Jer 42.1-22 tells us about a request of the Jewish commanders and the people to Jeremiah for him to pray to Yehovah for them and give them his reply. They promised to obey the instructions the Lord would give. After ten days, an answer is given. They were told that if they stayed in the land they would live, but if they fled to Egypt they would die by the sword, famine and disease. In the eschatological sense, Egypt will be a picture of Europe during the birth-pains.
v 1…Then all the commanders (captains) of the forces, Johanan the son of Kereah, Jezaniah (Yehovah has listened) the son of Hoshanah (Yehovah has saved), and all the people both small and great approached
v 2…and said to Jerimiah the prophet, “Please let our petition (even though they were hypocrites) come before you (now they believed Jeremiah, a true prophet), and pray for us to the Lord your God (notice not “our God”) for all the remnant; because we are left a few out of many (due to the sword, famine and disease and captivity), as your own eyes see us (a once great number has dwindled),
v 3…that the Lord (Yehovah) your (not our) God may tell us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do (not to do the right thing according to the Torah, but to which way to go for their own safety).”
v 4…Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you (took notice of what they have said). Behold (see), I am going to pray to the Lord (Yehovah) your God (they may rebel, but he is still their God even though he decides their doom) in accordance with your words; and it will come about that the whole message which the Lord will answer you I will tell you. I will not keep back a word from you.”
v 5…Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and a faithful witness against us, if we do not act in accordance with the whole message which the Lord your God will send you to us (this is an oath to obey what Yehovah says).
v 6…Whether it is pleasant (Hebrew “tov” or good) or unpleasant (Hebrew “ra” or evil), we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, in order that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of the Lord our God (but they were hypocrites because they will not act in accordance to the word).”
v 7…Now it came about at the end of ten days (having presented the request Jeremiah was waiting for an answer) that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah (ten is the number of judgment).
v 8…Then he called for Johanan the son of Kereah, and all the commanders of the forces that were with him, and all the people both small and great (what Jeremiah was going to say was for everyone to hear),
v 9…and said to them, “Thus says the Lord (Yehovah) the God (Elohay) of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before him:
v 10…’If you will indeed stay in this land (make your home here), then (when satisfied) I will build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I shall relent (be satisfied) concerning the calamity that I have inflicted on you (relative to repentance-Jer 26.3).
v 11…Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand (an assurance of safety, this should have been sufficient).
v 12…I will also show you compassion (mercy), so that he will have compassion on you (and not avenge the murder of Gedaliah or oppress them, but show favor to them) and restore you to your own soil.
v 13…But if you are going to say, “We will not stay in this land,” so as to not listen to the voice of the Lord your God (obey),
v 14…saying, “No, but we will go to the land of Egypt (a plan they were already discussing), where we shall not see war or hear the sound of a trumpet or hunger for bread, and we will stay there’;
v 15…then in that case listen to the word of the Lord (a resumption of the prophecy), O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts (armies), the God of Israel (he is now coming from a military position of power), “If you really set your mind to enter Egypt and go in to reside there (eschatologically the Jewish people must not flee to Europe during the birth-pains),
v 16…then it will come about that the sword (the king of Babylon) which you are afraid of will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there (what they did not know was God was going to send Babylon against Egypt after Judah was secured).
v 17…So all them who set their mind to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; and they will have no survivors or refugees from the calamity that I am going to bring on them.”
v 18…For thus says the Lord of hosts (armies), the God of Israel, “As my anger and wrath have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a curse (not empowered to succeed), and object of horror (astonishment), an imprecation (curse) and a reproach and you will see this place no more (Babylon was going to do the same thing they did at Jerusalem and Judah; worse than those who went to Babylon because after 70 years they will return).”
v 19…The Lord (Yehovah) has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, “Do not go into Egypt (or Europe during the birth-pains)!” You should clearly understand that today I have testified against you.
v 20…For you have only deceived yourselves (they were hypocrites because they have already decided they were going to go-Jer 43.1-7); for it is you who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord your God; and whatever the Lord our God says, tell us so, and we will do it.”
v 21…So, I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the Lord your God, even in whatever he has sent me to tell you (Jeremiah knew they weren’t going to listen).
v 22…Therefore you should now clearly understand that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, in the place where you wish to go to reside (not everyone who says, “Yehovah our God” knows the Lord, as seen in Matt 7.21-23; not everyone who presents themselves as sincere knows the Lord).
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