Why does the Lord say that his “name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt”?
Just as they have made vows to the queen of heaven so the Lord now swears by his great name
that all the people of Judah who are living in Egypt will never again invoke his name. Never again will they say, As the LORD God lives.
His name
stands for everything that the Lord has revealed about himself through the powerful works he has done in both creation and redemption. He is the one true and living God, the covenant God of Israel, but their stubborn idolatry means they have lost all claim to be the Lord’s people.
The Judeans in Egypt have attributed their fortunes to the queen of heaven, but now the Lord says that he is watching over them for disaster and not for good.
They will be consumed by sword and famine until there is an end of them.
Despite their confidence in a pagan god, it is the sovereign Lord who determines their fate, and they are now the object of his judgment.
Jeremiah refers again to a small number that will escape judgment in Egypt and return to Judah (see Jeremiah 44:14). And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, shall know whose word shall stand, mine not theirs.
This small number who escape the Lord’s judgment may be a sign of the Lord’s mercy, but the implication here seems to be that they will bear witness to the fact that it is the Lord’s word which is shown to be true and not the word of those who fled to exile and said that the queen of heaven determined their fate.1
26 écoutez la parole de l'Eternel, vous tous de Juda, qui demeurez au pays d'Egypte! Voici, je le jure par mon grand nom, dit l'Eternel, mon nom ne sera plus invoqué par la bouche d'aucun homme de Juda, et dans tout le pays d'Egypte aucun ne dira: Le Seigneur, l'Eternel est vivant!