This seems to be a new message from the Lord. It is a good example of prophetic indictments of Israel's sacrificial institutions (cf. 6:20; 1 Sam. 15:22; Ps. 51:16-17; Isa. 1:4-15; Hos. 6:6; Amos 5:21-24; Mic. 6:6-8).
7:21 Yahweh, the sovereign God of Israel, commanded His people to eat their whole burnt offerings (Heb. oloth), which should have been burned up completely on the altar, as well as the sacrifices (Heb. zebah) that they only ate part of (cf. Lev. 3; 7:11-18; 22:18-23, 27-30). It mattered little to Him how carefully they observed His instructions about offering animal sacrifices to Him.
". . . to affirm that the prophets rejected the whole sacrificial system is to go beyond the evidence. It was not the system as such that was rejected but the operation of the system, which divorced sacrifices from obedience and took them out of the covenantal setting in which they found their whole rationale."175
7:22 God could say this because burnt offerings and sacrifices were not His primary concern. This should have been clear to the people as they remembered what He had commanded them when He redeemed them as a nation. He had given them the Decalog, which called for righteous conduct, before He gave them the cultic legislation, which specified the ritual of worship (cf. Exod. 20:1-17; 24:1-8).
7:23 Obedience to His words is what He commanded them then. It was more important that they obey Him than that they follow the procedures involved in presenting sacrifices that only symbolized their obedience. His ancient command to obey also contained promises of blessing if they would obey. Yahweh had promised to adopt Israel into a uniquely intimate relationship with Himself that would be beneficial for the Israelites (Exod. 19:5-6).
7:24 In spite of these promised blessings, the Israelites had not obeyed or even listened to the Lord's voice. They had followed their own advice, and their evil hearts had stubbornly refused to yield to His will. Instead of progressing toward blessing, they regressed into cursing.
7:25 Ever since the Exodus God had graciously arisen early to send His servants the prophets to urge the Israelites to follow Him (cf. v. 13). The image of God getting up early in the morning stresses the priority He gave to instructing His people.
7:26 In spite of these instructions, each succeeding generation of Israelites did not listen or pay attention. Instead they became obstinate in their disobedience and did even more evil than their fathers had done.
7:27 The Lord told Jeremiah that he was to pass along all these words to his contemporaries, but they would not listen to him any more than they had listened to the former prophets. He should call to them to respond to his message from the Lord, but they would not even answer him.
7:28 Jeremiah was to tell the people that they were a disobedient nation. They refused to accept correction from their Lord. They were not faithful (Heb. emuna, cf. 5:1, 3; Hab. 2:4) to Him and His covenant.
