Matthew Poole and continuators on Jeremiah 44

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.