The Babylonians treated the prophet Jeremiah with exceptional kindness and gave him the option of going to Babylon or remaining in the land (Jer. 40:1–6). Like a true shepherd, he chose to remain with the people, even though for the most part they had rejected him and his ministry for forty years. His heart was broken when he saw the ruins of the city and the temple, but he knew that the word of the Lord had been fulfilled (2 Chron. 36:21). The people had not allowed the land to enjoy the rest God commanded (Lev. 25:1–7; 26:32–35), so now it would have a seventy-year “Sabbath” (Jer. 25:11–12; 29:10–14; Dan. 9:1–3).
The Babylonians appointed Gedaliah governor of Judah. He was the grandson of godly Shaphan, who served under King Josiah, and the son of Ahikam, who faithfully supported Jeremiah (2 Kings 22:1–14; Jer. 26:24). Gedaliah assured the Jews who remained in the land that the Babylonians would treat them well if only they would cooperate, the same counsel Jeremiah had sent earlier to the Jewish exiles in Babylon (Jer. 29:1–9). Certainly the people knew the promise the Lord had given through Jeremiah, that the captivity would last seventy years and then the exiles would be allowed to return to Judah. God’s purpose was to give them “a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11), but they had to accept that promise by faith and live to please Him.
However, a group of insurgents led by Ishmael, who belonged to the royal family (2 Kings 25:25; Jer. 41:1), decided to usurp Gedaliah’s authority. (See Jer. 40—41 for the details discussed below.) Several factors were involved in this vicious assassination plot. To begin with, Ishmael had designs on the throne and resented Gedaliah’s appointment as governor and his submission to the Babylonians. (See James 4:1–6.) The army officers told Gedaliah that the king of the Ammonites had sent Ishmael to take over the land (Jer. 40:13–16), but Gedaliah refused to believe them. Had Gedaliah listened to this sound advice and dealt sternly with Ishmael, things would have been different for the remnant in Judah, but he was too naive to face facts. A third factor was the arrival in Judah of a large group of Jews who had fled to neighboring lands (Jer. 40:11–12). Their allegiance was questionable and perhaps they were too easily influenced by Ishmael. All the neighboring nations had suffered from Babylon’s expansion and would have been happy to be set free.
Ishmael killed Gedaliah and took the people captive, but Johanan and the other officers rescued the captives. Ishmael and eight of his men fled to the Ammonites. Johanan became the new leader of the remnant and decided that they should all flee to Egypt rather than obey Jeremiah’s message and stay in the land and serve the Babylonians. In a show of hypocritical piety, Johanan and the leaders asked Jeremiah to seek the mind of the Lord about the matter, and he agreed to do so. The Lord kept them waiting for ten days and during that time proved that He could keep them safe and well in their own land.
Jeremiah’s message to the remnant (Jer. 42:7–22) was in three parts. First, he gave them God’s promise that He would protect them and provide for them in their own land (vv. 7–12). Then he warned them that it was fatal to go to Egypt (vv. 13–18). The sword of the Lord could reach them in Egypt as well as in their own land. There could be no temporary residence in Egypt and then a return to Judah, for none of them would return. Finally, Jeremiah revealed the wickedness in their hearts that led them to lie to him and pretend to be seeking God’s will (vv. 19–22). These leaders were like many people today who “seek the will of God” from various pastors and friends, always hoping that they will be told to do what they have already decided to do. The Jews rejected God’s message and went to Egypt, taking the prophet Jeremiah with them (Jer. 43:1–7).
However, the biblical record doesn’t end on this bleak note but records the proclamation of Cyrus that the Jewish remnant could return to their own land and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple (2 Chron. 36:22–23). The book of Ezra opens with this proclamation (Ezra 1:1–4) and tells the story of the remnant’s return to the land. This decree was issued in 538 when Cyrus defeated Babylon and established the Persian empire. The Babylonians began their assault on Judah when their army invaded Judah in 606–05 and deported prisoners, among them Daniel and his friends. From 606 to 538 is approximately seventy years, the time period announced by Jeremiah (Jer. 25:11–12; 29:10). Some students prefer to start the count with the destruction of the temple in 586. Seventy years later would take us to 516–15, the year the second temple was dedicated and the captivity officially ended.
As they had so often done during their history, the Jewish leaders lived by scheming instead of by trusting the promises of God. Jeremiah had given the people hope by promising that God was with them and would see to it they were protected and returned to their land (Jer. 29:11). But the leaders abandoned all hope when they fled to Egypt, for there they died and were buried. How tragic that the faithful prophet Jeremiah, who had suffered so much for the people and the Lord, should be buried in some forgotten place in Egypt.
As we come to the close of this record of the tragic decline and destruction of a great nation, we need to take some lessons to heart. No nation rises any higher than its worship of God. The nation of Israel was torn into two kingdoms because of the sins of Solomon who turned to idols in order to please his pagan wives. Because they worshipped idols and forsook the true God, the northern kingdom of Israel was taken captive by Assyria. It didn’t take long for Judah to succumb and eventually be captured by Babylon. We become like the god we worship (Ps. 115:8), and if we refuse to worship the true and living God, we become as helpless as the idols that enthrall us.
The people who led Israel and Judah astray were conformers, weak people who followed the crowd and pleased the people. God warned them of their folly by raising up men and women who were distinctively different and sought to please the Lord, but these faithful witnesses were ignored, abused, and martyred. The cynical playwright George Bernard Shaw defined martyrdom as “the only way in which a man can become famous without ability.” He was wrong. People who have suffered and died for the faith had the God-given abilities to trust Him, to put truth and character ahead of lies and popularity, and to refuse to “go with the flow” and be conformed to the world with its shallowness and sin.
At this critical time in history, God is seeking dedicated, distinctive people—not cookie-cutter, carbon-copy Christians. Friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4) and to love the world and trust it is to lose the love of the Father (1 John 2:15–17). We are to be “living sacrifices” for the Lord (Rom. 12:1–2), distinctive people whose lives and witness point to Christ and shine like lights in the darkness. “A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid” (Matt. 5:14). Faith is living without scheming. Start to explain away the clear teachings of the Bible about obedience to the Lord and separation from sin, and you will soon find yourself sliding gradually out of the light and into the shadows and then into the darkness, eventually ending in shame and defeat.
E Z R A“He who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2: nkjv).