Jeremiah 44:19
And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men? And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
The verse records Jews who had fled to Egypt after the Babylonian captivity openly persisting in worship of the queen of heaven by burning incense, pouring drink offerings and making unbloody cakes to her, with the women insisting their husbands knew of and shared in the household worship. That queen is the moon, worshiped as Ashtereth or Astarte, the female counterpart of Baal and goddess of the female principle in generation whose rites were lascivious, though some identified her with the sun. The worshipers defended themselves by claiming they had peace, prosperity and plenty while they served her and suffered want only when they ceased, thus judging religious duty by supply of bread rather than by obedience to God. That plea sets aside the moral law, with Jeremiah standing for the first commandment against its deniers, the same self-serving appeal to numbers, popularity and prosperity later used to uphold Sunday and other heathen customs in Christian worship.
Historical Setting and Context
The verse belongs to the account of the Jews who fled to Egypt after the Babylonian captivity, where many of them turned to idolatry. It falls within the section of Jeremiah that records the history of the two years before Jerusalem fell. It stands in a part of Jeremiah that is not arranged in time order, for up to chapter 20 the book runs in fairly chronological order, but chapters 20 to 46 are out of place, with material from Zedekiah's reign set before material from the days of Jehoiakim through transposing of the ancient scrolls when gathered together.
In true time order Jeremiah 44 comes late, after chapters 40, 41, 42 and 43 and before chapter 46, in the sequence 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 35, 36, 45, 24, 29, 30, 31, 27, 28, 21, 34, 37, 32, 33, 38, 39:15-18, 39:1-14, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46. The surrounding passage shows Judah's persistent false worship and false education among the people and their kings, continuing in idolatry after warning. This evil sowing produced captivity and enforced exile, with beloved Zion lying in utter ruin as the sad fruit reaped by Daniel's generation.
Idolatrous Worship Described
The verse depicts the people openly persisting in worship of the queen of heaven by burning incense to her and pouring out drink offerings to her and making cakes to worship her. The cakes were offerings without blood, an unbloody sacrifice.
The verse records the women's claim that this worship, including making cakes and pouring out drink offerings, was done with their husbands' knowledge and participation, showing that the idolatrous worship involved the household. The same household involvement is shown in the women's statement that their husbands knew of and joined in the practice of incense, drink offerings, and cakes. The verse is connected with a ceremony in which priests burned incense and invoked the queen of heaven.
The queen of heaven is the moon, identified as Ashtereth, also called Astarte and Venus in other nations. She was the female counterpart of Baal, associated with the moon and the female principle in generation, and her worship was characterized by lasciviousness and was practiced alongside Baal worship. Those who held otherwise identified her here with the sun.
The goddess is connected with Semiramis and with other goddesses of a similar cult, including Diana of the Ephesians, while the historical traditions about Semiramis and her relation to Nimrod are uncertain. The queen of heaven is an idol worshiped by the heathen with wicked and abominable rites and ceremonies. Jeremiah's reply links this sun worship and disregard of the Sabbath to the desolation of the land and Jerusalem's destruction.
False Plea and Parallels
The verse records the worshipers' plea that peace, prosperity and plenty came while they worshiped the queen of heaven, but all went wrong as soon as they stopped, which they used as proof that their worship was right. Their appeal to the practice and its supposed connection with prosperity shows a self-serving, bread-and-butter policy rule of judging religious conduct by material well-being and supply of bread rather than by obedience to God and His commandments. That prosperity argument is weak, because wicked Babylon, Nineveh, Rome and Carthage also enjoyed peace, plenty and world rule without their ways pleasing God. Popularity and prosperity do not decide truth, as seen in the life of Christ and the apostles and in Paul losing all the world could give as a persecutor and being driven from place to place after becoming a Christian.
The verse means the moral law, the point at issue, is laid aside and trodden down, with Jeremiah standing up for the first commandment and his opposers denying it. Their reliance on great numbers and popularity is the same line followed by advocates of Sunday, who deny the first commandment virtually and the fourth positively. Keeping the sun's day is worship of the sun, just as bowing before an image is worship despite the claim of worshiping God and not Mary.
God showed His abhorrence of this departing-Israel worship as a dishonor to His holy name, placing it with the worship of Baal, Ashtoreth and Astarte. That ancient false worship is no different from the greater part of the Christian world singing praises to Easter, the Saxon goddess of spring, with pagan offerings of flowers, eggs and other customs, which profanes the worship of God and any celebration of the resurrection of Jesus with heathen names and customs. The words about women invoking the queen of heaven in worship rebuke women who apply that title to Mary and worship her.