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Jeremiah
Chapter Forty-four
Jeremiah 44
Chapter Contents
The Jews in Egypt persist in idolatry. (1-14) They refuse
to reform. (15-19) Jeremiah then denounces destruction upon them. (20-30)
Commentary on Jeremiah 44:1-14
(Read Jeremiah 44:1-14)
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.
Commentary on Jeremiah 44:15-19
(Read Jeremiah 44:15-19)
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.
Commentary on Jeremiah 44:20-30
(Read Jeremiah 44:20-30)
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.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Jeremiah》
Jeremiah 44
Verse 1
[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,
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.
Verse 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.
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.
Verse 15
[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,
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.
Verse 26
[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.
The Lord liveth — There shall not any be left alive
of the Jews that are in Egypt, to swear The Lord God liveth.
Verse 29
[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:
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.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Jeremiah》
44 Chapter 44
Verses 1-30
Verse 4
Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
The thing which God hates
I. What sin itself
is.
II. God hates it.
1. Because it is contrary to His own nature.
2. Because it is unnatural in His creatures.
3. Because it transgresses holy, just, and good laws.
4. Because it defiles and injures the entire human nature. It brings
a withering curse upon every stage of life, and upon every development of life,
and upon every phase of life, and upon every department of life.
5. Because it makes men curses to each other.
6. Because it ignores or it rejects the Divine government.
7. Because wherever sin exists, except as it is checked by God’s
mercy, it has the dominion.
8. Because wherever it is introduced, it spreads.
9. Sin requires God to inflict upon men of every class and kind, that
which He assures us, upon His oath, He has no pleasure in.
10. Their continuing in sin tramples under foot the blood of Jesus.
(S. Martin.)
The popular estimate of sin
I. What is sin?
Theology is determined by the answer. “Sin is only negation as cold is the
negation of heat; darkness, of light; disease, of health.” So we are told.
Well, I know that I shiver to-night under the “negation” of heat. I grope under
the negation of light, and feel a very positive “thorn in the flesh.” Away with
this juggling of words! Sin is a fact and must be dealt with.
II. What do you mean
by the new life? If Sin be easy to control, no helplessness is felt, no great
change of being is accepted, no outside help is needed. If you fancy that one
bad deed is cancelled by another good one, and that you are “all right at
heart,” although often wrong in action, you will not seek salvation.
III. What disclosure
does Scripture make? “An abominable thing.” What does sin propose to do? It
defies God and would usurp His throne were it possible. The smallest
infringement of the principle of honesty in social life breaks up the
confidence of man in man and introduces destructive tendencies. The greater the
transgression, the more destructive are the results.
IV. What about the
remedy of sin? We know not all the counsels of God, but we know enough of the covenant
He made with His Son Jesus Christ to say that by His vicarious atonement we are
freed from the penalty of sin, and by the washing of regeneration and the
renewal of the Holy Ghost we are made pure--the past and future are covered by
His meritorious work. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
God’s expostulation with sinners
I. The description
of sin here given by God.
1. We call those objects abominable which excite in us the sensations
of loathing and abhorrence. That such is the nature of sin, even in its most agreeable
forms, may be learned from the various figures under which it is represented in
the Word of God. Whatever is revolting in corruption, loathsome in uncleanness,
or hideous in deformity, is there brought forward, in order to give us some
idea of its abominable nature.
2. It must be considered not only as loathsome to God, but as
exciting in Him the desire of its destruction, and an inclination to execute
vengeance upon all to whom it is an object of delight. From an abominable
object we naturally turn away; but what we hate we seek to destroy.
II. The manner in
which God beseeches us to abstain from sin.
1. We are naturally prone to wickedness.
2. God hath designs of mercy towards our guilty race.
3. The salvation of sinners is accomplished in a way perfectly
consistent with their freedom as moral agents.
4. God is deeply concerned for the salvation of sinners.
III. Some
considerations that ought to induce us to hearken to the voice of God, and do
what He requires.
1. It is God why, expostulates with you,. and beseeches you to
abstain from sin.
2. The extreme folly of sin is another consideration, that may induce
you to abstain from it.
3. The fatal consequences of continuing in sin, especially after we
haven been called to repentance, is a consideration that ought to induce you to
hear, and do what the Lord requires. (G. Campbell.)
Argument against sinning
I. God denounces
sin with abhorrence. He calls it “an abominable thing.” Sin is represented in
the Bible as a loathsome, odious, revolting, execrable thing. All kinds of sin
are an abomination. “Lying lips” (Proverbs 12:22). “Pride” (Proverbs 16:5). “Wicked thoughts” (Proverbs 15:26). “Wickedness in all its
forms” (Proverbs 15:9). Sin is essentially an
abomination. Three things show this:--
1. The misrepresenting conduct of the sinner. Sin has a self-hiding,
self-dissimulating instinct.
2. The universal conscience of mankind. Injustice, falsehood,
self-seeking impiety, with all their kindred sins, the conscience of the world
abhors.
3. The history of the Divine conduct towards our world.
II. God hates sin
with intensity. He says, “I hate it.” The Infinite heart revolts from it with
ineffable detestation.
1. He hates it, for it is deformity, and He is the God of beauty. How
offensive to the artist of high aesthetic taste and culture, are figures
introduced into the realm of art, unscientific in their proportions, and
unrefined in their touch!
2. He hates it, for
it is confusion, and He is the God of order. “Order,” says the poet, “is
Heaven’s first law.”
3. He hates it, for it is misery, and He is the Cod of love. Every
sin has in it the sting of the serpent, which, if not extracted, will rankle
with fiery anguish in the soul for ever. God hates this evil, for He desires the
happiness of His creatures.
III. God prohibits
sin with earnestness. “Oh, do not this abominable thing.” What depths of fervid
loving solicitude are in this “Oh!”
1. Do it not; you are warring against your own highest interest.
2. Do it not; you are warring against the well-being of the creation.
3. Do it not; you are warring against Me. Every sin is a war against
My ideas, My feelings, My plans, My institutions. (Homilist.)
Life’s lameness: the character of sin
The church bells were ringing out a merry peal of welcome
as a bride and bridegroom left the church after the marriage service. The bride
was given some flowers as she passed to her carriage, and a small drop of water
fell from a flower on to the bride’s light dress. Soon after, a slight stain was
noticed there, and the remark was made: “A spot of sin as small as this would
shut either of us out of heaven.” That remark was perfectly true. A little
speck of dust on the lens of a telescope will mar its powers of vision. A tiny
hair in the mainspring of a watch will suffice to stop the machinery, So one
little sin, secretly cherished and wilfully indulged, will choke up our soul s
communion with God and destroy our spiritual comfort. What, then, is sin? Sin
is rebellion against God. Self-love is the secret of sin. The hidden principle
of all sin is rejection of the will of God. None of God’s commands are
grievous, and therefore the question of our obedience is made to turn precisely on the will of God.
God alone is independent. He has made us for Himself; and the more we seek to
bring our wills into subjection to His, and our lives into complete dependence
upon Him, the happier and the holier
shall we become. As a train was speeding along the railroad in the north of
England the other day, a spark from the engine set fire to a shrub in a
plantation near the line, and then the fire spread to a forest, where it raged
for two days, doing immense damage. Who would have thought that such a result
would arise, from a little spark? Yet so it is in the world of life--great
results spring from the most trivial causes. Our hearts are, like those dry
trees, ready to burst into a blaze when touched by the spark of sin. Therefore
we must beware of sin. When Canova, the great Italian sculptor, was about to
commence his famous statue of the great Napoleon, his keenly observant eye
detected a tiny red line running through the upper portion of the splendid
block of marble which had been brought from Paros at enormous cost. Others saw
no flaw, but the great sculptor detected it, and he refused to lay chisel upon
it. The very perfection he aimed at compelled him to reject the marble block.
Now if there is a flaw in your life, others may not see it, but God most
assuredly will. And that there is such a flaw God declares. His Word asserts,
“All have sinned” (Romans 3:23). “There is none that doeth
good, no, not one” (Psalms 14:3). During a naval engagement
off Copenhagen, Admiral Parker signalled the ships to cease action. Nelson did
not wish to retire his ship. When informed of the Admiral’s signal, he looked
through the telescope with his blind eye, and exclaimed, “I see no such signal”
He persistently deceived himself in order that he might continue the fight. “If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). But we deceive no one
else. It is no excuse for a man to say he does not steal, does not lie, does
not swear, does not covet. Neglect of known duty is sin. Man has a duty to God
(Matthew 22:37). Not to love God is sin.
And the Bible not only charges man with not loving God, but it speaks of man as
being in a state of “enmity against God” (Romans 8:7). Therefore he cannot restore
himself. It is a stormy night by the sea-shore. The wind is howling and
moaning, and ever and anon with boisterous gusts threatening violence to the
shipping in the harbour. The sea is lashed into a seething foam. On the beach
are scattered groups of people--men hurrying to and fro with excited
determination, and women wringing their hands in mute agony and mingled prayer.
You look out to sea. In the darkness of the night you can see nothing, but you
can tell by the whirr and rush of the rocket apparatus, by the cries of the
life boatmen, that a vessel is in
danger. You know there is a ship in distress by these signs, though you may not
know the extent or reality of her danger. So, when I see the Lord Jesus Christ
leaving His throne in glory, living a life of anguish, and dying a cruel death,
I learn that sin is a terrible reality. Oh, what a hideous, fiendish monster is
sin, when it turns its cursed enmity against the blessed Son of God, and
imbrues its cruel hands in His precious blood! The Emperor Arcadius and his
wife Eudoxia had a very bitter feeling towards St. John Chrysostom, Bishop of
Constantinople. One day, in a fit of anger, the Emperor said to some of his
courtiers, “I would I were avenged of this bishop!” Several then proposed how
this should be done. “Banish him and exile him to the desert,” said one. “Put
him in prison,” said another. “Confiscate his property,” said a third. “Let him
die,” said a fourth. Another courtier, whose vices Chrysostom had reproved,
said maliciously, “You all make a great mistake. You will never punish him by
such proposals. If banished the kingdom, he will feel God as near to him in the
desert as here. If you put him in prison and load him with chains, he will
still pray for the poor and praise God in the prison. If you confiscate his
property, you merely take away his goods from the poor, not from him. If you
condemn him to death, you open heaven to him. Prince, do you wish to be
revenged on him? Force him to commit sin. I know him; this man fears nothing in
the world but sin.” Is there no lesson here for you and me? (A.
Finlayson.)
Divine pleading
If anyone suffers very keenly from nervous exhaustion, it
seems sometimes almost impossible for him to bear the noise of a child who
persists in running heavily overhead. He will adopt a pleading rather than an
angry tone: “My child, do not do this again; I cannot bear it.” Let us think of
God’s holy nature as more sensitive to sin than the most highly-strung nerves
to noise, and hear Him saying, whenever we are on the point of committing sin,
“Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.” (F. B. ,Meyer, B. A.)
Verse 16
As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the
Lord, we will net hearken unto thee.
The ministerial message and its reception
I. It devolves on
ministers to speak to sinners in the name of the Lord.
1. They represent to them their deplorable situation; they describe
to them the horrors of the pit wherein there is no water, in which they lie;
the miseries of that prison in which they are closely confined; the
unprofitableness of the drudgery in which they are engaged; and the tribulation
and anguish which they have to expect. “Knowing the terrors of the Lord, they
persuade men”; and sensible that, if they are unfaithful, the blood of souls
will be required at their hands, they are “instant in season and out of
season,” if by any means they Could persuade them to flee from the wrath to
come.
2. They do all this in the name of the Lord.
II. The unpleasant
reception with which their message often meets. “We will not hearken.”
1. We hope that there are but few who would plainly say this in
words; who are so hardened as to glory in their shame; or so incorrigible as to
tell God’s ministers that they cast His words behind their back, as unworthy of
attention, and beneath their notice: yet we are persuaded that there are many
professors who say this in their hearts, and who will not see when the hand of
God is lifted up; for if this were not the case, would ministers so often have
to lament over them, saying, “Oh, that they were wise”; and, “Oh, that there
were such a heart in them, to keep His commandments and do them”? Careless
hearers all say, “We will not hearken unto Thee.” And oh, how few are there
that will hear believingly! The word does not profit, “not being mixed with
faith in them that hear it”; men often “reject the counsel of God against
themselves,” and disbelieve the record that God has given of His Son. Their
conduct shows that they believe not in the name of the only-begotten Son of
God.
2. What is the reason that they will not attend to those things,
which, it is evident, belong to their peace?
I would say, by way of inference, In what an awful state are those
persons who are making the resolution contained in the text. They are evidently
exposed to the loss of their privileges; to hardness of heart, and contempt of
God’s Word and commandments; and to utter and eternal destruction. (T.
Spencer.)
.
──《The Biblical Illustrator》