Jeremiah 42:13-17
Rejecting God’s word in pursuit of human security leads directly into the judgment one hoped to avoid.
13 “ ‘But if you say, “We will not dwell in this land;” so that you don’t obey Yahweh your God’s voice,
14 saying, “No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we will see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:” ’
15 now therefore hear Yahweh’s word, O remnant of Judah: Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘If you indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to live there;
16 then it will happen that the sword, which you fear, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are afraid, will follow close behind you there in Egypt; and you will die there.
17 So will it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to live there. They will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. None of them will remain or escape from the evil that I will bring on them.’
Rejecting God’s word in pursuit of human security leads directly into the judgment one hoped to avoid.
To warn the remnant that fleeing to Egypt in rejection of the LORD’s command will bring the very judgments they are trying to escape.
This passage contains the second half of the LORD's response to the remnant's request. It presents the warning of judgment if the people reject God's command to remain in Judah and instead flee to Egypt.
Jeremiah warns the remnant about the consequences of fleeing to Egypt rather than remaining in Judah under Babylonian authority.
A Word Sought but Not Submitted To
The LORD's word is not truly sought unless the heart is ready to obey it when it overturns fear-driven plans.