Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

To read Jeremiah 44:1-30, click this link HERE.

When Baruch son of Neriah wrote on a scroll the words Jeremiah the prophet dictated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, Jeremiah said this to Baruch: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: You said, ‘Woe to me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.’ But the Lord has told me to say to you, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the earth. Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.’”

• Jeremiah 45:1-5

To read Jeremiah 46:1-28, click this link HERE.

This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:
This is what the Lord says:
“See how the waters are rising in the north;
    they will become an overflowing torrent.
They will overflow the land and everything in it,
    the towns and those who live in them.
The people will cry out;
    all who dwell in the land will wail
at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds,
    at the noise of enemy chariots
    and the rumble of their wheels.
Parents will not turn to help their children;
    their hands will hang limp.
For the day has come
    to destroy all the Philistines
and to remove all survivors
    who could help Tyre and Sidon.
The Lord is about to destroy the Philistines,
    the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.
Gaza will shave her head in mourning;
    Ashkelon will be silenced.
You remnant on the plain,
    how long will you cut yourselves?
“‘Alas, sword of the Lord,
    how long till you rest?
Return to your sheath;
    cease and be still.’
But how can it rest
    when the Lord has commanded it,
when he has ordered it
    to attack Ashkelon and the coast?”

• Jeremiah 47:1-7

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Jeremiah 44 ‘Escaping God’s Judgment is Futile’: ”Chapter 44 is Jeremiah’s last recorded message to his people, given in Egypt probably in the year 580 BC. If he was called by God in 626, the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign (1:2), then he had been ministering forty—six years. You can’t help admiring Jeremiah for his faithfulness in spite of all the discouragements that had come to his life.
“No sooner did the Jewish remnant arrive in Egypt than they began to Worship the local gods and goddesses, of which there were many. Jeremiah reminded them of what they had seen in the Lord’s judgment on Judah (44:2—3). It was because of their idolatry that He had destroyed their land, the city of Jerusalem, and the temple. Then he reminded them of what they had heard——the messages of the prophets God had sent to rebuke them time after time (vv. 4—6).
“But they hadn’t learned their lesson and now they were jeopardizing their future and inviting the wrath of God by repeating in Egypt the sins they’d committed in Judah. Had they forgotten The past? Were they unconcerned about their future? Didn’t they realize that God could judge them in Egypt as easily as He had judged them in their own land? No wonder God called the Jews in the land ‘bad figs that nobody could eat.’ The future would rest with the exiles in Babylon who would one day return to their land and carry on the work God had given them to do.”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 44:4 ‘God hates all sin’: “This verse offers two arguments against sin: the first is from the nature of sin itself—’this detestable action’- and the second is from the feeling of God toward sin—’that I hate.’ The particular detestable sin of which Jeremiah was speaking was that of idolatry. It is a detestable action because it is so degrading and debasing. The second reason sin should be repented of and forsaken is because of the feeling of God toward sin. Mark how strongly he puts it—’detestable action that I hate.’ God hates all evil, all injustice, all wrongdoing, all immorality, all sin of every kind. He hates it! He is not indifferent to it or tolerant of it, but his whole being goes out in righteous indignation against it. And he hates it, first, because he is infinitely pure. He hates it, too, because it is such an injury to us, his creatures. He hates it because it so grievously mars what he made. Men and women, as God sees them, are rendered ugly through sin. God hates it, too, because it drives him to do what he dislikes doing—his unexpected work of judgment (Is 28:21).
“To me the most touching thing in this text is God’s pleading with people: ‘Don’t commit this detestable action.’ It is such wondrous condescension on God’s part to thus plead with sinners. But the greatest wonder of it all is that God not only pleaded thus with people once; he did it many times: ‘So I sent you all my servants the prophets time and time again.’ ”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 44:14 ‘except those who escape’: “A small number (v. 28) who fled before the arrival of the Babylonian army were spared.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 44:17-19 ‘queen of heaven’: “This is a title that Roman Catholicism erroneously attributes to Mary, the mother of Jesus, in a blending of Christianity with paganism. The Jews’ twisted thinking credits the idol with the prosperity of pre-captivity Judah, further mocking the goodness of God.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics

Jeremiah 44:29-30 ‘sign’: “The sign of punishment was described in verse 30 as the strangulation of Pharaoh Hophra in 570 B.C. by Amasis, which paved the way for Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion in the twenty-third year of his reign (568/67 B.C.).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 45 ‘What about Baruch?’: ”Jeremiah 45 gives us insight into the man Baruch. As we noted earlier, he had a brother on the king’s official staff who probably could have secured a good job for him in the palace. Instead, Baruch chose to identify with Jeremiah and do the will of God. We thank God for all that Jeremiah did, but we should also thank God for the assistance Baruch gave Jeremiah so the prophet could do his work. Moses had his seventy elders; David had his mighty men; Jesus had His disciples; Paul had his helpers, such as Timothy, Titus, and Silas; and Jeremiah had his faithful secretary.
“Not everybody is called to be a prophet or apostle, but all of us can do the will of God by helping others do their work. Baruch was what we’d today call a ‘layman.’ Yet he helped a prophet write the Word of God. In my own ministry, I’ve appreciated the labors of faithful secretaries and assistants who have helped me in myriads of ways. I may have been on the platform, but without their assistance behind the scenes, I could never have gotten my work done. Baruch was willing to stay in the background and serve God by serving Jeremiah.
“Another lesson emerges: Even the most devoted servants occasionally get discouraged. Baruch came to a point in his life where he was so depressed that he wanted to quit. ‘Woe is me now! For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest’ (45:3 NKJV). Perhaps the persecution of Jeremiah recorded in chapter 26 was the cause of this anguish. Maybe Baruch was considering leaving Jeremiah and asking his brother for an easier job in the palace.
“The Lord, however, had a word of encouragement for His servant. First, He cautioned him not to build his hopes on the future of Judah, because everything would be destroyed in the Babylonian siege. A ‘soft job’ in the government would lead only to death or exile in Babylon. Then God gave him a word of assurance: his life would be spared, so he didn’t have to fear the enemy. God was proving to Baruch the reality of a promise that would be written centuries later: ‘But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you’ (Matt. 6:33 NKJV).”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 45:3 ‘Woe is me now!’: “Baruch felt anxious as his own cherished plans of a bright future were apparently dashed; even death became a darkening peril (cf. v. 5). Possibly, he was confused by God’s role in carrying through with such calamity (cf. v. 4). Jeremiah spoke to encourage him (v. 1).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 45:5 ‘you seek great things’: “Baruch set his expectations far too high, and this made the disasters hard to bear. He was to be content just to live. Jeremiah, who once also complained, learned by his own suffering to encourage complainers.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 46-51 ‘The Prophecies against the Gentiles’: “In chapters 46-51, Jeremiah spells out prophesies against the surrounding Gentile nations. A good number of these prophecies were fulfilled in the course of the history following Jeremiah; however, there are other prophecies that speak of a future judgment against these nations, and it is this future portion of the prophecies with which we will be concerned in this section.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Jeremiah 46 ‘Egypt’: “In Jeremiah 46 God describes a massive destruction of Egypt, a massive discipline, but He will not bring total destruction. By the end of verse 26, God promises a future restoration of Egypt and, according to other passages, Egypt will have a positive future in the messianic kingdom (Isaiah 19:19-25; Ezekiel 29:13-16; Zechariah 14:16-19). In verses 27-28, after an extensive prophecy against Egypt, God concludes with words of comfort for Israel (a repetition of Jeremiah 30:10-11).”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Jeremiah 46:1 ‘against the nations’: “Jeremiah had already proclaimed that all the nations at some time are to ‘drink the cup’ of God’s wrath (25:15-26). In chapters 46-51, God selected certain nations and forecast their doom. Likely given to Jeremiah at different times, the prophecies were collected according to the nations, not the chronology.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 46:3-12 ‘Pharoah Necho had already been defeated by Nebuchadnezzar’: ”Pharaoh Necho had defeated Judah and killed King Josiah at Megiddo in 609 BC (2 Chron. 35:20-27), but then Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at the Famous Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC, the Fourth year of Jehoiakim. That defeat broke the power of Egypt and made Babylon supreme in the Near East. Jeremiah described the battle from Egypt’s viewpoint (Jer. 46:3-12); then he described Babylon’s invasion of Egypt (vv. 13-26), concluding with an application to the people of Israel (vv. 27-28).”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 46:10 ‘the day of the Lord’: “While this phrase often refers to an eschatological judgment on earth (such as in Zeph. 1:7; Mal. 4:5; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10), it also may refer to a historical day. In this case, it refers to the Egyptian defeat (cf. Lam. 2:22).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 46:26 ‘Afterward’: “Forty years after Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Egypt, it threw off the Babylonian yoke, but never regained its former glory (Ezek. 29:11-15).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 46:27-28 ‘do not fear … Jacob’: “Though Israel has been scattered to the nations, the nations will still receive their judgments; and the Lord will restore Israel (repeated from 30:10, 11) from global dispersion to her own land (as in Jer. 23:5-8; 30-33). No matter what judgments fall on Israel, the people will not be destroyed, as Paul reiterates in Romans 11:1, 2, 15, 25-27.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 47:1-6 ‘God’s judgment was relentless’: ”The Philistine people probably came from Crete (Caphtor, v. 4). They built a wealthy nation by developing a merchant marine that sailed the Mediterranean and acquired goods from many lands. But their destiny was destruction. Tyre and Sidon had been confederate with Judah in an attempt to stop Nebuchadnezzar (]er. 27:3).
“This time Jeremiah used the image of the rising river to describe the Babylonian army as it flooded over the land (47:2). So terrible was the invasion that parents would flee for their lives and leave their children behind (v. 3; see 49:11). The people would act like mourners at a Funeral (47:5) and ask the Lord when He would put up the terrible sword of His judgment (v. 6). But this sword would continue to devour the land until God’s work of judgment was finished.”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 47:1-5 ‘against the Philistines’: “Cf. Isaiah 14:29-32; Ezekiel 25:15-17; Amos 1:6-8; Zephaniah 2:4-7. Although Egypt’s Pharaoh Hophra conquered the Philistines (who lived on the coastal plain of Palestine) in Gaza and Phoenicia around 587 B.C. (v. 1), Babylon appears to be the conqueror in this scene, (‘out of the north’) at the same time as their invasion of Judah (588-586 B.C.; cf. 39:1, 2).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

 

My Thoughts

Two of these chapters focus on Egypt, Jeremiah 44 due to the Jews’ using Egypt as a shield and Jeremiah 46, God pronouncing the punishment of Egypt.  Listing Egypt first and Babylon last among the curses of other nations is important.  The Jews that thought they could run away from God’s punishment went to Egypt, to continue their worship of false gods.  Why did they not repent?  They probably told God that they do that lamb’s blood on the doorposts every year, “What else do you want?”  But God had told them to stay and be subject to Babylon.

But no, they complained that while they worshipped the Queen of Heaven, they flourished.  But even when they were forbidden in doing so, the wives put the queen’s image in the cakes that they ate.  They had deserted God and were unrepentant.  Jeremiah told them what to do to repent, and they refused.

It is like our hidden sins, we think we can hide those from God, but He already knows.  He knew when we were thinking about doing the sin.  We can hide nothing from Him, and yet, He loves us.  He commands that we repent, but only to prepare us and show us that worshipping God in the right manner with the right attitude is a wonderful experience.  Ask anyone who went to the Asbury Seminary outpouring of the Holy Spirit or anyone who had the same experience in the late 60s and early 70s during the Jesus Movement.  Just watching the movie, Jesus Revolution, caused me to feel those feelings again, fifty years later.  But no, instant gratification is more important, even after they lost their land that God had promised them.  Note: He promised exactly what happened if they did not stay true to Him.  They were not blindsided.

And note that there was no one who humbled themselves.  When the most detestable king of the northern tribes, Ahab, heard Elijah pass judgment on him, he tore his robes.  God showed mercy and the curse passed to Ahab’s sons.  But when Jeremiah pronounced a similar curse on King Jehoiakim, Jehoiakim did not tear his robes, he burned Jeremiah’s scroll in open defiance.  Not showing humility?  Indeed!

Then the curse of the exiles in Egypt is separated from the curse of Egypt itself with a few verses about Baruch.  I think it odd that the Wiersbe and MacArthur commentaries on that chapter are lengthier than the chapter itself.  I have heard some scholars postulate that the “fugitives” that escape Egypt might include Baruch.  Baruch may have thought highly of himself, but he was innocent.  He had been the servant of the one prophet who preached the truth.  But then, escaping with your life might be a monumental feat when you see what is coming.  More sword, famine, and plague.  But after the utter defeat of Egypt in Jeremiah 46, God shows mercy to a remnant.  Was Baruch’s escape in that his descendants would be part of the remnant, or did he himself become one of the “fugitives” mentioned in Jeremiah 44?

What more can be added about Pharoah, other than he is only a loud noise.  Those that rely on Pharoah, will be destroyed, and the remnant of Judah had relied on Pharoah after God told them to stay in Judah.

The Philistines will be defeated, according to Jeremiah 47, so severely that the parents will be unable, or too preoccupied with their own destruction, to help their children.  Knowing someone that was a devoted mother who would risk everything to protect her children, that one mental image shows how utterly devastating the destruction of the Philistines was.

The utter destruction of the Philistines reminds me of Dr. Glasstone’s work after the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  In one photo, the person’s shadow was burned into the sidewalk, but every molecule of the person himself had been vaporized.  Dr. Glasstone, a nuclear engineer, had gone there to study the effects and the aftermath of the explosions.  So much was not known, but having read his book, each time I read about total annihilation, my thoughts go to that book and those photographs.  May that never happen again, but I see it happening with some world leaders who think they have something to prove.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

“Jeremiah 44: 1. How can people hear God’s word, see God’s power and yet still misunderstand the message? In what sense were you like that with your parents? In what sense are you like that with your Parent in Heaven?
“2. Would you say your lite has been a ‘success’ so far? On what basis? What constitutes a ‘failure’: (a) Falling short of a goal? (b) Not seeing any results for all your effort? (c) Not trying hard enough? (d) Making mistakes? (e) Not making any mistakes?
“3. Looking at our world’s often sordid and bloody history, would you say God has been a success? Can God fail, or can he only succeed?
“4. Martin Luther examined his conscience by contemplating the ‘regrets’ in his life. What do you regret? Do you have a lot of regrets? How do ‘regrets’ point to sin? What do you do with ‘regrets’?
“Jeremiah 45 1. Are you ambitious for great things, or satisfied with very little? Illustrate.
“Jeremiah 46 1. Do you think God is as involved with world affairs today? ls God only involved with ‘Christian’ nations? Do you think Nebuchadnezzar attacked Egypt out of conscious obedience to the Lord? Why or why not?
“2. How visible is God‘s plan and power, apart from the eyes of faith? Where do you see God’s activity in your world, or don’t you?
“3. Are you troubled by the direction of the world or concerned about humanity’s future? What is your role in our fate? What is God’s role? The church’s? World governments?
“4. Have you lived through a trying time, learned lots of lessons and then gone back to ways ‘as in times past’ when the dust settled? How can you make a lesson once learned stick for all time? Can the group help?
“5. Do you ‘stumble repeatedly’ (v.16) over the same problem? Why is it hard to get up and walk straight? ls God the one ‘pushing you down’ (v.15; see Jas 1:12-15, for the difference between a trial and a temptation)?
“6. Have you ever ‘missed your opportunity’ (v.17) when its time finally came? Why did you hesitate to follow through? Was it something you really didn’t want, or something you thought you might not deserve?
“Jeremiah 47 1. What determines who wins battles: Superior equipment? Stronger forces? Better strategy? Something else?
“2. What would you call an ‘overflowing torrent’ (v.2) on today’s scene? What can be done about it?
“3. Do you know anyone who has fought in a war or lived in a war zone? What do wars accomplish? Are they acts of God’s wrath, or the results of man’s folly? Explain.”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

These four chapters each have a set of questions, although Jeremiah 45 only has one question.

The first question 4 speaks of Martin Luther’s “regrets.”  Let’s get such “regrets” like not finishing one’s bucket list or buying that huge house when the interest rates were low off the table.  To flip the question, it is quite easy to have regrets that do not point to sin in our lives, but have you ever made a promise and the other party to whom you made the promise died before you “got around to it?”  I have, and I regret having made a promise that I did not fulfill.  Hopefully, this example starts you in the right direction, the one in which Martin Luther intended.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.