JEREMIAH - CHAPTERS 43-44 - "NOW IT HAPPENED" (2021)
“NOW IT HAPPENED”
Jeremiah 43-44
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
October 5, 2021, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Here is that phrase again, “now it happened.” As you remember from last week, when it is written in KJV as “It came to pass,” or in the NKJV, “now it happened,” that means God interjects Himself into the situation. This time it is associated with the response of the “proud men.”
Chapter 43:1-3: NOW IT HAPPENED, when Jeremiah had made and end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which the LORD their God sent him to them, all these words, then spoke Azariah and Johanan…and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, “you speak falsely; the Lord our God has not sent to you to say, “Do not go to Egypt to dwell there. But Baruch…set you against us to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away captive to Babylon.”
This is a political response to a spiritual mandate. The “opposing” side starts by discrediting the prophet.
1. You are a liar!
2. God did not send you to tell us not to go to Egypt.
3. You are working under orders from an outside source, Baruch.
4. You are out of your mind. Pure reason would determine to amass in a place of safety in a strong centralized government.
As we are watching the structures of our own federal government falling apart as well as the government of many other nations who are amassing our borders, I gave a warning this past Sunday that people will begin to call for a king or dictator to provide safety and security. Also, they will begin to call for a leader who will govern the chaos and confusion in the nations. We must pray this does not happen in the United States.
43: 4-7: So, Johanan…and all the captains of the forces and all would not obey the voice of the LORD, to remain in the land of Judah. But Johanan and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah, from all nations where they had been driven…even men, women, and children, and the King’s daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan, the Captain of the Guard, had left with Gedaliah and Jeremiah…and Baruch…So they came into the land o Egypt…thus they came to Tahpanhes.
At Tahpanhes, the whole nation was in their “place of disobedience.” Pagan gods were worshiped there. Demons were everywhere. This place houses the palace of Osirian King, Ra. The remnant of Judah was at this place to request asylum and declare their intentions.
The Lord God was about to present them, however, their last opportunity to turn around. He is going to use Jeremiah to again use “prophetic action” to illustrate God’s action which must surely take place.
43:8-13: Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes saying, Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in the clay in the brick kiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; and say unto them, thus say the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. And when he comes, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword. And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captive; and she shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he shall go forth from there in peace. He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.
The Tahpanhes site has been identified about 10 miles west of the Suez Canal and 10 miles northeast of Cairo. Tahpanhes is the principle of bringing forth (Egyptian style). The Israelis had turned aside to the darkness of the world system for safety. In 1886, Sir Flinders Petrie uncovered the ruins of a large castle in front of what was once a great platform of brick work, the very place, Petrie believed where Jeremiah hid the stones. Three of Nebuchadnezzar’s inscriptions have been found near Tahpanhes. The meaning of the hidden stones was that God would send his servant Nebuchadnezzar to set up his throne in Egypt.
Stone symbols were a method the LORD has used since Genesis (the rock pillar of Jacob, the rock of Moses, the rocks of testimony and the many rock altars he required to be built by the Patriarchs.
There is an Irish legend about these stones that I will close with in this week’s study. I do not want to be guilty of turning away from the truth and turn unto fables (II Timothy 4:4). However, it is legend regarding the daughters of King Hezekiah.
Previously Nebuchadnezzar had backed away from Jerusalem because the Egyptians had come up against him. But something had changed. Nebuchadnezzar had conquered the known world by now and only Egypt stood apart. So, the inevitable had to happen and God was on his side. “Behold I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant.”
Like the U.S., Britain, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Australia, Egypt was impregnable. No! not so much anymore. We have already been invaded by the Chaldeans, Islam, China, and now on our southern border. We have been broken down from within through the treachery of the spirit of antichrist and his agenda of One World Order. I am not saying it is over. I believe the remnant church will arise and overcome. There are too many of us who obey the voice of the LORD.
Chapter 44: All the judgments failed to bring humility and a fear of God. The reply of the Jews to Jeremiah showed their obstinacy and insolence. The people’s argument claimed that their calamities were due to their failure to burn incense to “the Queen of Heaven.”
The LORD again speaks to Jeremiah about the Jews. (“Jew” was used to identify the tribe of Judah during that time.)
44: 1-6: The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell in Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: you have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them. Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers. However, I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I have!’ but they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness to burn no incense to other gods. So, My fury and My anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.
Their fathers left Egypt on dry ground. They have had to pay a toll to cross back over the Red Sea. The Lord reminds them how He had sent his prophets over and over to warn them and keep them on the path of God’s blessing. They didn’t listen.
America, are you listening today?
The LORD spoke a clarion call, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate.” U.S.A. what is abominable to the Lord? Abortion, same-sex marriage, sex trafficking, prostitution, drugs, intoxication, fornication, government corruption, profanity and vulgarity of the idols on our television sets., etc. etc.
God reminded them that those in the past perished who didn’t listen or even take time to hear His messengers. In other words, “Look where you are and compare it to where you should be.”
Next a huge question is presented, “Why are you doing all this to yourselves?” you have complete control of your destiny here. “Repent, turn around and get out of Egypt, before it is too late.”
44: 7-9: Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none to remain, in that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that you may cut yourselves off and be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
The LORD clearly outlined in Deuteronomy the curses and blessings that would happen to Israel as well as all nations who will obey or disobey His mandates. There were no exceptions except his great love, compassion and forgiveness for His chosen people. The blessing would only come through repentance and turning to God and his ways. Just as God spoke to Moses and confirmed through Jeremiah, they became a reproach among all the nations of the earth.
God then spells out their determined, sealed destiny. United States of America, as long as we stay, “One Nation Under God,” we will be blessed. If we will not listen, our destiny is also sealed and determined.
44: 11-14: Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “behold, I will set My face against you for catastrophe and for cutting off all Judah. I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach! For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt; as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, famine and pestilence; so, that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return and dwell. For none shall return except those who escape.
When man sets himself in the position of a standoff with God, the LORD GOD will always win.
How many of those Jews would return?
A few escapees would be exempted in order to tell the tale. Judah was decimated, but Jeremiah and Baruch and the daughters of the King would escape.
Where the Bible is silent, we are silent, and where it speaks loudly, we do the same.
LEGEND: There is a British-Israeli “Identity” message that believes an Irish tradition that the prophet Jeremiah escaped from Egypt with the daughters of Zedekiah, the last King of Judah. They are supposed to have reached Spain and later Ireland. The female descendants of David were entitled to the throne of David only by the favor of Nebuchadnezzar. Supposedly Zedekiah was a descendant of Pharez, one of the sons of Judah. The King’s two daughters, Scota and Tea Tephi married Milesian kings(?) The Milesian Kings were descendants of Zarah who was Judah’s son also. Pharez and Zarah were twins born to Judah and Tamar.
Another legend: “From Egypt, they took ship to Ireland, where one of the daughters married Eochaidh the high king (heremon or ard ri) of Ireland. A variation says that the marriage took place in Jerusalem. The royal couple governed the Emerald Isle from their capital at Tara in County Meath. Jeremiah, at that time an old man, was also reputed to have established a sort of ministerial training college at Tara. He became a revered figure in Irish legend.”
Genesis 29:24: His bow remained in strength. The arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob (from there is the shepherd, the Stone of Israel). By the God of your father who will help you, and by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors. Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph; and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.
As the story goes, Jeremiah is to have taken this same stone with him and it became the coronation stone of the kings of Argyle, then of the kings of Scotland, and then of the kings of England. This is a legend. In Jeremiah 25: 15-22, we discussed how Jeremiah was sent to the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea. At the time, we discussed the possibility that all these kings had drunk of the cup of the Lord because they were visiting Israel.
The ancient Irish records record the coming of “the Great Prophet,” “Brugh” his scribe (Baruch), and the daughter of a king about 583 B.C. and that with them they brought the “Wonderful Stone,” or “Stone of Destiny.” This stone today is referred as the Coronation Stone.
Queen Elizabeth II and all the monarchs of Europe are descendants from the Royal House of Judah. The various kings and queens of Russia, German, Austria, France, Poland, Sweden, etc. are all related to this Royal House.” (End of legend)
The Stone of Scone was last used in 1953 for the coronation of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Acts 13:22-23: …God raised up for them David as king, to whom he gave testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all my will. From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior, Jesus Christ.
Rom. 1:3: Concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, our LORD, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. Nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham, but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called. Those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
Hos. 3: 4-5: The children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.
It didn’t matter what the prophet said, it didn’t matter when the LORD said, it only mattered what they said. Most had witnessed dead bodies littering the streets, starving people in chains being trouped to slavery, unimaginable conditions as their homes were torn down and their beautiful temple destroyed. They were the poorest of the land and considered cast-offs. They had nothing. The speakers are the ones who owned nothing. In Israel, they would have had parcels of land distributed; in Egypt, they would be wards of the state.
44:16-19: As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you! But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the “queen of heaven” and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
The Remnant of Judah impudently defied Jeremiah stoutly declaring they would continue adoration of the “Queen of Heaven”. This is the Assyrian Ishtar, Canaanite Astarte, Greek Aphrodite, Roman Venus, and Ashtoreth, whose worship was with acts of immorality, in this case with their husband’s consent. This was a polluted cult, whose offerings included moon shaped or star-shaped cakes and replicas of the goddess of sexual love. The Lord had his answer and sign. Judgment was pronounced upon these impudent idolaters. (20-28).
Jer. 44: 28-30: Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs. ‘And this shall be a sign to you,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for adversity. Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.
The sign given to confirm God’s Word through the prophet Jeremiah was Pharoah-Hopra (priest of the son, priest of Ra.) was to be given into the hands of his enemies and slain. He was assassinated. The heathen King in whom Judah trusted will be slain, and with him their false hopes of protection and deliverance. God removed His Name from them.
God placed His signature on this “covenant of death” by declaring Pharaoh a thing of the past. Egypt has never gotten over it---from that day to now. They became, at best, a third-rate nation. Remember, Egypt ruled over all Africa in the days of their power. The LORD signed the document saying what happened to Zedekiah would happen to Pharaoh.
This was the last recorded message of the prophet Jeremiah. The place and the manner of his death are not known. One tradition is that he was stoned to death in Egypt at Tahpanhes after 50-years of prophetic ministry. Another is that he was taken from Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar and carried with Baruch to Babylon, where he later died. The story I like best is the one that He was buried in Ireland in a rock tomb on a little island today called Devenish, in the vicinity of Ennis-kille. Interesting that Jeremiah’s death is surrounded in so much mystery and intrigue.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from KJV ad NKJV.
I entered into the labors of “Road to Captivity by Dr. C. R. Oliver; Principles of Present Truth by Kelly Varner and Wikipedia for the legend of the daughters of Zedekiah.