7:5,6
Instead of relying on empty religious slogans they needed to change their ways and their actions. The Bible is incredibly down to earth. They were to deal with each other justly. God is interested in truth. The Old Testament is incredibly liberal, for they were also to ensure that they did not oppress foreigners, not the fatherless or widows (i.e. the poor). They were not to shed innocent blood, nor to worship idols. And worshipping idols resulted in harm for themselves.
7:7,8
“Then I will let you live in this place”. The Israelites “right” to live in the Promised Land was contingent upon them obeying the Law of God. Today people talk a lot about Israel’s right to the land. Now I believe that it is indeed God’s plan that they live in the land, but it is on His terms. They need to repent and to believe in Christ. Unless and until they do this they will never find peace. See also that at the end of v7 it says God gave the land to their ancestors “for ever and ever”. But this was not a promise without consequences. Instead of trusting God they were “trusting in deceptive words that are worthless”. We need to apply this to our understanding of modern Israel, and also to our understanding of ourselves.
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