Chapter Forty-Four

1–14. Rebuke of the Hebrews living in Egypt for their turn to idolatry. 15–19. Their objections to the prophet. 20–30. The prophet’s answer.

Jer 44:1-14. The prophet points out to the Hebrews living in Egypt the desolation of their homeland as a clear testimony of God’s anger, which fell on the worshippers of foreign gods. Now it seems especially abominable to the prophet that the Hebrews turn to those same customs which earlier led to the destruction of the Judean state. Undoubtedly, God’s anger will finally destroy this people, hardened in their vices. The prophet especially mentions Judean women as the most inclined to heathen superstition.

Jeremiah 44:1. The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans living in the land of Egypt, those settled in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, and in the land of Pathros: “Migdol,” where there evidently was a very large Judean colony, is a border city on the northeast side of Egypt, near the Nile canal running near Pelusium and not too far from the Mediterranean Sea. On Egyptian monuments it is called mak-thai. Migdol, mentioned in the book of Exodus (Exod 14:2), should be sought in a more southern direction. – “Tahpanhes” and “Noph” – see Jer 2:16. – “Pathros” is Upper Egypt, as is evident from the book of Isaiah (Isa 11:11) and from Egyptian monuments, by which Thebes is listed as the main city in the “land of the south” (Pa-to-ris). Jer 44:15-19. The people, including women, object to the prophet’s rebuke. On the contrary, they say, the worship of foreign gods and especially of the queen of heaven brought us nothing but benefit. All our misfortunes came precisely from the fact that we stopped serving the goddess of heaven.

Jeremiah 44:15. Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, and all the women standing there in great number, and all the people living in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: It is evident from this that the prophet held his address before a large assembly of Judeans. What occasion there was for this assembly is unknown. In any case, it was not a festival in honor of the queen of heaven or, in general, any heathen celebration. Otherwise, the expression: “who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods” would be quite out of place. But the Judean women apparently had the intention to arrange here some kind of, perhaps secret, celebration in honor of the goddess of heaven.

Jeremiah 44:17. But we will certainly do everything that has gone out of our mouths, burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, 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 off, and saw no disaster. “The queen of heaven,” or queen of heaven, to whom they turned with hope for the fulfillment of their desires concerning earthly well-being (for example, the resolution of childlessness), was, of course, the goddess of the moon. – “What has gone out of our mouths” – this is an expression used of making vows (Num 30:3.; Deut 23:23; Judg 11:36). – “Burn incense” means to burn grain offerings with part of the incense. – The Hebrews appeal to ancient customs, practiced before the reform of Josiah and preserved in the people even under Jehoiakim (Jer 7:17).

Jeremiah 44:19. And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands’ knowledge that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her? Here it is more clearly indicated that it was the women who primarily spoke. They, in their own defense, appeal to their husbands, who did not prevent them from serving the queen of heaven. Jer 44:20-30. In response to the Hebrews, Jeremiah solemnly declares that it was not something else – not the neglect of worship of the queen of heaven – but rather the disobedience to the first commandment of God’s law that was the cause of the devastation of their homeland. If the Hebrews now wish to persist in their evil habits, then the Lord will finally destroy and all the Hebrew people who have now found refuge in Egypt: only a few will be saved in Judea. To prove the truth of his declaration about the destruction awaiting the stubborn Hebrews, the prophet shows them a sign: very soon the Pharaoh, who apparently sits very firmly on the throne, Hophra, must perish.

Jeremiah 44:26. Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you Judeans living in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by My great name, says the Lord, that My name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any Judean in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord lives, It appears that Jeremiah’s prophecy was not fulfilled: there were very many Hebrews remaining in Egypt and their number even increased later. Alexander the Great gave them a considerable quarter even in the city of Alexandria he founded. It is most likely, therefore, that the prophecy of Jeremiah, especially confirmed by the fulfillment of his prediction about the destruction of Pharaoh Hophra, had a beneficial effect on his listeners and they gradually overcame their attraction to idolatry. In 1908, remains of a temple dedicated to Jehovah by the Hebrews approximately 400 years before Christ were found in Egypt, and this testifies to their return to the worship of the One God.

Jeremiah 44:30. Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies and into the hands of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah, king of Judah, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, his enemy, who sought his life. Pharaoh Hophra, according to Herodotus (II, 169), who thought that no god could deprive him of the throne, was delivered by his son-in-law to the hands of the rebelling people. Special note. The event described here belongs to a very late period of Jeremiah’s activity, as is evident from the fact that the Hebrews are already scattered throughout Egypt. This was shortly before the fall of Hophra (around 570 B.C.). Jeremiah was then over 70 years old.