Tag Archives: Jeremiah 42-44

Daily Bible Study

August 21, 2024 Bible Study — When We Seek God’s Guidance, How Often Do We Fail to Follow It?

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 42-44.

After overtaking and rescuing those taken prisoner by the man who killed Gedaliah, who Nebuchadnezzar had appointed governor over Judah. the leaders of those remaining in Judah asked Jeremiah for a message from God as to what they should do.  Jeremiah told them they should not flee to Egypt, but they called him a liar and did so anyway.  They forced Jeremiah to go with them, which makes no sense to me.  It makes even less sense when you see how they refused to listen to Jeremiah’s words from God once they were in Egypt.  So, in this passage the people repeatedly listened to the message from God, then chose to do otherwise.  We see people doing the same today.  Perhaps we are guilty of doing the same thing.  We should examine our lives to determine when we seek God’s word, but do not follow it when we hear it.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

August 21, 2023 Bible Study — Do Not Ask God for Guidance if You Have Already Made up Your Mind About What You Are Going to Do

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 42-44.

After the murder of the man the Babylonians appointed as governor over Judah, the Jews remaining in Judah came to Jeremiah seeking to know God’s will for them.  In particular, they wanted Jeremiah to ask God where they should go and what they should do.  They swore that they would act in full accordance with whatever Jeremiah told them was God’s will for them.  When Jeremiah brings God’s answer to them it is clear that both God and Jeremiah knew how they would respond…which was by refusing to abide by the answer they received.  Every time I read this I come away with the impression that those who came to Jeremiah had already made up their minds as to what they were going to do before they spoke with him.  Which leads me to wonder why they came to Jeremiah in the first place.

We don’t have any basis to determine why they came to Jeremiah when they had already decided on a course of action.  What we do know is what they did after rejecting what God told them through Jeremiah.  First they accused Jeremiah of lying when he said that God had told them to stay in Judah.  Then, once they were in Egypt, instead of listening to Jeremiah’s messages from God, they resumed making sacrifices and offerings to idols.  So, the people consulted Jeremiah to learn what God’s commands for them were.  But, when he did not tell them what they wanted to hear, they rejected not only Jeremiah, but God as well.  We must be careful when we ask for God’s guidance to listen and obey what He tells us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

August 21, 2022 Bible Study — Do Not Denigrate The Personality Of Those Who See God’s Will Differently

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 42-44.

After the assassination of the governor appointed by the Babylonians the people remaining in the land came to Jeremiah  requesting him to ask God what they should do.  Then when Jeremiah gave them God’s answer some of them accused him of lying.  Note that they did not say he had heard God’s answer incorrectly, they said he was lying.  So, they had gone to Jeremiah seeking God’s guidance, but when they did not like the answer he gave them they did not argue that he misunderstood God.  Rather than make a case that Jeremiah’s understanding of God’s will was wrong, they accused him of acting in bad faith.  Further, the same leaders who had approached Jeremiah in the first place were the ones who did so.  As best I can understand, they were hoping that Jeremiah would agree with their plan to take the remaining Israelites to Egypt and when he did not attacked him.  If they had argued that he said what he did because he was in the service of Babylon it would have at least had the virtue of being one interpretation of events.  Of course, that would have called into question why they went to him in the first place.  The leaders who led the people to Egypt did not make a case for it to be God’s desire that they go to Egypt.  Instead, they attacked the motivations of those who argued for them to stay in the land.  In the same way today, we should be cautious of those who make the case for their preferred actions by attacking the integrity of those who disagree with them rather than by arguing the merits of their course of actions and the liabilities of the opposing course of action.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

August 21, 2021 Bible Study — Do Not Ask God For Guidance After You Have Made Up Your Mind

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 42-44.

After the assassination of the governor appointed over Judah by the Babylonians, the people remaining in Judah were afraid that the Babylonian army would return to punish them for it. So, they decided to flee to Egypt.  However, first they went to Jeremiah to ask him to pray to God for guidance as to what they should do.  They phrased their request to Jeremiah as if they had not already decided what to do. The passage does not make clear why they requested God’s guidance, but the response which God gave through Jeremiah makes clear that neither God nor Jeremiah expected them to follow it.  In fact, the reply Jeremiah gave them from God seems to suggest that if they had gone to Egypt without asking for God’s guidance things would have gone better for them there.  I see two lessons for us here.  The more important one being: Ask God for guidance before you decide what to do, and then wait for His answer before deciding.  The second one being: do not ask God for guidance after you have already made up your mind as to what you are going to do.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

August 21, 2020 Bible Study Do We Want God’s Direction? Or Just To Be Told To Do What We Were Going To Do Anyway?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 42-44.

After the assassination of the governor appointed by the king of Babylon by one of the guerrilla leaders, the remaining leaders consulted with Jeremiah as to what they should do.  They promised that they would do whatever Jeremiah determined that God said they should do.  Despite this fervent promise, when Jeremiah called them back to hear God’s answer, they refused to follow it.  They accused Jeremiah of lying to them under the influence of his long time assistant, Baruch.  They were convinced that Baruch wanted them to be killed by the Babylonians.  No explanation is given as to why they would believe that he wanted that to happen.  Despite refusing to listen to Jeremiah, and blaming Baruch for him giving them “bad” advice, they took both of them with them to Egypt.  Then once they had gotten to Egypt, they began blaming everything which had happened on giving up their idolatry.

We see both of the above behaviors today.  People ask for guidance from God, but don’t really want guidance.  They just want someone to tell them that God wants them to do what they were going to do anyway. When things continue to get worse after they stop doing the things which caused problems to start, people often blame the problems on the fact that they stopped rather than recognize that it takes time for changing your behavior to change the results you experience.  I am really sorry, I cannot find the words to fully communicate my thoughts here.

Daily Bible Study

August 21, 2019 Bible Study — Acting Counter To God’s Will Always Has Worse Results Than Doing His Will

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 42-44.

After the murder of the governor appointed by the Babylonians, the people remaining in Judah were afraid of what the Babylonians would do to them.  Initially, they did the right thing, they went to Jeremiah and asked him to tell them what God wanted them to do.  However, when Jeremiah came back 10 days later and told them that God’s answer was for them to stay in Judah and submit to the king of Babylon, they did not trust him.  Despite having promised that they would do whatever Jeremiah told them God commanded and despite Jeremiah’s warning that tragedy would follow them should they go to Egypt, they chose to flee to Egypt rather than remain in Judah.  This really reminds me of the lesson I took from King Zedekiah’s last consultation with Jeremiah.  How often do we choose to act counter to what we know to be God’s will because we do not truly trust God to care for us?  Because we are afraid of what will happen to us if we do His will?  The lesson here is that the consequences of not doing God’s will are always worse than doing God’s will.  

Daily Bible Study

August 21, 2018 Bible Study — Don’t Ask God For Guidance After You Have Made Up Your Mind

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 42-44.

    Today’s passage gives us a warning about seeking God’s guidance as a rubber stamp of what we want to do anyway. After the murder of the governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar the people were afraid of what the Babylonians would do to them. They had decided to take refuge in Egypt, but they were having cold feet. So, they asked Jeremiah to pray to God to show them what to do. Their decision was already built into their question, “Pray that the Lord your God will show us what to do and where to go.” They had already decided that they needed to flee. Their only question was whether they should flee to Egypt, or somewhere else. Of course, since Nebuchadnezzar already controlled all of the lands between them and anywhere other than Egypt, Egypt was their only choice if they fled. We need to turn to God for guidance BEFORE we have made up our minds about what to do.

    Once the people got to Egypt, they took up making offerings and worshiping idols. In particular, they offered sacrifices to the “Queen of Heaven”. The people responded by claiming that the troubles which came upon them in Jerusalem was a result of them giving up idol worship, not of the idol worship itself. All too often we do this sort of thing. Something convicts us of our sin causing us to attempt to give it up and live righteously. However, we fail to truly give up the sin. Then when we begin to suffer the consequences, we blame giving up the sin rather than the sin itself for our suffering.
    I want to touch a little more on the fact that the women were worshiping the Queen of Heaven. I think it is telling that they did not refer to this goddess by a name. Earlier in Jewish history they often worshiped Asherah, and sometimes Ashtoreth. Asherah and Ashtoreth were different goddesses. However, I think it likely that the “Queen of Heaven” referenced here is an amalgamation of the two. We see a similar amalgamation of various female gods in modern paganism. Actually, we see a similar amalgamation of various gods in modern paganism. I am not quite sure to make of the fact that we see this happen again and again, but one thing to note is that the writer of Ecclesiastes was wright in saying that there is nothing new under the sun.

Daily Bible Study

August 21, 2017 Bible Study — There Is No Benefit To Seeking To Know God’s Will If We Are Not Going To Follow It

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 42-44.

    The remnant left in Judah after Gedaliah, the governor appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar, was killed went to Jeremiah to ask God what they should do. They swore that they would do what God told them to do through Jeremiah. After ten days, Jeremiah received an answer from God, so he called the remnant to him for the answer. The answer from God which Jeremiah gave them was that they should stay in Judah. Additionally, Jeremiah prophesied to them the bad things which would happen to them if they did not obey God and went to Egypt anyway. Further, Jeremiah told them that he knew they were not going to listen to what God had said. And indeed, Jeremiah was correct, they did not do as God had said. The people, or at least their leaders, did not like the answer Jeremiah gave them. Looking at their response, one wonders why they went to Jeremiah in the first place. There is an important lesson for us in this. When we know what God wants us to do, we need to trust Him and do it, even when we are afraid of the consequences. The results of doing what God wants us to do will always be better than the consequences of doing something else instead.

    Once the remnant arrived in Egypt, Jeremiah confronted them over their continued idolatrous practices. The people responded that they were going to continue these idolatrous practices because they, and their ancestors, had always followed these practices, besides which when they had practiced them in Judah they had been prosperous. It is interesting to note that they first said that they had always done these things, then they tried to claim that trouble only came upon them when they stopped doing them. They changed their story in the middle because they realized that Jeremiah had been among those who had told them troubles were going to come upon them because of these idolatrous practices, so they tried to claim that the troubles came about because they had listened to him. This too is human nature. We frequently repent of our sins too late to avoid their consequences, then we blame the consequences of our sins on the fact that we stopped practicing them.

Daily Bible Study

August 21, 2016 Bible Study — The Lord Your God, or, The Lord Our God?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 42-44.

    After they had chased down and killed the man who had killed the man who Nebuchadnezzar had appointed governor over Judah, the leaders of the various bands of guerilla fighters came to Jeremiah for advice on what to do next. The interesting thing about their request is that they asked Jeremiah to pray that the “Lord your God” would show them what to do. They did not ask Jeremiah to pray to the “Lord our God” or even the “Lord God.” No, they asked him to pray to the “Lord your God.” Jeremiah uses the same language in responding to them, telling them that he will ask the “Lord your God” what they should do. I think there are two elements to their word choice. First, they knew they did not deserve to have a claim on God because of their idolatry and sin, but they nevertheless felt abandoned by Him. They knew that Jeremiah had been faithful to God in the face of opposition and persecution. More importantly, the things Jeremiah had said would happen happened.

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    However, I think the second element is the bigger one. They were pushing responsibility off on Jeremiah. The message would come from Jeremiah’s God, not their God. In choosing to ask Jeremiah to request an answer from “his” God rather than from “their” God, they were signaling that they were seeking confirmation for what they had already decided rather than true guidance. We discover later in the passage that the people who had come to Jeremiah for guidance from the Lord were practicing idolatry. They thought that they could worship God alongside of other gods and gain God’s favor by doing so. If we are going to worship God, and wish to rely on Him for protection and guidance, we need to seek and worship Him as “the Lord Our God,” not as someone else’s god whom we worship alongside of other gods.