Today’s passage: Jeremiah 44:1-30
Helpful thoughts:
- The Mosaic Covenant (The Old Covenant, or the Law) with Israel was conditional. Israel had agreed to the terms and vowed to follow the Lord. They did not. (Exodus 24:3)
- In this chapter, God confirms that He is continuing to fulfill His promise (Deuteronomy 30:15-20).
- The false god Ishtar (Sometimes called Ashtoreth or Astarte) was considered the wife of Baal or Molech in different pagan idolatrous traditions, and therefore the “Queen of Heaven.” She was the wife of the supreme god in each culture and therefore also the mother of the gods who were their sons/daughters.
- The Catholic Church has referred to Mary as the Queen of Heaven in what many believe to be a merging of the true biblical account with these pagan traditions.
- The people of Judah who had gone to Egypt believed it was the Queen of Heaven who had been feeding them. They are declaring that God failed them and are officially giving their allegiance to a different god (One who does not exist by the way…).
Questions to consider:
- What was the basis for these people’s loyalty to any god? From their perspective, what did the god have to do to earn their worship? What is the folly of that last question and their thinking? Whose will were they truly following and what did they rob themselves of as a result?
- How does the fact that we don’t worship other gods in our culture today make it hard to see when we might be doing the same thing? How long do we give God to answer our requests before we start to worry and look elsewhere for answers and resolution? Instead of others gods, to whom do we tend to look for the answers?
- Did the Queen of Heaven ever give Judah their food and clothing? Why not? Who has met all your needs and who holds your eternal well-being in His faithful and powerful hands? Why do we have every reason to trust and obey, even during times of adversity?