Rocks tell a story (Jeremiah 43)

  Truth and Consequences: 

A study in the prophecy of Jeremiah

Chapter 43

By Bob Mendelsohn

Given 14 October 2022

 

Lesson Forty two: Rocks tell a story

 

INTRODUCTION

  Rocks leave lasting memories. You might remember that when the Jewish people entered the promise land some 900 years before this episode of Jeremiah 43, that at the place named Gilgal, we made stones into a monument. That’s recorded in Joshua chapter 4. The 12 stones, no doubt, one for each tribe, was a perpetual reminder of several things. One that God had preserved us in the wilderness. Two, that the tribes, albeit scattered already with 2 and a half across the Jordan, were still one people and thus one monument would suffice to re-mind us of one another. Three, Joshua also put 12 stones in the middle of the Jordan River at the place where the ark and the priests and the people crossed, as a reminder to listen to God’s voice and trust him, even when the going gets tough. 

I was reminded of this story, and the subsequent activities at Gilgal, when I read the story of Jeremiah 43 and the placing of stones in the provincial territorial palace of the Pharaoh of Egypt in the 6^th century BCE, and in the days of Jeremiah. Stones have their place, and we are well informed by them, and throughout biblical history, if we are wise. 

Look, you don’t have to explain to indigenous Australians about Uluru, what used to be titled Ayers Rock, and the historic and monumental reality it represents. With all this conversation about rocks, let’s dig in.

We’ll talk more about rocks in a little while, for now, let’s jump into the passage, and see what God has to say to us, as 21^st century people here on this Zoom call.

There are two sections in our study today. First the comprehensive rejection of the Word of God uttered by the weeping prophet, and secondly, the prediction of the failure of the escapees in being able to hide from future conquest. 

First, the rejection. Verses 1-7

Verse one. WE saw that Jeremiah had waited 10 days, after the people who had gathered in Mizpah, from nearby and neighbouring territories, the stragglers, the remnant, the rejects at times, they had come to Jeremiah and asked for some advice. They wanted to know if they continued in their plan to move to Egypt in the south, if that plan would be a safe haven. They asked and they promised that whatever God said to Jeremiah, they would obey. (42.3) 

Remember, Jeremiah had been issuing clear directions to the Jewish people over the 40 years of his public ministry. He had been embroiled in controversy, had been publicly whipped and jailed, he had been mocked and ill-treated with apparent regularity, and yet, the stragglers in Mizpah wanted his advice. Excellent, you think, finally, some people say they have already signed on the dotted line, and all that has to happen is that Jeremiah will finalize the contract and tell them what’s what. 

Last week, he made it clear in chapter 42. After a 10-day cooling off period, he made his announcements. You have two options. One will succeed; the other will be a failure. If you want success, submit to the Babylonians and wave the white flag. Go nor’east, young men. You will find salvation, eventually. For your grandchildren. After 70 years. 

But if you go the way you are headed, you will all die. Totally, and your return to Egypt, from which we left miraculously 900 years ago, will end failure. 

This is not guesswork on my part. You should “clearly understand”

יָדֹ֨עַ֙ תֵּֽדְע֔וּ

The double use of the verb to know, yada, is to emphasize the clarity and the requirement of Jeremiah and thus God, to make a good decision. That’s the backdrop to today’s story. 

Verse one, 

“As soon as Jeremiah had finished speaking…” These people were chomping at the bit; they were ready to call it a day. They had already made up their minds, perhaps the first day, or perhaps the 10^th day, but sometime, for sure, during their waiting period, they had determined that they were exiting Mizpah and headed to Egypt. 

What a waste, you are thinking. Why bother Jeremiah? Why bother God? Why bother yourself in the game of ask/ listen/ decide? I’m reminded of the story at the arrest of Yeshua in the Garden of Gatshemen, on the night of Passover. 

All four Gospels record this episode.  Only John tells us who was responsible.  The boys were with Yeshua and the enemies of the Jews, the Roman soldiers, approached. They wanted to arrest Yeshua and the disciples wanted to prevent that from happening. After all, if the Messiah was going to put the Jews back in their proper place of self-rule and living under the Commands of Torah and the Almighty, then surely the Messiah would not have to succumb to such mockery and improper reception. He would be given honour and dignity, not arrest. The Lukan account includes a question that was asked, 

“When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?”(Luke 22.49) Did they await the answer?

The Bible tells us in John, 

“Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. ¹¹ So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18.10)

Peter took matters into his own hands and didn’t wait for the Lord’s answer. He with the sword defended Messiah. That’s what I remembered when reading this episode from Jeremiah. The people at Mizpah asked the question, but didn’t await the answer, not honestly. They jumped to the geographic conclusion that safety would be in separation from Babylon, so off they were going. 

Verse two, they yell the word “SHEKER” or “LIE”. The trope mark under this word in the Y’siv. It’s a standalone musical notation that almost shrieks in the recitation of the reading. I hear a chorus in an opera with considerable volume shouting “LIAR” and pointing in marked unison. That’s how emphatic this word is in the Hebrew text. 

They didn’t say, “Thanks for your words, but we have decided otherwise after lengthy prayer and consideration.” They didn’t say, “We took a vote and I’m sorry to say you came in 2^nd in the balloting.” What they said, what they shouted, indicated hostility to the one from whom they had sought advice and godly counsel. What a waste! I’ve had many a person seek such advice from me, and almost before I was finished speaking they were already onto the next agenda item and had summarily dismissed my words. What a waste of my time, of their time, and honestly, of God’s time. 

What adjective does God use to describe these folks? Zeidim, arrogant. Yikes, I hope God never uses this word to describe me, or you, or any of our children or children’s children. Humility is the answer; pride and arrogance, they lead to many a fall.

Verse two, they say God didn’t tell us not to go to Egypt. They actually shift the blame to Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah’s words, who INCITED Jeremiah to lead us astray. To make us stay in Judah’s territory. Think about it, historically, why would be ever go back to our place of slavery, and abandon the home, the promised land? These folks were hoping for military and as we will see next week, idolatrous intervention by the gods of Egypt, to secure safety and the end of the famine in which they were living. Necessity is the mother of invention, but this was wrong invention. They should have obeyed. 

Throughout this book, we have seen truth spoken and consequences for disregarding, for disobeying, for denying the truths of the prophets or of God himself. Shame on us, in our days, if we do the same.

Verse five, the leadership led the people, who had returned from exile, into Mizpah, for protection and security and help, and travelled, taking Baruch and Jeremiah with them. Jeremiah had been allowed freedom by Nebuchadnezzar and now he was captured by his own people. Double sadness.

From verse 8 and following we have (I think) the final word picture that Jeremiah will use to convey the truths of God to his people. It’s the rocks (large stones it says) that Jeremiah is to take in hand, and place in the ground floor of the palace of the Pharaoh. He does this and he does this in front of some men with whom he is walking. 

Jeremiah says that when Nebuchadnezzar comes, he will build his kingdom over this spot, and all your hopes and random false worship and useless praying, will be for naught. Your hiding place will be discovered and you will die. End of story. Full stop. 

Neb will slay those who are to be slain by the sword, others will be taken captive, and others will simply die, in some way. This is comprehensive loss and a full-scale expression of Jeremiah’s conclusion. 

Keown says of the verse 12 passage about the shepherd, 

“The latter portion of v 12 describes Nebuchadrezzar engaged in a “delousing” of Egypt, with a probable reference to the Judean exiles. The shepherd is pictured as “picking clean” his cloak, or removing the vermin that would infest it. Are the Judean refugees the “vermin” that are to be removed?”

Yikes, that’s a wicked depiction of our people. And a direct reminder of the plagues in Egypt a millennium before. 

Friends, what will you do with God’s word in your life? What will you do when God tells you something? 

Later today, two of our faithful are being baptised here in Sydney’s north. I’m so proud of them for hearing God’s word and believing it, and now acting on it today.  

That’s what God wants of each of us, about our faith in Yeshua, about how he wants us to behave, about how he wants us to wait for his word and then be faithful. You get it. 

What will you do today with Jesus?

 

 

CONCLUSION

God is calling each of us to know him and to walk with him, today and throughout our days. Have you received Yeshua as your messiah and Lord? He is risen from the dead! Have you renounced your sin, your idolatry, your forsaking God and given him First Place in your life? If not, please, do so now, just now, as we pray together. Use your own words, if you want, but yield, surrender, to the Lord of life. 

 

PRAYER

Then please write us (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) to tell us what you have just done, and we will send you literature and encourage you. You are part of our family; we love and appreciate you. And we want you to enjoy the presence of the Lord who calls, who knows, who blesses and builds us up. 

We hope to see you again next week as we study chapter 44. Until then, Shabbat shalom!

 

>> Nebu (Nabu) is one of the more important minor deities of the Babylonian–Assyrian pantheon. The god Nebo (Akkadian Nabû, "the called") appears in the Code of Hammurabi in the early 2nd millennium b.c. as son of the national god Marduk and tutelary deity of the city Borsippa (to the south of the city of Babylon) and of its temple Ezida. In later documents he is characterized as the divine scribe, writer, and bearer of the "tablets of destiny" that enshrine the decrees of the gods. In accordance with this role, he was considered patron of the scribal art and of human learning.

>> 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barnes, Albert, Commentary on the Old Testament. (Published by many, from 1880 on)

Henry, Matthew, Commentary.

Keown, Gerald, Scalise, Pamela, Smothers, Thomas, Word Biblical Commentary. Book of Jeremiah (Part 2).  1995. 

McConnville, Gordon, Jeremiah, New Bible Commentary. 

Wright, Christopher, The Message of Jeremiah, The Bible Speaks Today. Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2014.

 

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ACTUAL TEXT

In Egypt Jeremiah Warns of Judgment

 

Jer. 43:1   But as soon as Jeremiah, whom the LORD their God had sent, had ^afinished telling all the people all the words of the LORD their God — that is, all these words — ² Azariah the ^ason of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are ^btelling a lie! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘You are not to enter Egypt to reside there’; ³ but ^aBaruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon.” ⁴ So ^aJohanan the son of Kareah and all the ¹commanders of the forces, and all the people, ^bdid not obey the voice of the LORD to ^cstay in the land of Judah. ⁵ But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the ¹commanders of the forces took the ^aentire remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been driven away, in order to reside in the land of Judah — ⁶ the men, the women, the ¹children, the ^aking’s daughters and ^bevery person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam ²and grandson of Shaphan, together with ^cJeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah — ⁷ and they entered the land of Egypt (for they did not obey the voice of the LORD) and went in as far as ^aTahpanhes.

 

Jer. 43:8   Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in ^aTahpanhes, saying, ⁹ “Take some large stones in your ¹hands and hide them in the mortar in the ²brick terrace which is at the entrance of Pharaoh’s ³palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of ⁴some of the Jews; ¹⁰ and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am going to send and get ^aNebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^bMy servant, and I am going to set his throne right over these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his ^ccanopy over them. ¹¹ “He will also come and ^astrike the land of Egypt; those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and ^bthose for the sword to the sword. ¹² “And ¹I shall set fire to the temples of the ^agods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them captive. So he will ^bwrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment, and he will depart from there safely. ¹³ “He will also shatter the obelisks of ²Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.”’”