Jeremiah's sermon, delivered at the entrance to the Temple, raises several questions. For example, it is not entirely clear what "Baals" he is speaking about, given that this concerns a time when King Josiah's religious reform had already become an accomplished fact. It is not excluded, of course, that...
Jeremiah's sermon, delivered at the entrance to the Temple (v. 2), raises several questions. For example, it is not entirely clear what "Baals" (v. 9) he is speaking about, given that this concerns a time when King Josiah's religious reform had already become an accomplished fact. It is not excluded, of course, that the sermon was delivered under one of Josiah's successors, when pagan cults again began to spread in Judah and pagan altars appeared even in the temple court. But here, it appears, the issue is rather the household cults that even Josiah could not overcome.
Paganism, as is well known, always penetrates deeply into everyday life, and it is especially difficult to fight it there, because everyday life is entirely determined by the spiritual content of the lives of those who arrange it. That is why public, official religiosity often differs noticeably from domestic, everyday religiosity. Apparently, a significant part of those newly minted "Yahwists" who appeared in such numbers in the country after Josiah's reform remained essentially pagans, while not doubting their own orthodoxy for a minute.
Such a situation was worse spiritually than open paganism: pagans at least know who they are and are not deceived about themselves, while the imaginary "Yahwists," like those whom Jeremiah addressed, on the contrary remained in a pleasant delusion about their religiosity. Yahwism was, perhaps, for these people not the foundation of spiritual life but merely a kind of national ideology; in Yahweh they saw the Patron of the country and the people, who nevertheless did not touch their hearts, so that in their everyday life there was still room for the Baals and for the cult of the Great Goddess (vv. 17-18).
But such Yahwism became the basis for the rapid growth of a distinctive religious nationalism. The inhabitants of Judah were convinced that nothing threatened them: in Jerusalem they now had the only place on earth where sacrifices were offered to the true God, and therefore neither they nor their country had anything to fear (vv. 3-4). In addition, they were, as can be seen, completely sure that salvation from troubles and the messianic Kingdom were guaranteed to them by definition, since they were the people of God, regularly attended temple worship, and took part in sacrifices, while not thinking at all about keeping the commandments or even about at least leaving behind the pagan cults so dear to their hearts (vv. 9-10). This kind of self-confidence spiritually devalues any cult, as the prophet reminds his fellow countrymen (vv. 21-24).
Such were the fruits of a religious reform carried out from above: the external result was achieved comparatively easily and quickly, but the people's spiritual state turned out worse than before. Now paganism, which had left the streets of Jerusalem and hidden itself in the homes and hearts of the city's inhabitants, was joined by self-confident nationalism thickly mixed with very superficial Yahwist religiosity. This mixture made repentance impossible and catastrophe inevitable.
