THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

Sir,

Twice in the book of Jeremiah there is reference to a goddess named the ‘queen of heaven’. The first mention is in Jeremiah 7:18, which is in connection with the things the Israelites were doing that provoked the Lord to anger.

Entire families were involved; children gathered wood, and the men used it to build altars to worship the goddess. The women were engaged in kneading dough and baking cakes of bread for the ‘queen of heaven’ (Jeremiah 7:18).

The second reference is Jeremiah 44:17-25 and in this text we find the reason why God’s people were worshipping this goddess. The people said to Jeremiah; “We will do everything that we have vowed, burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, as we did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no evil.

But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine,” ( verses 17, 18).
People believed the goddess had power to provide food and protection from war to those who worshipped her. She was essentially a fertility deity and a goddess of war.

Rebellious Israelites worshipped her because they thought she provided what they needed.
She was considered superior to the Lord. However, allow me to submit to you that there is no queen of heaven; there has never been a queen of heaven.

There is a King of Heaven, the Lord of hosts (1 Timothy 6:15-16, Revelation 17:14 , Revelation 19:16). He alone rules in heaven; He does not share His rule or His throne or His authority with anyone. The idea that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the queen of heaven has no scriptural basis whatsoever.

While Mary was certainly a godly young woman greatly blessed in that she was chosen to bear the Saviour of the world, she was not in any way divine, nor was she sinless, nor is she to be worshipped.

Peter and the apostles refused to be worshipped (Acts 10:25–26; 14:13–14). The holy angels refused to be worshipped (Revelation 19:10; 22:9). The response is always the same; “Worship God!” To offer worship to anyone besides God is idolatry. Mary’s own words in Luke 1:46–55 reveal that she never thought of herself as deserving worship; on the contrary, she was relying on the grace of God for salvation; “And my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.”

Only sinners need a saviour, and Mary recognised that need in herself.Dear reader, “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments,” (Exodus 20:4-6).

Bopoto Gwinyai (7663 8191)

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