Jeremiah - Study 9
Jeremiah 40-45
Study 9 of 10
These chapters record Jeremiah’s experiences following the fall of Jerusalem. The sympathetic reader hopes for the prophet’s final days to be brighter than the former, but the rebellion of the remnant remaining in Judah was so dark that Jeremiah’s ministry only became more difficult with time. The irony of the matter is that Nebuchadnezzar treated Jeremiah with more reverence than the people of Judah had! Nonetheless the prophet, like “an iron pillar” (1.18), remained steadfast to the word of the LORD.
The scenes of Jer 40-45 can be understood according to Jeremiah’s geographic local:
- In Judah Jeremiah prophesied that the people should stay in the land despite the Ammonite and Babylonian threats (40.1-43.7). Jeremiah’s favored status with the Babylonians allowed him to stay in the land of Judah and support Gedaliah, the governor Nebuchadnezzar had appointed over the ruined and poverty stricken folk who remained (40.1-6). The appointment of Gedaliah prompted many of Judah’s military commanders—and others who had scattered when Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem—to return and live in subjection to Babylon under Gedaliah’s rule (40.7-12). However, the potentially fruitful arrangement was soon thwarted by Ishmael son of Nethaniah, whose loyalty was with the king of the Ammonites. He assassinated Gedaliah, and threw seventy men—on pilgrimage to bring offerings to the temple—into a cistern (41.1-10). Ishmael’s attempt to take the captives of Judah to the Ammonites was halted when Johanan, another field-army commander, and a cohort “took all their men and went to fight with Ishmael” (41.12). Even though the remnant was saved from the Ammonite threat, they were yet captive to fear. Thinking their future in the land of Judah all but lost to the potential Babylonian and Ammonite reactions to Ishmael’s assassination of Gedaliah, the group decided to head for refuge in Egypt (41.18). But, perhaps to clear their consciences, they inquired of the prophet “that the LORD your God may tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do” (42.3). Despite the apparent sincerity of their words, they buckled when Jeremiah prophesied that they should stay in the land of Judah; he warned them: “If you are firmly resolved to go to Egypt and live there for awhile, then the sword you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you are worried about will follow on your heels there to Egypt, and you will die there” (42.15b-16). It seems that Jeremiah’s audience always reacted in rebellion; they said: “You are speaking a lie!...Baruch, son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Chaldeans to put us to death or to deport us to Babylon!” (43. 2b, 3). The leaders did not obey;
“Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies took the whole remnant of Judah, those who had returned from all the nations where they had been banished to live in the land of Judah for a while…along with Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah—and they went to the land of Egypt because they did not obey the voice of the LORD” (43.5, 6-7)
- In Egypt, Jeremiah prophesied the destruction of the remnant for their idolatry (43.8-45.5). Tahpanhes was a settlement on the Egyptian frontier; when Jeremiah and the remnant arrived there, the LORD told his prophet to set up some stones in Pharaoh’s local palace as a marker for the throne of Nebuchadnezzar—who would soon arrive to conquer Egypt (43.8-13)! Just as the LORD had disciplined the rebellion of His people in the Promised Land, so He would His people who rebelled by fleeing for refuge in Egypt. Jeremiah spoke the word of the LORD to the people: “Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves?...You are provoking Me to anger by the work of your hands. You are burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have to live for a while” (44.7a, 8a). The rebellion of the remnant had not changed; just as they committed themselves to idolatry in Judah—and “had enough food and good things and saw no disaster” (44.17)—they thought idolatry in Egypt would provide them the greatest pleasures of the land. Jeremiah saw things differently. He prophesied: “Because you burned incense and sinned against the LORD and didn’t obey the LORD’s voice and didn’t walk in His law, His statutes, and His testimonies, this disaster has come to you” (44.23). According to the prophet, the LORD would begin watching over the remnant “disaster and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine until they are finished off” (44.27). Perhaps the word of the LORD to Baruch during the days of Jehoiakim (ch 45) was placed after the pronouncement of the destruction of Egypt so as to provide a line of distinction between the rebellious remnant, and Baruch and Jeremiah; even in Egypt the LORD would watch over those who were devoted to Him.
The report of the flight to Egypt in Jer 40-45 illustrates the degree of hard-heartedness in the people of Judah. Through the prophet God had graciously spoken to them words of grace, but they called him a liar (43.2), and sought refuge in Egypt. This scene is informative for the storyline of Scripture, for the condition of the people had not changed even by the time of Jesus—despite the fact that the people had returned to the land. The people of Israel were yet hardened to the message of God’s grace, as cowardly and unbelieving as those who sought refuge in Egypt in the days of Jeremiah. In his Gospel, the apostle John wrote concerning Jesus’ mission: “He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him” (1.11). John went on to note, “But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God” (1.12), a matter Paul explained in Rom 9-11. His thesis there was that only a remnant of Jacob’s descendants would be saved, only those who relinquished all self-sufficiency and relied wholly on God’s word of grace in Christ. Paul explained the hard-heartedness of his countrymen in light of their forefathers; just as “all did not obey the gospel” (Rom 10.16) in Jeremiah’s day—even though the word of grace through the prophets shone like the sun (Rom 10.18; cf. Ps 19.4)—so the Jews of his day did not obey/believe either. Nonetheless, in the history of redemption the hard-heartedness of the Jews has worked out for the advantage of the Gentiles, whose in-gathering will eventually stimulate jealousy (and repentance) among a remnant of Israel—with the result that “all Israel” (11.26) will be saved. This new, spiritual Israel, along with believing Gentiles, will receive the reward of their faith, as Jeremiah predicted: “And this will be My covenant with them, when I take away their sins” (Rom 11.27; cf. Jer 31.31-34)!
*For a complete list of references, please see scripturestoryline.com