B i b l e S t u d y
Lesson: - The Queen of Heaven
SCRIPTURE READING: Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-19,25.
GOLDEN TEXT: Jeremiah 10:2.
1. Does God want His people to learn the way of the heathen (gentiles)? Jeremiah 10:2. Does God want His people to be dismayed at the signs of heaven? Same verse.
2. Does God want His people to worship "the queen of heaven"? Jeremiah 7:16-18. Did God want His prophet Jeremiah to pray and make intercession for these people who worshiped "the queen of heaven"? Jeremiah 7:16 says: ""Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you."
Did God say that He would not even listen to Jeremiah’s prayer? Verse 16.
3. Did God’s people make cakes to "the queen of heaven"? Jeremiah 7:18.
Comment: Did you know that hot cross buns, and dyed Easter eggs figured in the idolatrous Chaldean rites, just as they do in Easter observance today?
The "buns," known by that identical name, were used in the worship of the "queen of heaven," the goddess Easter, as early as the days of Cecrops, the founder of Athens, 1500 years before Christ. (The Two Babylons, pgs. 107-108).
"One species of sacred bread," says Bryant, in Mythology, Vol. I, p. 373, "which used to be offered to the gods, was of great antiquity, and called Boun."
One of the reasons God drove the Jews into Babylonian captivity was this very idolatry -- their whole families joined in this idolatrous worship, in making and offering of HOT CROSS BUNS!
If you read the entire 7th chapter of Jeremiah you will find GOD'S stern sentence upon Judah, through Jeremiah the prophet, "If you really amend your- life and doings," God warns them, "I will allow you to remain in this place (Palestine) for all time." But they would not listen. Then "I will cast you out of my sight," says God to Judah. And to Jeremiah He says: {17} "Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? {18} "The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger." {19} "Do they provoke Me to anger?" says the LORD. "Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?" {20} Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place; on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched"" (Jeremiah 7:17-20 NKJV).
The Hebrew word for "cakes" as Jeremiah originally wrote it is "kavvan," and really means "BUNS." The word "bun" seems, says Hislop to have been derived from this word. This Hebrew word is used nowhere else in the Bible, except Jeremiah 44:19, where again the same idolatrous worship to the queen of heaven by these hot cross buns is mentioned. Every other place in the Bible where the English word "cakes" is used, a different Hebrew word was used in the original.
Jeremiah was referring to HOT CROSS BUNS- exactly the same kind as many people buy and eat at the "Easter season!"
4. Did God again speak to Jeremiah regarding His peoples’ wickedness and their provoking Him to anger by burning incense and serving other gods. Jeremiah 44:1-3. Did God again condemn their worship of "the queen of heaven"? Jeremiah 44:17-19 (NKJV): ""But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mo
uth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. {18} "But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine." {19} The women also said, "And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands' permission?""... {25} ""Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: 'You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, "We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her." You will surely keep your vows and perform your vows!'"
Comment: God’s people of the House of Judah and Jerusalem adamantly disobeyed God in their zealous determination to align themselves with the "queen of heaven" (v. 17).
5. This phrase "the queen of heaven" only occurs five places in the Bible and all of the occurrences are in the book of Jeremiah.
Should God’s people today worship "the queen of heaven"?
6. Did God speak to the prophet Ezekiel about great abominations that were going on in His Temple? Ezekiel 8:15-18. Was this abomination the fact that men were facing toward the east and were worshiping the sun toward the east as it was rising? Do you think true Christians today should participate in Easter sunrise services?
7. What does God say will befall those who follow the way of Babylon and worship according to this ancient pagan mystery system? Revelation 18:1-8. Does God say to His people to come out of this Babylonish system or else they will share her sins, and receive her plagues? Verse 4.
In Conclusion: PLEASE reject the world’s ways and holidays and keep God’s commandments, His Sabbath and His feast days? (Leviticus 23:1-2).
Scriptures
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-19,25. - SEE BELOW.
Golden Text: (Jer 10:2 KJV) "Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them."
1.) (Jer 10:2 KJV) "Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them."
2.) (Jer 7:16-18 NKJV) ""Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. {17} "Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? {18} "The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger."
4.) (Jer 44:1-3 NKJV) "The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, {2} "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, {3} 'because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers."
6.) (Ezek 8:15-18 KJV) "Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. {16} And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. {17} Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. {18} Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them."
7.) (Rev 18:1-8 NKJV) "After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. {2} And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! {3} "For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury." {4} And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. {5} "For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. {6} "Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. {7} "In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, 'I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.' {8} "Therefore her plagues will come in one day; death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her."
Feasts of the LORD
(Lev 23:1-2 NKJV) "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, {2} "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts."