Saturday, November 26, 2022

The remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand—mine or theirs

Jeremiah 44:15-30

All the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah, “We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord! We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.”

The women added, “When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?”

Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed him or followed his law or his decrees or his stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see.

“Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows! But hear the word of the Lord, all you Jews living in Egypt: ‘I swear by my great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name or swear, “As surely as the Sovereign Lord lives.” For I am watching over them for harm, not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all destroyed. Those who escape the sword and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. Then the whole remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand—mine or theirs.

Those who escape the sword and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. Then the whole remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand—mine or theirs.

This will be the sign to you that I will punish you in this place,’ declares the Lord, ‘so that you will know that my threats of harm against you will surely stand.’ This is what the Lord says: ‘I am going to deliver Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hands of his enemies who want to kill him, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the enemy who wanted to kill him.’

Why?

How hard are those men from Judah, they refused to listen to the word of the Lord, and they insisted to do what they would. Even though their hometowns perished and escaped to Egypt, they still burn the incense for other gods.

The Lord was angry with them for they refused to obey the word of the Lord. All of them will perish in Egypt. The Lord gives them a sign that Pharaoh Hophra will be delivered into the hands of his enemies and be killed, like Zedekiah king of Judah.

Do I rely on others instead of the Lord? What decision I should make in my faith?

The remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand—mine or theirs. In BC 568, King Babylonian came to Egypt, and in BC 569 Pharaoh was killed. 

How?

Trust in the Lord, no matter what happens obey the word of the Lord, and witness I belong to the Lord in my daily life.


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