“Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don’t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you. Don’t you see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they pour out liquid offerings to their other idol gods! Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the Lord. “Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame. “Jeremiah 7:16-19
Therefore do not pray for this people: It would seem that the sermon at the temple gates was finished, and now God spoke to Jeremiah about the hardened people. They were past prayer; God simply told Jeremiah, for I will not hear you. It is significant that God had to tell Jeremiah not to pray; the assumption is that he would pray, and that God had to tell him not to. Yet, “Their day of grace is past, their sins are full, the decree is now gone forth, and it is irreversible, therefore pray not for this deplored people. “If you see a fellow believer sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it. All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.” (1 John 5:16-17) There is a point where God’s grace and mercy runs out.
The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven: The idolatry of Judah and Jerusalem was a family affair. Each member of the family had their own role to play in honoring pagan gods. Sin affects not just one person it affects all of the family. The same is true for those that obey God. If we walk with God, the entire family is blessed. Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces? It was true that the sins of Judah provoked the Lord to anger, but it was also true that their sins provoked themselves to open shame.