Jeremiah 44:8

GOD'S HATRED OF IDOLATRY

"In that ye provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt whither ye are gone to sojourn; that ye may be cut off, and that ye may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? Have ye 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 committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? They are not humbled, even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before your fathers."

"The wickedness of their wives ... of your wives ..." (Jeremiah 44:9). The mention of the wives of their kings as being leaders in wickedness brings to mind the hundreds of wives and concubines of Solomon who demanded and received the building of pagan temples for themselves in Israel; and it will be remembered that Jezebel the wife of Ahab brought with her from Sidon an entire institution of pagan priests of Baal.

"My law.., and my statutes ..." (Jeremiah 44:10) We have often noted that the long shadow of the Pentateuch falls over every single subsequent word in the Holy Bible; and here we have specific reference to it.

"Ye provoke me... burning incense to other gods ..." (Jeremiah 44:8). What is wrong with burning a little incense to some pagan god? However innocent and harmless it may sound to some ears, there are the most shameful implications in such actions, as we shall note further under Jeremiah 44:15.