Jeremiah 44-47

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

44:7 - "And now thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves, to cut off man and woman, child and infant, from the midst of Judah, leaving yourself without a remnant?"
44:9 - "Have you forgotten the crimes of your ancestors, of the kings of Judah, of their wives, your own crimes and those of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?"
44:15-20 - "Then all the men who were aware that their wives had been making offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: 'As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you. Instead, we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. We used to have plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no misfortune. But from the time we stopped making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything and have perished by the sword and by famine.' And the women said, 'Indeed we will go on making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her; do you think that we made cakes for her, marked with her image, and poured out libations to her without our husbands' being involved.' Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who were giving him this answer:"
44:24 - "Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, 'Hear the word of the Lord, all you Judeans who are in the land of Egypt.'"

Jeremiah 45 - No mention of any women.

46:11-12 - "Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you have used many medicines; there is no healing for you. The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for warrior has stumbled against warrior; both have fallen together."
46:19-21 - "Pack your bags for exile, sheltered daughter Egypt! For Memphis shall become a waste, a ruin, without inhabitant. A beautiful heifer is Egypt - a gadfly from the north lights upon her. Even her mercenaries in her midst are like fatted calves; they too have turned and fled together, they did not stand; for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time for their punishment.

"She makes a sound like a snake gliding away; for her enemies march in force, and come against her with axes, like those who fell trees. They shall cut down her forest, says the Lord, though it is impenetrable, because they are more numerous than locusts; they are without number. Daughter Egypt shall be put to shame; she shall be handed over to a people from the north."

Jeremiah 47 - No mention of any women.

My Comments

Ah, goddess worship. Truly the most heinous of sins one can commit! I find this particularly amusing because it seems that their goddess was actually taking care of them. She kept them fed, happy, healthy, and prosperous. But once they stopped worshiping her (presumably because they were told to worship "the one, true" god by Jeremiah) all hell has broken loose and they have become unhappy and are under constant attack from enemies. Would seem that God, in all his infinite mercy, decided to show his superior power by overpowering the goddess and inflicting pain and torment upon her worshipers. And even when the goddess had stopped being worshiped God continued to harm the people, just to prove a point. Sorry, I can find no fault with the women who basically said fuck you, Jeremiah, we're going to continue to worship the goddess.

Love how it's always the women who can see through God's bullshit. The women seemed to be the main ring leaders in the goddess worship, their husbands merely being involved in the process. The women are the ones who speak directly to Jeremiah and let him know that they will be going back to worshiping the goddess because the queen of heaven actually seemed to give a shit about their well being. Of course, it's the women speaking out like this because it is always the women who try to steer men away from God. Eve gives Adam the apple, Job's wife tries to tell Job that he should forget about God because God has obviously forgotten about him, copious amounts of women try to lure men to their beds and away from God's path, etc. To me (and I would hope others) the women are the smart ones here, willing to actually go to a god/goddess who will provide and take care of them instead of suffering through the temper tantrums of an immature and jealous god. The men blindly follow, just taking whatever bullshit God throws at them, but the women realize that that is just stupid. Why should they stay and worship a God who is so willing to treat them like crap?

But, this is the Bible, so it's the women who are completely in the wrong here. Abandon logic, all ye who enter.

Then we have Egypt. Oh, virgin Egypt! Oh, sheltered Egypt! Oh, sacrificial heifer Egypt! Oh, snakelike Egypt! Oh, raped Egypt-wait, what?

Oh, Egypt how wonderful you are, it's just too bad I have to have enemies from the north come and ravage you, leaving nothing but ruin and desolation because you have angered me yet again?

Is this because Egypt tried to take his people away? Tempting God's people with the promise of general well being instead of the torture and suffering God is promising them? Luring God's people with the hope of a constant state of affairs instead of the tempest of emotions and anger that is living in a land ruled by God? How dare that temptress, Egypt, try to turn God's people away from him, tempting his people into adultery!

Seriously, Israel, I really think you should start listening to your women more and crazy prophets less.

Friday: More Jeremiah