We have all seen self-destructive behavior. Perhaps it was an alcoholic who continued to drink, even after a number of DUI’s, destroyed marriages, etc. Or perhaps it was a drug abuser who continued that abuse even after the drug had destroyed their life. In cases like that, most of us look at the situation and have a hard time understanding how that person could keep doing what they did. Why did they race headlong in a direction that they knew would kill them? Couldn’t they at least slow down on the road they were traveling?

The Bible says that all of us have a tendency toward self-destruction. If we aren’t careful to rely upon the power of Christ as believers, we can all travel that road. The problem we all have is that we live in the flesh. The various temptations that appeal to the flesh can eventually lead to destruction.

Jeremiah 44:1-9 gives an example of the danger we all face. In the previous chapter, a number of Jews arrived in Egypt, even though God told them not to go there. One of the main reasons God told them not to go was the temptation of idol worship in that land. Idols were everywhere. These Jews, however, ignored that warning.

I’m guessing they thought they would never fall for that destructive behavior. They had seen what idolatry had done to their neighbors and families. One of the reasons they wanted to go to Egypt was that their own country had been destroyed as God’s punishment for the nation’s idolatry. They felt they had certainly learned their lesson.

In spite of God’s warning, they went to Egypt. They arrived in the northern part of the country, at a city called Tahpanhes (Jer 43:7). Since these Jews had seen the effects of idolatry, the reader might be justified in thinking they would avoid it at all costs.

But the reader would be naïve and wrong. In the very next chapter, we are told that these Jews were eager to spread throughout Egypt. They were soon found not only in Tahpanhes, but also in Migdol, Noph, and the area of Pathros–locations found in the north, south, east, and west of Egypt. Indeed, the Jews were found throughout the land of Egypt (Jer 44:1-2).

Not only were they eager to make their homes in all areas of idolatrous Egypt, they were also eager to engage in all its idolatrous practices. Men encouraged their wives to worship Egyptian idols. The wives prepared meals for their husbands in order to join them in honoring the female idols. It turned into a real family affair.

Jeremiah reminded them of what they had seen in their own country and of the road they were on. But such warnings fell on deaf ears. A modern-day reader might look at the Jews in Egypt as one would look at an alcoholic who continues to drink. Why are they doing this to themselves? Why are they in such a hurry to destroy themselves? Can’t they slow down just a little?

Earlier in his book, Jeremiah gives a graphic description of what these Jews were like. They were like an animal in heat, looking for a mate. It’s all the animal thinks about, and she will do whatever is necessary to find one. The Jews looking for their idols did the same thing. They went after their desires, regardless of the consequences (Jer 2:23-24). They were like unthinking brutes.

Jeremiah is one of the longest books in the Bible. Chapter 44 is the last message the prophet gives to his people. What a sad final statement. We can walk away, shaking our heads, all the while declaring that we would never do something so dumb.

But we all know, if we study the Scriptures, that the same possibilities lie within us. Our flesh can make us just like the animal in Jeremiah 2 and the Jews in Jeremiah 44. They are warnings for us. We need to ask the Lord to keep us from destroying ourselves. The sin our flesh leads us into will do that.

We might look at those guys and say, “Can you slow down a little bit?” But when we do, it is more important that we ask the Lord to keep us from getting on that road in the first place.