Jeremiah 44:15-19

2. The warning rejected (Jeremiah 44:15-19)

TRANSLATION

(15) And all the men who knew that their wives offered incense to other gods, and all the women who were standing around, a great congregation, even all the people who were dwelling in the land of Egypt in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, (16) As regards the word which You have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken to you. (17) On the contrary we will continue to do everything which we have vowed to doto offer incense to the queen of heaven and pour out libations as we have previously done, we, our fathers, our kings, our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem when we had plenty of bread, and were well-off, and had not experienced calamity. (18) But from the time we ceased to offer incense to the queen of heaven, and pour out libations to her, we have lacked all of these things and have perished by sword and famine. (19) Surely we are going to keep on offering incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her. Was it without our men that we made for her cakes that depicted her and poured out libations to her?

COMMENTS

Jeremiah's ministry ended on the same note with which it began. The people rejected the word of God which he brought to them. God had warned him at the outset, they shall fight against you but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to deliver you (Jeremiah 1:19). From that day forward Jeremiah had forced his people into confrontation with the word of God that is sharper than any two-edged sword. That tender hearted and timid youth had indeed become the iron pillar, fenced city and brazen wall that God had predicted (Jeremiah 1:18). With unflinching courage he stands up in the midst of that pagan festival to manfully preach the word. Resentment in the faces of that apostate audience is quite obvious as Jeremiah strikes at them with the whiplash of divine rebuke. That resentment boils over into violent anger when Jeremiah mentions the guilt of the women of Judah. Men who exhibit amazing restraint when being personally attacked often burst into uncontrollable rage when someone criticizes their wives. They might have ignored the old prophet and dismissed what he said as being the sentiments of a religious fanatic. But he had touched a sensitive nerve and they felt compelled to reply to him.

a) Their resoluteness in idolatry (Jeremiah 44:15-17 a). The defiant reply of the accused people is not clothed in diplomatic camouflage. They mince no words. As for the word that you have spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, they sarcastically say, We will not hearken unto you (Jeremiah 44:16). They do not accuse Jeremiah of speaking falsely in the name of the Lord as they had charged him at Bethlehem (Jeremiah 43:2-3). Now they do not even bother to argue the point. They could not care less what the God of Jeremiah expected or demanded of them. Even if the word of the prophet does come from the Lord, they will not receive it. Rather they declare we will certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own mouth. They are here expressing their determination to perform the vows that they have made to the queen of heavento offer incense to her and pour out libations to her.[363]

[363] Further evidence of the existence of the Ishtar cult in Egypt is provided by an Aramaic papyrus dating from the fifth century B.C. found at Hermopolis in which the temple of the queen of heaven is explicitly mentioned. Illustrated World of the Bible, op. cit., III, 102.

b) Their rationalization of idolatry (Jeremiah 44:17 b - Jeremiah 44:19). In attempting to rationalize their idolatry the assembly offers three arguments. First they argue that the worship of the queen of heaven is nothing new. Their fathers had worshiped her throughout the land of Judah and even in the streets of Jerusalem. Furthermore the worship of this goddess was prestigious having attracted both kings and princes of the land. Could a religion practiced for so long by so many be wrong?

In the second place, the assembly argues that the worship of the queen of heaven is advantageous to the nation. When we faithfully worshiped this goddess all was well; but from the day we ceased to Worship her we experienced one calamity and disaster after another (Jeremiah 44:18). Rather than thanking the Lord for the blessings He had poured out upon them they attributed their prosperity to their false gods. On the contrary all of the misfortune which had befallen the nation from the death of Josiah to the present time they blamed upon those prophets and leaders who had made a valiant effort to stamp out idolatry in the land. The people were forced to cease the open worship of the queen of heaven during the reformations of king Josiah. But no sooner had the reform under Josiah commenced then one calamity after another struck the nation culminating finally in the destruction of Jerusalem. Thus it was only when they attempted to worship the Lord exclusively and neglected the worship of other deities that trouble started.

Now history can be read in different ways. Jeremiah had one interpretation for the events of the past few years while the people had an altogether different one. They interpreted the decline and fall of their nation as being due to the exclusive worship of the Lord and the neglect of other deities who might have been able to save them. On the other hand the prophet regards the disasters which had befallen his people as due to the gradual degradation of the people through idolatry practiced in the days of Manasseh and Amon and renewed subsequent to the death of Josiah. Apart from the fact that Jeremiah was guided by the Holy Spirit in the interpretation of the significance of past events, any objective analysis of the history of Judah in her last years must vindicate the prophet's interpretation of those events. Had the nation heeded his advice and followed his direction the course of history would have been altered.
Boiled down to its simplest terms, this second argument of the assembly is simply this: We will worship the god who has done the most for us. The queen of heaven has done more for us than the God whom you represent. Therefore we will serve the queen of heaven. Like so many people today those Jews were searching for a religion which would give them the maximum amount of blessing for the minimum amount of service.
The third argument is added by the women who were present.[364] Whatever acts of worship were performed by us, say the women, were done with the consent of our husbands. In other words, since we have the approval of our husbands for this worship you have no right, Jeremiah, to interfere with it. Thus the whole community is involved in this final rejection of the Lord as the sole deity of Israel.

[364] Some think that the entire reply recorded here was framed by the women.