Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 44:18
But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all [things], and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
18. See introd. note on Jer 7:16-20. The v. alludes to the misfortunes reaching from Josiah’s death at Megiddo to the flight into Egypt. The passage is important “as shewing the view taken of these misfortunes by Jews of the average type. Jeremiah regarded the misfortunes of his country as proofs of the displeasure of Jehovah: these Jews on the other hand of His impotence.” Cheyne, ad loc. It also shews the popular opposition to Josiah’s reform and its superficiality.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The suppression of this popular idolatry had apparently been regarded with much ill-will in Josiahs time, and many may even have ascribed to it his defeat at Megiddo. Probably Jehoiakim had again permitted it, but Zedekiah, during the miseries of his reign, had forbidden it, and the people ascribed the fall of Jerusalem to the neglect of their favorite goddess.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
18. They impute their calamitiesto their service of God, but these are often marks of His favor, notof wrath, to do His people good at their latter end (De8:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven,…. Or were restrained from it, as the Targum, through the force of the prophet’s sermons, or by the authority of their governors: this Abarbinel thinks was in the times of Jehoiakim, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah; but perhaps it only regards some space of time in the latter part of Zedekiah’s reign, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, when they refrained from their idolatry; fearing the wrath of God, and what was coming upon them; though Kimchi is of opinion that they never ceased; but they would say, when any evil came upon them, it was because they ceased to burn incense to the queen of heaven, of were not so ready to it as at first:
and to pour out drink offerings to her: another part of worship they performed to her but for a while left off: and from that time they say,
we have wanted all [things], and have been consumed by the sword, and by the famine; wanted all the necessaries of life, meat and drink, and clothing and a habitation to dwell in; and multitudes were destroyed by the sword of the king of Babylon; and others perished with famine during the siege; these evils they imputed to their cessation from idolatry, when it was the very thing that brought them on them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here he enlarges on their ingratitude, that they attributed to God the fault of all their calamities, when yet God would have drawn them, as the Prophet will hereafter tell us, as it were out of darkness into light, had they been reclaimable. They ought to have been restored, by punishments, to their right mind. But this had been so far from being the case, that the effect of God’s scourges had been to render them more and more obstinate.
They then said, that from the time they left off to worship idols, they had been miserable, that they had labored under the want of everything, and had been consumed by famine and the sword. They had before been consumed, as it is well known, by the famine and the sword, and as we have said, they had before suffered many calamities. Why then did they not refer to these punishments which they had suffered for having so often, and for so long a time, rebelled against God? But they willfully covered over God’s judgments: and yet they said that they had been in every way miserable, since they had ceased from false worship. But was it for this reason they became miserable, because they no longer poured out libations to stars and idols? Nay, the reason was very different, as the Prophet will presently answer them. But we must repeat all their words; we shall come afterwards to the refutation given by the Prophet.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) To burn incense to the queen of heaven.This form of worship, characterised specially by its offerings of crescent-shaped cakes, would seem to have been the dominant fashion of the idolatry of the time. (See Note on Jer. 7:18.) The men who felt themselves condemned by the prophets words vindicate their line of action. They had practised this worship of old, and would practise it still, and they set their experience of the prosperity of those past days against the prophets picture of the evil that had followed. Might they not argue, as the Romans did in the calamities that fell on the Empire (Tertull. Apol. c. 40; August. De Civ. Dei, I. c. 36), that they suffered because they had left off the worship under the influence of a different teaching?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. We have wanted all things True, but the fact that a given evil followed a certain action is not proof that the evil was the result of that action. It may have been the effect of an anterior action; which it clearly was in this case.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 44:18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all [things], and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
Ver. 18. But since we have left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, we have wanted all things.] This was non causa pro causa. Not unlike hereunto was that gross mistake of certain Lutheran ministers, who not long since, consulting at Hamburg about the causes and cure of Germany’s calamities, concluded it was because their images in churches were not adorned enough, which therefore they would procure done. a
a Burroughs on Hos., tom. i. p. 465.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
we have: Jer 40:12, Num 11:5, Num 11:6, Job 21:14, Job 21:15, Psa 73:9-15, Mal 3:13-15
Reciprocal: Deu 28:48 – in hunger Isa 48:5 – Mine idol Isa 57:10 – There is Jer 44:23 – ye have burned Jer 44:27 – shall be Hos 2:5 – give Hos 2:8 – her corn Hos 7:13 – spoken Mic 1:7 – the hires Hag 1:6 – eat
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 44:18. These idolaters were vain enough to attribute their prosperity to the false gods which they worshiped. As long as the Lord is willing to tolerate an evil generation at all, he will continue to bestow the blessings of nature. (See Mat 5:45.) These corrupt people were so foolish as to give their false gods the credit for the blessings that came from the true God.
Jer 44:19