Forsaking the King for the Queen

Jeremiah 43:8-44

The remnant of Jewish people who were supposed to be occupying the land have followed the leadership of officers who have led them to flee to Egypt. Jeremiah warned them not to do this but as usual, they ignored him. Jeremiah and Baruch are taken to Egypt as well. We can’t be sure how much time passes from 43:7 to 43:8. What we do know is these are the last messages we have of Jeremiah that have been preserved. In that regard, this is an interesting section. It shows us how the preaching ministry of Jeremiah came to an end. Chapters 45-52 all occur before today’s text.

It is not surprising, but it is unfortunate, that the Jewish remnant in Egypt decided to forsake God once and for all. They commit themselves to the queen of heaven. We will discuss her in more detail in a moment. These two chapters show us how hardened the hearts of the people had become.

1. The Lord speaks through Jeremiah in Egypt (8-13).

A. Jeremiah is to perform a symbolic act (8-9).

Tahpanhes is on the border of Egypt. After just entering the land there would probably be some concern about how Pharaoh reacted to this group of refugees. If Pharaoh anted he could send them back or have them arrested. That makes what Jeremiah is commanded to do all the more difficult.

There was some sort of palace for the Pharaoh located there. Some believe it was a government building used as a residence for Pharaoh when he was in that region. Others believe it was an actual palace. Regardless, it was a place where Pharaoh stayed and was therefore highly secure.

God tells Jeremiah to dig holes and bury large stones in the pavement that led to the palace. This is a difficult command for two reasons:

1) You are destroying the governments property

2) The work itself would be hard.

How Jeremiah was allowed to do this can only be explained by the protective power of God.

B. The message of the stones (10-13).

The stones represented a new foundation on which Nebuchadnezzar would build in Egypt. His throne would be set above the stones Jeremiah laid in the pavement. It was as if Jeremiah was beginning the building project for the Babylonians. Let’s consider a few things from the text:

1. Nebuchadnezzar is continuing to be used as the Lord’s tool. Note “my servant” (10).

2. Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom will be extended into Egypt “royal canopy over them” (10).

3. Nebuchadnezzar will invade Egypt (11).

4. People will suffer in various ways: pestilence, captivity, sword (11).

5. The gods of Egypt will be carried into Babylon and their temples will be destroyed (12).

6. Egypt will be defeated with ease (12).

The illustration of a shepherd putting on his cloak or some versions translate it as a shepherd picking lice off his coat, is used. The point being this is something that is done with ease.

7. The Temple of the Sun would be destroyed (13).

The obelisks of Heliopolis refer to the Temple of the Sun god, Re, which was in Heliopolis. The entrance to that temple was made of pillars over 60 feet tall.

Egypt was invaded by the Babylonians in 568-67 BC. This would serve as a lesson to them not to be friendly with Babylon’s enemies.

2. God reminds the people where rebellion leads (44:1-14).

A. The message is for all the Jews in Egypt (1-3).

The cities mentioned show how scattered the Jewish people were in Egypt. They represent both northern and southern portions of the country. We are not sure how much time passes from chapter 43 to chapter 44. It does appear the people have had time to settle in Egypt.

Even though some time had passed, the people would still remember what they saw in Jerusalem and the surrounding cities. Jerusalem and the surrounding areas were desolate. God had brought devastation by the Babylonians. The reason for this judgment was the people embraced the worship of other gods. Their actions provoked God.

We should remember this point. Our actions can provoke God. God is patient. However, He doesn’t have to be. If we continue to provoke God by sinning, we should not be surprised when we suffer the consequences.

B. God exercised grace towards them (4-6).

He continually sent them prophets to warn them. The prophets told the people to stop their idolatry and reminded them that God hated it. It was only after the peoples refusal to take advantage of the grace of God that God poured out His judgment.

Look at verse 5. “They did not listen”. In other words, they took the Word of God very lightly. They knew what they should have done. They heard the truth but they did not listen to it. They did not obey it. How many people are in the same boat? They know what is right. God has made sure of it. They have heard the truth. Yet they disobey.

Every Bible is God’s grace to us.

Every gospel tract is God’s grace to us.

Every witness from a Christian is God’s grace to us.

Every godly preacher is God’s grace to us.

Will we listen? That is the real question.

C. God questions the people (7-10).

Let’s look at the questions He asks:

Why have you committed actions that will cut you and your descendants off from the land?

The remnant here doesn’t refer to all the Jewish people, but all of the ones who came and settled in Egypt after Jerusalem fell. If they were not careful, they would have no descendants at all. Their actions were only hurting themselves and their descendants.

Why do you provoke Me to anger with your idolatry? (8)

Clinging to the God of Israel in the land of Egypt would have probably provoked the Egyptian people against the Jews. The Jews decided to provoke God by embracing the Egyptian gods rather than provoking the Egyptians by remaining true to their God. This was not a smart move on their part. They would ridiculed among the nations anyway.

Have you forgotten your history? (9)

The Jews had a history of idolatry. What happened recently in Jerusalem was the result of idolatry.

Notice how many times “evil” is used in verse 9. It is used five times. It’s used in reference to kings, fathers & wives.

The people were no continuing the sin in Egypt. They would not humble themselves; they would not fear God and they would not walk in the statutes of God (10).

The questions asked are allegations against the Jewish people. They were an ungodly people who refused to learn from their mistakes. They were intent on doing things their own way, as ridiculous as it was.

D. A small amount of the Jewish people in Egypt will be spared (11-14).

If you look closely you can see a distinction made in these verses. The distinction is between those Jews who fled Jerusalem and those Jews who had been in Egypt for some time Look at verse 12. Notice the phrase “set their faces”. Look at the end of verse 14 “except some fugitives”

Those who “set their faces” to come to Egypt were those who came in the group with Johanan (42). What will happen to them?

They will die by the sword and by famine. They will be humiliated (11-12). The same sorts of things that happened in Jerusalem would happen in Egypt (13).

Look with me at verse 14. The group of people the Lord is talking about is those who disobeyed Him when Jerusalem was falling. They fled to Egypt and planned to return to Jerusalem sometime in the future. God says none of them would. The remnant that does return, are called “fugitives”. The point being, very few people would be spared.

3. The people give their allegiance to the queen of heaven (15-30).

A. The people double down on their rebellion (15-19).

These were entire families. Notice the men and their wives are involved with this sin (15). There is a large group of Jewish people, both men and women, who have heard Jeremiah’s message. Look at what they say in verse 17. They say, “We will not listen to you!”

They had already given their allegiance to the queen of heaven. They had made vows and they intended to keep them. They had made their decision to keep their vows based on faulty logic. They said that when they and their ancestors worshipped the queen of heaven things went well for them (17). When they stopped, things got bad (18). This is probably a reference to the reforms Josiah made. They looked back at that time of revival and saw it as the turning point. That was about the time Jeremiah came on the scene preaching. They connected that historical event with all their problems. They were much like the wilderness generation who believed they had a better life in Egypt.

The deception of the devil is amazing. He will do all he can to make us think life is better without the Lord. He will convince us every good thing that happened to us when we lived for the Lord was just a coincidence. He will tell us that we can be blessed without being obedient.

The queen of heaven was a fertility goddess. She is known as Ishtar, Astarte, Isis, etc. The worship of this goddess was probably appealing to Jewish women. There was no female counterpart in the religion of the Jewish people. The women seemed to particularly enjoy the worship in Egypt. Look at verse 19. They tell Jeremiah that their husbands are ok with what they are doing so it must be fine. The book of Numbers (30:3, 6-7, 12) says that a husband has the right to break a vow for his wife. If their husbands did not approve of their vows, then surely they would have made them void.

I have heard people who are married say it is ok for one spouse to be with another person if they are both ok with it. Open marriages are becoming popular in our culture. That’s essentially what these women were saying. They justified their participation in these fertility rites because their husbands were ok with it. The Jews chose to keep the vows they made to false gods and break their vow to the True God.

B. Jeremiah contradicts the people (20-23).

He probably couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He told them they were wrong. He tells them the Lord remembered all the offerings they made to false gods and that was why Jerusalem was destroyed.

The point of disagreement between Jeremiah and the people was the proper object of worship. Who we worship matters. That we worship doesn’t matter at all unless we worship the One True God. Believing in a god helps no one. Believing in the One True God is what matters.

The truth is there is no queen of heaven. The Catholic church calls Mary the Queen of Heaven. Their reasoning is that Jesus is King therefore His mother must be Queen. The problem with that is the Bible doesn’t call her the Queen of Heaven. The only reference to the queen of heaven is a reference to a false god. Heaven has no queen. It only has a King.

C. Time will tell who is right (26-28).

Jeremiah recognizes it is of no use to keep talking with the people. They have made their decisions. He tells them if that’s what they want then keep doing it.

Then he tells them what the Lord says. God has sworn by His own name that those who worship the false gods will be cut off. They will not make another vow to him because they will not be alive to do it. God says He is watching over them. He is not watching over them to protect them. He is watching over them to make sure they suffer beneath the sword and famine. Only a few will escape. Those who escape will be witnesses to the fact that the Lord was right, and the people were wrong.

D. A sign is given (29-30).

God will make it clear to them that His word is going to come to pass. The Pharaoh, Hophra, will be taken out. Just as God took the last king of Judah, Zedekiah, God would take the leader of Egypt. Hophra was the Pharaoh who attempted to help Zedekiah in his war against Babylon (37:5). He couldn’t protect them then and he couldn’t protect them now.

Hophra was not killed by Babylon. He was killed by his own people in 568 BC. Trusting in men would not help the Jews. When Hophra died it would be a reminder that the Lord had warned the people. After Hophra’s death Babylon invaded Egypt.

This concludes the last recorded message of Jeremiah. It’s a message that warns us about the object of our worship. The Bible says there is salvation in no other name but Jesus. He deserves our attention and our affection. He should be our life. He deserves it. There is no Queen in heaven but there is a King. His name is Jesus and we should bow to Him.