Jeremiah 44 Study Notes

44:1-30 This chapter contains Jeremiah’s last recorded public words. It is not known where or when he died. One tradition says he was murdered in Egypt by his fellow citizens of Judah.

44:1 Migdol, meaning “Tower,” was on Egypt’s northeastern border. It is located in modern Tell el-Her and is mentioned in the time of the exodus (Ex 14:2; Nm 33:7) as well as in Ezekiel’s time (Ezk 29:10; 30:6). On Tahpanhes, see note at 43:4-7. Memphis, or Noph, was located on the west bank of the Nile River about fifteen miles south of Cairo, approximately at the head of the Nile delta. Pathros (lit “the land of the south”) was located in Upper (i.e., southern) Egypt, approximately halfway between Cairo and the Aswan Dam, about three hundred miles south of Memphis. According to the Elephantine Papyri, a Jewish colony settled here in the fifth century BC.

44:2-14 This passage is divided into three sections, each beginning with this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says (vv. 2,7,11). Verses 2-6 review Israel’s history, vv. 7-10 indict the rebellious fugitives in Egypt, and vv. 11-14 announce judgment on the disobedient people.

44:2-4 In spite of God’s persistent efforts to reverse Judah’s infidelities, they continued their idolatry. The verb burning incense is Hebrew qitter, which is correctly rendered “burn incense,” but it is also used of sacrificing burnt offerings of animals (Lv 1:9,17; 3:11,16; 1Sm 2:16; etc.) or a meal offering (Am 4:5).

44:4 God sent his servants the prophets (7:25; 26:5; 29:19; 35:15) to steer his people away from their infidelities, but to no avail. Time and time again is literally “rising early and sending.”

44:5-6 These verses remind of why Judah was in the current situation.

44:7-9 In these verses God posed four questions. (1) Why are you doing such terrible harm to yourselves? (2) Why are you angering me by the work of your hands? (3) Why are you burning incense to other gods in . . . Egypt? (4) How can you have forgotten the long history of evil that has marked your lives?

44:10 Disobedience had continued to the present day.

44:11-14 God’s judgment for their sin will be strong: disaster and famine. They will become an example for cursing, scorn, execration, and disgrace. This is an enlarged warning over what Jeremiah declared in 42:17-18.

44:15-19 This is one of the most surprising passages in the Bible. In blatant defiance of God, all the men stated their preference for the queen of heaven (see note at 7:18), for by their logic their harsh fate was not a punishment from the God of Israel but was instead a result of ceasing sacrifices to her!

44:16-18 Jeremiah’s view of the relationship between the nation’s faithfulness to God and national well-being is sharply challenged by the renegade troupe of Judeans in Egypt. From their perspective, Judah’s economy and overall health were good before the 621 BC revival under King Josiah, but since that revival, only hardships had come. They failed to understand that things went well before Josiah only because of God’s merciful patience. After Josiah judgment was due, for Judah’s repentance was incomplete.

44:20-30 Chronologically speaking these verses contain the last messages of Jeremiah recorded in this book. The remaining chapters stem from an earlier time in his life.

44:20 Without introducing his words with the normal messenger formula (“this is the Lord’s declaration”), Jeremiah emphatically addressed all the people.

44:21-22 Jeremiah responded to the argument that the offerings made to the queen of heaven were the same ones the people had historically offered to the Lord. In fact that was just the problem: the Lord remembered those false sacrifices, and he could bear them no longer. That is why their land had become a desolate waste.

44:23 The prophet’s reference to God’s instruction . . . statutes, and testimonies takes us to the heart of God’s charge against them. All of their acts were a breach of the covenant.

44:24-25 Jeremiah took up a second point in the rebels’ argument—that they must be faithful to their vows (cp. v. 17). His response was ironic, if not sarcastic: Go ahead, confirm your vows! Keep your vows! Jeremiah must have had in mind 42:4-6, where the people had vowed to do whatever the Lord commanded. How could they keep vows to a pagan idol when they could not even keep their vows to the living God?

44:26-27 In 31:28 God was “watching over” his people to build and plant them, but here he would watch over them to allow harm to come to them.

44:28-29 The exiles would have another demonstration of the truthfulness of God’s word.

44:30 Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt (589-570 BC) was an ally of King Zedekiah of Judah. He had sent his troops to help besieged Jerusalem (37:5). But he would also die by the hands of his enemies, just as surely as King Zedekiah fell into Babylonian hands. Pharaoh Hophra was assassinated by Amasis, who became Pharaoh in 570 BC, just before the Babylonians invaded Egypt (43:13-26; Ezk 29:17-20; 30:20-26).