So ya wanna go back to Egypt
The deep state officials are all dead or serving the empire in Babylon.
There is a remnant of farm hands, militias, and returning refugees.
God lays out the Way of Life and the Way of Death. Will they chose
Life? Or will they chose death like the corruptocrats they have replaced?
- 42:1 “approached Jeremiah” - They have already decided to go back to Egypt,
and started the process (41:17-18). But then it occurs to them, maybe they
should ask God about it.
- 42:3 “Pray .. God will tell us the way we should walk” - God will do that, and
has been doing that. The question is, will they obey?
- 42:4 “I will not withhold a word” - for his part Jeremiah will not keep
anything back.
- 42:5 “witness against us if we do not act on every word” - they swear
to obey this time. But it feels like movie foreshadowing.
- 42:7 “after ten days, the Word of Lord came” - just long enough for
them to be all ears and at least hear the Word.
The Way of Life
- 42:9 “thus says the Lord” - this is not Jeremiah’s opinion. Once again,
we have the way of life and way of death. Will the remnant choose life?
- 42:10 “if you will indeed stay in this land” - the way of life.
- 42:11 “do not be afraid of the king of Babylon” - in the first place,
apart from the character of Nebuchadnezzar, God is in charge.
- 42:12 “he will have compassion on you” - God himself tells them they
have misjudged Nebuchadnezzar. The government propaganda has demonized
him, and this has corrupted their thinking.
The Way of Death
- 42:13 “not stay in this land and thus disobey” - yes, it is scary to
stay. You are afraid of Nebuchadnezzar because your king has broken
his treaty and defied him to the end. You are afraid because a remnant
of the royal family has killed the appointed governor and his Chaldean guard.
But true safety is in obeying the word of the Lord.
- 42:14 “no but we will go” - equally false ideas about Egypt. Kamala
H’areesh had come from Egypt to promise wonderful opportunities for
migrants.
- 42:17 “die by sword, famine, and plague” - the very thing they think
they are escaping will find them in Egypt. Egypt is in line for God’s
judgement via Nebuchadnezzar.
- 42:18 “so will My Wrath be poured out on you” - deliberate defiance
of God’s direct instruction, does not work out well.
- 42:19 “do not go to Egypt!” - Jeremiah chimes in. Please listen to God
for once.
- 42:21 “but you have not obeyed” - apparently, it was already clear they
had no intention to actually obey God.
- 42:22 “by sword and famine and plague you will die” - they have chosen
the Way of Death.