The tannur (oven) did need to be hot in order to bake the bread, but if there was too much heat when the dough was supposed to be rising, it would kill the yeast and stop the process. I get it. Wailam, my wife, laughed at me when I made a cake and forgot to put any baking powder in it. It ended up like a big doughy cookie. It wasn’t cake. But, since it was sweet, we still put some whipped cream on it and ate it. That doesn’t work with doughy bread.
These false prophets and compromised priests weren’t telling people not to worship. The fire of worship was still stoked, but they hadn’t put the right kind of moral leaven in the dough. The dough wasn’t ready for the fire. They weren’t teaching the people what they needed to know.
Well, the business of “churchianity” isn’t too bad, today, either. But if we get people pumped up and excited about worshipping without equipping them to have a daily relationship with God and helping them to make proper moral choices on the basis of that relationship, we’re very much like the baker who lights the fire before the dough has a chance to rise. The leaven has to be mixed in and have a chance to rise before proper bread can be made. It’s hard work to knead the bread and it isn’t glamorous work like when you smell that wonderful baking bread, but it has to be done. And a lot of the teaching and admonition that needs to go on in churches and homes today won’t be glamorous work or easy work. It isn’t going to be as fun as preaching before a big crowd or serving on an excited praise team.