, and on the other hand they’ve turned away from the temple to worship all the other local goddesses and gods.
Either way, he rebukes the people for prioritizing religion over justice, turning away from human needs to appeal to some form of divine protection at the expense of decency, and for being loyal to the local at the expense of other people’s needs.
What about the poor? The needs of others who come knocking on your wealthy door? Have you forgotten about basic justice?? Did you forget how you were once a foreigner and slave in Egypt?
The people don’t respond in this chapter - but we’ll see how in future chapters there are responses - and they are not pretty. It’ll get quite violent. But not quite yet.
In today’s chapter Jeremiah is a protest-artist on a soap box and the location matters.
He situated himself at a prime hotspot - right in front of one of the main gates leading into the Temple of YHWH, in the middle of Jerusalem. The location is not random, his audience are the priests and pilgrims, locals or travelers, who enter or exit the temple, and his words condemn the very holy compound they are in the middle of, lamenting how the people find refuge in a building instead of in each other’s hearts:
אַל־תִּבְטְח֣וּ לָכֶ֔ם אֶל־דִּבְרֵ֥י הַשֶּׁ֖קֶר לֵאמֹ֑ר הֵיכַ֤ל יְהֹוָה֙ הֵיכַ֣ל יְהֹוָ֔ה הֵיכַ֥ל יְהֹוָ֖ה הֵֽמָּה׃
הַֽמְעָרַ֣ת פָּרִצִ֗ים הָיָ֨ה הַבַּ֧יִת הַזֶּ֛ה אֲשֶׁר־נִקְרָֽא־שְׁמִ֥י עָלָ֖יו בְּעֵינֵיכֶ֑ם גַּ֧ם אָנֹכִ֛י הִנֵּ֥ה רָאִ֖יתִי נְאֻם־יְהֹוָֽה׃
“Don’t put your trust in illusions and say, this is “The Temple of YHWH, the Temple of YHWH, the Temple of YHWH!..
Do you consider this House, which bears My Holy name, to be a den of thieves? I have been watching! —declares YHWH.”
Jeremiah 7:4, 11
Different interpreters tried to make sense of why he repeats the condemnation with specific mention of the temple three times - with some suggesting that he is literally pointing at the three main sections of the temple, right in front of his listeners.
It’s helpful to remember that he’s a member of the family of banished priests who are not part of this religious hierarchy, carrying a heavy grudge, generations old, against this Jerusalem priestly elite and what he loudly names here as their ongoing abuse of the people’s faith.
The price, he warns, will be as terrible as what has happened to the other shrines in our history - demolished by divine wrath for the crime of neglect and societal sins. He names Shiloh as an example- the original YHWH shrine in the holy land, near the Jordan river, where Eli, the old priest back in the days of the prophet Samuel kept watch over the ark of the covenant until it was taken captive by the Philistines and the old man died in grief. Shiloh, in the northern territory, was eventually rejected and replaced with Jerusalem. Jeremiah descends from Eli’s priestly line and that lineages of priests that was rejected for official leadership in Jerusalem, already back in the days of King Solomon. There is actually no mention of Shiloh being actually demolished - but for Jeremiah’s contemporary listeners it may have been a memorable warning - every sacred site, no much how beloved, may one day be a ruin. He is warning them that it will be their fault.
But it’s not just the people worshiping YHWH at the temple with empty gestures and meaningless sacrifices who are today’s target but also what’s going on in the back alleys and on the rooftops of Jerusalem’s homes.
Jeremiah’s condemnation gives us a rare peek into the rituals conducted in those days to honor other deities - chief among them the Queen of Heaven. Jeremiah is not a fan of this family-style religious activity, and neither is the deity he speaks for. But for some of us, this rich description helps to reframe and reclaim the power that the ancient goddess had on our ancestors and how central this spiritual tradition was in defiance of the patriarchal and male-centric system that eventually took over and silenced all other competing mythic narratives.
Still standing at the temple gates, Jeremiah is enraged in the name of YHWH:
הַאֵינְךָ֣ רֹאֶ֔ה מָ֛ה הֵ֥מָּה עֹשִׂ֖ים בְּעָרֵ֣י יְהוּדָ֑ה וּבְחֻצ֖וֹת יְרֽוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם׃ הַבָּנִ֞ים מְלַקְּטִ֣ים עֵצִ֗ים וְהָאָבוֹת֙ מְבַעֲרִ֣ים אֶת־הָאֵ֔שׁ וְהַנָּשִׁ֖ים לָשׁ֣וֹת בָּצֵ֑ק לַעֲשׂ֨וֹת כַּוָּנִ֜ים לִמְלֶ֣כֶת הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וְהַסֵּ֤ךְ נְסָכִים֙ לֵאלֹהִ֣ים אֲחֵרִ֔ים לְמַ֖עַן הַכְעִסֵֽנִי׃
“Don’t you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
The children gather firewood, the fathers build the fire, and the mothers knead dough, to make cookies for the Queen of Heaven, and they pour libations to other gods, to vex Me!”
Jeremiah 7:17-18
Who is the Queen of Heaven celebrated by entire families by baking cookies?
Robert Alter suggests that she is:
“the Assyro-Babylonian fertility goddess Ishtar, associated with the evening star Venus. The Canaanite equivalent is Astarte. The cult of astral deities was especially popular in the last two centuries of the First Temple period. There is archaeological evidence that sweet cakes, shaped in the image of the goddess, were used in the cult of Ishtar.”
Quite popular in Assyrian culture, which the Jerusalem society emulated, goddess worship often took place on the roofs, to be closer to the sun, moon and stars.
Assyrian documents detail extra steps in the process:
“Clean the roof, place four bricks, a pile of branches, light the fire and pour libations, baking kavanu.”
Kavanu were special pastries shaped like the vagina or in some traditions - the cow or bull on which the goddess rides. They would persist through culture, nowadays adored by Jews and others around the holiday of Purim, when Esther/Ishtar is still celebrated by people of all ages, honoring the Protective Queen of the people, albeit with a mask on.
Back in Jerusalem the rooftop rituals often took place in domestic family settings - not in the public temple.
Jeremiah comes out hard against these Assyrian/pagan customs, naming these cookies - Kavanim - and his voice is echoed by the eventual editors of the Bible who try to change the words here and replace the word ‘Malka’ - Queen, with the word ‘Melaka’ - worship, or labor. The attempt to erase the Queen of Heaven in favor of a generalized worship of the heavens was not successful despite so many centuries of Her denial.
But whether it’s YHWH or Ishtar who’s the target of worship, what Jeremiah tries to tell us here, from his soapbox at the temple gate, is that all sacrificial systems can miss the mark. The purpose of religious life should not be rote rituals or animal sacrifice or even cookies but the deep connection between hearts, humans, between us and nature, earth and heaven, each other’s needs and how to nurture connection and love. Don’t get lose sight of the big picture.
What are the ways in which today we miss the mark no matter our intentions? What are the ways we can improve communication and connectivity to the sacred, without being compromised by defunct illusions and shortcuts that no longer serve as bridges and portals into what means the most to our inner lives and collective agenda?
Jeremiah goes on to describe other local religious atrocities - including the sacrifice of children still going on during his days in the valleys of Jerusalem.
Change your ways! He warns:” Mend your ways and your actions, and I, the divine will let you dwell in this place.”
With time the Queen of Heaven would evolve in the Semitic mythos to become Shechina - She Who Dwells Within.
Beyond temple or rooftop, YHWH or Ishtar - there she/he/they/us is - dwelling in the heart that’s open wide to love.
(Now what would Jeremiah say to that?)
Image: Cover of the book Shmutz by Felicia-Berliner
catching up on J
Jesus quotes the line about the "den of thieves" in his scourging of the temple of its commercialism