Jeremiah 42:1-22--Warning Against Going to Egypt

Jeremiah 42
English Standard Version

Warning Against Going to Egypt
42 Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, came near 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray to the LORD your God for us, for all this remnant—because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us— 3 that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.” 4 Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your request, and whatever the LORD answers you I will tell you. I will keep nothing back from you.” 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”

7 At the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest, 9 and said to them, “Thus says the LORD , the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: 10 If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the LORD, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. 13 But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the LORD your God 14 and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ 15 then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there, 16 then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and there you shall die. 17 All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have no remnant or survivor 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 wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more. 19 The LORD has said to you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day 20 that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. For you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God, and whatever the LORD our God says, 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 in anything that he sent me to tell you. 22 Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live.”

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All the people come to Jeremiah and ask him to make intercession for them (to act as a priest to speak to the LORD on their behalf).  Notice they say "The LORD your God," but they do not claim a personal relationship with God.  They ask for the LORD to have mercy on the remnant.  They are few and feel they will be easily killed.   Jeremiah agrees to intercede under the condition that the people will accept the LORD's answer, whatever it is, and will obey the voice of the LORD.  They swear to obey the LORD, and after Jeremiah inquires of the LORD, the LORD makes them all wait ten days for an answer.

The LORD tells the people that they must remain in the Land to be saved.  They are not to try to escape to Egypt.  They are also not to fear the king of Babylon.  This time, the LORD will give His people victory if the king of Babylon attacks, as long as they obey His Word.  If however they even set their faces towards fleeing to Egypt (they don't even have to get there, but just start making the journey), then the LORD will make sure that everything they fear comes true.  They will perish by the sword they are trying to flee from.  Sword, famine and pestilence will kill them as it did with all those who rebelled against the LORD previously.  If the remnant rebels against the LORD and refuses to stay in the Land, they will die.

If they try to run to Egypt, they will be no better off than the inhabitants of Jerusalem that the LORD proclaimed judgment on by the word of Jeremiah.  They will be seen as vile, hated, horrific, and unclean if they disobey the LORD.    They will be cut off from the Land and see it no more.  Jeremiah knows that the people who promised to obey would not obey.  He knew their hearts, so he declared to them with no uncertainty that because they were already set in their hearts to disobey the LORD, they would surely die by the sword, by pestilence or by famine.  He didn't know for sure what would get them, but something that they were trying to run from would catch up with them and kill them.  The LORD would not save them if they disobeyed.