Jeremiah 42

40 : 1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto Bab- 2 ylon. And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The LORD thy God pronounced this evil upon this place : and the LORD hath brought it, and done according as he spake ; because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore 4 this thing is come upon you. And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which are upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will look well unto thee ; but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear : behold, all the land is before thee ; whither it seemeth good and convenient unto thee to go, 5 thither go. Now while he was not yet gone back, Go back then, said he, to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people : or go wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a present, and let him 6 go. Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwell with him among the people that were left in the land. 7 Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and of the poorest of the land, 8 of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon ; then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netopha- 9 the Maacathite, they and their men. And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans : dwell in the 10 land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans, which shall come unto us : but ye, gather ye wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your 11 cities that ye have taken. Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the children of Ammon, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of 12 Ahikam, the son of Shaphan ; then all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much. 13 Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were in the 14 fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, and said unto him, Dost thou know that Baalis the king of the children of Ammon hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take thy life? But 15 Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not. Then Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it : wherefore should he take thy life, that all the Jews

16 which are gathered unto thee should be scattered, and the remnant of Judah perish? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou shalt not do this thing: for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.

41:1 Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and one of the chief officers of the king, and ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah. Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, even the men of war. And it came to pass the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and no man knew it, that there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with oblations and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it came to pass, as he met them, he said unto them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he, and the men that were with him. But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Shay us not: for we have stores hidden in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren. Now the pit wherein Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain, by the side of Gedaliah, (the same was that which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel,) Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were slain. Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that were in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the children of Ammon.

11. But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. Now it came to pass that when all the people which were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, then they were glad. So all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah cast about and returned, and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah. But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the children of Ammon. Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even the men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon: and they departed, and dwelt in Geruth Chimham, which is by Beth-lehem, to go to enter into Egypt, because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the land.

42:1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near, and said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we pray thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us: that the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we should walk, and the thing that we should do. Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you. Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness amongst us, if we do not even according to all the word wherewith the LORD thy God shall send thee to us. Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

7,8. And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah. Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, and said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him: If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. And I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land. But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land; so that ye obey not the voice of the LORD your God; saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: now therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah: thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye fear, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye are afraid, shall follow hard after you there in Egypt; 17 and there ye shall die. So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none 18 of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them. For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; 19 and ye shall see this place no more. The LORD hath spoken concerning you, O remnant of 20 Judah, Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have testified unto you this day. For ye have dealt deceitfully against your own souls; for ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God 21 shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it; and I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in any thing for the which he hath sent 22 me unto you. Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go to sojourn there.

43:1 And it came to pass that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the LORD their God, wherewith the LORD their God had sent him to 2 them, even all these words, then spake Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our 3 God hath not sent thee to say, Ye shall not go into Egypt to sojourn there: but Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that 4 they may put us to death, and carry us away captives to Babylon. So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the LORD, 5 to dwell in the land of Judah. But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all the nations whither they 6 had been driven to sojourn in the land of Judah; the men, and the women, and the children, and the king’s daughters, and every person that Nebuzzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and 7 Baruch the son of Neriah; and they came into the land of Egypt; for they obeyed not the 8 voice of the LORD: and they came even to Tahpanhes. Then came the word of the LORD unto 9 Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in mortar in the brickwork, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men 10 of Judah; and say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne 11 upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. And he shall come, and shall smile the land of Egypt; such as are for death shall be given to death, 12 and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword. And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd put- 13 teth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace. He shall also break the pillars of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of Egypt shall be burn with fire.

44:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwelt in the land of Egypt, which dwelt at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of 2 Pathros, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day 3 they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein; because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other 4 gods, whom they knew not, neither they, nor ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this 5 abominable thing that I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from 6 their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and 7 they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day. Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and suckling, out of the midst of Judah, to have 8 you none remaining; in that ye provoke me unto anger with the works of your hands, burn- ing incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to sojourn; that ye may be cut off, and that ye may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your 10 wives, which they committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my 11 statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all 12 Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt shall they fall; they shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine; they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall be an execration, 13 and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pesti- lence: so that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return save such as shall escape.

15. Then all the men which knew that their wives burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great assembly, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, 16 in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the 17 name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and 18 were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed 19 by the sword and by the famine. And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out 20 drink offerings unto her, without our husbands? Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, 21 The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD 22 remember them, and came it not into his mind? so that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitation, as it is this day. Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as it is this day. 24 Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the 25 LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt: thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: establish then your 26 vows, and perform your vows. Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, 27 saying, as the LORD GOD liveth. Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the 28 famine, until there be an end of them. And they that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine, 29 or theirs. And this shall be the sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this 30 place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil: thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.

BEFORE pursuing the story of the Jews at Babylon to the end of the Captivity, we may conclude the history of Judea itself during the last twenty-five years of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign (n.c. 586-561), comprising the fate of the people left behind, and the fortunes of Jeremiah. P. S.—Nothing could more effectually show the hopeless condition of the people, and their unfitness for self-government, than this brief narrative of events which followed the destruction of Jerusalem. The detailed history is given in Jeremiah, chaps. 40-44. J. O.—These five chapters contain a particular account of what passed in the land of Judah from the taking of Jerusalem to the retreat of the people into Egypt, and the prophecies of Jeremiah concerning them there. Blayney.

Outline of the History.

A remnant of the people, among whom was Jeremiah, who was by Nebuchadnezzar’s express command treated with the greatest respect (Jer. 39: 11-14; 40: 1-6), was left in the land; and fields and vineyards were assigned to them by Nebuzaradan (39: 10). Nebuchadnezzar placed over them as his viceroy Gedaliah, a son of the prince Ahikam, who appears (2 K. 22: 12) in high official position under Josiah, and to whom Jeremiah owed his deliverance when accused under Jehoiakim (Jer. 24: 24, cf. verse 16). Gedaliah, with a small Chaldee garrison, took up his abode at Mizpah, in the neighborhood of Jerusalem. After the departure of the Chaldee army a great number of Jews, who had by reason of the war been scattered in the neighboring countries, returned to Judea. Certain Jewish captains also, and others who had borne arms against the Chaldeans, settled at Mizpah, where they were kindly received by Gedaliah, who promised them pardon and protection if they would submit to the Chaldeans. The viceroyship of Gedaliah, however, which had held out to a considerable portion of the people the prospect of the peaceable possession of their native soil, lasted only two months. One of these captains, Ishmael, the son of

Nethaniah, of the seed royal, instigated by Baalis, king of the Ammonites, placed himself at the head of a conspiracy against Gedaliah, who, not esteeming so base a treachery possible, and therefore rejecting the warning given him of it, was, together with the Chaldeans and Jews dwelling with him at Mizpah, slain during a banquet at which he was entertaining the conspirators. The Jews, who were hardly yet settled, fearing the vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar, determined, in spite of the warnings of Jeremiah, to emigrate to Egypt, whither the prophet also followed them. Surrendering themselves in Egypt to the worship of idols, to the neglecting of which they attributed the misfortunes of Judea (see the remarkable passage, Jer. 44 : 17 sqq.), Jeremiah was here also constrained to exercise his office of reprover, and probably terminated his storm-tossed life in that country (chaps. 40-44 belong to this period). His predictions (43 : 8-14 ; 44 : 30) were fulfilled, for in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem (584), Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt, slew its king, and again carried away a host of Jews to Babylon. Whether this is the deportation mentioned (Jer. 51 : 30), or whether the latter refers to a remnant still existing in Judea, cannot be determined. At all events, Judea lay desolate (cf. Zech. 7 : 14 ; 2 Chron. 36 : 21), so far as it was not occupied by the neighboring nations, particularly the Philistines and Edomites. The latter especially, who had long coveted the territory of Israel (Ezek. 35 : 10), must have taken possession of the southern part of the country (see the Greek Ezra, the so-called third book of Esdras, 4 : 50). Oehler.

Jer. 40 : 4-6. Here the captain of the guard obeys the instructions which he had from his sovereign, as stated chap. 39 : 12, giving the prophet his free choice to go with the captives to Babylon, or to remain with the remnant in their own land. In the former case he had the fullest assurance of kind treatment and even of somewhat distinguished favors. In our imperfect human view, it would have been much for his comfort and welfare to have gone with the captives. His sympathies were strongly with them—not with this company alone, but with those who had gone before, as his letter to them (chap. 29) shows. He knew that they were the better portion of the Jewish people (chap. 24), and that the moral hopes of the nation lay in them ; also that his own personal safety was strongly guaranteed in that country. Yet, notwithstanding all these considerations, he chose to remain with these poor, weak, and, as it proved, morally unreliable and treacherous people. Probably he had some intimations that this was the Lord’s will, so he met this slow martyrdom with his usual moral heroism. The sequel will show that he had bitter trials with this remnant—the refuse of the Jewish population. This Mizpah was near Jerusalem, the same which appears in the history of Samuel.

9-12. During the eighteen months’ siege of Jerusalem many Jews would naturally flee their country and take refuge in countries adjacent. These now returned and placed themselves under the protection of Gedaliah and the Chaldean sovereign.

13-16. Johanan and his fellow-officers became aware of the foul conspiracy projected by the king of the Ammonites, to be executed by Ishmael against the life of Gedaliah. Unfortunately this Gedaliah, a good, well-meaning man, was not shrewd enough for his dangerous position, but had allowed himself to be deceived by this foul assassin. Hence he would not give heed to these forewarnings of danger, nor allow Ishmael to be put to death. H. C.

41 : 1, 2. Gedaliah had been warned by Johanan of Ishmael’s intentions. Ishmael, it appears, was in league with the Ammonites, and had been incited by the Ammonitish king, Baalis, to assassinate Gedaliah. Johanan offered to crush the treason by himself killing Ishmael ; but Gedaliah, not believing his information, would not consent. The circumstances of the murder were, according to Oriental notions, of the extremest atrocity. Ishmael and his ten friends, with their retinues, professed to come on a visit to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and were there hospitably entertained by him (verse 1). Having " eaten of his salt," they suddenly rose upon him, slew him with his immediate attendants, and then attacking the Chaldean garrison of the place, put every man to the sword (verses 2, 3). B. C.—The murder of Gedaliah gave occasion to the fast of the seventh month, which the Jews observed after their return from captivity. (See Zech. 7 : 5 ; 8 : 19.)

3. Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him.** That is, all those that joined in opposing Ishmael and assisting Gedaliah ; for several of the commanders as well as the greatest part of the people were still left alive, as appears from the sequel of the story (verses 10, 11). W. Lowth.

41 : 5-43 : 13. Two days later a band of eighty mourners appeared on the frontier, from Shechem, and Shiloh, and Samaria, bringing offerings for the desolated house of God, a touching proof of the religious patriotism which was still to be found even in the most heathenized part of Israel. By a treacherous artifice, Ishmael slew them all but ten, and cast their bodies, with those of his former victims, into a pit which Asa had dug at Mizpah for a hiding-place during his war with Baasha, and which may rank in history with the Glacière of Avignon and the well of Cawnpore. He then collected the people who were at Mizpah, including the daughters of Zedekiah, who had been entrusted to Gedaliah’s care, and carried them off as captives toward Ammon. He was pursued by the Jewish captains, headed by Johanan, the son of Kareah, the same who had ineffectually warned Gedaliah. They overtook him by the great waters at Gibeon, and rescued the captives, while Ishmael, with eight comrades, fled to Ammon. Then, instead of returning to Mizpah, they marched southward to Bethlehem, intending to take refuge in Egypt from Nebuchadnezzar’s vengeance for the murder of his governor. First, however, they asked Jeremiah for counsel from Jehovah. In ten days the answer came, forbidding them to go to Egypt, promising them the protection of God if they remained, and assuring them that, if they persisted in departing, the famine, and sword, and pestilence, from which they fled, would overtake them in their new refuge. So faithful was the prophet to the long-standing command that the people should never, under any pressure, seek to return by the way of Egypt. His warning only brought upon him a charge of conspiring with Baruch to speak falsely in God’s name; and both he and Baruch were carried to Egypt against their will, with all the remnant who had been left under Gedaliah. Many of the Jews had already taken refuge there during the whole time that Egypt was regarded as their help against Assyria. They now formed a large community, living at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, and Pathros—a community which had afterward an important history of its own. Meanwhile they fell into idolatry, and Jeremiah denounced both on them and on Egypt itself the vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar—a prophecy echoed from the banks of the Euphrates by Ezekiel, whose warnings, promises and exhortations to the exiles at Babylon still kept pace with the current of events in Judea. P. S.

42:3. That the Lord thy God may shew us the way. It is the constant method of hypocrites to pretend a profound submission to the will of God, till it crosses their inclinations or interest. W. Lowth.

4-6. They reiterate their promise to obey the Lord’s word—a promise previously implied but less distinctly expressed. So far all appears fair, and we are left in the hope that this little remnant will indeed learn wisdom from the bitter experiences of the past, and will now follow the Lord honestly and fully.

9-12. The answer was definite and plain, promising good if they would remain trustfully in the land of Judah, assuring them they need fear nothing from the Chaldeans, as to whom the Lord would amply protect them. There is a rich and touching significance in the phraseology, “I will show mercies unto you, that He may have mercy upon you.” God will manifest His mercy toward them by inspiring compassion for them in the otherwise hard and selfish heart of the king of Babylon.

13-18. The other alternative is strongly put before them. If they will go down into Egypt despite the Lord’s friendly counsel and earnest prohibition, the very evils they were seeking to escape would surely overtake them there for their destruction. They might think to escape war, famine and pestilence there; but assuredly they would not, but, on the contrary, would certainly meet them there in their most fearful forms. H. C.

19. The Lord hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah, go ye not into Egypt.** God commanded the Jews by Moses not to have any commerce with Egypt, that they might not practise the idolatrous customs of that country, with whose idolatries they had been defiled during their sojourning there. Afterward he often reproved them by His prophets for making alliances with Egypt. There were particular reasons at this time for so severe a prohibition, as the words here and in the context import—namely, because the Jews either learned several of their idolatrous practices from the Egyptians, or at least were confirmed in those evil customs by their example. (See chap. 44:8, 15; Ezek. 29:16.) Besides, it was the rival kingdom that contended for empire with the Babylonians. So the Jews going into Egypt for protection was in effect refusing to submit themselves to the king of Babylon, to whom God had decreed the government of Judea, and all the neighboring countries. W. Lowth.

19-22. The noticeable thing in these closing verses is, that the Lord distinctly assumes that the people were not honest in submitting this great question to Him for His direction. He knew their hearts before they audibly answered, and therefore anticipated the very words they were about to say. It was every way befitting that the Lord should set their real heart before their own eyes, and solemnly apprise them of the ruin they were bringing on themselves by their hypocrisy. It was the most hopeful moral means He could use to arrest them in their course of sin, and turn them to repentance. How fruitless and ruinous are such subterfuges and dissimulations toward God! When did mortal man ever attempt them and prosper! When has such a dissembler ever failed of bringing ruin on his own soul! H. C.

43:2. Azariah. Called Jezaniah, chap. 42:1. We may observe many like instances in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, of the same person being called by different names. W. Lowth.

2,3. They deny it to be a message from God. “Johanan, and all the proud men, said to Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely.” See here the cause of their disobedience: it was pride; only by that comes contention both with God and man; they were proud men that gave the lie to the prophet. They could not bear the contradiction of their sentiments and the control of their designs—no, not by the Divine wisdom, by the Divine will itself. H.—Their hearts were fully set on going down into Egypt. Hence, they would not believe that the God they still professed to honor, and of whom they still spake as “the Lord our God,” had forbidden it. This is one of the most common methods of resisting the authority of God and refusing Him obedience. In this case those proud men slanderously charged Baruch with inciting Jeremiah against them for the alleged purpose of delivering them over to the Chaldean power for death or captivity. In all this they fully assumed that nothing but hostility to their best interests could induce men to prefer submission to the Chaldeans rather than to the Egyptians. This political feeling of hostility to the former power and of trust in the latter was intensely strong, and strangely arrayed on the side of the wicked and proud against God and His true servants. H. C.

4-6. These proud men compelled even Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch his scribe to go along with them to Egypt; they carried them away as prisoners. H.—The warning was in vain. The message of Jeremiah was represented as only the outcome of his own and of Baruch’s personal resentment; and the leaders of Judah carried the feeble remnant to Tahpanhes in Egypt—there yet again to hear the voice of the aged prophet announcing the coming judgment on the country where, in their unbelief and hardheartedness, they had sought shelter. So the last remnant of Judah had gone from the land. The Davidic rule had passed away, so far as merely earthly power was concerned. The Davidic kingdom to come would be wider, higher, deeper. It would embrace the brotherhood of man; it would reach up to heaven; it would root in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. But over all the land would be desolateness and stillness. Yet was it a “stillness unto God.” The land was keeping long-neglected silent Sabbath unto God; ten times, “to fulfil three-score and ten years.” A. E.

8-13. We have here, as also in the next chapter, Jeremiah prophesying in Egypt. Jeremiah was now in Tahpanhes, for there his lords and masters were; he was there among idolatrous Egyptians and treacherous Israelites; but there he received the word of the Lord; it came to him. The spirit of prophecy was not confined to the land of Israel. When Jeremiah went into Egypt, not out of choice but by constraint, God withdrew not His wonted favor from him. What he received of the Lord he delivered to the people. Now we find two messages which Jeremiah was appointed and intrusted to deliver when he was in Egypt: one in this chapter, relating to Egypt itself and foretelling its destruction; the other in the next chapter, relating to the Jews in Egypt. God had told them before that if they went into Egypt the sword they feared should follow them; here he tells them further that the sword of Nebuchadnezzar, which they were in a particular manner afraid of, should follow them. H.

8-11. This laying of great stones by the prophet in the clay of a brick-kiln, near the entrance of the king’s house, was to be done “in the sight of the men of Judah.” Such a transaction would serve to impress more strongly the words of His prophecy that the king of Babylon would certainly come there and set up his throne upon those very stones. Verse 11 must be understood as involving the destruction of at least the greater part of these Jewish exiles. They were especially among those doomed to death, the sword and captivity. H. C.

13. Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt.** The same as On or Heliopolis (Gen. 41:45). Heliopolis was the Greek translation of “Beth-shemesh,” the house or city of the sun, called by Jeremiah “Beth-shemesh in the land of Egypt,” to distinguish it from another Beth-shemesh in the land of

Canaan. This city was probably near the royal city Zoan, and only fifteen stadia, or something less than two miles, from the sea, according to Herodotus. Hales.—The Memnonium, a temple in Thebes, measures four hundred feet by one hundred and fifty, its central hall having a solid roof supported by forty-eight massive columns, and “studded with stars on an azure ground.” Most of these pillars and part of the roof still remain. The astronomical subjects upon the ceiling of a small inner chamber of the temple have furnished a clew to the determination of some of the great cycles of Egyptian history. The Memnonium was built by the great Rameses, and its walls are illustrated with his victories, chiefly in Asia. Some of these sculptures are quite spirited. In front of the building, and flanked by colossal figures, the monarch placed the most stupendous statue ever reared in the world. This was the personification of Egyptian power in the colossal image of the king, “seated on a throne in the usual attitude of Egyptian figures, the hands resting on his knees, indicative of that tranquillity which he had returned to enjoy in Egypt after the fatigues of victory.” The statue was of one solid piece of sienite, and must have been transported from the quarry more than a hundred miles. Its weight has been computed at upward of eight hundred and eighty-seven tons; it is said to have been originally seventy-five feet high by twenty-three in breadth. By my own measurement of its fragments, as it now lies broken on the ground, I found the forehead fourteen feet from ear to ear; the head twenty-five feet six inches across from point to point, where the back lies upon the ground—the whole circumference not being accessible—the body fifty-one feet, measured across the shoulders from their insertion in the back, the shoulder itself sixteen feet six inches, the arm eleven feet six inches from shoulder to elbow, and the foot five feet ten inches long by four feet eight inches broad. This statue was overthrown by Cambyses, the Persian conqueror of Egypt, in the year 525 B.C. Years before this event, a Hebrew prophet had uttered the remarkable words: “He [the king of Babylon] shall break also the images [statues or standing images] of Beth-shemesh [the house of the sun], that is in the land of Egypt.” The overthrow of such an image, standing at the main gate of one of the principal temples of Thebes, may well have been symbolical of the destruction of Egypt. Indeed, I know not whether was the greater marvel, to set up this gigantic statue, or to throw it down so as to break the solid granite into the huge blocks now strewn upon the ground. J. P. Thompson.

Chap. 44. This chapter completes the history of that remnant of Jews who went to Egypt. The prophet solemnly admonishes them, appealing to the example then fresh in their eye, of the ruin of their brethren in Jerusalem and Judah. They answer that idolatry and sin have paid well and insured them prosperity, and they will persist in their wicked ways. The Lord, by His prophet, pronounces His fearful curse on them, and gives them a sign of its execution—the fall of Pharaoh-hophra, then king of Egypt. H. C.

2. God puts them in mind of the desolations of Judah and Jerusalem, which, though the captives “by the rivers of Babylon” were daily mindful of them (Ps. 137: 1), the fugitives in the cities of Egypt seem to have forgotten, and needed to be put in mind of; though these desolations, one would have thought, had not been so long out of sight as to become out of mind. “Ye have seen” what a deplorable condition Judah and Jerusalem are brought into; now will you consider whence those desolations came? H.

2-4. It would seem that this appeal would be resistless, since that ruin of their fellow-countrymen had been so terrible, and withal was so recent and fresh before their minds. But the infatuation of sin defies all reason, and sets at naught all our calculations as to what men ought rationally to do or to think. This reference made by the Lord to His unwearied and most earnest labors through His prophets to reclaim and save the people has appeared frequently before in the writings of Jeremiah, yet here with the addition of this striking statement of the substance of His appeal: “Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate!” In most brief and expressive terms God implores His people not to give their hearts to idol-gods and to rebellion against Himself, speaking of such a course as being “this abominable thing that I hate.” What could be more detestable in His sight than such sin! It was cruel wrong against Himself personally; it outraged all truth and reason; it could not fail of being utterly ruinous to themselves, both because of the horrible vices which it introduced and fostered, because of its terribly polluting influence upon their own souls, and because of the judgments for such sin, which, as a God both benevolent and just, He must bring upon them for it, even to their destruction. The passage has a rich significance as applied to all sin in all ages, for all sin has the nature of idolatry. It is always rebellion against God; it always gives the heart to some other god than Jehovah; it is always “that abominable thing which He hates,” and He always and everywhere implores men not to do it, because it will surely be their ruin. It will of itself punish them, and over and above its own natural influences and results, God will and must make it work the ruin of all who will not repent and forsake it. H. C.

4. This abominable thing which I hate.** God Himself, we have always understood, hates sin with a most authentic, celestial and eternal hatred. The path of it is the path of a flaming sword; he that has eyes may see it, walking inexorable, divinely beautiful and divinely terrible, through the chaotic gulf of human history, and everywhere burning the false and the deadworthy from the true and lifeworthy; making all human history a God’s cosmos in place of a devil’s chaos. So it is in the end; even so, to every man who is a man and has eyes to see. Carlyle.—If man could understand the unspeakable heinousness of sin, even of one sin, he would sooner plunge into a fiery furnace than commit it. If the sea were made of fire he would sooner seek the companionship of its burning waves and dwell in the midst of them, than endure the pang, the leaden torment which sooner or later must develop itself from every transgression. Catherine Adorna.

Into the very texture of the plan of redemption is woven the most emphatic protest against sin in its every form. If its expiation demanded a sacrifice no less costly than the blood of the Son of God, must it not be intrinsically hateful in its own nature, and abominable in the eyes of Him in whose eternal counsels such a sacrifice was decreed? The Cross, then, furnishes no less striking a testimony of God’s hostility against sin than it does of His love for sinners. The terrors of the Law, as well as the mercies and proffers of the Gospel, are traced in the letters of the Saviour’s blood; if that blood at one time speaks to man in the still small voice of peace and reconciliation, it assures him at another time, in tones of thunder, of God’s determination to visit all moral evil with eternal banishment from His presence. E. M. G.

All the guilt that lies in foul rebellion against the mildest and most merciful of earthly monarchs; in disobeying the kindest and grieving the best of fathers; in ingratitude to a generous benefactor; in returning cursing for blessing, evil for good, and hatred for favors - in wounding a heart that loves us and the hand that was stretched out to pluck us from destruction; in refusing to please One who, though rich, for our sakes made Himself poor; took our debts on Him and paid them; took our burdens on Him and carried them; and bearing disgrace to crown us with honor, saved our lives at the expense of His own—all that evil, multiplied a thousand and a thousand times, there is in sin. It is a horrible crime committed against a gracious God and a loving Saviour, to say nothing of the injuries our sins have inflicted on ourselves, and the irreparable wrongs they may have done to others. It is from such views that true repentance springs. Guthrie.

11-14. The Lord reiterates His threatening of judgments upon these Jews in Egypt, assuring them they could by no means escape the same utter ruin that had befallen their countrymen. Only a very small remnant, the least fraction of them, would escape. (See verse 28.)

15-18. These verses are a mournful illustration of the madness of sin and of its social power over depraved hearts. All the men who knew that their wives were implicated in idol-worship were prominent in their defence. The women themselves, moreover, were not backward through modesty or any conscious sense of their degradation and guilt; but with the boldest effrontery stood up to avow their eternal devotion to their base idol-worship. Note their reasoning: “It was well with us while we were worshipping our idols.” So sinners often reason. “Because vengeance against their evil work is not executed speedily,” but the Lord waits long for them to repent, they account this quiet exemption from calamity as the natural prosperity of sinning. So much, say they, comes to us by virtue of our living as we list and doing our own pleasure. Thus they reach the conclusion that sin pays well. Satan cheats their souls into this horrible delusion, and they love to have it so. Then the second stage of their experience is perverted to prop up the same delusion: “Since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven we have wanted all things,” etc. They left off, not at all in the way of honestly forsaking their sin by turning to God in penitence, but only because the judgments of God began to fall upon them and break up the worship they would fain have continued as before; and now they strangely impute these calamities to the frown of those senseless gods whose worship they had suspended. So the devil fortifies their wicked purpose with this double delusion. He makes them think that the good they receive in God’s forbearance despite of their sin is the natural fruit of their sin, and that the ills which come of their sins really come of their not sinning—i.e., of their being broken off by the judgments of God from the sins they would fain have continued to commit. With such miserable delusions does the great deceiver of human souls mislead them to their damnation! It is awful to think that the native delicacy of the female sex should ever admit of such devotion to rites so impure and polluting!

24-28. Now the Lord sends a special message in addition to what the prophet had said before. He begins with saying, “Yes, you are committed fully to your wickedness and to your idolatry. Let that be understood. You have vowed eternal devotion to those idol-gods, and you intend to perform those vows. Of course it only remains to the mighty God, the great God of your fathers, to visit you with judgments till you are utterly consumed.” A very small remnant only will escape, barely enough to be witnesses to the fearful desolation sent on their fellow-sinners, and to know whose words did stand—God’s, or their own.

We have now followed the prophetic history of the Jews to the point where the last feeble remnant is mainly exterminated in the land of Egypt. This portrayal of their sin and doom is exceedingly rich in its moral lessons for all subsequent ages. All along through the chapters of this prophet we have seen the developments of intense and strange infatuation, as if the people had become demented and lost to all reason and conscience. This infatuation seems to have culminated in this miserable remnant in Egypt, just where those impressive lessons from God’s past judgments ought to have opened their eyes at least to their peril if not to their guilt. We stand amazed at such dedopravity, and cannot wonder that the Lord should visit upon it the most terrible inflictions of His rod. The whole Book of Jeremiah shows how slowly the wrath of the Lord arose against even this guilty people; how carefully He exposed to their view their great sin, and held it up in every just and appropriate light as a breach of covenant, an abuse of mercy, an insult to the great God, their Maker and Father, and as done in the face of constant warnings through His prophets, whom for a long time he had been rising early and sending. Interspersed with and following these revelations of their sin were repeated invitations to repentance and assurances of pardon, couched in most tender and touching terms, and sent from the Lord in the gentle tones and oft-flowing tears of this most affectionate prophet. Let us not fail to note that those tones and tears were only a fair representation of the heart of the Lord who selected, inspired and sent him. Verily, all that tender sympathy, faithful reproof, long delay and admonitory forewarnings could do to reclaim and to save guilty men was faithfully and fervently done to save this guilty nation, but in vain. The hour of retribution must therefore come at last. It came, and its vengeance was terrible! Does not all this history bear a startling testimony to the great facts and principles of God’s moral government over nations here in time? And more than this, must we not draw from it a fearful inference as to the future doom of all incorrigible sinners who must stand singly to bear the curse of their own unpardoned sin in the world of final retribution? Out of the depths of this history a voice comes up from its underlying truths, witnessing that the end of great sins, unrepented of, must be a great and terrible damnation. H. C.

PERIOD OF THE CAPTIVITY. CONDITION OF EXILED JEWS. EFFECTS OF CAPTIVITY: EXTIRPATION OF IDOLATRY, EXTENSION OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND OF MESSIANIC PROPHECIES, PREPARATION FOR CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY.