Jeremiah 42:13

42:7-22 If we would know the mind of the Lord in doubtful cases, we must wait as well as pray. God is ever ready to return in mercy to those he has afflicted; and he never rejects any who rely on his promises. He has declared enough to silence even the causeless fears of his people, which discourge them in the way of duty. Whatever loss or suffering we may fear from obedience, is provided against in God's word; and he will protect and deliver all who trust in him and serve him. It is folly to quit our place, especially to quit a holy land, because we meet with trouble in it. And the evils we think to escape by sin, we certainly bring upon ourselves. We may apply this to the common troubles of life; and those who think to avoid them by changing their place, will find that the grievances common to men will meet them wherever they go. Sinners who dissemble with God in solemn professions especially should be rebuked with sharpness; for their actions speak more plainly than words. We know not what is good for ourselves; and what we are most fond of, and have our hearts most set upon, often proves hurtful, and sometimes fatal.

But if ye say, we will not dwell in this land,.... Or continue any longer in it, but go into Egypt:, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God; or, "so as not to hearken to" or "obey", &c. (u); for they did not say in so many words that they would not obey the voice of the Lord; they had promised they would; but resolving, against his declared will, that they would not abide in the land, but go into Egypt, was interpretatively saying they would not obey his voice. (u) "ita ut non auscultetis", Piscator, Cocceius; "ut non obediatis", Pagninus, Schmidt; "ut non audiatis", so some in Vatablus.

Jeremiah 42:13-18 . But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey — Hebrew, לבלתי שׁמע , so as not to obey. If they did not continue in their own land, they disobeyed the voice of the Lord. Saying, No; we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, &c. — Their great sin was unbelief: they would not take the promise of God as a security to them for a quiet and peaceable abode, and a supply of all their wants, in Judea: but they resolved to go into Egypt, where they expected to have a greater certainty of peace and plenty. Therefore the Lord declares by his prophet, that the evils which they feared in Canaan should overtake them with double violence in Egypt, namely, both the sword and famine, by which they should die, and that they should be an execration and an astonishment: a curse and a reproach: ( Jeremiah 42:18 ,) as God had threatened to make the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Jeremiah 24:9 ; Jeremiah 29:18 , where see the notes. And ye shall see this place no more — And in this, saith God, will I deal worse with you than with those who were carried captive to Babylon; many of them shall return, after the time fixed for the duration of their captivity is expired, but you shall return into this land no more. There was this aggravation in the sin of those Jews to whom God was now speaking by his prophet, that they had lately seen his words, by the same prophet, fully verified; yet would not take warning, but ran into the same sin of unbelief.

Our translation a little darkens the sense, translating the Hebrew particle yxlb neither, which signifies no more than not , or by no means , Numbers 14:16 1 Samuel 2:2 20:26 Hosea 13:4 ; and it is certain here is but one thing spoken of, for the thing wherein they disobeyed the voice of the Lord was not continuing in their own land, but going into the land of Egypt.

The threatening if, in spite of warning and against God's will, they should still persist in going to Egypt. The protasis of the conditional sentence begun in Jeremiah 42:13 , "If ye say," etc., extends onwards through Jeremiah 42:14 ; the apodosis is introduced co-ordinately with the commencement of Jeremiah 42:15 , "Now therefore," etc. קול שׁופר, "the sound of war-trumpet," as in Jeremiah 4:19 . On "hungering after bread," cf. Amos 8:11 . הלחם (with the article) is the bread necessary for life. "The remnant of Judah" is to be understood of those who still remained in the land, as is shown by Jeremiah 42:2 ; see also Jeremiah 42:19 , Jeremiah 43:5 ; Jeremiah 44:12 , Jeremiah 44:14 . The warning given in Jeremiah 42:16 contains the idea that the very evil which they feared would come on them in Judah will befall them in Egypt. There they shall perish by sword, famine, and plague, since Nebuchadnezzar will conquer Egypt; cf. Jeremiah 43:8-13 .

Verse 18. - At Tehaphnehes ; the Tabu- panes of Jeremiah 2:16 ; Jeremiah 42:7 ; Jeremiah 44:1 ; Jeremiah 46:14 ; (where it appears as having a royal palace); the Taphnae of the LXX.; the Daphne of Herod., 2:30. It was another frontier-fortress in the neighborhood of Pelusium, built by Psammetichus. It may, perhaps, be represented by the modern Tel-ed-Defenne , about twenty-seven miles southwest of Pelusium. The day shall be darkened . The normal image for the departure of the sunshine of prosperity, as in Ver. 3 and Ezekiel 32:7 (comp. Amos 5:20 ; Amos 8:9 ; Isaiah 5:30 ; Jeremiah 13:16 , etc.). The yokes of Egypt . Commonly, as in Ezekiel 34:27 ; Leviticus 26:13 ; Jeremiah 27:2 ; Jeremiah 28:10, 12 , the phrase would imply the deliverance of Egypt from the yoke of oppression suffered at the hand of others. Here that sense is clearly inappropriate. The LXX. and Vulgate give "the scepters" of Egypt, which implies a different reading, and this is adopted in substance by Ewald and Smend, the latter preferring rendering it by "supports" or "props," the "red" being used as a "staff" rather than as a "scepter" (comp. Ezekiel 19:14 ; Jeremiah 43:8 ; Jeremiah 48:17 ). The pomp of her strength . The phrase meets us again in Ezekiel 33:28 , and includes what we speak of as the parade of power, here probably with a view to the foreign forces that garrisoned both Daphne and Pelusium.

The latter were now in the midst of them, but on their restoration they were to be "in the midst of the Jews," that is, as proselytes to the true God (compare Micah 5:7; Zechariah 14:16). "Pluck them, " namely, the Gentile nations: in a bad sense. "Pluck Judah": in a good sense; used to express the force which was needed to snatch Judah from the tyranny of those nations by whom they had been made captives, or to whom they had fled; otherwise they never would have let Judah go. Previously he had been forbidden to pray for the mass of the Jewish people. But here he speaks consolation to the elect remnant among them. Whatever the Jews might be, God keeps His covenant. 15. A promise, applying to Judah, as well as to the nations specified (Amos 9:14). As to Moab, compare Jeremiah 48:47; as to Ammon, Jeremiah 49:6. 16. swear by my name —(Jeremiah 4:2; Isaiah 19:18; 65:16); that is, confess solemnly the true God. built —be made spiritually and temporally prosperous: fixed in sure habitations (compare Jeremiah 24:6; 42:10; 45:4; Psalms 87:4, 5; Ephesians 2:20, 21; 1 Peter 2:5). ## 17. (Isaiah 60:12). ## CHAPTER 13 Jeremiah 13:1-27. S YMBOLICAL P ROPHECY (Jeremiah 13:1-7). Many of these figurative acts being either not possible, or not probable, or decorous, seem to have existed only in the mind of the prophet as part of his inward vision. [So C ALVIN ]. The world he moved in was not the sensible, but the spiritual, world.

They in turn acknowledge this in Jeremiah 42:6, "the Lord our God." few of many —as had been foretold (Leviticus 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 (1 Kings 22:13). Compare Jeremiah's answer (Jeremiah 42:4) with Micaiah's (1 Kings 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 (Exodus 19:5, 6; 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). answer you —that is, through me. keep nothing back —(1 Samuel 3:18; Acts 20:20). 5. Lord be a true … witness —(Genesis 31:50; Psalms 89:37; Revelation 1:5; 3:14; 19:11). 6. evil —not moral evil, which God cannot command (James 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 (1 Samuel 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 (Deuteronomy 8:2). True obedience bows to God's time, as well as His way and will. 10.

n a short time go down into Egypt, which was Johanan’s design, as we shall read in, the next chapter. ## Jeremiah 42:1 JEREMIAH CHAPTER 42 Johanan and the people desire Jeremiah to inquire of God, promising obedience to his will, Jer_42:1-6. Jeremiah assureth them of safety in Judea, Jer_42:7-12, and destruction in Egypt, Jer_42:13-18, reproveth their hypocrisy and obstinacy, Jer_42:19- 22. The three following chapters give us an account of what happened to Johanan the son of Kareah, and the rest, after the slaughter of Ishmael, and their going to dwell in the habitation of Chimham, in order to their going into the land of Egypt; their coming to Jeremiah to go and inquire of the Lord for them, his inquiry of God, with the revelation of the Divine will unto him, that they should not go into Egypt, promising God’s protection of them if they did not go, threatening their destruction if they did go; their proud answer to Jeremiah, and resolution to go, which they accordingly did, and there fell in with the idolatry of t