Warning Against Going to Egypt
All the commanders of the forces, and Johanan, and all the people from the least to the greatest went to Jeremiah and said,
“Let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray to the Lord your God for us, for all this remnant–because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us–that the Lord your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.”
Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your request, and whatever the Lord answers you I will tell you. I will keep nothing back from you.”
Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the Lord your God sends you to us. Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
At the end of ten days the word of the Lord went to Jeremiah. He summoned Johanan and the commanders, and all the people and told them what the Lord had said.
The Lord said if they were to remain in that land, then He would build them up and not pull them down. He would plant them and not pluck them up. For the Lord would relent the disaster that He had done to them.
They were told not to fear the king of Babylon for God was with them and would save them and deliver them from his hand. The Lord would grant mercy on them and let them remain in their own land.
But if they decided not to stay in that land, disobeying the voice of the Lord, and went to Egypt instead, then the sword, famine, and pestilence would overtake them there and they would surely die. There would be no remnant or survivor from the disaster that God would send upon them.
“For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt.”
The Lord clearly warned them that day not to go to Egypt, and if they would go astray it would cost them their lives.
So, you can probably guess what they did…
Jeremiah Taken to Egypt
When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people the words of the Lord, they accused him of lying to them. So, big shock, they did not obey the voice of the Lord and what was commanded.
Johanan and the commanders took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah, and went to the land of Egypt.
Then the word of the Lord went to Jeremiah and told him to take large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that was at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes.
He was to do this in the sight of the men of Judah and say to them, that the Lord would send Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon; and he would set up a throne above those stones that were hidden and he would spread a canopy over them.
He would come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to the pestilence, captivity, and the sword to all who were doomed for them. A fire would be kindled in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and they would be burned and carried away captive.
The land of Egypt would be cleaned, as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he would go away from there in peace.
Judgment for Idolatry
The word of the Lord went to Jeremiah saying how he had seen the disaster that God had sent upon Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. They were a desolation and no one lived in them, because of the evil that they committed by provoking God to anger. They made offerings and served other gods that they did not know.
Yet the Lord persistently spoke to Jeremiah and the prophets the words of those abominations, but no one would listen to turn away from their evil ways. Therefore, God’s wrath and anger was poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in Jerusalem.
This next section was primarily made up of God questioning why the people would do that. Why they would not listen to the words of the Lord or obey them. Why they would make offerings to false idols, especially when they were warned repeatedly what would happen if they did.
As a result, God would punish those who went to Egypt just as he had those in Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, but still no one seemed to care. The Lord could no longer bear their evil deeds and the abominations they committed.
Jeremiah spoke to the people yet again telling them to hear the words of the Lord, declaring punishment and destruction on them all for the evil they continued to commit.