Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 44:9
Have ye 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 have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
9. their wives ] rightly, by a slight deviation from MT. Cp. Jer 44:17 ; Jer 44:21 (so Gi., Du. and Co.). LXX your princes.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The wickedness of their wives – Many accept the reading of the Septuagint: the wickedness of your princes. The kings, the princes, the people, and finally their wives, is a summary enumeration of all classes, by whose united persistence in sin the ruin of their country had been consummated.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers] It seems that the women were principal agents in idolatrous practices; for the queens – the wives, of rulers and of common people, burnt incense to the queen of heaven, (the moon,) Jer 44:17, and poured out drink-offerings to her.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God accounteth men and women to have forgotten that, the sight and reflection upon which hath made no such impression upon them, as to produce a practice suitable to those notices, according to the conduct of a reasonable soul, which teacheth every man, having notice of a great evil brought upon a man by such or such practices, to avoid running into the like danger. It was the aggravation of this peoples sins, that they were committed in the holy land, and in a city which God had more favoured than any other place: to have done these things in any place had been guilt enough, but more to do it
in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Have you forgotten how thewickednesses of your fathers were the source of the greatestcalamities to you?
their wivesThe Jews’worldly queens were great promoters of idolatry (1Ki 11:1-8;1Ki 15:13; 1Ki 16:31).
the land of JudahTheydefiled the land which was holy unto God.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers,…. And what judgments it brought upon them; meaning not their more remote ancestors in the wilderness, and the idolatry they committed, and the punishment inflicted upon them for it; but more near, such who lived a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, and whose sins had brought on that; and therefore could not be easily forgotten by them; or, if they were forgotten, it argued great stupidity:
and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives; by whom they were drawn into idolatry, particularly Solomon; and it is in the original text, “the wickedness of his wives” z; and Dr. Lightfoot thinks respect is had to Solomon’s wives; but it may be understood distributively of everyone of their wives, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it a:
and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which you have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? where they had built altars, and worshipped strange gods, they, and their wives, as well as those who were carried captive; and which were the cause of all those evils that came upon them; these, being recent things, could not be forgotten by them; or however should have been remembered, and that so as to have deterred them from going into such practices again, as they now did in Egypt.
z “mala mulierum ejus”, Schmidt; “et mala foeminarum ejus”, Cocceius; “uxorum ejus”, V. L. Montanus. a “Et mala uxorum cujusque illorum”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet now sets forth how extremely shameful was the insensibility of the Jews, in not acknowledging that God had most severely and grievously punished the superstitions to which they had previously been addicted. At the same time, if we regard the word used, he seems not to understand punishments by evils, but raffler the wicked deeds by which they had provoked God. And this ought to be observed, for some interpreters give this rendering, “Have you forgotten your evils and those of your fathers; ” that is, how severely God had afflicted you? But there is no doubt but that the Prophet means by רעות, rout, their sins, by which they had exposed themselves to God’s judgment; for it immediately follows, which they did, or committed, in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem But though he means by this word the sins of the people, there is yet no doubt but that he includes also the punishments by which they ought to have known that the impiety in which they continued most obstinately had displeased God.
When therefore the Prophet says, Have ye forgotten your evils and those of your fathers? he takes it for granted that it was sufficiently known that God had taken vengeance on them for their sins; for he does not address the Jews in their prosperity, but when they were fugitives from their own land and under the curse of heaven. As, then, they were evidently condemned by God, the Prophet justly asks them, “Have ye forgotten that you have been condemned for the sins of your fathers and those of your kings, even for those which they had committed?” This he asked, because it was a horrid stupidity, that though the city had been overthrown and the temple burnt, they did not yet leave off their superstitions, especially when so singular a vengeance of God ought to have retained their posterity in fear and obedience even for ten ages. Thus we see that punishment is linked with sins.
He says, of the kings of Judah and of their wives The relative is singular, “his wives; ” but no doubt it refers to the people. Some read, “of every one of them; ” but there is no need, it being a singular number, referring to a collective noun, Judah. he afterwards adds, which they did This ought not to be confined to the women, (nor is it suitable,) but it refers to all the Jews as well as to kings of Judah, and also to the women, — which then they did in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem
When he mentions the streets of Jerusalem, he exaggerates their wickedness. For we know that city to have been as it were the earthly sanctuary of God. It, was then a most disgraceful impiety to pollute that place which God had consecrated for himself. The whole land of Judah was indeed under his authority and power, but he had favored the city, and especially Mount Sion, with singular privileges. Then the Prophet amplifies the greatness of their sin, when he says that Jerusalem had been polluted by their superstitions.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) The wickedness of their wives.As in the first introduction of idolatry under Solomon (1Ki. 11:4) so in the reigns of his successors, as in the case of Asa (1Ki. 15:13) and Ahaziah (2Ch. 22:2), the queens for the time being, often of alien birth, seem to have been the chief patrons of foreign and idolatrous worship, and their example was naturally followed by the wives of the nobles and other citizens.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
PERSISTENCE IN IDOLATRY WILL BRING ONLY RUIN, Jer 44:8-14.
9. Wickedness of their wives Literally, his “wives.” The singular is difficult of explanation, and the translators have made a very natural, though unwarranted, change. The LXX has for “his wives” “your princes,” and Ewald accepts this as the true reading. Taking the Hebrew text, however, as it stands, it is probably best to refer the pronoun his to Judah as a nation. As to “the wickedness of his wives,” see Jer 44:15; Jer 44:19. The worship of the queen of heaven was peculiarly a feminine idolatry.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 44:9 Have ye 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 have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Ver. 9. Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers? ] Mira hic verborum apparet emphasis. What a powerful and pressing discourse is this! Sed surdis fabulam, but they were as a stake in the water that stirreth not.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wickedness = wickednesses, or wicked ways. Hebrew. ra’a’. App-44. Note the Figure of speech Repetitio, used for great emphasis.
their wives. See Jer 44:15.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
ye forgotten: Jos 22:17-20, Ezr 9:7-15, Dan 9:5-8
wickedness: Heb. wickedness, or punishments, etc
the wickedness of your: Jer 44:15-19, Jer 7:17, Jer 7:18
Reciprocal: Neh 13:18 – Did not your Psa 119:21 – cursed Jer 44:17 – in the cities Jer 44:21 – and in
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 44:9. The Lord asks these runaway Jews if they had forgotten the record of their fathers. It is in ques-tion form but really is a reproach upon them for not having profited by the end of the nation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
44:9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the {d} kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
(d) He shows that we ought to keep in memory God’s plagues from the beginning that considering them, we might live in his fear, and know if he did not spare our fathers, yea kings, princes, rulers and also whole countries and nations for their sins that we vile worms cannot look to escape punishment for ours.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
He asked if they had forgotten the wickedness of all the people in Judah: their ancestors, the kings and their wives, and themselves and their wives. They had failed to feel contrite or to repent even to the present day. [Note: The same Hebrew word translated "contrite" here, dukke’u, has been rendered "bruised" in Isaiah 53:5.] They had not feared Yahweh or obeyed His covenant. They were arrogant, stubborn, and hard-hearted.
"It was Hegel, in the introduction to his Philosophy of History (1807), who rightly said: ’What experience and history teach is this-that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.’ So with these Jews in Egypt!" [Note: Feinberg, "Jeremiah," pp. 640-41.]