Burning Sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven (8/21)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Jeremiah 41-45.

Divine judgment was coming against Judah for the idolatry of the people. Yet they were not willing to listen and refused to acknowledge the negative consequences of their behavior. Those who are caught up in false religions today do the same things.

“Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, ‘As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you! But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and saw no misfortune. But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine’” (Jeremiah 44:15-18).

These people, in their error, refused to accept certain things:

They refused to accept the possibility that Jeremiah might be right. Jeremiah was the spokesman of God. But if he was prophesying falsely, they could have tested him and found him to be false. But they were not interested in doing this. They just refused to listen.
They refused to accept the possibility that they might be wrong. They were only interested in doing what they had said they would do. Keeping one’s word is good, provided the promised action is right. If it is not, it is better for one to be honest and humble enough to repent and do what is right than to remain consistent in error.
They refused to accept the possibility that long-held practices might be wrong. What is right is not determined by how long a practice has endured or by who practices (or has practiced) it. It is good to hold onto those things that are right. But we must reject those things which are wrong, no matter who had accepted those things in the past.
They refused to accept God for who He was (and still is) – the only true, living God. The “queen of heaven” they were serving was a fictional character, yet they served her instead of God.
They refused to accept the fact that sin will be punished by God. Misinterpreting the meaning behind their circumstances, they believed that their false religion was the cause of their prosperity and that their trouble came because they quit practicing their false religion. Yet Jeremiah explained that trouble came because God’s patience finally ran out (v. 21-23). God will punish sin. We should not interpret our circumstances in such a way that we deceive ourselves into thinking that sin leads to life.