Punishment in Egypt for Idolatry

Jeremiah 44:1-14 

1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, 2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, 3 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 did not know, they nor you nor your fathers. 4 However I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, "Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!" 5 But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods. 6 So My fury and My anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.'

7 "Now therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none to remain, 8 in that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that you may cut yourselves off and be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have not been humbled, to this day, nor have they feared; they have not walked in My law or in My statutes that I set before you and your fathers.'

11 "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will set My face against you for catastrophe and for cutting off all Judah. 12 And I will take the remnant of Judah who 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 be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach! 13 For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, 14 so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return and dwell. For none shall return except those who escape.'"

The Jews who disobeyed and dismissed God’s word and who had run in fear to escape enslavement in Babylon had only returned to the bondage of their forefathers.  That sin which  made them slaves (Colossians 3:5) again to sin by coveting idols instead of accepting the freedom of God’s grace in deliverance through suffering, that sin now held them captive as they kept on worshiping dead idols instead of the living LORD who offered deliverance through corrective discipline (Hebrews 5:8) as He would again provide the example Himself for ultimate deliverance from sin’s bondage.  Jerusalem and the surrounding cities now lay empty and destroyed because they rejected their God and ran to bondage in Egypt to escape the perceived bondage in Babylon, a fruitless attempt which really only proved their desire for sin and breaking the first commandment was intentional.  They rejected God and Je would reject them and deliver those willing to learn obedience through lesser suffering for seventy years in Babylon.  There the obedient would prosper and return one day to worship the one true God yet again, including through deli by Esther’s efforts one day there.  The sovereign LORD looks out for His people and saves them as He promises.  He is faithful even when we are not.  The rebels hid in Egypt as if to escape but ended up back in bondage like those before them as they continued to worship false gods there.  They did not learn to stop idolatry and give God all the glory.  Because they refused to humble themselves and fear the LORD to love according to his word, the irony was that they were to pay the price and die by starvation and defeat which they went there to escape.  They would not be remembered well for such a decision, one which is a warning to all who would come after them (1 Corinthians 10:11).  They would not return to the promised land if they rejected Him (1 Peter 2:7-8) just as those rejecting the Messiah Jesus whom we call Christ will not enter into the heavenly kingdom when He returns as John 12:48 declares to us.  May we instead accept correction (Hebrews 12:3-4, 7-8) for our idolatry and not hide in it as if wanting to go back to Egypt for deliverance which will never come apart from trust in the Lord as saving obedience.