This account describes other things associated with Jeremiah's being set at liberty. It contains more detail than 39:11-14.
40:1 Evidently after Jeremiah's release in Jerusalem Babylonian soldiers rounded him up when they saw him in the city streets supposing him to be a regular Judean. They took Jeremiah to Ramah, about five miles north of Jerusalem, along with the other chained Judean prisoners headed for exile. Ramah appears to have been a collection point for deportees before the long trip to Babylon.
40:2-3 In Ramah, Nebuzaradan learned that Jeremiah was among the captives about to be sent to Babylonia, so he released him again. The captain of the guard confirmed to Jeremiah that Yahweh had done to Jerusalem just as He had said He would because of the sins of His people. This pagan could see what Yahweh was doing even though Judah's leaders were spiritually blind.
40:4 Then Nebuzaradan freed the prophet from his shackles and gave him the choice of going to Babylon as a free man or staying in Canaan. If he went to Babylon, the captain promised to take care of him there. If he chose to stay in Canaan, he could live and move about wherever he chose.
40:5 As Jeremiah lingered, Nebuzaradan urged him to go back and remain with Gedaliah (cf. 39:14), whom Nebuchadnezzar had appointed governor over the cities of Judah, and the other remaining Judahites. Gedaliah was a part of the noble family of Shaphan.504Yet the choice was entirely up to the prophet; he had complete freedom to go wherever he wanted. Nebuzaradan also gave Jeremiah some provisions and a gift before he let him go.
"The courteous and humane treatment from the nation's enemy contrasts markedly with what Jeremiah had received from his own countrymen [cf. Matt. 13:57]."505
40:6 Jeremiah left Ramah and proceeded to Mizpah, two miles to the northwest, where he stayed with Gedaliah and some of the Judahites who were settling there. Mizpah became the center for Nebuchadnezzar's provincial government in Judah (cf. v. 8). Jerusalem was uninhabitable (cf. Lam. 2:13; 4:1), and Mizpah had been a political and religious center over the centuries (cf. Judg. 20:1-3; 1 Sam. 7:5-14; 10:17).506
40:7-8 Several of the Judean guerrilla commanders who had escaped from the Babylonian invaders came to Gedaliah in Mizpah with some of their men when they heard that Nebuchadnezzar had appointed him over the region.
40:9 Gedaliah urged these commanders not to fear the Babylonians but to cooperate with them. If they remained in the land and submitted to Babylonian authority things would go well for them.
40:10 Gedaliah would act as a liaison with the Babylonians, but the commanders could continue to harvest the summer crops as usual in the outlying towns that they had taken over. The Babylonians did not colonize Judah as the Assyrians had Israel (cf. 2 Kings 17:24-27).
40:11-12 When the Jews who had previously fled to surrounding neighbor nations heard how the Babylonians were allowing their brethren to live in the land, they returned and joined in the harvest.
40:13-14 One of the remaining Judean princes, Johanan (cf. v. 8), asked Gedaliah if he was aware that the king of Ammon had encouraged another one of the Judean princes, Ishmael (cf. v. 8), to assassinate him. Baalis, the Ammonite king, shared Zedekiah's antagonism for Babylon (cf. 27:1-11), so he did not want a Babylonian puppet governing Judah. Furthermore, a politically unstable condition in Judah would cause Nebuchadnezzar to concentrate his attention and troops there rather than on Ammon. Gedaliah did not believe that any such plot existed.
"Gedaliah had apparently forgotten that Ishmael was of the house of David [as well as a former chief official of Zedekiah's, 41:1] and thus did not appreciate being passed by in Gedaliah's favor. Or Ishmael may have considered Gedaliah a traitor for agreeing to govern under the Babylonians. Baalis [the king of Ammon] may have felt that eliminating Gedaliah would make it easier to carry out his own plans to conquer Judah. The king of Ammon may have feared that Gedaliah might again make Judah a formidable nation and a potential threat to him. Also, Baalis (v. 14), an ally of Zedekiah and an enemy of the Babylonians (cf. 27:3), was angry that the family of Ahikam opposed the league referred to in chapter 27."507
40:15 Johanan offered to assassinate Ishmael secretly so Gedaliah would not die and harm would not come to the remnant community.
40:16 Gedaliah refused to permit Johanan to carry out his plan because he thought he was misjudging Ishmael. Gedaliah was too trusting and naive even though he was a capable ruler and apparently a man of faith. His commitment to his own people seems to have blinded him to the political intrigues that were swirling around him (cf. John 2:24-25). He would have been wise to seek the Lord's will through Jeremiah and then to follow it.
41:1-2 In September-October, not long after the fall of Jerusalem, Ishmael and 10 other men came to Mizpah and ate a meal with Gedaliah.508During the meal they rose up and slew Nebuchadnezzar's appointee with the sword.509This was not only an act of treason but a violation of ancient Near Eastern hospitality customs.
41:3 The assassins also murdered the other Jews and the Chaldean soldiers who were there.
"Everything about him [Ishmael] disgraced the name of David his forebear [sic], who had resisted every impulse to wade through slaughter to a throne' and had awaited God's time and his people's will [1 Sam. 26:10; 2 Sam. 2:1, 4; 5:1]. This was no David but a Jehu--and a Jehu without the excuse of a crusade. Almost as outrageous as his treachery was his folly, in supposing that a regime that was devised in deception, imposed by violence, backed by ill-wishers (Ammon, 40:14; 41:10c) and in breach of God's decree (27:6), could have any hope of survival. It may seem far-fetched to draw parallels between this monster and ourselves; but here, although writ large and in blood, is the way in which even the well-meaning may be tempted to get things done, especially in corporate projects. That is, by guile rather than openness; by pressure rather than patience and prayer; in a word, by carnal weapons rather than spiritual, and towards ends of one's own choosing."510
41:4-5 Two days after Gedaliah's murder, before the news of it had spread, 80 religious pilgrims came down from the old towns of Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria in northern Israel on their way to Jerusalem. Their dress and other signs of mourning (cf. 16:6; 48:37) demonstrated grief over the effects of the Babylonian invasion (cf. Ps. 74; 79; Isa. 63:7-64:12). They may also have been fulfilling a vow. However cutting their flesh was a pagan practiced that the Mosaic Law condemned (Lev. 19:28; 21:5; Deut. 14:1; cf. Jer. 16:6). They came with grain and incense to offer to Yahweh in worship. It was probably impossible to make animal sacrifices at the temple site at this time. Evidently there was some continuation of worship in the ruined capital after the temple fell.
"Even the ruins were held to be sacred, just as the Western [Wailing] Wall of the temple in Jerusalem is sacred to this day. Also, a token shrine might have been built."511
Since it was the seventh month (September-October, v. 1), the pilgrims probably came to celebrate one or more of the fall festivals.512There were some people left in the territory of the old Northern Kingdom who still accepted and remained faithful to Josiah's reforms of 622 B.C. (cf. Deut. 12:5-6; 2 Kings 23:15-20; 2 Chron. 34:9, 33). These pilgrims apparently made a stop in Mizpah to pay their respects to Gedaliah.513
41:6 Ishmael went out from Mizpah to meet these men weeping as he went, pretending to share their grief. He invited them to come and see Gedaliah, who was now dead, as a way of trapping them.
41:7 When they entered Mizpah, Ishmael and his henchmen turned on them, murdered them, and threw their corpses in a cistern. By not explaining his reason for doing so, the text paints Ishmael as a brutal murderer who was bent on carrying out a vendetta against all who had willing contact with Babylon and its representatives.
41:8 Ten of the men from the north convinced Ishmael to let them live by claiming that they had a hidden cache of food stored in a field. The Israelites frequently used dry wells and cisterns as underground silos.514Apparently Ishmael needed these supplies and so allowed these 10 men to live, at least until he had confiscated their food.
41:9 The cistern that Ishmael filled with dead bodies was one that King Asa of Judah had made on account of King Baasha of Israel (cf. 1 Kings 15:22; 2 Chron. 16:6). Good King Asa had made the cistern to preserve life, but wicked Ishmael now polluted it by filling it with corpses. To give these pilgrims such a burial showed disrespect for them.
41:10 Then Ishmael took captive all the people of Mizpah that Nebuzaradan had placed under Gedaliah's charge including King Zedekiah's daughters (or perhaps women with royal blood).515He began to transport all these people to the nation of Ammon, his ally to the east of the Jordan River.
41:11 However, Johanan, who had warned Gedaliah to look out for Ishmael (40:13-16), and some remaining guerrilla commanders heard what Ishmael had done.
41:12 Johanan, the commanders, and their men pursued Ishmael intending to kill him. They caught up with him by the large pool in Gibeon about three miles southwest of Mizpah (cf. 2 Sam. 2:12-16). Since Gibeon was to the southwest of Mizpah it seems that Ishmael was taking a roundabout way to Ammon. Perhaps he went there to take more captives or to confuse his pursuers.
41:13-15 When the captives that Ishmael had taken saw Johanan and his men, they were glad. They forsook Ishmael and joined Johanan. Ishmael, however, escaped to Ammon with eight accomplices.
41:16-18 Johanan led the people he had rescued south to Geruth-Chimham (lit. the lodging place of Chimham) near Bethlehem, six miles south of Jerusalem. The location of this place is presently unknown, but it may have been a site that David gave to Chimham in appreciation for Barzillai (cf. 2 Sam. 19:37-40). Johanan and his party intended to proceed to Egypt because they feared that the Babylonian soldiers would kill them when they heard that Ishmael had assassinated Gedaliah.
This chapter continues the narrative begun at 41:4. The remnant leaders asked Jeremiah to obtain the Lord's word concerning their proposed flight to Egypt (vv. 1-6).
42:1-3 Then Johanan and his fellow leaders of the refugees asked Jeremiah to pray for them, as few as they were, that the Lord would tell them what to do. Zedekiah had made a similar request of Jeremiah and then chose to go against what the Lord commanded (37:3).
Many expositors believe that the remnant had already determined to proceed on to Egypt and simply wanted Yahweh's blessing (cf. 43:1-3). I tend to think their request was sincere in view of their words and the Lord's reply. It seems to me that if they had already decided to leave the land the Lord would have responded to them more strongly as hypocrites instead of as people who were in the process of making a decision.
42:4 Jeremiah agreed to seek the Lord's guidance and to report what He said to the remnant.
42:5-6 The people promised three times that they would obey the Lord, the faithful and true witness, in all that He told them to do so things would go well for them.
Jeremiah obtained and reported the Lord's message to the remnant camped near Bethlehem (vv. 7-22).
42:7-8 After 10 days word came back to Jeremiah from Yahweh, so he assembled all the people to tell them God's will. Perhaps the Lord waited this long to respond to see if the people would wait for His word or proceed on to Egypt without it.
42:9-10 The Lord told the people, in classic covenant terminology, that if they remained in the land He would build them up and plant them firmly (cf. 1:10; 24:6; 31:28; Deut. 28). He would also mitigate His punishment of them for their former disobedience that had resulted in the Babylonian invasion (cf. 18:18).
42:11-12 The Lord told them not to fear Nebuchadnezzar because He, the ultimate sovereign, would be with them to save and deliver them from Nebuchadnezzar's hand. Yahweh would have compassion on the people and cause Nebuchadnezzar to have compassion on them and allow them to stay in their land.
42:13-16 However if the people decided to leave the land and not listen to the Lord's voice, if they chose to go to Egypt where they thought they would be safe and have plenty of food, they would surely die by the sword, famine, and disease there. The Lord made His will very clear to the remnant. None of them would survive the calamity He would bring on them.
"Just as Yahweh's sovereignty can insure the safety of the faithful against repercussions from the king of Babylon, so will the judgment of Yahweh reach even to Egypt."516
42:18 As the Lord had dealt with the people of Judah and Jerusalem in the invasion, so He would deal with the remnant if they went to Egypt. He would pour out His wrath on them when they entered Egypt, they would become a terrible object lesson to others, and they would never return to the Promised Land.
42:19-20 Jeremiah added that his hearers should understand that the Lord was clearly telling them not to go to Egypt. He also reminded them that they had asked him to secure God's directions for them in prayer and had promised to do whatever He commanded.
42:21-22 The prophet sensed by the people's reaction that they were not going to obey, so he warned them again that they would die in Egypt if they went there.
The leaders of the remnant rejected the Lord's direction (43:1-7).
43:1-3 As soon as Jeremiah had finished telling the remnant what God's will was, Azariah, Johanan, and other arrogant men among them accused Jeremiah of lying to them. They claimed that Baruch was the source of the advice Jeremiah had given them rather than Yahweh. They believed that Baruch wanted the Chaldeans to slay or exile them. Baruch was Jeremiah's scribe, and both men were loyal to Yahweh (cf. ch. 45). Perhaps these opponents felt that Baruch was unduly influencing the prophet.
"Here is a good example of a man [Azariah] who was so persuaded that his own wrong views were right that his mind was completely closed to any other possibility--an age-old phenomenon."517
43:4 Johanan, the guerrilla commanders, and all the refugees did not obey Yahweh's instruction to stay in the land. All the people in view here must be all the people in this group of Judahites near Bethlehem, not all the people still in the land. Many Judeans remained in the land and did not go to Egypt. Here was a final moment of opportunity for the Judahites still in the land, but they continued to reject the Lord's word.
43:5-7 These leaders took this remnant, which included Jews who had returned to the land from neighboring countries, Jews whom the Babylonians had left in the land, Jeremiah, and Baruch, and proceeded on to Egypt. They stopped at Tahpanhes (Gr. Daphne; cf. 2:16), an Egyptian frontier town in the northeastern Nile Delta region on the road from Canaan, perhaps to obtain permission to settle in the land.518They did this in disobedience to the Lord. Note the continued emphasis on the people's disobedience throughout this whole chapter.
"Think of it! Abraham's descendants returned to Egypt long after their liberation from it. With great suffering they had been delivered from their bondage in Egypt only to return there a defeated and hopeless remnant nearly nine hundred years later . . ."519
It is difficult to tell whether Jeremiah went with them as a prisoner or by his own choice. It seems unlikely that this group of rebels against God's messages through Jeremiah would have forced him (and Baruch) to accompany them knowing that he would continue to be a thorn in their side. If Jeremiah went to Egypt by his own choice, he must have done so convinced that Yahweh wanted him to be His voice among the rebels. He could not have gone to escape danger and have been faithful to his Lord. Most of the commentators speculate that he did not go voluntarily (cf. 32:6-15; 40:1-6; 42:13-18).
