Jeremiah 44:1

The Bible says in Jeremiah 44:1-3, “The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,[2] Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,[3] 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.” God said in verse 2 to the Jews who were in Egypt, “Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem.” Learn from history because history repeats itself. That is one reason that it is good to know what is in books such as “The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.” One of the things going on with nations is that God is involved, and what happened with Israel during the time of Jeremiah is not uncommon. It goes like this: the people sin, and God gives time for them to wake up and repent of their sins. If they do not repent, as time goes by they sin more and more. Finally, God brings judgment because He is judge of the whole earth; and every nation and every people comes under His view.

Notice the sin that is mentioned that these Israelites committed that was so bad and caused God to eventually have to punish them. God said in verse 3, “that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods.” This is a violation of the first commandment. It says in Exodus 20:3, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” We live in a day of great idolatry even though people do not have idols like they did in the Old Testament, they have modern idols of a different sort. Some people idolize certain politicians, or sports figures, or a Hollywood celebrity. Some people idolize riches or material things. Some people idolize fame or pleasure. The list goes on. Even Christians can commit idolatry by forgetting their love for Jesus and by putting something before God. The Apostle John wrote in the last verse of his epistle in First John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

A violation of the first commandment is of course, a violation of the law. The problem for the Israelites or anyone under the law is that to fail in one point was to fail totally in keeping the law. And then the penalty of failing to keep the law was death. It says in James 2:10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

The Bible says in Jeremiah 44:4-6, “Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.[5] But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.[6] 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 at this day.” One of the things that we learn from these verses is the fact that as sinful as the Israelites were, in the final analysis they were not really punished because of their great sins, but because of their refusal to repent of their sins. Jesus said in Luke 13:4, “I tell you nay; but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” God wants people to repent so that they will be saved. And in order to help people to see their need of repentance, God sends preachers with the gospel of Christ. Yes, you are a sinner, but there is good news. God loves you, and Jesus died for you on the cross of Calvary. God’s method of spreading the Gospel of Christ is to use all Christians. Each Christian needs to have a testimony to the heathen around them. Jesus called this: letting your light shine. He said in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” The greatest good work is to love. It says in First Corinthians 13:13, “And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” The life that you live is much more than the words that you say, but words are important too. God calls certain Christians to proclaim words about the gospel: we call these Christians preachers. If God has called you to preach, then preach. If God has not called you to preach, then help those who do preach by praying, or by words of encouragement, or by doing some of the practical tasks that the preachers do not have time to do, or some other way. God wants the Gospel of Christ to be preached because He cares about people, and He wants people to be saved before it is too late. It says in Romans 10:13-15, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.[14] How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?[15] And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

The Bible says in Jeremiah 44:7-14, “Therefore now this saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;[8] In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?[9] Have ye 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?[10] They are not humbled 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.
[11] Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.[12] And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn 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.[13] 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:[14] So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn 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.”

The Lord said in verse 7, “Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls?” People should be more concerned about the condition of their souls. How will the decisions that you make impact your soul? Jesus said in Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” There are many bad consequences to sin. Sin brings death. Sin hurts other people. Sin is an affront to a holy God who must punish sin. Sin sent Jesus to the cross of Calvary because someone had to pay the price. Also, sin hurts the person who sins by hurting their soul in some way. Every person is made up of body and soul. It says in Genesis 2:7, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Your soul is who you really are. The soul lives within the body. Therefore, the external things are of little importance. The foolish philosophies of the world put an emphasis on the external things such as physical appearance and clothing. But the person that you really are is what matters, and that person is internal. One class of religious hypocrites have the problem of being involved in religion externally only to be seen of men. Notice what Jesus said to such people in Matthew 23:25, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.” One of the goals in life is to become everything that you can become. That will only happen if you develop your soul. Sin will harm your soul.

Most of the verses in this passage of Jeremiah have to do with the terrible chastisements and punishments that will happen to the Israelites who fled away from Babylon and went to Egypt. Let’s look at verse that kind of summarizes what happened to them. God said in Jeremiah 44:12, “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.” The word “curse” is a key word to understand that this kind of outcome will never happen to those who trust in Jesus. This will happen to those who live under law, but it will not happen to those who live under grace. When studying the Old Testament never forget that it says in the New Testament in Galatians 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”

The Bible says in Jeremiah 44:15-19, “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?” Human nature has not changed. Many people today respond to the Word of God just like these Jewish people did in the time of Jeremiah. First they flat out rejected the Word of God. They did not want the truth. When they heard the truth they did not like it. They said in verse 16, “As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.” After they rejected the Word of the Lord, they found justifications for what they had done. They used coincidences and their human experiences to find a reason to turn away from the Word of the Lord. Experience must never trump the Word of God. Wisdom is needed to rightly understand the experiences. Those who create their beliefs based upon their experiences will fal into false doctrine. The Jewish people said that they experienced various calamities when they did not worship the false god, what they called “the queen of heaven.” As soon as they started sacrificing to the queen of heaven again, their problems started clearing up. Were they correct? First of all it could have just been a coincidence. Secondly, sometimes there is a price to pay for doing the right thing. Some people do not turn to Christ because they know that some friends and family members might regard them negatively for doing so. Jesus taught in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:20-21, “But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;[21] Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.”

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