Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

42:1-4 Before Judah goes to Egypt, the leaders ask Jeremiah to seek God's will. They are desperate and decimated and claim to desire the thing that they should do. As in 21:1-10 and 37:16-21, Jeremiah promises to deliver God's word accurately.

42:5-6 The people promise in most emphatic terms that they will obey God's word no matter what it is.

42:7-9 Jeremiah waits for the word (cf. 28:11-12), and when it comes he summons the people. At the end of ten days. Though Jeremiah was a faithful and true prophet of God, he could not give prophecies whenever he wanted, but had to wait for the Lord to speak to him.

42:10 Jeremiah delivers a word of promise: God has ceased bringing disaster. If the people stay in Judah, God will build and plant them, which are metaphors for renewal (1:10; 24:6; 31:28).

42:11 Do not fear. The retaliation that Judah's leaders expect will not come. with you, to save you and to deliver you. God gives the people the same promise he gave Jeremiah at his call (1:19). Their lives will be as safe as Jeremiah's has been.

42:12 Nebuchadnezzar is God's servant (27:6), so he will grant these persons mercy if God commands him to do so.

42:13-17 Rejecting God's promise and fleeing to Egypt will result in Judah experiencing what they fear. Babylon will defeat Egypt; the exiles are safer in Judah.

42:18 God's anger and wrath were warned about (4:4; 7:20; 21:5), then poured out (39:1-10). execration, horror, curse, taunt. See 15:4; 18:16; 19:8; 24:9; 29:18; 34:17. If they flee to Egypt, they will become what the Jerusalemites had been: "bad figs" (ch. 24) ripe for punishment rather than people to whom God gives hope (ch. 29).

42:19-20 Jeremiah could hardly speak more plainly: to obey means life; to disobey means death.

42:21-22 Jeremiah senses that the decision has been made. His hearers have not obeyed before, and they will not obey now.

43:1 What Jeremiah delivered to the exiles were the words of the Lord their God.

43:2 Azariah. Not mentioned elsewhere in Jeremiah. Johanan. See 40:13-16; 41:11-18. insolent men. As their words to Jeremiah demonstrate. a lie. They accuse Jeremiah of false prophecy.

43:3 For unspecified reasons, the men accuse Baruch (32:12; 36:1-32), Jeremiah's friend and scribe, of scheming to deliver them to the Chaldeans. Apparently they consider Jeremiah and Baruch to be pro-Babylonian.

43:4-6 Johanan and company did not obey the voice of the Lord. Rather, they took to Egypt the captives they had rescued (41:11-18), along with Jeremiah and Baruch (43:6) as hostages. They even took some people who had returned from exile.

43:7 Tahpanhes. Located in the eastern delta of Egypt. See 2:16.

43:9-10 Jeremiah performs another symbolic act. Cf. 13:1-14; 16:1-13; 19:1-15; 27:1-28:17; 32:1-15. This time he places large stones near one of Pharaoh's palaces and promises that God will place Nebuchadnezzar's throne on these stones.

43:11 The people will face pestilence, captivity, and sword, all of which they experienced in Jerusalem (14:1-12; 15:1-9). Their nightmare will begin afresh because their disobedience to God's word continues.

43:12 kindle a fire. See 17:27. the gods of Egypt. See 10:11. carry them away captive. Other nations' gods were often carried away to the conqueror's home temple. as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin. Nebuchadnezzar will pick off Egypt's cities as easily as a shepherd picks small insects such as lice off his clothing.

43:13 obelisks of Heliopolis. Sacred pillars in the temples of Heliopolis, about 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Cairo. Jeremiah takes special pains to highlight the gods' impotence. See 10:1-16.

44:1 Migdol. Probably located near Tahpanhes in the eastern delta. Tahpanhes. See 43:7. Memphis. The major city of northern Egypt, about 13 miles (21 km) north of today's Cairo. land of Pathros. Southern Egypt. This diversity of locations underscores that the message that follows is for all the Judeans . . . in the land of Egypt. Clearly many Judean refugees had fled to Egypt.

44:2-3 God has brought all the disaster he threatened. Jerusalem has become a desolation (4:27; 6:8; 9:11; 10:22; 12:11; 22:5; 25:9; etc.). On the wordplay with "disaster" and evil, see note on 1:13-14.

44:4-5 This disaster has come because the people rejected God's servants the prophets and refused to turn from idolatry (7:25; 25:4; 26:5; 29:19; 35:15).

44:7 against yourselves. See 26:19. infant and child. These groups suffered greatly in the invasion and siege. See Lam. 2:19-20 and 4:10.

44:8 Already the Judeans who have fled to Egypt (v. 1) have begun to worship the gods that their new nation serves.

44:9-10 The people commit the same acts Jeremiah denounced in 7:16-20. Despite all they have endured, they continue to reject God's word revealed through Moses (9:13-14; 26:4-6).

44:11-14 Babylon will complete its role as an instrument of God's wrath (27:1-15) against Judah's idolatrous remnant. They will become a cautionary tale to other peoples (15:4; 18:16; 24:9; 29:18; 34:17; 42:18).

44:15 all the men who knew. See 7:18. The whole family participated in the idolatry. A great assembly testifies to the scope of the idolatry. Pathros. Southern Egypt; see 44:1.

44:16 This assembly does not care that Jeremiah speaks for God.

44:17-18 These people will continue to worship the queen of heaven, which most likely refers to Ishtar, the goddess of fertility. The whole nation (fathers, kings, officials) participated in the cult (see 7:18). For then we had plenty of food. Conveniently ignoring the conquest of the land by the Babylonians, the exiles remember their life in Israel prior to God's judgment for their sins. But Jeremiah offers the true interpretation of their former circumstances (44:20-23).

44:19 The women seem to take special exception to Jeremiah's words (vv. 2-14), so they include their husbands in the circle of responsibility. A fertility cult may have had particular appeal to women.

44:21-23 Jeremiah argues that the whole nation's participation in idolatry led to the whole nation's defeat. God remembered what they did and acted. voice of the Lord . . . his law . . . his statutes. They rejected the voices of the prophets and the writings of Moses.

44:26 These Judeans have reversed salvation history by returning to Egypt and her gods. So, God will take back the name he revealed to Moses (Ex. 3:14; 6:2-3) and the saving, covenantal presence his name symbolizes. No one can then swear by his (recalled) name and his presence.

44:27 watching over them. To keep God's words concerning the sending disaster. See 1:11-12. sword . . . famine. See 14:1-15:4 and 44:12-13.

44:28 The remnant of the remnant that fled to Egypt will be quite few in number, but some will return to Judah. When this happens they will see that just as they carry out their promises to the "queen of heaven" (vv. 24-25), so will God carry out his words of judgment.

44:29-30 God offers the people a sign: when Egypt's current king dies, they will know that God has spoken truly. Hophra ruled Egypt c. 589-570 b.c. He supported Zedekiah against Babylon (37:5), so he was probably a special favorite of the Judeans. hand of his enemies. Domestic enemies deposed Hophra in 570 b.c. and killed him three years later.

45:1 Baruch. See 32:12; 36:1-32; 43:3. at the dictation of Jeremiah. See 36:1-4, 32. fourth year of Jehoiakim. About 605 b.c. See 36:1 and Dates of Events in Jeremiah.

45:3 Baruch felt the effects of sharing Jeremiah's ministry and persecution (36:19; 43:3, 6). the Lord has added. Baruch felt God was unjust, and he viewed the great events of the day as difficulties for him.

45:4 God informs Baruch that he (God) has lost much more than Baruch has. God has lost all he had built and planted--Israel's people and land.

45:5 Apparently Baruch hoped for great personal success, not pain and suffering. Seek them not. Fame and ease are not available. I am bringing disaster upon all flesh. Not just Judah, but Egypt (44:29-30; 46:1-28) and many other nations (chs. 47-51). give you your life. A great promise in such times. See 1:17-19 and 39:15-18.