Jeremiah 44:4

Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate. I SENT UNTO YOU ALL MY ... PROPHETS, RISING EARLY AND SENDING THEM - ()....

Now follows a circumstance by which their impiety was still further enhanced, that God had _sent _them Prophets who stretched forth their hands to them to draw them from their errors. For had they never been warned, their condemnation would have been just; for God had once shewn to them by his Law what was right. The teaching, then, of the Law ought to have been sufficient for all ages. But when God had never _ceased to _send Prophets, one after another, it was a sign of hopeless obstinacy to reject so many and so constant warnings. God then added this circumstance that it might appear that the Jews were wholly inexcusable, and worthy of a hundred and of a thousand deaths, because they had so perversely despised all the means of salvation. But God says, that he had _sent to them all his servants _What is universal has its own peculiar importance; for if one or two Prophets had been sent,...

1-14 God reminds the Jews of the sins that brought desolations upon Judah. It becomes us to warn men of the danger of sin with all seriousness: Oh, do not do it! If you love God, do not, for it is provoking to him; if you love your own souls, do not, for it is destructive to them. Let conscience do this for us in the hour of temptation. The Jews whom God sent into the land of the Chaldeans, were there, by the power of God's grace, weaned from idolatry; but those who went by their own perverse will into the land of the Egyptians, were there more attached than ever to their idolatries. When we thrust ourselves without cause or call into places of temptation, it is just with God to leave us to ourselves. If we walk contrary to God, he will walk contrary to us. The most awful miseries to which men are exposed, are occasioned by the neglect of offered salvation....

Verse Jeremiah 44:4. _O, DO NOT THIS ABOMINABLE THING_] A strong specimen of affectionate entreaty. One of the finest figures of poetry, when judiciously managed, the _anthropopathia_, the ascribing _human_ _passions_ to God, is often used by this prophet: so God is said to _grieve_, to _mourn_, to have his _bowels moved_ with compassion, to _repent_, to be _angry_, c. Here he is represented as _tenderly_ _expostulating: O, do not_ or, _I entreat you, do not that_ _abominable thing which I hate_. 1. _Do it not_: your _God_ commands. 2. _O, do it not_: your _Father entreats_. 3. It is _an abominable_ thing, and should _not be done_. 4. _I hate it_, and on that account ye should abstain from it....

HOWBEIT I SENT - And I sent....

EXPOSITION Jeremiah's debate with the Jewish fugitives in Pathros; his last prophecy. JEREMIAH 44:1 Accusation brought against the obstinately idolatrous people. JEREMIAH 44:1 WHICH DWELL; rather, _which dwelt. _It appears from this verse that the Jewish fugitives had separated in Egypt, some going to the two northern frontier cities, Migdol (on which see R.S. Poole, 'The Cities of Egypt,' Jeremiah 8:1.) and Tahpanhes or Daphnae, others further south to Noph, _i.e. _Memphis, or, less probably, Napata (see on Jeremiah 2:16), and

HOWBEIT, I SENT UNTO YOU ALL MY SERVANTS THE PROPHETS,.... As many as he raised up, and employed in the work and service of prophesying; and these were many; and as many as they were, he sent them to them, one after another, to warn them of their sin and danger; but all to no purpose; which was a further aggravation of their wickedness: nay, though he was RISING EARLY, AND SENDING [THEM]; was very early in his messages to them; gave them timely warning, and let slip no opportunity of admonishing them; and this he did constantly; see Jeremiah 7:13; SAYING, OH, DO NOT THIS ABOMINABLE THING THAT I HATE; all sin is abominable in itself, and hateful to God, especially idolatry; and therefore should not be done; it should be abominable to men, and hateful to them, because it is so to God; and after such a remonstrance as this, to commit it must be very aggr

CHAPTER 44 _ 1. The message to the Jews (Jeremiah 44:1) _ 2. Their punishment (Jeremiah 44:11) 3. Worshipping the queen of heaven (Jeremiah 44:15) 4. Jehovah's answer (Jeremiah 44:20) 5. The sign: Pharaoh-Hophra's Defeat (Jeremiah 44:29) Jeremiah 44:1. The message is concerning all the Jews who were now dwelling in Egypt. Besides being in Tahpanhes, they were also in Noph (Memphis) and

JEREMIAH 44. DENUNCIATION OF THE JEWISH WORSHIP OF ISHTAR IN EGYPT. Jeremiah points to the desolation of Judah as the experienced consequence of idolatry, notwithstanding Yahweh's warnings (Jeremiah 44:1). Why, then, do they repeat the offence, forgetting the past? Yahweh will destroy the remnant in Egypt, leaving fugitives only (Jeremiah 44:7). The assembled men and women refuse to abandon the worship of Ishtar (the queen of heaven, Jeremiah 7:18 *), which they have vowed (Jeremiah 44:17, out of our mouth, Judges 11:36); prosperity of old acc

RISING EARLY, &C. See note on Jeremiah 7:13....