Jeremiah to the Others

Jeremiah 41:11 KJV 1900

11 But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,

There was some internal strife going on at this point, and someone named Ishmael in the previous chapter had gone about attacking the government that was instituted in Judah after the fall of jerusalem

he’d assasinated someone named Gedaliah, a high ranking person in Judah’s government and actually someone who had influenced king Zedekiah to imprison jeremiah, until he was freed by the babylonians

so we see this person got his judgement from God, we talked last week that God left nobodies deeds looked over in this process, and this persons deeds were not - he received his comeuppance

Johanan son of Kareah, who was part of Judah’s army, went out to fight this guy, as we’ll see in the next verse...

Jeremiah 41:12–13 KJV 1900

12 Then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. 13 Now it came to pass, that when all the people which were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, then they were glad.

so this guy Ishmael had taken some prisoners on while on his string of atrocities, and certainly, these guys were glad to be getting rescued

Jeremiah 41:14–15 KJV 1900

14 So all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah cast about and returned, and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.

so we see that Ishmael escapes for the time being, and the captives are saved and are leaving

but here is where we start getting into the meat and potatoes of what we’re going to be talking about today, just wanted to give some background

Jeremiah 41:16–17 KJV 1900

16 Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon: 17 And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Beth-lehem, to go to enter into Egypt,

Jeremiah 41:18 KJV 1900

18 Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.

remember, Ishmael is the one who rebelled, Gadeliah is one of the high ranking government members who didn’tt like Jeremiah, and Johanan was the one on the rescue mission

Verse 17 is the operative verse here - it says that they set out to enter into Egypt

if we remember earlier in the book, God had told people even before the exile that Egypt would not be there for them and that egypt would not save them

now, when we look at what happened during the fall of Jerusalem, we see that it was true - we went through that whole story on the fall and we see that Egypt was nowhere to be found, even though some of the people seemed to think they had an ally

they thought they knew, but God knew better - isn’t that the case with so many people today?

but now, AFTER the exile, we see that people are still somehow attracted to going to Egypt - they were afraid of what the babylonians do because of this rebellion by Ishmael

they had SEEN that egypt was not there for them, their people had a terrible history with egypt, but yet it had a draw to them

their rationale was that it was a country that gave them refuge, that was safe from the fear of the babylonians, that was safe and built up and was not rubble

remember how the pastor has said many times that Egypt is a type of the world? - look at their choice here - they could have a nice, easy, lush, built up nice country in egypt that was “worldly”, with different gods and sinfulness abounding

OR they could have a more humble land, but a land that God had blessed and had given them and promised to build up

and we see here that they are set out to go to egypt, after all that happened to them, they are even IN THEIR LAND, but they are going to give up GOD’S plan for the easy life down in Egypt, down in the “world”

and isn’t that just something that so many people struggle with - people want their things of the world, they want their conveniences, they want their sinful lifestyle that is slowly destroying them but feels good

worldliness is like an addiction, it feels good at the time, but it’s slowly destroying them

it’s also like a sickness, it’s like rust or corrossion - rust doesn’t happen quickly, it slowly eats away at the object and before you know it it’s destroyed

we’re given a choice - we know it’s not always easy as believers, there might be some persecution for us in some ways, thankfully right now we’re not being killed, but we can still be mocked and ridiculed

now we can either choose to avoid that altogether, and just not live a godly life, just be like the rest of the world

or we can take a stand and be part of God’s blessed people, He’s promised to always be with us - it may not always be easy, but we’d have God on our side

we are called to take this stand, we are called to be strong and courageous people of God, to make a difference in this world, to carry out God’s mission in this world

if not for us, who else would it be? it’s our duty, it is really our privilege, we should be excited every single day to have this opportunity

but yet people struggle with it due to the flesh

now let’s see the progression of this - will they stay in God’s land or will they go to where it would be supposedly easier, supposedly safer...

Jeremiah 42:1–3 KJV 1900

1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near, 2 And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:) 3 That the Lord thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.

so they’re decide to go to Jeremiah and have Jeremiah send up a prayer, asking for God’s guidance on where they should go and what they should do. at least they’re still interested in what God says

they should have already known if they had been listening to Jeremiah, that God wanted them to stay in the land and be built back up again into a full on nation of His people

but they have Jeremiah send up this prayer anyway, because they are conflicted, they are struggling with the fleshly desire to run away to the easier life

it’s time for them show show if they’re not only going to talk the talk, but if they’ll walk the walk

because if you just read these verses, it sounds like they are really wanting to know what God’s going to want and that they would do it

but it’s really easy to talk the talk, the hard part iis walking the walk, and that’s where the real substance is

Jeremiah 42:4–6 KJV 1900

4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you. 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us. 6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.

they say they’re going to obey, as a matter of fact, they say WHEN we obey, so surely they’re going to obey…right?

so let’s see what God has to say to them...

Jeremiah 42:7–12 KJV 1900

7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah. 8 Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, 9 And said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him; 10 If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. 11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the Lord: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. 12 And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.

God tells them to stay in the land, that He’ll be there for them and that He’ll build them up, and He gives us similar promises as His people today

He specifically tells them not to be afraid of babylon and that He would deliver them and show mercies unto them

continuing on...

Jeremiah 42:13–18 KJV 1900

13 But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God, 14 Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: 15 And now therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; 16 Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die. 17 So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them. 18 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.

so God tells them hey, If you try to go to Egypt for safety, it’s not going to work out

in fact, everything you’re afraid of by staying in Judah is going to happen to you down in Egypt

God says they’ll be made into ruins, into a reproach, experience pestilence and famine and war

and that’s what the world truly is, isn’t it - it’s a place of evil, it’s a place of harm to the soul, it’s a place of violence and a rough place to be

when people reject God and His ways, they lionize the world, they remember all of the supposedly “good things” that they’d have to give up

but really, the types of things you’d have to give up to live a Godly life are destructive to the soul, the only things you’d have to give up are things that are truly destructive

to live God’s way, it’s not like you’re giving up everything, you’re simply giving up those things that are harmful - you can still go skydiving or skiing or whatever your hobby is - so you’re really not ACTUALLY giving up that much are you?

you’re embracing a much better life and lifestyle - but people struggle so much to see that, just like the folks here in this story

so Jeremiah says something in the following verses...

Jeremiah 42:19–22 KJV 1900

19 The Lord hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day. 20 For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the Lord your God, saying, Pray for us unto the Lord our God; and according unto all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it. 21 And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you. 22 Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.

“know CERTAINLY that I’ve told you this day not to go” - there is no ambiguity

Jeremiah knew that they had really decided in their hearts to go, and so he tells them in these verses, especially verse 22

the people respond in the next few verses

Jeremiah 43:1–4 KJV 1900

1 And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, even all these words, 2 Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there: 3 But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon. 4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the Lord, to dwell in the land of Judah.

the people who had just previously said, “oh yeah, we WILL obey what the Lord tells us” have now said that God’s Word spoken through Jeremiah is a lie.

so much for just words, right?

doesn’t this sound just like stuff when the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness? “You’ve brought us out here to die!” the people here are saying similar things - and the fates of both the generation in the wilderness and the people in this story will be the same

verse 4 says that they did NOT obey the Lord and stay in the land of Judah

their hearts were hardened and the flesh overtook them, they preferred the supposedly nice, easy land of egypt, sinful as it may be, over the land of God and His ways

Jeremiah 43:8–13 KJV 1900

8 Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, 9 Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; 10 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. 11 And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword. 12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace. 13 He shall break also the images of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.

God tells Jeremiah to go to the people who were now in Egypt and to give them a prophecy from Him

so he sticks to great stones into a kiln in the sight of the people of judah there and says, “ I will send nebuchadnezzar down here to campaign against egypt, and he will set his throne on top of these stones”

now, in these days when someone put something on top of something or put their foot on top of something, it was symbolism of victory, of having conquered something, of subjugating something

So, just like before, God tells them their fate, He’d told them before that if they go to egypt, they would end up facing what they were trying to flee, the babylonians

they ran from God to try to find easiness, comfort, and safety, but you can’t find those things while running FROM God

you have to run TO Him to find those things, and we know that those who stayed in Judah were built back up greatly

but those who stayed in Egypt were wiped out

We know through archeology that most of the people of judah in egypt mentioned in this story were wiped out, as there isn’t much record of them, but there IS record of some stragglers who lived on an island in the middle of the nile way out in the country

they survived for a while longer, and we even have some letters from these jews that we can read, and they worshipped to some extent, but they still were not supposed to have gone to egypt at all

and even this outfit, the Jews of elephantine, eventually were wiped out and were gone

and so all the jews who went to egypt were gone, just according to the prophecy from God

You cannot run from God to find peace and safety, you cannot find success in the world

and the jews who rejected God and went to egypt eventually found this out

they followed the fleshly desire, and paid the price