Jeremiah 44 commentary

God reminds the Jews of the sins that brought desolations upon Judah. It becomes us to warn men of the danger of sin with all seriousness: Oh, do not do it! If you love God, do not, for it is provoking to him; if you love your own souls, do not, for it is destructive to them. Let conscience do this for us in the hour of temptation. The Jews whom God sent into the land of the Chaldeans, were there, by the power of God's grace, weaned from idolatry; but those who went by their own perverse will into the land of the Egyptians, were there more attached than ever to their idolatries. When we thrust ourselves without cause or call into places of temptation, it is just with God to leave us to ourselves. If we walk contrary to God, he will walk contrary to us. The most awful miseries to which men are exposed, are occasioned by the neglect of offered salvation.

These daring sinners do not attempt excuses, but declare they will do that which is forbidden. Those who disobey God, commonly grow worse and worse, and the heart is more hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Here is the real language of the rebellious heart. Even the afflictions which should have parted them from their sins, were taken so as to confirm them in their sins. It is sad when those who should quicken each other to what is good, and so help one another to heaven, harden each other in sin, and so ripen one another for hell. To mingle idolatry with Divine worship, and to reject the mediation of Christ, are provoking to God, and ruinous to men. All who worship images, or honour saints, and angels, and the queen of heaven, should recollect what came from the idolatrous practices of the Jews.

Whatever evil comes upon us, it is because we have sinned against the Lord; we should therefore stand in awe, and sin not. Since they were determined to persist in their idolatry, God would go on to punish them. What little remains of religion were among them, would be lost. The creature-comforts and confidences from which we promise ourselves most, may fail as soon as those from which we promise ourselves least; and all are what God makes them, not what we fancy them to be. Well-grounded hopes of our having a part in the Divine mercy, are always united with repentance and obedience.

Jeremiah had already prophesied against the Jews, who had taken refuge in Egypt, as though there would be for them in that rich and almost unassailable land a safe and quiet retreat. But he now speaks against them for another reason, and denounces on them something more grievous than before, even because they had not only gone into Egypt against God’s will, but when they came there they polluted themselves with all kinds of superstition. God, no doubt, designed, in due time, to prevent this, when he forbade them to go into Egypt; for he knew how prone they were to idolatry, and to false and adulterous modes of worship. He was therefore unwilling that they should dwell in that land, where they might learn to pervert his worship. And this had happened, as it appears from the present prophecy. As then they had cast aside every shame, and given themselves up to the superstitions of the heathens, the Prophet again testified, that God would take vengeance on them. But we shall see that he had to do with refractory men; for without shewing any respect for him, they attacked him with impetuous fury. The sum of what is said then is, that the Jews who dwelt in Egypt were unworthy of any pardon, because they had, as it were, designedly rejected the favor of God, and their obstinacy had become altogether hopeless. We shall now consider the words:

A word is said to have been given to Jeremiah to all the Jews But God spoke to Jeremiah not in the same way as to the Jews; for he committed to him the words which he commanded him to deliver to others. Then the word was directly given to Jeremiah only; but as Jeremiah was God’s interpreter to the people, the word is said to be given in common to all, which yet at first, as it has been stated, was committed to Jeremiah alone. For he did not favor the Jews with such an honor as to speak to them, but he sent the Prophet as his messenger. He said then to the Jews who dwelt in Egypt, and afterwards he mentions certain places, first Migdol, then Tahpanhes, and thirdly, Noph. The first name some have rendered Magdal. That city was not so much known at the time when Egypt flourished, but it has been mentioned by heathen writers. Of Tahpanhes we spoke yesterday. Noph has been called Memphis; and it is generally agreed that what the Hebrews called Noph was that noble and celebrated city Memphis, which, as they suppose at this day, is called Cairo, Le Caire. He lastly mentions the country of Pathros, which is supposed by some to have been near Pelusia. But on such a matter as this I bestow no great labor; for even heathen writers have regarded this as an obscure country, of no importance. Pathros is elsewhere mentioned as a city, and some think it to have been Petra of Arabia. But the Prophet no doubt refers here to the country in which Memphis and other cities were situated, in which the Jews dwelt.

But he says these things for this reason, because a question might have been raised, “As the Jews dwelt in Egypt, so large was the land, that the Prophet could not have announced the commands of God to all. This, then, was the reason why he intimates that. they were not dispersed everywhere throughout Egypt, from one end to the other, but that they were in one part only, and that they were so collected that his word might come to all. This, then, was the reason why he mentioned the places where the Jews sojourned.

He now begins with reproof, because they were so stupid as not to remember the vengeance which God had executed on themselves and on the whole nation. They had been left alive for this end, that they might acknowledge God’s judgment, and thus return to a right mind. Here, then, the Prophet upbraids them with their insensibility, that they had profited nothing under the scourges of God. They commonly say that fools, when they are beaten, become wise. As then the Jews had not repented, after having been so grievously chastised, it was a proof of extreme perverseness; for if the remnant had a grain of a sound mind, they would have been humbled at least by the final destruction of their nation, and when the city and the temple were demolished. Since then they followed the same wicked courses, for which God had inflicted so grievous a punishment, it was evident that they were wholly irreclaimable and destitute of reason and judgment. This is the import of all the words of the Prophet which we have read.

He says first, Ye have seen what great evils I brought on you and the land. “Then ye know that you have justly suffered all the evils which have happened to you; for ye have not sinned through want of knowledge, but when I had sedulously warned you by my Prophets, ye continued ever obstinate; ye have therefore fully deserved such punishments. Now when God spared you, and wished that a small number should remain, to preserve as it were a seed, how is it that these evils which are still as it were before your eyes, are not remembered by you?” We now then understand the design of the Prophet.

But it may be well to examine every part; Ye have seen, he says, all the evil which I have brought (evil here means calamity) on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah; and, behold, they are now a waste, and no one dwells there. There is here an emphatical comparison between Jerusalem and Memphis, between the cities of Judah and Heliopolis and the whole country of Pathros. If then God had not. spared the holy city which he had chosen, if he had not spared the cities of Judah which were under his protection, how foolish it was for the Jews to think that they would be safe in the cities of Egypt? By what privilege could these be secure, since the cities of Judah had been reduced to a waste? We now then perceive why the Prophet mentioned Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; it was, that he might expose the stupidity of the Jews, because they thought, themselves safe in Egypt, a land which God had ever held in abomination.

He afterwards adds, For the evil which they did to provoke me. He refers to the sins by which the Jews had provoked the wrath of God; for the people whom Jeremiah addressed had relapsed into those superstitions which had been the cause of their ruin. Had the Prophet spoken generally and said, that it was strange that the Jews had forgotten the punishment which had been inflicted by God on the whole nation, his doctrine would not have been so impressive. But when he now points out as by the finger how they had procured for themselves such calamities, he presses and urges them more forcibly to acknowledge their madness, because they thus continually provoked God, and sinned not through ignorance, but offended him by the same sins for which yet they had suffered punishment so grievous and dreadful. This is the reason why the Prophet says, For the evil which they did to provoke me, even to go, he says, to offer incense and to serve alien gods. To go here intimates the care and diligence they exercised in false worship. God had shewn to the Jews a certain way in his Law which they ought to have followed: had they then continued in the doctrine of the Law, they would have kept in the right way, and gone forward to the right end. But they are said to go, because they disregarded the Law and went here and there, as those who wander at random, and know not where they are going. There is then to be understood a contrast between going and remaining under the teaching of the Law. To go, in short, is to weary one’s self by an erratic course, when the word of God is neglected, and the way which it points out is forsaken. This is one thing.

Then he adds, to offer incense and to serve alien gods. Incense here is mentioned as a particular thing, then that which is general is added; for incense, as it is well known, was an evidence of worship. Then the Prophet under one thing condemns the idolatry of his own nation. But at length he shews that they were given to other abominations, that they had devoted themselves to the false worship of alien gods.

This passage, and those which are like it, are entitled to particular notice; for we hence learn that men depart from God and alienate themselves from the true worship of him, whenever they mingle with it something of their own, and dream of this and that according to their own will, the very thing intended, as we have said, by going as used by the Prophet. As soon, then, as men devise for themselves some new modes of worship, it is the same thing as though they turned backward or willfully wandered, for they keep not in the right and legitimate way. We also learn from the second clause that idolaters in vain adduce pretences to excuse themselves. For if they transfer to another what peculiarly belongs to God, and what he claims for himself, it is more than a sufficient proof of idolatry; and incense, as I have said, was a symbol of divine worship. As then they offered incense to their idols, they robbed the true God of his own honor, and chose new gods, and adorned them with the rights of the only true God.

In vain, then, and foolishly do the Papists at this day seek evasions when we object to them and say, that gross idolatries prevail among them: “He! it is not our intention to transfer the worship which peculiarly belongs to the only true God to saints, to images; but we apply all this to God.” Since they burn incense to saints, images, and pictures, since they offer incense even to the dead, there is surely no further need of disputing the point; and when they try to evade whatever they can bring forward, it is confuted by this one expression of the Prophet, for when he speaks of incense, he condemns the Jews for their idolatry.

But as I have said, he speaks afterwards generally, and says, and to serve alien gods. Then it follows, whom they knew not, neither ye nor your fathers Here the Prophet amplifies the sin of his own nation, because they had devoted their attention to unknown gods. There is here again a contrast to be understood, that is, between God, who had revealed himself by his Law, by his Prophets, by so many miracles and blessings, and the fictitious gods, who had, without thought and without judgment, been invented and contrived by the Jews. Now, it was an evidence of a base and an intolerable ingratitude, that the Jews should have forsaken the true God after he had made himself known to them. For had the Law never been given, had God suffered them, as other nations, to be entangled in their own errors, their offense would have been lighter. But God had made himself to be so familiarly known to them, that he was pleased to give them his Law, to be a certain rule of religion; he had also exercised his miraculous powers among them. As, then, the knowledge of the true God had been made so remarkably clear to them, how great and how base was their ingratitude to reject him and to depart from him, in order to run after idols! when they contrived for themselves vain gods and nothing but fictions! Had any one inquired what sort of god was Baal, or what were their Baalim, they would have said, that they had Baalim as their patrons, who obtained favor for them with the supreme God. But whence had they derived their vain notion? It was nothing but superstition founded on no reason.

This ought to be carefully observed; for at this day were any one to ask the Papists by what right they have devised for themselves so various and so many modes of worship: devotion alone they say will suffice, or a good intention. Let us then know that religion, separated from knowledge, is nothing but the sport and delusion of Satan. It is hence necessary that men should with certainty know what god they worship. And Christ thus distinguishes the true worship of God from that of vain idols,

“We know,” he says, speaking of the Jews, “whom we worship.” (John 4:22)

He then says that the Jews knew, even those who worshipped God according to what the Law prescribes, — he says that they knew whom they worshipped. He then condemns all good intentions in which the superstitious delight themselves, for they know not whom they worship. And I have said that religion ought not to be separated from knowledge; but I call that knowledge, not what is innate in man, or what is by diligence acquired, but that which is delivered to us by the Law and the Prophets.

We now, then, understand why the Prophet says that the Jews devoted themselves to alien gods, whom they had not known, nor their fathers.

Now follows a circumstance by which their impiety was still further enhanced, that God had sent them Prophets who stretched forth their hands to them to draw them from their errors. For had they never been warned, their condemnation would have been just; for God had once shewn to them by his Law what was right. The teaching, then, of the Law ought to have been sufficient for all ages. But when God had never ceased to send Prophets, one after another, it was a sign of hopeless obstinacy to reject so many and so constant warnings. God then added this circumstance that it might appear that the Jews were wholly inexcusable, and worthy of a hundred and of a thousand deaths, because they had so perversely despised all the means of salvation.

But God says, that he had sent to them all his servants What is universal has its own peculiar importance; for if one or two Prophets had been sent, the Jews would have been proved guilty; for the law does not require more than two or three witnesses to condemn those who have done wrong. (Deuteronomy 17:6.) But God shews here that there had been a vast number of those, through whom, had they been believed, the Jews might have been preserved in safety. They might, then, have been proved guilty, not only by three or four witnesses, but even by a great number; for the Prophets had continually succeeded one another. And thus had been fulfilled what God had promised in the Law,

“A Prophet will I raise up from the midst of thy brethren, him shalt thou hear; and every one who will not hear that Prophet shall be cut off from his people.” (Deuteronomy 18:18, 19)

For God shews in his proclaimed Law, that this would be one of his chief blessings, ever to keep the Jews in the knowledge of their duty, by never leaving them destitute of Prophets and faithful teachers, here then he shews that he had ever really performed what he had promised by Moses; for he does not say that he had only sent a few, but, as I have said, that there had been a copious abundance; for in every age there were several Prophets, and some, when it became necessary, succeeded others. But what had been the fruit? He afterwards complains that all the Prophets had been rejected.

But to render their sin still more heinous, he says, rising up early and sending Of this kind of speaking an explanation has been elsewhere given. (Jeremiah 7:13; Jeremiah 11:7) It is a metaphorical language; for God rises not nor does he change places; but here he applies to himself what peculiarly belongs to men. For he who is attentive to business, does not wait till the sun rises, but anticipates the morning dawn. So also the Prophet says, that God had been vigilant, for he had been solicitous concerning the wellbeing of the people.

We further learn from this mode of speaking how invaluable is the benefit which God bestows when he raises up honest and faithful teachers; for it is the same as when the head of a family rises early from his bed, calls up his children, and takes care of them. Let us, then, know that teaching, when it is communicated to us, is an evidence of God’s paternal solicitude, because he would not have us to perish, but comes down to us and sees what is needful, as though he were present with us, and as a father towards his children, he takes care of us and of our affairs. This is the meaning.

He now adds the substance of his message, Do not the thing of this abomination which I hate God intimates, in short, that it had not been through him that the Jews did not return from their errors to the right way, because he had stretched forth his hand to them, and had, as it were, sup-pliantly requested them to provide better for themselves, and not knowingly and willfully to seek their own destruction, having acted as though he were a husband, who, being anxious to preserve the fidelity of his wife, might thus say to her, — “Behold, thou knowest that I cannot endure unchaste-ness; beware, then, lest thou shouldest prostitute thyself to adulterers.” So God shews here that he had testified by all his servants, that all kinds of idolatry were displeasing to him, in order that the Jews might keep themselves from idolatry.

And he adds, But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to alien gods Here God charges the Jews with irreclaimable obstinacy, for the teaching of the Law did not retain them in obedience, nor did they attend to it, though often and at different times warned and admonished by the Prophets. And their perverseness he still more clearly sets forth by the second clause, when he says that they did not incline their ear Had he said, “They have not hearkened,” it would have been quite sufficient; but when he adds, “They have not inclined their ear,” he expresses, as I have said, something worse than contempt, even that they designedly rejected the teaching of the Prophets, that they disdained to hear the Prophets or to listen to their admonitions, but became willingly deaf, nay, closed up their ears, as rebels do, who are said elsewhere to harden their heart. We now then understand the import of this verse.

Now he adds, On this account has my wrath and my fury been poured forth, and has burned through the cities of Judah, and through the streets of Jerusalem; and this day they are a waste and a desolation The word שממה, shimme, sometimes means amazement, as it has been before stated; but when it is connected with חרבה, cherebe, as here, it means desolation. As at this day; a dreadful waste was then at that time apparent, he again refers to this truth, that the Jews ought to have been so touched by that remarkable and memorable instance of God’s displeasure, as not to abandon themselves afterwards to new idolatries; they ought to have remembered so recent an example of punishment. As, then, they still persevered in their hardness, it was an evidence of extreme impiety. The Prophet says that the perverseness of the Jews had not been unpunished, for God’s wrath had been poured forth against the cities of Judah, nay, against Jerusalem itself, the sanctuary of God, so that all things had been reduced to desolation. The Jews then ought, on the one hand, seriously to have considered how inexcusable had been their impiety in having so perversely despised God; and then they ought on the other hand, to have entertained fear and dread, since they saw that God had taken such vengeance on those who had despised his teaching and violated his worship.

He then adds, Why then do ye now this great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, from the midst of Judah, that nothing may remain for you? here at length the passage is finished; for what we have hitherto read would have kept the reader in suspense, had not this been added. He then says, “Since the sin of your fathers ought to have been detested by you, and since God’s judgment had been dreadful, and that punishment ought at this day to fill, you with fear, how is it, that ye seek to bring on yourselves again the vengeance of God?” Why then, he says, now, etc. This now is emphatical, that is, after so many and so remarkable examples, after so many admonitions, after the most grievous punishment inflicted on the obstinate. He says, against your own souls; and by this he touched them very sharply, reminding them that what they were doing would be to their ruin, as though he had said, that God would receive no loss from their wickedness, but that they would become the authors of their own destruction, he indeed intimates, as I have already said, that their impiety would not be without its punishment; but he shews at the same time that God could, if he thought proper, look down with indifference on their impieties; for he would remain perfect even if they were the worst. For when God is robbed by men of his just and legitimate worship, there is nothing taken away from his greatness; for he ever remains the same, and is neither advanced nor diminished through the will of men. Then the Prophet shews that the Jews were acting madly for their own ruin, when he says, that they did evil against their own souls

And this he explains more fully by adding, To cut off man and woman, child and suckling, from the midst of Judah He intimates that God still manifested his mercy, while there was any remnant. They might have remained in Judea, even in their own inheritance; and the country might have been inhabited till the time of seventy years had elapsed, which God had fixed for the exile. Now the Prophet shews that they fought as it were against the goodness of God, for they sought to extinguish their own name, so that nothing should remain of that people, to whom God had still left some seed, that they might not wholly perish.

PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that since thou ceasest not continually to shew to us thy paternal love and care, — O grant, that we may not be so insensible as to turn a deaf ear to thy teaching and admonitions; but as thou watchest for our safety, may the constancy of our faith and obedience so respond to thee, that we may reverently receive thy word, suffer ourselves to be ruled by it, and follow the way which thou hast set before us, until we shall attain complete salvation, and enjoy that blessed inheritance which has been prepared for us in heaven by Christ our Lord. — Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Sixty-First

Jeremiah 44:8

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?

8. Ad provocandum me in operibus manuum vestrarum, ad offerendum suffitum diis alienis in terra Aegypti, ad quam vos profecti estis, ut habitetis illic, ut excidium paretis vobis (vel, ut excidatis vos,) et ut sitis in maledictum et probrum inter cunctas gentes terrae.

I was in the last Lecture obliged to cut short the subject of the Prophet; for this verse depends on the foregoing, and is to be read together with it. The Prophet asked why the Jew’s willingly cut off from themselves every hope of safety, and were seeking their own ruin. He now expresses the matter more fully, even that they were provoking God’s wrath by their superstitions. He then points out the cause of all evils, — the pollution of God’s true worship by idolatries.

We here see that there is no end of sinning, when men despise God and allow themselves every license in doing evil: God was unwilling that the Jews should go to Egypt; for he had promised to cherish them as it were under his own wings; and thus he intended to shew them mercy, so that they might remain in safety, though in a country then miserable and desolate. But against his command they went into Egypt. When they came there, in order to gain favor with the Egyptians, they polluted themselves with vain superstitions. They might in the land of Judah have worshipped God in purity without any danger. Distrusting the favor of God they fled into Egypt; and the fear of men led them to deny their religion. We hence see how one evil proceeds from another; when the Jews coveted the favor of that heathen nation, they polluted themselves with many ungodly superstitions.

This is the sin which the Prophet now refers to, — To provoke me, he says, by the works of your hands There is here to be understood a contrast between the works which God had commanded, and those which men had devised for themselves. The altar and the whole Temple were indeed works done by the hand and art of men; but as God had commanded the altar to be made and the Temple to be built, the Temple was not, properly speaking, a human but a divine work, it having been commanded. But whatever men devise of themselves for the purpose of worshipping God, is what is called the work of their hands; for they invent things themselves, and follow only their own fancies; they attend not to what pleases God, but give license to their own imaginations, so that according to their own will they mingle together any sort of worship they please. This, then, is the reason, and according to this sense it is, that the Prophet says, that the Jews provoked God by the works of their hands: they corrupted his lawful worship and departed from true religion, when they attached themselves to heathen Actions and corruptions.

He then adds, To offer incense to alien gods Under one particular thing, as it has been already said, the Prophet includes what is general, for the Jews did not only sin by offering incense, but also through various other superstitions. But by stating a part for the whole, he clearly intimates that they denied the true God when they worshipped idols. And then he adds, in the land of Egypt, into which ye have entered, that ye might dwell there. he takes away the excuse which they might have made, that they were constrained by fear, because they were unhappy exiles, and saw that their own religion would not be tolerated by that proud nation. The Prophet says that they had come into Egypt when God commanded them to remain in the land of Judah. That plea, then, could not have been admitted, that being terrified by danger they sought to please the Egyptians, for they brought themselves into that bondage, when they might have been at liberty in the land of Judah to worship God in purity. This is the reason why he says that they came into Egypt to sojourn there.

He at length adds, to cut you off. The construction is indeed different, but the meaning is clear. He intimates, in short, as he said in the last verse, that they willingly, and as it were designedly, rushed headlong into their own ruin. He then adds, and ye shall be a curse and a reproach among all nations By which words he means that their destruction would be memorable; and this was harder than if their memory was buried with their life. But the Prophet says that their death would be such an example as that they would be deemed execrable by all. In short, he declares that they would be exposed to all kinds of reproaches even after their death. It follows, —

Jeremiah 44:9-10

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?

9. An obliti estis malorum patrum vestrorum, et malorum regum Jehudah, et malorum uxorum ejus, et malorum vestrorum, et malorum uxorum vestrarum, quae fecerunt in terra Jehudah et in cornpitis 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.

10. Et non humiliati sunt (vel, attriti) usque ad hunc diem, et non timuerunt, et non ambulaverunt in lege mea et in statutis meis, quae posueram coram facie vestra, et coram facie patrum vestrorum.

The Prophet now sets forth how extremely shameful was the insensibility of the Jews, in not acknowledging that God had most severely and grievously punished the superstitions to which they had previously been addicted. At the same time, if we regard the word used, he seems not to understand punishments by evils, but raffler the wicked deeds by which they had provoked God. And this ought to be observed, for some interpreters give this rendering, “Have you forgotten your evils and those of your fathers;” that is, how severely God had afflicted you? But there is no doubt but that the Prophet means by רעות, rout, their sins, by which they had exposed themselves to God’s judgment; for it immediately follows, which they did, or committed, in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem But though he means by this word the sins of the people, there is yet no doubt but that he includes also the punishments by which they ought to have known that the impiety in which they continued most obstinately had displeased God.

When therefore the Prophet says, Have ye forgotten your evils and those of your fathers? he takes it for granted that it was sufficiently known that God had taken vengeance on them for their sins; for he does not address the Jews in their prosperity, but when they were fugitives from their own land and under the curse of heaven. As, then, they were evidently condemned by God, the Prophet justly asks them, “Have ye forgotten that you have been condemned for the sins of your fathers and those of your kings, even for those which they had committed?” This he asked, because it was a horrid stupidity, that though the city had been overthrown and the temple burnt, they did not yet leave off their superstitions, especially when so singular a vengeance of God ought to have retained their posterity in fear and obedience even for ten ages. Thus we see that punishment is linked with sins.

He says, of the kings of Judah and of their wives The relative is singular, “his wives;” but no doubt it refers to the people. Some read, “of every one of them;” but there is no need, it being a singular number, referring to a collective noun, Judah. he afterwards adds, which they did This ought not to be confined to the women, (nor is it suitable,) but it refers to all the Jews as well as to kings of Judah, and also to the women, — which then they did in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem

When he mentions the streets of Jerusalem, he exaggerates their wickedness. For we know that city to have been as it were the earthly sanctuary of God. It, was then a most disgraceful impiety to pollute that place which God had consecrated for himself. The whole land of Judah was indeed under his authority and power, but he had favored the city, and especially Mount Sion, with singular privileges. Then the Prophet amplifies the greatness of their sin, when he says that Jerusalem had been polluted by their superstitions.

He afterwards mentions how great had been the perverseness of that people, They are not humbled, he says, to this day, though they had been most severely smitten by the rods of God. Even fools, when smitten, become wise, as the old proverb says. As the Jews then had been so grievously chastised by God’s hand, and had experienced extreme rigor, ought they not to have considered what they had deserved? But the Prophet shews that their wickedness was past remedy, for though broken down they were not yet humbled, like those who are of a perverse disposition, who could not be reformed were they broken down a hundred times. Then the Prophet upbraids the Jews with their obstinacy, for not even the greatest calamity had brought them to obedience.

They were not then humbled to that day, nor did they fear Fear ought also to be referred here to the calamities which they had experienced, for God had sufficiently shewn that he had been grievously offended with their impiety. As then God’s dreadful judgment had been made conspicuous to all, the Prophet here condemns their dullness, because they had not been brought back to a sound mind so as to fear God. He now adds another instance of obstinacy, that they had not walked in the Law of God and in his commandments. Then he shows that their obstinacy was twofold, that they had profited nothing by his teaching, and that they had disregarded his punishments. The Law itself was to them a rule according to which they were to worship God, nor ought they to have sought elsewhere what they were to do. As, then, they had in the Law a revelation as to true religion, it was an intolerable contempt to depart from it of their own accord, and to abandon themselves to all kinds of errors. But the Prophet shews that they had been extremely unteachable, because they had not only cast aside every regard for the Law, but they had also despised God’s hand, and refused to be corrected by any punishments.

That he might shew still further that they had sinned through sheer wickedness, he says, They have not walked in my Law nor in my statutes This second clause seems to be superfluous; but the Prophet here commends the clear teaching of the Law, as though God had said that he had not only shewn in a brief manner what was true and right, but that he had also by many statutes taught the Jews, so that they had no pretext for their ignorance. And he confirms the same thing in other words, when he says that he had put these statutes before their face; for by these words he intimates that there is nothing obscure in the Law, and that the Jews therefore had not gone astray through want of knowledge; for men always extenuate by evasions their sins, when their impiety is condemned. The Prophet then says that the Jews were inexcusable, because the rule of true religion had been set before their eyes.

Now this passage testifies that the teaching of the Law is not doubtful, as some profane men say, who hold that Scripture may be turned anyhow like a nose of wax. But God declares that he had not spoken ambiguously. Since, then, the Prophet affirms that the Law had been set before the eyes of the Jews, that they might surely know the will of God, we ought to maintain at this day, that in the Gospel, clearly discovered to us by the coming of Christ, there is nothing obscure, but that the treasures of all knowledge have been made known to us, as far as it is necessary, so that they who now go astray in vain pretend that they do so because the will of God is hid from them; for in no other way can they err than by dissembling and willfully closing their eyes, lest the brightness of the sun should reach them. Let us yet know that the more plainly God is made known to us, the more grievously we sin when we turn aside from his true worship and service; for he has omitted nothing in his word which is necessary in order to worship him acceptably. Since, then, we have before our eyes the rule of a godly life, except we follow it this reproof belongs to us, that God has set before our eyes his statutes. It now follows, —

Jeremiah 44:11-12

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.

11. Propterea sic dicit Jehova exercituum, Deus Israel, Ecce ego pono faciem meam contra vos in malum et ad excidendum totum Jehudah;

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.

12. Et tollam reliquias Jehudah, quae posuerunt faciem suam ut venirent in terrain Aegypti ad peregrinandum illic, et consumentur omnes in terra Aegypti, cadent in gladio, fame consumentur a parvo usque ad magnum; in gladio et fame morientur, et erunt in execrationem et stuporem et in maledictum et in opprobrium.

He again denounces punishment on the obstinate; nor is it a wonder that these threatenings were so often repeated, since he had to do with men so ferocious and refractory. The reason then why he denounced on them God’s judgment, was because they boldly derided him; and it will become more evident from what follows how necessary was such vehemence.

And first, indeed, the Prophet briefly shews that all those would perish who had yet falsely imagined that they could not otherwise be safe than by fleeing into Egypt. Then Jeremiah here reproves and condemns their false and vain confidence. And then he explains the manner when he says, I will take away all the remnant of Judah, who have set their face to come to Egypt, etc. By these words and the following, God intimates that the Jews had in vain sought hiding-places in Egypt, because there he would inflict on them the punishment which they had deserved. He names the sword and the famine; the third kind he omits here, but he will mention it presently. Then he says that they were to perish, partly by the sword and partly by famine, and in order to speak more emphatically, he uses different words, They shall be consumed by famine, they shall fall by the sword, they shall all be consumed, and then he says, from the least to the greatest.

At length he adds, And they shall be a curse. We have said elsewhere that the word אלה, ale, sometimes means a curse, though it properly signifies an oath; and the reason is, because men in swearing often introduce a curse, “Let God curse me,” — “Let me perish.” Then he says, that the Jews would become an example of a curse; for in making an oath this would be the common form, “Let God destroy me as he destroyed the Jews.” He afterwards adds, an astonishment, because all would be horrified at the very sight of their calamity. It follows in the last place, a curse and a reproach, of which we have spoken before. Let us now proceed, —

Jeremiah 44:13

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:

13. Et visitabo super eos qui habitant in terra Aegypti, quemadmodum visitavi super Jerusalem, in gladio et fame et peste (hic exprimitur tertia species.)

He confirms in this verse what he had said in the last, that he would again take vengeance on impiety, as he had done previously. The Jews were before visited with a very grievous calamity, when inebriated with prosperity; but now, when God would have shaken from off them their torpor, the Prophet justly reminds them of the calamities which they had suffered: As, then, I visited Jerusalem, so will I visit those who dwell in Egypt But the argument is also from the greater to the less; for if God had not spared the holy city, in which he had chosen a habitation, how should he spare Egypt? for Egypt was not worthy that God should regard it. We know that it was a profane and an accursed land. It was, then, the greatest madness for the Jews to hope to be safe in Egypt, when they could not have been so in the holy land, which was God’s sanctuary, which was their heritage, which was even God’s rest.

We now see the object of the Prophet; for he set before · them the ruin of the city and of the land of Judah, that they might know that they could not escape the hand of God while they dwelt in Egypt contrary to his command, for God would be a severer judge to them there than he had been before in the land of Judah. It follows, —

Jeremiah 44:14

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.

14. Et non erit qui evadat (qui sit residuus) inter reliquias Jehudah quae venerunt ad peregrinandum hic (nam erat Propheta in Aegypto) nempe in terra Aegypti, et ad revertendum in terram Jehudah, ad quam ipsi elevant animam suam (vel, elevant animas suas) ad revertendum ut habitent illic, quia non revertentur nisi qui evaserint.

The Prophet seems to be inconsistent with himself; for at the beginning of the verse he says that there would be no residue, but at the end he adds an exception, that there would be few alive, who would flee, and, by some miracle, escape from death. Some take this view, that none of the ungodly despisers would remain, but that some would yet be preserved alive, even those who had been drawn there against their own will, such as Jeremiah, Baruch, and such as were like them. But this explanation may seem forced at the first view; and yet if the Prophet is speaking of the Jews who had fled into Egypt, it is necessary so to take it; otherwise there would be a manifest inconsistency and contradiction. But we may also refer what he says at the end of the verse to the exiles in Babylon; for they who had concealed themselves in Egypt thought that it was all over with all others, because they had been led away into a distant country. As, then, a return to their country was closed up against them, they thought that they themselves would become the sole heirs of the land; for as Egypt was not far from the land of Judah, a return was easy, and also free, because they had made a treaty with the Egyptians; and further, they had gone to them as friends to partake of their hospitality. They, then, who dwelt in Egypt thought that the land of Judah would be their own.

But God says that none would return into that land except those who should escape, even those to whom permission to return would be given at the end of their captivity and exile. I take then the word פלטים, pelethim, at the end of the verse, as referring to the remnant which God would at length gather, when liberty to return was granted to the Jews by the edict of Cyrus, at the end of the seventy years, which the Prophet had before mentioned. And this seems to me a simpler meaning, that. is, that none would remain of that remnant which had gone down to Egypt, who came, as it is expressed, to sojourn in the land of Egypt and to return to the land of Judah, for this was their purpose. The easiest way to reconcile this seeming inconsistency is as follows: He threatens the fugitives to Egypt with the sword; this sword was that of Nebuchadnezzar, as he foretells in Jeremiah 46:15, etc. None would escape this sword except those who might have escaped in the meantime into the land of Judah. We see the same thing referred to in Jeremiah 46:28; and that verse may be thus rendered, —

And those who shall escape the sword (who shall have returned from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah) shall be few in number; but all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know the word, which shall stand, what is from me or from them.

— Ed.

He then adds, To which they lift up their souls to return there The Prophet here exposes the confidence by which the Jews still deceived themselves; for the lifting up of which he speaks, means to aspire or to hope, and denotes pride and presumption. So by saying that they lifted up their souls, he reproves them, because they were still inflated with a foolish hope, and persuaded themselves that a return would soon be open for them, as the land was without any possessors. As, then, they were cherishing themselves with such delusions, they were to know that they were never to return there, They shall not return, he says. And then follows an exception, Except those who escape, even those of whom the Jews in Egypt despaired, who thought that they did well, and had taken a prudent counsel, because they had for a time a quiet hiding-place in Egypt. It now follows, —

Jeremiah 44:15-16

15. Then all the men which knew that their wives had burnt 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,

15. Et responderunt Jeremiae om-nes viri, qui sciebant quod suffitum offerrent uxores ipsorum diis alienis, et omnes mulieres quae adstabant, coetus magnus, et totus populus qui habitabant in terra Aegypti, in Pathros, dicendo,

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

16. In sermone (subaudiendum est in, vel, quoad sermonem) quem locutus es ad nos in nomine Jehovae, nos audivimus to.

Here is more fully seen the irreclaimable obstinacy of that nation; for Jeremiah had given them more than sufficient evidences of his integrity. They ought then to have been fully convinced that he was a true Prophet of God. Though they had disregarded him for forty years and more, he had yet given full proof of his legation when he had constantly, even to the last, prophesied of the destruction of the city and the Temple. They had, then, learnt by their own calamities that Jeremiah was an instrument of the Holy Spirit, and a true interpreter of God’s will. And it hence appears how blind they were when they rejected all his admonitions, and counted his threatenings as fables. Thus, as in a mirror, the Holy Spirit of God sets before us how great the madness of men is when Satan once takes possession of their minds. But let us, at the same time, learn that this is the reward rendered to obstinacy, when God’s Prophets are despised. It was, indeed, a monstrous and most disgraceful thing, when they dared so insolently to repudiate the holy Prophet, while, at the same time, they had been reduced to the greatest extremities, and when spoiled of all things, had fled into Egypt, and lived there, as we have seen, in a servile and miserable condition. Inasmuch, then, as they were still ferocious and still arrogant towards God’s Prophet, it hence appears that they were untamable.

He then says, that all the men to whom the impiety of their wives was known, answered Jeremiah By these words the Prophet intimates that the beginning of idolatry was from the women. Things then had not as yet gone so far that all the men openly worshipped idols; but the women had taken this liberty, and the men readily indulged them. But why then did the Prophet before reprove them, as though they all made incense to idols? We doubtless learn from this passage, that they are not only guilty before God who openly do what is wicked, but also those who by connivance tolerate them; for the men ought to have interfered so as to restrain their wives from polluting themselves with ungodly superstitions; but this they patiently endured. Then their consent was the same as the deed, as we may rightly conclude from the words of the Prophet. He then says, that the men offered incense, not indeed openly and with their own hands, but that they knew of their wives, and that this impiety was done by the women with their consent. The rest I cannot now finish, I will proceed with it to-morrow.

PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that since thou wouldest prove our faith by many trials, we may constantly persevere in the pure worship of thy name, and in calling on thee in sincerity and truth, and that as we are surrounded and beset on every side by many pollutions, we may preserve ourselves pure and devoted to thee, both in body and soul, and thus proceed through the whole course of our life, so that at length we may appear unpolluted before thee, through Christ our Lord. — Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Sixty-Second

WE began yesterday to explain what the Prophet says of the answer given him by the men and women. The sum of it was, that they would not do what the Prophet commanded them, though he spoke to them in the name of God. They did not answer distinctly, that the word of God or his oracle to them was of no account, but impeached the fidelity of Jeremiah, as though he had alleged the name of God falsely.

But he says that the men who knew that their wives burnt incense to alien gods, answered him; and he afterwards adds, and the women who stood by; some read, “In the great assembly.” But I have no doubt but that the Prophet means, that the answer was given in common by the men and by the women. He then says, that the women were at the same time present. He afterwards adds, a great assembly. What follows is an explanation, the whole people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, who dwelt in Pathros in the land of Egypt, and especially in that part. We have elsewhere spoken, of Pathros.

We see, in short, that God’s Prophet was rejected; and yet there is no doubt but the Jews pretended some religion, but they did not think that they were bound to obey the command of man. And whence was this contempt? even from nothing but perverseness; for however hypocrites may dissemble and say that they do not despise God and his word, and address their words to ministers, yet their impiety betrays them when, on the one hand, they pretend that they worship God, and on the other they repudiate those furnished with his commands whom he would have them to hear. But God will not and cannot have himself separated from his word. Let us now go on —

Jeremiah 44:17

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.

17. Quirt potius (vel, quia, est par-ticula causalis, sed accipitur interdum adversative) faciemus quicquid (ad verbum, omnem sermonem) qui egredietur ab ore nostro, ut suffitum offeramus reginae (vel, machinae) coelorum, et libemus ei libamina, quemadmodum fecimus nos, et patres nostri, reges nostri et duces nostri in urbibus Jehudah, et in compitis Jerusalem, et saturati sumus panibus, et fuimus boni (hoc est, hilares, feelices,) et malum non vidimus.

Here they shew more openly their obstinacy; for having said that they had no faith in Jeremiah, as he had not been sent by God, they now add that they would indeed be the worshippers of God, but according to their own will. We have here discovered to us the fountain of all superstitions. This passage sufficiently proves whence these flow, and from what source proceed all the corruptions by which religion has been vitiated in all ages, even from the willfulness and pride of men. While therefore men arrogate so much to themselves as to make a law respecting the worship of God, all things must necessarily go wrong. It was for this reason I said that this is the origin of all errors. How then is religion to remain pure? even by depending on God’s mouth, by subjecting ourselves to his word, and by putting a bridle on ourselves, so as not to introduce anything except what he commands and approves. The right rule then as to the worship of God is, to adopt nothing but what he prescribes. On the other hand religion becomes vitiated and degenerates into superstition as soon as men seek to be legislators for themselves, when they say, Doing we shall do every word that cometh forth from our mouth.

This willfulness is indeed what humble men will condemn if they only consult common sense; but it is an evil innate in all, to seek to worship God as it seems good to them. But Jeremiah here paints for us as it were on a tablet the beginning of all superstitions: men set up their own will and fancies in opposition to the commands of God.

He afterwards adds, To offer incense to the frame-work of the heavens. Interpreters differ as to the meaning of this clause. We have stated some things already in the seventh chapter; but as a great part of you were not then present, it is necessary to repeat what was then said. Some derive the last word but one from מלך, melek, which means to reign; and hence they give this rendering, “to the queen of the heavens;” and this is the explanation of Jerome. But others derive the word from לאך, lak, and render it “work;” and some more rashly, “ministry;” and others, “framework,” or, fabric, (machina.) There are also those deduce the word from הלך, elek, which is to walk; and they think that all the stars or planets are included in this term; and we indeed see that walking or motion is what belongs to all the stars. But if the word comes from the verb to reign, “the queen of the heavens” must be taken for the principal star, as the Chaldee paraphrase regards it.

But some consider that the sun is intended, and some the moon. The sun in Hebrew is of the feminine gender; therefore the sun may properly be called a queen in that language. But if we take it as meaning frame-work, one of the radical letters א, aleph, is wanting, as in the seventh chapter. The Prophet, however, seems to mention here the whole machinery of the heavens, as though the unbelieving had said, that as wonderful glory appeared there, their worship was doubtless pleasing to God, when his majesty was adored in the stars and in the whole frame-work of the heavens. I do not therefore consider that one starts meant, but the very heavens or all the stars; and though the word is in the singular number, yet it means what is commonly called the hosts of heaven.

They then said, “We shall go on in our usual manner; for we have hitherto offered incense to the fabric (or the frame-work) of the heavens, and poured libations; we shall not then desist from what we have usually done: “and they further said, “So have we done, we, and our fathers, and our kings, and our princes.” Here they set up the authority of fathers in opposition to the authority of God, as it was usually done.

We see also in our day that the Papists superciliously boast of the Fathers and the Catholic Church, when the plain truth is brought forward. They think that darkness overspreads the Word of God, and that whatever is adduced from the Law, from the Prophets, and from the Gospel, is reduced to nothing when they object and say that it is otherwise, that the fathers have spoken otherwise, that it was otherwise understood in old times. We hence see that the Papists of this day fight with the same weapons as idolaters formerly employed; and though the devil transforms himself in various ways, yet superstitious men ever adopt this principle, that whatever is handed down from our forefathers ought to be held sacred; and hypocrites do especially harden themselves in this error, when they can boast of kings and princes, as was the case in this instance; for they said, that they followed what had been done, not only by the common people, but even by kings and princes. They took it as granted that kings and princes could not have fallen into ignorance. The truth is, that greatness and splendor cover the ignorance and folly of kings. So when simple men speak of kings, their eyes are blinded or dazzled by the magnificence displayed, so that they think kings to be without dispute wise and endowed with the best understanding. Hence it is that Satan is wont often to use such masks for the purpose of deceiving men. Let us therefore learn to render to God altogether the honor of prescribing by his word the law as to religion; and thus let no altitude or dignity be allowed to overshadow the authority of God; but on the contrary, let kings and princes be constrained to submit when God appears.

They afterwards added, In the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem And they mentioned these places in order to sanction their own superstitions; for the holiness of Jerusalem was to them a cover for all vices, as we see to be the case at this day with respect to Rome, which is boastfully extolled by the Papists, as though the hypocrisy which sends forth the most nauseous filth through the whole world, were the most perfect holiness. Whatever then comes from Rome, they would have to be counted as a heavenly oracle. In the same manner the wretched Jews dared to set up Jerusalem in opposition to God. Great, indeed, was the dignity of the city, not such is that of Rome at this day; for the Papists have not taken from God’s word the encomiums, by which they extol that city, which is really a foetid and an abominable brothel. Jerusalem had its dignity from God himself; but the Jews in their folly degraded Jerusalem when they corrupted the Law and instituted fictitious worship, according to their own will. And yet we see that they armed themselves with this name, as a weapon, against the Prophet, as though they brought God to fight against himself. Jerusalem had no dignity but that with which God himself had favored it; but they boasted that it was a holy city, that whatever was done in it was to be deemed holy and lawful, and not to be disputed, as though God’s Law had been lying buried under the dignity of the city. Now Jerusalem had derived its splendor and all the dignity it had from the Law only. But this, as I have said, was the wickedness of men, that they corrupted and perverted the benefits of God.

They then added, that they were satisfied with bread, when they burned incense to the work or workmanship of the heavens It has ever been a common thing with the despisers of God, that they have been inebriated with earthly things, so as to disregard God himself, and to think that all their superstitions would go unpunished. But whence comes this error? even because men deceive themselves, when God patiently bears with them. God does not immediately take vengeance on the profanation of his name, he does not immediately punish hypocrites and idolaters, he does not immediately fulminate against ungodly and spurious modes of worship: his forbearance seems to be taken as an inducement to sin, as an excitement to licentiousness. When, therefore, the Jews adduced this defense, that they were satisfied with bread, it was the same thing as though they had said, “As long as God spared us, and suspended his judgment, it was well with us.” But they ought not to have abused the forbearance of God, and thus to have heaped on themselves judgment, as Paul says. Now there was also another cause of error, for when God drew men back from error by chastising them more severely, as they deserved, after seeing they were still obstinate, they then began so to regard God’s judgment, as foolishly to think that the cause proceeded from religion being changed. So, at the beginning of the Gospel we see that there were similar complaints among all the ungodly, as the ancients have recorded, and especially Tertullian, in his apologies: “If the Tiber inundated, if any calamity happened, if hail or frost, the fault was ascribed to the name of Christ and his doctrine. From the time religion has been changed, we have not ceased to be miserable.” But they did not consider as they ought to have done, that when they were blind and sunk in errors, God for a long time bore with them, and that after the doctrine of the gospel had shone forth, they still wickedly followed their accustomed impiety, which before might have been excused on the ground of ignorance: from the time God had shewn to them the way of salvation, they had resisted it, as it were designedly and willfully, so that they deserved a heavier punishment.

Such was the impiety of the ancient people according to this answer, We were satisfied with bread when we poured out libations to the frame-work of the heavens; that is, as God did not immediately punish their impiety, they were happy and saw no evil. And yet it is certain that they said what was untrue, for God had often chastised them, and at the time they were sedulous and devoted to their false worship. They had gone astray to idolatry before Jeremiah was born; nay, before Isaiah had commenced his office as a Prophet: and we know how severely at that time God punished them for their wickedness; for in the time of Isaiah the kingdom of Israel was distressed, and then wholly destroyed. Jerusalem, as Isaiah says, became like a cottage, and the whole country was laid waste; and at this time they poured out libations to the workmanship of heaven and burnt incense. We know how great was the zeal of Ahaz, and of other wicked kings. Hezekiah, indeed, and Josiah labored to restore the pure worship of God; but Manasseh, the son and successor of Hezekiah, immediately subverted everything. While then they were so fervid in their superstitions, did all things succeed according to their wishes, as they now boasted? By no means, for God pursued them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence.

What then did this boasting mean, that they were satisfied with bread, and were happy, and saw no evil, at the time they poured out libations? The truth is, that madness so drives on headlong the ungodly, that they perceived not God’s hand, when stretched forth against them. But even had they truly said, that they were happy at the time they pro-stituted themselves to idols, yet they could not have hence inferred, that their false worship was approved by God; for when he bears with men for a time, he does not yet cease to be their judge; for he will at length, in his own time, sum-. mort to his tribunal the ungodly whom he has long spared. In short, hypocrites at first trifle with God, and thus turn his mercy to an occasion of sinning, as though there were no punishment; this is one thing: and in the second place, they are not roused by the scourges of God, but remain stupid when God chastises them. It follows, —

Jeremiah 44:18

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.

18. Ex quo autem desiimus suffitum offerre artificio coelo-rum et libare ei libamina, desti-tuti (vel, privati) fuimus omnibus, et gladio et fame sumus consumpti.

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.

Jeremiah 44:19

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?

19. Et quando nos suffitum fecimus artificio coelorum, et libavimus ei libamina, an absque viris nostris fecimus ei placentas ad exhilarandum illud (aliivertunt, simulaehrum,) et etiam libando ei libamina?

They brought forward another argument, that they were not a small portion, but the whole people, who then flourished in prosperity, when they offered incense to idols. We know that but a few remained of that large multitude, which lived when the kingdom as yet existed. They said then that they were not the sole authors of this superstition, but that it was practiced by a large number of men, even the whole people, when Jerusalem was full of inhabitants, and the whole country.

Some explain this of the women, but improperly, as I think. The masculine gender is sometimes applied to women, but seldom, and it is harsh, and then it agrees not with this passage, where the whole context shews that men are spoken of; but one reason only leads them to think so, and that is frivolous. It is said, Have we done this without our men? When, therefore, they said that they had not acted without the men, it has immediately occurred to inter-prefers that the women spoke; but the word is in the masculine gender. It is well known that אנשים, anushim, mean sometimes the aged, and also the princes who bear rule, as it is evident from other passages. But here that small band which remained brought forward the consent of a large multitude, as though they had said, “We here are many against thee who standest alone; but if thou comparest the ancient condition of the city and of the land with our miserable state, when the kingdom flourished, when the city remained in safety, when the whole country was full of inhabitants, did they not all then, with one consent, worship the stars and the workmanship of the heavens? Since, then, this religion has been approved by the consent of so many, what meanest thou in attempting to take it away from us?”

We now, then, perceive the design of the Prophet, or rather we understand the meaning of those whom he has introduced as the speakers. They then said that they did not offer incense and pour out libations without their men, that is, without that large multitude, which afterwards perished or was consumed; and thus they set up against him, as a cloud, a large number of men, as the Papists do at this day, who, by means of consent, only fight against the truth, of God for the purpose of overwhelming it. In like manner did these wretched men contend with Jeremiah; and this pretext was their shield, that the whole people, before the city was demolished, followed these superstitions: We have, then, not done this without our men, pouring out libations and offering incense. It now follows, —

Jeremiah 44:20-23

20. Then 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,

20. Et dixit Jeremias ad totum populum, ad viros et mulieres, et ad totum populum, qui responderant ipsi sermonem, dicendo,

21. The 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?

21. An non suffitus quem vos suffiebatis (vel, adolebatis) in urbibus Jehudah et compitis Jerusalem, vos et patres vestri, reges vestri et duces vestri, et populus terre, eorum (hoc est, ejus suffumigationis, vel, harum omnium superstitionum) recordatus est Jehova, et ascenderunt in cor ejus?

22. So 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.

22. Et non potuit Jehova amplius ferre propter malitiam operum vestrorum, propter abominationes quas fecistis, et redacta est terra vestra in vastitatem et in stuporem et in maledictum (vel, execrationem,) ita ut nemo sit habitator, sicut dies haec (hoc est, sicut hodie apparet.)

23. Because 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.

23. Propterea quod suffitum fecis-tis et peccastis Jehovae (vel, impie gessistis contra Jehovam,) et non audivistis vocem Jehovae, et in lege ejus et statutis et testimoniis non ambulastis, propterea accedit vobis malum hoc, sicut dies haec (hoc est, sicut hodie apparet.)

The Prophet refutes the impious objections by which the Jews had attempted to subvert and to render contemptible his doctrine, he then turns against them all that they had falsely boasted. They had at the beginning said, “Our kings, our princes, and our fathers, had before used these rites; and they have been delivered to us, as it were, by their hands.” To this Jeremiah answers, “This is certainly true, and for this reason it was that God became so severe a judge of their impiety, when he took away your fathers from the world, when he wholly destroyed the kingdom itself, when he demolished the city, and when at length he afflicted you with all kinds of evils: for except your kings, and your fathers, and your princes, had been impious towards God, he would have never treated them with so much severity; for he has promised to be a Father to the children of Abraham. God, then, must have been grievously offended with you, and your fathers, and your kings, when his wrath thus burned against them.”

There is, then, here a retort; for as we see that the Prophet turns against them what they had adduced against him. This is the sum of what is said.

He says that he spoke to the whole people, both men and women, and he repeats the whole people, because all had subscribed to the impious calumny. Then God says, “For this reason have I destroyed your city and you, even because ye burnt incense to-your idols.” The truth of what they had boasted is allowed, but it is turned to a meaning different from what they thought. For, as their fathers and their kings had imbibed superstitions, they supposed that they were doing right in following them; for, as we have said, hypocrites consider use and custom as sufficient reasons for disregarding the Law. Then, as to the fact itself, the Prophet admits that what they said was quite true, that this had been the cause of all their evils; for had not the kings and the whole people provoked the wrath of God, the temple would not have been demolished, nor the kingdom destroyed; God, in short, would not have alienated himself from his own people whom he had adopted. This is the meaning.

The incense, he says, which ye have burnt in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the whole people of the land, has not Jehovah remembered them? Whence, he says, has this dreadful calamity proceeded, which has destroyed all your race? Even from the wrath of God, for it has not happened to you by chance, for God had by his servants predicted what afterwards has been really fulfilled. It then follows, that your city has been destroyed through the righteous judgment of God. And what has been the cause of so great and so grievous a vengeance? Even your incense.

And hence he adds, Jehovah could not endure the wickedness of your works and the abominations which ye have done: therefore, he says, your land has been reduced to a waste The Prophet, in short, shews that had they not been justly exposed to God’s judgment, they would not have been destroyed. For he assumes this principle, that God is not angry without reason; and then he assumes another principle, that as God had chosen the seed of Abraham, and had been always propitious even to the unworthy, they would have been made partakers of his kindness, had not God been wholly alienated from them. It then follows, that God’s vengeance had not been thus kindled by some slight offense, but by many and daily offenses, so that it could no longer be deferred: for the atrocity of punishment shews the atrocity of sin; and hence he says, Jehovah could not endure the wickedness of your works, and the abominations which ye have done: therefore, he adds, your land has been made a waste, an astonishment, and a curse, or execration, so that there is no inhabitant

He at length explains more clearly, in other words, the same thing, on account of your incense, he says, and because ye have done wickedly, etc. By naming incense especially, stating a part for the whole, he refers to all false and corrupt modes of worship, as it was stated yesterday; but he declares all of them to have been abominable. Then he says, Ye have acted impiously against God He now exaggerates their sin, for they had despised all godly admonitions, ye have not hearkened, he says, to the voice of Jehovah I apply this to the discourses of the Prophets, by which God continued to exhort them to repentance; for he daily and constantly addressed them, in order to restore them to the way of salvation. Then the Prophet condemns them, because they hearkened not to the words of the Prophets.

Then he adds, Nor walked in his Law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies, he shews by these words, that even if Prophets had not been sent, one after the other, the Law ought to have been sufficient for them. But he was not content with mentioning the Law only, but added, statutes and testimonies: by which words he intimates, as we said yesterday, that the doctrine of the Law was clear and plain.

he at length adds, Therefore has all this evil happened to you, as it appears at this day. The Prophet, in short, intimates that their guilt was sufficiently proved, because God had been so angry with them, and they had been so severely afflicted; for if his judgments are right, it follows that the punishment he inflicted on the Jews was right. It may also be hence inferred, that they had been rebellious, because they had perverted and corrupted his true worship.

PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast not only in thy Law prescribed to us what is right, and shewed to us the way of a godly life, but hast also more clearly revealed thy will to us by the light of thy Gospel, where Christ thy Son shines forth as the Sun of righteousness, — O grant, that we may submit ourselves wholly to thee, and from the heart render thee obedience, and to this apply all our efforts and direct all our doings, so that having finished the course of this life, we may at length come into that blessed rest which has been prepared for us in heaven by Christ our Lord. — Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Sixty-Third

Jeremiah 44:24-26

24. Moreover 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:

24. Et dixit Jeremias ad totum populum et ad mulieres, Audite ser-monem Jehovae, omnis Jehudah, qui estis in terra Aegypti,

25. Thus 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.

25. Sic dicit Jehova exercituum, Dells Israel, dicendo, Vos et uxores vestrae locuti estis ore vestro, et im-plevistis manibus vestris, dicendo, Faciendo faciemus vota vestra, quae vovinus ad suffitum adolendum arti-ficio coeli et ad fundendum ei liba-mina, stabihendo stabilietis vota vestra, et faciendo facietis vota vestra:

26. Therefore 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.

26. Propterea audite sermonem Jehovae, totus Jehudah, qui habita-tis in terra Aegypti, Ecce juravi per nomen meum magnum, dicit Jehova, si erit posthac nomen meum invoea-tum in ore (per os) viri Judaei dicen-tis, Vivit Adohai Jehova in tota terra Aegypti.

Jeremiah pursues the same subject, and not only bitterly reproves the ungodly men who so pertinaciously despised his doctrine, but also shews that they could gain nothing by their audacity, because they would at length be violently broken down, as they could not bear to be corrected, he says at the beginning, Ye and your wives have spoken; the men are also included, Ye have spoken both men and women, and with your hands have fulfilled it; that is, your obstinacy is complete, for, as you have spoken insolently against God, so there has been a performance; for by hands he designates the work done. he then shews that they had advanced to the highest pitch of impiety, for they hesitated not to vomit forth these impious words, We will not obey God, and they joined their hands to their mouth, for they strenuously executed what they had said. The thought itself was sufficient to condemn them; but when they thus spoke with their tongues, and then employed their hands against God, it was a proof of desperate audacity, as though they willfully designed to provoke him.

But he shews what issue awaited these impious men, who so presumptuously rebelled against God. When he bids them to hear what God on the other hand had sworn, he compares God with themselves, as though he had said, “You may a hundred times increase in your madness, yet God will be the conqueror; for he is an adversary who will surely subvert all schemes and efforts.” But before he comes to this, he mentions what they said, Doing we shall do our vows which we have vowed, to burn incense, etc. Here Jeremiah relates what we have before seen, that the Jews, under the pretext of doing what had been before done, continued thus rebellious against God. We perceive this by the word vows; and the superstitious, when they are pressed, are wont always to flee to this pretext, that to persevere in one’s resolution is a great virtue. While, then, they avoid the charge of fickleness, they harden themselves against God.

The same thing we see at this day under the Papacy: The older any one is, the more obstinate he is. “What! have I not learned during forty or fifty years what religion is, and how to worship God? I have been thus taught from a child, and have by a long habit followed this way: it would be now a disgraceful thing for me to change my course and to relinquish the faith which I have professed for so many years.”

There is, then, no doubt but the Jews made a pretense of this kind against Jeremiah, when they said that they had vowed. For hypocrites make no distinction when they vow anything, but indiscriminately obtrude on God whatever comes to their minds; they afterwards stand fixed in their foolish fancies, and say that a. vow is inviolable, a sacred thing. Such was the excuse of the people. But we see from the Prophet’s answer how vainly they did bring forward in opposition to God their vows, which had been made without judgment and without reason.

And this passage ought to be carefully noticed; so that we may especially know, that it is a folly in no way pleasing to God, when men indiscriminately vow whatever they may dream according to their own fancies. God then would have sobriety and regard to his will to be observed as to vows. But when any one has made an inconsiderate vow, pertinaciously to persist in it is no less displeasing to God than the vow itself. The Jews had vowed; the warning of the Prophet ought to have constrained them to change their resolution. But while they avoided every kind of fickleness, we see that instead of constancy they set up their own perverseness and diabolical obstinacy in opposition to God. When, therefore, we rashly make vows, disapproved by God, nothing is better than immediately to retract them; for we have already sinned more than enough in having abused the holy name of God. For this reason the Prophet says, that the Jews spoke thus, Doing we shall do the vows we have vowed; and what were these? To offer incense to the stars and to hosts of Heaven. Had they vowed anything to God, they ought not to have broken their pledged faith; but they had made vows to the devil; then they ought to have immediately changed their purpose. When I say that vows made to God ought to be performed, I mean lawful vows; for he who makes a vow without judgment, does not vow to God; but those vows which God sanctions ought to be deemed sacred; and whatever vows God repudiates, ought to be counted as nothing. We hence see that the Jews were justly condemned, for they pertinaciously paid their vows to their own idols.

He adds by way of irony, Confirming ye will confirm your vows, doing ye will do your vows Here the Prophet sharply checks their insolence, because they thus set up themselves against God, as though it were a great virtue to persevere in their wicked purpose; ye cannot change, he says, but confirming ye will confirm your vows!

Hear ye now, he says, the word of Jehovah, etc. By these words, as I have already hinted, he intimates, that they could gain nothing by their insolence, except that they would thereby provoke God, who on the other hand did set up his own power against them. Thus, then, saith Jehovah, Behold, I have sworn by my great name, etc. As they had so often disregarded God speaking to them, he confirmed by an oath what he was going to say. Had he only threatened, they might have as usual disregarded him, as though the Prophet spoke what was vain. This is the reason why he now introduces God as making an oath. And it ought to be observed, that whenever God confirms his words by an oath, this he does, either because he sees that he has to do with men who are like stones, who cannot be made to feel by simple truth; or when he is pleased to give aid to our infirmity and sloth: for God confirms threatenings as well as promises by an oath. When he thus confirms threatenings, then he indirectly condemns the obstinate wickedness of those whom he addresses. But when he promises anything by an oath, he shews how great our propensity is to indulge doubts, and what weakness there is in our faith; for were such faith in us as ought to be, we should be contented with one little word. As, then, God interposes his own name as a pledge, it hence appears, that we are naturally unbelieving, or that the weakness of our faith is such that it wants this support. But here, as God threatens, he shews that the Jews were so obstinate in their wickedness, that it was necessary to shake them by terror.

Now, God makes an oath by his own great name Men, as the Apostle says, swear by God, (Hebrews 6:16;) because he is called as a witness and a judge when his name is interposed. But it is no superfluous addition, when God not only swears by himself, but by his own great name For he thus intimated, that the Jews were greatly deceived, if they thought that God would not execute vengeance on them, because they indulged themselves. For it is a common thing with hypocrites to measure God by their own judgment; and when they extenuate his power, they think of him as of a child. In order, then, to divest the Jews of this false imagination, he says, by his own great name There is, then, implied here a contrast between the greatness of God’s name, which cannot be diminished at the will of man, and the presumption of the ancient people, who rendered God’s name contemptible.

He afterwards adds, If my name, etc. It is an imperfect sentence, which, as we have often said, was frequently used in order that a greater reverence may be observed by us, when we swear by God’s name. We must now come to what is said, There shall not be a Jew, who is to swear any more in my name God himself makes an oath, and what is the oath which he makes? that no one was to profane his name; for they thought that it was some evidence of religion when they swore by Jehovah. It was yet nothing but an awful profanation of God’s name. They contaminated themselves, as it appears, with Egyptian superstitions; but that they might differ from the Egyptians themselves and possess something special, that they, in short, might seem to be a holy nation, they still retained a form of swearing, distinct from what was common among the Gentiles. God declares that he would not suffer his name to be any more irreverently used in Egypt. Not invoked, he says, shall be my name any more by the mouth of a Jew And that he speaks of oaths we gather from the next verse, when he says, Live doth Jehovah in all the land of Egypt For, as it has been said, the Jews as yet boasted that they kept the Law, because God’s name was still in their mouth and on their tongue. But God says that it was to be taken away from them, because it was a disgraceful pollution of his name, when they mingled themselves with the Egyptians in all kinds of superstitions, and yet boasted that they were God’s people. It follows, —

Jeremiah 44:27

27. Behold, 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.

27. Ecce ego vigilo super eos in malum, et non in bonum; et consumentur omnes viri (omnis vir, ad verbum) Jehudah, quicunque sunt in terra Aegypti gladio et fame usque dum consumantur (est quidem, aliud verbum, sed ejusdem significationis.)

Here he more dearly expresses what he had said in the last verse, that none of the Jews would remain alive in Egypt. He now then points out the manner, even because he would not cease to consume them until they wholly perished and were brought to final ruin. He had said, No more shall my name be called, nor shall the Jews in Egypt swear, Live doth Jehovah; and why? because I will destroy them all, so that there will be none remaining in Egypt to pollute under a false pretense my name.

I will watch over them, he says, for evil and not for good This mode of speaking we have observed elsewhere, and explained why the Prophets spoke thus, even because hypocrites, though they think God cares not for human affairs, and imagine that he sleeps in heaven, and hence audaciously provoke him, as though they were fugitives and their purpose hid from God, yet boast of God’s providence, and pretend that they acquiesce confidently in him. For this reason the Prophet answered, that God watched indeed, but not for good We then perceive the object of the Prophet; he derided the presumption of the people, who thought that God had a care for their safety. He then says, that God indeed does not sleep, but that this would bring no benefit to hypocrites; for though God watches as a father to preserve his own people, he yet watches as a judge to destroy all the ungodly. It follows, —

Jeremiah 44:28

28. Yet 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 theirs.

28. Et qui evaserint e gladio re-vertentur e terra Aegypti in terram Jehudah pauci numero; et cognoscent omnes reliquiae Jehudah, quae ingressi sunt terram Aegypti, ut habitarent illic, sermo quis stabit a me, an ab ipsis.

He at length adds that a few would escape. He had said before, (Jeremiah 44:14) that there would be none, but added at the end of the verse, “but such as shall escape.” We said that this second clause is to be explained of the Jews who had been driven into exile in Babylon. But if it be applied to exiles in Egypt the meaning will be different. For the Prophet then said that none would escape, that none would remain alive: he thus doubtless took away every hope of deliverance with regard to those in Egypt. But he added, “but such as shall escape,” that is, such as should stealthily escape from the sword, as though they had never migrated into Egypt. And then in this different sense must necessarily be taken what the Prophet adds now, They who escape shall return But we must bear in mind that those remaining alive would not be numbered among the exiles, for they must have withdrawn themselves so as no longer to form a part of that people. They had before become fugitives, but when they departed from Egypt, that second flight made them to be no longer a residue in that land.

When, therefore, the Prophet declares that none of the residue would escape, we must understand the words as meaning, that there would be Jews no more in Egypt, as their memory would be obliterated. But when, in the second place, he mentions evaders, פליטים, pelithim, (the word which we have rendered, “They who shall escape,”) he means that those who escaped had now ceased to be counted among the residue, having in a manner of their own accord separated themselves from them, so that they were no longer to be reckoned among the fugitive exiles in Egypt. Then he says, that those who escape from the sword would return into the land of Judah; an event wholly different from what they looked for, for they expected to return to their own country in a triumphant manner. They intended indeed to dwell in Egypt only for a time; and they hoped to come afterwards into a free possession of the land, when the Chaldeans had gone far away. Thus they had promised to themselves a new kingdom, and were not disposed to return except in great pomp. As, then, such a restoration had been imagined by them, the Prophet says, that a few only would return into the land of Judah; and then that they would return, not to possess the land and enjoy it as their own inheritance, but that they would return, because there would be no safe corner where they might hide themselves. We hence see that this return is set up in opposition to the false imagination in which the Jews indulged; and he says that a few only would return.

And at length he adds, All the remnant of Judah who had entered into the land of Egypt, shall know whose word shall stand, mine, or theirs Here at length the sentence is completed, for I have said that it was the Prophet’s object to convince the Jews of their foolish and impious presumption, when in their perverseness they contended against God, as though he had said, “What do you mean, ye wretched beings? Is the truth of God to give way, or can you frustrate his purpose by your madness and obstinacy? And surely God will prove stronger than you.” He now then fully explains his meaning. By saying, all shall know, he does not refer to true and sincere knowledge, but to experience, that is, they shall at length really find out whose word is firm, mine or theirs.

This passage deserves special attention; we hence learn that we ought to acquiesce in God’s word, and wholly to receive it, and especially to beware of that diabolical obstinacy which the Prophet here condemns; for when we fight to the last, we must at the end necessarily fall; though we may a hundred times complain and clamor, yet God’s word will stand firm and will never yield to us. It follows, —

Jeremiah 44:29-30

29. And 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:

29. Et hoc vobis signum, dicit Jehovah, quod visitabo ego super vos in hoc loco, ut sciatis quod stando stabunt sermones mei super vos in malum.

30. Thus 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 Nebuehadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.

30. Sic dicit Jehova, Ecce ego trado Pharaonem Ophra regem Aegypti in manum inimicorum ejus, et in manum quaerentium animam ejus; quemadmodum tradidi Zedechiam regem Jehudah in manum Nabuchadnezer regis Babylonis, inimici ejus et quaerentis animam ejus.

Jeremiah seals his prophecy by adding a sign which yet was to be coincident with it. It was not then, as they say, a premonstrative sign. And doubtless the Jews were wholly unworthy that God should shew them anything extraordinary; but this sign was only added, that they might know that they in vain trusted in the protection of Egypt, and also that every excuse might be taken away.

This brief notice may perhaps be obscure. We shall therefore refer to a distinction that exists: some signs precede the time and order of things, but others are connected with the events themselves. The signs which precede events avail to prepare the minds of the faithful, so that they may not doubt but that God will do what he has promised, as when Gideon sought a sign from God, and it was granted to him; the ground was wet with dew, while the fleece remained dry; and then the fleece remained dry when the ground was wet. (Judges 6:36-40.) By this sign Gideon was encouraged to proceed in his course, when before doubt made him inert Gideon was torpid, but when he saw by this miracle that victory would be given him, he boldly undertook the work assigned to him. The greatest portion of signs are of this kind. But there are other signs which do not precede events, but shew that when the time is fulfilled the events have been truly predicted, as when God said to Moses,

“This sign I give thee, that after ye have come out of Egypt ye shall sacrifice to me in this mountain.” (Exodus 3:12)

Neither Moses nor the people could know anything by that sign before they had departed from Egypt. But after they were delivered they there gave thanks on the third day to God their Redeemer.

Hence signs refer sometimes to past time, and sometimes to what is future. Those which refer to the future are such as we call premonstrative, as the case was with Gideon, who took up arms with alacrity, because he knew that he was fighting under God’s banner; and he was fully persuaded of a victory when he understood that God would be his leader.

This sign then had a reference to what was future. But the sign given to Moses was retrospective, for the people more clearly saw that God had been their deliverer, because it had been predicted to Moses when yet in the desert that the Israelites would come there; and that place, even Mount Sinai, had been already destined for that worship which afterwards was presented to God. The people at the time considered this, and by calling to mind what had been predicted, they were more and more confirmed as to their faith in God’s favor. Such was also the sign mentioned here, This shall be a sign, says Jeremiah, even that God would deliver ­Pharaoh-hophrah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar his enemy

Had any one then asked the Prophet why he spoke of the king of Egypt, he would have said, “Now indeed this sign remains as it were buried, its use is not seen; but God will in due time shew that I have been entrusted with his commands, for whatever I predict of the king of Egypt shall be fulfilled.” This sign was also added, for the thing seemed incredible, that is, that Egypt could be conquered, which was strongly fortified on every side. As, then, there was no entrance open for enemies, especially from Pelusium, the Jews thought that they dwelt, as they say, within the circle of the moon, and that they were placed beyond the reach of danger. Since, then, they confided in the protection of Egypt, and thought the land unassailable, this their confidence was laughed to scorn.

And the Prophet expressly mentions the surname of Pharaoh, which was Hophra, the meaning of which is not known to me; and it is probably an Egyptic word, for there is no such word in Hebrew: and it is not known whence the word Pharaoh has come. We know that all the kings of Egypt had this name, as the emperors of Rome were called Caesars, in memory of Julius Caesar. The kings of Egypt were in the same manner called Pharaohs. But each had his own name to distinguish him from the rest; and this king was called Hophra.

Now what the Prophet predicted, if we believe Josephus, was fulfilled about the fourth year after they had departed into Egypt. For Nebuchadnezzar went down again into Egypt, after having spoiled the Moabites and the Ammonites, and at length took possession of that kingdom. But it was a hateful message, when Jeremiah predicted the ruin of the kingdom. Nor is there a doubt, but that danger appeared before his eyes, when he saw that he addressed ungodly men, who a hundred times wished him to be destroyed. When therefore he dared to prophesy against the king, the whole people, and the land, we hence see how great must have been his firmness and his courage, still boldly to discharge his office; for he was not terrified by danger, but promulgated whatever God had committed to him. We then have here a singular example of magnanimity; for the Prophet hesitated not to risk his own life while obeying God.

By saying, I will deliver the king of Egypt into the hands of his enemies, and of them who seek his life, he intimates that there would be fatal enemies, though he speaks only of one enemy, but he connects the army with its head: I will deliver ­Pharaoh then into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, as I have delivered Zedekiah into the hand of his enemy and of him who sought his life; as though he had said, “The condition of the king of Egypt will not be better than that of Zedekiah.”: For Zedekiah occupied that sacred throne of which God had testified, “Here will I dwell;” and further, “On the throne of David shall one of his posterity ever continue.”

We hence see, that the Prophet reasons from the greater to the less; for if God had not spared King Zedekiah, who was, as it were, a sacred person, nothing better could be hoped for as to the king of Egypt, who reigned only in a manner usual and common. The sum of what is said then is, that the Jews had been already sufficiently taught by facts how true his prophecies were; for he had predicted what at length happened to Zedekiah; but his word was not believed. “It is now the time,” he says, “when the Jews must know that I am God’s faithful servant, as God had added a proof in the case of Zedekiah, which ought to have remained fixed in their memory.” Now, if they thought that the king of Egypt was beyond danger, they ascribed great injustice to God, who had not delivered Zedekiah, who had been anointed in his name, and by his command. This then is the import of the passage.

PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that since by our adoption, thou hast favored us with this honor, that we may call on thy name, — O grant, that we may with a pure mouth call on thee, that thou mayest be glorified among us, through the whole course of our life; and that whilst we labor to render to thee that sincere obedience which thou requirest, thy truth may be more and more propagated among us, and that the memory of thy name may flourish more and more, until we shall at length come into that glory, which we know is laid up for us in heaven, by Christ our Lord. — Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Sixty-Fourth

CHAPTER 45

Jeremiah 45:1-5

1. The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,

1. Sermo quem loquutus est Jeremias Propheta ad Baruch filium Neriae cum scriberet sermones istos in libro ex ore Jeremiae anno quarto Joiakim filii Josiae regis Jehudah, dicendo,

2. Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch;

2. Sic dicit Jehova, Deus Israel ad to (vel, de to) Baruch,

3. Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I found no rest.

3. Dixisti, Vae nunc mihi, quia addidit Jehova moerorem super dolorem meum, laboravi (vel, defessus sum) in gemitu meo et requiem non inveni:

4. Thus shalt thou say unto him, The LORD saith thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.

4. Sic dices ad eum, Sic dicit Jehova, Ecce quae aedificavi ego diruo, et quae plantavi evello, nempe totam terram hanc;

5. And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.

5. Et tu quaeres tibi magnifica? Ne quaesieris; quia ego adducam malum super universam carnem, dicit Jehova; et dabo tibi animam tuam in spolium omnibus locis quocunque tu veneris.

CHAPTER 44

Jr 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).

Noph--Memphis, now Cairo (Jr 2:16).

Pathros--Upper Egypt (Is 11:11).

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.

commit ... this ... evil against your souls--(Jr 7:19; Nu 16:38; Pr 8:36). It is not God whom you injure, but yourselves.

8. in ... Egypt--where they polluted themselves to ingratiate themselves with the Egyptians.

ye be gone--not compelled by fear, but of your own accord, when I forbade you, and when it was free to you to stay in Judea.

that ye might cut yourselves off--They, as it were, purposely courted their own ruin.

9. Have you forgotten how the wickednesses of your fathers were the source of the greatest calamities to you?

their wives--The Jews' worldly queens were great promoters of idolatry (1Ki 11:1-8; 15:13; 16:31).

the land of Judah--They defiled the land which was holy unto God.

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.

humbled--literally, "contrite" (Psa 51:17).

neither ... feared--(Pr 28:14).

11. Behold, I will set my face against you for evil--(See on Le 17:10).

and to cut off all Judah--that is, all the idolaters; Jr 44:28 shows that some returned to Judea (compare Jr 42:17).

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.

have a desire--literally, "lift up (their) soul," that is, their hopes (compare Jr 22:27, Margin; De 24:15, Margin).

none shall return but such as shall escape--namely, the "small number" (Jr 44:28) who were brought by force into Egypt, as Jeremiah and Baruch, and those who, in accordance with Jeremiah's advice, should flee from Egypt before the arrival of the Chaldeans (see on Jr 42:17). Calvin less probably refers the words to the return of the exiles in Babylon, which the Jews in Egypt regarded as hopeless.

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--(Jr 6:16).

17. whatsoever ... goeth ... out of our ... mouth--whatever vow we have uttered to our gods (Jr 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.

queen of heaven--(See on Jr 7:18); Ashtaroth or Astarte.

we ... fathers ... king, &c.--The evil was restricted to no one class: all from the highest to the lowest shared the guilt.

then had we plenty--Fools attribute their seeming prosperity to God's connivance at their sin: but see Pr 1:32; Ec 8:11-13. In fact, God had often chastised them for their idolatry (see Jud 2:14); but it is the curse of impiety not to perceive the hand of God in calamities.

victuals--Men cast away the bread of the soul for the bread that perisheth (De 8:3; Joh 6:27). So Esau (He 12:16).

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.

without our men--The women mentioned (Jr 44:15); "a great multitude" here speak: we have not engaged in secret night orgies which might justly be regarded unfavorably by our husbands: our sacred rites have been open, and with their privity. They wish to show how unreasonable it is that Jeremiah should oppose himself alone to the act of all, not merely women, but men also. The guilty, like these women, desire to shield themselves under the complicity of others. Instead of helping one another towards heaven, husband and wife often ripen one another for hell.

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 (Jr 44:22), as was foretold (Jr 25:11, 18, 38).

23. law--the moral precepts.

statutes--the ceremonial.

testimonies--the judicial (Da 9:11, 12).

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.

ye will surely accomplish ... vows--Jeremiah hereby gives them up to their own fatal obstinacy.

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.

by my great name--that is, by Myself (Ge 22:16), the greatest by whom God can swear (He 6:13, 14).

my name shall no more be named--The Jews, heretofore, amidst all their idolatry, had retained the form of appeal to the name of God and the law, the distinctive glory of their nation; God will allow this no more (Eze 20:39): there shall be none left there to profane His name thus any more.

27. watch over ... for evil--(Jr 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 Jr 31:28; 32:41.

28. small number--(see on Jr 44:14; and Jr 42:17; Is 27:13); compare "all-consumed" (Jr 44:27). A band easily counted, whereas they were expecting to return triumphantly in large numbers.

shall know--most of them experimentally, and to their cost.

whose words ... mine, or theirs--Hebrew, "that from Me and them." Jehovah's words are His threats of destruction to the Jews; theirs, the assertion that they expected all goods from their gods (Jr 44:17), &c. "Mine"; by which I predict ruin to them. "Theirs"; by which they give themselves free scope in iniquity.

shall stand--(Psa 33:11).

29. this ... sign unto you--The calamity of Pharaoh-hophra (see on Jr 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.

them that seek his life--Herodotus, in curious accordance with this, records that Amasis, after treating Hophra well at first, was instigated, by persons who thought they could not be safe unless he were put to death, to strangle him. "His enemies" refer to Amasis, &c.; the words are accurately chosen, so as not to refer to Nebuchadnezzar, who is not mentioned till the end of the verse, and in connection with Zedekiah (Eze 20:3; 30:21). Amasis' civil war with Hophra pioneered the way for Nebuchadnezzar's invasion in the twenty-third year of his reign [Josephus, Antiquities, 10.11].

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews - Dahler supposes this discourse to have been delivered in the seventeenth or eighteenth year after the taking of Jerusalem.

Which dwell at Migdol - A city of Lower Egypt, not far from Pelusium.

Tahpanhes - Daphne Pelusiaca, the place to which the emigrant Jews first went.

Noph - מפס Maphes, Targum. Memphis. a celebrated city of Middle Egypt, and the capital of its district.

The country of Pathros - A district of Upper Egypt, known by the name of the Thebais. See Bochart, Lib. Phaleg, lib. iv., c. 22. Thus we find that the Jews were scattered over the principal parts of Egypt.

No man dwelleth therein - The desolation of the land of Judea must have been exceedingly great when this, in almost any sense, could be spoken of it.

O, do not this abominable thing - A strong specimen of affectionate entreaty. One of the finest figures of poetry, when judiciously managed, the anthropopathia, the ascribing human passions to God, is often used by this prophet: so God is said to grieve, to mourn, to have his bowels moved with compassion, to repent, to be angry, etc. Here he is represented as tenderly expostulating: O, do not; or, I entreat you, do not that abominable thing which I hate.

1. Do it not: your God commands.

2. O, do it not: your Father entreats.

3. It is an abominable thing, and should not be done.

4. I hate it, and on that account ye should abstain from it.

But they hearkened not -

1. They disregarded the authority of their God.

2. They were not moved by the entreaties of their most affectionate Father.

3. In abominations they delighted. And,

4. They loved that which God hated; and, apparently, because he hated it.

This great evil against your souls - Will not self-interest weigh with you? See what ruin your conduct has brought upon your country. Your fathers sinned as you are doing; and where are they now? Either destroyed, or in captivity. And you are now taking the same way to your own destruction.

Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers - It seems that the women were principal agents in idolatrous practices; for the queens - the wives, of rulers and of common people, burnt incense to the queen of heaven, (the moon), Jer 44:17, and poured out drink-offerings to her.

Then all the men - and all the women - We have not seen the women in determined rebellion before. Here they make a common cause with their idolatrous husbands.

And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven - The Moon seems to have been called מלכת melecheth, as the sun was called מלך molech. The Hindoos pour out water to the sun thrice a day; and to the moon whenever they worship her.

The idolatrous worship of these people was a sort of imitation of the worship of the true God; only sacrifice was not common in it. The factious women here tell us in what it consisted.

1. They burnt incense to the moon, and perhaps to the sun and the planets.

2. They poured out libations to her.

3. They made and consecrated cakes to her.

All these were prescribed in the worship of the true God. See, among others, Exo 29:23, etc.; Lev 2:4; Lev 23:16; and Num 6:15. And the women vindicate their conduct by asserting that they did all this by the consent of their husbands: "Did we worship her without our men?"

Therefore is your land a desolation - I grant that ye and your husbands have joined together in these abominations; and what is the consequence? "The Lord could no longer bear because of your evil doings; and therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, this day."

Behold I will give Pharaoh-hophra - That is, Pharaoh Apries. How this and the prophecies in the preceding chapter were fulfilled, we learn from ancient historians. The sum of such information is this: the subjects of Pharaoh Apries rebelling, he sent Amasis, one of his generals, to reduce them to their duty. But no sooner had Amasis begun to make his speech, than they fixed a helmet on his head, and proclaimed him king. Amasis accepted the title, and confirmed the Egyptians in their revolt; and the greater part of the nation declaring for him, Apries was obliged to retire into Upper Egypt; and the country being thus weakened by intestine war, was attacked and easily overcome by Nebuchadnezzar, who on quitting it left Amasis his viceroy. After Nebuchadnezzar's departure, Apries marched against Amasis; but, being defeated at Memphis, was taken prisoner, carried to Sais, and was strangled in his own palace, thus verifying this prophecy. See Herodotus in Euterpe.

Thus Nebuchadnezzar made an easy conquest of the land. He conquered it as easily as "a shepherd puts on his cloak: he went thence in peace," having clothed himself with its spoils; and left all quiet under a viceroy of his own choosing. The rebellion of Pharaoh's subjects was the "fire that God kindled in Egypt," Jer 43:12. And thus was he "delivered into the hands of his enemies," his revolted people; and "into the hand of him who sought his life," i.e., Amasis his general. And thus the whole prophecy was literally fulfilled.

At Migdol - It seems the Jews that went into Egypt had planted themselves at these four places. Migdol was a city upon the borders of the Red Sea. Noph was a city, which the Greeks and Latines called Memphis; it is thought to be that, which is now called Cairo. Pathros was the province, since called Thebais.

For none - Only such shall escape, as have been forced into Egypt against their wills; and as did not fall in with the idolatry of the Egyptians.

All the men - It should seem those that did it were mostly women, and that they did it with some privacy, so that all their husbands did not know of it.

The Lord liveth - There shall not any be left alive of the Jews that are in Egypt, to swear The Lord God liveth.

This shall be a sign - Signs are usually antecedent to the thing signified, but the word is taken in a larger notion in this place for that which should attend the thing signified by it.

1 THE word which came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jewes, which dwell in the land of Eg[illegible: 1 letter]pt , which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpa[illegible: 1 letter]hes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying ,

The Pat[illegible: 1 letter]ence and Goodness of God to this remnant of his ancien[illegible: 1 letter] people is very remarkable, he leaveth them not even in their Rebellion, but sendeth Ieremiah, whom he had before sent to prevent their going into this Idolatrous Countrey, to try if in Egypt they would be [illegible: 1 letter]rought to a better mind.

It should seem that the generality of the Iews that went into Egypt had planted themselves at these four places. Of M[illegible: 1 letter]gdol we read Exod. 14.2. and Num. 33.[illegible: 1 letter]. from which places we may learn, it was a City or Town upon the borders of the Red-sea. We shall read of it again, chap. 46.14. It was a place which might have minded them better of their duty and obligations to God, for upon their removal from thence. God divided the Red Sea for their Forefathers. N[illegible: 2 letters]h was another City in Egypt, of which we read, Isa. 19.13. chap. 2.16. and 46.14. Ezek. 30.13, 16. The Greeks and Lat[illegible: 2 letters]es call it M[illegible: 1 letter]m[illegible: 2 letters]is; it is thought to be that City, which is now called Cairo, Isa. 19.13. Ezek. 30.13. Pathros was a Region [illegible: 1 letter]r Province, some think it derived its name from Pathr[illegible: 1 letter] sim the son of Mizraim, Gen. 10.14. It is the same (as some think) which is since called T[illegible: 1 letter]ebais.

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 a[illegible: 1 letter]e a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein .

H[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 word] to the late destruction of it by the King of Baby[illegible: 3 letters] this remnant of the peo[illegible: 1 letter]le, was a brand pluck'd out of that fire▪ and their e[illegible: 1 letter]es had been Wi[illegible: 1 letter]nes[illegible: 1 letter]es, to the desolations that God had wrought.

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, you, nor your fat[illegible: 1 letter]ers .

A they were eye-wi[illegible: 1 letter]nesses to the effect so it was nothing but their unbelief made them strangers to the cause▪ for God by his Prophets had told them that the great moving cause was their paying a divine homage to Idols▪

The sin of which is aggravated from this, that they were as much strangers to the Idols, as to the people with whom they joined in the worship of them, neither they nor any of their Fathers having had any experimental knowledge of what they had done or could do for such as adored them.

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

These two verses contain another aggravation of this peoples sin, viz. That t[illegible: 1 letter]ey did this against light, and admonitions to the contrary, God had by his Prophets let them know that this was an abominable thing, a thing which he hated, and that not with an ordinary degree of hatred, yet they would not hear, so as to yield obedience to God▪ but went on in their Idolatries.

6 Wherefore my fury and my 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 .

For these very reasons their Idolatry and contempt of my word by my Prophets▪ the very sins you are now committing, I have given Iuda[illegible: 1 letter] and Ierusalem into the hand of the King of Babylon ▪ a[illegible: 1 letter]d it is (as you at this day see it) waste and desolate

Marginal references: chap. 42.1[illegible: 1 letter]

7 Therefore 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 [illegible: 1 letter]rom you man and woman, child and suckling out of Judah, to leave you none to remain .

What prudence can guide you to do such actions as these, by which you cannot hurt God, but your selves onely? you are now but a few of many, what love have you for your country, in taking courses which will certainly te[illegible: 1 letter]d to the utter extirpation of those few, so as there shall be neither Man, nor Woman, nor child, nor suckling remaining of all the Iewes.

Marginal references: Heb. Ou[illegible: 1 letter] the midst of Iudah.

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 your selves off, and that ye might be a curse, and a reproach amongst all the nations of the earth .

Idols are usually thus defamed, and indeed nothing can argue a greater stupidity than for any to pay an homage (confessedly due to the supreme being) to what is the work of mens hands, and therefore must be made by one Superiour to that order of Beings in which Idols are. But how doth the Prophet say, that they worshipped the works of mens hands? for it is apparent from ver. 17. that they paid this homage to the Queen of heaven, which is not the work of mens hands. Sol. It was before Images which are but the works of mens hands. And this certainly was the Idolatry of the generality of the Heathens, they worshipped an unknown Divine Being before a Creature, either as representing it, or rather putting them in mind of it.

The term that doth not denote the Idolaters end of intention, for none ever did any act intentionally to ruine themselves, it onely signifies the end of their work that their utter ruine would be the certain consequent of their work.

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 ?

God accounteth men and women to have forgotten that, the sight and reflection upon which hath made no such impression upon them, as to produce a practice sutable to those notices, according to the conduct of a reasonable soul, which teacheth every man, having notice of a great evil brought upon a man by such or such practices, to avoid running into the like danger. It was the aggravation of this Peoples sins, that they were committed in the holy land, and in a City which God had more favoured than any other place, to have done these things in any place had been guilt enough, but more to do it in the land of Iudah and in the streets of Ierusalem.

Marginal references: Heb. wick[illegible: 2 letters] nesses or p[illegible: 4 letters] ments.

10 They are not humbled even to this day neither have they feared no[illegible: 1 letter] walked in my law, nor in my statutes that I set before you, and before your fathers.

Neither they nor you are humbled, for the Prophets passing from the second person to the third, and by and by from the third Person again to the second, lets us know, that he intendeth what he spake as well of them to whom he spake, as of them concerning whom he speaks from,

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word]; whence we also learn, that Reformation and obedience is the first fruits of contrition or true humiliation, God accounteth those not humbled, but hardned who are not reformed, and become obedient to his Will let their pretended attrition, contrition, or humiliation be in outward appearance what it will.

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 .

These names are frequently given to God, in threatning prophesies, partly to let this people know that God is able to make good his word, and to bring the threatned Evils upon them: and partly to let them know that the dealing thus with them would not make him quit his relation to Israel, but he was and still would approve himself the God of those who were his true Israel.

The meaning is my full design against you is to bring Evil upon you, this is expressed under the notion of setting his face, and Amos 9.4. setting his eyes against them.

Marginal references: Lev. 17.10. chap. 21.10.

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 .

This is no more than the Prophet had told these very persons before they went unto Egypt, chap. 42.16, 17. here he doubleth his words for the confirmation of the truth of them to them now that they were there.

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 .

There is a great variety in the reading of the words, ver. 14. some reading besides such as have a desire to return. Others, Although they have a desire to return. Others, For they have a desire to return. The words seem to hint that these Jews went into the Land of Egypt not with a design to live there alwayes, but to stay for a while till the heat of the Chaldeans in enquiring after the blood of Gedaliah should be over, then thinking to return into their own Country, which one would think were true, considering it not onely as their Native Soil, but also a place where was now room enough, and they might live in much greater plenty than they could in Egypt. The onely difficulty is in the last words▪ compared with what in the same Verse went before; it is said in the beginning of the verse that none of them should escape, and in the close, none shall return but such as shall escape. But reason will guide us to interpret the first none in a restrained sense, i. e. none of those who have been the Authors of this Counsel and Rebellion against God, and who went into Egypt willingly, for none can think that God involved Ieremiah and Baruch who were in Egypt (at least the first of them) in the same punishment with which he punished the Rebellious Jews. Or none of those who in Egypt have burnt incense to idols, and defiled themselves with the Idolatry of Egypt, but there shall some escape, such as have been forced into Egypt against their Wills; and such as being so forced when they came here did not fall in with the Idolatry of the Egyptians (for we may gather from the next verse, that all of them did not) these men shall again return into the Land of Judah. This to me seemeth the fairest and most probable sense of the words.

Marginal references: Heb. Lift up their souls.

15 ¶ Then all the men which knew that their wives had burnt incense to 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 ,

The burning of Incense was a religious Rite, which God had appointed the Iews as a piece of Divine Homage to be paid to him alone, and by an ordinary figure is put for Worship. So as burning Incense to other gods, is the same with worshipping other Gods.

It should seem that all the Iews had not been thus far guilty, and those that did it were mostly Women, or at least they were the Leaders in this Idolatry, and one would think the phrase implieth, that those who were thus culpable did it with some privacy, so as all their Husbands did not know of it, but those that did were as bad as their wives, conniving at them, and justifying them in their Idolatry, and joyning with them in the following peremptory answer to, and contempt of the Prophet.

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

We read chap. 43.5. Iohanan and the rest onely denied that God had spoken such things and told Ieremiah, he had spoken falsely, but now these women and men rise higher, they acknowledge Ieremiah had spoken to them in the name of the Lord, but tell him in plain and direct terms they would not obey it. And indeed this is in the hearts of all sinners that are ruled by their Lusts, though they will sometimes pretend, that what they hear is not the Will of God, but spoken out of Malice and prejudice; yet they are pre-resolved they will not do it, let their understandings be never so well informed.

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 .

Here is the root of all sinners disobedience, their resolution to please and humour themselves, not knowing how in any thing to deny themselves, hence it is that denying our selves is by Christ made the first law or condition of his Disciples.

By the Queen of heaven some here understand the Sun, which notion is favoured from the words being of the Feminine gender, which signifieth the Sun in Heb. others reading it not the Queen, but the frame of heaven, by it understanding the Sun, Moon and Stars.

Drink-offerings were a Divine Homage which God had commanded to be paid to him, Lev. 23.13. Num. 6.17.

Their argument for it was Custom and Antiquity, they and their Fathers had used to do it. 2 The Example of their Kings and Princes.

The Plenty and prosperity they had while they did so, as if their Idolatry had been the cause of it.

Marginal references: Num. 30.12. See ver. 25.; Or, frame of heaven.; chap. 7.18.; Heb. bread.

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 .

Their last Argument is drawn from the evils that had befallen them since they had left worshipping the Sun, Moon and Starrs; thus strangely their omission of that, the cause of their sufferings, their former doing of which was indeed the true cause, they had lost their Husbands in the Siege, and in Battels, and had suffered Famine and Hunger, and all because they had burnt Incense to other Gods, they interpret these Providences into a punishment of them for not doing it as they had formerly used to do. So bad Interpreters are those of Gods Providences, who indulge their lusts in opposition to Gods Law

23 Because you have burnt 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 ?

There is in these verses nothing of difficulty, nor any new phrases to be opened. That which is observable is, that though the Prophet was but one against many, yet he feareth not their faces: The substance of what he saith is this; That they interpreted Gods voice in his Providences toward their Country directly contrary to the true sense of it. They concluded that their omission of late to burn Incense to the Sun, Moon and Stars was the cause why it was so ill with them: as if these were animate beings, and the supreme Being, whereas they were but Creatures. Or as if it were the will of the supreme Being to be adored and worshipped in them, or before Statues and Images represented by them, whereas the Will of God was directly contrary, and as he in the second Commandment had forbidden any such worship, because he was a jealous God; so he had for the breach of that Commandment by their burning Incense to these Creatures, burned up their Houses and Temple and brought their Nation into that misery into which they were come: From whence may be observed how ill an Argument for any Religious Worship Antiquity is, unless we by it mean what is most ancient; as also that Prescription in that which is false, in the Worship of God justifie[illegible: 1 letter]h none. Nor is it a good conclusion that those who lived nearest to the primitive Institution are most likely to have done best, as having the best means to know what is truly Primitive. Idolatry was as old as Laban, and the worst of idolatry (offering children to Molech) was older than the Levitical Law, if not as old as S[illegible: 1 letter]r[illegible: 1 letter]g. In matters of Worship the Word of God is a sufficient rule, we need not plead antiquity nor the practice of our fathers. Error is not capable of being justified by Tradition or Prescription.

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

That is all you men and women that belong to Iudah, and are now come to inhabit in the land of Egypt.

25 Thus 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 .

Those words have spoken are in the Hebrew of the feminine Gender which giveth good reason to some interpreters to conclude the Wom[illegible: 1 letter]n were first and principal in this Idolatry, and the mens guilt lay in conniving at them, and suffering themselves to be seduced by them. Ye, saith the Prophet, have spoken it, and ye have been as big as your words, and for a cover you pretend the Religion of a Vow, as if a Vow could be a bond of iniquity, and it were possible by a vow to oblige your selves to a forsaking of the true God and a committing of Idolatry.

The latter words seem Ironical as to have this sense, you are resolved upon it, and there is no moving you from your resolution, God hath resolved too.

Marginal references: Ver. 15. &c.

26 Therefore 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 .

Seeing you are so fixed and peremptory, God is as resolved as you are, and as you think you must be Religious to your wicked vows, so be assured God will be as Religious to his Oath, because he can swear by no greater, he hath sworn by himself, Heb. 6.1[illegible: 1 letter] ▪ 16. (for so name signifieth here).

There shall not any be le[illegible: 1 letter]t of the Iews that are in Egypt, to swear The Lord God liveth, (for it should seem, that the Iews yet retained something of the Religion of their Country, and sware by the Name of the living God, according to the Precept, Deut. 6.13. and 10.20.) God threatneth there should be none of them left alive to do it, he would not have his holy Name polluted by those mouths that had been used to bless Idols.

27 Behold, 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 .

God here either sets out himself as one who would be industrious and solicitous to bring evil upon them, as men who are so in any business watch opportunities to do it, or else he derides their vain confidence as to his protection of them, and care for them (saith God) I will watch over them, but not to build and to plant as chap. 31.28. but as it is in the former part of that verse, to pluck up, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to aff[illegible: 2 letters]ct.

For so it follows, th[illegible: 1 letter]y shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine.

Marginal references: chap. 1 12.

28 Yet 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 word shall stand, mine or theirs .

This justifieth the restrained interpretation of none of the remnant, ver. 14. for here it is plainly said, that some should escape and return.

But for the rest they should there perish, and by that it would appear whether Gods word or theirs should stand, and have its accomplishment, they promising themselves security, God threatning them with utter ruine and destruction.

Marginal references: Ver. 14.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] me or [illegible: 1 span].

29 ¶ And 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,

Signs are usually antecedent to the thing signified, but the word is taken in a larger notion in this place for that which should attend the thing signified by it, as Exod. 3.12. besides though their destruction, and the destruction of Pharaoh Hop[illegible: 1 letter]ra were things immediately following one another, yet the latter was in order before the other.

30 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra 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 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon his enemy that sought his life p.

Pharaoh was a name common to all the Egyptian Kings, as may be learned from Gen. 12.15. and 41.1. Exod. 1.8 11. but they had besides that name another peculiar to them, whether this Hophrah was Vaphres or Apries, is not much material, nor is there any certainty when this Prophesie was fulfilled. Whether Pharaoh Hophra were (as Herodotus saith) slain by Amasis, one of his Subjects who rebelled against him and slew him (as the aforementioned Author tells us) or Nebuchadnezzar who Iosephus saith came about five years after he had taken Ierusalem, and over-ran Egypt, and slew this Pharaoh Hophra, whose overthrow was a certain sign of the Iews destruction, it being not like that the King of Babylon should spare these Iews who had [illegible: 2 letters]ed to this King of Egypt for shelter, considering also that the Iews had slain Gedaliah his Deputy Governour in Iudea. How God delivered Zedekiah into the hand of the King of Babylon, we read chap. 9. Here now ends the story of these Iews that had fled into Egypt.

Jer 44:1 "The word that came to Jeremiah regarding all the Jews who were living in the land of Egypt, who dwelt in Migdol, in Tahpanhes, in Noph, and in the land of Pathros." From this heading we perceive that those who (according to Jer 43:1-13) had gone to Egypt, had settled there in various parts of the country, and that the following denunciations, which at the same time form his last prophecy, were uttered a long time after that which is given in Jer 43:8-13 as having been delivered at Tahpanhes. The date of it cannot, indeed, be determined exactly. From the threatening that King Hophra shall be delivered over to the power of Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 44:24-30), only this much is clear, that Egypt was not yet occupied by the Chaldeans, which, as we have shown above (p. 353), did not take place before the year 572. But it by no means follows from this that Jeremiah did not utter these words of threatening till shortly before this event. He may have done so even five or ten years before, in the period between 585 and 580, as we have already observed on p. 12. The Jews had settled down, not merely in the two northern frontier towns, Migdol (i.e., Magdolo, Μαγδώλος, according to the Itiner. Anton., twelve Roman miles from Pelusium, Copt. Meschtôl, Egypt. Ma'ktr, the most northerly place in Egypt; see on Eze 29:10) and Tahpanhes (i.e., Daphne, see on Jer 43:7), but also in more inland places, in Noph (i.e., Memphis, see on Jer 2:16) and the land of Pathros (lxx Παθούρης, Egypt. Petorees, i.e., Southland, viz., Upper Egypt, the Thebais of the Greeks and Romans; see on Eze 29:14). The word of the Lord runs as follows: -

Jer 44:2-14 The warning and threatening. - "Thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Ye yourselves have been all the evil which I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah; and, behold, they are a desolation this day, and there is no inhabitant in them; Jer 44:3 . Because of their wickedness which they have done, by provoking me through going to burn incense, (and) to serve other gods whom they knew not, (neither) they (nor) ye, nor your fathers. Jer 44:4 . And I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending (them), to say, Do not this abominable thing which I hate. Jer 44:5 . But they did not hear, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, by not burning incense to other gods. Jer 44:6 . Therefore my wrath and mine anger poured itself out, and burned up the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem; so that they have become a desolation and a waste, as at this day. Jer 44:7 . Now therefore thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do ye great evil against your souls, by cutting off from yourselves man and women, child and suckling, out of the midst of Judah, so leaving no remnant for yourselves; Jer 44:8 . Through provoking me by the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye have gone to sojourn, that ye might bring destruction on yourselves, and that ye might become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? Jer 44:9 . Have ye forgotten the evil deeds of your fathers, and the evil deeds of the kings of Judah, and the evil deeds of their wives, and your own evil deeds, and the evil deeds of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem? Jer 44:10. They have not been contrite to this day, and are not afraid, nor do they walk in my law, and in my statutes, which I have set before you and before your fathers. Jer 44:11. Therefore thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah. Jer 44:12. And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go to the land of Egypt in order to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt shall they fall, by sword and famine shall they be consumed; small and great, by sword and famine shall they die, and they shall become an execration and an astonishment, and a curse and a reproach. Jer 44:13. And I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I punished Jerusalem, by sword, and famine, and pestilence. Jer 44:14. There shall not be one escaped or left to the remnant of Judah that came to sojourn there in the land of Egypt, so as to return to the land of Judah, whither they long to return and dwell; for they shall not return except as escaped ones." Jer 44:2-6

In order to make an impression on the people by his warning against idolatry, Jeremiah begins his address with a reference to the great calamity which the fathers have brought on the kingdom of Judah through their continued idolatry (Jer 44:2-6). "Ye have seen all the evil," etc.; all the cities are laid waste and depopulated, because their inhabitants have roused the anger of the Lord, and have not let themselves be dissuaded by the admonitions of the prophets whom God has sent. "This day," i.e., now, at present. On Jer 44:3, cf. Jer 11:17; Jer 19:4; Jer 32:32, etc.; and as to the meaning of קטּר, see on Jer 1:16. In Jer 44:3 the address becomes more direct, through the change into the second person, "ye;" the audience then present only continue these sins of their fathers. On Jer 44:4, cf. Jer 7:25; Jer 25:4, etc. דּבר התּעבה הזּאת, "the thing of this abomination," which is equivalent to "this abominable idolatry." דּבר serves to render the subject more prominent, as in Jdg 19:24. On Jer 44:6, cf. Jer 42:18; Jer 7:20. The wrath of God burned in the cities, for the fire of destruction was a manifestation of the divine wrath. As to כּיום הזּה, see on Jer 11:5.

Jer 44:15-19 The answer of the people to this threatening address. - Jer 44:15. "Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women standing [there], a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, Jer 44:16. [As for] the word which thou hast spoken unto us in the name of Jahveh, we will not hearken unto thee: Jer 44:17. But we will certainly perform every word that has proceeded out of our own mouth, by burning incense to the queen of heaven, and pouring out libations to her, just as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; and we were filled with bread, and became prosperous, and saw no evil. Jer 44:18. But since we ceased to offer incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out libations to her, we have been in want of everything, and are consumed by sword and famine. Jer 44:19. And when we [women] have been burning incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out libations to her, have we made cakes to her without our husbands, making an image of her, and offering libations to her?" To the word of the prophet the men and women oppose their pretended experience, that the adoration of the queen of heaven has brought them comfort and prosperity, while the neglect of this worship, on the other hand, has brought want and misfortune. No doubt they inferred this, by the argument post hoc, ergo propter hoc, from the fact that, after idolatry had been rooted out by Josiah, adversity had befallen the land of Judah; while, up till that time, the kingdom of Judah had been independent, and, for more than a century before, had been spared the suffering of misfortune. Thus, through their blindness, peculiar to the natural man, they had overlooked the minor transient evils with which the Lord visits His people when they sin. Not till near the end of Josiah’s reign did misfortune fall on Judah: this was when the Egyptian army, under Pharaoh-Necho, marched through Palestine; Josiah was slain in the battle he had lost, the land was laid waste by the enemy, and its inhabitants perished by sword and famine. In Jer 44:15, those who are represented speaking are all the men who knew of their wives’ idolatry, i.e., who permitted it, and all the women, "a great company," i.e., gathered together in great numbers, and all the rest of the people who lived in Egypt. The specification "in Pathros" is not in apposition to the words "in the land of Egypt," but belongs to the verb ויּענוּ; it tells where the gathering took place, viz., in a district of Upper Egypt. From the presence of a large number of women, we may conclude that the assembly was a festival in honour of the queen of heaven. The former portion of Jer 44:16 forms an absolute clause, from הדּבר to בּשׁם, "as regards the word which...we will not listen to thee," i.e., with regard to this word we obey thee not. The expression, "the word which has gone forth out of our mouth," points to the uttering of vows: cf. Num 30:13; Deu 23:24. 'כּל־הדּבר means "all that we have uttered as a vow," every vow to offer incense, etc., i.e., to present meat and drink offerings to the queen of heaven, - that shall we keep, fulfil, as we and our fathers have done in the land of Judah. On this mode of worship, cf. Jer 7:17., and the remarks there made. "And we were satisfied with bread," i.e., in consequence of this worship we had amply sufficient food. Towbiym טובים, "good," well, comfortable; cf. Jer 22:16. מן אז, "from that time" = since. תּמנוּ is for תּמּנוּ, from תּמם, as in Num 17:1-13 :28; cf. Ewald, §197, a. To this statement on the part of the men, the women further add, Jer 44:19, that they do not engage in this sacrificial worship or prepare the sacrificial cakes without their husbands, i.e., without their knowledge and approval. This is put forward by the women in the way of self-vindication; for, according to the law, Num 30:9., the husband could annul, i.e., declare not binding, any vow which had been made by his wife without his knowledge. Although it is women who are speaking, the masc. מקטּרים is used as being the gender which most commonly occurs; it also pretty often stands for the feminine. The inf. constr. וּלהסּך (with ל) is here employed, in conformity with later usage, instead of the inf. abs., for the finite verb, by way of continuation; cf. Ewald, §351, c, where, however, many passages have been set down as falling under this rule that demand a different explanation. The meaning of להעצבה is disputed; the final ה is a suffix, written with Raphe, though Mappik also occurs in some MSS. The Hiphil of this verb is found elsewhere only in Psa 78:40, and there in the signification of vexing, grieving, like the Piel in Isa 63:10; Psa 66:6. Ewald translates "in order to move her," i.e., make her well-disposed, - but quite arbitrarily, for to provoke is the very opposite of rendering propitious. The verb עצּב also signifies "to form, shape," Job 10:8; and in this sense the Hiphil is used here, "in order to put them into shape," i.e., to form the moon-goddess (queen of heaven) in or on the sacrificial cakes (Kimchi, Raschi, Dahler, Maurer, Graf, etc.). The sacrificial cakes (כּוּנים, see on Jer 7:18) probably had the form of a crescent, or even of the full moon, like the σελῆναι of the Greeks, which used to be offered in Athens at the time of the full moon in the month of Munychion, to Artemis, as goddess of the moon; cf. Hermann, gottesdienstliche Alterthümer der Griechen, 2 Ausg. S. 146, Anm. 13, u. S. 414.

Jer 44:20-22 Refutation of these statements of the people. - Jer 44:20. "And Jeremiah spake to all the people, to the men and women, and to all the people that had given him answer, saying, Jer 44:21. Did not the incense-burning which he performed 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 Jahveh remember them, and did it not arise in His mind? Jer 44:22. And Jahveh could no longer endure it, because of the wickedness of your deeds, because of the abominations which ye committed; thus your land became a desolation, and a waste, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. Jer 44:23. Because ye burned incense and sinned against Jahveh, and did not hearken to the voice of Jahveh, and in His law, in His statutes, and in His testimonies ye walked not; therefore this evil hath befallen you, as at this day." Jeremiah answers them that their idol-worship, by which they have provoked the Lord their God, is the very cause of the misfortune that has befallen them, because God could no longer endure this abomination which they would not forsake. הקּטּר is a noun, "the burning of incense," which includes, besides, all the other elements of idolatrous worship hence the word is resumed, at the close, under the plur. אותם, "these things." ותּעלה is 3rd pers. sing. neut., lit., "it has come into His mind," i.e., He has carefully considered it, and that in the way of punishment, for He could no longer endure such abomination. The imperf. יוּכל is used for the historic tense (imperf. with ו consec.), because the ו would necessarily be separated from the verb by the לא; and it is employed instead of the perfect, which we would be inclined to expect after the preceding זכר, since that which is treated of is something that endures for a considerable time; cf. Ewald, §346, b. On the expression "because of the evil," etc., cf. Jer 21:12; Jer 4:4, etc.; on the last clause in Jer 44:22, cf. Jer 44:6 and Jer 44:12.

Jer 44:23

Jer 44:23 is an emphatic and brief repetition of what has already been said. קראת is for קראה, as in Deu 31:29; cf. Gesenius, §74, note 1; Ewald, §194, b.

Jer 44:24-28 Announcement of the punishment for this idolatry. - Jer 44:24. "And Jeremiah said unto all the people, and unto all the women, Hear the word of Jahveh, all of Judah that are in the land of Egypt; Jer 44:25. Thus saith Jahve of hosts, the God of Israel: Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouth, and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, We will assuredly perform our vows which we have vowed, by burning incense to the queen of heaven, and by pouring out libations to her: ye will by all means perform your vows, and carry out your vows. Jer 44:26. Therefore hear the word of Jahveh, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith Jahveh, truly my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah, saying, 'As the Lord Jahveh liveth,' in all the land of Egypt. Jer 44:27. Behold, 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 famine, till they are annihilated. Jer 44:28. And those who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, a small number; and all the remnant of Judah, that went to the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine or theirs. Jer 44:29. And this shall be the sign to you, saith Jahveh, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely rise up against you for evil: Jer 44:30. Thus hath Jahveh spoken, Behold, I will give Pharaoh-Hophra into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I have given Zedekiah the king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life."

After refuting the false assertion of the people, Jeremiah once more announces to them, on behalf of God, in the most solemn manner, the punishment of extermination by sword and famine in Egypt; this he does for the purpose of giving the greatest possible emphasis to his warning against persevering in idolatry. For substance, this announcement is similar to that of Jer 44:11-14, but the expression is stronger. Even in the summary account of their offences, Jer 44:25, the words are so chosen and arranged as to bring out clearly the determination of the people to persevere in worshipping the queen of heaven. "As for you and your wives, ye have spoken with your mouth and fulfilled it with your hand" (on the Vav consec. attached to תּדבּרנה, cf. Ewald, §344, b), i.e., ye have uttered vows and then carried them out; for ye say, We must keep the vows that we have vowed. It is to be observed that the verbs תּדבּרנה, and in the concluding portion תּקימנה and תּעשׂינה, are feminine, since the address chiefly applies to the wives, who clung most tenaciously to idolatry. In the clause 'הקים תּקימנה וגו, "ye will make your vows and perform them," there is unmistakeable irony, in which the reference is to the wilfulness of the people in this idolatry. This ἑθελοθρησκεία is shown by the inf. abs. הקים, which strengthens תּקימנה. "To establish vows," i.e., to make them, was not a thing commanded, but left to one’s free determination. Hence, also, no appeal to the maxim that vows which have been made or uttered must be fulfilled, can justify the making of the vows. The form תּקימנה for תּקמנה is an unusual one; and the י which the Hirik takes after it is occasioned by the form הקים; cf. Ewald, §196, c. - The announcement of the punishment is introduced by a solemn oath on the part of God. Jahveh swears by His great name, i.e., as the one who has shown Himself God by His mighty deeds - who has the power of keeping His word. The name is, of course, only a manifestation of His existence. אם as a particle used in swearing = certainly not. His name shall no more be named in the mouth of any Jew in the land of Egypt, i.e., be used in asseverations, because all the Jews in Egypt shall be exterminated. On the expression, "Behold, I will watch over them," etc., cf. Jer 31:28 and Jer 21:10. In Jer 44:28, it is more exactly stated that only a few individuals shall escape the sword and return to Judah; thus, no one shall remain behind in Egypt. By this judgment, all the remnant of Judah that went to Egypt shall find out whose word - Jahveh’s or theirs - will endure, i.e., prove true. ממּנּי properly depends on דבר, "the word from me or from them" (the people).

Jer 44:29-30

In confirmation of this threatening, the Lord gives them another sign which, when it is fulfilled, will let them know that the destruction announced to them shall certainly befall them. The token consists in the giving up of King Hophra into the hand of his enemies. As certainly as this shall take place, so certainly shall the extermination of the Jews in Egypt ensue. The name חפרע is rendered Οὐάφρις in Manetho, in the classical writers  ̓Απρίης, Apriës, who, according to Herodotus (ii. 161), reigned twenty-five years, but nineteen according to Manetho (cf. Boeckh, Manetho, etc., p. 341ff.). His death took place in the year 570 b.c. This date is reached by a comparison of the following facts: - Cambyses conquered Egypt in the year 525; and in the preceding year Amasis had died, after a reign of forty-four years (Herod. iii. 10). Hence Amasis - who took Apriës prisoner, and gave him up to the common people, who killed him (Herod. ii. 161-163, 169) - must have commenced his reign in the year 570. On the death of Apriës, or Hophra, cf. the explanation given on p. 353f., where we have shown that the words, "I will give him into the hand of his enemies, and of those who seek his life," when compared with what is said of Zedekiah, "into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar his enemy," do not require us to assume that Hophra was killed by Nebuchadnezzar, and can very well be harmonized with the notice of Herodotus regarding the death of this king.

Hitzig and Graf have taken objection to this sign given by Jeremiah, and regard Jer 44:29, Jer 44:30 as a spurious vaticinium ex eventu, the work of another hand. The reasons they urge are, that it is scarcely possible Jeremiah could have lived till 570; that Jer 44:29. would be the only place where Jeremiah offered such a criterion; and that, even as it is, these verses contain nothing original, but, by their stiff and lifeless parallelism, are easily seen to be an artificial conclusion. Of these three arguments, the last can prove nothing, since it is merely a subjective opinion on an aesthetic point. The second, again, rather declares for than against the genuineness. For "if it were not Jeremiah’s usual, elsewhere, to offer some criterion, then such an interpolation would have been all the more carefully avoided" (Nägelsbach). Of course we do not find any other signs of this kind in Jeremiah; but it does not follow from this that he could not offer such a thing in a special case. Yet the ground taken up by Nägelsbach, as sufficient to establish this position, seems quite untenable, viz., that the announcement of the fate in store for the king must have been the answer of the true God to the presumptuous boast of Apriës, mentioned by Herodotus, "that even God could not dethrone him, so firmly did he think he was established:" this view of the matter seems too remote from the object of Jeremiah’s address. And finally, the first-named objection receives importance only on the supposition that "an event which was intended to serve as אות, a sign or criterion, must be something that was to happen immediately, or within a brief appointed period of time, so that a person might be able, from the occurrence of the one, to conclude that what had been foretold about a later period would as certainly take place" (Graf). But there are no sufficient grounds for this hypothesis. If no definite time be fixed for the occurrence of this sign, then it may not appear till a considerable time afterwards, and yet be a pledge for the occurrence of what was predicted for a still later period. That Jeremiah lived till the year 570 is certainly not inconceivable, but it is not likely that he uttered the prophecy now before us at the advanced age of nearly eighty years. Now, if his address is allowed to be a real prophecy, and not a mere vaticinium ex eventu, as Hitzig, looking from his dogmatic standpoint, considers it, then it must have been uttered before the year 570; but whether this was two, or five, or ten years before, makes no material difference. The address itself contains nothing to justify the assumption of Graf, that it is closely connected with the prophecy in Jer 43:8-13, and with the warning against the migration into Egypt, Jer 42. That the Jews spoken of had not been long in Egypt, cannot be inferred from Jer 44:8, Jer 44:12, and Jer 44:18; on the contrary, the fact that they had settled down in different parts of Egypt, and had assembled at Pathros for a festival, shows that they had been living there for a considerable time before. Nor does it follow, from the statement in Jer 44:14 that they longed to return to Judah, that they had gone to Egypt some months before. The desire to return into the land of their fathers remains, in a measure, in the heart of the Jew even at the present day. After all, then, no valid reason can be assigned for doubting the genuineness of these verses.

On the fulfilment of these threatenings Nägelsbach remarks: "Every one must be struck on finding that, in Jer 44, the extermination of the Jews who dwelt in Egypt is predicted; while some centuries later, the Jews in Egypt were very numerous, and that country formed a central point for the Jewish exiles (cf. Herzog, Real-Encycl. xvii. S. 285). Alexander the Great found so many Jews in Egypt, that he peopled with Jews, in great measure, the city he had founded and called after himself (cf. Herzog, i. S. 235). How did these Jews get to Egypt? Whence the great number of Jews whom Alexander found already in Egypt? I am inclined to think that we must consider them, for the most part, as the descendants of those who had come into the country with Jeremiah. But, according to this view of the matter, Jeremiah’s prophecy has not been fulfilled." Nägelsbach therefore thinks we must assume that idolatrous worship, through time, almost entirely ceased among the exiled Jews in Egypt as it did among those in Babylon, and that the Lord then, in return, as regards the penitents, repented of the evil which He had spoken against them (Jer 26:13, Jer 26:19). But this whole explanation is fundamentally wrong, since the assertion, that Alexander the Great found so many Jews in Egypt, that with them mainly he peopled the city of Alexandria which he had founded, is contrary to historic testimony. In Herzog (Real-Encycl. i. S. 235), to which Nägelsbach refers for proof on the point, nothing of the kind is to be found, but rather the opposite, viz., the following: "Soon after the foundation of Alexandria by Alexander the Great, this city became not merely the centre of Jewish Hellenism in Egypt, but generally speaking the place of union between Oriental and Occidental Jews. The external condition of the Jews of Alexandria must, on the whole, be characterized as highly prosperous. The first Jewish settlers had, indeed, been compelled by Alexander the Great to take up their residence in the city (Josephus, Antt. xv. 3. 1); so, too, were other Jews, by Ptolemy I. or Lagi (ibid. xii. 2. 4). But both of these monarchs granted them the same rights and privileges as the Macedonians, including Greek citizenship; and in consequence of the extremely advantageous position of the city, it speedily increased in importance. A still larger number, therefore, soon went thither of their own accord, and adopted the Greek language." In this account, the quotation from Josephus, Antt. xv. 3. 1, is certainly incorrect; for neither is there in that passage any testimony borne to the measures attributed to Alexander, nor are there any other historical testimonies given from antiquity. But as little can we find any proofs that Alexander the Great found so many Jews in Egypt that he could, to a large extent, people with them the city he had founded. It is merely testified by Josephus (Antt. xi. 8. 5), and by Hecataeus in Josephus (contra Ap. i. 22; p. 457, ed. Haverc.), that Alexander had Jewish soldiers in his army; it is further evident, from a notice in Josephus, de bell. Jud. ii. 18. 7, contra Ap. ii. 4) cf. Curtius Rufus, iv. 8), that the newly founded city, even under Alexander, immediately after it was commenced, and still more under Ptolemy Lagi (cf. Josephus, Antt. xii. 1, and Hecataeus in Jos. contra Ap. i. 22, p. 455), attracted a constantly increasing multitude of Jewish immigrants. This same Ptolemy, after having subdued Phoenicia and Coele-Syria in the year 320, and taken Jerusalem also, it would seem, by a stratagem on a Sabbath day, transported many captives and hostages out of the whole country into Egypt; many, too, must have been sold at that time as slaves to the inhabitants of such a wealthy country as Egypt: see a statement in the book of Aristeas, at the end of Havercamp’s edition of Josephus, ii. p. 104. In the same place, and in Josephus’ Antt. xii. 1, Ptolemy is said to have armed 30,000 Jewish soldiers, placed them as garrisons in the fortresses, and granted them all the rights of Macedonian citizens (ἰσοπολιτεία). Ewald well says, History of the People of Israel, vol. iv. of second edition, p. 254: "When we further take into consideration, that, in addition to all other similar disasters which had previously befallen them, many Jews were removed to Egypt (especially by Ochus, after Egypt had been reconquered), we can easily explain how Ptolemy Philadelphus can be said to have liberated 100,000 Egyptian Jews. Aristeas’ Book, p. 105." This much, at least, is proved by these various notices, - that, in order to understand how such a vast increase took place in the number of the Jews in Egypt, we do not need to regard them as the descendants of those who removed thither with Jeremiah, and so to question the fulfilment of the prophecy now before us. Jeremiah does not, of course, threaten with destruction all those Jews who live in Egypt, but only those who at that time went thither against the divine will, and there persevered in their idolatry. We do not know how great may have been the number of these immigrants, but they could hardly exceed two thousand, - perhaps, indeed, there were not so many. All these, as had been foretold them, may have perished in the conquest of Egypt by the Chaldeans, and afterwards, through the sword, famine, and pestilence; for the myriads of Jews in Egypt at the time of Ptolemy Lagi could easily have removed thither during the period of 250 years intermediate between the immigration in Jeremiah’s time and the foundation of Alexandria, partly as prisoners and slaves, partly through voluntary settlement.

Sermon to the Jews in Egypt; Jeremiah's Remonstrance. (b. c. 587.)

1 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. 4 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. 7 Therefore 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; 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 Jews in Egypt were now dispersed into various parts of the country, into Migdol, and Noph, and other places, and Jeremiah was sent on an errand from God to them, which he delivered either when he had the most of them together in Pathros (v. 15) or going about from place to place preaching to this purport. He delivered this message in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, and in it,

I. God puts them in mind of the desolations of Judah and Jerusalem, which, though the captives by the rivers of Babylon were daily mindful of (Ps. cxxxvii. 1), the fugitives in the cities of Egypt seem to have forgotten and needed to be put in mind of, though, one would have thought, they had not been so long out of sight as to become out of mind (v. 2): You have seen what a deplorable condition Judah and Jerusalem are brought into; now will you consider whence those desolations came? From the wrath of God; it was his fury and his anger that kindled the fire which made Jerusalem and the cities of Judah waste and desolate (v. 6); whoever were the instruments of the destruction, they were but instruments: it was a destruction from the Almighty.

II. He puts them in mind of the sins that brought those desolations upon Judah and Jerusalem. It was for their wickedness. It was this that provoked God to anger, and especially their idolatry, their serving other gods (v. 3) and giving that honour to counterfeit deities, the creatures of their own fancy and the work of their own hands, which should have been given to the true God only. They forsook the God who was known among them, and whose name was great, for gods that they knew not, upstart deities, whose original was obscure and not worth taking notice of: "Neither they nor you, nor your fathers, could give any rational account why the God of Israel was exchanged for such impostors." They knew not that they were gods; nay, they could not but know that they were no gods.

III. He puts them in mind of the frequent and fair warnings he had given them by his word not to serve other gods, the contempt of which warnings was a great aggravation of their idolatry, v. 4. The prophets were sent with a great deal of care to call to them, saying, Oh! do not this abominable thing that I hate. It becomes us to speak of sin with the utmost dread and detestation as an abominable thing; it is certainly so, for it is that which God hates, and we are sure that his judgment is according to truth. Call it grievous, call it odious, that we may by all means possible put ourselves and others out of love with it. It becomes us to give warning of the danger of sin, and the fatal consequences of it, with all seriousness and earnestness: "Oh! do not do it. If you love God, do not, for it is provoking to him; if you love your own souls do not, for it is destructive to them." Let conscience do this for us in an hour of temptation, when we are ready to yield. O take heed! do not this abominable thing which the Lord hates; for, if God hates it, thou shouldst hate it. But did they regard what God said to them? No: "They hearkened not, nor inclined their ear (v. 5); they still persisted in their idolatries; and you see what came of it, therefore God's anger was poured out upon them, as at this day. Now this was intended for warning to you, who have not only heard the judgments of God's mouth, as they did, but have likewise seen the judgments of his hand, by which you should be startled and awakened, for they were inflicted in terrorem, that others might hear and fear and do no more as they did, lest they should fare as they fared."

IV. He reproves them for, and upbraids them with, their continued idolatries, now that they had come into Egypt (v. 8): You burn incense to other gods in the land of Egypt. Therefore God forbade them to go into Egypt, because he knew it would be a snare to them. Those whom God sent into the land of the Chaldeans, though that was an idolatrous country, were there, by the power of God's grace, weaned from idolatry; but those who went against God's mind into the land of the Egyptians were there, by the power of their own corruptions, more wedded than ever to their idolatries; for, when we thrust ourselves without cause or call into places of temptation, it is just with God to leave us to ourselves. In doing this, 1. They did a great deal of injury to themselves and their families: "You commit this great evil against your souls (v. 7), you wrong them, you deceive them with that which is false, you destroy them, for it will be fatal to them." Note, In sinning against God we sin against our own souls. "It is the ready way to cut yourselves off from all comfort and hope (v. 8), to cut off your name and honour; so that you will, both by your sin and by your misery, become a curse and a reproach among all nations. It will become a proverb, As wretched as a Jew. It is the ready way to cut off from you all your relations, all that you should have joy of and have your families built up in, man and woman, child and suckling, so that Judah shall be a land lost for want of heirs." 2. They filled up the measure of the iniquity of their fathers, and, as if that had been too little for them, added to it (v. 9): "Have you forgotten the wickedness of those who are gone before you, that you are not humbled for it as you ought to be, and afraid of the consequences of it?" Have you forgotten the punishments of your fathers? so some read it. "Do you not know how dear their idolatry cost them? And yet dare you continue in that vain conversation received by tradition from you fathers, though you received the curse with it?" He reminds them of the sins and punishments of the kings of Judah, who, great as they were, escaped not the judgments of God for their idolatry; yea, and they should have taken warning by the wickedness of their wives, who had seduced them to idolatry. In the original it is, And of his wives, which, Dr. Lightfoot thinks, tacitly reflects upon Solomon's wives, particularly his Egyptian wives, to whom the idolatry of the kings of Judah owed its original. "Have you forgotten this, and what came of it, that you dare venture upon the same wicked courses?" See Neh. xiii. 18, 26. "Nay, to come to your own times, Have you forgotten your own wickedness and the wickedness of your wives, when you lived in prosperity in Jerusalem, and what ruin it brought upon you? But, alas! to what purpose do I speak to them?" (says God to the prophet, v. 10) "they are not humbled unto this day, by all the humbling providences that they have been under. They have not feared, nor walked in my law." Note, Those that walk not in the law of God do thereby show that they are destitute of the fear of God.

V. He threatens their utter ruin for their persisting in their idolatry now that they were in Egypt. Judgment is given against them, as before (ch. xlii. 22), that they shall perish in Egypt; the decree has gone forth, and shall not be called back. They set their faces to go into the land of Egypt (v. 12), were resolute in their purpose against God, and now God is resolute in his purpose against them: I will set my face to cut off all Judah, v. 11. Those that think not only to affront, but to confront, God Almighty, will find themselves outfaced; for the face of the Lord is against those that do evil, Ps. xxxiv. 16. It is here threatened concerning these idolatrous Jews in Egypt, 1. That they shall all be consumed, without exception; no degree nor order among them shall escape: They shall fall, from the least to the greatest (v. 12), high and low, rich and poor. 2. That they shall be consumed by the very same judgments which God made use of for the punishment of Jerusalem, the sword, famine, and pestilence, v. 12, 13. They shall not be wasted by natural deaths, as Israel in the wilderness, but by these sore judgments, which, by flying into Egypt, they thought to get out of the reach of. 3. That none (except a very few that will narrowly escape) shall ever return to the land of Judah again, v. 14. They thought, being nearer, that they stood fairer for a return to their own land than those that were carried to Babylon; yet those shall return, and these shall not; for the way in which God has promised us any comfort is much surer than that in which we have projected it for ourselves. Observe, Those that are fretful and discontented will be uneasy and fond of change wherever they are. The Israelites, when they were in the land of Judah, desired to go into Egypt (ch. xlii. 22), but when they were in Egypt they desired to return to the land of Judah again; they lifted up their soul to it (so it is in the margin), which denotes an earnest desire. But, because they would not dwell there when God commanded it, they shall not dwell they were they desire it. If we walk contrary to God, he will walk contrary to us. How can those expect to be well off who would not know when they were so, though God himself told them?

The People's Insolent Reply. (b. c. 587.)

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, v. 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 (ch. xliii. 13) and had been so at Jerusalem (2 Kings xxiii. 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, ch. vii. 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, ch. xliii. 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, Eccl. xi. 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 (v. 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 Chron. xv. 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, not 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, v. 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, v. 19. We found, before, that this was their work, ch. vii. 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 (v. 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 (ch. vii. 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?

Jeremiah's Continued Remonstrance. (b. c. 587.)

20 Then 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, 21 The 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? 22 So 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. 23 Because 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. 24 Moreover 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: 25 Thus 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. 26 Therefore 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. 27 Behold, 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. 28 Yet 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 theirs. 29 And 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: 30 Thus saith the Lord ; Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra 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.

Daring sinners may speak many a bold word and many a big word, but, after all, God will have the last word; for he will be justified when he speaks, and all flesh, even the proudest, shall be silent before him. Prophets may be run down, but God cannot; nay, here the prophet would not.

I. Jeremiah has something to say to them from himself, which he could say without a spirit of prophecy, and that was to rectify their mistake (a wilful mistake it was) concerning the calamities they had been under and the true intent and meaning of them. They said that these miseries came upon them because they had now left off burning incense to the queen of heaven. "No," says he, "it was because you had formerly done it, not because you had now left it off." When they gave him that answer, he immediately replied (v. 20) that the incense which they and their fathers had burnt to other gods did indeed go unpunished a great while, for God was long-suffering towards them, and during the day of his patience it was perhaps, as they said, well with them, and they saw no evil; but at length they grew so provoking that the Lord could no longer bear (v. 22), but began a controversy with them, whereupon some of them did a little reform; their sins left them, for so it might be said, rather than that they left their sins. But their old guilt being still upon the score, and their corrupt inclinations still the same, God remembered against them the idolatries of their fathers, their kings, and their princes, in the streets of Jerusalem, which they, instead of being ashamed of, gloried in as a justification of them in their idolatries; they all came into his mind (v. 21), all the abominations which they had committed (v. 22) and all their disobedience to the voice of the Lord (v. 23), all were brought to account; and therefore, to punish them for these, is their land a desolation and a curse, as at this day (v. 22); therefore, not for their late reformation, but for their old transgressions, has all this evil happened to them, as at this day, v. 23. Note, The right understanding of the cause of our troubles, one would think, should go far towards the cure of our sins. Whatever evil comes upon us, it is because we have sinned against the Lord, and should therefore stand in awe and sin not.

II. Jeremiah has something to say to them, to the women particularly, from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, They have given their answer; now let them hear God's reply, v. 24. Judah, that dwells in the land of Egypt, has God speaking to them, even there; that is their privilege. Let them observe what he says; that is their duty, v. 26. Now God, in his reply, tells them plainly,

1. That, since they were fully determined to persist in their idolatry, he was fully determined to proceed in his controversy with them; if they would go on to provoke him, he would go on to punish them, and see which would get the better at last. God repeats what they had said (v. 25): "You and your wives are agreed in this obstinacy; you have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands; you have said it, and you stand to it, have said it and go on to do accordingly, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven," as if, though it were a sin, yet their having vowed to do it were sufficient to justify them in the doing of it; whereas no man can by his vow make that lawful to himself, much less duty, which God has already made sin. "Well" (says God), "you will accomplish, you will perform, your wicked vows: now hear what is my vow, what I have sworn by my great name;" and, if the Lord hath sworn, he will not repent, since they have sworn and will not repent. With the froward he will show himself froward, Ps. xviii. 26. (1.) He had sworn that what little remains of religion there were among them should be lost, v. 26. Though they joined with the Egyptians in their idolatries, yet they continued upon many occasions to make mention of the name of Jehovah, particularly in their solemn oaths; they said, Jehovah liveth, he is the living God, so they owned him to be, though they worshipped dead idols; they swear, The Lord liveth (ch. v. 2), but I fear they retained this form of swearing more in honour of their nation than of their God. But God declares that his name shall no more be thus named by any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt; that is, there shall be no Jews remaining to use this dialect of their country, or, if there be, they shall have forgotten it and shall learn to swear, as the Egyptians do, by the life of Pharaoh, not of Jehovah. Note, Those are very miserable whom God has so far left to themselves that they have quite forgotten their religion and lost all the remains of their good education. Or this may intimate that God would take it as an affront to him and would resent it accordingly, if they did make mention of his name and profess any relation to him. (2.) He hath sworn that what little remnant of people there was there should all be consumed (v. 27): I will watch over them for evil; no opportunity shall be let slip to bring some judgment upon them, until there be an end of them and they be rooted out. Note, To those whom God finds impenitent sinners he will be found an implacable Judge. And, when it comes to this, they shall know (v. 28) whose word shall stand, mind or theirs. They said that they should recover themselves when they returned to worship the queen of heaven; God said they should ruin themselves; and now the event will show which was in the right. The contest between God and sinners is whose word shall stand, whose will shall be done, and who shall get the better. Sinners say that they shall have peace though they go on; God says they shall have no peace. But when God judges he will overcome; God's word shall stand, and not the sinner's.

2. He tells them that a very few of them should escape the sword, and in process of time return into the land of Judah, a small number (v. 28), next to none, in comparison with the great numbers that should return out of the land of the Chaldeans. This seems designed to upbraid those who boasted of their numbers that concurred in sin; there were none to speak of that did not join in idolatry: "Well," says God, "and there shall be as few that shall escape the sword and famine."

3. He gives them a sign that all these threatenings shall be accomplished in their season, that they shall be consumed here in Egypt and shall quite perish: Pharaoh-hophra, the present king of Egypt, shall be delivered into the hand of his enemies that seek his life—of his own rebellious subjects (so some) under Amasis, who usurped his throne—of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (so others), who invaded his kingdom; the former is related by Herodotus, the latter by Josephus. It is likely that this Pharaoh had tempted the Jews to idolatry by promises of his favour; however, they depended upon him for his protection, and it would be more than a presage of their ruin, it would be a step towards it, if he were gone. They expected more from him than from Zedekiah king of Judah; he was a more potent and politic prince. "But," says God, "I will give him into the hand of his enemies, as I gave Zedekiah." Note, Those creature-comforts and confidences that we promise ourselves most from may fail us as soon as those that we promise ourselves least from, for they are all what God makes them, not what we fancy them.

The sacred history records not the accomplishment of this prophecy, but its silence is sufficient; we hear no more of these Jews in Egypt, and therefore conclude them, according to this prediction, lost there; for no word of God shall fall to the ground.

CHAP. XLIV.

Ver. 1. THe Word that came to Jeremiah] No word of comfort (how could it be, ſo long as they lived in open rebellion againſt the Lord?) but all of reproof and threatning: for why? they were obdurate and obſtinate, and did dayly proficere in pejus, grow worſe and worſe.

Which dwell at Migdol] To theſe chief Cities Jeremiah reſorted, to ſpeak unto them. Noph, alias Moph, Hoſ. 9.6. is held to be Memphis, now Alcair.

Ver. 2. Ye have ſeen all the evils that I have brought upon Jeruſalem] And ſhould have been warned by this exemplum terrificum, dreadful inſtance of mine indignation. They that will not take example, are worthily made examples.

Ver. 3. Becauſe of their wickedneſſe] That root of all their wretchedneſſe.

Ver. 4. Howbeit I ſent unto you all my ſervants] Here the badneſſe of men, and goodneſſe of God, come equally to be conſidered.

Saying, Oh do not this abominable thing which I hate] Is were happy if this ſaying of God weres alway, ſhrilly ſounding in our eares, whenever we are about to do any thing that is evil. It would ſurely be a notable Retentive from vice.

Ver. 5. But they harkened not] See chap. 7.24, 26.

Ver. 6. Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth] A Metaphor from metalles. See chap. 42.18.

Ver. 7. Wherefore commit you this evil againſt your ſouls] This land-deſolating, ſoul-deſtroying ſin of idolatry.

Ver. 8. In that ye provoke me to wrath] This is a moſt pithy and peircing Sermon all along: not unlike that preached by Steven, for the which he was ſtoned, Acts 7. and likely enough that this was Jeremy's laſt Sermon alſo.

Ver. 9. Have ye forgotten the wickedneſſe of your fathers] Mira hic verborum apparet emphaſis. What a powerful and preſſing diſcourſe is this! Sed ſurdis fabulam, but they were as a ſtake in the water that ſtirreth not.

Ver. 10. They are not humbled] Not tamed, not affected with attrition, much leſſe with contrition for their ſins. This I tell thee, Jeremy: for to them I am weary with talking to ſo little purpoſe. Plactuntur ſed non flectuntur: corripiuntur ſed non corriguntur.

Ver. 11. Behold I will ſet my face againſt you for evil] I will be implacable as you are irreclaimable.

Ver. 12. That have ſet their faces] I alſo will ſet my face againſt ſuch, ver. 11. and they ſhall all be conſumed and fall: Oh what work hath ſin made in the world!

Ver. 13. For I will puniſh them] Let them never think that they ſhall one day be ſetled again in their own country: they could eaſily come down into Egypt; Sed revocare gradum, &c. Hic labor, &c.

I will watch them for ever going back again: let them ſet their hearts at reſt for that matter, it will never be.

Ver. 14. For none ſhall return, but ſuch as ſhall eſcape] ſc. From theſe fighters againſt God, Johanah and his complices. The Talmudiſts tell us (but who told them?) that Nebuchadnezzar at his conqueſt of Egypt ſent back into Judea, Jeremy and Baruch, &c.

Ver. 15. Then all the men which knew that their wives had burnt incenſe] And by ſuffering them ſo to do, had conſented to what they had done: for qui non, cum poteſt, prohibet, jubet.

And all the women that ſtood by] Mulieres quicquid volunt valde volunt. Women as they have leſſe of reaſon then men,Omne malum ex Gynaecio. ſo more of paſſion, being wilful in their way, and oft carrying their men along with them.

Sicut ferrum trahit magnes: Sic maſculum ſuum trahit Agnes.

Anſwered Jeremiah ſaying] One of the women ſpeaking for the reſt: and that might well be one of Zedekiah's daughters; the men conniving, and well content therewith, See ver. 19.

Ver. 16. As for the word which thou haſt ſpoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee] This is juſt woman-like: See ver. 15. When man loſt his free-will, ſaith One, woman got it: and whereas there came twelve kabs (meaſures) of ſpeech at firſt down from Heaven, women ran away with ten of them, ſay the Rabbines merrily. Here they are very talkative and peremptory. In ſome there is a ſtrong inclination, a vehement impetus to whoredom, which the Prophet Hoſea calleth a ſpirit of whoredom: Such there was in theſe women to idolatry: they were fully ſet upon's.

Ver. 17. But we will certainly do whatſoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth] Heb. we will doing do every word hath gone forth from our mouth; that we may be dicti noſtri dominae, as big as our words, our vows eſpecially, (as ver. 25.) which we made to worſhip the Queen of heaven, in caſe we came ſafe into Egypt.

To burn incenſe to the Queen of heaven] See chap. 7.18.

As we have done, we and our fathers, our Kings and our Princes] Antiquity is here pleaded, and Authority, and Plenty and Peace. Theſe are now the Popiſh plea's, and the pillars of that rotten religion. It is the old religion ſay they: and hath potent Princes for her Patrons, and is practiſed in Rome the Mother-Church, and hath plenty and peace where it is profeſſed, and where they have nothing but Moſſe and Matins. Theſe are their arguments: but very poor ones, as were eaſy to evince. But as women (counted the devouter ſex) have alwayes carryed a great ſtroke with their husbands, as did Eve, Jezabel, Eudoxia, &c. (the women of Antioch could do much againſt Paul, and Barnabas, Acts 13.) ſo the people are indeed a weighty but unweildy body,Plus valet malum inolitum quam bonum inſolitum. ſlow to remove from what they have been accuſtomed to. The Iriſh will not be perſwaded to put geeres and harneſſe on their horſes, but will have the plough ſtill tied to their tails, as they have been: neither in matters of religion will they be drawn to leave their old Mumpſimus for the new Sumpſimus: ſo powerful is uſage, and ſo ſweet our preſent though perverſe opinions and perſwaſions.

For then had we plenty of victuals] Juſt ſo doth the Church of Rome borrow her Mark from the Markets plenty or cheapneſſe of all things. But one chief reaſon of that, is the ſcarcity of mony that was in our fathers dayes, and the plenty thereof that is in ours, by means of the rich mines in the Weſt-Indies, not diſcovered till the dayes of Henry the ſeventh. Hollinſhead ſaith, that ſome old men he knew, who told of times in England, when it was accounted a great matter that a Farmer could ſhew five ſhillings or a Noble together in ſilver.

And were well, and ſaw no evil] Ʋbi utilitas ibi pietas, ſaith Epictetus: [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Si ventri bene, ſi lateri. Horat. and deos quiſque ſibi utiles cudis, ſaith Another: for profit men will be of any religion. If the belly may be filled, the back fitted, &c. modo ſerveat olla, ſo the pot may boil, much will be yielded to: It is well obſerved that the Papiſts are moſt corrupt in thoſe things where their profit, eaſe, or honour is engaged. In the doctrine of the Trinity and other points that touch not upon theſe they are ſound.

Ver. 18. But ſince we have left off to burn Incenſe to the Queen of heaven — we have wanted all things] This was non-cauſa pro cauſa: Not unlike hereunto was that groſſe miſtake of certain Lutheran Miniſters,Burroughs on Hoſ. tom. 1. pag. 465. who not long ſince conſulting at Hamborough about the cauſes and cure of Germanies calamities, concluded it was becauſe their images in Churches were not adorned enough; which therefore they would procure done.

Ver. 19. And when we burnt incenſe to the Queen of heaven] So the Papiſts alſo call the Virgin Mary, and idolize her, as the word here rendered to worſhip her doth properly ſignify: idoli rejectitii appellationem in eam transferentes.

Did we make her cakes without our men?] i. e. Without our husbands privity and approbation? But is that a ſufficient excuſe? ſhould not God be obeyed rather then men?Plutarch. Moral. 318. A wife is not to perform ſuch blind obedience to her husband as Plutarch preſcribeth, when he layeth it as a law of wedlock on the wife, to acknowledge and worſhip the ſame gods and none elſe, but thoſe whom her husband honoureth, and reputeth for gods.

Ver. 20. Then Jeremiah ſaid unto all the people] The Prophet, without any ſpeciall command from God, moved with a ſpirit of zeal, confuteth that blaſphemy of theirs, and ſheweth plainly that idolatry maketh no people happy, but the contrary: though this be an old plea or rather cavil, anſwered fully long ſince by Cyprian againſt Demetrian, Auguſtine de civt. Dei, and Oroſius.

Ver. 21. Ye, and your fathers, your Kings and you Princes] This was another thing they ſtood much upon, that their fathers had done it: ſo had their Grandees. If men can ſay We have ſinned with our fathers, they think tis enough. The heretike Dioſcurus cried out I hold with the Fathers, I am caſt out with the Fathers, &c. yea Hierom once deſired leave of Auguſtine to err with ſeven Fathers, whom he found of his opinion. But what ſaith the Scripture? Be not ye the ſervants of men, 1 Cor. 7.23. And what ſaid a great Politician, I will not live by example, but by rule: neither will I pin my faith on anothers ſleeve, becauſe I know not whither he may carry it.

Did not the Lord remember them?] When you thought he had forgot them. Sin may ſleep a long time, like a ſleeping debt, not called for of many years, &c.

Ver. 22. So that the Lord could no longer bear] His abuſed mercy turned into fury: See chap. 15.6.

Ver. 23. Becauſe ye have burnt incenſe, &c.] See chap. 42.21. & 43.7.

Ver. 24. Hear the Word of the Lord] Not my word only. See on ver. 20.

Ver. 25. Ye and your wives] Who ought to be the better, but are much worſe the one for the other; the devil having broken your head with your own rib.

We will ſurely perform our vowes] A little better then many Popiſh votaries (and others alſo not a few) do now-a days, Eraſm. Col. in Naufr. not unlike him in Eraſmus, who in a ſtorm promiſed the Virgin a picture of wax as big as St. Chriſtopher, but when he came to ſhore, would not give a tallow-candle.

Ver. 26. Behold I have ſworn by my great name] Jehovah, my incommunicable name, my proper name: or by myſelf: and thats no ſmall oath.

Ver. 27. Behold I will watch over them for evil] I will watch them a ſhrewd turn, as we ſay: I will take my time to hit them, when I may moſt hurt them.

Ver. 28. Yet a ſmall number] Methe miſpar, men of number, a poor few: ſtill God reſerveth a remnant for royal uſe.

Shall know whoſe word ſhall ſtand] Becauſe they are ſo peremtory and reſolute, I ſhall try it out with them: I ſhall be as croſſe as they; yet ſtill in a way of Juſtice.

Ver. 29. That I will puniſh you in this place] Which you looked upon as a place of ſureſt ſecurity and ſafeguard: and would not harken to me opening my bounties-boſom to you at home.

Ver. 30. Behold I will give Pharaoh Hophra] Called alſo Vaphres, and by Herodotus Apries, Antiq. l. 10. c. 11. Hieron. in Thren. cap. 4. being nephew to Necho who ſlew Joſiah. A very proud Prince he ſaith Apries was, ſlain by Amaſis, who ſucceeded him: but others gather from this text, and from Ezek. 29.19. & 31.11, 15, 18. that he was ſlain by Nebuchadnezzar. Joſephus alſo and Jerom ſay as much.