Jeremiah 44:1-14

10. JEREMIAH AT THE FESTIVAL OF THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN IN PATHROS. THE LAST ACT OF HIS PROPHETIC MINISTRY

a. The charge against the stubbornly idolatrous people

Jeremiah 44:1-14

1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning [for, to] all the Jews which dwell [who dwelt] in the land of Egypt, which dwell at, Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and 2at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no 3man dwelleth therein; because of their wickedness which they have committed to1 provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other 4gods, whom they knew not, neither they,2 ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, 5do not this abominable thing3 that I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined 6their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: and they are wasted and desolate, as at 7this day. Therefore now thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls,4 to cut off from you man 8and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain: In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense5 unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves6 off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all 9the nations of the earth? Have you forgotten the wickedness [evil]7 of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their [his]8 wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they9 have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?10They are not humbled even, unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in 11my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face12against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all10 be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and13an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, 14and by the pestilence: So that none [there shall be none escaped or remaining] of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return [and then to return] into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.11

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The word of the Lord is communicated through Jeremiah to the Israelites dwelling in Egypt; ye have seen how I have punished Judah and Jerusalem for their idolatry (Jeremiah 44:1-6). Why then do you continually commit the same wickedness? Have ye forgotten the lecture? It appears so, for they have not humbled themselves, nor endeavored to keep the law of God (Jeremiah 44:7-10). Therefore shall the remnant of Judah in Egypt, even like unto Judah and Jerusalem, be destroyed by sword, famine and pestilence, and at most single fugitives shall return home (Jeremiah 44:11-14).

Jeremiah 44:1. The word … saying. We have here the last document of Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry. Far from home, after terrible judgments, he has still the same thing to say to the Jews as at first. They have not become wiser or better. From Tahpanhes they had spread abroad in the land. What occasion had brought them together in so large an assembly, is not indeed stated in the superscription, which is of the greater sort (comp. Jeremiah 40:1; Jeremiah 36:1; Jeremiah 35:1; Jeremiah 34:1, etc.), but is evident enough from what follows.—Dwelt. The fugitives have already established themselves in fixed abodes. Comp. rems. on Jeremiah 43:8—Migdol (comp. Jeremiah 46:14; Ezekiel 29:10; Ezekiel 30:6 coll. Exodus 14:2; Numbers 33:7) was one of the north-eastern boundary points of Egypt [near Syene]. In Herodotus (II. 159) and the LXX. the place is called Μάγδωλον; according to the Itiner. Anton. (p. 171) it was twelve Roman miles from Pelusium.—On Tahpanhes comp. rems. on Jeremiah 43:8.—Noph is Memphis, the ancient capital of lower Egypt. Comp. rems. on Jeremiah 2:16.—Pathros (comp. Jeremiah 44:15; Isaiah 11:11; Ezekiel 29:14; Ezekiel 30:14) is upper Egypt. Comp. Herzog, R.-Enc., I. S. 149. The assembly was held, according to Jeremiah 44:15, in Pathros. A considerable time must have elapsed since the migration, because we find the colony already dispersed and settled in different places. On the other hand the meeting cannot have occurred so long after the migration that those who are addressed by Jeremiah can belong to the second generation. They were the Jews who had come into the country (Jeremiah 44:8), and the longing for home was still strong in them. Comp. rems. on Jeremiah 44:29-30

Jeremiah 44:2-6. Thus saith … as at this day. The prophet presents before the Jews first the great catastrophe, portraying its genesis in the order of its elements.—Whom they know not. Comp. Jeremiah 19:4—I sent, etc. Comp. Jeremiah 7:13; Jeremiah 7:25; Jeremiah 29:19.—This abominable thing. Comp. Jeremiah 32:35.—Was poured forth. Comp. Jeremiah 42:18.—In the cities of Judah. Comp. Jeremiah 44:9; Jeremiah 44:17; Jeremiah 44:21; Jeremiah 7:17; Jeremiah 11:6; Jeremiah 33:10.—As at this day. Comp. Jeremiah 44:2; Jeremiah 44:22-23; Jeremiah 11:5.

Jeremiah 44:7-10. Therefore now thus … before your fathers. After the Jews had just learned in a different manner how fearfully Jehovah avenges apostasy from Him, how can they now again, to their unendurable shame and ruin, commit the same sins? It appears as if they had forgotten the lesson and not yet learned to bow in obedience to the divine law.—Man and woman. Comp. 1 Samuel 15:3; 1 Samuel 22:19; Lamentations 2:11.—The works of your hands. From Jeremiah 1:16 coll. Jeremiah 25:14 it is evident that the prophet wishes the expression to be understood in a physical sense of the idol images.—Burning incense in the wider sense. Comp. rems. on Jeremiah 1:16.—That ye might be, etc. Comp. Jeremiah 42:18; Zechariah 8:13.—Have ye forgotten, etc. The present unlawful conduct of the people is explained only by their forgetfulness of the former calamities occasioned by their idolatry.—Hitzig well calls attention to the fact, that the royal wives played an important part in the history of Jewish idolatry. Comp. the wives of Solomon (1 Kings 11:1 sqq.) Maachah, the mother of Asa (Jeremiah 15:13) and Athaliah (Jeremiah 11:1).

Jeremiah 44:10. They are not humbled. Comp. Isaiah 57:15. How unwillingly does the prophet turn away and address his discourse concerning these, to whom he has hitherto spoken, to others. Comp. Micah 1:2; Jeremiah 50:8.—Nor walked. Comp. Jeremiah 9:12; Jeremiah 26:4.

Jeremiah 44:11-14. Therefore … shall escape. Because the Jews, notwithstanding they had experienced the fearful severity of God’s punitive justice, again committed the same sins, therefore (לָכֵן Jeremiah 44:11) will the Lord set his face against them, the last remnant of Judah, and by the destruction of this utterly exterminate the nation. Comp. Jeremiah 44:7.—And I will take. The expression involves an antithesis to set their faces to go. They thought in their own power to take a path which would lead them away from the punitive hand. But the Lord seizes them as He once did the prophet Jonah.—Shall be an execration. Comp. rems. on Jeremiah 42:18.—Them that dwell. Comp. Jeremiah 9:24-25; Jeremiah 46:25.—None escaped. The Jews had gone to Egypt to remain there temporarily, and then return home. On which are gone then depends not only to sojourn there but also and to return with the following relative sentence.—To the which. Comp. Jeremiah 22:27.—But such as shall escape. Comp. Textual Note.

Footnotes:

Jeremiah 44:3; Jeremiah 44:3.—In להכעסני and ללכת the לְ is the gerundial (comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 95, e), in לְקַטֵּר לַעֲכֹד it is the supinal (Ib., § 93, f.). Comp. Jeremiah 11:17; Jeremiah 32:32.

Jeremiah 44:3; Jeremiah 44:3.—המה is not to be regarded as accusative, since this has been already expressed by the suffix in יְדָעוּם, but as nominative. The third person stands in close connection with the preceding, the הֵמָּה with the sudden change of person (comp. infra Jeremiah 44:5; Jeremiah 44:10 and Naegelsb. Gr., § 101 Anm.) is however explained by אַתֶּם ו׳, with which a return is made to the second person used in the beginning of the sentence (Jeremiah 44:2).

Jeremiah 44:4; Jeremiah 44:4.—דְּבַר as in Judges 19:24.

Jeremiah 44:7; Jeremiah 44:7.—וָעָה must here have the same sense as רָעוֹת, Jeremiah 44:9. For the connection is: the רָעָה that ye now do can only be explained, by your having forgotten the רָעוֹת of the past. Since now רָעוֹת must necessarily be taken in a double sense, so must also רָעָה in this passageּ לְהַכְרִית ו׳ is a gerundial infinitive. On נפשׁרת comp. Naegelsb. Gr. § 81, 1 c.

Jeremiah 44:8; Jeremiah 44:8.—לְהַכְעִיסֵנִי and לְקַטֶּר are also gerundial infinitives (comp. Jeremiah 44:3).

Jeremiah 44:8; Jeremiah 44:8.—In Jeremiah 44:7 הַכְרית has a definitely expressed object. Many would supply this here. Others take לכם for אֶתְכֶם, according to the analogy of Jeremiah 40:2. הכרית may, however, also be taken in a directly causative sense=prepare extermination, so that the dative would have nothing abnormal in it. Comp. הִרנּיז Jeremiah 50:34; הוֹכיהַ Isaiah 2:4; הִצדִּיקIsa 51:11 with לְ; Naegelsb. Gr., § 69, 1 Anm. 2.

Jeremiah 44:9; Jeremiah 44:9.—From עָשׂוּ אֲשֶׁר it would follow that רָעוֹת is to be taken in a moral sense. But can it be said of those who are censured on account of their persistence in these sins: Have you forgotten your sins? J. D. Michaelis is therefore disposed to read הִשְׁכַּחְתֶּם, with a marginal reading of a Königsberg Codex: mijus peccando memoriam peccatorum ante commissorum obliterastis. But this reading is not sufficiently authenticated. We must therefore take רָעוֹת, as in Jeremiah 44:7, in a double sense, so as to designate at the same time the mala pœnæ and the mala culpæ (comp. Genesis 50:15). Their forgetfulness of the sufferings which they had drawn on them by their sins is the cause of their obstinate persistence in the latter.

Jeremiah 44:9; Jeremiah 44:9.—נשׁיו רעות. Both the introduction of the “wives” and the singular suffix are surprising. The LXX. read τῶν . שְּׂרֵיכֶם or נְשִׂיאֵיכֶם would certainly correspond better to the connection, as well as to the usage of the prophet elsewhere (comp. Jeremiah 44:17; Jeremiah 44:21; Jeremiah 1:18; Jeremiah 2:26; Jeremiah 24:8; Jeremiah 25:18; Jeremiah 32:32; Jeremiah 34:21). But the more difficult reading is to be preferred. The singular suffix is not to be referred to Judah, since the expression “wives of Judah” is neither used elsewhere nor suitable to the connection, but to the king of the time. Comp. Hosea 4:8; Zechariah 14:12; Naegelsb. Gr., § 105, 7, Anm. 2.

Jeremiah 44:9; Jeremiah 44:9.—עָשׂוּ אֲשֶׁר. Change of person as in Jeremiah 44:3; Jeremiah 44:5. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 101, 2, Anm.

Jeremiah 44:12; Jeremiah 44:12.—כל ותמו. According to the accents the sentence is to be construed as in the translation. On כֹּל comp. Isaiah 30:5; Ewald, 286, e.

Jeremiah 44:14; Jeremiah 44:14.—פְּלֵטִים אִם כִּי. Strictly taken these words form a direct contradiction to the beginning of the verse, which declares that there shall be a פָּלִיט or שָׂרִיד, and the words יָשׁוּבוּ לֹא כִּי are no other than the confirmation of this statement. It is therefore natural to regard the words as a later addition, as Hitzig does. The brevity of the previous sentence, and its apparent contradiction of Jeremiah 44:28 seemed to require this supplementation. In Jeremiah 44:28 it is expressly stated that some, having escaped, will return, and it is hence evident that the declaration here, Jeremiah 44:14, is not to be taken with absolute literalness.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. “Obfirment animum suum ministri ecclesiæ hujus capitis meditatione, ne pertinacia auditorum se territuri patiantur, sed ut potius dehortando, objurgando, comminando intrepide instent ex præcepto apostoli 2 Timothy 4:2.” Förster.

2. On Jeremiah 44:2-13. A mirror of the stubborn heart of man! For centuries unceasingly warned by the prophets—and how warned! Not by sentimental talk, but by words of thunder and strokes of power,—think only of Elijah, Elisha, Hosea, Isaiah, etc.!—yet Judah bowed not his stubborn neck. Then at last when long-suffering love was exhausted, the judgment of just love was executed. And yet in the wretched remnant the old root of unbelief and disobedience remains still unbroken.

3. On Jeremiah 44:9. “Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle as vetches, yet will his foolishness not depart from him (Proverbs 27:22). And he that sings songs to a heavy heart, it is like a torn garment in winter, and vinegar on nitre (Proverbs 25:20).” Cramer.

4. On Jeremiah 44:15. “Hoc loco imaginem quandam conspicere licet seditionis, de qua Ethnicus: ἐν τῆστάσει πᾶσα ἰδέα κακον͂ ἔνεστιν,—itemque confusionis plus quam cyclopicæ, de qua notum est illud tritum: οὐδεὶς οὐδενὸς οὐδὲν .” Förster.

5. On Jeremiah 44:16. “Ungodliness continually extends and even goes beyond itself. In the foregoing chapter they wish it to be considered as having to do only with Jeremiah’s private person, but now they are become bolder so that they contradict him officially and thus God Himself, not considering that they know what he says to be spoken not on his own, but on God’s account, which is a great blasphemy of God.” Cramer.

6. On Jeremiah 44:17. “The ungodly are blind. For they ascribe all their good fortune to their idolatry. When, however, a misfortune comes God and His word must be to blame, and they say: It is vain to serve God (Malachi 3:14). The charge of the Papists is used again now-a-days. when times are dear and the country suffers such like chastisements, that it is the fault of the Gospel; since on the other hand their mass is regarded as a regular Egyptian Meleket, by which they think to obtain temporal and eternal blessings both for the living and the dead.” Cramer.

7. On Jeremiah 44:17. “Non ovum ovo tam simile est atque huic Judæorum orationi nostrorum hominum vox contendentium, sub papatu aureum fuisse sæculum, cum tamen contrarium testentur historæ de bellis, peste et fame in papatu, præsertim ea, quæ incidit in annum Christi 1315, quo tempore fere tertia pars Germaniæ partim fame, partim peste extincta. Hinc versus: Ut lateat nullum tempus famis, ecce cucullum” Förster.

8. On Jeremiah 44:17. “Non mirum, quod urbes peste vexentur, cum Æsculapius et Dii ab iis procul absint, nam ex quo Jesus colitur, nihil jam utilitatis a Diis consequimur. Porphyrius.” MS. note in my copy of Cramer’s Bible.

9. On Jeremiah 44:19. “There is no doubt that the inconstant, frivolous women were the first to be seduced into idolatry, as Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3). When these are taken captive, he then proceeds farther, and knows how to bring in the Adam also. Therefore keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom (Micah 7:5).” Cramer.

10. On Jeremiah 44:19. “The harmony and complaisance of married people is never more easily secured than when it is against the Lord, and it is nothing unusual for domestic peace to be adduced as the cause of a lack of zeal in religion. It is an ancient custom; Ahab, Ahaziah and Solomon only followed Adam. The wife had to be deceived by a subtle serpent; the man was bound to keep peace in the family; she gave him and he ate.” Zinzendorf.

11. On Jeremiah 44:20. “God remembers the good and the evil; the good that He may reward it, the evil that He may punish it.” Cramer. [“God will have the last word. The prophets may be run down, but God cannot.” Henry.—S. R. A]

12. On Jeremiah 44:26. “This is the severest punishment of all, that God takes away His holy name and word, as He says in Deuteronomy 32:20 : I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be. And this is the famine, not of bread, but of the word of God which they seek and yet do not find (Amos 8:11).” Cramer.

13. On Jeremiah 44:29-30. Between Moses and Jeremiah, between the exodus from Egypt and the return thither of the remnant, there lies a period of almost a thousand years, and what a history! But the Pharaoh, under whom Israel made the exodus, Menephthes (comp. Lepsius in Herz., R.-Enc, I., S. 146) is described by Herodotus as an arrogant and ungodly man (II., 111), just like Hophra. And at both times Israel was a poor despised heap in the land of Egypt. But the heathen were to know that the God of this despised heap is the only true God, and that their idols were naught, as also Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar and Darius the Mede had also to learn (Daniel 2-6.).

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1. On Jeremiah 44:1-14. The holy love of God: 1. long-suffering; 2. just.

2. On Jeremiah 44:9-14. How ruinous a course it is to forget the chastisements of the Lord. This will be shown, if we ponder that this forgetfulness 1. implies chastisement already suffered, 2. proves its want of good results, 3. calls forth severer chastisements from God.

3. On Jeremiah 44:15-18. The utmost alienation of a people from their God, shown in the example of the Jews in Egypt. 1. They place the benefits received to the account of their idols. 2. The evils suffered they place to the account of the Lord. 3. They renounce their obedience to the Lord. 4. They vow their service to their idols.

4. On Jeremiah 44:26-27. The severest punishment which the Lord can bring upon a people, who have hitherto served Him. 1. It consists in this, that the Lord removes the candlestick of His word from among this people, i.e. that by depriving them of the means of grace, He brings Himself into forgetfulness among the people. 2. It is founded in this, that this people on their part have striven to forget the Lord. 3. It has the effect, that this people is given up to the powers of evil to their complete destruction.