Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Jeremiah 44:20-23
3). Jeremiah's Makes An Immediate Reply By Reminding Them That YHWH Had Seen What They And Their Fathers Had Done And Had Acted In Judgment On Them For That Reason By Desolating Their Land And Making It A Spectacle To The World (20-23).
Jeremiah's reply was to point out that it was the very fact that they had offered worship to other gods that had in the past been the cause of all their problems. It was that that had brought all God's warnings of judgment on them from the prophets. It was precisely what God had had in mind when He had cause their cities to be destroyed and had made them a spectacle to the world.
‘Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him that answer, saying,'
Note that Jeremiah's reply is to ‘the men and the women' who had been involved in the people's response to him. All were involved and therefore all were guilty.
“The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not YHWH remember them, and did it not come into his mind?”
He points out that it was the very incense burned in their cities to false gods that YHWH had remembered and had brought to mind. That was the very reason why He was angry with them, and was why judgment had come on them. And what was more they had all been involved, they themselves, their fathers, their rulers and all the people of the land.
“So that YHWH could not longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed, therefore is your land become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.”
Note that it was not just their false worship that YHWH could ‘no longer bear', but also the evil practises that arose from it and went with it. The ‘abominations' were their false worship (the word ‘abomination' usually has idolatry in mind). But ‘the evil of their doings' had in mind the actions and behaviour that went along with their false worship, sexual misbehaviour, violence and excess. And it was because of all these thing that their land had been desolated to such an extent that it had astonished all their neighbours around them. That was why their land had become a curse, subjected to the curses described in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. It had been left ‘without inhabitant'.
“Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against YHWH, and have not obeyed the voice of YHWH, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies, therefore this evil is happened to you, as it is this day.”
Here Jeremiah analyses everything that has resulted in their judgment. This evil had happened to them precisely because they had:
· Burned incense (to false gods) (compare Jeremiah 7:18; Exodus 20:3).
· Sinned against YHWH (compare Jeremiah 3:25; Jeremiah 8:14; Jeremiah 40:3; Jeremiah 50:7; Jeremiah 50:14).
· Not obeyed the voice of YHWH (contrast Jeremiah 42:5. Compare Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 27:10. The idea of obeying or not obeying the voice of YHWH occurs 18 times in Jeremiah, e.g. Jeremiah 3:13; Jeremiah 3:25, etc. out of 61 times in the Old Testament).
· Not walked in His law, nor His statutes, nor His testimonies (contrast Jeremiah 42:3. Compare Exodus 16:4; Exodus 18:20; 1 Kings 2:3).
In other words It had happened to them because they had rejected YHWH's commands and had breached His covenant with them continually, living in deliberate disobedience and flagrantly refusing to walk in His ways, and cocking a snook at Him by their worship of other gods. Now at last His patience had come to an end. And these people especially had no grounds for complaint, for they had actually promised YHWH that they would do whatever He told them (Jeremiah 42:3), and had then refused.