Do Not Go Into Egypt!

After Johanan rescued the king’s daughters and the rest of the people from the hand of Ishmael the son of Nethaniah as he fled back to the king of Ammon, he and the people fled Mizpah and Jerusalem. They feared the reprisal from Babylon that was certain to come for the actions of Ishmael, who killed Gedaliah the governor. They had hoped for a small measure of peace for the remnant who remained when Gedaliah was appointed governor, but that was cut short by Ishmael.

The people stopped near Bethlehem, making ready to flee into Egypt. Johanan approached Jeremiah, who was with them, that he might petition the LORD for direction for them. Jeremiah told them he would pray for them and then he would not hold back any word which God answered for them. Everyone agreed and proclaimed, ‘May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the LORD our God will send you to us. Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of the LORD our God.’

These promises to obey were about to be put to the test. Jeremiah prayed for ten days. At the end of those days, the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. Then he called for Johanan, all the commanders, and all of the people to give them the word from the LORD. He told them, ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not uproot you. I will relent the calamity that I have inflicted on you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are fearing now, for I am with you to save and deliver you from his hand. I will also show you compassion, so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own soil.’

Their fear of reprisal from Nebuchadnezzar was unfounded. God would have compassion on them if they stayed. He wanted them to choose to stay in the land so He could bless them and deliver them. But Jeremiah continued with the message. ‘If you are going to say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ so as to not listen to the voice of the LORD your God, saying, ‘No,  but we will go to the land of Egypt, where will not see war or hear the sound of a trumpet, or hunger for bread, and we will stay there,’ then in that case listen to the Word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘If you really set your mind to enter Egypt and go in to reside there, then the sword m, which you are afraid of, will overtake you there. And the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt. And you will die there. So all the men who set their mind to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; and they will have no survivors or refugees from the calamity that I am going to bring on them.’’

The people had asked Jeremiah to pray for direction for them. They had promised to obey the LORD their God whatever He said. God answered and spoke clearly, offering them a choice between life in the land He gave them or death in Egypt. So what did they choose? Of course, God’s rebellious people chose to ignore His words and flee to Egypt. Johanan and the arrogant men with him proclaimed that Jeremiah was lying to them, that God had not sent that word to them. They marched the remnant of Judah, along with Jeremiah, all the way to Tahpanes in Egypt. Some of the remnant fled even as far as Ethiopia.

When Jeremiah got to Tahpanes, the Word of the LORD came to him and commanded him to take some large stones and hide them in the mortar in the brick terrace at the entrance to Pharoah’s palace, in the sight of some of the Jews. Then he was to say, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am going to send and get Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My Servant, and I am going to set his throne over these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his canopy over them. He will come and strike the land of Egypt. Those who are meant for death will be given over to death, those for captivity to captivity, and those for sword to the sword. And I shall set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt and he will burn them and take them captive. So he will wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment, and he will depart from there safely. He will also shatter the obelisks of Heliopolis and burn the temples of the gods of Egypt with fire.’’

Nebuchadnezzar did come to Egypt in 568 BC. He did set his throne there and burn temples with fire. He broke the obelisks of Heliopolis. Then he left and returned to Babylon. Cambyses II of Persia would come in 525 BC and finish what Nebuchadnezzar started. He conquered Egypt, defeated Pharoah Psamtik III, and made it a province of Persia. The Jews who fled there suffered along with the Egyptians as their land enjoyed the Sabbath rest of 70 years prophesied by Jeremiah.