Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 44:21

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Message to the Judeans in Egypt (44:1-30)

Once they had settled down in Egypt, the Judeans soon copied Egyptian religious practices. Jeremiah begins his warnings to them with the reminder of what happened to Jerusalem. The city was destroyed and the people of Judah sent into Babylonian exile because of their false religion and idolatry (44:1-6). Yet the Judeans who escaped to Egypt have not heeded the lesson. God had promised to preserve a minority of the people taken captive to Babylon, but he will preserve none of those who have escaped to Egypt. They show no sign of repentance, but worship the gods of Egypt as they once worshipped other false gods in Jerusalem (7-10).
God announces that his judgment will follow the Judeans to Egypt till they are destroyed. Some will die through war, others through famine. The only survivors will be a few fugitives who escape back to Judah (11-14).

The people’s arrogant response to the message from God shows their rebellious spirit and their determination to continue in their idolatry. They argue that during the reign of Manasseh, when the worship of foreign gods was at its peak (cf. 2 Kings 21:3-5), there was neither war nor famine. But when Josiah removed idolatry and established the worship of Yahweh (cf. 2 Kings 23:4-5), Judah suffered from both war and famine (15-18). Moreover, the idolatry had the full approval of the heads of households all over Judah (19).

In reply Jeremiah points out that the worship of foreign gods was the reason for Judah’s calamities and ultimate downfall. The idolatrous practices of Manasseh’s time were so deeply rooted that Josiah’s reform could not remove them (20-23; cf. 2 Kings 23:26-27).

The prophet challenges the people to continue their worship of false gods and see whether or not they will be punished (24-25). But he knows the outcome: they will be destroyed, never to dishonour the holy name of God again (26-27). Only a few who escape will live to see Jeremiah’s prophecy come true (28). The Judeans in Egypt will have a sure sign of their coming doom when they see Pharaoh, in whom they have trusted, overthrown (29-30).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

JEREMIAH REFUTES THEIR FALSE ARGUMENT

“Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men and to the women, even to all the people that had given him that answer, saying, The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, and your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not Jehovah remember them, and came it not into his mind? so that Jehovah could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day. Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against Jehovah, and have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore is this evil happened unto you, as it is this day.”

“Did not Jehovah remember them…?” This is the equivalent of Jeremiah’s asking, “Do you think all of those people really got by with their shameless worship of the Queen of Heaven? If you do, take a look at their land as it is this very day!

This was the only refutation that the false arguments of the Queen’s worshippers really needed, if they had only had the sense to appreciate it. Alas, it is true, as Hegel said in his Philosophy of History (1807), “What experience and history teach is this: people and governments never have learned anything from human history, or acted upon the principles deduced from it.”Charles L. Feinberg, Jeremiah in Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 6 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), p. 640. Just so it was with those Jews who went sojourning in Egypt; they became ensnared in the shameless idolatry of Egypt and lost their relationship with the Creator.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Them - The various acts of idolatry involved in burning incense to an image.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

The incense, he says, which ye have burnt in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the whole people of the land, has not Jehovah remembered them? Whence, he says, has this dreadful calamity proceeded, which has destroyed all your race? Even from the wrath of God, for it has not happened to you by chance, for God had by his servants predicted what afterwards has been really fulfilled. It then follows, that your city has been destroyed through the righteous judgment of God. And what has been the cause of so great and so grievous a vengeance? Even your incense.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 44

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt ( Jeremiah 44:1 ),

And this is Jeremiah's final message to the people. God's last word to the nation that have turned their backs on Him and have gone to Egypt. Back to the place from which God had delivered them, and God gives to them His final word. "The word which came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which were in the land of Egypt."

which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; You have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are desolate, and no man is dwelling there; Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers ( Jeremiah 44:1-3 ).

You see what's happened. You see the desolation of the land and it all took place because the people forsook Me, God said, and they began to worship these other gods.

Howbeit I sent warnings to you through my servants the prophets, who rose early, and they said, Don't do this abominable thing that God hates. But they did not hearken, they did not incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, and they continued to burn their incense to these other gods. Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as they are this very day. Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Why do you commit this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and nursing child, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain; In that you are continuing to provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, [because you are still] burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to dwell, that you might cut yourselves off, and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? ( Jeremiah 44:4-8 )

"Why are you doing this?" God said, "It was because of the burning of the incense and the worshipping of these other gods that you were driven from the land, that your land is desolate today. But you've continued these very practices now that you've come into Egypt. The very thing that brought the judgment of God upon you, you've not ceased doing. Even though you are here in Egypt, suffering the judgment of God, as your land is desolate. Yet you continue in these abominations."

Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? ( Jeremiah 44:9 )

Now it is interesting at this point where Jeremiah joins the wives in his indictment, for they were guilty of these same abominations. And in fact, as we read on the account, it would seem that the women were perhaps rather forward and leading in these abominations.

Corrupted womanhood is usually the final straw that breaks the back of a nation. Women have a capacity, because of that fine, delicate temperament, of greater heights of spiritual experience and of deeper depths of moral depravity than men. When a woman goes bad, it's usually horrible. Like the little girl with a curl, when she is bad she's horrible. Men are coarser in their nature. And man's spectrum is rather narrow in a coarse median. Whereas a woman capable by her fine, beautiful temperament of higher highs, she's also capable of lower lows. The spectrum of the woman moves in a much broader spectrum than does man. So that when the woman falls, she so often goes to the bottom. And when that takes place, it's all over. It is interesting that women so often in the churches take leading roles of spirituality, in the prayer groups, in service groups and all. And that's because of this beautiful, fine temperament that when tuned to the Spirit is so beautiful and so glorious, so inspiring, so beautiful to behold. A woman walking with the Lord in that beautiful, fine, keen temperament that is so sensitive and attune to the things of God and the things of the Spirit.

So often because I am in this coarser, denser nature, I'll be in a situation and just sort of plodding through and we'll get home and my wife said, "Did you notice what was happening there tonight?" "What? I didn't notice anything." "Oh, well, when this happened, you know," and she can pick up on the fine spiritual tuning. Great spiritual insights. "Oh, this took place." And as I look back I say, "Well, yeah, I can remember." It didn't mean anything. It didn't say anything to me. But with this keen spiritual sensitivity, she has a capacity of picking up on spiritual attunement much better than I do. Because I'm just this rugged, push-through and plod along. But women attune to the Spirit. What high capacities they have. What keen spiritual insights. And how beautiful it is to see a woman walking in the Spirit because of the highs that she is capable of and that spiritual sensitivity. It's fantastic. But on the other end of the spectrum, it's tragic.

Now Jeremiah is speaking how that the wives had joined in and he joins them in this indictment. The wickedness of their wives and of your wives.

They are not humbled ( Jeremiah 44:10 )

He's talking about their wives. Verse ten:

even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and I'm going to cut off all of Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: so that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape ( Jeremiah 44:10-14 ).

Only a very small group that escapes.

Then all the men which knew that their wives were burning incense to the other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that were dwelling in the land of Egypt, they answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word which you have spoken to us in the name of Jehovah, we are not going to listen to you. But we will certainly do whatever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven [to Semiramis who is known queen of heaven, mother of God], and to pour out drink offerings unto her ( Jeremiah 44:15-17 ),

This is that Babylonian religious system that Israel was caught up in. The worship of Tammuz and Semiramis, these Babylonian deities, the mother-child concept. Worshipping Semiramis as the mother of heaven or queen of heaven, the mother of God. And this is, incidentally, where the worship of Mary stems from. Nowhere in the scripture are we told to worship Mary. But it stems from this worship of Semiramis, the queen of heaven. And you can trace it back. I don't have to do your homework for you. You can get the book, The Two Babylons by Hislop, and he traces so thoroughly the pagan Babylonian practices that have been brought into the church. The very things that God indicted Israel for are now going on in many churches in the name of the Lord. And we'll wait till we get to Revelation to deal with that more fully.

Now listen to what they're saying. "We will certainly do what we please, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her."

as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then we had plenty of food, and were well, and we did not see evil. But when we quit burning incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and we have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men? ( Jeremiah 44:17-19 )

In other words, "Didn't our husbands know what we were doing? Didn't we have the consent of our husbands as we were doing it? They knew what we were doing." The women are answering Jeremiah now. And it is interesting how that they so totally twisted the facts. They were attributing the demise and the destruction to their ceasing to burn incense to the queen of heaven. How man can so totally twist the truth and blame God for the tragedies that come upon his life and accuse God for the things that have gone wrong. And say, "Man, things went well. I was doing great until I started serving God. Then He wiped me out." And here they were blaming their destruction upon the fact that they had quit burning the incense to the queen of heaven. "As long as we were faithful to her, she was blessing us. We had plenty of food. Things were great until we ceased burning incense to her and now all of this calamity has come upon us. And after all, our husbands knew what we were doing."

Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, that had given him this answer, The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, did it not come into his mind? So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed; therefore is your land a desolation ( Jeremiah 44:20-22 ),

Jeremiah sets the record straight. "Look, it's because you were burning this that God has brought His judgment upon you. Therefore is your land a desolation."

and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day ( Jeremiah 44:22-23 ).

Keep the record straight. It's your forsaking God and your turning after these other gods that cause this judgment of God to fall.

Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all of Judah and all that are in the land of Egypt: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: and you will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows ( Jeremiah 44:24-25 ).

You've made your vows to the queen of heaven and you'll be sure to keep them.

Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name ( Jeremiah 44:26 ),

Look out when God swears by His name, because He can swear by no higher.

saith Jehovah, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Jehovah God lives. Behold, I'm going to watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there is an end of them. And yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt ( Jeremiah 44:26-28 )

God always has His faithful remnant, you notice that? In the midst of a world of apostasy and sin, there are always the faithful remnant of God. Remember Elijah said, "Lord." God says, "Elijah, what are you doing down here in this cave Sinai desert?" "Oh, I've been jealous for You. And they've killed all of Your prophets. And I, only I am left of all of Israel." God says, "That's not true, Elijah. I have seven thousand who have not bowed their knee to Baal." God knew them. There was the faithful remnant. A lot of times we think we're the only ones, but God has His faithful remnant always.

God pronounces this desolation that is coming, and yet a small number, His faithful remnant that will escape and will return out of the land of Egypt.

into the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words will stand, mine, or theirs ( Jeremiah 44:28 ).

You'll find out who's telling the truth.

Now, of course, time is always that great factor. False prophets so often profit for a while. You know, for a time they get along great and they can gather a following. But time is always against them. In time it will show up. Jimmy Jones did great for a while. Gathered quite a following. Popular move. A lot of people joining in. Off the wall. He could get by with it for a while, but ultimately it catches up with you. And there are flashes that come on the scene. They draw a lot of attention to themselves. They come with some off-the-wall kind of a doctrine. Everybody is going. They've got the ear of the crowd. They're popular. They have their day, but time is against them. In time it shows up. So that's what the Lord said, "Okay, time will be a witness. The time will come when you'll find out who's telling the truth. Me or you."

And this will be the sign, I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil: Thus saith Jehovah; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life ( Jeremiah 44:29-30 ).

Now we have the advantage of history and hindsight and we can see that it was God's Word that stood. Nebuchadnezzar came down and conquered Egypt. God's Word stood. It always will. Never set yourself against God's Word. You'll lose every time.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The prophet reminded the people that Yahweh had devastated their homeland because of their idolatry. What they and their forefathers had done had not escaped His notice. It was a direct result of their accumulated sins. Covenant unfaithfulness had resulted in their present calamity.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

That incense that ye burnt in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem,.... To false gods, to the queen of heaven, to the host thereof:

ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land; on which account they pleaded antiquity, authority, and the general consent of the people, as on their side, which the prophet allows; but it all signified nothing:

did not the Lord remember them, and came it [not] into his mind? either the incense they offered up to strange gods, or the persons that did it? did he take no notice of these idolatrous practices, and of these idolaters? he did; he laid up these things in his mind; he showed a proper resentment of them, and in due time punished for them.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying,   21 The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind?   22 So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.   23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.   24 Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:   25 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.   26 Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth.   27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.   28 Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.   29 And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:   30 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.

      Daring sinners may speak many a bold word and many a big word, but, after all, God will have the last word; for he will be justified when he speaks, and all flesh, even the proudest, shall be silent before him. Prophets may be run down, but God cannot; nay, here the prophet would not.

      I. Jeremiah has something to say to them from himself, which he could say without a spirit of prophecy, and that was to rectify their mistake (a wilful mistake it was) concerning the calamities they had been under and the true intent and meaning of them. They said that these miseries came upon them because they had now left off burning incense to the queen of heaven. "No," says he, "it was because you had formerly done it, not because you had now left it off." When they gave him that answer, he immediately replied (Jeremiah 44:20; Jeremiah 44:20) that the incense which they and their fathers had burnt to other gods did indeed go unpunished a great while, for God was long-suffering towards them, and during the day of his patience it was perhaps, as they said, well with them, and they saw no evil; but at length they grew so provoking that the Lord could no longer bear (Jeremiah 44:22; Jeremiah 44:22), but began a controversy with them, whereupon some of them did a little reform; their sins left them, for so it might be said, rather than that they left their sins. But their old guilt being still upon the score, and their corrupt inclinations still the same, God remembered against them the idolatries of their fathers, their kings, and their princes, in the streets of Jerusalem, which they, instead of being ashamed of, gloried in as a justification of them in their idolatries; they all came into his mind (Jeremiah 44:21; Jeremiah 44:21), all the abominations which they had committed (Jeremiah 44:22; Jeremiah 44:22) and all their disobedience to the voice of the Lord (Jeremiah 44:23; Jeremiah 44:23), all were brought to account; and therefore, to punish them for these, is their land a desolation and a curse, as at this day (Jeremiah 44:22; Jeremiah 44:22); therefore, not for their late reformation, but for their old transgressions, has all this evil happened to them, as at this day,Jeremiah 44:23; Jeremiah 44:23. Note, The right understanding of the cause of our troubles, one would think, should go far towards the cure of our sins. Whatever evil comes upon us, it is because we have sinned against the Lord, and should therefore stand in awe and sin not.

      II. Jeremiah has something to say to them, to the women particularly, from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, They have given their answer; now let them hear God's reply, Jeremiah 44:24; Jeremiah 44:24. Judah, that dwells in the land of Egypt, has God speaking to them, even there; that is their privilege. Let them observe what he says; that is their duty, Jeremiah 44:26; Jeremiah 44:26. Now God, in his reply, tells them plainly,

      1. That, since they were fully determined to persist in their idolatry, he was fully determined to proceed in his controversy with them; if they would go on to provoke him, he would go on to punish them, and see which would get the better at last. God repeats what they had said (Jeremiah 44:25; Jeremiah 44:25): "You and your wives are agreed in this obstinacy; you have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands; you have said it, and you stand to it, have said it and go on to do accordingly, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven," as if, though it were a sin, yet their having vowed to do it were sufficient to justify them in the doing of it; whereas no man can by his vow make that lawful to himself, much less duty, which God has already made sin. "Well" (says God), "you will accomplish, you will perform, your wicked vows: now hear what is my vow, what I have sworn by my great name;" and, if the Lord hath sworn, he will not repent, since they have sworn and will not repent. With the froward he will show himself froward,Psalms 18:26. (1.) He had sworn that what little remains of religion there were among them should be lost, Jeremiah 44:26; Jeremiah 44:26. Though they joined with the Egyptians in their idolatries, yet they continued upon many occasions to make mention of the name of Jehovah, particularly in their solemn oaths; they said, Jehovah liveth, he is the living God, so they owned him to be, though they worshipped dead idols; they swear, The Lord liveth (Jeremiah 5:2; Jeremiah 5:2), but I fear they retained this form of swearing more in honour of their nation than of their God. But God declares that his name shall no more be thus named by any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt; that is, there shall be no Jews remaining to use this dialect of their country, or, if there be, they shall have forgotten it and shall learn to swear, as the Egyptians do, by the life of Pharaoh, not of Jehovah. Note, Those are very miserable whom God has so far left to themselves that they have quite forgotten their religion and lost all the remains of their good education. Or this may intimate that God would take it as an affront to him and would resent it accordingly, if they did make mention of his name and profess any relation to him. (2.) He hath sworn that what little remnant of people there was there should all be consumed (Jeremiah 44:27; Jeremiah 44:27): I will watch over them for evil; no opportunity shall be let slip to bring some judgment upon them, until there be an end of them and they be rooted out. Note, To those whom God finds impenitent sinners he will be found an implacable Judge. And, when it comes to this, they shall know (Jeremiah 44:28; Jeremiah 44:28) whose word shall stand, mind or theirs. They said that they should recover themselves when they returned to worship the queen of heaven; God said they should ruin themselves; and now the event will show which was in the right. The contest between God and sinners is whose word shall stand, whose will shall be done, and who shall get the better. Sinners say that they shall have peace though they go on; God says they shall have no peace. But when God judges he will overcome; God's word shall stand, and not the sinner's.

      2. He tells them that a very few of them should escape the sword, and in process of time return into the land of Judah, a small number (Jeremiah 44:28; Jeremiah 44:28), next to none, in comparison with the great numbers that should return out of the land of the Chaldeans. This seems designed to upbraid those who boasted of their numbers that concurred in sin; there were none to speak of that did not join in idolatry: "Well," says God, "and there shall be as few that shall escape the sword and famine."

      3. He gives them a sign that all these threatenings shall be accomplished in their season, that they shall be consumed here in Egypt and shall quite perish: Pharaoh-hophra, the present king of Egypt, shall be delivered into the hand of his enemies that seek his life--of his own rebellious subjects (so some) under Amasis, who usurped his throne--of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (so others), who invaded his kingdom; the former is related by Herodotus, the latter by Josephus. It is likely that this Pharaoh had tempted the Jews to idolatry by promises of his favour; however, they depended upon him for his protection, and it would be more than a presage of their ruin, it would be a step towards it, if he were gone. They expected more from him than from Zedekiah king of Judah; he was a more potent and politic prince. "But," says God, "I will give him into the hand of his enemies, as I gave Zedekiah." Note, Those creature-comforts and confidences that we promise ourselves most from may fail us as soon as those that we promise ourselves least from, for they are all what God makes them, not what we fancy them.

      The sacred history records not the accomplishment of this prophecy, but its silence is sufficient; we hear no more of these Jews in Egypt, and therefore conclude them, according to this prediction, lost there; for no word of God shall fall to the ground.