Read Jeremiah 44:1-30
This message, given in 580 B.C., while Jeremiah was in Egypt against his will, reminded the people that their idolatry had brought destruction on their land. Jeremiah told them that they would never return to Judah because the escape to Egypt had been against God’s advice. But the people refused to learn any lessons from all the destruction their sins had caused.
When we forget a lesson or refuse to learn it, we risk repeating our mistakes. The people of Judah struggled with this; to forget their former sins was to repeat them. To fail to learn from failure is to assure future failure. Your past is your school of experience. Let your past mistakes point you to God’s way.
The farther we drift from God, the more confused our thinking becomes. Whatever spiritual life was left in the Israelites when they went to Egypt was lost as they sank into the depths of idolatry. The escape to Egypt had brought a change in their pagan worship habits, and they blamed their troubles on their neglect of their idols. But idol worship had started all their problems in the first place. The people refused to recognize the true source of their problems: departure from God’s leading. When calamity forces you to examine your life, take a close look at God’s instructions for you.
After Jeremiah’s forced move to Egypt, there is no word in the Bible about the events in the rest of his life.