Jeremiah Chapter 44

Although Babylon destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple, they did leave a small group of people behind in the land and appointed Gedaliah to govern them. The prophet Jeremiah was among this group who left behind, and he encouraged the people to stay in Judah to enjoy God’s protection and blessing. But after murdering Babylon’s appointed governor, they ignored Jeremiah’s warning and prophecy (Jeremiah 42:1-22) and they fled to Egypt in fear of revenge from Babylon. Although God had not abandoned His people, they did not trust Him and continued to suffer the consequences of their sin.

Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Noph (Jeremiah 44:1) were the places where the children of Israel settled down after refusing to heed God’s command not to go down into Egypt. In Jeremiah 44:2-6, God summarizes the events that have led the people into Egypt, but the people refused to learn any lessons from all the destruction their sins had caused.

When the people went to Egypt, they were lost even more as they sank into the depths of idolatry. The farther they drift away from God, the more confused their thinking becomes. They even blamed their troubles as a result of their failing to burn incense to their idols (Jeremiah 44:17-18). But idol worship had started all their problems in the first place. The people refused to recognize the true source of their problems. They were stubborn in their sin and had already determined in their minds to serve other gods. So, the truth could not reach them because of the blindness of their heart.  

When we forget a lesson or refuse to learn it, we risk repeating our mistakes. To forget our past sins was to repeat them. To fail to learn from our failure is to assure future failure. If we fail to repent, then we have chosen stubbornness to continue in our sin. God allows one to completely forget about Him if one chooses sin over life (Romans 1:28). But if we have truly repented, we would have been blessed by God.

Our past is our lessons of experience. Let our past mistakes direct us to God’s way. 

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