Jeremiah 44:15-19 – Being true to our true God

In Jeremiah 44:15-19 we see the response of the people to the message given by Jeremiah. A large throng of people comprising of the men who were aware of their wives’ idolatrous activities, all the women standing by, and the people living in Pathros in Egypt defiantly opposed and rejected the prophet’s message.  They had the audacity to tell right into Jeremiah’s face saying “As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you! 

So arrogant and rebellious were they that they insisted on continuing in their idolatry. Like their forefathers, they were going to persist in burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven, to pour out drink offerings to her. Pointing to the time when the kings and princes of Judah were in control, they argued that their forefathers were not worse off with such idolatrous activity. They neither experienced war nor famine. In fact, they had plenty of food, were well-fed, and had no such misfortune. This probably happened during the reign of King Manasseh in 2 Kings 21:3-5.

Insist on persisting in their idolatry, they gave a very lame excuse in verse 18. They said, “…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.” Failing to see their misfortune as God’s discipline for their waywardness, they attributed their misfortune to the fact that they had stopped sacrificing to the queen of heaven. The women chimed in adding inverses 19 that what they were doing was with the approval of their husbands.

Who is this queen of heaven? It is believed that she was the Assyrian goddess Ishtar opt the Babylonian goddess Astheroth or Astarte, the counterpart or wife of Baal. This fertility cult was believed to be the source of their peace and fortune. Today this goddess has morphed into different forms – goddess of peace, mercy, sex, glamor, and the like. They all advocate a hedonistic lifestyle that we should go for what is pleasurable and what would make one feel or look good.  For us Christians, there is only one true God. He came to us in His Son Jesus Christ. He alone deserves our total allegiance and worship.