Jer
41:17-42:2; 42:9-11, 19a; 43:1-2, 4 (NIV) And they went on, stopping at Geruth
Kimham near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt 18 to escape the Babylonians. They
were afraid of them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of
Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land.
42:1
Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of
Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached 2
Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, "Please hear our petition and pray
to the Lord your God for this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we
were once many, now only a few are left.
. . .
He said
to them, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to
present your petition, says: 10 'If you stay in this land, I will build you up
and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieved
over the disaster I have inflicted on you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of
Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the Lord, for I
am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands.
. . .
19
"O remnant of Judah, the Lord has told you, 'Do not go to Egypt.' . . .
43:1
When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the Lord their God —
everything the Lord had sent him to tell them —
2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant
men said to Jeremiah, "You are lying! The Lord our God has not sent you to
say, 'You must not go to Egypt to settle there.'
. . .
4 So
Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people disobeyed
the Lord's command to stay in the land of Judah.
NOTE: Jeremiah has
been proven right over and over again.
He is a legitimate prophet of God.
He has never been wrong (which would disqualify him). He is recognized as a prophet by the people
as evidenced by their stopping (on the way to Egypt) and asking him for God's
guidance. They even wait ten days for
the answer. The Lord tells them to stay
in the land and not go to Egypt. They
refuse for fear that they will be killed by the Babylonians for the actions of
Ishmael in killing the governor, Gedaliah.
They were not guilty. They even
took action to try to capture Ishmael, without success. And now God has confirmed that they should
stay in the land. But out of fear, they
refuse to obey. Here is a case where too
much prudence and thinking through a problem can become bad. They know the right thing to do, they know
what God is telling them to do, they know that they were not party to the
assassination, but they reason that one) they are related in some small way to
the culprit, two) that they did not capture the culprit (suggesting
complicity), and three) that the King of Babylon will kill someone just to make
an example of the consequences of raising a hand against his authority. Those are very good prudent arguments, but
where prudence and trust cross paths is when God's word is clear on our
actions. In this case it is clear. They need to stay and they must trust God to
protect them.
Most of the time, we
do not have such clear guidance from God and so prudence takes a larger role in
our decision making process. But when
God has shown us the right thing to do, we need make sure that we do not allow
arguments to overshadow God's will.
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