men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Nerijah;
Jeremiah had just delivered God's answer: stay in the land and live. Verse 6 names who the leaders took instead: the whole surviving community, down to the children. With them went the two men who had told them not to go.
The leaders had God's answer and did the opposite. One writer follows the group to the place where they settled.
Then the leaders did not obey the voice of the Lord to stay in the land. They took the remnant of Judah — all the people, including Jeremiah and Baruch — and led them down to Egypt. In the end they settled in Tahpanhes, which was in the northeastern part, on the road out of Egypt to Palestine.
Jeremiah and Baruch did not choose this journey. Force decided it for them. So who carries the blame?
Those who believe can afford to be calm and submit. If power forces them to go here or there, the responsibility is no longer theirs. The guilt belongs to those who despise the word of the Lord. Until Jesus returns in glory, the faithful have to swim against the current, and to suffer where violence overpowers them. This is true above all of those God has entrusted with the testimony.
The leaders could have left Jeremiah behind. They chose not to — and the reason turns out to be self-defeating.
Stubborn in their plan to the end, they rebel against God. They take Jeremiah and faithful Baruch with them, because they do not want to leave behind these witnesses of their disobedience and unbelief. They forget only one thing: they are carrying with them the Word that condemns them. To the end, Jeremiah faithfully uses the gift of prophecy that God had entrusted to him. At Tahpanhes, just as at Jerusalem, he is a witness of the true God.
Jeremiah had an alternative. Babylon's officials respected him, and he could have had a comfortable life there.
Nebuchadnezzar and his servants stood out in honouring Jeremiah. They were in sharp contrast with the priests, the false prophets, and even kings Jehoiachim and Zedekiah. Still, Jeremiah truly loved God's people, even at their lowest and in their ugly ingratitude to him. He could have gone to Babylon, where comfort and honour were certain. Instead he chose to suffer with the most despised people in the land. They behaved as badly as ever, and against his inspired warnings they carried him down into Egypt, rather than stay under the rule of Babylon.
At this moment two groups of Jewish survivors were alive: this one heading for Egypt, and the earlier captives in Babylon.
This short history is especially interesting. The story of this remnant is a complete contrast to the story of the remnant at Babylon. These people go down into Egypt against the word of the Lord, and sword and famine and disease will destroy them. Those at Babylon have peace and prosperity and plenty promised to them for the present. These people carry Jeremiah with them into Egypt, though he announces their doom. The others have Ezekiel and Daniel with them at Babylon, where Daniel prevails in prayer with God for their deliverance and restoration. God redeemed the people out of Egypt at the beginning, but Babylon became the place of their captivity after they had turned away from the Lord. So going back to Egypt was fatal, but from Babylon there was deliverance.
Egypt was no refuge. The place they stopped at held a brick kiln, and stones marked the spot.
Did not the brick kiln remind them of Israel's former slavery in Egypt? They had reached this spot again while trying to escape the rule of the king of Babylon, the Lord's servant! Had they escaped? Had they found the freedom they expected by disobeying the word of the prophet? God would send His servant Nebuchadnezzar to that very spot where the stones lay, and would set his throne on them!
- Counted. The captains took everyone left in Judah: men, women, children, the royal daughters, and the two faithful men, Jeremiah and Baruch.
- Carried. The leaders dragged the prophet along, so they carried with them the very Word that condemned them. Jeremiah kept testifying at Tahpanhes, just as he had at Jerusalem.
- Chosen. Jeremiah could have had honour in Babylon. He chose to suffer with the people who had rejected him.
- Compelled. When force decides where a believer goes, the guilt belongs to those who despised God's word. The believer can stay calm.
- Contrasted. Babylon held a captive remnant with deliverance ahead. Egypt held a self-willed one with none. The road you choose under fear decides where it ends.
and they came into the land of Egypt for they hearkened not unto the voice of Jehovah. And they came as far as Tahpanhes.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.