Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 44:2
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they [are] a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,
Verse 2. No man dwelleth therein] The desolation of the land of Judea must have been exceedingly great when this, in almost any sense, could be spoken of it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He referreth to the late destruction of it by the king of Babylon; this remnant of the people was a brand plucked out of that fire, and their eyes had been witnesses to the desolations that God had wrought.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. evil . . . upon JerusalemIfI spared not My own sacred city, much less shall ye be safe in Egypt,which I loathe.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,…. In which manner the prophecies of this book are frequently prefaced; see
Jer 42:15;
ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; they saw it with their bodily eyes; they could not but serve it in their minds; nay, had an experimental knowledge of it; they suffered it in part themselves, and must be convicted in their own consciences that it was from the hand of the Lord:
and, behold, this day they [are] a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein; lie waste, at this very time; the walls are broken down the houses are demolished; the goods in them carried off; no inhabitants left, or very few, to rebuild the cities, till the land, and dwell therein.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The warning and threatening. – “Thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Ye yourselves have been all the evil which I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah; and, behold, they are a desolation this day, and there is no inhabitant in them; Jer 44:3 . Because of their wickedness which they have done, by provoking me through going to burn incense, (and) to serve other gods whom they knew not, (neither) they (nor) ye, nor your fathers. Jer 44:4 . And I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending (them), to say, Do not this abominable thing which I hate. Jer 44:5 . But they did not hear, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, by not burning incense to other gods. Jer 44:6 . Therefore my wrath and mine anger poured itself out, and burned up the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem; so that they have become a desolation and a waste, as at this day. Jer 44:7 . Now therefore thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do ye great evil against your souls, by cutting off from yourselves man and women, child and suckling, out of the midst of Judah, so leaving no remnant for yourselves; Jer 44:8 . Through provoking me by the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye have gone to sojourn, that ye might bring destruction on yourselves, and that ye might become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? Jer 44:9 . Have ye forgotten the evil deeds of your fathers, and the evil deeds of the kings of Judah, and the evil deeds of their wives, and your own evil deeds, and the evil deeds of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem? Jer 44:10. They have not been contrite to this day, and are not afraid, nor do they walk in my law, and in my statutes, which I have set before you and before your fathers. Jer 44:11. Therefore thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah. Jer 44:12. And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go to the land of Egypt in order to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt shall they fall, by sword and famine shall they be consumed; small and great, by sword and famine shall they die, and they shall become an execration and an astonishment, and a curse and a reproach. Jer 44:13. And I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I punished Jerusalem, by sword, and famine, and pestilence. Jer 44:14. There shall not be one escaped or left to the remnant of Judah that came to sojourn there in the land of Egypt, so as to return to the land of Judah, whither they long to return and dwell; for they shall not return except as escaped ones.”
Jer 44:2-6 In order to make an impression on the people by his warning against idolatry, Jeremiah begins his address with a reference to the great calamity which the fathers have brought on the kingdom of Judah through their continued idolatry (Jer 44:2-6). “Ye have seen all the evil,” etc.; all the cities are laid waste and depopulated, because their inhabitants have roused the anger of the Lord, and have not let themselves be dissuaded by the admonitions of the prophets whom God has sent. “This day,” i.e., now, at present. On Jer 44:3, cf. Jer 11:17; Jer 19:4; Jer 32:32, etc.; and as to the meaning of , see on Jer 1:16. In Jer 44:3 the address becomes more direct, through the change into the second person, “ye;” the audience then present only continue these sins of their fathers. On Jer 44:4, cf. Jer 7:25; Jer 25:4, etc. , “the thing of this abomination,” which is equivalent to “this abominable idolatry.” serves to render the subject more prominent, as in Jdg 19:24. On Jer 44:6, cf. Jer 42:18; Jer 7:20. The wrath of God burned in the cities, for the fire of destruction was a manifestation of the divine wrath. As to , see on Jer 11:5.
Jer 44:7-14 In Jer 44:7-10 follows the application of what has been said to those present, who are asked how they come to continue in the old sins, to their own destruction, “doing evil in regard to your souls,” i.e., for the injury, destruction of your souls, yourself; cf. Jer 26:19, where ‘ stands for ‘ . This is immediately afterwards more exactly specified by ‘ , to exterminate the whole of you, without an exception. As to the enumeration “man and woman,” etc., cf. 1Sa 15:3; 1Sa 22:19. The infs. and are used as gerundives: “inasmuch as (through this that) ye provoke me.” For the expression “the works of your hands,” see on Jer 1:16. In Jer 44:8, an object must be supplied from Jer 44:7 for the expression ; for, to take (with Hitzig) in a reflexive sense is a very harsh construction. On ‘ , cf. Jer 42:18; Jer 26:6. The answer to the question now asked follows in Jer 44:9 and Jer 44:10, in the form of the further question, whether they have forgotten those former sins, and that these sins have been the cause of the evil which has befallen the land. The interrogation expresses the reproach that they have been able to forget both, as is evidenced by their continuance in sin. In Jer 44:9, the expression “the evil deeds of his wives” ( ) is remarkable. Hitzig and Ngelsbach, following Kimchi, refer the suffix to the kings, since there was always but one king at a time. But this is an unnatural explanation; the suffix refers to Judah as a nation, and is used in order to comprehend the wives of the fathers and of the kings together. It is quite arbitrary in Ewald and Graf to change to , following the lxx ; for these translators have mutilated the text by the omission of the following . is not merely conserved, but even required, by . But the prophet gives special prominence to the evil deeds of the wives, since it was they who were most zealous in worshipping the queen of heaven; cf. Jer 44:15 and Jer 44:19. , “they have not been crushed,” viz., by repentance and sorrow for these sins. The transition to the third person is not merely accounted for by the fact that the subject treated of is the sins of the fathers and of the present generation, – for, as is shown by the expression “till this day,” the prophet has chiefly his own contemporaries in view; but he speaks of these in the third person, to signify the indignation with which he turns away from men so difficult to reform. On the expression, “they had not walked in my law,” cf. Jer 26:4; Jer 9:12. For this the Lord will punish them severely, Jer 44:11-14. All those who have fled to Egypt, with the intention of remaining there, will be quite exterminated. On “Behold, I will set my face,” etc., cf. Jer 21:10. “For evil” is more exactly defined by “to cut off all Judah,” i.e., those of Judah who are in Egypt, not those who are in Babylon. This limitation of the words “all Judah” is necessarily required by the context, and is plainly expressed in Jer 44:12, where “Judah” is specified as “the remnant of Judah that were determined to go to Egypt.” has the meaning of taking away, as in Jer 15:15. are to be taken by themselves; and , as is shown by the accents, is to be attached to what follows, on which, too, the emphasis is placed; in like manner, ‘ are to be attached to the succeeding verb. The arrangement of the words, like the accumulation of sentences all expressing the same meaning, reveals the spirit of the address in which God vents His wrath. On “they shall become an execration,” etc., see Jer 42:18. In Jer 44:13, Jer 44:14, the threatened extermination is further set forth. Those who dwelling Egypt shall be punished with sword, famine, and plague, like Jerusalem. The inhabitants of Egypt generally are meant; and by the judgment which is to fall on that country, the remnant of Judah there shall be so completely destroyed, that none shall escape. The leading member of the sentence is continued by , “and that they should return to the land of Judah, after which their soul longs, that they may live there.” A reason is further assigned, and with this the address, reduced within becoming limits, concludes: “for there shall return none except ( ) fugitives,” i.e., except a few individual fugitives who shall come back. This last clause shows that we are not to understand the declaration “none shall escape” in the strictest meaning of the words. Those who escape and return to Judah shall be so few, in comparison with those who shall perish in Egypt, as to be quite inconsiderable. Cf. the like instance of a seeming contradiction in Jer 44:27, Jer 44:28. On , cf. Jer 22:27.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
He now begins with reproof, because they were so stupid as not to remember the vengeance which God had executed on themselves and on the whole nation. They had been left alive for this end, that they might acknowledge God’s judgment, and thus return to a right mind. Here, then, the Prophet upbraids them with their insensibility, that they had profited nothing under the scourges of God. They commonly say that fools, when they are beaten, become wise. As then the Jews had not repented, after having been so grievously chastised, it was a proof of extreme perverseness; for if the remnant had a grain of a sound mind, they would have been humbled at least by the final destruction of their nation, and when the city and the temple were demolished. Since then they followed the same wicked courses, for which God had inflicted so grievous a punishment, it was evident that they were wholly irreclaimable and destitute of reason and judgment. This is the import of all the words of the Prophet which we have read.
He says first, Ye have seen what great evils I brought on you and the land. “Then ye know that you have justly suffered all the evils which have happened to you; for ye have not sinned through want of knowledge, but when I had sedulously warned you by my Prophets, ye continued ever obstinate; ye have therefore fully deserved such punishments. Now when God spared you, and wished that a small number should remain, to preserve as it were a seed, how is it that these evils which are still as it were before your eyes, are not remembered by you?” We now then understand the design of the Prophet.
But it may be well to examine every part; Ye have seen, he says, all the evil which I have brought (evil here means calamity) on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah; and, behold, they are now a waste, and no one dwells there. There is here an emphatical comparison between Jerusalem and Memphis, between the cities of Judah and Heliopolis and the whole country of Pathros. If then God had not. spared the holy city which he had chosen, if he had not spared the cities of Judah which were under his protection, how foolish it was for the Jews to think that they would be safe in the cities of Egypt? By what privilege could these be secure, since the cities of Judah had been reduced to a waste? We now then perceive why the Prophet mentioned Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; it was, that he might expose the stupidity of the Jews, because they thought, themselves safe in Egypt, a land which God had ever held in abomination.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Ye have seen . . .The prophet begins, naturally enough, with an appeal to the personal experience of his hearers. Was not that enough to show them that the source of all their evils had been their falling away from the faith or worship of their fathers?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Evil brought upon Jerusalem “If I spared not my own sacred city, much less shall ye be safe in Egypt, which I loathe.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1). YHWH’s Word Against His People Warning Of His Coming Judgment Because They Have Not Heeded What He Has Done Against Jerusalem. The Remnant Who Have Escaped To Egypt Will Be Destroyed (2-14).
These words were seemingly delivered in the land of Pathros, where Jeremiah was apparently visiting the Jewish settlers (Jer 44:15). Whether in fact it was a gathering of Jews from all over Egypt for a special festival we are not told, although it is quite possible, for his words have very much in mind those who had arrived with him from Judah, which suggests that they were present. At this time YHWH makes clear to the Jews through Jeremiah that they have made a foolish choice in coming to Egypt, a choice based, it will become apparent, on their disillusionment with Him, although really resulting from hearts set on idolatry and lacking in trust. He points out that they are simply behaving as their fathers have always done and must therefore expect similar judgments to those which came on their fathers.
Jer 44:2-3
‘Thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel. You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwells in them, because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, which they did not know, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.’
This verse sums up YHWH’s charge against Israel and is introduced under His full grand title, ‘YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel’ which will be repeated three times for emphasis (see Jer 44:7; Jer 44:11). Jeremiah wants them to recognise the greatness of their God. The verse points out that it was because His people had burned incense to and worshipped other gods not previously known to them or their fathers, that He had brought down His judgments on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah, making them a desolation, and uninhabited, because of their wickedness in doing so. He had indeed borne long with them and had given them ample opportunity to repent, but they had simply seen this as giving them licence to continue in their false ways. Thus all that had come upon them was because of their polytheism, and thereby their rejection of Him as their only God, thus breaching the first two stipulations in the covenant (the first two commandments), and thereby rejecting the whole.
Jer 44:4
‘In spite of the fact that I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, do not this abominable thing which I hate.”
YHWH stresses the efforts that He had made in seeking to guide them onto the right path. He had sent to them ‘all His servants the prophets’. And He had acted with the great determination in order to do it in that He had ‘risen up early’ to do it, something which reflects the importance He had placed on what He was about to do. The language is typically Jeremaic (Jer 7:25; Jer 26:5; Jer 29:19; Jer 35:15). It emphasises the great concern and effort that He had exerted in order to help them, commencing right from the beginning (‘early’), and continuingly revealed in the ongoing nature of his activity (‘all the prophets’), having in mind all the true prophets, both well known and little known, who had prophesied since the time of Moses. And all had brought one message to them, ‘Do not do this abominable thing (worship other gods) which I hate,’ a breaking of the first and second commandments (words of the covenant).
‘My servants the prophets.’ A phrase found seven times in Jeremiah, twice in 2 Kings, once in Ezekiel and once in Zechariah. It reflects the fact that the prophets were peculiarly YHWH’s servants, acting as His mouthpiece. But ‘ All my servants the prophets’ is found only here and in Jer 7:25; Jer 35:15, and is thus strictly Jeremaic, whilst the phrase as connected with ‘rising up early’ is found only in Jer 7:25; Jer 26:5; Jer 29:19; Jer 35:15 and here.
Jer 44:5
‘But they did not listen, nor did they incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods.’
Yet in spite of all God’s efforts His people had refused to listen. They had refused to hear His constant pleas that they turn from their wickedness in burning incense to other gods, and had blatantly continued to do so. And with their worship had gone their morals.
Jer 44:6
‘For which reason my wrath and my anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.’
This indeed was why Jerusalem and Judah were in the condition that they were at that time, wholly in ruins, and why His anger had been poured forth on them, and had been kindled ‘in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem’. This was why their cities were wasted and desolate. It was because they had followed and worshipped other gods, gods of nature, who demanded nothing of them morally and were seen as largely controlled by their ritual activities.
Jer 44:7-8
‘Therefore now thus says YHWH, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: “For what reason do you commit this great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and suckling, out of the midst of Judah, to leave you none remaining, in that you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you are gone to sojourn, that you may be cut off, and that you may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?” ’
And now these people were doing the very same thing. They were burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, something which was a great evil against their own souls, and could only result in them also being cut off. They were acting just like their fathers had done. The impression given is that these were gods of Egypt to which they had turned in hopes of improving their situation. They were therefore on their way to suffering the Levitical and Deuteronomic curses outlined in Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28, which would result in them being cut off and becoming a curse and a reproach among all the peoples of the world.
Jer 44:9
“Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?”
He calls on them to consider the past. Have they forgotten how their fathers and their fathers’ wives had behaved, and how the kings of Judah had behaved? Have they forgotten how they themselves had behaved, and their wives? It was because of their wickedness practised openly in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that all God’s judgments had come upon them (Jer 7:18). That was why they were in the position that they were at this very day.
Jer 44:10
“They are not humbled even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.”
Note the change of person as YHWH comments on them to Jeremiah. They have taken such little notice of their past that even at this very time they were not humbled, nor did they fear, or walk in His Law, or in His statutes, which He had set before both them and their fathers. All His judgments have failed to move them. For in spite of their apparent change of heart revealed when they had called on Jeremiah to discover YHWH’s word for them (Jer 42:2-6), they have subsequently ignored that word and gone their own way.
Jer 44:11
‘Therefore thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah.” ’
YHWH now turns back to addressing the people. Therefore let them be sure of this, He YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel would ‘set His face’ against them with a miserable end in view, the cutting off of all Judah. Their God Who had once delivered them from Egypt and its gods, but Who had acted so powerfully in the past against them and their fathers because of their evil ways, would now act equally powerfully against them at this time.
Jer 44:12
“And I will take the remnant of Judah, who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they will all be consumed. In the land of Egypt will they fall. They will be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They will die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine, and they will be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.”
For He would take all the remnant of Judah who had ‘set their faces’ to go to live in the land of Egypt and ensure that they were consumed by famine and sword, the very two enemies that they had been seeking to avoid by coming to Egypt. ‘Here at least’, they had thought, ‘we need fear neither famine nor sword’. But let them be sure of this. From the least to the greatest of them they would die by that very sword and by famine, and become an execration and an astonishment in the eyes of all people. They would become a curse and a reproach. For this language compare Jer 42:18; Jer 18:16; Lev 26:25-26; Lev 26:32; Lev 26:36-38; Deu 28:37. Note the play on the fact that YHWH had set His face against them because they had set their face towards Egypt.
Jer 44:13
“For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence,”
For in committing the same sins as those in Jerusalem by turning to other gods, the gods of Egypt, they were deserving of the same punishment. They equally therefore would suffer sword, famine and contagious disease, as indeed Jeremiah had previously prophesied (compare Jer 42:17).
Jer 44:14
“So that none of the remnant of Judah, who are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, will escape or be left, to return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there, for none shall return save such as shall escape.”
And His purpose was that none of the remnant who had escaped from Judah and had gone into the land of Egypt to settle there, would escape the coming judgments, or would survive in order to be able to return to the land of Judah in spite of their desire to do so, that is apart from a few refugees.
‘Save such as shall escape.’ The idea is that judgment will be so severe that only a very few will somehow survive by the skin of their teeth.
So the same judgments that had come on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah because of their disobedience, were now to be visited on these rebels because of their disobedience. It should be noted that this was not simply because they had sought refuge in Egypt, but because that seeking of refuge had been a renunciation of the God of Jeremiah, and because the consequences of their doing was now being revealed in their continuing disobedience, something revealed by the way in which they had quickly and eagerly turned to the gods of the land of Egypt. It was their motives which had been wrong from the start as YHWH well knew, and it had brought them to this.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jer 44:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they [are] a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,
Ver. 2. Ye have seen all the evils that I have brought upon Jerusalem. ] And should have been warned by this exemplum terrificum, dreadful instance of mine indignation. They that will not take example, are worthily made examples.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel. See note on Jer 7:3.
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
evil = calamity. Hebrew. ra’a’. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Ye have: Jer 39:1-8, Exo 19:4, Deu 29:2, Jos 23:3, Zec 1:6
a desolation: Jer 44:22, Jer 4:7, Jer 7:34, Jer 9:11, Jer 25:11, Jer 34:22, Lev 26:32, Lev 26:33, Lev 26:43, 2Ki 21:13, Isa 6:11, Isa 24:12, Isa 64:10, Isa 64:11, Lam 1:1, Lam 1:16, Lam 5:18, Mic 3:12
Reciprocal: Deu 29:26 – they went Isa 30:9 – this is Jer 44:6 – wasted Eze 33:28 – I will lay
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 44:2. Evil is used in the sense of something unpleasant or in the nature of a severe punishment, not in any sense of moral wrong. The complete destruction of Jerusalem was cited as an evidence of what the Lord could and would do to those who resisted the divine admonitions and thus In-curred His wrath.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 44:2-5. Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem He refers to the late destruction of it by the king of Babylon: this remnant of the people was a brand plucked out of the burning, and their eyes had been witnesses of the desolations which God had wrought. Because of their wickedness, &c. As they were eye-witnesses of the effect, so nothing but their unbelief made them strangers to the cause of the divine wrath manifested against them; for God, by his prophets, had continually assured them that the grand cause was their departure from him, the one living and true God, and forsaking his worship for that of idols. To serve other gods, whom they knew not The sin of their various idolatries was aggravated by this, that they were as much strangers to the idols as to the people with whom they joined in the worship of them, neither they nor any of their fathers having had any proof that these idols had ever done, or were able to do, any thing for their worshippers: compare Deu 13:6; Deu 32:17. These idols are opposed to the true God, called elsewhere the God of their fathers, who had made himself known to them by so many wonderful works and so many instances of his favour and benignity; and had promised to show the same favour to their posterity, if they continued steadfast in their obedience. I sent, &c., saying, O! do not this abominable thing that I hate God had given them numberless admonitions and warnings by his prophets, that idolatry in all the species and instances of it was a sin which he hated above all others, and would very dreadfully punish, yet they would not hear so as to yield obedience to him; but still persisted in the commission of this most abominable and absurd iniquity. The Hebrew, , may be properly rendered, Do not, I pray you, this abominable thing which I hate. Thus the Vulgate, Nolite, oro, facere verbum abominationis hujuscemodi. Be unwilling, I beseech you, to practise a thing so abominable. The language is as pathetic as it is emphatical.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Yahweh reminded His chosen people that He had brought calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, and that the land lay in ruins. He had done this because of their wicked, idolatrous practices.