Chapter 7 – FAMILIA MUNDIAL
1 [1-15] The temple of the LORD will not serve as a place of refuge for the Jews against their enemies if they fail to reform their evil ways.
2 [6] The resident alien: specially protected by law; cf ⇒ Exodus 20:10; ⇒ Numbers 9:14; ⇒ 15:14; ⇒ Deut 5:14; ⇒ 28:43.
3 [12] Shiloh: original place of worship from the time of Joshua to that of Samuel. The sanctuary was later rejected by God and destroyed by the Philistines; cf ⇒ 1 Sam 1:9; ⇒ 4:3-4; ⇒ Psalm 78:60, ⇒ 68, ⇒ 69.
4 [18] Queen of heaven: the Assyro-Babylonian Ishtar, goddess of fertility, whose worship was introduced under King Manasseh and was revived after Josiah’s death. Cakes shaped like stars (Ishtar was identified with the planet Venus) were offered in her honor.
5 [22] I gave them no command: right conduct rather than mere external cult was God’s will concerning his people (⇒ Jeremiah 7:23).
6 [29] Dedicated hair: the unshorn hair of the nazirite, regarded as sacred because of a vow, temporary or permanent, to abstain from cutting or shaving the hair, from contact with a corpse, and from all products of the vine; cf ⇒ Numbers 6:4-8. The cutting of this hair was a sign of extreme mourning.