Devotions

I Am With You to Save You

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After about nine months of peace, Ishmael and a small group of men kill Gedaliah and take captives. Johanan and others pursue and in Jeremiah 41:14 “all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and returned and went to Johanan”. They were all afraid of reprisal by the Babylonians and wanted to run to Egypt for safety so approached Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said in Jeremiah 42:10–11 “‘stay in this land, then I will build you and … I will plant you … You must not be afraid of the king of Babylon … declares Yahweh, ‘for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand”. But “Tahpanhes was an Egyptian fortress city … the first Egyptian city they would reach” so they went on. The Lord tells them in Jeremiah 44:2 “You yourselves have seen all the disaster” and in Jeremiah 44:4 “I sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending over and over again” and asks, in Jeremiah 44:7 “Why are you doing great harm to yourselves” because Egypt is next. Egypt will be overtaken and is no protection for anyone.

We Will Listen to the Voice of Yahweh Our God

Jeremiah 42:1–6
The people came to Jeremiah asking him to seek God and pray for direction from “your God” in

Jeremiah 42:3 “And let Yahweh your God inform us the way in which we should go and the thing that we should do.”

and they also said “we will listen to the voice of our God” in

Jeremiah 42:6 “Whether good or bad, we will listen to the voice of Yahweh our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of Yahweh our God.”

 

I Am With You to Save You

These were the people that had been taken at the hands of Ishmael and his men after he killed Gedaliah the governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar. Then in Jeremiah 41:16 “Johanan … and all the commanders of the armies who were with him” rescued them and in Jeremiah 17 “stayed at the lodging place of Chimham that is near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt”. But this was a worrisome time for them:

  • They were all afraid of reprisal by the Babylonians
    for the murder of Gedaliah.
  • Johanan and all the commanders were the left over defeated army of Judah after the seige of Jerusalem.
  • They were at “the lodging place of Chimham”, a temporary dwelling place after their rescue.
  • They said in Jeremiah 41:2 “may our plea please fall before you” as they asked Jeremiah to seek the Lord for resolution of their urgent dilemma.

After a day passes, then a week, and finally ten days later, the Lord responds in

Jeremiah 42:7 “And then at the end of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah”.

And the Lord gives them assurance saying in Jeremiah 42:10–12 ‘stay in this land, then I will build you and … I will plant you … You must not be afraid of the king of Babylon … declares Yahweh, ‘for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 And I will show you compassion, and … will restore you to your soil”.

You Must Certainly Know That I Have Warned You

Jeremiah 42:17–22
The Lord is telling them through the prophet that in Egypt in Jeremiah 42:17 “aliens there will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, and there will not be for them an escapee”. And to make it perfectly plain, gives them this warning in

Jeremiah 42:19 “Yahweh has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, ‘You must not go to Egypt.’ You must certainly know that I have warned you today”

 

All The Insolent Men Spoke

Jeremiah 43:1–7
In Jeremiah 43:1 “when Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all the words of Yahweh their God”, after they had heard the response from the Lord they had asked for, and after they had heard the warning from the Lord, some, “the insolent men” in Jeremiah 43:2, spoke up. These brought an accusation in Jeremiah 43:2 “you are telling a lie!” and in Jeremiah 43:3 “Baruch … is inciting you”, and in Jeremiah 43:4 “Johanan … and all the commanders of the armies, and all the people did not listen”.

Baruch did have a history as scribe to Jeremiah, and had read the Lords words publicly for Jeremiah but it wasn’t Baruch inciting in

Jeremiah 36:4 “Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Yahweh that he had spoken to him on a scroll”.

Just as these men had it wrong with Jeremiah, they had it wrong with Baruch and now, they had it wrong that they would find safety as they came in Jeremiah 42:7 to “Tahpanhes (which) was an Egyptian fortress city in the eastern delta region of the Nile, and so the first Egyptian city they would reach”.1 

I Sent to You All My Servants the Prophets

Jeremiah 44:1–10
Now, the word of the Lord comes in Jeremiah 44:1 “concerning all the Judeans who were living in the land of Egypt, who were living at Migdol, and Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in the land of Pathros”. But what are these people doing in Egypt? The Lord had tried to get them to change their ways and avoid the destruction in Jerusalem, but they did not. Then the Lord had told them to give themselves over to the Chaldeans and he would be with them to save them, but they would not.

So, the Lord says to them in Jeremiah 44:2 “You yourselves have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the towns of Judah”. And the Lord says in Jeremiah 44:4 “And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending over and over again”. Then he asks, in Jeremiah 44:7 “So then, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Why are you doing great harm to yourselves” and in Jeremiah 44:8 “to make smoke offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to dwell as aliens”. And then the Lord says in Jeremiah 44:10 “They have not shown contrition up to this day, and they have not shown reverence, and they have not walked in my law and in my statutes”.

We Are Not Going to Listen to You!

Jeremiah 44:11–19

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Jeremiah 42:1-22
  • Jeremiah 43:1-13
  • Jeremiah 44:1-19

References

  • 1. Martens, E. A. (1995). Jeremiah. In Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Vol. 3, p. 546). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.