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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Jeremiah XLIV].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC24043.HTM">Previous</A>]
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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</TD></TR></TABLE>
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J E R E M I A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XLIV.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter we have,
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I. An awakening sermon which Jeremiah preaches to the Jews in Egypt, to
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reprove them for their idolatry, notwithstanding the warnings given
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them both by the word and the rod of God and to threaten the judgments
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of God against them for it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:1-14">ver. 1-14</A>.
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II. The impudent and impious contempt which the people put upon this
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admonition, and their declared resolution to persist in their
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idolatries notwithstanding, in despite of God and Jeremiah,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:15-19">ver. 15-19</A>.
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III. The sentence passed upon them for their obstinacy, that they
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should all be cut off and perish in Egypt except a very small number;
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and, as a sign or earnest of it, the king of Egypt should shortly fall
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into the hands of the king of Babylon and be unable any longer to
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protect them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:20-30">ver. 20-30</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Jer44_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Sermon to the Jews in Egypt; Jeremiah's Remonstrance.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 587.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which
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dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at
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Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,
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2 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen
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all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the
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cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they <I>are</I> a desolation,
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and no man dwelleth therein,
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3 Because of their wickedness which they have committed to
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provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, <I>and</I> to
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serve other gods, whom they knew not, <I>neither</I> they, ye, nor
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your fathers.
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4 Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising
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early and sending <I>them,</I> saying, Oh, do not this abominable
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thing that I hate.
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5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from
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their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.
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6 Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was
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kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem;
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and they are wasted <I>and</I> desolate, as at this day.
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7 Therefore now thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, the God of hosts, the God
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of Israel; Wherefore commit ye <I>this</I> great evil against your
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souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out
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of Judah, to leave you none to remain;
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8 In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your
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hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt,
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whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off,
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and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations
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of the earth?
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9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the
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wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their
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wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives,
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which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the
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streets of Jerusalem?
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10 They are not humbled <I>even</I> unto this day, neither have they
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feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set
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before you and before your fathers.
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11 Therefore thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts, the God of Israel;
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Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off
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all Judah.
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12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their
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faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they
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shall all be consumed, <I>and</I> fall in the land of Egypt; they
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shall <I>even</I> be consumed by the sword <I>and</I> by the famine: they
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shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword
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and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, <I>and</I> an
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astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.
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13 For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I
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have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the
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pestilence:
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14 So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into
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the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that
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they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have
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a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such
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as shall escape.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The Jews in Egypt were now dispersed into various parts of the country,
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into <I>Migdol, and Noph,</I> and other places, and Jeremiah was sent
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on an errand from God to them, which he delivered either when he had
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the most of them together <I>in Pathros</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>)
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or going about from place to place preaching to this purport. He
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delivered this message in the name of <I>the Lord of hosts, the God of
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Israel,</I> and in it,</P>
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<P>
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I. God puts them in mind of the desolations of Judah and Jerusalem,
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which, though the captives <I>by the rivers of Babylon</I> were daily
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mindful of
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:1">Ps. cxxxvii. 1</A>),
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the fugitives in the cities of Egypt seem to have forgotten and needed
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to be put in mind of, though, one would have thought, they had not been
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so long out of sight as to become out of mind
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>You have seen</I> what a deplorable condition Judah and Jerusalem
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are brought into; now will you consider whence those desolations came?
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From the wrath of God; it was his fury and his anger that kindled the
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fire which made Jerusalem and <I>the cities of Judah waste and
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desolate</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>);
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whoever were the instruments of the destruction, they were but
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instruments: it was a destruction from the Almighty.</P>
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<P>
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II. He puts them in mind of the sins that brought those desolations
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upon Judah and Jerusalem. It was for <I>their wickedness.</I> It was
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this that <I>provoked God to anger,</I> and especially their idolatry,
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their <I>serving other gods</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>)
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and giving that honour to counterfeit deities, the creatures of their
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own fancy and the work of their own hands, which should have been given
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to the true God only. They forsook the God who was known among them,
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and whose name was great, for gods that they knew not, upstart deities,
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whose original was obscure and not worth taking notice of: "<I>Neither
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they nor you, nor your fathers,</I> could give any rational account why
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<I>the God of Israel</I> was exchanged for such impostors." They knew
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not that they were gods; nay, they could not but know that they were no
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gods.</P>
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<P>
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III. He puts them in mind of the frequent and fair warnings he had
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given them by his word not to serve other gods, the contempt of which
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warnings was a great aggravation of their idolatry,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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<I>The prophets</I> were sent with a great deal of care to call to
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them, saying, <I>Oh! do not this abominable thing that I hate.</I> It
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becomes us to speak of sin with the utmost dread and detestation as an
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abominable thing; it is certainly so, for it is that which God hates,
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and we are sure that <I>hid judgment is according to truth.</I> Call it
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grievous, call it odious, that we may by all means possible put
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ourselves and others out of love with it. It becomes us to give warning
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of the danger of sin, and the fatal consequences of it, with all
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seriousness and earnestness: "<I>Oh! do not</I> do it. If you love God,
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do not, for it is provoking to him; if you love your own souls do not,
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for it is destructive to them." Let conscience do this for us in an
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hour of temptation, when we are ready to yield. O take heed! <I>do not
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this abominable thing</I> which the Lord hates; for, if God hates it,
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though shouldst hate it. But did they regard what God said to them? No:
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"<I>They hearkened not, nor inclined their ear</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>);
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they still persisted in their idolatries; and you see what came of it,
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therefore God's <I>anger was poured</I> out upon them, <I>as at this
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day.</I> Now this was intended for warning to you, who have not only
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heard the judgments of God's mouth, as they did, but have likewise seen
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the judgments of his hand, by which you should be startled and
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awakened, for they were inflicted <I>in terrorem,</I> that others might
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hear and fear and do no more as they did, lest they should fare as they
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fared."</P>
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<P>
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IV. He reproves them for, and upbraids them with, their continued
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idolatries, now that they had come into Egypt
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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You <I>burn incense to other gods in the land of Egypt. Therefore</I>
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God forbade them to go into Egypt, because he knew it would be a snare
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to them. Those whom God sent into the land of the Chaldeans, though
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that was an idolatrous country, were there, by the power of God's
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grace, weaned from idolatry; but those who went against God's mind into
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the land of the Egyptians were there, by the power of their own
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corruptions, more wedded than ever to their idolatries; for, when we
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thrust ourselves without cause or call into places of temptation, it is
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just with God to leave us to ourselves. In doing this,
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1. They did a great deal of injury to themselves and their families:
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"<I>You commit this great evil against your souls</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
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you wrong them, you deceive them with that which is false, you destroy
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them, for it will be fatal to them." Note, In sinning against God we
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sin <I>against our own souls.</I> "It is the ready way to <I>cut
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yourselves off</I> from all comfort and hope
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
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to cut off your name and honour; so that you will, both by your sin and
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by your misery, become <I>a curse and a reproach among all nations.</I>
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It will become a proverb, As wretched as a Jew. It is the ready way
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<I>to cut off from you</I> all your relations, all that you shave have
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joy of and have your families built up in, <I>man and woman, child and
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suckling,</I> so that Judah shall be a land lost for want of heirs."
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2. They filled up the measure of the iniquity of their fathers, and,
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as if that had been too little for them, added to it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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"<I>Have you forgotten the wickedness</I> of those who are gone before
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you, that you are not humbled for it as you ought to be, and afraid of
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the consequences of it?" <I>Have you forgotten the punishments of your
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fathers?</I> so some read it. "Do you not know how dear their idolatry
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cost them? And yet dare you continue in that vain conversation received
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by tradition from you fathers, though you received the curse with it?"
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He reminds them of the sins and punishments <I>of the kings of
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Judah,</I> who, great as they were, escaped not the judgments of God
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for their idolatry; yea, and they should have taken warning by <I>the
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wickedness of their wives,</I> who had seduced them to idolatry. In the
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original it is, <I>And of his wives,</I> which, Dr. Lightfoot thinks,
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tacitly reflects upon Solomon's wives, particularly his Egyptian wives,
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to whom the idolatry of the kings of Judah owed its original. "Have you
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forgotten this, and what came of it, that you dare venture upon the
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same wicked courses?" See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+13:18,26">Neh. xiii. 18, 26</A>.
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"Nay, to come to your own times, <I>Have you forgotten your own
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wickedness and the wickedness of your wives,</I> when you lived in
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prosperity in Jerusalem, and what ruin it brought upon you? But, alas!
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to what purpose do I speak to them?" (says God to the prophet,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>)
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"<I>they are not humbled unto this day,</I> by all the humbling
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providences that they have been under. <I>They have not feared, nor
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walked in my law.</I>" Note, Those that walk not in the law of God do
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thereby show that they are destitute of the fear of God.</P>
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<P>
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V. He threatens their utter ruin for their persisting in their idolatry
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now that they were in Egypt. Judgment is given against them, as before
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+42:22"><I>ch.</I> xlii. 22</A>),
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that they shall perish in Egypt; the decree has gone forth, and shall
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not be called back. They <I>set their faces to go into the land of
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Egypt</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
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were resolute in their purpose against God, and now God is resolute in
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his purpose against them: <I>I will set my face to cut off all
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Judah,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
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Those that think not only to affront, but to confront, God Almighty,
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will find themselves outfaced; for <I>the face of the Lord is against
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those that do evil,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+34:16">Ps. xxxiv. 16</A>.
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It is here threatened concerning these idolatrous Jews in Egypt,
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1. That <I>they shall all be consumed,</I> without exception; no degree
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nor order among them shall escape: <I>They shall fall, from the least
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to the greatest</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
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<I>high and low, rich and poor.</I>
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2. That <I>they shall be consumed by</I> the very same judgments which
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God made use of for the punishment of Jerusalem, <I>the sword, famine,
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and pestilence,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:12,13"><I>v.</I> 12, 13</A>.
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They shall not be wasted by natural deaths, as Israel in the
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wilderness, but by these sore judgments, which, by flying into Egypt,
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they thought to get out of the reach of.
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3. That none (except a very few that will narrowly escape) shall ever
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<I>return to the land of Judah</I> again,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
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They thought, being nearer, that they stood fairer for a return to
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their own land than those that were carried to Babylon; yet those shall
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return, and these shall not; for the way in which God has promised us
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any comfort is much surer than that in which we have projected it for
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ourselves. Observe, Those that are fretful and discontented will be
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uneasy and fond of change wherever they are. The Israelites, when they
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were in the land of Judah, desired to go into Egypt
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+42:22"><I>ch.</I> xlii. 22</A>),
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but when they were in Egypt they desired to <I>return to the land of
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Judah</I> again; they <I>lifted up their soul</I> to it (so it is in
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the margin), which denotes an earnest desire. But, because they would
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not dwell there when God commanded it, they shall not dwell they were
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they desire it. If we walk contrary to God, he will walk contrary to
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us. How can those expect to be well off who would not know when they
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were so, though God himself told them?</P>
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<A NAME="Jer44_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer44_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The People's Insolent Reply.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 587.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, 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?
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+43:13"><I>ch.</I> xliii. 13</A>)
|
|
|
|
and had been so at Jerusalem
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+23:11">2 Kings xxiii. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:18"><I>ch.</I> vii. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+43:2"><I>ch.</I> xliii. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+11:9">Eccl. xi. 9</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+15:5">2 Chron. xv. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
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, hot the practice of men.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
We found, before, that this was their work,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:18"><I>ch.</I> vii. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
"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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:18"><I>ch.</I> vii. 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer44_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer44_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer44_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer44_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer44_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer44_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer44_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer44_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer44_28"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer44_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer44_30"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Jeremiah's Continued Remonstrance.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 587.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
|
|
remember them, and came it <I>not</I> into his mind?
|
|
22 So that the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and have not obeyed the voice of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, all Judah that <I>are</I> in the
|
|
land of Egypt:
|
|
25 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, all Judah that dwell
|
|
in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name,
|
|
saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, 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
|
|
G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; 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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>)
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
all the <I>abominations which they had committed</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>)
|
|
|
|
and all their disobedience to <I>the voice of the Lord</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>);
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
<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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now God, in his reply, tells them plainly,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>):
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"<I>You and your wives</I> are agreed in this obstinacy; <I>you have
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spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands;</I> you have
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|
said it, and you stand to it, have said it and go on to do accordingly,
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<I>We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense
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|
to the queen of heaven,</I>" as if, though it were a sin, yet their
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|
having vowed to do it were sufficient to justify them in the doing of
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|
it; whereas no man can by his vow make that lawful to himself, much
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|
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
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|
hear what is my vow, what <I>I have sworn by my great name;</I>" and,
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|
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>
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|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+18:26">Ps. xviii. 26</A>.
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(1.) He had sworn that what little remains of religion there were among
|
|
them should be lost,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
|
|
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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>
|
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|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:2"><I>ch.</I> v. 2</A>),
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|
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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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>)
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
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|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
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