Jeremiah - Chapters 40-45

The Amazing Bible. Book Club

In these chapters we see what happened after the fall of Jerusalem. The commander of the army of Babylon found Jeremiah and freed him. He chose to go back to Judah, even though the commander offered to take him to Babylon and take care of him. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, placed Gedaliah as governor of Judah. The poor were left there to tend the land and the crops, and we learned in 40:12 that they "harvested an abundance of wine and summer fruit." The army of Judah that escaped, and various Jews who had escaped to other countries, also came home. A descendant to the throne of Judah, Ishmael, worked with the Ammonites, and they killed Gedaliah. They killed many others in the land, and then tried to exile them to Ammon. When Johanan and the Judean army learned about it, they pursued, got the people back, but Ishmael escaped. When the people came back to Judah, because Gedaliah was killed, they thought it best to escape to Egypt, but on the way they stopped and asked Jeremiah to pray for them to see what the Lord "your" God says. They even vowed to be obedient to whatever the Lord said. It took ten days to receive an answer from the Lord, and it was they were not to go to Egypt, but stay in Judah and submit to Babylon, and then things would go well with them. Johanan and the other "arrogant men," called Jeremiah a liar. They went to Egypt, and even took Jeremiah and Baruch with them. While there the Lord's word of judgment was upon them, because they had sinned with idolatrous worship of the Egyptian gods. Babylon was coming to Egypt as well, and the remnant of Judah would die there, except for a smaller remnant which will get to go home to Judah. This section ended with what some call, "The confession of Baruch." He complained a bit, and desired great things for himself, and the Lord said, "Seek them not!" His life was tough, and he lived in the difficult time of the destruction of Jerusalem. He would never climb the ladder of success in the Jewish world, but he would escape with his life. Plus, he was Jeremiah's friend!