Bible Commentaries
Jeremiah 40

Verses 1-30

XII

THE CLOSING SCENES IN THE LIFE OF JEREMIAH

Jeremiah 40-44

These closing scenes in the life of the prophet took place subsequent to the year 586 B.C. and probably before 580 B.C. They occupied a space of about four or five years, possibly a few more.

We commence this discussion by looking at the fate of Jerusalem, and the fate of Jeremiah immediately following that event. In Jeremiah 40:6 we have an account of the fall of the city and its destruction by the men of the Babylonian army. Zedekiah and the chief captain, through a breach in the wall sought to make their escape into the valley of the Jordan and the plains of Moab beyond. The king and the remnant of his army were overtaken and captured by the Chaldeans and taken to Riblah, the headquarters of Nebuchadnezzar. Many of them doubtless escaped. Some of these found refuge in Moab, and some in the mountains of Judah. Thus there was a considerable number of the inhabitants that made their escape by fleeing in every direction.

When the forces of Nebuchadnezzar broke through the walls of the city and took it, the ruthless soldiers of the Chaldeans doubtless wreaked their vengeance upon the inhabitants. Judging from the picture in the book of Lamentations, many were slaughtered and many of the nobles were butchered, but they did not really sack the city. They took many captives. Their main object was to take the inhabitants alive, as there was value in them as slaves, and this was their aim more than mere butchery of the people. Of course, they sought to take the king’s family and all of his household; also the nobles and all the chief families.

When they were destroying the city and taking the royal families, they found Jeremiah, the prophet, for he was imprisoned in the court of the guard. He was bound and taken out as far as Ramah, Jeremiah 40:2-4: "The captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, Jehovah thy God pronounced this evil upon this place; and Jehovah hath brought it, and done accordingly as he spake. . . . And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which are upon thy hand." According to the account in the previous chapter he had received direct orders from the king to set Jeremiah free.

This heathen speaks as if he were a very pious man; as if he thoroughly believed in Jeremiah’s doctrine: "The Lord hath brought this evil upon this place and done as he spoke because ye have sinned against Jehovah." Those are almost Jeremiah’s very words. He speaks to Jeremiah and tells him to go back to Gedaliah, the governor, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land. This man that had been appointed governor was a member of the royal family and a great man, one of the princes of Jerusalem. Thus he returned and found that Gedaliah had called the people, and held a rally at Mizpah, about four or five miles from Jerusalem.

We have an account of the colony which was established at Mizpah (Jeremiah 40:7-12). It is said that the people, when they heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, governor in the land, committed unto him the men and women and children. (Jeremiah 40:8 gives the names of the princes and chief men. Gedaliah called the people together and made appointments as he had authority to do. It says in (Jeremiah 40:9, "And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam . . . [and this man, Ahikam, had saved the life of Jeremiah.] Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you." Now, that was exactly what Jeremiah had been preaching for years.

Here was one man who was with Jeremiah. It was doubtless because of this fact that Nebuchadnezzar had appointed him to this position. He says in verse (Jeremiah 40:10: "As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans that shall come unto us." They could not live in Jerusalem. The city was in ruins. He planned to live at Mizpah, to meet the Chaldeans that would come to him.

In the latter half of (Jeremiah 40:10, it says, "But ye, gather ye the wine and the summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken." In (Jeremiah 40:11 he says, "The Jews that were in Moab, and among the children of Ammon, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, when they heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah, they returned to their native land." In the latter part of (Jeremiah 40:12 it says, "And gathered wine and summer fruits very much," which seems to indicate that the people simply helped themselves to the fields and vineyards that had been left.

The king of Ammon, having heard of this new colony established at Mizpah, with Gedaliah as governor, set to work to induce a certain fanatical Jew by the name of Ishmael, to murder him. We do not know just why he desired the murder of the governor. It may be that he thought that it would mean increase of territory to him and that the people would rally to him and that would mean more power. Again, it may be that this man Ishmael was a fanatical Israelite who hated the Chaldeans and any one of his own people who was friendly to them. So he connived with the king of Ammon to do the deed. When Johanan found out this plot he warned Gedaliah, his friend) that Ishmael was about to take his life. But Gedaliah did not believe it. He felt that no one would dare to take his life, the life of the governor whom the great king of Babylon had appointed, for Nebuchadnezzar would not fail to punish a crime like that. But this man Johanan knew and so he says in (Jeremiah 40:15, "Let me go, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it." He knew that if Ishmael should slay the royal governor, Nebuchadnezzar would take vengeance on the people, and all must suffer.

An account of the murder of Gedaliah and his friends is given in Jeremiah 41:1-3. Ishmael was a fanatical patriot. He came to see Gedaliah, and the chiefs of the king’s officers were with him. They came to Mizpah. So they ate bread together and among Orientals that is a sacred thing. But this man, Ishmael, did not scruple to violate this custom of his fellows. (Jeremiah 41:2 says, "Then arose Ishmael . . . 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."

The murder of Gedaliah was concealed, verse Jeremiah 41:4: "And it came to pass the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and no man knew it, that there came men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even four score men, having their beards shaven and their clothes rent." They had frankincense and meal in their hands to bring them to the house of Jehovah. They were coming to worship. Note now the treachery of Ishmael. It is said in Jeremiah 41:6 that he went forth to meet them, weeping all along as he went. He pretended to be in sorrow. He said to them when he met them, "Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam," and when they came in to the midst of the city Ishmael slew them and then cast them into the midst of the pit. But ten of them told this villain that they had stores of wealth, and begged him to spare them; so he saved them for the sake of their wealth. That gives us some idea of the character of this man, Ishmael. Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people and departed to go over to the children of Ammon (Jeremiah 41:10).

Ishmael gathered together what people he had and started, but Johanan was not idle. He gathered others and pursued and when he came near, all the people who had been carried away captive by Ishmael came over to Johanan but Ishmael managed to escape.

Then the colony went to Bethlehem under the leadership of Johanan. We readily see the plight in which Johanan now found himself. Word would come to Nebuchadnezzar that his faithful governor had been slain. Johanan knew what that would mean, and so did the people. They knew that the great king would send his army, and then there would be no mercy shown. They were afraid of the Chaldeans because Ishmael had slain the governor, Gedaliah (Jeremiah 41:18).

An account of the colony at Bethlehem and Jeremiah’s relation to it is found in Jeremiah 42:1-43:7. We are following the nucleus of the nation, that part of the nation which constituted the organized body of Israel. There were thousands of the Jews in other nations at that time, but we are following here the nucleus. This nucleus constituted the organized germ of the nation. The prophet had been forced to go with them. See verse Jeremiah 42:2: "Let, we pray thee, our supplication be presented before thee, and pray for us unto Jehovah thy God." Again, in verse Jeremiah 42:3: "That Jehovah thy God may show us the thing we should do and wherein we should walk." It looks now as if they were actually turning to the prophet; that they were on his side; that they were coming to his terms. Has he at last succeeded in winning the nation? Not at all, as we shall see.

The prophet said, Well, I will inquire of Jehovah for you. I will do this if you will promise me that you will do what he says. Ten days passed, and the prophet doubtless spent them in prayer, while the people spent them in consultation. At the end of the ten days Jeremiah received his message, and they had likewise made up their minds as to what they were going to do. We have that message in Jeremiah 42:10-11: "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 Jehovah: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hands." Note also Jeremiah 42:13: "But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land; so that ye obey not the voice of your God, but say, We will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no more war, . . . 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 of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them."

The prophet is able to see through their motive. Notice particularly verse Jeremiah 42:20: "For ye have dealt deceitfully against your souls; . . . saying unto me, Pray for us unto Jehovah our God." In other words, he says, While begging me to inquire of God you have already made up your minds what you are going to do. Verse Jeremiah 42:21: "And I have this day declared it unto you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of God." Now, that is like many people in modern life. They may want to know what God is going to do, what his will is, and yet at the same time have made up their minds already as to what they are going to do.

They refused to remain in Judah. "Then they spake to Jeremiah and said unto him, Ye have spoken falsely, for Jehovah your God hath not sent you unto us to say, Ye shall not dwell in the land of Egypt, to sojourn there." Now, that was a very strange saying. Jeremiah had prophesied during forty years that the city would be destroyed, and his prophecy had been fulfilled to the letter, and other things that he had foretold had come to pass, and here he is giving another prophecy, and they listen to him; then tell him that he prophesies falsely; that he is a lying prophet. Notice in Jeremiah 43:3: "But Baruch setteth thee on against us, to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans to carry us away." So they went into Egypt.

Jeremiah’s symbolic action in Egypt is described in Jeremiah 43:8-13. As soon as they arrived Jeremiah performed another of his symbolic actions, verse Jeremiah 43:9: "Take great stones in thy 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 of Judah." Professor Petrie, perhaps the greatest of all Egyptologists, found a few years ago in the mortar of the brickwork of the ruins of that very city, great stones hidden in mortar. We do not know that these were the very stones that Jeremiah put there, but certainly it is very suggestive. It looks as if Jeremiah’s prophecy was verified. That city is in ruins. Verse Jeremiah 43:12: "I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captive."

Now let us look at Jeremiah’s message to the Jews in Egypt (Jeremiah 44:1-14). There was a great assembly at Tahpanhes. Jeremiah seizes this opportunity to deliver his message to them about idolatry. Their sins brought punishment upon them. He urges them to repent and turn from idolatry. Verse Jeremiah 44:4: "Oh, do not this abominable thing." But the people were determined to remain in idolatry (Jeremiah 44:15-23). The men had gathered together and their idolatrous wives were gathered with them. Verse Jeremiah 44:16: "As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us, we will not hearken unto thee." In Jeremiah 44:17 he says, "But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven." Now, we come to a remarkable passage. These people argue that because they stopped worshiping the queen of heaven, their calamities had come upon them. Jeremiah said that it was because they turned from Jehovah; they said that it was because they learned from the queen of heaven. That was the issue. They said that when Josiah made them stop worshiping the queen of heaven, then their troubles began. Then the women began to make their excuse. They said that their husbands allowed them to worship the queen of heaven. They did that, maybe, to keep peace in the family, and now they were being charged with the trouble. The meaning of it all was that these people had simply made up their minds that they would be idolaters, and no power in the universe could turn them from it. Jeremiah had been preaching against it for forty years, and they would not hearken. Now, they tell him that they will not listen, they will not obey. Then Jeremiah presented his argument in answer to their excuses and reasons: You have sinned and this is the reason for your calamity.

This is Jeremiah’s last sermon, that is, it is the last one that we have any record of. He speaks to the people another word: "Hearken to this word: I have sworn by my great name, saith Jehovah, that my name shall no more be named by any man of Judah in Egypt. . . . And they that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt few in number." He continues as to Egypt: "Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra into the hands of his enemies, as I gave Zedekiah, the king of Judah, into the hands of his enemies." Indeed, it was only a few years till Nebuchadnezzar did invade Egypt and took it. There were Jews in Egypt until the time of Christ, but unquestionably very few of these Jews in Jeremiah’s time escaped the perilous times that followed. According to the last trustworthy account we have of Jeremiah he was in Egypt. Tradition says that he died at the hands of his own people.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the date of this section?

2. Give an account of the capture of Zedekiah and the chief captain, and those who escaped.

3. What disposition did the Chaldeans make of the inhabitants of Jerusalem ?

4. Give an account of Jeremiah’s capture and release.

5. Give an account of the colony which was established at Mizpah (Jeremiah 40:7-12).

6. Give an account of the plot against Gedaliah and the work of Johanan.

7. Give an account of the murder of Gedaliah and his friends (Jeremiah 41:1-8).

8. Give an account of the murder of the seventy pilgrims (Jeremiah 41:4-10).

9. Describe the counter-attack of Johanan and Ishmael’s escape (Jeremiah 41:11-15).

10. What is the result of this murder to Johanan and the people?

11. Give an account of the colony at Bethlehem and Jeremiah’s relation to it (Jeremiah 42:1-43:7).

12. What was Jeremiah’s symbolic action in Egypt? (Jeremiah 43:8-13.)

13. What was Jeremiah’s message to the Jews in Egypt? (Jeremiah 44:1-14.)

14. How did they receive his message and what reason did they assign? (Jeremiah 44:15-23.) Give details.

15. What the last words of Jeremiah, where did he die, and what tradition respecting his death?