S them time to think. Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which [were] with him, and all 9 the people from the least even to the greatest, And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye 10 sent me to present your supplication before him; If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull [you] down, and I will plant you, and not pluck [you] up : for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you; I will change my way of dealing with you, and will no longer punish you, without fresh 11 provocations. Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I [am] 12 with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. And I will show mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, I will incline him to show you favour, and cause you to return to your own land; to your own cities and possessions, from whence 13 ye were driven by the late distractions. But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your 14 God, saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have 15 hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, if you are fully and obstinately resolved 16 to leave your own country, and go to sojourn there; Then it shall come to pass, [that] the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye 17 shall die. So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them. 18 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach: and ye shall see this place no more. 19 The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah ; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day; I have testified against your leaving your land, especially against your going to Egypt, because it is an idolatrous 20 country, and at enmity with the king of Babylon. For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, 21 and we will do [it.] And [now] I have this day declared [it] to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, 22 nor any [thing] for the which he hath sent me unto you. Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the 1 famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go [and] to sojourn. CHAP. XLIII. And it came to pass, [that] when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, [even] all these words, (a strong expression, denoting the authority of God's word, and their great wickedness and 2 obstinacy in acting contrary to it ;) Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn 3 there: But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might 4 put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon. So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people obeyed not the voice of the LORD, to dwell in 5 the land of Judah. But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to 6 dwell in the land of Judah; [Even] men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Ba7 ruch the son of Neriah. So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they [even] to Tahpanhes. 8 Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpan9 hes, saying, Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brick kiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, or, in the way that leads to it, in the sight 10 of the men of Judah; And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall 11 spread his royal pavilion over them. And when he cometh he shall smite the land of Egypt with pestilence, [and deliver] such [as are] for death to death; shutting them up in infected places; and such [as are] for captivity to captivity; and such [as are] 12 for the sword to the sword. And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd putteth on his garment; beautifully alluding to the ease with which he should make the conquest ; just as a shepherd slips on his garment; soon, and without care or nicety; and he shall go forth from thence in peace ; without • What strange, inconsistent conduct was this! They knew him to be a prophet, and that his words had been fulfilled; yea, they set him on to inquire of the Lord, and promised obedience. Had he and Baruch chosen to go to Babylon, they might have gone when the captain solicited them. It was therefore an idle and absurd suggestion. 13 opposition, and without fear. He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that [is] in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire; though an idolater himself, he shall destroy their idols; and though a worshipper of the sun, he shall break its images and burn its temples. REFLECTIONS. 1. HE resolution expressed in v. 5. is very proper for us to what he requires of us, whether agreeable or disagreeable, whether fashionable or unfashionable; whatever pains, labour, or self denial it may cost us. This is the way to have things well with us. And in order to confirm this resolution, it will be proper to make it in the presence of God, and with an appeal to him, as a true and faithful witness. 2. We have here a deplorable instance of the gross hypocrisy which men are sometimes guilty of in their transactions with God and his ministers. The people came respectfully to the prophet to inquire the will of God; resolving to do it, and appealing to God for their sincerity; and yet they were determined not to obey if it was disagreeable to them. Thus many pretend respect to ministers, come and sit before them as God's own people, and profess obedience and submission; till the word comes to cross their inclinations and worldly interests; then they will not obey; but like these hypocrites, begin to find fault with the word itself, or the preachers of it. They will desire their prayers, but reject their exhortations. This is horrible prevarication both with God and man; and the portion of such hypocrites will be peculiarly dreadful. 3. God will bring upon sinners the evils which they think to escape by indirect means. These men wanted to go to Egypt that they might escape the sword and famine: and God threatens, v. 22. to destroy them in the land where they desire to sojourn, by sword, famine, and pestilence. It is impossible to outrun the judg ments of God. Men now bring themselves into poverty and contempt by dishonest methods of increasing their substance; or a fretful, impatient disposition, leads them to change their situation, their business, or their connections, to avoid something that disturbs them; but wherever they go, crosses will attend them, because they carry with them their own irregular passions. The way to be happy, is to take pains to mend our bad tempers, and make God our friend. With a humble, patient, devout spirit, we may be comfortable any where; without such a disposition we shall be comfortable no where. 4. Observe with what infinite ease God can transfer the possession of the greatest kingdoms. He calls Nebuchadrezzar his servant, because he was to execute his pleasure; foretells that he should destroy Egypt, that ancient, rich, and populous kingdom; describes the very spot of ground where he should pitch his tent ; and the ease and security with which he should make the conquest. Let us reverence this glorious Being, who doth according to his will, and fear that Power, which no creature can resist. CHAP. XLIV. Jeremiah in this chapter reproves the Jews in Egypt for continuing in idolatry, after the exemplary judgments inflicted on their nation for that sin; and, upon their refusing to reform, denounces destruction to them, and to the kingdom wherein they sought protection. HE word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of 2 Pathros, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day 3 they [are] a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein, Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, [and] to serve other gods, whom they knew not, [neither] they, ye, nor your 4 fathers. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending [them,] saying, Oh, do not this abom.5 inable thing that I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto 6 other gods. Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted [and] desolate, as at this 7 day. Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye [this] great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suck8 ling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain; In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth; having learned the idolatry of the Egyptians, and practised that, beside the idolatry you were used to practise in your own land; 9 on which account God is determined to destroy you. Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; perhaps referring to Solomon's wives in particular, especially his Egyptian wives, who had enticed him to idolatry; though 10 not to them alone. (v. 15.) They are not humbled [even] unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all 12 Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, [and] fall in the land of Egypt; they shall [even] be consumed by the sword [and] by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine and they shall be an execration, 13 [and] an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence : 14 So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there, being uneasy in Egypt, and wishing to return for, or, whereas none shall return but such as shall escape; that is, only the pious few who were carried with the rest against their will, as Jeremiah and Baruch, Sc. some of them or their seed may return after the captivity. 15 Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of 16 Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, [As for] the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, 17 we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem : for [then,] before the Chaldean invasion,* had we plenty of vict18 uals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, that is, to the moon, (an idolatry chiefly practised by the women) we have wanted all [things,] and have been 19 consumed by the sword and by the famine. And when we 20 burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men? without the knowledge and consent of our husbands? Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him [that] 21 answer, saying, The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the This was a direct falsehood; many of them having been destroyed, and others carried aptive before that event. |