*Day 198: Jeremiah 42 - 45*
*GOD'S Judgment on Idolaters*
_I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth - *that God governs in the affairs of men.*_
-- *BENJAMIN FRANKLIN*
*Jeremiah 44:1-14* -> This is *Jeremiah's* last recorded message to *his people*, given in *Egypt*, probably in the year *580* BC.
No sooner did the Jewish remnant arrive in Egypt than they began to worship the *local gods and goddesses*. Jeremiah reminded them of *_what they had seen_* in God's judgment on *Judah* [v 2-3]. He had destroyed their *land* because of their *idolatry*.
*44:15-19* -> The men and women listening to Jeremiah *defended their sins* by arguing that when they lived in Judah and had secretly worshipped the *Queen of Heaven* [Astarte or Ishtar, goddess of fertility], everything had gone well for them. They had plenty of food and enjoyed comfortable circumstances. *They concluded that they were better off when they rejected God and worshipped idols!*
Perhaps the Jews didn't realise that God could *judge* them *in Egypt* as easily as He had judged them *in their own land*, and no gods and goddesses *[Queen of Heaven]* will be able to save them.
_*Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other*_ [Isa 45:22].
*Judgment for Worshipping Queen of Heaven:*
*1*. Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine [v 27].
*2*. Those who escape the sword and return to Judah will be very few [v 28].
*3*. *Pharaoh Hophra* in whom they put their trust will be given into the hands of his *enemies*, as *Zedekiah* was given into the hands of *Nebuchadnezzar* [v 30].
- Cherry Cherian, Kochi