Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 44:8
In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
8. the works of your hands ] your idols.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Cut yourselves off – Rather, cut (them, Jer 44:7) off from you.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Idols are usually thus defamed, and indeed nothing can argue a greater stupidity than for any to pay a homage (confessedly due to the Supreme Being) to what is the work of mens hands, and therefore must be made by one superior to that order of beings in which idols are. But how doth the prophet say that they worshipped the works of mens hands? for it is apparent, from Jer 44:17, that they paid this homage to the queen of heaven, which is not the work of mens hands.
Solut. It was before images, which are but the works of mens hands. And this certainly was the idolatry of the generality of the heathens, they worshipped an unknown Divine Being before a creature, either as representing it, or rather putting them in mind of it.
That ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth; the term that doth not denote the idolaters end of intention, for none ever did any act intentionally to ruin themselves, it only signifies the end of their work, that their utter ruin would be the certain consequent of their work.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. in . . . Egyptwhere theypolluted themselves to ingratiate themselves with the Egyptians.
ye be gonenotcompelled by fear, but of your own accord, when I forbade you, andwhen it was free to you to stay in Judea.
that ye might cut yourselvesoffThey, as it were, purposely courted their own ruin.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands,…. Their sinful actions, particularly their idolatry, by worshipping images, the works of men’s hands; and though it was the queen of heaven they worshipped, which their hands made not, yet it was before images they did that; besides, the things they did to her were the worlds of their hands, as sacrificing, pouring out drink offerings, and as follows:
burning incense; which they did, not only to her, but
to other gods in the land of Egypt; where they were very numerous:
whither ye be gone to dwell; against the express will and command of God:
that ye might cut yourselves off; as from the worship of God, so from being his people, and from being under his care and protection, and from all privileges temporal and spiritual:
and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? not that this was their view, end, and design, but this was the event so it was, that they were looked upon as an accursed people of God and man, and their names were taken up for a proverb and a reproach everywhere.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
I was in the last Lecture obliged to cut short the subject of the Prophet; for this verse depends on the foregoing, and is to be read together with it. The Prophet asked why the Jew’s willingly cut off from themselves every hope of safety, and were seeking their own ruin. He now expresses the matter more fully, even that they were provoking God’s wrath by their superstitions. He then points out the cause of all evils, — the pollution of God’s true worship by idolatries.
We here see that there is no end of sinning, when men despise God and allow themselves every license in doing evil: God was unwilling that the Jews should go to Egypt; for he had promised to cherish them as it were under his own wings; and thus he intended to shew them mercy, so that they might remain in safety, though in a country then miserable and desolate. But against his command they went into Egypt. When they came there, in order to gain favor with the Egyptians, they polluted themselves with vain superstitions. They might in the land of Judah have worshipped God in purity without any danger. Distrusting the favor of God they fled into Egypt; and the fear of men led them to deny their religion. We hence see how one evil proceeds from another; when the Jews coveted the favor of that heathen nation, they polluted themselves with many ungodly superstitions.
This is the sin which the Prophet now refers to, — To provoke me, he says, by the works of your hands There is here to be understood a contrast between the works which God had commanded, and those which men had devised for themselves. The altar and the whole Temple were indeed works done by the hand and art of men; but as God had commanded the altar to be made and the Temple to be built, the Temple was not, properly speaking, a human but a divine work, it having been commanded. But whatever men devise of themselves for the purpose of worshipping God, is what is called the work of their hands; for they invent things themselves, and follow only their own fancies; they attend not to what pleases God, but give license to their own imaginations, so that according to their own will they mingle together any sort of worship they please. This, then, is the reason, and according to this sense it is, that the Prophet says, that the Jews provoked God by the works of their hands: they corrupted his lawful worship and departed from true religion, when they attached themselves to heathen Actions and corruptions.
He then adds, To offer incense to alien gods Under one particular thing, as it has been already said, the Prophet includes what is general, for the Jews did not only sin by offering incense, but also through various other superstitions. But by stating a part for the whole, he clearly intimates that they denied the true God when they worshipped idols. And then he adds, in the land of Egypt, into which ye have entered, that ye might dwell there. he takes away the excuse which they might have made, that they were constrained by fear, because they were unhappy exiles, and saw that their own religion would not be tolerated by that proud nation. The Prophet says that they had come into Egypt when God commanded them to remain in the land of Judah. That plea, then, could not have been admitted, that being terrified by danger they sought to please the Egyptians, for they brought themselves into that bondage, when they might have been at liberty in the land of Judah to worship God in purity. This is the reason why he says that they came into Egypt to sojourn there.
He at length adds, to cut you off. The construction is indeed different, but the meaning is clear. He intimates, in short, as he said in the last verse, that they willingly, and as it were designedly, rushed headlong into their own ruin. He then adds, and ye shall be a curse and a reproach among all nations By which words he means that their destruction would be memorable; and this was harder than if their memory was buried with their life. But the Prophet says that their death would be such an example as that they would be deemed execrable by all. In short, he declares that they would be exposed to all kinds of reproaches even after their death. It follows, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) Burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt.The words imply that the exiles were not only carrying on the old idolatrous practices with which they had been familiar in their own lands, but had adopted those of the Egyptians. This was the evil which the prophet had all along dreaded, and which had made him from the first, like his predecessor, Isaiah (Isa. 30:2; Isa. 31:1), hostile to every plan of an alliance with Egypt.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 44:8 In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
Ver. 8. In that ye provoke me to wrath. ] This is a most pithy and piercing sermon all along, not unlike that preached by Stephen, for the which he was stoned, Act 7:54 ; Act 7:57-58 and likely enough that this was Jeremiah’s last sermon also.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
works. Some codices, with five early printed editions (one, margin), and Syriac, read “work” (singular)
gone = come.
dwell = sojourn.
among. Some codices, with three early printed editions, Septuagint, and Vulgate, read “to”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
ye provoke: Jer 25:6, Jer 25:7, Deu 32:16, Deu 32:17, 2Ki 17:15-17, Isa 3:8, 1Co 10:21, 1Co 10:22, Heb 3:16
that ye might cut: Jer 44:7, Eze 18:31, Eze 18:32
a curse: Jer 44:12, Jer 18:16, Jer 24:9, Jer 26:6, Jer 29:18, Jer 42:18, 1Ki 9:7, 1Ki 9:8, 2Ch 7:20, Isa 65:15, Lam 2:15, Lam 2:16
Reciprocal: Lev 10:1 – put incense Neh 1:3 – reproach Psa 89:41 – he is Jer 23:40 – General Jer 33:9 – before Jer 44:23 – ye have burned Eze 22:4 – have I Hos 8:4 – that they Rev 9:20 – worship
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 44:8. It is remarkable to note how slow man is to learn a lesson from his own experiences. The citizens of Judali as a whole had been taken to Babylon in punishment for their idolatry. These few who were in Egypt had been given the special exemption of remaining in their home land though at the same time they were virtual captives. Now here they are in another country through desertion and are taking up the very practices their fellows did for which they had been taken into captivity.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 44:8-10. Ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands By making and setting up idols to worship. That ye might cut yourselves off, &c. This is not to be so taken as if they did these things with a design to cut off themselves and their posterity: but only as signifying that their utter ruin would be the certain consequence of their continuing so to act. Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers? &c. Have you forgotten what great wickedness your fathers committed, and what great punishments were in consequence thereof inflicted upon them? We may be truly said to have forgotten that the sight of which, or reflection thereon, makes no such impression upon us as produces a suitable practice. Which they have committed in the land of Judah, &c. To have practised these things in any place would have been to contract great guilt; but to have done them in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, in the valley of vision, and in the holy city, where there were such means of information and such helps to piety, was still more aggravated and inexcusable wickedness. They are not humbled even unto this day Neither they nor you are yet properly humbled, and prepared for receiving mercy. Neither have they feared, nor walked in my law Hence we learn, that reformation and obedience are the proper fruit of true contrition and humiliation; God does not account those to be humbled, but hardened, who are not reformed and made obedient, let their pretended contrition or humiliation be, in outward appearance, what it may.