Migdol--meaning a "tower." A city east of Egypt, towards the Red Sea (Exo 14:2; Num 33:7).
Noph--Memphis, now Cairo (Jer 2:16).
Pathros--Upper Egypt (Isa 11:11).
commit . . . this . . . evil against your souls-- (Jer 7:19; Num 16:38; Pro 8:36). It is not God whom you injure, but yourselves.
ye be gone--not compelled by fear, but of your own accord, when I forbade you, and when it was free to you to stay in Judea.
that ye might cut yourselves off--They, as it were, purposely courted their own ruin.
their wives--The Jews' worldly queens were great promoters of idolatry (Kg1 11:1-8; Kg1 15:13; Kg1 16:31).
the land of Judah--They defiled the land which was holy unto God.
humbled--literally, "contrite" (Psa 51:17).
neither . . . feared-- (Pro 28:14).
and to cut off all Judah--that is, all the idolaters; Jer 44:28 shows that some returned to Judea (compare Jer 42:17).
have a desire--literally, "lift up (their) soul," that is, their hopes (compare Jer 22:27, Margin; Deu 24:15, Margin).
none shall return but such as shall escape--namely, the "small number" (Jer 44:28) who were brought by force into Egypt, as Jeremiah and Baruch, and those who, in accordance with Jeremiah's advice, should flee from Egypt before the arrival of the Chaldeans (see on Jer 42:17). CALVIN less probably refers the words to the return of the exiles in Babylon, which the Jews in Egypt regarded as hopeless.
queen of heaven--(See on Jer 7:18); Ashtaroth or Astarte.
we . . . fathers . . . king, &c.--The evil was restricted to no one class: all from the highest to the lowest shared the guilt.
then had we plenty--Fools attribute their seeming prosperity to God's connivance at their sin: but see Pro 1:32; Ecc 8:11-13. In fact, God had often chastised them for their idolatry (see Jdg 2:14); but it is the curse of impiety not to perceive the hand of God in calamities.
victuals--Men cast away the bread of the soul for the bread that perisheth (Deu 8:3; Joh 6:27). So Esau (Heb 12:16).
without our men--The women mentioned (Jer 44:15); "a great multitude" here speak: we have not engaged in secret night orgies which might justly be regarded unfavorably by our husbands: our sacred rites have been open, and with their privity. They wish to show how unreasonable it is that Jeremiah should oppose himself alone to the act of all, not merely women, but men also. The guilty, like these women, desire to shield themselves under the complicity of others. Instead of helping one another towards heaven, husband and wife often ripen one another for hell.
statutes--the ceremonial.
testimonies--the judicial (Dan 9:11-12).
ye will surely accomplish . . . vows--Jeremiah hereby gives them up to their own fatal obstinacy.
by my great name--that is, by Myself (Gen 22:16), the greatest by whom God can swear (Heb 6:13-14).
my name shall no more be named--The Jews, heretofore, amidst all their idolatry, had retained the form of appeal to the name of God and the law, the distinctive glory of their nation; God will allow this no more (Eze 20:39): there shall be none left there to profane His name thus any more.
shall know--most of them experimentally, and to their cost.
whose words . . . mine, or theirs--Hebrew, "that from Me and them." Jehovah's words are His threats of destruction to the Jews; theirs, the assertion that they expected all goods from their gods (Jer 44:17), &c. "Mine"; by which I predict ruin to them. "Theirs"; by which they give themselves free scope in iniquity.
shall stand-- (Psa 33:11).
them that seek his life--HERODOTUS, in curious accordance with this, records that Amasis, after treating Hophra well at first, was instigated, by persons who thought they could not be safe unless he were put to death, to strangle him. "His enemies" refer to Amasis, &c.; the words are accurately chosen, so as not to refer to Nebuchadnezzar, who is not mentioned till the end of the verse, and in connection with Zedekiah (Eze 20:3; Eze 30:21). Amasis' civil war with Hophra pioneered the way for Nebuchadnezzar's invasion in the twenty-third year of his reign [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 10.11].
After the completion of the prophecies and histories appertaining to the Jewish people and kings, Jeremiah subjoins one referring to an individual, Baruch; even as there are subjoined to the epistles of Paul addressed to churches, epistles to individuals, some of which were prior in date to the former. Afterwards follow the prophecies referring to other nations, closing the book [GROTIUS]. The date of the events here told is eighteen years before the taking of the city; this chapter in point of time follows the thirty-sixth chapter. Baruch seems to have been regularly employed by Jeremiah to commit his prophecies to writing (Jer 36:1, Jer 36:4, Jer 36:32).