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Dave Burnette's Commentary

Jeremiah Chapter 44

Written By: God through Inspiration
Penned By: Jeremiah
Date Penned: (627-586 BC)
Overview: To Urge God's People to Turn from Sin to God (c 1-52)
Theme: God's Judgement on Judah (c 1-45)
Message: God's Judgement Because of Idolatry (v 1-30)

Jeremiah 44 Commentary

(44:1) Idol Worship - This message, given in 580 BC while Jeremiah was in Egypt against his will, reminded the people that their worship of idols had brought destruction on their land Jeremiah told them that they would never return to Judah because the escape to Egypt had been against God's advice (42:9-22). But the people refused to learn any lessons from all the destruction their sins had caused. 


(44:7) An Oath of Disobedient - "Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls?" These people took an oath of obedience (42:5-6) and yet still disregarded God's clear directions. They listened to their own doubts and feared the Babylonians, who would have let them live, and so destroyed themselves. Foolish decisions, dangerous habits, and blatant disobedience to God can lead to worse destruction than from an enemy. Are your choices destroying you? 

(44:9-10) Repeating Our Mistakes - When we forget a lesson or refuse to learn it, we risk repeating our mistakes. The people of Judah struggled with this. Because they forgot their former sins, they were bound to repeat them. Ignoring lessons from past failures assures future failure. Your past is your school of experience. Let your past mistakes point you to God's way. 

(44:14) Repentance verses Judgement - Only those who repented of going to Egypt and returned to their own land would escape judgment. God wanted a change of both attitude and action. God always offers a way of escape--even when we get ourselves in so deep we can't see any way out. And the steps are always the same: (1) admitting we have rebelled against God, (2) forsaking our sinful direction, and (3) seeking to live as God instructs in his Word. 

(44:15-18) Drifting from God - The farther we drift from God, the more confused our thinking becomes. Whatever spiritual life was left in the Israelites when they went to Egypt was lost as they sank into the depths of idolatry. (For more information on the "queen of heaven," see the note on 7:18.) They blamed their troubles on their neglect of their idols, but idol worship had started all their problems in the first place. The people refused to recognize the true source of their problems--departure from God's leading. They decided to do whatever they thought was best. When calamity forces you to examine your life, take a close look at God's instructions and be willing to humbly apply what you find there. 

(44:28) Last Recorded Acts - After Jeremiah's forced move to Egypt, there is no word in the Bible about the events in the rest of his life. 

(44:30) Pharaoh-Hophra - Pharaoh-Hophra ruled Egypt from 588 to 569 BC and was killed by Ahmose, one of his generals, who was then crowned in his place.

 


David Burnette's Life Application


Sins Consequences

 Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today we continue in the Book of Jeremiah 44. In our text today we see God's Judgement because of Idolatry as Jeremiah was held against his will in Egypt. Because of these actions Jeremiah announces how their generation would never return Judah due to their disobedience. In making application we see a principle of sin causing separation. Sin always complicates life and even though we can be forgiven of our sin we see that the consequences of sin go on. How about you? Do you see the consequences of your sin? Let us learn from our text today and actions of Jeremiah to see that our sins can be forgiven but they also produce consequence that should motivate us to not sin but to obedient and enjoy the blessings of God. 

 

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Jeremiah 44

Jeremiah 44

 1The 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,

 2Thus 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,

 3Because 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.

 4Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.

 5But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.

 6Wherefore 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.

 7Therefore now thus 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;

 8In 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?

 9Have 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?

 10They 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.

 11Therefore 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.

 12And 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.

 13For 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:

 14So 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.

 15Then 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,

 16As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.

 17But 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.

 18But 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.

 19And 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?

 20Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying,

 21The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind?

 22So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.

 23Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and 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.

 24Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:

 25Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye 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: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.

 26Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth.

 27Behold, I will 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 be an end of them.

 28Yet a small number that escape the sword shall 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 shall stand, mine, or their's.

 29And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:

 30Thus saith the LORD; 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.