The Queen of Heaven

2023-08-14

The queen of heaven is only mentioned in the book of Jeremiah.

The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? (Jeremiah 7:18-19)

But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto 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 had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men? (Jeremiah 44:17-19)

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows. (Jeremiah 44:25)

The queen of heaven was a false god that Judah worshipped at the time of the fall of Jerusalem and the beginning of the exile. Even after such destruction, many of the people were unwilling to part with the rituals that honored it. Offering incense, baking cakes, and offering drink offerings were a part of worship, and women were the ones who prepared the cakes. Women were apparently central in this worship and the primary religionists in the process.

This religion provoked God to anger. The people seemed to think that not performing the vows to the false god would hurt them; on the contrary, it was their religion that provoked God to anger.

The religion of the queen of heaven is alive and well today. There are over a billion adherents. Watch for the Roman Catholic Church and other religions that subscribe to this. They are heretical and must be avoided.

However, there is most certainly a King of Heaven. “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase” (Daniel 4:37).