DIVINE GUIDANCE

1. (1-3) Jeremiah is consulted by Jonathan and the populace. 

Since we are still only a small portion of a much larger population, as you can see, all the captains of the forces, including Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, as well as the entire populace, drew near to Jeremiah the prophet and begged him to make their request known to God. They also asked that God show them what they should do. 

a. After the horrific massacre at Mizpah (Jeremiah 41), the leaders and citizens of the people who were left in the nation were troubled and sought Jeremiah for a message from the Lord. Now all the captains of the forces…and all the people, from the least to the greatest, gathered near. 

i. The forty years prior to Jerusalem’s fall, “the entire public flocked to obtain an oracle from him; something that had never happened” 

ii. The Lachish Letters mention a Hoshaiah by that name, therefore this Hoshaiah might be Hoshaiah’s son 

b. Please consider our request acceptable. They approached the venerable and elderly prophet with with courtesy and respect. 

i. “The refugees were experiencing some degree of anxiety about what their best course of action should be. A prophecy from Yahweh would end their confusion 

c. They sought Jeremiah for God’s advice because they were rightfully concerned about the dangers around them and believed that if they followed God’s instructions, He would protect them. “That the LORD your God may teach us the path in which we ought to go and the thing we ought to do,” Jeremiah said. On the surface, this was a modest, sensible, and right request. 

i. This appeared to be a wonderful prayer to pray. “It is still a prayer that merits daily recitation. However, a seemingly insignificant error in the phrase “your God” revealed a deeper admission than they had previously thought 

ii. “Self-interest has predominated once more, and now their worry is just to know if God will approve of their desire to travel to Egypt,” the author writes, “beneath the pleasant words” 

iii. “It is pointless to claim that we want to know God’s will when, deep down, we know that we will follow a particular path no matter what. How frequently do Christians request prayer that their course be made clear when, in reality, they already know what it will be and are secretly hoping to win God over to their own side? ”

iv. “We have the ability to manipulate our own souls. We always seek for Divine direction after deciding what our course of action would be, just like these people did. Such prayers are merely superstitious. When prayer is understood of as a means of getting our own goals satisfied, it is a superstition.” 

2. Jeremiah assures them he will fulfill their request. 

The prophet Jeremiah then addressed them, saying, “I have heard. In fact, I will pray to the LORD, your God, in accordance with your requests, and whatever the LORD decides to answer you with, I will make known to you. Nothing will be withheld from you by me. 

a. Jeremiah was glad to send them a message from God, but he had to seek God and pray for it. I will pray to the LORD your God in accordance with your words. 

i. Jeremiah waited to speak until he had heard from the Lord directly 

b. I’ll make it known to you. Jeremiah made a commitment to faithfully relay the message God sent him to the leaders and common people of the people who remained in the country after the Babylonian exile. I won’t hold anything back from you. 

i. He was aware that the prayer they had asked him to offer for them had not been sincere, most likely by a heavenly revelation 

3. Johanan and the populace pledge to follow the LORD’s instructions in verses 5–6. So they addressed Jeremiah and said, “Let the LORD be a true and reliable witness between us, if we do not perform according to all that the LORD your God sends us by you. We shall heed the LORD our God’s speech, to whom we have sent you, whether it is agreeable or unappealing, so that it may be good with us when we do so. 

a. They swore an oath of holiness and solemnity to obey everything God commanded through the prophet Jeremiah, whether it pleased or offended God. If we do not obey everything, may the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us. 

i. Did these men understand what it meant to swear solemnly? Or were they blatant atheists, swearing an oath to something they had no intention of doing? ” 

b. That it may be well with us when we obey: They properly thought that God would care for them if they obeyed Him. They anticipated that God’s faithful people would experience the benefits promised under the conditions of the Old Covenant (Deuteronomy 28). 

ii. The prophet’s advise would so blatantly contradict the findings of their own solid reasoning, despite the fact that they were probably honest and fully certain in their own minds about the appropriate way to take. 

1. The blessing for those who stay in the land (7–12). 

And it so happened that Jeremiah received the word of the LORD after ten days. “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me, whom you sent me to present your petition before Him: If you will still be in this land, then I will build you and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up,” he said to Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains

of the forces that were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest. Because I change my mind about the catastrophe I inflicted upon you. The LORD declares, “Do not be terrified of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not be afraid of him, because I am with you to free you from his hand and to preserve you from his sword. And I’ll have mercy on you so that he’ll have mercy on you and let you go back to your own country. 

a. The word of the LORD finally reached Jeremiah after ten days: The prophetic word took some time to reach Jeremiah. It wasn’t something he could immediately use whenever he wanted. The timing had to be according to God. 

i. The 10 days it took Jeremiah to be ready to speak the heavenly oracle must have seemed like an eternity to the Jews because they appeared to be in such danger. 

ii. It is clear that neither the prophets nor the followers of our Lord were able to perform miracles whenever they desired. Both the gift of prophecy and the gift of miracles depended on the Most High’s will and were only granted temporarily; once the need had passed, the influence stopped. 

b. Jeremiah told the leaders and common people that God would protect and establish them if they stayed in the land, and that if they did, He would build them up rather than tear them down. Jeremiah told them that God would change His mind about the catastrophe He had brought upon them by speaking in God’s name. The days of awful judgment were behind us. 

i. “Since I have only punished you because you persisted in disobedience, I will stop this punishment as soon as you obey my word. If I am on your side, you will not need to worry about the king of Babylon. He will see my mercy and stop punishing you once he realizes that I am on your side. 

ii. Because I repent: “The verb ‘grieve for’ (niham) should be translated’repent,’ as in AV, RV, and RSV, as though Yahweh understood that he had erred and was sorry for it. The phrase “I relent with regard to” in the LXX indicates that the already-applied judgment satisfied the divine demands brought on by the broken agreement. 

c. I’ll show you mercy: God pleaded with the leaders and common folk to have faith in Him that the time of judgment was ended and the time of mercy had begun. The exhortation before the last Babylonian conquest was to submit and go into exile. The message was to trust Me and stay in the land during this time of mercy. If they did, God would provide them goodness and security in your own country. 

i. “If Yahweh showed pity to his people, so would the king of Babylon,” said the prophet. “I will show you mercy, that he may have mercy on you. He would allow them to peacefully re-enter their houses 

ii. There is no proof that Nebuchadnezzar exacted revenge for the governor’s murder, though he did capture more people in 582 BC (Jeremiah 52:30). If this was retaliation, it was a very delayed one

2. The curse on people who go back to Egypt (verses 13–17). 

“However, if you disobey the voice of the LORD your God and declare, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ 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 in need of bread, and there we shall dwell’ — then pay attention to the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah! So declares the God of Israel, the LORD of hosts: 

The sword you feared will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you feared would follow closely behind you there in Egypt, where you will perish if you fully set your faces toward entering and residing there. The same will happen to all of the men who have made up their minds to travel to and reside in Egypt. They will perish by the sword, famine, and plague. And none of them will survive the catastrophe I will inflict upon them, either. 

a. But if you assert: If they trusted God and remained in the land, He made them a wonderful promise. They would be defying the voice of the LORD your God if they didn’t listen to Him and instead sought safety and sustenance in the land of Egypt. 

i. Jeremiah had to deliver an unpopular message once more 

b. If unbelief pushed them to Egypt, what they feared would happen to them in Judea would happen to them in Egypt. Then the sword that you feared will come upon you there in the land of Egypt. They would undoubtedly perish in Egypt from the sword, famine, and plague as a result of their disbelief. 

i. “Disaster would pursue the remaining people all the way to Egypt. The sword, the terror, the famine, the death, the plague, the calamity, the wrath, the cursing, the horror, the condemnation, and the reproach would all occur on the Nile 

ii. By the sword: “Egypt had not participated in any military operations, despite having lost the Battle of Carchemish (605 BC). Judah, on the other hand, had continuously endured the rigors of battle since the Battle of Megiddo (609 BC). Thus, the contrast between tranquil Egypt and war-torn Judah could not but leave the remaining Jews in awe. However, Egypt’s hardships were about to start; Judah’s sufferings had already ended 

iii. By famine: “God could cause a famine there even though Egypt was highly fruitful and the world’s granary; he has treasures of plagues for sinners that will never be spent” 

Therefore, Jeremiah now gets right to the point and warns the people that they would be punished for their intention to defy the Lord and do what is right in their own eyes, even if the Lord had previously presented both the possibility of blessing and curse to the people. 

As he delivered the Lord’s message, Jeremiah may have deduced from their expressions that they had no intention of remaining in Judah. They might have even begun packing their bags in front of his face as he spoke. Or perhaps God simply told him that they would travel to Egypt regardless of what the Lord or his prophet said to them. 

Next week, we’ll see what happens when the people decide to disobey the Lord, as they travel to Egypt.

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