Jeremiah 42

Jer 42:1-22.

THE

JEWS AND

JOHANAN

INQUIRE OF

GOD, THROUGH

JEREMIAH, AS TO

GOING TO

EGYPT,

PROMISING

OBEDIENCE TO

HIS

WILL.

THEIR

SAFETY ON

CONDITION OF

STAYING IN

JUDEA, AND

THEIR

DESTRUCTION IN THE

EVENT OF

GOING TO

EGYPT,

ARE

FORETOLD.

THEIR

HYPOCRISY IN

ASKING FOR

COUNSEL

WHICH

THEY

MEANT

NOT TO

FOLLOW, IF

CONTRARY TO

THEIR

OWN

DETERMINATION,

IS

REPROVED.

2. Jeremiah--He probably was one of the number carried off from

Mizpah, and dwelt with Johanan

(Jer 41:16).

Hence the expression is, "came near"

(Jer 42:1),

not "sent."

Let . . . supplication be accepted--literally, "fall"

(see on

Jer 36:7;

Jer 37:20).

pray for us--

(Ge 20:7;

Isa 37:4;

Jas 5:16).

thy God--

(Jer 42:5).

The Jews use this form to express their belief in the peculiar relation

in which Jeremiah stood to God as His accredited prophet.

Jeremiah in his reply reminds them that God is their God

("your God") as well as his as being the covenant people

(Jer 42:4).

They in turn acknowledge this in

Jer 42:6,

"the Lord our God."

few of many--as had been foretold

(Le 26:22).

3. They consulted God, like many, not so much to know what was

right, as wishing Him to authorize what they had already determined on,

whether agreeable to His will or not. So Ahab in consulting Micaiah

(1Ki 22:13).

Compare Jeremiah's answer

(Jer 42:4)

with Micaiah's

(1Ki 22:14).

4. I have heard--that is, I accede to your request.

your God--Being His by adoption, ye are not your own, and are bound

to whatever He wills

(Ex 19:5, 6;

1Co 6:19, 20).

answer you--that is, through me.

keep nothing back--

(1Sa 3:18;

Ac 20:20).

5. Lord be a true . . . witness--

(Ge 31:50;

Ps 89:37;

Re 1:5; 3:14; 19:11).

6. evil--not moral evil, which God cannot command

(Jas 1:13),

but what may be disagreeable and hard to us. Piety obeys

God, without questioning, at all costs. See the instance defective in

this, that it obeyed only so far as was agreeable to itself

(1Sa 15:3, 9, 13-15, 20-23).

7. ten days--Jeremiah did not speak of himself, but waited God's

time and revelation, showing the reality of his inspiration. Man left

to himself would have given an immediate response to the people, who

were impatient of delay. The delay was designed to test the sincerity of

their professed willingness to obey, and that they should have full time

to deliberate

(De 8:2).

True obedience bows to God's time, as well as His way and will.

10. If ye . . . abide--namely, under the Babylonian

authority, to which God hath appointed that all should be subject

(Da 2:37, 38).

To resist was to resist God.

build . . . plant--metaphor for, I will firmly establish you

(Jer 24:6).

I repent . . . of the evil--

(Jer 18:8;

De 32:36).

I am satisfied with the punishment I have inflicted on you, if

only you add not a new offense [GROTIUS]. God is

said to "repent," when He alters His outward ways of dealing.

12. show mercies--rather, I will excite (in him)

feelings of mercy towards you

[CALVIN].

cause you to return--permit you to return to the peaceable enjoyment

of the possessions from which you are wishing to withdraw through fear

of the Chaldeans. By departing in disobedience they should incur the

very evils they wished thereby to escape; and by staying they should

gain the blessings which they feared to lose by doing so.

13. if ye say, &c.--avowed rebellion against God, who had often

(De 17:16),

as now, forbidden their going to Egypt, lest they should be entangled

in its idolatry.

14. where we shall see no war--Here they betray their impiety in not

believing God's promise

(Jer 42:10, 11),

as if He were a liar

(1Jo 5:10).

15. wholly set your faces--firmly resolve

(Lu 9:51)

in spite of all warnings

(Jer 44:12).

16. sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you--The very evils we

think to escape by sin, we bring on ourselves thereby. What our hearts

are most set on often proves fatal to us. Those who think to escape

troubles by changing their place will find them wherever they go

(Eze 11:8).

The "sword" here is that of Nebuchadnezzar, who fulfilled the

prediction in his expedition to Africa (according to

MEGASTHENES, a heathen writer), 300

B.C.

17. all the men--excepting the "small number" mentioned

(Jer 44:14, 28);

namely, those who were forced into Egypt against their will, Jeremiah,

Baruch, &c., and those who took Jeremiah's advice and fled from Egypt

before the arrival of the Chaldeans.

18. As mine anger, &c.--As ye have already, to your sorrow, found

Me true to My word, so shall ye again

(Jer 7:20; 18:16).

shall see this place no more--Ye shall not return to Judea, as those

shall who have been removed to Babylon.

19. I have admonished--literally, "testified," that is, solemnly

admonished, having yourselves as My witnesses; so that if ye perish,

ye yourselves will have to confess that it was through your own fault,

not through ignorance, ye perished.

20. dissembled in your hearts--rather, "ye have used deceit against

your (own) souls." It is not God, but yourselves, whom ye deceive, to

your own ruin, by your own dissimulation

(Ga 6:7)

[CALVIN]. But the words following accord best with

English Version, ye have dissembled in your hearts (see on

Jer 42:3)

towards me, when ye sent me to consult God for you.

21. declared it--namely, the divine will.

I . . . but ye--antithesis. I have done my part; but ye do

not yours. It is no fault of mine that ye act not rightly.

22. sojourn--for a time, until they could return to their country.

They expected, therefore, to be restored, in spite of God's prediction

to the contrary.