Jeremiah 44

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16. we will not--( Jeremiah 6:16 ).

17. whatsoever . . . goeth . . . out of our . . . mouth--whatever vow we have uttered to our gods ( Jeremiah 44:25 , Deuteronomy 23:23 , Judges 11:36 ). The source of all superstitions is that men oppose their own will and fancies to God's commands.
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 Proverbs 1:32 , Ecclesiastes 8:11-13 . In fact, God had often chastised them for their idolatry (see Judges 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 ( Deuteronomy 8:3 , John 6:27 ). So Esau ( Hebrews 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 ( Deuteronomy 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 ( Jeremiah 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 ( Jeremiah 44:22 ), as was foretold ( Jeremiah 25:11 Jeremiah 25:18 Jeremiah 25:38 ).

23. law--the moral precepts.
statutes--the ceremonial.
testimonies--the judicial ( Daniel 9:11 Daniel 9:12 ).

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 ( Genesis 22:16 ), the greatest by whom God can swear ( Hebrews 6:13 Hebrews 6:14 ).
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 ( Ezekiel 20:39 ): there shall be none left there to profane His name thus any more.

27. watch over . . . for evil--( Jeremiah 1:10 , Ezekiel 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 Jeremiah 31:28 , 32:41 .

29. this . . . sign unto you--The calamity of Pharaoh-hophra fall before his enemy, so you shall subsequently fall before Nebuchadnezzar ( Matthew 24:8 ) [GROTIUS]. CALVIN makes the "sign" to be simultaneous with the event signified, not antecedent to it, as in Exodus 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 ( Ezekiel 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].