THE Word of God, spoken in faithfulness, is never without effect upon the hearer; it draws out the depths of the heart toward God, whether of the believer or the sinner—but O, how different the feelings aroused! What had been hidden (though well known to God and revealed to Jeremiah) under a fair appearance, came out fully as Azariah and Johanan and all the proud men shod their opposition to what Jeremiah told them. Poor, deluded servants, slaves indeed, of Satan! Men and women are either serving God or His—and their—enemy the devil, though it is quite coon to hear people speak of man’s “free will”—a term for which there is no Scriptural warrant.
The people left in the land of Israel were determined to leave it to go to Egypt, though they were assured that death awaited them there; the plain fact is that they did not believe God; in that respect they were no different from thousands today, though many would resent being told the truth about it.
There was over with these sons of disobedience, too, so that they were able to take with them to Egypt all of the people that were left, including Jeremiah and Baruch (verse 7). They went as far as Tahpanhes, a place which does not exist today; its site was not far from the northern end of the Suez canal.
But not all that men are able to do can keep God from speaking to His servants, telling them His purposes. The word of Jehovah could as well reach Jeremiah in Tahpanhes as in Jerusalem. Jeremiah’s first testimony to the Jews in Egypt was concerning the judgment of that land, and Nebuchadnezzar was to be the instrument of it. There could be no resistance to his power, when this Gentile to whom God had committed the government of the world should undertake the conquest of Egypt. Beth-shemesli (verse 13) means “House (or Temple) of the sun”, called by the Greeks Heliopolis; the Egyptian name was On,—the place where Joseph’s father-in-law was priest (Genesis 11:45).
Chapter 44 presents the latest view, historically, of the Israelites in Egypt, which the book of Jeremiah gives. It shows that they were committed as fully to idolatry as ever the nation had been in their own land. Migdol and Noph (Memphis) were cities in Northern Egypt; Pathros was in upper (southern) Egypt.
In verses 2 to 10 we have God’s gracious reminder to the people of what had befallen their land, and why—spoken in view of their carrying on the worship of false gods in Egypt. Had they forgotten the wickedness of their fathers, and of the kings and their wives, their own and their wives’ wickedness, committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Because there was no humbling of themselves, nor fear of God, nor walking in His law or statutes, Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, was now setting His face against them for evil, and to cut off all Judah (verses 11-14). The solemn words of Prov. 1:24-3124Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: 30They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. (Proverbs 1:24‑31) may be noted as expressive of the judgment here pronounced on the rebellious children of Israel. None was to return to the land of Judah (whither they had a desire to return to dwell) but such as should escape the sword, the famine and the pestilence—a very small company (verse 28).
This fresh communication from God, spoken through Jeremiah, brought no repentance on the part of the Jews in Egypt (verses 15-19). God was wholly given up, and the “queen of the heavens”—commonly thought to be the moon, worshipped as Astarte—was enthroned in their minds in His stead. The evils that had befallen them they attributed to God, their good to the “queen of the heavens”.
The Scriptures do not record the execution of the judgment pronounced on Egypt, but it is a matter of profane history that four years after the destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar invaded that land, put the king to death and raged the country. This would apparently be the time of which Jer. 52:3030In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred. (Jeremiah 52:30) tells—the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule.
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