Jeremiah 42, "Do Not Go to Egypt" (DRAFT)

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

Gedaliah, the Babylon-appointed governor of Judah has been assassinated. His assassin has been chased away and now the cohort that defeated him plan to go to Egypt to hide from the Babylonians. Meanwhile they seek out Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 42:1-3, Pray for us

Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, "Please hear our petition and pray to the LORD your God for this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we were once many, now only a few are left. Pray that the LORD your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do." 

The band under Johanan ask Jeremiah to pray for them.

Jeremiah 42:4-6, Yes, I will pray

"I have heard you," replied Jeremiah the prophet. "I will certainly pray to the LORD your God as you have requested; I will tell you everything the LORD says and will keep nothing back from you." 

Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us. Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the LORD our God." 

Jeremiah promises to pray for Johanan and his group. Johanan's group promise to listen to the response and obey it.

Jeremiah 42:7-12, Stay and prosper

Ten days later the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. So he called together Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest. 

He said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition, says: 1`If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieved over the disaster I have inflicted on you. 

Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands. I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.' 

Jeremiah has an answer from God. Johanan and his band are to stay in the land. If they do so, they will prosper.

Jeremiah 42:13-17, Do not go to Egypt

"However, if you say, `We will not stay in this land,' and so disobey the LORD your God, and if you say, `No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread,' then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: `If you are determined to go to Egypt and you do go to settle there, then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die. Indeed, all who are determined to go to Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, famine and plague; not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.' 

But if Johanan's group disobey God and go to Egypt, they and all those who follow them, will be killed or die because of famine and plague.

Jeremiah 42:18-22,

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: `As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be an object of cursing and horror, of condemnation and reproach; you will never see this place again.' 

"O remnant of Judah, the LORD has told you, `Do not go to Egypt.' Be sure of this: I warn you today that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the LORD your God and said, `Pray to the LORD our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.' I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the LORD your God in all he sent me to tell you. So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle." 

The warning against going to Egypt is repeated.  One certainly gets the impression that Johanan's group are going to ignore the warning.

There was, beginning in the seventh century BC and continuing for several centuries, a Jewish settlement in Egypt, at Elephantine. At one point it included refugees from the fall of Judah.