Reflections on Jeremiah 42

Jeremiah 42 (Contemporary English Version)
1. Johanan, Jezaniah, the other army officers, and everyone else in the group, came to me
   
2. and said, "Please pray to the LORD your God for us. Judah used to have many people, but as you can see, only a few of us are left.
   
3. Ask the LORD to tell us where he wants us to go and what he wants us to do."
   
4. "All right," I answered, "I will pray to the LORD your God, and I will tell you everything he says."
   
5. They answered, "The LORD himself will be our witness that we promise to do whatever he says,
   
6. even if it isn't what we want to do. We will obey the LORD so that all will go well for us."
   
7. Ten days later, the LORD gave me an answer for
   
8. Johanan, the officers, and the other people. So I called them together
   
9. and told them that the LORD God of Israel had said: You asked Jeremiah to pray and find out what you should do.
   
10. I am sorry that I had to punish you, and so I now tell you to stay here in Judah, where I will plant you and build you up, instead of tearing you down and uprooting you.
    
11. Don't be afraid of the King of Babylonia. I will protect you from him,
    
12. and I will even force him to have mercy on you and give back your farms.
    
13. But you might keep on saying, "We won't stay here in Judah, and we won't obey the LORD our God.
    
14. We are going to Egypt, where there is plenty of food and no danger of war."
    
15. People of Judah, you survived when the Babylonian army attacked. Now you are planning to move to Egypt, and if you do go, this is what will happen.
    
16. You are afraid of war, starvation, and disease here in Judah, but they will follow you to Egypt and kill you there. None of you will survive the disasters I will send.
    
17. (SEE 42:16)
    
18. I, the LORD, was angry with the people of Jerusalem and punished them. And if you go to Egypt, I will be angry and punish you the same way. You will never again see your homeland. People will be horrified at what I do to you, and they will use the name of your city as a curse word.
    
19. I told the people: You escaped the disaster that struck Judah, but now the LORD warns you to stay away from Egypt.
    
20. You asked me to pray and find out what the LORD our God wants you to do, and you promised to obey him. But that was a terrible mistake,
    
21. because now that I have given you the LORD's answer, you refuse to obey him.
    
22. And so, you will die in Egypt from war, hunger, and disease.
    
    

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    It is difficult to understand what happens in this account of chapter 42. It is not the meaning that is difficult to understand, but why the people did what they did. Johanan, the army commander, and the group of people he rescued from the rebellious Ishmael had determined they would escape to Egypt, certain that they were in danger when the Babylonians learned of the assassination by Ishmael of the vassal governor, Gedaliah. Before leaving Judah, though, Johanan went to Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord. He said to Jeremiah, "pray to the LORD your God on our behalf . . . that the LORD your God may tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do." (42:2-3) He also added, "As for every word the LORD your God sends you to tell us, if we don't act accordingly, may the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us." (42:5) It seemed that finally, after the destruction of their homeland, the Judeans "got it." They would seek the Lord and obey His instructions.
    
    Jeremiah agreed to pray on their behalf and tell them "every word that the LORD answers you." (42:4) It was 10 days before the Lord answered Jeremiah's prayer on their behalf. Why didn't God answer more quickly? Waiting on the Lord is a significant part of our faith journey, in fact, a significant part of our exercise of faith. Scripture tells us that if we pray believing, God will answer us. For instance, Matthew 17:20 tells us, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move." But what does this mean to have faith? Does it mean to agree mentally with no doubts? That is certainly a part of it, but I believe waiting is also a frequent part of it. Waiting on the Lord is both a demonstration and a testing of our faith. And the outcome, says Isaiah 30:18, is that "Happy are all who wait patiently for Him."
    
    When the Lord's reply came to Jeremiah's prayer, the message to Johanan was to stay in Judah and not go to Egypt. If they stayed in Judah the Lord promised to "rebuild and not demolish you, and I will plant and not uproot you." (42:10) However, if they went to Egypt as they planned to do, they would "die by the sword, famine, and plague. They will have no survivor or escapee from the disaster I will bring on them." (42:17) This was a very clear message and Jeremiah had a strong record of delivering true messages from the Lord. If Johanan meant what he said, he would not be going to Egypt. But according to the last three verses of the chapter Johanan did not keep his word. He went to Egypt anyway.
    
    As I said, this is difficult to understand. Why would Johanan enquire of the Lord, promise to obey it regardless of how unpleasant it might be, and then do the opposite? Johanan is not the last person to have done this, and I suppose the reasons for doing so are different for every situation and person involved. But at the root of it is the prideful idea that we know better than God. We enquire of God to have confirmation or approval of our plans, but we will carry out our plans regardless. These actions are the reverse of, but very closely related to, our tendency to ignore God when life is good and to blame Him when it isn't. In this case, we think favorably of God if He agrees with our plans, but are not sure if He hears our prayers if He does not agree with us.