The people were not honouring God. This was despite their society acknowledging that sons should honour fathers, and slaves should honour masters. Any society that wishes to succeed must have honour and respect as part of its system.
To make matters worse it was the priests that led the way in dishonouring God, in showing contempt for His name. Sadly this is a pattern that continues in many parts of the church today. In their case they showed this by offering defiled food. They offered diseased or lame animals to God, something that was forbidden by the Law. They treated God in a way they would treat no-one else. We need to be careful here, for we can so easily do the same. We don't devote enough time in prayer, or read the word half-heartedly.
So God declares that he will banish them from His temple. We so easily lose sight of the fact that it is only God who has the right to decide how He is approached, how He is worshipped. The Lord is lord of all the earth, acceptable offerings would be made to Him throughout the earth. This is looking forward to what would happen as the gospel was spread.
The people considered worship of God to be a burden. We need to remember who the Lord is. He is the great king and His name is to be feared.
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