And they said to Jeremiah, Jehovah be a true and faithful witness amongst us, if we do not even according to all the word for which Jehovah thy God shall send thee to us.
Frightened survivors of Jerusalem's fall swear an oath before Jeremiah, calling God as their witness that they will obey whatever He says. The rest of the chapter tests that vow: what is a promise worth when the heart has already chosen?
An oath like this is as strong as words get. It makes God the witness against them, and ties their own welfare to obeying Him.
So this remnant makes the most solemn promise. Whatever the Lord's answer may be, they will "obey the voice of the Lord." They are right to see that, if they do, it will be well with them. However dark the day, however great the ruin, it will still be well with those who obey "the voice of the Lord."
The instinct behind it was right.
They recognise the ruin of the nation; they own they are but a few. Amid the ruin, and in admitted weakness, they meet together. They ask the Lord which path He would have them take, and how He would have them act. In such circumstances, what could be more fitting than a little company of God's people turning to the Lord for guidance?
One small word gives them away. They speak of God as Jeremiah's God, not as their own. One commentator breaks off mid-sentence to press the point:
"pray to the LORD your God for us" — Why not say, the LORD our God? — "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."
They had fixed their course before anyone spoke.
Now these men had already decided in the depths of their hearts to go down to Egypt. Their whole hope was that Jeremiah would confirm their secret purpose.
This is not a harmless mistake.
They asked the prophet to pray for them, so that God would guide their path. Yet they had already made up their minds to take their whole company to Egypt (Jer. 42). Let us beware of going before God at any time with our minds already made up. It is a serious affront to the Divine Majesty!
The loudness of the vow is itself the warning sign.
But how painful it is to find that the flesh gives itself away by an excessive show of piety just as much as by godless talk! The experienced eye does not spot its hollowness in a lack of fervour. It spots it in a readiness to obey God's will, whatever that will may be — a readiness that is too lavish, or at least too self-confident. The duty may be plain; but what of the heart? of the power to go on and to go through? Faith assumes we feel our own weakness just as surely as it counts on God and His grace. Human resolve in the things of God has force only where it is left to its own will.
The same pattern repeats today, in words that sound perfect:
Are there not people who talk like this remnant? "Give us Scripture — give us the word of the Lord — and we will bow to it!" We may well fear that self-will lies behind such fair words.
Jeremiah took them at their word and prayed.
Here the truth of the case comes out. Pride and self-will were at work. Their vows and promises were false. "You have gone astray at the cost of your lives," says Jeremiah, "for you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, 'Pray for us to the LORD our God, and whatever the LORD our God says declare to us and we will do it.'" God's answer would have suited them well enough if it had matched their own will. It ran against their will, so they rejected it altogether.
(The wording Mackintosh himself quotes here is "You were deceitful in your hearts" — which is the point he is making about their false vows.)
- Ask — in a day of ruin and weakness, turning to God for direction is the right instinct. The fault here is never in the asking.
- Own — they call Him "the LORD your God," not ours; the distance in the pronoun exposes distance in the heart.
- Decide — they had already chosen Egypt and only wanted it confirmed. Going to God with your mind made up is an affront to Him.
- Protest — the flesh gives itself away by loud promises, not weak ones. Real faith counts on God's grace because it knows its own weakness.
- Refuse — when the answer crossed their will, they rejected it. A vow that holds only when God agrees was never obedience.
Whether it be good or whether it be evil, we will hearken unto the voice of Jehovah our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us when we hearken unto the voice of Jehovah our God.
Jerusalem has fallen, and the survivors left in Judah are frightened of Babylon and drawn toward Egypt. They ask Jeremiah to pray, and promise in advance to obey whatever answer God gives — but can a promise this complete still be a lie?
Their promise leaves nothing out: they accept God's answer before they have heard it.
This leads the remnant to make the most solemn declaration: whatever the Lord's answer may be, they will "obey the voice of the Lord". They rightly recognise that if they do so, it will be well with them. However dark the day, however great the ruin, it will still be well with those who obey "the voice of the Lord."
The pairing of "good or bad" is itself odd, and one writer stops on it. He also notes what stands behind such wording — a decision already taken.
They had already made up their minds as to their course. They were bent on their own will. Miserable condition! … But they said to Jeremiah, "Pray for us to the Lord your God" — why not say, the Lord our God? … "Whether it is good or bad" — how could the will of God be anything but good?
The strength of their language is not the reassurance it looks like.
But how painful it is to prove that the flesh betrays itself quite as much by its excessive show of piety as by open irreverence! The experienced eye does not detect its hollowness by any lack of fervour. It sees it in a readiness to obey the divine will, whatever it may be — a readiness too lavish, or at least too self-confident. The duty may be plain; but what of the heart? What of the power to go on and to go through? Faith supposes a sense of our own weakness as surely as it counts on God and His grace.
They were promising with their mouths. God was reading their motive. One writer turns that into a question for anyone who wants to know God's will.
If we desire to know the will of God, let us first seriously test ourselves as to why. Do we want to find out whether it is acceptable to us or not? Or do we really desire to practise God's will? Of course God knows our motives. The remnant of Israel came to Jeremiah and asked him to enquire of God. They told him they would obey God's Word without fail once He gave it (Jer. 42:5-6). But God knew they were deceiving themselves in their hearts (v. 20), and that they only intended to obey if it suited their thoughts. If we have no honest intention of doing God's will, or at least of being willing to do it, God will never give us firm conviction about the teaching of His Word.
Ten days passed before God replied. What He asked was not harsh — and the promise of verse 6 collapsed anyway.
The prophet undertook to tell them all that God made known. They, on their part, undertook to obey the voice of the Lord, whether it was good or bad (vv. 4-6). After ten days the Lord told them to stay in the land, and He would bless them richly (vv. 7-12). But if they went down into Egypt, the sword, the famine and the plague would overtake them there (vv. 13-18). The Lord knew their deceitful hearts, and the prophet plainly said to them, "You have deceived yourselves in your hearts when you sent me to the Lord" (vv. 19-22).
Refusing God's answer does not cancel it.
So God in the long run always accomplishes His will. Happy are those who are in its current the whole way through! If men resist, they gain nothing but grief and disappointment, and passing success only makes it more bitter. Far from hindering the word of the Lord, they carry it out by the very measures meant to give effect to their own wishes. The evils they most dread they bring certainly on themselves.
- Promise. They pledged to obey God's answer before they heard it. It is well with those who obey His voice, however dark the day.
- Wording. They called Him Jeremiah's God rather than their own, and allowed that His will might be "bad". The divided heart shows in both.
- Tell. A too-confident readiness to obey "whatever it may be" is a warning sign. Real faith carries a sense of its own weakness.
- Test. God reads motives, not phrasing. Without an honest intention to do His will, His Word never becomes settled certainty in us.
- Outcome. God carries out His will either way. Resisting it only brings down on us the very thing we were running from.