7:12 But go ye now to my place which [was] in Shiloh, {d} where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
(d) Because they depended so much on the temple, which was for his promise, that he would be present and defend them where the ark was, he sends them to God's judgments against Shiloh, where the ark had remained about 300 years, and after was taken, the priests slain, and the people miserably discomfited, 1Sa 4:11, Jer 26:6.
7:12 Shiloh - A place in the tribe of Ephraim. Where - Where I did at first give you the pledges of my presence. What I did - He utterly forsook it.
7:1-16 No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow themselves in the practice of known sin, or live in the neglect of known duty. They thought that the temple they profaned would be their protection. But all who continue in sin because grace has abounded, or that grace may abound, make Christ the minister of sin; and the cross of Christ, rightly understood, forms the most effectual remedy to such poisonous sentiments. The Son of God gave himself for our transgressions, to show the excellence of the Divine law, and the evil of sin. Never let us think we may do wickedness without suffering for it.
