Jeremiah 42:5

42:1-6 To serve a turn, Jeremiah is sought out, and the captains ask for his assistance. In every difficult, doubtful case, we must look to God for direction; and we may still, in faith, pray to be guided by a spirit of wisdom in our hearts, and the leadings of Providence. We do not truly desire to know the mind of God, if we do not fully resolve to comply with it when we know it. Many promise to do what the Lord requires, while they hope to have their pride flattered, and their favourite lusts spared. Yet something betrays the state of their hearts.

Then they said to Jeremiah, the Lord be a true and faithful witness between us,.... Which is the form of an oath; a solemn appeal to God, as a witness to what they were about to say, and to the sincerity of their hearts in it; who is true to his word, and faithful to his promises and threatenings; and who bears a true and faithful testimony, and will do what is just and right; and yet these people never intended to perform what they promised; which is a most shocking piece of atheism in a professing people; and who, at this very time, could not but observe the judgments of God upon their nation, city, and temple: if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us; they promise to do everything the Lord should signify by the prophet as his will; and, if they did not, wish the severest judgments of God might fall upon them.

5 . amongst ] better, as mg. against , i.e. to bear witness and punish us if we fail to do our part as we now promise. 5 . from all the nations ] These words, as implying a much wider dispersion of inhabitants of the Southern kingdom than had actually taken place, may be a scribe’s insertion from ch. Jeremiah 40:11 f. The LXX omit “from all the nations … driven.”

Then they said to Jeremiah, {b} The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us. (b) There are as ready to abuse the Name of God and take it in vain as the hypocrites who colour their falsehood, use it without all reverence and make it a means for them to deceive the simple and the godly.

(5, 6) The Lord be a true and faithful witness . . . —The emphatic adjuration implies that they are ready to accept the punishment which the righteous Judge will inflict in the event of their proving unfaithful to their promise. The name of the place where they had lately been staying may have reminded them of the history of Genesis 31:49 (though that refers to another Mizpah), in which we find the same formula.

Jeremiah replies: "I have heard (i.e., acceded to your request); behold, I will pray to Jahveh your God, according to your words; and it shall come to pass that whatever Jahveh answers you I will tell you, I will not keep anything from you." Jeremiah 42:5 . They said further: "Let Jahveh be a true and faithful witness against us, if we do not just according to all the word which Jahveh thy God shall send thee (to declare) unto us. Jeremiah 42:6 . Whether it be good or bad, we shall obey the voice of Jahveh our God, to whom we send thee, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of Jahveh our God." עד, Proverbs 14:25 , and נאמן, Isaiah 8:2 ; Psalm 89:38 . Both predicates occupy emphatic positions. God is to be a faithful witness, not in regard to the truth of what they say, but as regards the fulfilment of their promise, so that, if they would not obey His word, He might come forward to punish them. ישׁלחך is construed with a double accusative: to send away a person with something, i.e., to give him a commission. After "whether it be good or evil," there is no need for supplying "in our eyes" (בּעינינוּ), as Hitzig and Graf allege: "whether it please us or not;" the subject is הדּבר: "we will obey the word, whether it be good or evil," i.e., whether it announce good or evil to come (cf. Ecclesiastes 12:14 ).

The Kethib אנוּ occurs only in this passage in the Old Testament; the Qeri accordingly substitutes אנחנוּ: the former, however, is taken from the vulgar tongue, and should not be altered here. כּי נשׁמע does not mean "because we obey," but "when we obey." The hearing is the condition, not the cause of the prosperity.

afraid —lest the Chaldeans should suspect all the Jews of being implicated in Ishmael's treason, as though the Jews sought to have a prince of the house of David (Jeremiah 41:1). Their better way towards gaining God's favor would have been to have laid the blame on the real culprit, and to have cleared themselves. A tortuous policy is the parent of fear. Righteousness inspires with boldness (Psalms 53:5; Proverbs 28:1). ## CHAPTER 42 Jeremiah 42:1-22. T HE J EWS AND J OHANAN I NQUIRE OF G OD , THROUGH J EREMIAH , AS TO G OING TO E GYPT , P ROMISING O BEDIENCE TO H IS W ILL. T HEIR S AFETY ON C ONDITION OF S TAYING IN J UDEA , AND T HEIR D ESTRUCTION IN THE E VENT OF G OING TO E GYPT ,A RE F ORETOLD. T HEIR H YPOCRISY IN A SKING FOR C OUNSEL W HICH T HEY M EANT N OT TO F OLLOW , IF C ONTRARY TO T HEIR O WN D ETERMINATION , I S R EPROVED. 2. Jeremiah —He probably was one of the number carried off from Mizpah, and dwelt with Johanan (Jeremiah 41:16). Hence the expression is, "came near" (Jeremiah 42:1), not "sent." Let … supplication be accepted —literally, "fall" (see on Jeremiah 36:7; Jeremiah 37:20). pray for us —(Genesis 20:7; Isaiah 37:4; James 5:16). thy God —(Jeremiah 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 (Jeremiah 42:4).