The Folly of Continual Obedience
42:6 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."
44:16 As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you!
For several decades, Israel had gone from bad to worse. As their spiritual lives continued a downward spiral, in like fashion so did their national and personal lives. At the time of this current exchange between the prophet Jeremiah and the Israelites, they were reaching the bottom. They had basically lost everything as a result of their downward spiral.
Reeling from their plight, the leaders come to Jeremiah with words that appear to be very hopeful. They now declare their willingness to obey God by faith in how they respond to their desperate situation. For ten days, Jeremiah faithfully prays, waiting upon God for an answer to bring back to these leaders. God responds by giving Jeremiah amazing words of encouragement, which none of them deserved after a lifetime of rebellion against Him. Rather than flee to Egypt in the hope of avoiding capture of the Babylonian army, God tells them to stay in Jerusalem and ride it out, for He will be with them.
The impending Babylonian overthrow is inevitable because God Himself has allowed it to bring Israel to its knees and hopefully to repentance. But they need not be afraid because God promises to keep them and through it all restore them to their land and the prosperity they have lost. He promises them mercy if they simply trust Him and let Him lead them through the troubled waters that their sin has brought upon them. Conversely, if they try to find safety in Egypt rather than in God, the sword of Babylon that they fear will slay them there.
But sadly, they revert to their self-idolatrous hearts when God does not promise to resolve their problem the way they want Him to resolve it. Immediately they turn their backs on the promise they had just made to obey Him no matter what He would say! They even go so far as to say that Jeremiah sought to deceive them and bring more trouble upon them (43:2-3). They go so far as to declare that that their lives were much better when they worshiped the false gods of the pagans (44:17).
Sound familiar? How often do the vast number of those who dwell upon this Earth of rebellion blame God for the consequences of their own evil and give credit to themselves and their self-made idols for the things God has done? For this generation of Israelites, the safety they sought in Egypt ended in the "sword of Babylon" passing through Israel onto Egypt to destroy them. This event is reaffirmed by secular history.
Better to be in the eye of the storm with God than seek safety from the false hope of "Egypt."
The Flight to Egypt Forbidden 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."
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."
Jeremiah 43 Jeremiah Taken to Egypt1 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." 4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains of the forces, and all the people would not obey the voice of the LORD, to remain in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah, from all nations where they had been driven— 6 men, women, children, the king's daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. 7 So they went to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD. And they went as far as Tahpanhes.
8 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, 9 "Take large stones in your hand, and hide them in the sight of the men of Judah, in the clay in the brick courtyard which is at the entrance to Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes; 10 and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden. And he will spread his royal pavilion over them. 11 When he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt and deliver to death those appointed for death, and to captivity those appointed for captivity, and to the sword those appointed for the sword. 12 I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment, and he shall go out from there in peace. 13 He shall also break the sacred pillars of Beth Shemesh that are in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians he shall burn with fire."'"
Jeremiah 44 Israelites Will Be Punished in Egypt1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, 2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, 3 because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers. 4 However I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, "Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!" 5 But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods. 6 So My fury and My anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.'
7 "Now therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none to remain, 8 in that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that you may cut yourselves off and be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have not been humbled, to this day, nor have they feared; they have not walked in My law or in My statutes that I set before you and your fathers.'
11 "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will set My face against you for catastrophe and for cutting off all Judah. 12 And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach! 13 For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, 14 so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return and dwell. For none shall return except those who escape.'"
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: 16 "As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you! 17 But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. 18 But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine."
19 The women also said,"And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands' permission?"
20 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people—the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that answer—saying: 21 "The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and did it not come into His mind? 22 So the LORD could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, as it is this day. 23 Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His testimonies, therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day."
24 Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, "Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt! 25 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: 'You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, "We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her." You will surely keep your vows and perform your vows!' 26 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: 'Behold, I have sworn by My great name,' says the LORD, 'that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, "The Lord GOD lives." 27 Behold, I will watch over them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end to them. 28 Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs. 29 And this shall be a sign to you,' says the LORD, 'that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for adversity.'
30 "Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.'"
v. 1 Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah – Was possibly the same person as "Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite," whose seal was discovered in a sixth-century BC tomb at Tell en-Nasbeh. Apparently, Jaazaniah was killed defending Gedaliah at Mizpah.
v. 10 For I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you – God is not second guessing His decision to punish His people. They brought this disaster upon themselves. The Lord's grief was over the fact that Judah gave Him no other option but punishment.
v. 17 to go to Egypt to dwell there – After the assassination of Gedaliah, the Jews were tempted to flee to Egypt because they feared that Ishmael's rebellion would bring punishment from the Babylonians. The Lord warned the remaining Jews in land not to flee to Egypt or they would be met by the sword, famine and pestilence.
Jeremiah 43v. 5 took all the remnant of Judah – Johanan and his captains forcefully took the Jews who remained in Judah to Tehpanhes, a garrison city in Egypt located on the eastern branch of the Nile. Jeremiah is among the people who were taken to Egypt.
v. 7 they went to the land of Egypt – The Jews who fled to Egypt after the assassination of Gedaliah only added to the population of Jews that were already there (Is.11:11). Archeological evidence has been found of an Israelite presence in Upper and Lower Egypt from the Assyrian period through the Babylonian period.
v. 10 he will spread his royal pavilion over them – This royal pavilion was a canopy that was set up as a temporary throne and dwelling place for King Nebuchadnezzar. This canopy not only protected the king from the sun, but it also acted as a symbol of Nebuchadnezzar's universal rule.
v. 13 sacred pillars of Beth Shemesh – Beth Shemesh was the Hebrew term for "temple of the sun." This is a reference to the Egyptian city of Heliopolis whose inhabitants worshiped the sun good Amon-Re. The sacred pillars refer to obelisks of which Heliopolis was famous for.
Jeremiah 44v. 1 concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt – By this time, many Jews were already living in the land of Egypt as a result of previous deportations.
v. 17 queen of heaven – a reference to Babylonian goddess Ishtar
v. 18 burning incense – The people of Israel had stopped burning incense as a result of King Josiah's reforms. Incense was commonly used during sacrifices in the ancient world because its scent often masked the odors that were associated with the sacrifice. The ancient people also believed the smell of the incense transported the prayers of the people to their gods.
v. 19 cakes for her – The practice of making cakes in the shape of the Queen of Heaven were probably borrowed from Mesopotamia. This cake ritual was also associated with the cult of Ishtar.
v. 30 Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt – Hophra was also known as Apries by the Greeks and Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian. Hophra succeeded Psammeticus II as the forth king of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty (589 to 570 BC). After the destruction of Jerusalem, Hophra provided the refugees with a place to settle in Egypt.
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." –Jeremiah 42:6
As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you! –Jeremiah 44:16
This world (and our own sinful natures) always seeks to give the glory to human creativity or evolution or genetic intelligence. But we know that even the hairs we have on our heads are there by Your design. Let us not forget that You are the sole source of the many blessings that we have been given in this life.
 Latino Youth Ministry Our Latino Youth boys participated in the Annual Boys campout with Ontario Calvary Chapel. It is an evangelical outreach ministry where latino teens are invited for a weekend camping trip. Most of the teens that attend are not church kids; most are Catholics. During the weekend leaders share their testimony and how God has changed their lives. We took 20 young men and six accepted Christ this weekend. Three of them were from our Latino Youth Ministry. | Prayer Points
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