090. II. Predictions And Solemn Warnings (Jeremiah 43:8-44:30)

II PREDICTIONS AND SOLEMN WARNINGS (Jeremiah 43:8toJeremiah 44:30) 1. The Coming Conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadrezzar (Jeremiah 43:8-13) The sign prophecy (Jeremiah 43:8-9). Soon after the arrival of the Jewish refugees at Tahpanhes, Jeremiah was divinely led in their presence to take great stones and imbed them in the raised platform, or mastaba, in front of the royal residence of the Pharaohs. A symbol that Nebuchadrezzar would invade Egypt (Jeremiah 43:10-13). While the people stood about in open-mouthed wonder, the prophet interpreted the significance of his strange action: “Jehovah will send to Egypt, even as he has to Judah, the agent who executes his righteous judgment, Nebuchadrezzar. On these very stones which I have placed here, at the entrance of the palace of Hophra, will the king of Babylon set up his throne. As a conqueror he will condemn some of the Egyptians to death, and others to deportation to Babylon. Their temples he will plunder and burn. With ease and completely will he become master of the entire land. The obelisks of Memphis and the many temples scattered throughout the land will suffer the fate of the Jerusalem sanctuary. Think not, disobedient Jews, that you have passed beyond the pale of Jehovah’s far-reaching influence.”

2. The Certain Fate of Those Unfaithful to God (Jeremiah 44:1-30) The people have failed to profit by the awful experiences of their past (Jeremiah 44:1-10). Again a divine message came to the prophet for all the Jewish exiles living in the different communities in upper and lower Egypt: “You have experienced the misfortunes, and seen with your own eyes the terrible desolation that Jehovah has sent upon your people and land. You also know the reason why: it was because you, as a nation, instead of remaining faithful to him, introduced the worship of foreign gods. In vain he warned you through his zealous, untiring prophets. You would not heed, and so the desolation of Judah and your sad lot are the direct results. Have you failed to learn the simple lesson? Is it possible that by a repetition of the same gross sins you will bring still greater evils upon yourselves and your wives and innocent children dependent upon you? I can see from your defiant attitude that you are no more repentant nor inclined to keep Jehovah’s laws, which are so plainly presented in the Book of the Covenant, than were your fathers. The judgment awaiting the defiant exiles in Egypt (Jeremiah 44:11-14). Therefore, but one course of action is open, even to Jehovah himself. He must continue to execute his righteous vengeance upon you. By the sword and by famine those of you who are faithless to him will die. None shall be spared, until all the world stands aghast at the magnitude of your sin and of its punishment. Think not that you will escape his judgment here in this land of Egypt. It will go on even as in the land of Palestine. You all hope to return in time to Judah. Know that none, except a few faithful ones who escape Jehovah’s just wrath, shall realize this fond expectation.” The defiant reply of the people (Jeremiah 44:15-19). To the bold, earnest appeals of Jeremiah the exiles, both men and women, who at the time were gathered together from all parts of Egypt in a great assembly, replied, “We will not follow your advice. As we have in this religious convention determined, we will worship the Queen of Heaven as did our ancestors in the land of Judah during the reigns of Manasseh and Jehoiakim, when they enjoyed prosperity, and before any great calamities had overtaken our nation. It was when we, as a people, ceased to worship this powerful celestial deity that these dire disasters came upon us. Charge not the women, O prophet, with conserving these foreign rites, for in the past, as now, the husbands were in perfect sympathy with the action of their wives.”

Jeremiah’s counter interpretation of the experiences of his nation (Jeremiah 44:20-23). In reply to the deep-seated error of the people, Jeremiah declared: “Your interpretation of the real cause of the calamities which have come to your nation is entirely wrong. They came because Jehovah could no longer tolerate your apostasy to him, your abominable heathen practices, and your contemptuous disregard of his commands. The fate in store for the guilty exiles (Jeremiah 44:24-30). “Hear Jehovah’s sentence upon you. You and your wives have deliberately avowed your determination to turn your backs upon him, and henceforth to devote yourselves to worshipping the Assyrian goddess, the Queen of Heaven. Do as you have agreed, only Jehovah commands you never again to pronounce his holy name with your polluted lips. Henceforth his care in regard to you will be to punish and destroy instead of to preserve. War and famine will complete their deadly work. Only a fraction of your number will escape and return to Judah. By bitter experience you will learn the truth of my words and the folly of your own. Let this also be a sign to you: when you behold Hophra, the reigning Pharaoh, a captive in the hands of his conqueror, as was Zedekiah in the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, know the truth of my divine message, and that Jehovah will surely execute upon you the grim sentence which I have just proclaimed.”