mh_parser/vol_split/24 - Jeremiah/Chapter 44.xml

<div2 id="Jer.xlv" n="xlv" next="Jer.xlvi" prev="Jer.xliv" progress="44.26%" title="Chapter XLIV">
<h2 id="Jer.xlv-p0.1">J E R E M I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Jer.xlv-p0.2">CHAP. XLIV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Jer.xlv-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter we have, I. An awakening sermon
which Jeremiah preaches to the Jews in Egypt, to reprove them for
their idolatry, notwithstanding the warnings given them both by the
word and the rod of God and to threaten the judgments of God
against them for it, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.1-Jer.44.14" parsed="|Jer|44|1|44|14" passage="Jer 44:1-14">ver.
1-14</scripRef>. II. The impudent and impious contempt which the
people put upon this admonition, and their declared resolution to
persist in their idolatries notwithstanding, in despite of God and
Jeremiah, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.15-Jer.44.19" parsed="|Jer|44|15|44|19" passage="Jer 44:15-19">ver. 15-19</scripRef>.
III. The sentence passed upon them for their obstinacy, that they
should all be cut off and perish in Egypt except a very small
number; and, as a sign or earnest of it, the king of Egypt should
shortly fall into the hands of the king of Babylon and be unable
any longer to protect them, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.20-Jer.44.30" parsed="|Jer|44|20|44|30" passage="Jer 44:20-30">ver.
20-30</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Jer.xlv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44" parsed="|Jer|44|0|0|0" passage="Jer 44" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Jer.xlv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.1-Jer.44.14" parsed="|Jer|44|1|44|14" passage="Jer 44:1-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.xlv-p1.6">
<h4 id="Jer.xlv-p1.7">Sermon to the Jews in Egypt; Jeremiah's
Remonstrance. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p1.8">b. c.</span> 587.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.xlv-p2" shownumber="no">1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all
the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol,
and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros,
saying,   2 Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p2.1">Lord</span>
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 <i>are</i> a desolation, and no man dwelleth
therein,   3 Because of their wickedness which they have
committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn
incense, <i>and</i> to serve other gods, whom they knew not,
<i>neither</i> they, ye, nor your fathers.   4 Howbeit I sent
unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending
<i>them,</i> saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
  5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn
from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.   6
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 <i>and</i> desolate, as at this day.   7 Therefore
now thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p2.2">Lord</span>, the God of
hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye <i>this</i> great
evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child
and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;   8
In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands,
burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be
gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might
be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
  9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the
wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their
wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives,
which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets
of Jerusalem?   10 They are not humbled <i>even</i> unto this
day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my
statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.   11
Therefore thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p2.3">Lord</span> of
hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you
for evil, and to cut off all Judah.   12 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 all be consumed, <i>and</i>
fall in the land of Egypt; they shall <i>even</i> be consumed by
the sword <i>and</i> 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, <i>and</i> an astonishment, and a curse,
and a reproach.   13 For I will punish them that dwell in the
land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the
famine, and by the pestilence:   14 So that none of the
remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn
there, shall escape or remain, that they should 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p3" shownumber="no">The Jews in Egypt were now dispersed into
various parts of the country, into <i>Migdol, and Noph,</i> and
other places, and Jeremiah was sent on an errand from God to them,
which he delivered either when he had the most of them together
<i>in Pathros</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.15" parsed="|Jer|44|15|0|0" passage="Jer 44:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>) or going about from place to place preaching to this
purport. He delivered this message in the name of <i>the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel,</i> and in it,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p4" shownumber="no">I. God puts them in mind of the desolations
of Judah and Jerusalem, which, though the captives <i>by the rivers
of Babylon</i> were daily mindful of (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.137.1" parsed="|Ps|137|1|0|0" passage="Ps 137:1">Ps. cxxxvii. 1</scripRef>), the fugitives in the cities
of Egypt seem to have forgotten and needed to be put in mind of,
though, one would have thought, they had not been so long out of
sight as to become out of mind (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.2" parsed="|Jer|44|2|0|0" passage="Jer 44:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>You have seen</i> what a
deplorable condition Judah and Jerusalem are brought into; now will
you consider whence those desolations came? From the wrath of God;
it was his fury and his anger that kindled the fire which made
Jerusalem and <i>the cities of Judah waste and desolate</i>
(<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.6" parsed="|Jer|44|6|0|0" passage="Jer 44:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>); whoever were
the instruments of the destruction, they were but instruments: it
was a destruction from the Almighty.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p5" shownumber="no">II. He puts them in mind of the sins that
brought those desolations upon Judah and Jerusalem. It was for
<i>their wickedness.</i> It was this that <i>provoked God to
anger,</i> and especially their idolatry, their <i>serving other
gods</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.3" parsed="|Jer|44|3|0|0" passage="Jer 44:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>) and
giving that honour to counterfeit deities, the creatures of their
own fancy and the work of their own hands, which should have been
given to the true God only. They forsook the God who was known
among them, and whose name was great, for gods that they knew not,
upstart deities, whose original was obscure and not worth taking
notice of: "<i>Neither they nor you, nor your fathers,</i> could
give any rational account why <i>the God of Israel</i> was
exchanged for such impostors." They knew not that they were gods;
nay, they could not but know that they were no gods.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p6" shownumber="no">III. He puts them in mind of the frequent
and fair warnings he had given them by his word not to serve other
gods, the contempt of which warnings was a great aggravation of
their idolatry, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.4" parsed="|Jer|44|4|0|0" passage="Jer 44:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>. <i>The prophets</i> were sent with a great deal of
care to call to them, saying, <i>Oh! do not this abominable thing
that I hate.</i> It becomes us to speak of sin with the utmost
dread and detestation as an abominable thing; it is certainly so,
for it is that which God hates, and we are sure that <i>his
judgment is according to truth.</i> Call it grievous, call it
odious, that we may by all means possible put ourselves and others
out of love with it. It becomes us to give warning of the danger of
sin, and the fatal consequences of it, with all seriousness and
earnestness: "<i>Oh! do not</i> do it. If you love God, do not, for
it is provoking to him; if you love your own souls do not, for it
is destructive to them." Let conscience do this for us in an hour
of temptation, when we are ready to yield. O take heed! <i>do not
this abominable thing</i> which the Lord hates; for, if God hates
it, thou shouldst hate it. But did they regard what God said to
them? No: "<i>They hearkened not, nor inclined their ear</i>
(<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.5" parsed="|Jer|44|5|0|0" passage="Jer 44:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>); they still
persisted in their idolatries; and you see what came of it,
therefore God's <i>anger was poured</i> out upon them, <i>as at
this day.</i> Now this was intended for warning to you, who have
not only heard the judgments of God's mouth, as they did, but have
likewise seen the judgments of his hand, by which you should be
startled and awakened, for they were inflicted <i>in terrorem,</i>
that others might hear and fear and do no more as they did, lest
they should fare as they fared."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p7" shownumber="no">IV. He reproves them for, and upbraids them
with, their continued idolatries, now that they had come into Egypt
(<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.8" parsed="|Jer|44|8|0|0" passage="Jer 44:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): You <i>burn
incense to other gods in the land of Egypt. Therefore</i> God
forbade them to go into Egypt, because he knew it would be a snare
to them. Those whom God sent into the land of the Chaldeans, though
that was an idolatrous country, were there, by the power of God's
grace, weaned from idolatry; but those who went against God's mind
into the land of the Egyptians were there, by the power of their
own corruptions, more wedded than ever to their idolatries; for,
when we thrust ourselves without cause or call into places of
temptation, it is just with God to leave us to ourselves. In doing
this, 1. They did a great deal of injury to themselves and their
families: "<i>You commit this great evil against your souls</i>
(<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.7" parsed="|Jer|44|7|0|0" passage="Jer 44:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), you wrong
them, you deceive them with that which is false, you destroy them,
for it will be fatal to them." Note, In sinning against God we sin
<i>against our own souls.</i> "It is the ready way to <i>cut
yourselves off</i> from all comfort and hope (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.8" parsed="|Jer|44|8|0|0" passage="Jer 44:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), to cut off your name and
honour; so that you will, both by your sin and by your misery,
become <i>a curse and a reproach among all nations.</i> It will
become a proverb, As wretched as a Jew. It is the ready way <i>to
cut off from you</i> all your relations, all that you should have
joy of and have your families built up in, <i>man and woman, child
and suckling,</i> so that Judah shall be a land lost for want of
heirs." 2. They filled up the measure of the iniquity of their
fathers, and, as if that had been too little for them, added to it
(<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.9" parsed="|Jer|44|9|0|0" passage="Jer 44:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): "<i>Have you
forgotten the wickedness</i> of those who are gone before you, that
you are not humbled for it as you ought to be, and afraid of the
consequences of it?" <i>Have you forgotten the punishments of your
fathers?</i> so some read it. "Do you not know how dear their
idolatry cost them? And yet dare you continue in that vain
conversation received by tradition from you fathers, though you
received the curse with it?" He reminds them of the sins and
punishments <i>of the kings of Judah,</i> who, great as they were,
escaped not the judgments of God for their idolatry; yea, and they
should have taken warning by <i>the wickedness of their wives,</i>
who had seduced them to idolatry. In the original it is, <i>And of
his wives,</i> which, Dr. Lightfoot thinks, tacitly reflects upon
Solomon's wives, particularly his Egyptian wives, to whom the
idolatry of the kings of Judah owed its original. "Have you
forgotten this, and what came of it, that you dare venture upon the
same wicked courses?" See <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Neh.13.18 Bible:Neh.13.26" parsed="|Neh|13|18|0|0;|Neh|13|26|0|0" passage="Ne 13:18,26">Neh.
xiii. 18, 26</scripRef>. "Nay, to come to your own times, <i>Have
you forgotten your own wickedness and the wickedness of your
wives,</i> when you lived in prosperity in Jerusalem, and what ruin
it brought upon you? But, alas! to what purpose do I speak to
them?" (says God to the prophet, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.10" parsed="|Jer|44|10|0|0" passage="Jer 44:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>) "<i>they are not humbled unto
this day,</i> by all the humbling providences that they have been
under. <i>They have not feared, nor walked in my law.</i>" Note,
Those that walk not in the law of God do thereby show that they are
destitute of the fear of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p8" shownumber="no">V. He threatens their utter ruin for their
persisting in their idolatry now that they were in Egypt. Judgment
is given against them, as before (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.42.22" parsed="|Jer|42|22|0|0" passage="Jer 42:22"><i>ch.</i> xlii. 22</scripRef>), that they shall perish
in Egypt; the decree has gone forth, and shall not be called back.
They <i>set their faces to go into the land of Egypt</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.12" parsed="|Jer|44|12|0|0" passage="Jer 44:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), were resolute in
their purpose against God, and now God is resolute in his purpose
against them: <i>I will set my face to cut off all Judah,</i>
<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.11" parsed="|Jer|44|11|0|0" passage="Jer 44:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Those that
think not only to affront, but to confront, God Almighty, will find
themselves outfaced; for <i>the face of the Lord is against those
that do evil,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.34.16" parsed="|Ps|34|16|0|0" passage="Ps 34:16">Ps. xxxiv.
16</scripRef>. It is here threatened concerning these idolatrous
Jews in Egypt, 1. That <i>they shall all be consumed,</i> without
exception; no degree nor order among them shall escape: <i>They
shall fall, from the least to the greatest</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.12" parsed="|Jer|44|12|0|0" passage="Jer 44:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), <i>high and low, rich and
poor.</i> 2. That <i>they shall be consumed by</i> the very same
judgments which God made use of for the punishment of Jerusalem,
<i>the sword, famine, and pestilence,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p8.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.12-Jer.44.13" parsed="|Jer|44|12|44|13" passage="Jer 44:12,13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>. They shall not be
wasted by natural deaths, as Israel in the wilderness, but by these
sore judgments, which, by flying into Egypt, they thought to get
out of the reach of. 3. That none (except a very few that will
narrowly escape) shall ever <i>return to the land of Judah</i>
again, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p8.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.14" parsed="|Jer|44|14|0|0" passage="Jer 44:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. They
thought, being nearer, that they stood fairer for a return to their
own land than those that were carried to Babylon; yet those shall
return, and these shall not; for the way in which God has promised
us any comfort is much surer than that in which we have projected
it for ourselves. Observe, Those that are fretful and discontented
will be uneasy and fond of change wherever they are. The
Israelites, when they were in the land of Judah, desired to go into
Egypt (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p8.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.42.22" parsed="|Jer|42|22|0|0" passage="Jer 42:22"><i>ch.</i> xlii.
22</scripRef>), but when they were in Egypt they desired to
<i>return to the land of Judah</i> again; they <i>lifted up their
soul</i> to it (so it is in the margin), which denotes an earnest
desire. But, because they would not dwell there when God commanded
it, they shall not dwell they were they desire it. If we walk
contrary to God, he will walk contrary to us. How can those expect
to be well off who would not know when they were so, though God
himself told them?</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jer.xlv-p8.9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.15-Jer.44.19" parsed="|Jer|44|15|44|19" passage="Jer 44:15-19" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.xlv-p8.10">
<h4 id="Jer.xlv-p8.11">The People's Insolent Reply. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p8.12">b. c.</span> 587.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.xlv-p9" shownumber="no">15 Then all the men which knew that their wives
had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood
by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land
of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,   16 <i>As
for</i> the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p9.1">Lord</span>, we will not hearken unto thee.
  17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out
of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to
pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our
fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in
the streets of Jerusalem: for <i>then</i> had we plenty of
victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.   18 But since we
left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out
drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all <i>things,</i> and
have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.   19 And
when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink
offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour
out drink offerings unto her, without our men?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p10" shownumber="no">We have here the people's obstinate refusal
to submit to the power of the word of God in the mouth of Jeremiah.
We have scarcely such an instance of downright daring contradiction
to God himself as this, or such an avowed rebellion of the carnal
mind. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p11" shownumber="no">I. The persons who thus set God and his
judgments at defiance; it was not some one that was thus obstinate,
but the generality of the Jews; and they were such as knew either
themselves or their wives to be guilty of the idolatry Jeremiah had
reproved, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.15" parsed="|Jer|44|15|0|0" passage="Jer 44:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. We
find, 1. That the women had been more guilty of idolatry and
superstition than the men, not because the men stuck closer to the
true God and the true religion than the women, but, I fear, because
they were generally atheists, and were for no God and no religion
at all, and therefore could easily allow their wives to be of a
false religion, and to worship false gods. 2. That it was
consciousness of guilt that made them impatient of reproof: <i>They
knew that their wives had burnt incense to other gods,</i> and that
they had countenanced them in it, <i>and the women that stood
by</i> knew that they had joined with them in their idolatrous
usages; so that what Jeremiah said touched them in a sore place,
which made them <i>kick against the pricks,</i> as <i>children of
Belial,</i> that will not <i>bear the yoke.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p12" shownumber="no">II. The reply which these persons made to
Jeremiah, and in him to God himself; it is in effect the same with
theirs who had the impudence to say to the Almighty, <i>Depart from
us; we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p13" shownumber="no">1. They declare their resolution not to do
as God commanded them, but what they themselves had a mind to do;
that is, they would go on to worship the moon, here called <i>the
queen of heaven;</i> yet some understand it of the sun, which was
much worshipped in Egypt (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.43.13" parsed="|Jer|43|13|0|0" passage="Jer 43:13"><i>ch.</i>
xliii. 13</scripRef>) and had been so at Jerusalem (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.11" parsed="|2Kgs|23|11|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:11">2 Kings xxiii. 11</scripRef>), and they say
that the Hebrew word for the sun being feminine it may not unfitly
be called <i>the queen of heaven.</i> And others understand it of
all <i>the host of heaven,</i> or <i>the frame of heaven,</i> the
whole machine, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.18" parsed="|Jer|7|18|0|0" passage="Jer 7:18"><i>ch.</i> vii.
18</scripRef>. These daring sinners do not now go about to make
excuses for their refusal to obey, nor suggest that Jeremiah spoke
from himself and not from God (as before, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.43.2" parsed="|Jer|43|2|0|0" passage="Jer 43:2"><i>ch.</i> xliii. 2</scripRef>), but they own that he
spoke to them <i>in the name of the Lord,</i> and yet tell him
flatly, in so many words, "<i>We will not hearken unto thee;</i> we
will do that which is forbidden and run the hazard of that which is
threatened." Note, Those that live in disobedience to God commonly
grow worse and worse, and the heart is more and more hardened by
<i>the deceitfulness of sin.</i> Here is the genuine language of
the rebellious heart: <i>We will certainly do whatsoever thing goes
forth out of our own mouth,</i> let God and his prophets say what
they please to the contrary. What they said many think who yet have
not arrived at such a degree of impudence as to speak it out. It is
that which the young man would be at <i>in the days of his
youth;</i> he would <i>walk in the way of his heart and the sight
of his eyes,</i> and would have and do every thing he has a mind
to, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.11.9" parsed="|Eccl|11|9|0|0" passage="Ec 11:9">Eccl. xi. 9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p14" shownumber="no">2. They give some sort of reasons for their
resolution; for the most absurd and unreasonably wicked men will
have something to say for themselves, till the day comes when
<i>every mouth shall be stopped.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p15" shownumber="no">(1.) They plead many of those things which
the advocates for Rome make the marks of a true church, and not
only justify but magnify themselves with; and these Jews have as
much right to them as the Romanists have. [1.] They plead
antiquity: We are resolved <i>to burn incense to the queen of
heaven,</i> for <i>our fathers</i> did so; it is a practice that
pleads prescription; and why should we pretend to be wiser than our
fathers? [2.] They plead authority. Those that had power practised
it themselves and prescribed it to others: <i>Our kings and our
princes</i> did it, whom God set over us, and who were of the seed
of David. [3.] They plead unity. It was not here and there one that
did it, but <i>we,</i> we all with one consent, we that are <i>a
great multitude</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.15" parsed="|Jer|44|15|0|0" passage="Jer 44:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>), we did it. [4.] They plead universality. It was not
done here and there, but <i>in the cities of Judah.</i> [5.] They
plead visibility. It was not done in a corner, in dark and shady
groves only, but <i>in the streets,</i> openly and publicly. [6.]
They plead that it was the practice of the mother-church, the holy
see; it was not now learned first in Egypt, but it had been done in
<i>Jerusalem.</i> [7.] They plead prosperity: <i>They had we plenty
of</i> bread, <i>and</i> of all good things; we <i>were well and
saw no evil.</i> All the former pleas, I fear, were too true in
fact; God's witnesses against their idolatry were few and hid;
Elijah though that he was left alone: and this last might perhaps
be true as to some particular persons, but, as to their nation,
they were still under rebukes for their rebellions, and there was
<i>no peace to those that went out or came in,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.15.5" parsed="|2Chr|15|5|0|0" passage="2Ch 15:5">2 Chron. xv. 5</scripRef>. But, supposing all to
be true, yet this does not at all excuse them from idolatry; it is
the law of God that we must be ruled and judged by, not the
practice of men.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p16" shownumber="no">(2.) They suggest that the judgments they
had of late been under were brought upon them for <i>leaving off to
burn incense to the queen of heaven,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.18" parsed="|Jer|44|18|0|0" passage="Jer 44:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. So perversely did they
misconstrue providence, though God, by his prophets, had so often
explained it to them, and the thing itself spoke the direct
contrary. <i>Since we</i> forsook our idolatries <i>we have wanted
all things, and have been consumed by the sword,</i> the true
reason of which was because they still retained their idols in
their heart and an affection to their old sins; but they would have
it thought that it was because they had forsaken the acts of sin.
Thus the afflictions which should have been for their welfare, to
separate between them and their sins, being misinterpreted did but
confirm them in their sins. Thus, in the first ages of
Christianity, when God chastised the nations by any public
calamities for opposing the Christians and persecuting them, they
put a contrary sense upon the calamities, as if they were sent to
punish them for conniving at the Christians and tolerating them,
and cried, <i>Christianos ad leones—Throw the Christians to the
lions.</i> Yet, if it had been true, as they said here, that since
they returned to the service of the true God, the God of Israel,
they had been in want and trouble, was that a reason why they
should revolt from him again? That was as much as to say that they
served not him, but their own bellies. Those who know God, and put
their trust in him, will serve him, though he starve them, though
he slay them, though they never see a good day with him in this
world, being well assured that they shall not lose by him in the
end.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p17" shownumber="no">(3.) They plead that, though the women were
most forward and active in their idolatries, yet they did it with
the consent and approbation of their husbands; the women were busy
to <i>make cakes</i> for meat-offerings <i>to the queen of
heaven</i> and to prepare <i>and pour out the drink-offerings,</i>
<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.19" parsed="|Jer|44|19|0|0" passage="Jer 44:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. We found,
before, that this was their work, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.18" parsed="|Jer|7|18|0|0" passage="Jer 7:18"><i>ch.</i> vii. 18</scripRef>. "But <i>did we</i> do it
<i>without our husbands,</i> privately and unknown to them, so as
to give them occasion to be jealous of us? No; the fathers kindled
the fire while the women kneaded the dough; the men that were our
heads, whom we were bound to learn of and to be obedient to, taught
us to do it by their example." Note, It is sad when those who are
in the nearest relation to each other, who should quicken each
other to that which is good and so help one another to heaven,
harden each other in sin and so ripen one another for hell. Some
understand this as spoken by the husbands (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.15" parsed="|Jer|44|15|0|0" passage="Jer 44:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), who plead that they did not
do it <i>without their men,</i> that is, without their elders and
rulers, their great men, and men in authority; but, because the
making of the <i>cakes</i> and the pouring out of the
<i>drink-offerings</i> are expressly spoken of as the women's work
(<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.18" parsed="|Jer|7|18|0|0" passage="Jer 7:18"><i>ch.</i> vii. 18</scripRef>), it
seems rather to be understood as their plea: but it was a frivolous
plea. What would it avail them to be able to say that it was
according to their husbands' mind, when they knew that it was
contrary to their God's mind?</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jer.xlv-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.20-Jer.44.30" parsed="|Jer|44|20|44|30" passage="Jer 44:20-30" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.xlv-p17.6">
<h4 id="Jer.xlv-p17.7">Jeremiah's Continued
Remonstrance. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p17.8">b. c.</span> 587.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.xlv-p18" shownumber="no">20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to
the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given
him <i>that</i> answer, saying,   21 The incense that ye
burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye,
and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of
the land, did not the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p18.1">Lord</span> remember
them, and came it <i>not</i> into his mind?   22 So that the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p18.2">Lord</span> could no longer bear, because
of the evil of your doings, <i>and</i> because of the abominations
which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and
an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this
day.   23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have
sinned against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p18.3">Lord</span>, and have
not obeyed the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p18.4">Lord</span>,
nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies;
therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.   24
Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women,
Hear the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p18.5">Lord</span>, all Judah
that <i>are</i> in the land of Egypt:   25 Thus saith the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p18.6">Lord</span> of hosts, the God of Israel,
saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and
fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows
that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to
pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your
vows, and surely perform your vows.   26 Therefore hear ye the
word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p18.7">Lord</span>, all Judah that
dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name,
saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p18.8">Lord</span>, that my name shall
no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land
of Egypt, saying, The Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p18.9">God</span>
liveth.   27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not
for good: and all the men of Judah that <i>are</i> in the land of
Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there
be an end of them.   28 Yet a small number that escape the
sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah,
and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt
to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or
theirs.   29 And this <i>shall be</i> a sign unto you, saith
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p18.10">Lord</span>, that I will punish you in
this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand
against you for evil:   30 Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xlv-p18.11">Lord</span>; Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of
Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that
seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his
life.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p19" shownumber="no">Daring sinners may speak many a bold word
and many a big word, but, after all, God will have the last word;
for he will be justified when he speaks, and all flesh, even the
proudest, shall be silent before him. Prophets may be run down, but
God cannot; nay, here the prophet would not.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p20" shownumber="no">I. Jeremiah has something to say to them
from himself, which he could say without a spirit of prophecy, and
that was to rectify their mistake (a wilful mistake it was)
concerning the calamities they had been under and the true intent
and meaning of them. They said that these miseries came upon them
because they had now <i>left off burning incense to the queen of
heaven.</i> "No," says he, "it was because you had formerly done
it, not because you had now left it off." When they gave him that
answer, he immediately replied (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.20" parsed="|Jer|44|20|0|0" passage="Jer 44:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>) that the incense which they
and their fathers had burnt to other gods did indeed go unpunished
a great while, for God was long-suffering towards them, and during
the day of his patience it was perhaps, as they said, <i>well with
them, and</i> they <i>saw no evil;</i> but at length they grew so
provoking <i>that the Lord could no longer bear</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.22" parsed="|Jer|44|22|0|0" passage="Jer 44:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), but began a
controversy with them, whereupon some of them did a little reform;
their sins left them, for so it might be said, rather than that
they left their sins. But their old guilt being still upon the
score, and their corrupt inclinations still the same, God
remembered against them the idolatries of <i>their fathers, their
kings, and their princes, in the streets of Jerusalem,</i> which
they, instead of being ashamed of, gloried in as a justification of
them in their idolatries; they <i>all came into his mind</i>
(<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.21" parsed="|Jer|44|21|0|0" passage="Jer 44:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), all the
<i>abominations which they had committed</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.22" parsed="|Jer|44|22|0|0" passage="Jer 44:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>) and all their disobedience to
<i>the voice of the Lord</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.23" parsed="|Jer|44|23|0|0" passage="Jer 44:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), all were brought to account;
and <i>therefore,</i> to punish them for these, <i>is their land a
desolation and a curse, as at this day</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p20.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.22" parsed="|Jer|44|22|0|0" passage="Jer 44:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>); <i>therefore,</i> not for
their late reformation, but for their old transgressions, has all
<i>this evil happened to them, as at this day,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p20.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.23" parsed="|Jer|44|23|0|0" passage="Jer 44:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. Note, The right
understanding of the cause of our troubles, one would think, should
go far towards the cure of our sins. Whatever <i>evil comes upon
us,</i> it is <i>because we have sinned against the Lord,</i> and
should therefore <i>stand in awe and sin not.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p21" shownumber="no">II. Jeremiah has something to say to them,
<i>to the women</i> particularly, from <i>the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel,</i> They have given their answer; now let them hear
God's reply, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.24" parsed="|Jer|44|24|0|0" passage="Jer 44:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>.
<i>Judah, that</i> dwells <i>in the land of Egypt,</i> has God
speaking to them, even there; that is their privilege. Let them
observe what he says; that is their duty, <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.26" parsed="|Jer|44|26|0|0" passage="Jer 44:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. Now God, in his reply, tells
them plainly,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p22" shownumber="no">1. That, since they were fully determined
to persist in their idolatry, he was fully determined to proceed in
his controversy with them; if they would go on to provoke him, he
would go on to punish them, and see which would get the better at
last. God repeats what they had said (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.25" parsed="|Jer|44|25|0|0" passage="Jer 44:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>): "<i>You and your wives</i>
are agreed in this obstinacy; <i>you have spoken with your mouths
and fulfilled with your hands;</i> you have said it, and you stand
to it, have said it and go on to do accordingly, <i>We will surely
perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen
of heaven,</i>" as if, though it were a sin, yet their having vowed
to do it were sufficient to justify them in the doing of it;
whereas no man can by his vow make that lawful to himself, much
less duty, which God has already made sin. "Well" (says God),
"<i>you will accomplish, you will perform, your</i> wicked
<i>vows:</i> now hear what is my vow, what <i>I have sworn by my
great name;</i>" and, if <i>the Lord hath sworn,</i> he <i>will not
repent,</i> since they have sworn and will not repent. <i>With the
froward he will show himself froward,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.18.26" parsed="|Ps|18|26|0|0" passage="Ps 18:26">Ps. xviii. 26</scripRef>. (1.) He had sworn that what
little remains of religion there were among them should be lost,
<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.26" parsed="|Jer|44|26|0|0" passage="Jer 44:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. Though they
joined with the Egyptians in their idolatries, yet they continued
upon many occasions to make mention of the name of Jehovah,
particularly in their solemn oaths; they said, <i>Jehovah
liveth,</i> he is <i>the living God,</i> so they owned him to be,
though they worshipped dead idols; they swear, <i>The Lord
liveth</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.2" parsed="|Jer|5|2|0|0" passage="Jer 5:2"><i>ch.</i> v.
2</scripRef>), but I fear they retained this form of swearing more
in honour of their nation than of their God. But God declares that
his <i>name shall no more be</i> thus <i>named</i> by <i>any man of
Judah in all the land of Egypt;</i> that is, there shall be no Jews
remaining to use this dialect of their country, or, if there be,
they shall have forgotten it and shall learn to swear, as the
Egyptians do, <i>by the life of Pharaoh,</i> not of Jehovah. Note,
Those are very miserable whom God has so far left to themselves
that they have quite forgotten their religion and lost all the
remains of their good education. Or this may intimate that God
would take it as an affront to him and would resent it accordingly,
if they did make mention of his name and profess any relation to
him. (2.) He hath sworn that what little remnant of people there
was there should all be consumed (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p22.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.27" parsed="|Jer|44|27|0|0" passage="Jer 44:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): <i>I will watch over them for
evil;</i> no opportunity shall be let slip to bring some judgment
upon them, <i>until there be an end of them</i> and they be rooted
out. Note, To those whom God finds impenitent sinners he will be
found an implacable Judge. And, when it comes to this, they
<i>shall know</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p22.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.28" parsed="|Jer|44|28|0|0" passage="Jer 44:28"><i>v.</i>
28</scripRef>) <i>whose word shall stand, mind or theirs.</i> They
said that they should recover themselves when they returned to
worship <i>the queen of heaven;</i> God said they should ruin
themselves; and now the event will show which was in the right. The
contest between God and sinners is whose word shall stand, whose
will shall be done, and who shall get the better. Sinners say that
they shall have peace though they go on; God says they shall have
no peace. But <i>when God judges he will overcome;</i> God's word
shall stand, and not the sinner's.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p23" shownumber="no">2. He tells them that a very few of them
should <i>escape the sword,</i> and in process of time <i>return
into the land of Judah, a small number</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xlv-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.28" parsed="|Jer|44|28|0|0" passage="Jer 44:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>), next to none, in comparison
with the great numbers that should return out of the land of the
Chaldeans. This seems designed to upbraid those who boasted of
their numbers that concurred in sin; there were none to speak of
that did not join in idolatry: "Well," says God, "and there shall
be as few <i>that</i> shall <i>escape the sword and
famine.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p24" shownumber="no">3. He gives them a sign that all these
threatenings shall be accomplished in their season, that they shall
be consumed here in Egypt and shall quite perish:
<i>Pharaoh-hophra,</i> the present <i>king of Egypt,</i> shall be
delivered <i>into the hand of his enemies that seek his life—of
his own rebellious subjects</i> (so some) under Amasis, who usurped
his throne—<i>of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon</i> (so others),
who invaded his kingdom; the former is related by Herodotus, the
latter by Josephus. It is likely that this Pharaoh had tempted the
Jews to idolatry by promises of his favour; however, they depended
upon him for his protection, and it would be more than a presage of
their ruin, it would be a step towards it, if he were gone. They
expected more from him than from Zedekiah king of Judah; he was a
more potent and politic prince. "But," says God, "<i>I will give
him into the hand of his enemies,</i> as I gave Zedekiah." Note,
Those creature-comforts and confidences that we promise ourselves
most from may fail us as soon as those that we promise ourselves
least from, for they are all what God makes them, not what we fancy
them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xlv-p25" shownumber="no">The sacred history records not the
accomplishment of this prophecy, but its silence is sufficient; we
hear no more of these Jews in Egypt, and therefore conclude them,
according to this prediction, lost there; for no word of God shall
fall to the ground.</p>
</div></div2>