43:1-3Johanan and his tiny band had come to Jeremiah for God’s approval of their plan, not for God’s direction. This is a recurring problem for some of us—seeking God's approval of our desires rather than asking him for guidance. It is not good to Nake plans apart from God’s quidance, and it is not good to pray inless we are willing to accept God’s answer.
Life Application Study BibleJeremiahChapter 43
Jeremiah 43
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original page: 1269
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43Jeremiah 43
Jeremiah Taken to Egypt
1When Jeremiah had finished giving this message from the LORD their God to all the people, 2Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other proud men said to Jeremiah, “ You lie! The LORD our God hasn't forbidden us to go to Egypt! $Baruch son of Neriah has convinced you to say this, because he wants us to stay here and be killed by the Babylonians* or be carried off into exile.” 4So Johanan and the other guerrilla leaders and ail the people refused to obey the LORD’s command to stay in Judah. 5Johanan and the other leaders took with them all the people who had returned from the nearby countries to which they had fled. In the crowd were men, women, and children, the king’s daughters, and all those whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah. The prophet Jeremiah and Baruch were also included. 7The people refused to obey the voice of the LORD and went to Egypt, going as far as the city of Tahpanhes. 8Then at Tahpanhes, the LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 9” While the people of Judah are watching, take some large rocks and bury them under the pavement stones at the entrance of Pharaoh’s palace here in Tahpanhes. 10Then say to the people of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will certainly bring my servant Nebuchadnezzar,* king of Babylon, here to Egypt. I will set his throne over these stones that I have hidden. He will spread his royal canopy over them. 11And when he comes, he will destroy the land of Egypt. He will bring death to those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and war to those destined for war. 12He will set fire to the temples of Egypt’s gods; he will burn the temples and carry the idols away as plunder. He will pick clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks fleas from his cloak. And he himself will leave unharmed. 13He will break down the sacred pillars standing in the temple of the sun* in Egypt, and he will burn down the temples of Egypt's gods.’”
Textual footnotes
- 43:3 Or Chaideans.
- 43:10 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.
- 43:13 Or in Heliopolis.
Life Application Notes 2 notes
43:10-13Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt in 568-567 B.C. Like Judah, Egypt rebelled against him and was quickly crushed. So much for the great empire on which Judah had constantly placed its hopes!