“This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have shown by your actions what you promised when you said, ‘“We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heavens.’” ““Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows!”
~ Jeremiah 44:25
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you have a pet god? What do you think could be a pet god? Do you think that TV could be a pet god when it has to be watched for one worthless reason or another? Do you think that a computer could be a pet god when it has to be searched for one unproductive reason or another. Do you think that a Nintendo could be a pet god when it has to be mindlessly played nonstop? Do you think that an A on an exam could be a pet god when it has to be the barometer that deems one smarter than others guys, gals and kids. Do you think that singing could be a pet god when it has to be exploited as the means to show off a talent that other guys, gals and kids do not have. Do you think that anger could be a pet god when a guy, gal or kid has to employ it to intimidate guys, gals and kids to get them to subject to his or her desires. Do you think that prestige could be a pet god when it has to be seen as making a guy, gal or kid more important than his or her acquaintances? Do you think that control could be a pet god when it has to be used by a guy, gal or kid to always get his or her way to do what he or she thinks is right . Your grandpaa thinks that every guy, gal and kid has pet gods. A god is a thing or an attitude that controls a guy, gal or kid – leading him or her to worship it. A guy or gal who is an adherent to Catholicism – Catholicism being a belief system that has the Virgin Mary as a holy entity who is to be worshipped, will sometimes have a shrine or statute of the Virgin Mary located someplace in his or her yard or placed someplace in his or her house. This is especially true of guys and gals who are living in Latin America who are Catholic religiosity devotees. Have you seen a guy, gal or kid wearing a cross on a necklace? A cross may become an amulet. An amulet is a good luck charm or talisman. A good luck charm or talisman to your grandpaa is a pet god. A pet god may be a cultural or societal god – such as the earring or earrings that a guy has to wear to be approved by his circle of acquaintances, the tattoo that a gal has to have to be affirmed by her peer group or the sport that a kid has to play to win praise from his or her dad and/or ma.
The Queen of Heaven or Ishtar was a pet god of God’s specially chosen gals who fled to Egypt to escape a presumed evasion of guys from an enemy nation. God’s specially chosen guys and gals who had been living in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem had been beset by a series of disastrous happenings. Josiah – who was the king over the land of Judah in 621 B.C., had instituted religious reforms. The series of calamities began when Josiah died in 609 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army invaded the land of Judah, overran the city of Jerusalem and exiled some of their captive Israelite people group guys and gals – God’s specially chosen guys and gals, to Babylonia. The Israelite people group gals who had gone to Egypt with their guys to escape the Babylonian army blamed their demise on having discontinued worshipping the Queen of Heaven. The Queen of Heaven was the fertility God that the Babylonian people group’s guys and gals worshipped. When the Israelite people group gals sat up housekeeping in Lower and Upper Egypt, they began to worship again their pet god – the Queen of Heaven. The Israelite people group gals – when they went back to worshipping their pet god, made cakes that looked like the Queen of Heaven. God gave Jeremiah the unenviable task of going to Egypt to places such as Memphis, Migdol and Tahpanhes in Lower and Upper Egypt where God’s specially chosen guys and gals had relocated – to tell these guys and gals that God was going to completely eradicate them for their decision to head for Egypt and for their repulsive action of continuing to worship an inanimate, manmade god. Jeremiah 44 recounts Jeremiah’s interaction with some very self-centered and stubborn guys and gals. Verse 25 says, “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have shown by your actions what you promised when you said, ‘“We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heavens.’” ““Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows!” God’s specially chosen guys and gals had been pushing down really hard or God’s hot button when they insisted that their pet god was more able or capable than what He is. How often do you think that you need to trust in your smarts and inherent abilities to help you instead of asking God for His help?
Instead of telling the Israelite people group guys and gals who had gone to Egypt to . . . God would make sure that none of these guys and gals would ever return to the land that He had given them to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . God – through Jeremiah, told His specially chosen guys and gals who had relocated back in Egypt that because of their wicked actions and detestable things that they were doing that He would give them a sign to make His point. God told His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group guys and gals, who had returned to living among guys and gals in the country where God had about 850 years earlier led them to escape, that just as He had handed Zedekiah – who had been their king in the land of Judah, over to Nebuchadnezzar, that He was going to remove the ruling Egyptian Pharaoh – who was Hophra, from being Egypt’s ruler. Hophra – during a power struggle in 570 B.C., was killed by his rivals. God detested the pet gods that His specially chosen guys and gals adopted to worship. God detests the pet gods that His specially elected guys and gals worship. God expects His specially elected guys, gals and kids to invest their time and energy in Him. God expects His specially elected guys, gals and kids to see His glory being reflected through His creation and to have His glory be reflected back to Him.
Jeremiah 44 (662)