but we will certainly do every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the heavens, and to pour out drink-offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and we had plenty of bread, and were well, and saw no evil.
The survivors of Judah have fled to Egypt against the word of the Lord, and there they answer Jeremiah to his face. Their reply raises two questions: who was this "queen of heaven," and why did they think she paid better than the Lord?
Their words are not a debate but a refusal. One writer weighs what such an answer shows about man, and about God.
If all this shows what man is in self-will and rebellion, it shows also what God is in patient grace and goodness. Grace follows them even into Egypt, and still pleads with them; but nothing humbles them or brings them to repentance. But there is a limit to patience, and judgment follows from which there is no escape... It would be hard to find a bolder, more impudent and wicked defiance of God and His word. They, moreover, impudently claim that it is better and more profitable to serve idols than to serve the Lord!
The title belonged to a female idol. The nations around Judah all knew her.
They had taken up the worship of a female idol. It was common among the idol-worshipping nations around them: the Phoenicians, the Assyrians, the Egyptians and the Babylonians. They called the Babylonian Venus, Ishtar, the queen of heaven. The Assyrians called her Beltis, the female form of Baal. In the sculpture they placed a star over her head and called her "the mistress of the heavens." The Phoenicians worshipped this "queen of heaven" under the name of Ashtoreth or Astarte. The Jews had taken up this wicked worship, and all kinds of immoral ceremonies went with it.
Their case rests on memory: the years of incense were the years of plenty. They read their comfort as proof that the idol worked.
So they gloried in their shame. They took no notice of the works of the Lord or of the working of His hands, and it led to their own destruction. They explained their troubles as the result of slighting the queen of heaven. Their will was fully set on a so-called religion that treated sheer corruption and lust as sacred.
One writer presses the question they never asked.
Why did they not attribute their troubles, as was the truth, to the chastening hand of God? This is exactly what the prophet charges home with the simplicity and force of truth.
Incense and drink offerings were not invented for the idol. They already had a meaning, and the people gave it away.
Incense spoke of the merits of Christ. Drink-offerings spoke of the joy found in the life and death of the Lord Jesus. Yet by the incense they burned to idols and the wine they poured out, the people declared by their action that they had learned the merits belonging to false gods. They declared they had found joy in a rite that was, little as they knew it, really the worship of demons. What an insult it was to God, and to Him whom the sacrifice represented, for Israel to give drink-offerings to idols!
They bind themselves to whatever they have vowed. One writer names what lies under that.
The root of all idolatry is self-will, it is making a god of our own. It is starting with self and fashioning a god, not necessarily out of silver, nor necessarily with our hands... wherever self takes the place of the will of God, you will find the human mind at work, fashioning a god to please itself. And it does this in the name of the Lord, in the name of the true God.
One writer sets this group beside the captives in Babylon. The place they chose decided the outcome.
These people go down into Egypt against the word of the Lord, and sword, famine and disease will destroy them. Those at Babylon have peace, prosperity and plenty promised to them for the time being... God at the beginning redeemed the people out of Egypt, but Babylon became the place of their captivity when they had turned away from the Lord. To return to Egypt therefore was fatal, but from Babylon there was deliverance... Egypt stands for the place that was ours by nature, under Satan's power.
- Vow. They make their own vow the rule — "everything that we have vowed." That self-will is the root of all idolatry: fashioning a god to please yourself.
- Idol. The "queen of heaven" was a female idol known to Babylon, Assyria, Phoenicia and Egypt. Immoral rites went with her worship.
- Evidence. They argued from full stomachs and quiet years. They credited the idol for what God's hand had given, and blamed their losses on neglecting her.
- Insult. Incense and drink offerings were God's own signs of the worth and joy found in Christ. Given to an idol, they became the worship of demons.
- End. Grace followed them into Egypt and still pleaded, but nothing humbled them. From Babylon there was deliverance; from Egypt there was none.
But since we left off burning incense to the queen of the heavens, and pouring out drink-offerings to her, we have wanted everything, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
The people in Egypt have just refused to listen to Jeremiah. Here is their reason: since they stopped honouring the "queen of heaven," everything has gone wrong.
The worship named in this verse was not a Jewish invention. Israel took it from the nations around them, and the goddess went by many names.
They had taken up the worship of a female idol. This worship was common among the idol-worshipping nations around them: the Phoenicians, the Assyrians, the Egyptians and the Babylonians. The Babylonians called their Venus, Ishtar, the queen of heaven. The Assyrians called her Beltis, the female form of Baal. In their sculpture they placed a star over her head and called her "the mistress of the heavens." The Phoenicians worshipped this "queen of heaven" under the name of Ashtoreth or Astarte. The Jews had adopted this wicked worship, which involved all kinds of immoral ceremonies. The women made cakes to present to this goddess. Jewish tradition tells us that each cake carried a stamped image of the idol.
Where the ESV says "making offerings," older translations read "burning incense." Neither act was a random gesture; each carried a meaning in Israel's worship.
Incense spoke of the merits of Christ. Drink offerings spoke of the joy found in the life and death of the Lord Jesus. Yet the people burned incense to idols and poured out wine to them. By that action they claimed to have learned the merits belonging to false gods, and to have found joy in a rite which was really the worship of demons, little as they knew it (1 Cor. 10:20).
after_note: keeps every clause of the original What an insult to God it was for Israel to give drink offerings to idols — an insult to Him whom the sacrifice represented!
They had lived through famine and the sword. They knew what had happened, but they drew the opposite conclusion from it.
So they gloried in their shame. They took no notice of the works of Jehovah or of the work of His hands, and it led to their own destruction. They read their troubles as the result of slighting the queen of heaven, because their will was fully set on a so-called religion. That religion made plain depravity and passion sacred. Why did they not trace their troubles, as was the truth, to the chastening hand of God? That is exactly what the prophet presses home with the simplicity and force of truth.
Pushed to its end, the argument becomes a public comparison in which God loses:
It would be hard to find a bolder, more shameless or more wicked defiance of God and His word. They even claim that it is better and more profitable to serve idols than to serve the Lord! (Jer. 44:15-19) … If people think that by going into the world they will escape trouble, they make a great mistake. We get tired of strife and divisions and weakness, but going into the world does not mend matters. We see here the sad effect of going into the world; it left them without heart or conscience.
The wish behind their reasoning is not unique to Egypt.
This is only a common deception which souls in every age practise on themselves. These poor Israelites wanted every one to turn to his own ways and to have the blessing of God at the same time. They wanted to please themselves and yet be surrounded with the signs of God's favour. (Compare Jer. 44.) They had not learned, as so many of us have not, the truth: "For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives."
Their claim was about the future as much as the past: idolatry pays. God answers in the verses that follow.
The answer is plain enough, and they heard what their fate would be for their deliberate unbelief and disobedience. These are solemn words. The Lord said, "They shall know whose word shall stand, Mine or theirs." God's Word will always stand. So will those who stand by the Word of God and put their trust in it.
- Borrowed goddess. The "queen of heaven" came from the nations around Israel: Ishtar, Beltis, Ashtoreth. Her worship involved immoral ceremonies, and the women baked cakes for her.
- Stolen signs. Incense and drink offerings belonged to God and spoke of Christ. Offered to an idol, they became the worship of demons and a direct insult to Him.
- Twisted history. They read their famine as punishment for giving up idolatry, and so gloried in their shame. The true cause was the chastening hand of God.
- Old deception. Every age repeats the same self-deception: keep your own ways and God's blessing at once. They never learned that the Lord disciplines the one He loves.
- God's word stands. God answers every claim: "whose word shall stand, Mine or theirs." Those who stand on His word stand with it.