Remnant of Judah, the Lord has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.’ I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the Lord your God in all he sent me to tell you.
Jeremiah 42:19-21
In order to understand the context of this passage, we have to take a look back at the previous 2 chapters. So let’s do a quick recap.
The Babylonians have taken over Judah because of the sins of the Israelites (Jeremiah 40:2-3). The Babylonians set a man named Gedaliah to be the governor of Judah (Jeremiah 40:5). He was to oversee the collection of grains, oil, and wine among other things for the Babylonians (Jeremiah 40: 10).
Shortly afterwards, Gedaliah is assassinated by a man named Ishmael (Jeremiah 41:2). The army commanders attempted to kill Ishmael to avenge the death of Gedaliah, but he gets away (Jeremiah 41:15). However, the army commanders manage to rescue everyone Ishmael captured (Jeremiah 41:16).
With governor, Gedaliah, murdered, the survivors became afraid of the Babylonians as killing the governor is seen as a rebellion. They were afraid the Babylonians were going to kill them and were planning to escaping to Egypt (Jeremiah 41:17-18).
Before, they finalized their plan, they wanted to make sure that is what the Lord wanted them to do. The army and the survivors go to Jeremiah, to ask him to seek guidance from the Lord on their behalf (Jeremiah 42:2). They promise Jeremiah that they will do whatever the Lord says (Jeremiah 42:5-6).
God tells Jeremiah to tell the people to stay in Judah and everything will be fine (Jeremiah 42:9-12).
Of course, they don’t listen. They promised they would, whether it seemed favorable or not, but they broke their promise. Jeremiah knew they would. After all, they didn’t listen to the Lord when He told them He would destroy Judah.
So the question is, why did they even bother asking? They were going to execute their plan regardless.
The reason they asked was they wanted confirmation that their plan was right. If it was right, then they had God’s backing. However, God tells them that it is the wrong plan. But they did not trust God to change their ways despite all that has happened till now.
They go to Egypt anyways and there, they will meet their fate. The King of Babylon will meet them there (Jeremiah 43:10-13). Looks like staying, as the Lord said, was the best option after all.
The Lord doesn’t always tell you things that are easy to hear. He always tells you the truth and what you need to know and do. Listen to the Lord, especially when you ask Him for guidance.
There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
Proverbs 14:12
