Thank you for the question on sacrifices, “If God commanded to make animal sacrifices in the Tanakh, then why does He says in Jeremiah 7:22 “For when I freed your fathers from the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning offerings or sacrifice”?
As I read the broader context of Jeremiah 7:22, God is indicting his own people who thinks that all that God wants is offerings or sacrifices. They thought that they will be safe in the Temple if they just bring their sacrifices to God that they will have his blessings.
Jeremiah says this, “ “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury,[a] burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord” (A searchable online Bible in over 150 versions and 50 languages). Bible citations are from the New International Version.
God reminds the Jewish leaders of their origin that God wanted their obedience, not just sacrifices. “ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.
21 “‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! 22 For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, 23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. 24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. 25 From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. 26 But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.’” (NIV).
God prescribed sacrifices as part of their worship of him in the Law of Moses that was to stem from their hearts in worship of him. However, the sacrifices became a ritual without any thought of honoring God. It became perfunctory. In Exodus 19 before God gave any commands for sacrifices, he instructed the Israelites what he truly wanted from them. The text says this, “ Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. 5 Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” (NIV).
The Israelites had forgotten that God wanted them to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. They had become like the other nations except that the LORD was one of their other gods, not their only God. Thus one can say that Jeremiah 7:22 is correct in that God gave instruction to them in becoming his people before he gave the sacrificial laws and that the sacrifices is not what God truly wants from them. They were multiplying sacrifices for themselves to eat, not for God at all.
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