Jeremiah 44:7

Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain; NOW THUS SAITH THE LORD - after so many warnings. WHEREFORE COMMIT YE THIS ... EVIL AGAINST YOUR SOULS - (; ; ). It is not God whom you injure, but yourselves....

He then adds, _Why then do ye now this great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, _from the midst of Judah, _that nothing may remain for you? he _re at length the passage is finished; for what we have hitherto read would have kept the reader in suspense, had not this been added. He then says, “Since the sin of your fathers ought to have been detested by you, and since God’s judgment had been dreadful, and that punishment ought at this day to fill, you with fear, _how is it, _that ye seek to bring on yourselves again the vengeance of God?” _Why then, _he says, _now, _etc. This _now _is emphatical, that is, after so many and so remarkable examples, after so many admonitions, after the most grievous punishment inflicted on the obstinate. He says, _against your own souls; _and by this he touched them very sharply, reminding them that what they w...

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 44:7. This _GREAT EVIL AGAINST YOUR SOULS_] Will not _self-interest_ weigh with you? See what ruin your conduct has brought upon your country. Your fathers sinned as you are doing; and where are they now? Either destroyed, or in captivity. And you are now taking the same way to your own destruction....

YOUR SOULS - i. e., your own selves....

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

THEREFORE NOW THUS SAITH THE LORD, THE GOD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF ISRAEL,.... The same epithets as before, Jeremiah 44:2; with an addition, that his words might carry more weight with them: WHEREFORE COMMIT YE [THIS] GREAT EVIL AGAINST YOUR SOULS; the sin of idolatry, which is a great evil; a sin against God; a giving the glory to another, that belongs to him and not only so, but is against the souls of men; pernicious and ruinous to them, which brings destruction, even eternal wrath and damnation, on them; and this is an interesting argument why it should not be committed; nay, it was not only against God, and against themselves, but against their families, and the interest of them: TO CUT OFF FROM YOU MAN AND WOMAN, CHILD AND SUCKLING, OUT OF JUDAH, TO LEAVE YOU NONE TO REMAIN; not that they did this great evil or committed idolatry with this intentio

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

THE LORD, THE GOD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF ISRAEL. See note on Jeremiah 35:17. GOD. Some codices, with two early printed editions, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, omit "the God". AGAINST YOUR SOULS. Reference to Pentateuch (Numbers 16:38). SOULS. Hebrew. _nephesh._ App-13. MAN. Hebrew. _ish_. App-14. CHILD. little one. OUT OF JUDAH. out of the midst of Judah....