The Flight to Egypt (Jeremiah 42:1–43:3)

I. A Request for Jeremiah’s Advice (42:1–6)

1 Now all the captains of the forces, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please, let our petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to the LORD your God, for all this remnant (since we are left but a few of many, as you can see), 3 that the LORD your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do.”4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. Indeed, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words, and it shall be, that whatever the LORD answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.”5 So they said to Jeremiah, “Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the LORD your God sends us by you. 6 Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”

A. The insincere request.

The people fleeing to Egypt approached Jeremiah to ask the Lord where they should go and what they should do. Their request to Jeremiah sounded sincere and spiritual, but there was deception in the hearts of the leaders, including Johanan.

Earlier Jeremiah had been hated and persecuted, but now all the people from the least to the greatest came to him. They turned to him with an urgent appeal to “hear our petition” (lit. “let our petition fall before you”). They asked him to pray to “the LORD your God.”

B. It is ironic that the people had not listened to Jeremiah for 40 years, when his warnings could have saved the nation.

Their request was not sincere they only wanted confirmation of their plans. They already had determined to go to Egypt. It is all too easy to make one’s plans and then seek God’s stamp of approval.

Jeremiah agreed to pray to “the LORD your God.” He assured the people he would keep nothing from them. His statement implies that they would not like what he was going to tell them.

With sincerity, they assured Jeremiah that God could punish them if they did not obey him. Twice in v. 6 they promised to obey the Lord whether his reply was “favorable or unfavorable.” It is difficult to understand why their vow to obey was so emphatic, but when tested, they refused to obey.

II. Jeremiah’s Advice to the People (42:7–22)

7 And it happened after ten days that the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, 9 and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him: 10 ‘If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up. For I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not be afraid of him,’ says the LORD, ‘for I am with you, to save you and deliver you from his hand. 12 And I will show you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.’ 13 “But if you say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the LORD your God, 14 saying, ‘No, but we will go to the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell’—15 Then hear now the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah! Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there, 16 then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die. 17 So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there. They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. And none of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them.’ 18 “For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘As My anger and My fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.’ 19 “The LORD has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt!’ Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. 20 For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God, and according to all that the LORD your God says, so declare to us and we will do it.’ 21 And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, or anything which He has sent you by me. 22 Now therefore, know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to dwell.”

A. The divine answer.

The prophet could not set the time for hearing from God, nor did he speak until he was sure he had discerned God’s message. Jeremiah had to wait ten days before the word of the Lord came to him. The Lord kept the people waiting for ten days, possibly to give them time to search their hearts and confess their sins. During those ten days, they could see that the Lord was caring for them and that they had nothing to fear.

He told them if they stayed in the land, God would build them and plant them (see 1:10). The prophet encouraged them not to be afraid of the Babylonians because the Lord was with the remnant and would care for them. It was God who was in charge, not the king of Babylon. Indeed, the day would come when this small remnant would be able to reclaim their lost lands and start to enjoy normal lives again.

B. The wrath of God had already been poured out on Jerusalem. Now he would pour it out on those who were going to Egypt.

They would become objects of cursing and horror and never again see Judah (cf. 19:8; Lam 2:15–16). It seemed that they had learned no lessons from Jerusalem’s punishment. The smoldering ruins of Jerusalem should have been sufficient evidence to convince them of the truthfulness of God’s word.

Jeremiah warned the remnant of Judah not to go to Egypt. He admonished them that they had made a “fatal mistake”23 by asking him to seek God’s will for them when they had no intention of keeping their promise. It was a mistake that would cost them their lives. Those who seek God’s will and then refuse to do it risk God’s punishment. Even as he spoke, Jeremiah could see by the faces of the people that they had no intention of obeying his counsel.

III. Rejection of Jeremiah’s Advice (43:1–3)

1 Now it happened, when Jeremiah had stopped speaking to all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, all these words, 2 that Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, “You speak falsely! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to dwell there.’ 3 But Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death or carry us away captive to Babylon.”

A. The arrogant rebellion.

As soon as Jeremiah finished speaking, Azariah, Johanan, and all the “arrogant” men responded, “You are lying!” They flatly denied that the Lord had sent Jeremiah to deter them from continuing their journey to Egypt. It is incredible that the people were unwilling to believe him since the fulfillment of his warnings about Jerusalem’s destruction proved he was a true prophet.

That event should have been undeniable proof that Jeremiah was a prophet of God. Perhaps some of them suspected Jeremiah of being a Babylonian sympathizer who did not want them to escape Nebuchadnezzar’s retaliation for Gedaliah’s death. Others already had determined they were going to Egypt before consulting Jeremiah. There they hoped to find peace and plenty.

B. Johanan even accused Baruch of influencing Jeremiah.

It’s difficult to understand what kind of special power Baruch could possibly have had over this courageous prophet. They accused Baruch of inciting Jeremiah against them to hand them over to the Babylonians in order to kill them or take them into exile in Babylon.

Their accusation implies that they believed Jeremiah was Baruch’s puppet or at least under his influence. The statement suggests that Baruch was more than Jeremiah’s scribe. He was seen as a person of influence, perhaps with personal ambition. But they had to blame somebody, because they weren’t going to admit they were wrong.