PREVIOUS CHAPTER - NEXT CHAPTER - HELP - GR VIDEOS - GR YOUTUBE - TWITTER - SD1 YOUTUBE CHAPTER 44 Jer 44:1-30. JEREMIAH REPROVES THE JEWS FOR THEIR IDOLATRY IN EGYPT, AND DENOUNCES GOD'S JUDGMENTS ON THEM AND EGYPT ALIKE.
1. Migdol--meaning a "tower." A city east of Egypt, towards the Red
Sea
(Ex 14:2;
Nu 33:7).
2. evil . . . upon Jerusalem--If I spared not My own sacred city, much less shall ye be safe in Egypt, which I loathe. 3. they went--implying perverse assiduity: they went out of their way to burn incense (one species of idolatry put for all kinds), &c. 4. (2Ch 36:15).
7. now--after so many warnings.
8. in . . . Egypt--where they polluted themselves to ingratiate
themselves with the Egyptians.
9. Have you forgotten how the wickednesses of your fathers were
the source of the greatest calamities to you?
10. They . . . you--The third person puts them to a distance from
God on account of their alienating themselves from Him. The second
person implies that God formerly had directly addressed them.
11. Behold, I will set my face against you for evil--(See on
Le 17:10).
14. none . . . shall escape . . . that they should return, &c.--The
Jews had gone to Egypt with the idea that a return to Judea, which
they thought hopeless to their brethren in Babylon, would be an easy
matter to themselves in Egypt: the exact reverse should happen in the
case of each respectively. The Jews whom God sent to Babylon were there
weaned from idolatry, and were restored; those who went to Egypt by
their perverse will were hardened in idolatry, and perished there.
15. their wives--The idolatry began with them (1Ki 11:4; 1Ti 2:14). Their husbands' connivance implicated them in the guilt. 16. we will not-- (Jer 6:16).
17. whatsoever . . . goeth . . . out of our . . . mouth--whatever
vow we have uttered to our gods
(Jer 44:25;
De 23:23;
Jud 11:36).
The source of all superstitions is that men oppose their own will and
fancies to God's commands.
18. They impute their calamities to their service of God, but these are often marks of His favor, not of wrath, to do His people good at their latter end (De 8:16).
19. make . . . cakes to worship
her--MAURER translates, "to form her
image." Crescent-shaped cakes were offered to the moon. Vulgate supports English Version.
21. The incense . . . did not the Lord remember--Jeremiah owns that they did as they said, but in retort asks, did not God repay their own evil-doing? Their very land in its present desolation attests this (Jer 44:22), as was foretold (Jer 25:11, 18, 38).
23. law--the moral precepts.
25. Ye . . . have both spoken with . . . mouths, and fulfilled with
. . . hand--ironical praise. They had pleaded their obligation to
fulfil their vows, in excuse for their idolatry. He answers, no one can
accuse you of unsteadiness as to your idolatrous vows; but steadfastness
towards God ought to have prevented you from making, or, when made, from
keeping such vows.
26. I have sworn--I, too have made a vow which I will fulfil.
Since ye will not hear Me speaking and warning, hear Me swearing.
27. watch over . . . for evil-- (Jer 1:10; Eze 7:6). The God, whose providence is ever solicitously watching over His people for good, shall solicitously, as it were, watch for their hurt. Contrast Jer 31:28; 32:41.
28. small number--(see on
Jer 44:14;
and
Jer 42:17;
Isa 27:13);
compare "all-consumed"
(Jer 44:27).
A band easily counted, whereas they were expecting to return
triumphantly in large numbers.
29. this . . . sign unto you--The calamity of Pharaoh-hophra (see on Jer 44:30) shall be a sign to you that as he shall fall before his enemy, so you shall subsequently fall before Nebuchadnezzar (Mt 24:8) [GROTIUS]. CALVIN makes the "sign" to be simultaneous with the event signified, not antecedent to it, as in Ex 3:12. The Jews believed Egypt impregnable, so shut in was it by natural barriers. The Jews being "punished in this place" will be a sign that their view is false, and God's threat true. He calls it "a sign unto you," because God's prediction is equivalent to the event, so that they may even now take it as a sign. When fulfilled it would cease to be a sign to them: for they would be dead.
30. Hophra--in
HERODOTUS called Apries. He succeeded Psammis, the
successor of Pharaoh-necho, who was beaten by Nebuchadnezzar at
Carchemish, on the Euphrates. Amasis rebelled against, and overcame him,
in the city Sais.
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