Why does the Lord ask Jeremiah if he sees the children gathering wood, the father’s kindling fire and women kneading dough?

In Jeremiah 7:17–18 the Lord describes a shocking and serious abuse of worship being practiced by the people of Judah. Following the command in Jeremiah 7:16 not to pray for the people, he is asking Jeremiah, Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? This highlights the reason why the Lord will not listen to prayers for his people.¹ The Lord then describes what the people are doing. The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fires while the mothers prepare the dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven. The cult of the queen of heaven was being practiced in the streets of Jerusalem. This is probably referring to the Assyria-Babylonian goddess known as Astarte. The worship of Astarte and other Mesopotamian gods was popular in the days of Manasseh (2 Kings 21:1–26; 2 Kings 23:4–14). However, not even Josiah’s temple reforms were successful in ever removing this kind of activity from everyday life in Judah.² The way this activity is described suggests family worship in the home that involved everyone, with women taking an especially important role. The Hebrew word kawwan describes the cakes that were offered as a sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and it is a Mesopotamian loanword that describes sweetened cake (Mackay, p 313).³