Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Jeremiah · About this commentary
Pray for Us, and We Will Obey
Jeremiah 42:1-22
1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, came near, · WEB
The survivors swear to obey whatever answer comes, wait ten days for it, and are told to stay — which is the one answer they had already decided against.
The request is faultless in form. All the captains and all the people, from the least to the greatest, ask Jeremiah to pray. They explain why with a phrase that ought to move anyone: we are left but a few of many, as your eyes see us. What they ask for is direction — the way in which we should walk, and the things that we should do. Jeremiah agrees. He adds a promise of his own that turns out to matter: I will keep nothing back from you.
The oath they swear is the strongest available. May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act on the whole word: whether it is good, or whether it is bad, we will obey. They have pre-committed to an answer they have not heard. And then nothing happens for ten days. The delay is recorded without explanation. It is the only time in the book that an interval between request and reply is measured, and it is long enough for a frightened group to keep waiting on a decision they thought was urgent.
The answer, when it comes, is to stay, and the terms are extraordinary. I will build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up — the four constructive verbs of the call, with their destructive counterparts denied. Then a reason is given in the first person that appears nowhere else: for I grieve over the distress that I have brought on you. God is described as regretting the suffering he judged to be necessary. The fear of Babylon is met head on with a promise of mercy from the king himself. And the alternative is named exactly as they had framed it: no war, no trumpet, no hunger, in Egypt.
And the alternative is refused with a precision that turns their own words against them. The sword you fear will overtake you there; the famine you are afraid of will follow close behind you there. What they are running from is what waits at the destination. The danger was never geographic. Then Jeremiah names what has already happened, before they have done anything: you have dealt deceitfully against your own souls. The oath was taken by people who had chosen in advance. The ten days had been a search for permission rather than for guidance. He tells them so while the decision is still technically open, which is the last kindness in the exchange.
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