Call to Commitment

Possible site of Mizpah, 7 m. from Jerusalem

                                Chapter 40

 

Jeremiah and Nebuzaradan

   1.      The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah who were carried away captive to Babylon.

  2.      And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him: "The LORD your God has      pronounced this doom on this place. 

 3.      Now the LORD has brought it, and has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the LORD, and not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you. 

 4.      And now look, I free you this day from the chains that were on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. See, all the land is before you; wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there." 

 5.      Now while Jeremiah had not yet gone back, Nebuzaradan said, "Go back to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever it seems convenient for you to go." So the captain of the guard gave him rations and a gift and let him go.

 The wise man wrote: “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Pr.21:1). In the fearful crisis in Jerusalem, when the hand of mighty Nebuchadnezzar, backed by the armies of Babylon, takes control of the city, Jeremiah need not fear. He is the servant of the King of Kings and He has already prepared Babylon’s emperor to care for His servant, the prophet.

 It seems that Jeremiah is mistakenly put in chains among the Jews, who left the city of Jerusalem, as captives (1). He marches with them, about 5 miles, to Ramah. It lay in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin and was the headquarters for the prophet, Samuel, in its distant past. In the last chapter, Nebuchadnezzar had given word to his general, Nebuzaradan, to care favorably for Jeremiah, yet he falls into this uncomfortable position. We must reflect on this situation and try to discern what God is doing in allowing this disappointment. 

 

 Certainly, the account is in our Bibles with purpose and must be there, because there is something for us to learn. It teaches that God may ordain setbacks to His servants, to try them and bring them to a higher measure of faith and patience, for reasons that He alone knows are necessary, as Creator of the inner man. Whether Jeremiah thinks that he must identify with his people, as he trudges along, we cannot tell, but the emperor’s chief general seems to feel that is the case. In Ramah, he converses with the prophet, demonstrating his knowledge that God was punishing His people for their sin and had pronounced judgment against them (2). He possibly was not aware that Jeremiah was among the multitude put in chains in Jerusalem. However, conversing with him in Ramah, he shows no remorse for the mistake, but included the prophet among the guilty nation, in general, stating that it was “because you people have sinned against the Lord” (3).

 In any case, it is here in Ramah, where he releases Jeremiah, and gives him free will, in choosing his future. That was according to the emperor’s wishes (ch.39:12). The general offers a promise to care for him in his own country, where he has prestige and can guarantee a comfortable life, if he should choose to go with him. However, sympathizing with a man, who understandingly loves his homeland, he also gives him freedom to stay. He is totally at liberty to live in a comfortable territory in any part of Judah (4). 

 Nebuzaradan interprets Jeremiah’s apparent hesitation in responding to him, as a sign that he wished to stay among his own people. He now suggests that the prophet should live with a man, whom he knew to be Jeremiah’s friend, recognized by the leaders of Babylon, as a useful individual. Nebuchadnezzar had already named him governor. We have described this person, Gedaliah, previously, and told of the godly men in his pedigree. The Babylonian general also knows of his father, Ahikam, and grandfather, Shaphan.  But very considerately, the general does not bind Jeremiah to his suggestion.

 Jeremiah still may go where he pleases, the general gives him gifts, and does not put any stipulations on the prophet, in giving them. It is amazing that so much freedom is given to a citizen of a captive city. After his meager prison rations, we can be sure that the prophet was extremely grateful for Nebuzaradan’s help. Food is scarce in Judah and the prophet is given what he needs in food and probably money (5).

 

Gedaliah and the Army Captains

 6.      Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land. 

 7.      And when all the captains of the armies who were in the fields, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and the poorest of the land who had not been carried away captive to Babylon, 

 8.      then they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 

 9.      And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath before them and their men, saying, "Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. 

 10.  As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken." 

 11.  Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab, among the Ammonites, in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, 

 12.  then all the Jews returned out of all places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance. 

 The prophet does take Nebuzaradan’s advice and goes to live with Gedaliah in Mizpah, northwest of Jerusalem. It was a historic gathering place for the Israelites in the time of Judges (Jdg.20:1, 21:1; 1 S.7:5-6). He loves his country and he loves his people and chooses to be with them (6). Moses, after 40 years in the Egyptian palace, made the same choice and we will briefly observe his motivation, according to the writer of Hebrews: “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (He.11:24-26).

 Whether it be Moses or if it be Jeremiah, godly men, who see with internal eyesight, will make the same choices. Moses rejected the temporal pleasures among Egypt’s elite and “went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens” (Ex.2:11). He chose affliction over pleasure. He sees the heavenly riches of the coming Christ, prophetically, and chooses His reproach, which could be seen as the very worst treatment, as a result of bearing the gospel. He chooses reproach, refusing the very best of the treasures of the greatest civilization on earth. He looks beyond this life into eternity and sees his reward. Jeremiah, as Moses, is wholeheartedly committed to God’s plan and his heart is fixed on eternal things.

 That, which was left of Judah’s army, is scattered and disorganized after the capture of King Zedekiah. Verse 7 describes their captains as being “in the fields” with their men, trying to escape from the Chaldeans. An indomitable enmity still exists between those, who submit to the Chaldeans, and the strong nationalists, who were in control of the government, when Nebuchadnezzar’s army penetrated Jerusalem. This portion will reveal that enmity.

 They hear that Babylon’s emperor has appointed Gedaliah over the remnant of the population left in the land, mostly poor people. The captains named here, along with their soldiers, seem to accept the appointment of Gedaliah and go to Mizpah to join with him in the post-conquest government. We will mention two of them for future reference… Ishmael and Johanan (8).

 We see that Gedaliah and Jeremiah are totally in agreement and the new governor gives the same message to the people that Jeremiah proposed previous to their defeat at the hands of Babylon. Gedeliah speaks principally to the captains and their armies and he does so with a solemn oath. It is a word of assurance and well-being under the new system. This type of subservient government typified Israel under Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome through the following generations.  Interestingly, the word swear in Hebrew, shaba, literally means, to seven oneself. It is the biblical way of speaking beyond a person’s own power, to that of perfection. It was to declare something above the number of man, which is six, to the number of divine perfection, which is seven.    

 He gave assurance that Israel should live securely and safely under Babylon for their own wellbeing (9). Gedeliah would take care of state business from Mizpah, receiving the embassages from Babylon.  A few paragraphs before, we saw that Mizpah was a place where Israel conducted affairs, historically, so that it would add security to this present arrangement in the minds of the Jews.

 He encouraged the common people, who had been generously favored by the Chaldeans, giving them the property of those, who had abandoned it, when they were removed to Babylon. It was the season of harvest in the vineyards, as well as the time to harvest olives for oil, as well as a time for the harvest of summer fruits, in general. It gave hope to the citizens, who remained in the land, that they could return to a normal lifestyle, which actually was an improvement over their recent past (10).

 The Jews, who had been dispersed into the neighboring countries, during the Babylonian attack, heard of the new conditions and that their countrymen remained there with a Jewish governor in charge. Perhaps they knew of the good reputation of Gedaliah and his parentage (11). The entire situation was as positive, as could be expected, after the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar, so they now returned to Judah. They recognized the governorship of Gedaliah in Mizpah and joined in gathering the harvest of the land (12).

 

Ishmael and Johanan

  13.  Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields came to Gedaliah at Mizpah,

 14.  and said to him, "Do you certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to murder you?" But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them. 

 15.  Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, "Let me go, please, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he murder you, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?" 

 16.  But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, "You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael." 

 However, there was a menacing undercurrent in Judah, to which we have already referred. There are some, who were not content with the peace that now prevailed in the land. One of the captains, Johanan, led a company of military leaders to Mizpah, because they were aware of the discontent of one of their number (13). His name was Ishmael and he was among them, when they came to Gedaliah to hear of the establishment of the new government under Babylon. But Ishmael went from that meeting, out of Judah to the Ammonites and their king, Baalis.

 In the books of the prophets, we learn of the Lord’s rebuke against the surrounding nations, who rejoiced over Judah’s defeat. They hoped to take advantage and profit from their loss. Ezekiel said: “Say to the Ammonites, 'Hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you said, 'Aha!' against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity, indeed, therefore, I will deliver you as a possession to the men of the East…” (Ezek.25:3,4). 

 The demonic leader of the heathen nation influenced Captain Ishmael, who was already embittered with Gedaliah, because he had gained advantage from his surrender to Babylon. Ishmael was a son of royalty and selfish ambition raised its ugly head, instilling in him the desire to take the place of the honorable governor. Johanan exposed his murderous plot to Gedaliah.

 Gedaliah is apparently one of those good people, who does not want to believe anything negative about anyone. We know Christians, who are like that, don’t we? However, this good trait is not necessarily a godly one, but can be very unwise, in this world of evil people; in fact, this trait cost Gedaliah his life (14).

 Johanan is a tough, but loyal, military man and he speaks privately in confidence to the governor. In the name of the State of Judah, he volunteers to execute Ishmael, before he can carry out his mutinous purpose. If he is not eliminated, he will certainly bring his plan to fruition, as we will see in the next chapter. Johanan would perform his part secretly for the good of the remaining citizenry in the land, which is now enjoying a time of relative peace and prosperity, as a province of the Babylonian empire. If Ishmael succeeds, the solidarity will be destroyed, the Jewish flock will be scattered, and those remaining in the land will perish (15). Johanan is kind to warn the governor

Gedaliah rejects his proposal, basically, because he refuses to believe a true report (16). We have this account recorded in our Bibles to warn us against a resistance to negativity. It is a truly unwise position for Christians to take. Of course, in the spirit of Christianity, we are forbidden by the Lord to take violent action against the enemies of the church. The followers of the reformers, mistaking God’s intentions (Lk.9:54-56), killed many, especially the anabaptists, following the murderous example of the Roman Church before them. However, justice must be upheld in secular society, as in Israel of old, and God stands behind the government, which will oppose and halt the advance of evil. That need is clearly seen by the defeat of Naziism and, within our times, by the overturning of Communism in many countries.

 Christians cannot be passive to the evils in our society, and certainly must stand firmly, yet peaceably against every attempt for it to infiltrate the church. Thyatira came under the Lord Jesus’ rebuke for its tolerance. He hates evil, and those who refuse to join Him in active resistance to it, are fighting His purposes. Those who want to see good in everything and everybody, are only one step from universal salvation. God created hell for the ultimate destruction of evil.

 Allow me to interject a few parenthetical thoughts into the text of Revelation 20:7-15: “Now when the thousand years have expired (The period of the Millennial Reign of Christ on the earth.), Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations… to gather them together to battle… (These are people who experienced the reign of Christ, who are deceived and go against the Lord and His people in Jerusalem, proving “the human heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked…”) The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone… and… will be tormented day and night forever and ever… And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Blessed is the Christian, who kindly warns his fellow man of the danger of the wrath of God. It is a fearful reality in the biblical revelation of the Lord, Old Testament and New. By the way, there is no hint in Scripture of an eternal annihilation, but of perpetual, everlasting torment.)