SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/1/2014 9:29 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Jewish Remnant: Doomed Idolaters PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah 44:15-19
Message of the verses: We are looking at the second of three sub-points to this fourth main point in the outline that Dr. Wiersbe gives in his commentary on the book of Jeremiah in the twelfth chapter of his book.
The senseless argument (Jeremiah 44:15-19): “15 Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, 16 “As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we are not going to listen to you! 17 “But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and saw no misfortune. 18 “But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine." 19 “And," said the women, "when we were burning
sacrifices to the queen of heaven and were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?"”
I want to first of all quote two verse notes from the John MacArthur Study Bible, and it is not my desire to offend anyone by doing this. From verse fifteen he writes: “Wives” The idolatry apparently began with the women.” From verses 17-19 he writes on the queen of heaven and wants us to look at the note from Jeremiah 7:18 which reads as follows: “The Jews were worshiping Ishtar, and Assyrian and Babylonian goddess also called Ashtoreth and Astarte, the wife of Baal or Molech. Because these deities symbolized generative power, the worship involved prostitution.” Now to his not from Jeremiah 44:17-19 “This is the title Roman Catholicism erroneously attributes to Mary, the mother of Jesus, in a blending of Christianity with paganism. The Jews twisted thinking credits the idol with the prosperity of pre-captivity Judah, further mocking the goodness of God.”
Now the idea of the “queen of heaven” goes all the way back to the book of Genesis when we read the following from Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."” I am not saying that there is anything wrong with this verse, as this verse alludes to when the Lord Jesus Christ will be born of a woman, as this is the only time in the Scriptures that we see the term “her seed.” I believe with all of my heart that this verse speaks of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, however Satan turned this around and started a cult that has a woman involved in it and it begins with the misunderstanding of this verse. I have read that Eve thought that Seth was this promised one probably because he was a true believer, but this is not true either. In the 10th and 11th chapters of Genesis we see a man named Nimrod and we see him living in the land of what will be called Babylonian and this is
the place where the ancient religions and idols began that had the queen of heaven involved in them. I want to site a book called “Two Babylonians” which was written in the 1800’s by a man named Alexander Hislop. The book was actually put into book form in 1919 and it tells the story of his belief that the Catholic Church “is a veiled continuation of the pagan religion of Babylon.” He talks about the two different Babylonians that are mentioned in Revelations 17 and 18. Hislop ultimately traces Catholic doctrines back to the worship of Nimrod, claiming that the Roman Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon in the Bible Book of Revelation 17:5.” These last two quotes came from Wikipedia. My point in all of this is to say that the cults involving “the queen of heaven,” was just that a cult and that the Jews whom left Judah and moved to Babylon were involved in this cult and of course it was wrong, it was against the Lord whom they were to serve, but did not serve Him and so God would do to them like He did
to the Jews who were beaten in the city of Jerusalem by God’s “servant” Nebuchadnezzar. I will mention that this cult did begin in ancient Babylon by Nimrod and his mother and that the names of the queen of heaven have changed throughout the ages.
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following at the beginning of his commentary on this section: “How tragic that twice in a few short years the Lord had to pronounce judgment on His people for the same sins! Jeremiah told them, ‘God ahead then, and do what you promised! Keep your vows! But hear the Word of the Lord’ (Jer. 44:25-26 NIV). The Jews in Egypt would perish, and only a remnant of the remnant would ever return to their own land.
“Jeremiah gave them a sign: Pharaoh Nopbra, whom they were trusting to care for them would be handed over to his enemies just as King Zedekiah was handed over to Nebuchadnezzar. Keep in mind that it was Pharaoh Hopbra who agreed to help Zedekiah against the Babylonians, and his help proved worthless. Historians tell us that a part of the Egyptian army revolted against Hopbra, and the general who stopped the rebellion was proclaimed king. He reigned along with Hopbra, but three years later Hopbra was executed. Nebuchadnezzar then appeared on the scene, and Jeremiah’s other prophecy was fulfilled.”
Jeremiah was likely dead when all of this happened and one has to wonder if any of the Jews remembered his messages to them when it all came about. I mentioned in an earlier that I had read or heard that Jeremiah was likely martyred by the Jews while living in Egypt. Through all of this his book lives on as a part of the cannon of Scriptures and we have the privilege of reading and studying this wonderful book at this time in history.
John Gill writes the following on the last part of verse sixteen “we will not hearken unto thee: to thy words; neither to thy exhortations, reproofs, or menaces, even though thou comest and speakest in the name of the Lord. This, and what follows, is an unparalleled instance of the pride, obstinacy, enmity, and rebellion of the carnal mind against God.” Now remember that Gill wrote a long time ago and so the words are a bit different than we would use today, but none the less true. We can learn from this that pride comes before destruction as the Proverbs’ say.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am still working on memorizing Philippians 2:5-11 which speaks of the humility of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the reason that I want to continue to memorize this passage is because that it shows me that my Lord humbled Himself when He came to earth and He is truly God, so why would I not want to follow this by learning to be humble, for after all I have nothing to be proud about at all.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to remember Philippians 2:5-11.
Memory verses for the week: Colossians 3:1-3.
1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Martha and Mary” (John 11:21, 32).
Today’s Bible question: “On their first missionary journey, Paul and Silas sailed from Seleucia to what place?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/1/2014 10:30 AM
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