Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 44:18

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Message to the Judeans in Egypt (44:1-30)

Once they had settled down in Egypt, the Judeans soon copied Egyptian religious practices. Jeremiah begins his warnings to them with the reminder of what happened to Jerusalem. The city was destroyed and the people of Judah sent into Babylonian exile because of their false religion and idolatry (44:1-6). Yet the Judeans who escaped to Egypt have not heeded the lesson. God had promised to preserve a minority of the people taken captive to Babylon, but he will preserve none of those who have escaped to Egypt. They show no sign of repentance, but worship the gods of Egypt as they once worshipped other false gods in Jerusalem (7-10).
God announces that his judgment will follow the Judeans to Egypt till they are destroyed. Some will die through war, others through famine. The only survivors will be a few fugitives who escape back to Judah (11-14).

The people’s arrogant response to the message from God shows their rebellious spirit and their determination to continue in their idolatry. They argue that during the reign of Manasseh, when the worship of foreign gods was at its peak (cf. 2 Kings 21:3-5), there was neither war nor famine. But when Josiah removed idolatry and established the worship of Yahweh (cf. 2 Kings 23:4-5), Judah suffered from both war and famine (15-18). Moreover, the idolatry had the full approval of the heads of households all over Judah (19).

In reply Jeremiah points out that the worship of foreign gods was the reason for Judah’s calamities and ultimate downfall. The idolatrous practices of Manasseh’s time were so deeply rooted that Josiah’s reform could not remove them (20-23; cf. 2 Kings 23:26-27).

The prophet challenges the people to continue their worship of false gods and see whether or not they will be punished (24-25). But he knows the outcome: they will be destroyed, never to dishonour the holy name of God again (26-27). Only a few who escape will live to see Jeremiah’s prophecy come true (28). The Judeans in Egypt will have a sure sign of their coming doom when they see Pharaoh, in whom they have trusted, overthrown (29-30).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

JUDAH'S NEW GOD, THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

"Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great assembly, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, and answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of Jehovah, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our 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 then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off burning incense to the QUEEN OF HEAVEN, and pouring out drink-offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. 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 husbands?"

The capital letters for QUEEN OF HEAVEN in the above paragraph are a variation from our text. This is to emphasize the adoption of a new god by the Jewish sojourners in Egypt.

THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

There was nothing either honorable or innocent in the worship of this ancient sex-goddess by God's people. Who was the Queen of Heaven? She is identified primarily with Ashteroth, Astarte, Ishtar, Venus, Aphrodite and other female goddesses of antiquity. She was worshipped as the goddess of fertility and was the female equivalent of Baal.

"The immoral rites of the worship of this deity entered Canaan from Babylon, long before God sent the children down into Canaan to extirpate it and replace it with the knowledge of the true God."International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 271.

The type of sexual orgies that went along with such worship is clearly visible in Numbers 25, in which event Israel demonstrated their preference for that kind of worship over that which God had commanded, a preference which they maintained down to the events of this chapter.

"The Israelites turned to the worship of the Queen of Heaven as Ashteroth soon after their arrival in Canaan; it was depraved in the extreme; it was rife in the times of Samuel (1 Samuel 7:3-4); after Saul's death, his armour was placed in the temple of Ashteroth at Beth-shan (1 Samuel 21:10); and Solomon gave it royal sanction (2 Kings 23:13)."NBD, p. 96. "In the times of Jeremiah, prior to the exile, the Chosen People had given themselves over to the worst and vilest forms of heathen worship in their worship of the Queen of Heaven."International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 2514. Furthermore, it appears from the events in these last two chapters that it was Israel's desire to continue uninterruptedly their worship of this vile goddess that sparked their willingness to go back to Egypt.

"All the women that stood by" "This was probably an idolatrous festival (to the Queen of Heaven) in which the women were taking a leading part."JRD, p. 477. With regard to the part which the women played in such a festival, Numbers 25 gives the daughters of Moab as examples! Cheyne agreed that, "This special mention of the women suggests that the occasion of the gathering was a festival in honor of the Queen of Heaven."T. K. Cheyne, Jeremiah in PC, p. 186.

"Since we left off burning incense to the Queen of Heaven" This appears to be a reference to that period in the days of Josiah the king, whose widespread reforms had, for a season, suppressed the shameful paganism which had taken the land. "They senselessly attributed the disasters to Judah to Josiah's reforms, claiming that idolatry had done more for them than had the Lord."Charles L. Feinberg, Jeremiah in Expositor's Bible Commentary, Vol. 6 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), p. 643. Not once did the people connect their disasters with their sins! Nothing is more blinding than infidelity; and the type of theological acrobat that can suppose sin to be a better benefactor than the righteousness of God is here revealed to have been a very ancient specimen, the prototype of many such theological gymnasts in our own day."

Like the harlot in Hosea, Israel "Did shamefully, and said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink" (Hosea 2:5); and she did not know that it was her God who gave all those things she desired.

As the women concluded this shocking reply to Jeremiah, that said, in effect, "And don't think for a minute that we do all this without our husbands consent!"

"Did we (do all this)… without our husbands" "Vows taken by women, in order to be valid, were required by the Law of Moses to be with their husband's consent (Numbers 30:7-16)";Anthony L. Ash, Jeremiah and Lamentations (Abilene, Texas: A.C.U. Press, 1987), p. 284. and it is certainly amazing that these women here seem to have been boasting that they had engaged in this shameful worship "according to law." Indeed, indeed! This is the key to the error in their thinking that they could do all of those sinful things and yet keep on worshipping God! The result was a kind of syncretism, much like that which Jezebel attempted to set up between Christianity and paganism in Thyatira (Rev. 2:20-14).

"Did we make cakes to worship her…?" "The cakes were made in the form of a crescent, representing the moon,"B. p. 252. believed to have been especially sacred to the Queen of Heaven.

This worship of the Queen of Heaven had all kinds of astrological connotations, similar to that of practically all of the mythological gods and goddesses of antiquity. They were severally identified with the sun, the moon, and the stars, and with certain planets in particular. When Stephen referred to the Israelites having worshipped "the host of heaven" (Acts 7:42), the reference was precisely to these ancient deities.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The suppression of this popular idolatry had apparently been regarded with much ill-will in Josiah’s time, and many may even have ascribed to it his defeat at Megiddo. Probably Jehoiakim had again permitted it, but Zedekiah, during the miseries of his reign, had forbidden it, and the people ascribed the fall of Jerusalem to the neglect of their favorite goddess.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

Here he enlarges on their ingratitude, that they attributed to God the fault of all their calamities, when yet God would have drawn them, as the Prophet will hereafter tell us, as it were out of darkness into light, had they been reclaimable. They ought to have been restored, by punishments, to their right mind. But this had been so far from being the case, that the effect of God’s scourges had been to render them more and more obstinate.

They then said, that from the time they left off to worship idols, they had been miserable, that they had labored under the want of everything, and had been consumed by famine and the sword. They had before been consumed, as it is well known, by the famine and the sword, and as we have said, they had before suffered many calamities. Why then did they not refer to these punishments which they had suffered for having so often, and for so long a time, rebelled against God? But they willfully covered over God’s judgments: and yet they said that they had been in every way miserable, since they had ceased from false worship. But was it for this reason they became miserable, because they no longer poured out libations to stars and idols? Nay, the reason was very different, as the Prophet will presently answer them. But we must repeat all their words; we shall come afterwards to the refutation given by the Prophet.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 44

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt ( Jeremiah 44:1 ),

And this is Jeremiah's final message to the people. God's last word to the nation that have turned their backs on Him and have gone to Egypt. Back to the place from which God had delivered them, and God gives to them His final word. "The word which came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which were in the land of Egypt."

which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; You have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are desolate, and no man is dwelling there; Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers ( Jeremiah 44:1-3 ).

You see what's happened. You see the desolation of the land and it all took place because the people forsook Me, God said, and they began to worship these other gods.

Howbeit I sent warnings to you through my servants the prophets, who rose early, and they said, Don't do this abominable thing that God hates. But they did not hearken, they did not incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, and they continued to burn their incense to these other gods. 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 and desolate, as they are this very day. Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Why do you commit this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and nursing child, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain; In that you are continuing to provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, [because you are still] burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to dwell, that you might cut yourselves off, and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? ( Jeremiah 44:4-8 )

"Why are you doing this?" God said, "It was because of the burning of the incense and the worshipping of these other gods that you were driven from the land, that your land is desolate today. But you've continued these very practices now that you've come into Egypt. The very thing that brought the judgment of God upon you, you've not ceased doing. Even though you are here in Egypt, suffering the judgment of God, as your land is desolate. Yet you continue in these abominations."

Have you 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? ( Jeremiah 44:9 )

Now it is interesting at this point where Jeremiah joins the wives in his indictment, for they were guilty of these same abominations. And in fact, as we read on the account, it would seem that the women were perhaps rather forward and leading in these abominations.

Corrupted womanhood is usually the final straw that breaks the back of a nation. Women have a capacity, because of that fine, delicate temperament, of greater heights of spiritual experience and of deeper depths of moral depravity than men. When a woman goes bad, it's usually horrible. Like the little girl with a curl, when she is bad she's horrible. Men are coarser in their nature. And man's spectrum is rather narrow in a coarse median. Whereas a woman capable by her fine, beautiful temperament of higher highs, she's also capable of lower lows. The spectrum of the woman moves in a much broader spectrum than does man. So that when the woman falls, she so often goes to the bottom. And when that takes place, it's all over. It is interesting that women so often in the churches take leading roles of spirituality, in the prayer groups, in service groups and all. And that's because of this beautiful, fine temperament that when tuned to the Spirit is so beautiful and so glorious, so inspiring, so beautiful to behold. A woman walking with the Lord in that beautiful, fine, keen temperament that is so sensitive and attune to the things of God and the things of the Spirit.

So often because I am in this coarser, denser nature, I'll be in a situation and just sort of plodding through and we'll get home and my wife said, "Did you notice what was happening there tonight?" "What? I didn't notice anything." "Oh, well, when this happened, you know," and she can pick up on the fine spiritual tuning. Great spiritual insights. "Oh, this took place." And as I look back I say, "Well, yeah, I can remember." It didn't mean anything. It didn't say anything to me. But with this keen spiritual sensitivity, she has a capacity of picking up on spiritual attunement much better than I do. Because I'm just this rugged, push-through and plod along. But women attune to the Spirit. What high capacities they have. What keen spiritual insights. And how beautiful it is to see a woman walking in the Spirit because of the highs that she is capable of and that spiritual sensitivity. It's fantastic. But on the other end of the spectrum, it's tragic.

Now Jeremiah is speaking how that the wives had joined in and he joins them in this indictment. The wickedness of their wives and of your wives.

They are not humbled ( Jeremiah 44:10 )

He's talking about their wives. Verse ten:

even 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. Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and I'm going to cut off all of Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and 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, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. 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: so that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to dwell 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 ( Jeremiah 44:10-14 ).

Only a very small group that escapes.

Then all the men which knew that their wives were burning incense to the other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that were dwelling in the land of Egypt, they answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word which you have spoken to us in the name of Jehovah, we are not going to listen to you. But we will certainly do whatever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven [to Semiramis who is known queen of heaven, mother of God], and to pour out drink offerings unto her ( Jeremiah 44:15-17 ),

This is that Babylonian religious system that Israel was caught up in. The worship of Tammuz and Semiramis, these Babylonian deities, the mother-child concept. Worshipping Semiramis as the mother of heaven or queen of heaven, the mother of God. And this is, incidentally, where the worship of Mary stems from. Nowhere in the scripture are we told to worship Mary. But it stems from this worship of Semiramis, the queen of heaven. And you can trace it back. I don't have to do your homework for you. You can get the book, The Two Babylons by Hislop, and he traces so thoroughly the pagan Babylonian practices that have been brought into the church. The very things that God indicted Israel for are now going on in many churches in the name of the Lord. And we'll wait till we get to Revelation to deal with that more fully.

Now listen to what they're saying. "We will certainly do what we please, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to 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 then we had plenty of food, and were well, and we did not see evil. But when we quit burning incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and we have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. 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? ( Jeremiah 44:17-19 )

In other words, "Didn't our husbands know what we were doing? Didn't we have the consent of our husbands as we were doing it? They knew what we were doing." The women are answering Jeremiah now. And it is interesting how that they so totally twisted the facts. They were attributing the demise and the destruction to their ceasing to burn incense to the queen of heaven. How man can so totally twist the truth and blame God for the tragedies that come upon his life and accuse God for the things that have gone wrong. And say, "Man, things went well. I was doing great until I started serving God. Then He wiped me out." And here they were blaming their destruction upon the fact that they had quit burning the incense to the queen of heaven. "As long as we were faithful to her, she was blessing us. We had plenty of food. Things were great until we ceased burning incense to her and now all of this calamity has come upon us. And after all, our husbands knew what we were doing."

Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, that had given him this answer, 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 the LORD remember them, did it not come into his mind? So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed; therefore is your land a desolation ( Jeremiah 44:20-22 ),

Jeremiah sets the record straight. "Look, it's because you were burning this that God has brought His judgment upon you. Therefore is your land a desolation."

and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day ( Jeremiah 44:22-23 ).

Keep the record straight. It's your forsaking God and your turning after these other gods that cause this judgment of God to fall.

Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all of Judah and all that are in the land of Egypt: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; You 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: and you will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows ( Jeremiah 44:24-25 ).

You've made your vows to the queen of heaven and you'll be sure to keep them.

Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name ( Jeremiah 44:26 ),

Look out when God swears by His name, because He can swear by no higher.

saith Jehovah, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Jehovah God lives. Behold, I'm going to watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there is an end of them. And yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt ( Jeremiah 44:26-28 )

God always has His faithful remnant, you notice that? In the midst of a world of apostasy and sin, there are always the faithful remnant of God. Remember Elijah said, "Lord." God says, "Elijah, what are you doing down here in this cave Sinai desert?" "Oh, I've been jealous for You. And they've killed all of Your prophets. And I, only I am left of all of Israel." God says, "That's not true, Elijah. I have seven thousand who have not bowed their knee to Baal." God knew them. There was the faithful remnant. A lot of times we think we're the only ones, but God has His faithful remnant always.

God pronounces this desolation that is coming, and yet a small number, His faithful remnant that will escape and will 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 will stand, mine, or theirs ( Jeremiah 44:28 ).

You'll find out who's telling the truth.

Now, of course, time is always that great factor. False prophets so often profit for a while. You know, for a time they get along great and they can gather a following. But time is always against them. In time it will show up. Jimmy Jones did great for a while. Gathered quite a following. Popular move. A lot of people joining in. Off the wall. He could get by with it for a while, but ultimately it catches up with you. And there are flashes that come on the scene. They draw a lot of attention to themselves. They come with some off-the-wall kind of a doctrine. Everybody is going. They've got the ear of the crowd. They're popular. They have their day, but time is against them. In time it shows up. So that's what the Lord said, "Okay, time will be a witness. The time will come when you'll find out who's telling the truth. Me or you."

And this will be the sign, I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil: Thus saith Jehovah; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra 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 ( Jeremiah 44:29-30 ).

Now we have the advantage of history and hindsight and we can see that it was God's Word that stood. Nebuchadnezzar came down and conquered Egypt. God's Word stood. It always will. Never set yourself against God's Word. You'll lose every time.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

They intended to continue to worship the Queen of Heaven, a Near Eastern fertility goddess, as they had done in Judah (cf. Jeremiah 7:18; 2 Kings 17:16), because back then they had plenty of food and life had been pleasant for them. [Note: See Keown, pp. 266-68, for a study of the Queen of Heaven.] Worship of this deity involved offering cakes made in the shape of the goddess or the moon, or stamped with her image (Jeremiah 44:19; cf. Jeremiah 7:18). After the Judeans had stopped making burnt offerings and drink offerings to her, they had experienced shortages, and many of them had died in war and famine. Their response challenged Yahweh’s ultimate sovereignty.

During the long and relatively peaceful reign of evil King Manasseh (697-642 B.C.), pagan cults of many kinds flourished in Judah. When Josiah (640-609 B.C.) assumed the throne after wicked King Amon’s brief reign (642-640 B.C.), he began to expel the cults, and encouraged Yahweh worship. Then a series of bad things began to happen in Judah. Pharaoh Neco killed Josiah, the Egyptians occupied Judah, and the Egyptians carried King Jehoahaz away as a prisoner. Then Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah several times, deported King Jehoiakim, destroyed Jerusalem, and took many Judeans captive, including King Zedekiah. Most recently, Ishmael had assassinated the new Judean governor, Gedaliah. It is understandable that some of the people now concluded that returning to Yahweh, in Josiah’s day, had been a step backward for Judah. They failed to see that these calamities were punishments from Yahweh for forsaking Him, and concluded that they were punishments from the idols for forsaking them.

"On a more doctrinaire plane, the secularist will blame Christianity, not the lack of it, for many of society’s ills, ascribing our frustrations and tensions to the biblical restraints and moral absolutes; seeking freedom, as did Jeremiah’s critics, not in God but from God." [Note: Kidner, p. 133. ]

Similarly, some people in our day point to "Christianity" as the cause of the bad conditions that existed in the Middle Ages, since the Roman Catholic church dominated life then. Actually, those bad conditions resulted from a combination of causes.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven,.... Or were restrained from it, as the Targum, through the force of the prophet's sermons, or by the authority of their governors: this Abarbinel thinks was in the times of Jehoiakim, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah; but perhaps it only regards some space of time in the latter part of Zedekiah's reign, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, when they refrained from their idolatry; fearing the wrath of God, and what was coming upon them; though Kimchi is of opinion that they never ceased; but they would say, when any evil came upon them, it was because they ceased to burn incense to the queen of heaven, of were not so ready to it as at first:

and to pour out drink offerings to her: another part of worship they performed to her but for a while left off: and from that time they say,

we have wanted all [things], and have been consumed by the sword, and by the famine; wanted all the necessaries of life, meat and drink, and clothing and a habitation to dwell in; and multitudes were destroyed by the sword of the king of Babylon; and others perished with famine during the siege; these evils they imputed to their cessation from idolatry, when it was the very thing that brought them on them.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      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 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, 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 then 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 things, 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?

      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,

      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, Jeremiah 44:15; Jeremiah 44:15. 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: They knew that their wives had burnt incense to other gods, and that they had countenanced them in it, and the women that stood by 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 kick against the pricks, as children of Belial, that will not bear the yoke.

      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, Depart from us; we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

      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 the queen of heaven; yet some understand it of the sun, which was much worshipped in Egypt (Jeremiah 43:13; Jeremiah 43:13) and had been so at Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:11), and they say that the Hebrew word for the sun being feminine it may not unfitly be called the queen of heaven. And others understand it of all the host of heaven, or the frame of heaven, the whole machine, Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 7:18. 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, Jeremiah 43:2; Jeremiah 43:2), but they own that he spoke to them in the name of the Lord, and yet tell him flatly, in so many words, "We will not hearken unto thee; 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 the deceitfulness of sin. Here is the genuine language of the rebellious heart: We will certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own mouth, 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 in the days of his youth; he would walk in the way of his heart and the sight of his eyes, and would have and do every thing he has a mind to, Ecclesiastes 11:9.

      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 every mouth shall be stopped.

      (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 to burn incense to the queen of heaven, for our fathers 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: Our kings and our princes 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 we, we all with one consent, we that are a great multitude (Jeremiah 44:15; Jeremiah 44:15), we did it. [4.] They plead universality. It was not done here and there, but in the cities of Judah. [5.] They plead visibility. It was not done in a corner, in dark and shady groves only, but in the streets, 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 Jerusalem. [7.] They plead prosperity: They had we plenty of bread, and of all good things; we were well and saw no evil. 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 no peace to those that went out or came in,2 Chronicles 15:5. 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.

      (2.) They suggest that the judgments they had of late been under were brought upon them for leaving off to burn incense to the queen of heaven,Jeremiah 44:18; Jeremiah 44:18. 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. Since we forsook our idolatries we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword, 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, Christianos ad leones--Throw the Christians to the lions. 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.

      (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 make cakes for meat-offerings to the queen of heaven and to prepare and pour out the drink-offerings,Jeremiah 44:19; Jeremiah 44:19. We found, before, that this was their work, Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 7:18. "But did we do it without our husbands, 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 (Jeremiah 44:15; Jeremiah 44:15), who plead that they did not do it without their men, that is, without their elders and rulers, their great men, and men in authority; but, because the making of the cakes and the pouring out of the drink-offerings are expressly spoken of as the women's work (Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 7:18), 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?