11 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am going to set My face against you for [f]woe, even to cut off all Judah. 12 And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have set their [g]mind on entering the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all [h]meet their end in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword and meet their end by famine. Both small and great will die by the sword and famine; and they will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach. 13 And I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine and with pestilence. 14 So there will be no refugees or survivors for the remnant of Judah who have entered the land of Egypt to reside there and then to return to the land of Judah, to which they are [i]longing to return and live; for none will return except a few refugees.’”
15 Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning [j]sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, [k]including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, 16 “As for the [l]message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you! 17 But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, [m]by burning [n]sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of [o]food and were well off and saw no [p]misfortune. 18 But since we stopped burning [q]sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have [r]met our end by the sword and by famine.” 19 “And,” said the women, “when we were burning [s]sacrifices to the queen of heaven and [t]were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes [u]in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”
When God called His people stiff-necked, that was certainly accurate. Jeremiah lets the people know what God’s judgment will look like (again), and their immediate response? “We’re not going to listen to you!” Yet toward the end of this passage there is a strange statement by the women that sounds eerily familiar. They ask, “when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven… was it without our husbands?” What is that all about?
By stating their husbands were with them, they were claiming that their husbands approved of what they were doing. So what gave Jeremiah any authority to state otherwise if their husbands approved? As to why that sounds familiar, we go all the way back to the beginning, where it is stated that Eve, “gave also (of the forbidden fruit) to her husband with her, and he ate.”
Adam wasn’t off somewhere wandering around when Even fell into temptation, he was right there with her, giving implicit approval of her eating the fruit. Now maybe you’d think that’s too far, but it’s exactly what these women in Jeremiah’s day claimed. The husband was there, and didn’t say it was wrong, so it must be okay. It doesn’t mean that’s right, but it emphasizes the importance of a man’s role, and the danger of silence.
I’m reminded also of what James wrote, “to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Similarly then, if we know the right thing to say–that is, if we know we need to speak up because something is wrong or unhealthy, and we don’t? Then it’s sin. Ouch! Like it or not, God has put men in a position of authority, and that comes with a heavy dose of responsibility.
Not that that lets any women off the hook either, for just about any adult has someone looking to them for guidance. We all need to be listening to God’s voice, and speak up when we see a friend or loved one engaging in unhealthy behavior. If they still do it? Well, we maybe can’t control that, but we need to do our part. I’ve heard it said of leaders in the workplace, “To be unclear is to be unkind.” In the same way, to be silent is to be unloving, and that isn’t God’s heart.
God wanted the people, His people, to know what they were doing was wrong and leading them down a path that would only end in bad things. So He spoke to them through Jeremiah. God hasn’t stopped speaking, and may be asking you to say something, so don’t stuff it in or hold back. Obey God’s prompting and let His voice be heard through you, with all the love and grace you can muster (and more with God’s help).