Chapter 44

1 Jeremiah expresseth the desolation of Judah for their idolatry. 11 He prophesieth their destruction, who commit idolatry in Egypt. 15 The obstinacy of the Jews. 20 Jeremiah threateneth them for the same, 29 and for a sign prophesieth the destruction of Egypt.

1. In the land of Egypt. This message from God probably came a few years after the events of ch. 43 took place (see on ch. 44:15). The three cities named were undoubtedly places where the emigrants from Judea settled.

Migdol. Perhaps Tell elРHeir, a town about 61/4 mi. (10 km.) south of Pelusium.

Tahpanhes, … Noph. See on ch. 2:16.

Pathros. A region or country, not a city. It was a general name for southern, or Upper, Egypt (see Vol. III, p. 81).

2. Ye have seen all the evil. Beginning with an appeal to their own personal experience, God hoped to convince the Jews that their troubles and distresses had been caused by their apostasy from the worship of the true God (see v. 3).

4. Rising early. See on ch. 7:13.

5. Their ear. See Isa. 55:3; Jer. 7:24; 25:4.

8. Burning incense. These words imply that besides continuing in the familiar idolatrous practices of their own land, they engaged in those of the Egyptians. It was the danger of this idolatrous connection with Egypt that made Jeremiah opposed to every plan of alliance with that country.

9. Wickedness of their wives. That these royal princesses did much to encourage apostasy is amply shown from the history of God’s people. Solomon introduced idolatry largely through the influence of his heathen wives (1 Kings 11:4–8). This same wicked influence was exerted by the queen mother of Asa (1 Kings 15:9–13) and the queen mother of Ahaziah (2 Chron. 22:1–4). Many royal women of Judah were of foreign birth, and therefore became the chief promoters of an alien idol worship, the wives of the nobles and other citizens following their iniquitous example.

10. Before your fathers. See Rom. 9:4, 5.

11. Set my face. See on Eze. 6:2.

12. Set their faces. Notice the play on this expression. God had set His face against His people (v. 11) because they had set their faces to go contrary to His counsel.

14. A desire to return. An indication that the exiles still clung to the hope of returning to their homeland. The assurance that there would be “such as shall escape” is repeated more fully in v. 28.

15. Which knew. Evidently the husbands had consented, sooner or later, to their wives’ idolatrous practices (see on v. 19).

17. The queen of heaven. This goddess is usually identified with the Assyro-Babylonian Ishtar. Inasmuch as there were immoral ceremonies connected with this worship, it aroused Jeremiah’s hot indignation, particularly since it appears to have been a prominent part of the idolatry then practiced. The Assyro-Babylonian Ishtar, the mother goddess, was the equivalent of the divinity known to the Hebrews as Ashtoreth and to the Canaanites as Astarte, whose figurines are found in Palestine (see Vol. II, pp. 39, 319.) This goddess of fertility, of maternity, of sexual love, and of war was worshiped in rites of a grossly immoral and debasing character. She was essentially the same goddess though worshipped under many names and in many aspects, such as the earth-mother, the virgin-mother, and is identified in a general sense with Atargatis, the “Great Mother” of Asia Minor, Artemis (Diana) of Ephesus, Venus, and others. Various names applied to the virgin-mother goddess contain an element meaning “lady,” or “mistress,” as Nana, Innini, Irnini, Beltis. Some of the designations were Belti, “my lady” (the exact equivalent of the Italian Madonna), Belit-ni, “our lady,” and “queen of heaven,” the name under which Ishtar was worshiped on the housetops as morning or evening star, with an offering of baked cakes, wine, and incense. Ishtar was also known as the merciful mother who intercedes with the gods for her worshipers. Some of these names and attributes are today applied to the virgin Mary, and many of the localized virgin cults in the Old World are believed to be the modern survivals of the worship of some of these various aspects of the ancient mother goddess.

Judah, … Jerusalem. They had engaged in idolatry long before the Captivity, and reforms like those of Hezekiah and Josiah had not been permanent.

19. Cakes. See on ch. 7:18.

Without our men. Or, “without our husbands.” Resenting Jeremiah’s words condemning their iniquity, the women quickly reacted by declaring in self-defense that their husbands sanctioned their actions.

22. Without an inhabitant. This should not be taken in an absolute sense, but simply as a graphic picture of the extreme desolation of Judah (see on ch. 4:25).

23. Therefore this evil. The prophet decisively disposes of the apostates’ defense by showing that their seeming vaunted prosperity tragically ended in making their “land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day” (v. 22).

25. Accomplish your vows. Ironically Jeremiah assures them that their vows of rebellious disobedience to the will of God are to be nullified by the divine vow that they shall experience misery and death in Egypt (see v. 13).

26. My great name. That is, the Lord (see Gen. 22:16; Ex. 3:15; see on Jer. 7:3). God’s name would “no more be named” by these apostates “in all the land of Egypt,” because they disrespected and profaned it, and also because there would “be an end of them” (Jer. 44:27).

30. Pharaoh-hophra. This Egyptian king, known to the Greeks as Apries, reigned about 20 years (589–570 b.c.). Because of an army revolt he had to yield the throne to the army commander Ahmose, better known by the Greek name Amosis (see Vol. II, p. 91). Tradition has it that because Jeremiah condemned their course of action the Jews in Egypt stoned the prophet to death, although according to other traditions he survived until Nebuchadrezzar’s invasion of Egypt and was carried either to Babylon or back to Judah, where he died a natural death.

Ellen G. White comments

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