Jeremiah 44:20 - Meaning and Application

Bold sinners may say many proud things, but God always has the last word. He will be shown right when he speaks, and every person, even the proudest, will be silent before him. Prophets may be attacked and dismissed, but God cannot be overthrown. Jeremiah speaks here both from himself and from the Lord, and he first corrects their wrong idea about their troubles.

The people said their suffering came because they had stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven, a false goddess. Jeremiah says the opposite, it was because they had long practiced that sin in the first place. God had been patient with their idolatry, and for a long time they seemed to prosper and saw no trouble. But when their guilt had grown full, the Lord could no longer bear with them, and he began to punish them (Jeremiah 44:20, 22).

Some of them then made a little outward change. It was less that they left their sins, and more that their sins left them. Yet their old guilt still stood against them, and their sinful hearts were unchanged. God remembered the idol worship of their fathers, kings, and princes in Jerusalem, and he brought all of it into account (Jeremiah 44:21-23). Their land became a waste and a curse because of those older sins, not because of the recent small reform they claimed. The right understanding of our troubles should help us see our sins more clearly. Whatever evil comes on us, it is because we have sinned against the Lord.

Jeremiah then speaks to the women in particular, from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. They have given their answer, and now they must hear God’s reply (Jeremiah 44:24, 26). Even in Egypt, where Judah was living, God was still speaking to them, and that was their privilege. It was also their duty to listen. Since they were fully set on continuing in idolatry, God says he is fully set on continuing his case against them.

He repeats their own words back to them. They and their wives had agreed in stubborn rebellion. They had spoken with their mouths and carried it out with their hands, insisting that they would keep the vows they had made to burn incense to the queen of heaven (Jeremiah 44:25). As if a vow could make a sin right, or make evil become duty. No one can use a promise to turn what God has forbidden into something lawful. So God answers with his own oath, sworn by his great name.

He had sworn that the last traces of religion among them would vanish. They still used the name of the Lord in their oaths, saying, “As the Lord lives,” even while they worshiped lifeless idols. But God says his name would no longer be used that way by any man of Judah in Egypt (Jeremiah 44:26). If any Jews remained there, they would forget their old faith and speak like the Egyptians instead. Those are truly miserable people whom God has left so far to themselves that they forget their religion. Or this may mean that God would count their use of his name as an insult, since they still claimed to belong to him while serving idols.

God also swears that the remaining people there will be destroyed (Jeremiah 44:27). He says he will watch over them for harm, so that no chance of judgment will be missed, until they are finished and uprooted. To stubborn sinners, God will prove to be a relentless Judge. Then they will learn whose word stands, his or theirs (Jeremiah 44:28). They said they would be safe if they returned to the worship of the queen of heaven. God said they would ruin themselves. The outcome would show who was right. In the end, God’s word stands, and the sinner’s word falls.

Yet a small number would escape the sword and later return to Judah, though only a few compared with those who would return from the land of the Chaldeans, that is, Babylon (Jeremiah 44:28). This seems meant to shame those who boasted about their numbers in sin. Many had joined in idolatry, but only a few would survive judgment. God also gives them a sign that these warnings would come true in their time. They would be destroyed in Egypt, and Pharaoh-hophra, the Egyptian king who had likely encouraged their false trust, would be handed over to his enemies who wanted his life, whether by his own rebel subjects or by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (Jeremiah 44:29). If their hoped-for protector fell, that would be a clear step toward their own ruin.

They expected more help from him than from Zedekiah, king of Judah. He was a stronger and more clever ruler. But God says, “I will hand him over to his enemies, just as I handed over Zedekiah.”

The lesson is clear. The comforts and supports we trust most can fail as quickly as those we trust least. All of them depend on what God chooses to make them, not on what we imagine them to be.

The Bible does not record the full fulfillment of this prophecy, but its silence is enough. We hear nothing more about these Jews in Egypt, so we may conclude that they were lost there, just as this prophecy said. No word from God ever fails.