JEREMIAH - CHAPTERS 42-44 Remnant of Judah
Jeremiah 42-44
Bible Study Notes Taught by: Carolyn Sissom
“The Heathen King in Whom Judah trusted will be slain, and with him their false hopes of protection and deliverance.” (Chapter 44). This continues to be true today as people of nations put their false hopes in a man rather than obey the Lord our God.
The Remnant of Judah had been recovered from the evil Ishmael by Johanan the son of Kareah…and the Captains of the forces that were with him. This would indicate Johanan was a General.
Chapter 42and 43 are self-explanatory and needs no interpretation. For that reason, I have written it out and the Bible tells the story through the Word of the Lord prophesied by Jeremiah and his rebuke to the Remnant of Judah. Chapter 43 reveals the story of Jeremiah buring the Great Stones under the brik-kiln at the enetry of Pharoah's house. Chapter 44, is the rebuke and judgment of the people for their continued worship of the "Queen of Heaven". They had worshipped and burned incense to this idol in Judah and Jerusalem. This is problably one of the reasons their "desire was to go to Egypt" because of their worship of the Egyptian idol Pharaoh Hoprah (priest of the sun and sun god, Ra.) .
They were in Chimham which is by Bethlehem to go to enter into Egypt. The people had been explicitly warned by God that it would mean extinction. Jeremiah was taken along. “Then all the captains of the forces and Johanan and Jaazaniah and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near, and said unto Jeremiah the prophet. Let us beseech you, and pray for us unto the Lord your God even for this entire remnant…That the Lord your God may show us the way where we may walk, and the thing that we may do.”
(V.4) “Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.
(V5) Then they said to Jeremiah, “The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the the Lord your God shall send thee to us. Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our God. (Hypocrisy – they had no intention of obeying the Lord if His Word was not in accordance with their desires.)
(V.7) “And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, then he called Johanan and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, and said unto them,. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel unto whom you sent me to present your supplication before him;
If you 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 of the evil that I have done unto you. Be not afraid of the king of Babylon of whom you are afraid; be not afraid of him, says the Lord; for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. And I will show mercies unto you, and cause you to return to your own land. But if you say, we will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God, Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell; And now, therefore, hear the Word of the Lord you Remnant of Judah; thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; If you wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which you feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof you were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die. 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 one of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them. For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; As my anger and my fury has been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when you shall enter into Egypt; and you shall be execration( oath, imprecation, curse) and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.”
The Lord has said concerning you, O you remnant of Judah; “Do not go into Egypt; know certainly that I have admonished you this day. For you dissembled (to go astray; to seduce; to deceive) in your hearts, when you sent me unto the Lord your God, saying Pray for us unto the Lord our god; and according unto all that the Lord our god shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it. And now I have this day declared it to you; but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor any thing for the reason he has sent me unto you.
Now, therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where you desire to go and to sojourn.
Chapter 43: “…when Jeremiah had made and end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the Lord their God…then spoke Azariah and Johanan…and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, You speak falsely; the Lord our God has not sent to you to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there….But Baruch…set you against us to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away captive to Babylon. So Johanan…and all the captains…and all the people, obeyed not…But Johanan…took all the remnant…even men, and women, and children, and the King’s daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan…had left with Gedaliah and Jeremiah…and Baruch…So they came into the land of Egypt…thus they came to Tahpanhes (Pharaoh’s palace).”
Tahpanhes site has been identified about 10 miles west of the Suez Canal. Tahpanhes is the principle of bringing forth (Egyptian style). They had turned aside to the darkness of the world = carnal mind). In 1886, Sir Flinders Petrie uncovered the ruins of a large castle in front of which was a great platform of brick work, the very place, Petrie believed where Jeremiah hid the stones. There is an Irish tradition about these stones that I am going to repeat in the study of Chapter 44. I do not want to be guilty of turning away from the truth and turn unto fables (II Timothy 4:4). It is my belief it is a fable and false teaching because of the spirit of superstition aaround the fable of the "Coronation Stone".
(V.8) “Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes saying, Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in the clay I the brick kiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; and say unto them, thus say the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. And when he comes, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword. And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captive; and she shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he shall go forth from there in peace. He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh (house or temple of the sun. This was located about 10 miles northeast of Cairo.) Three of Nebuchadnezzar’s inscriptions have been found near Tahpanhes. The meaning of the hidden stones was that God would send his servant Nebuchadnezzar to set up his throne in Egypt.
Chapter 44: All the judgments failed to bring humility and a fear of God. The reply of the Jews to Jeremiah showed their obstinacy and insolence. The people’s argument claimed that their calamites were due to their failure to burn incense to “the Queen of Heaven.”
This remanant of Judah would be the metaphor of the "naughty figs" of Chapter 24. The "good figs" went to Babylon and the :"naughty figs" stayed in Jerusalem. We know part of the reason they were so naughty. The women were burning incense to the "queen of heaven" and their husbands allowed them to do it.
44:17-19: “But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the “queen of heaven” and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.”
The Remnant of Judah impudently defied Jeremiah stoutly declaring they would continue adoration of the “Queen of Heaven”. This is the Assyrian Ishtar, Canaanite Astarte, Greek Aphrodite, Roman Venus, and Ashtoreth, whose worship was with acts of immorality, in this case with their husband’s consent. This was a polluted cult, whose offerings included moon shaped or star-shaped cakes and replicas of the goddess of sexual love. The Lord had his answer and sign. Judgment was pronounced upon these impudent idolaters. (20-28). The sign given to confirm God’s Word through the prophet Jeremiah was Pharoah-Hopra (priest of the sun, priest of Ra.) was to be given into the hands of his enemies and slain. He was assassinated. The heathen King in whom Judah trusted will be slain, and with him their false hopes of protection and deliverance.
This was the last recorded message of the prophet Jeremiah. The place and the manner of his death are not known. One tradition is that he was stoned to death in Egypt at Tahpanhes after 50-years of prophetic ministry. Another is that he was taken from Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar and carried with Baruch to Babylon, where he later died. No one knows.
Where the Bible is silent, we are silent, and where it speaks loudly, we do the same.
There is a British-Israeli “Identity” message that believes an Irish tradition that the prophet Jeremiah escaped from Egypt with a daughter of Zedekiah, the last King of Judah. These are supposed to have reached Spain and later Ireland. Here this female descendant of David—entitled to the throne of David only by the favor of Nebuchadnezzar—was to have married an Irish tribal chief or king between 580 and 565 B.C. From then on, the line of David is to have continued, first in Ireland, then in Scotland, and then England. They further alleged that the aged prophet succeeded in taking with him, “the stone of destiny.” (Gen. 23:11; 22; 49:24) As the story goes, Jeremiah is to have taken this same stone with him and it became the "Coronation Stone" of the kings of Argyle, then of the kings of Scotland, and then of the kings of England. The Bible says nothing of the fate of the prophet Jeremiah. This is a teaching of this sect. It appeals to the natural mind because it speaks of a natural seed. But the seed of God had always been a spiritual seed, and will be comprised by men of all nations. Jesus Christ is the spiritual rock from which all men will drink. Jeremiah saw the Cross and the Glorious Church, he would never be deceived by placing a superstition or any power on a rock. Jesus Christ is the Rock.
Taught by: Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Study notes from Principles of Present Truth by: Kelly Varner
Conclusions and comments are my own.