Jeremiah 44:19 (NLT)19 “Besides,” the women added, “do you suppose that we were burning incense and pouring out liquid offerings to the Queen of Heaven, and making cakes marked with her image, without our husbands knowing it and helping us? Of course not!”
The context for this verse is that the women of Jerusalem were pushing back on Jeremiah’s declaration that the people of the city should stop making sacrifices to any idols, to include the “Queen of Heaven.” Now to be sure, this is a term regarded as the Virgin Mary, which in and of itself is a problem the Catholics have, but instead, this verse is speaking of an “earth mother” type of false god that women would sacrifice to in order to have multiple children and enough food for the family. The Queen of Heaven was a title given to a number of ancient false goddesses worshipped throughout the ancient Mediterranean and the ancient Near East. Goddesses known to have been referred to by the title include Inanna, Anat, Isis, Nut Astarte, and possibly Asherah (by the prophet Jeremiah). In Greco-Roman times, Hera and Juno bore this title. Fertility gods and goddesses were always a “go to” type of idolatry and difficult to give us, because it seems the offerings to the metal, stone, and wood of these idols always provided children and crops. The problem is that the people never considered that the frequency of physical intimacy provided the children, and that the grace that God of all Creation ensured that the rain would fall on the wicked and the righteous. In this particular verse, the women are openly defiant in the sense that they brag that even their husbands approved and assist in their offerings to this false god. How often are we defiant in our sin and self idolatry, as if asking, what God is going to do about it? For the women and men of Jerusalem, it was just complete devastation for themselves and the nation. To what degree to we self-examine to wonder to what degree that we do the same, but with different, and perhaps with less defiant words? Let us examine ourselves, and turn only to God in Christ for any and all of our worship. To God be the Glory! Love, Joy, and Peace in the Blessings of Christ!
In the Love of Jesus Christ, Pastor Bob – church
pastorbobtitus@gmail.com, (412) 520-5407
