Jeremiah 43:1-13. Jerusalem is gone, Judah has been destroyed and depopulated. A few people had been left behind in care of a governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar. Then, probably 2 months into his governorship Gedalaih was assassinated, along with several people who were with him at the time, some Babylonian soldiers, and eventually 70 pilgrims from Samaria (to the North). Nebuchadnezzar had been to the area at least three times, twice to deal with rebellion in Judah, now there was what appeared to be more rebellion and the people were terrified as to what might happen. In yesterday’s reading they gathered together to go to Egypt then asked Jeremiah to talk to God and see what God wanted them to do. His answer couldn’t have been any clearer, “Stay here, don’t go the Egypt!” Today we will see what they did with his advise and what God had to say about it.
In verse 1 the author makes it very clear that Jeremiah had been faithful to Yahweh (LORD, the personal name of the God of Israel, the one true God). Twice we are told that Jeremiah told them “all the words of the LORD” Clearly this means all the words God had given to answer the question that they asked in Chapter 42 (Jeremiah 42:3-4, 7-9), but as we have seen Jeremiah had always been faithful to God and delivered whatever message he had been give, and often it cost him (remember twice in the cistern, once on trial for his life). Notice also that the response to his answer came “as soon as he had finished” delivering the message. Jeremiah had been in prayer for 10 days waiting for God t answer their question, an answer they had promised to follow, now their response to God was immediate and negative.
In verse 2-3 two of the commanders (one of them, Johanan, the guy who had probably done the talking for the people back in chapter 42) along with other “arrogant” men came to Jeremiah and told him he was a liar. They also accused him of being a puppet under the control of his secretary Baruch. It’s an interesting comment considering that back in chapter 32 Jeremiah gave orders to Baruch to seal up the deed from his (Jeremiah’s) symbolic dealing with a relative. Baruch also was at Jeremiah’s command in the whole write a scroll, read a scroll, rewrite a scroll event in Chapter 36; and that went on for months. In that same chapter Baruch even told the leaders that the words were from God through Jeremiah not his own.
It is interesting in Chapter 36 that Baruch is identified twice as a “scribe”. In our mind a scribe is a person who copies things or writes things down. In ancient Israel a scribe was much more, there were religious leaders who had been trained. It is interesting that the Hebrew word translated “scribe” is translate almost as many times as “tell”. In addition it is translated “declare”. Perhaps all that “copying” of God’s communication to the people made them very familiar with it and a good source of what God had said. On the other had prophets were often ordinary guys who God would choose to communicate through. It is quite possible that the leaders thought that Baruch was pulling Jeremiah’s “strings” (controlling him) because he was the trained one (see Jeremiah 18:18 for an example of this attitude, though they do generally recognize prophets as messengers of God). It should have been clear from his record that he was a true prophet and that only God was pulling his strings. In verse 3 they tell Jeremiah that they think that Baruch is manipulating him (Jeremaih) so that they will all be killed by the Chaldeans (Babylonians) or at least taken back to Babylon as exiles.
In verses 4-7 we see what they decided and did based on what they thought. Jeremiah was a liar and puppet of a hateful Scribe. They would not listen (even though they had promised to, hmmm, doesn’t that make them the liars) and were going to go to Egypt anyway. There are a couple of interesting comments in these verses. In verse 4 and in verse 7 we are told that they “did not obey the voice of Yahweh (LORD)”. Sometimes when a phrase is repeated scholars call it an “inclusio” (it’s like an envelope or literary sandwich). On the outside of this envelope is written “Disobedient” and “Didn’t Listen” and inside we see the specifics-moving to Egypt. One of the interesting things in theses verses is that Johanan and the other commanders are the ones who seem to be pushing the whole “Let’s move to Egypt” thing. Maybe they were afraid that they would be held more accountable as military leaders for the death of Gedaliah; they hadn’t protected him after all, and they were the experience ones. Also they had been leaders in the rebellion in the first place, who had “slipped through the cracks” (literally, Jeremiah 39:4). That would make them more suspect if Nebuchadnezzar came back again.
Another interesting thing is the mention of Gedaliah’s dad and grand-dad. Shaphan (the grand-dad) was a scribe and Ahikam (the dad) was also a religious leader (See 2 Kings 22:8, 12-13). Both were faithful to God in the reign of Josiah (and beyond, see Jeremiah 26:24). Many of these positions were passed on in families so it is likely that even Zedekaih had been a scribe. I think the author mentions this connection to show that Jeremiah and Baruch and Zedekiah were clearly part of a faithful crowd; what they said and did reflected what God wanted and was doing. . It would make sense that Nebuchadnezzar would pick a respected leader to be his governor.
It is also interesting that the name of Nebuzaradan keeps coming up in this story. Remember that the Jewish commanders were afraid of Nebuchadnezzar, “He’s going to come and kill us or maybe take us back to Babylon!” (v. 3) Even the order of their statement in that verse looks like manipulation, we don’t usually put things in order worst then less bad. We usually list the least bad first and the worst last. Mentioning death first definitely emphasizes it. Their whole reason for going to Egypt was to escape the supposedly coming war. Nebuzaradan was a soldier to be sure. He took certain captives to Nebuchadnezzar in Riblah where they were executed (2 Kings 25:8-21, Jeremiah 39:9). And he definitely was not a messenger from God, like Jeremiah was, but all through this story we are reminded of Nebuzaradan’s care (Jeremiah 39:14; 40:1-6) He offered to take Jeremiah to a Babylon and watch out for him there (He may not have know about Jeremiah’s stay here messages and Jeremiah had been telling the people to submit to Nebuchadnezzar). When Jeremiah was torn between the exiles and the people left behind Nebuzaradan confirmed that he was free to go wherever he wanted. Nebuzaradan also gave the people who remained care and use of the vineyards and fields (Jeremiah 39:10).
Whether or not it was intentional on the part of Nebuchadnezzar, Gedaliah should have made the people he was to govern think about Yahweh; he was a scribe, a religious leader. To Nebuchadnezzar he may have represented God, or at least the God of the Jews, Yahweh. As such Nebuchadnezzar may have been putting these remaining Jews under the care of their god when he appointed Gedaliah as governor. Certainly Nebuzaradan, Nebuchadnezzar’s representative on the ground in Jerusalem, saw Yahweh as powerful, at least there near Jerusalem (see Jeremiah 40:2-3). He probably did associate Gedaliah, from a family of scribes or religious leaders, with Yahweh; and he had no fear of that particular God since he believed that Yahweh had given his side the victory (which he had). In Jeremiah 41:10 we were told that Ishmael was taking the people whom “Nebuzaradan had put in the care of Gedaliah” to Ammon. Here in Jeremiah 43:6 we see Nebuzaradan mentioned again with respect to putting the people in the care of Gedaliah. This time they are being taken by the commanders to Egypt. So I think that Gedaliah represented the authority and will of Yahweh, even as a governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar (remember that God called Nebuchadnezzar “his servant” and he wanted the people under Nebuchadnezzar’s control for a time). By pointing to the fact that Nebuzaradan put the people under Zedakiah’s care in these two passages the author is contrasting him as a representative of God’s will with Ishmael and the other commanders. It’s kind of like the author is rubbing these Jewish leaders’ noses in the fact that this evil foreigner has been the real representative of God.
The last thing I find interesting in these verses is where the Israelites wound up; Tahpanhes. It was in Egypt but just barely, you almost couldn’t get any less in Egypt. Tahpanhes was located on the main road from Israel to Egypt, just past the town of Migdol and about 10 miles from the coast. It was on the eastern most edge of the Nile delta. To the Jews the land was everything; it’s almost like they though that God only was God there, in the land of Israel. That certainly was a common idea about gods in the Ancient Near East (see 1 Kings 20:23). But God, the real God, Yahweh, is much bigger than that. He had spoken to and through Nebuzaradan. He had used Nebuzaradan to protect the people, he had even used the most powerful king of the day, Nebuchadnezzar, calling him his (Yahweh’s) servant (Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6; 43:10). And Nebuchadnezzar didn’t even confess God as his god. God is the God of everything, the whole universe and he is not limited to certain people or lands (see Jeremiah 32:17). Egypt had con to they aid and had been pushed back (that was when the siege was lifted before the Fall of Jerusalem). The Israelite people had repeatedly looked to the Egyptians for protection and had been repeatedly warned by God to trust him only (Isaiah had a lot to say about this and Jeremiah warned them too). Now they were back in Egypt, protected they though, but not so far from the land of their fathers.
In verses 8-13 we see what God thinks of their new alliance. In verse 9 Yahweh speaks to his run away people. In verse 10 he tells them that Nebuchadnezzar, his servant, is not out of the picture yet, and they hadn’t run far enough (not that you can run from God, see Psalms 139:7-12). In another symbolic act Jeremiah took some large stones and buried them in the clay dirt under a brick patio (think large though) in front of a palace that belonged to Pharaoh (the word means king and relates specifically to Egypt) in Tahpanhes.
In verse 10 Yahweh of the armies, God of Israel, says he is going to “send for” Nebuchadnezzar his servant. Wow, considering the size of Nebuchadnezzar’s empire, I’m not sure many people got to “send for Nebuchadnezzar” and I suppose anyone who suggested that Nebuchadnezzar was their servant would quickly find out how sharp his sword was. Not only would Yahweh send for Nebuchadnezzar he would give him a victory over Egypt in the area, this is seen by his throne being set up. The throne would represent the power and authority of Nebuchadnezzar and setting it up in a foreign city would show his authority there. And God would set the throne up over the very place Jeremiah buried the large stones. The “canopy” could have been either a carpet (like a red carpet, maybe kings liked to show they had a lot of good stuff and had a lot of guys to carry their portable palaces) or a tent or both, the meaning of the word is unclear but it is related to a word that means “beautify, shining, good, cool to look at”; sounds like a portable palace to me, and we know there would be a throne.
Jeremiah doesn’t say if the stone had any meaning or the clay (mortar?) or the bricks, but I wonder. In other places in the Old Testament stones usually represented something; they were monuments. In Genesis 28:18-22 Jacob (Israel) set up a stone he had used as a pillow the night before as a reminder that he had talked to God in that place. He called the stone the “house of God” because a house of a god is where ancient people thought they could talk to that god. In Joshua 4 and 1 Kings 18 twelve stones seem to have represented the twelve tribes of Israel and were put in specific places to remind them of God working in their lives. Jeremiah just takes some stones, but maybe the Israelites would have thought of themselves and God working in their history. Also in their history were bricks, they had been slaves in Egypt just before God led them away to the land of promise. As slaves of Pharaoh we saw them making bricks for his different projects. Of course that had been 900 years earlier so these bricks certainly would not have been the same ones, but they were bricks and the people were in Egypt. Finally the clay, some Hebrew experts think that Jeremiah is talking about clay mud used as a base for the bricks to kind of stick them down, some translations even use the word mortar (the stuff under and around bricks when they are installed). It’s the stuff the bricks get stuck in. The word is related to a word that means “slippery” or “to keep”. Wet clay is very slippery but hardened clay can be used as mortar to keep things in place. Although a different word Jeremiah had had his own experience with some sticky mud (that word has the root meaning of sticky) in the bottom of a cistern. Perhaps the Israelites might have seen this symbol as representing them being stuck in Egypt under a load of brick, stuck in a place where Nebuchadnezzar would exercise his authority. Or maybe that’s just my imagination.
In verse 11-13 we learn that Nebuchadnezzar will be bringing death and destruction and captivity to all for whom it is appropriate. He would also burn the temples of the gods of Egypt. Of particular interest is the mention of Heliopolis (Hebrew-“Bethshemesh”, “House of the Sun”). Most Bible experts believe that this is the same city called “On” in Genesis 41:45. Joseph’s (one of Jacob or Israel’s grandsons) wife was from this city. There were large stone monuments (obelisks) in the city set up to honor Egyptian gods and specifically “Ra” the Egyptian sun god. Some of these obelisks were set up by Pharaoh Thutmose III (1490-1450 BC). That was the same time that the Israelites were living in Egypt as slaves and making bricks. It is very possible that their ancestors had ben used in the construction of On or Heliopolis or Bethshemesh and had even set up some of the obelisks mentioned. If the Jews of Jeremiah’s time knew their history at all the mention of this city (where one of their most important ancestors was from) certainly would have made them think of all of that. Even if the stones and mud and bricks in Tahpanhes didn’t think about how stupid they were in turning back to Egypt the city of Heliopolis certainly should have.
One last thing about Nebuchadnezzar. The word for cover used in verse 13 for what the Shepherd does with his garment or shawl was also used of him taking lice off of the sheep. If that is what Jeremiah meant then it would say something like, “Like a shepherd plucks lice off of his sheep so Nebuchadnezzar will pick clean the land of Egypt and leave in safety.” Some suggest that it is referring to him taking treasure from Egypt but it could also have the meaning of getting rid of a nuisance (like the false idols, like the obelisks). If that is the meaning, then even in his anger and normal activities, Nebuchadnezzar was still doing the work of his master, Yahweh.
There are two ideas running through this story one is the land and one is God’s presence. The ideas actually cross in the fact that the Israelites thought that they had to be in the land to be in touch with and protected by God. The whole story really tells us that the power and presence of God has nothing to do with where we are. God is not controlled by where, when, who, what, or why. God works history together for his purposes in spite of all of those things. Ultimately God wanted the people out of the land to show them that he wasn’t limited to it. He wanted them to see that he is the God of all (Jeremiah 32:17); he could be recognized by any one (even an enemy general) and he could use any one (even the most powerful person in the world). God wanted the Israelites to stay in the land but he wanted them to recognize him and honor him more. The land for them would only be for a lifetime unless they turned to him, if they did it could last for ever. In verse 2 the leaders were arrogant some Bibles might say proud, the word also means to boil. Boiling water looks bigger than it is, full of water vapor, that certainly first the idea of proud or arrogant, puffed up with a lot of hot air. It’s too bad that their pride and arrogance pushed them back to the land where their ancestors were slaves, where they were oppressed. Now they were back enslaved and oppressed by their fears. But the place wasn’t the problem and it wasn’t the solution. The presence of God and being a part of his plan was and is the solution to the problems we face. We need to realize God is with us and trust him when he speaks.
God I’m so glad you are not limited to a particular place. I’m glad you are not limited to a particular people. I’m impressed that you can use who ever, where ever, when ever, in spite of their motives, to touch people; touch them physically and spiritually. Thank you for being in history, thank you for recording your actions in history so we can see and hope in you. Let me listen and trust in you alone. Help me keep my eyes on you always and help me obey you.