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Context No. 1617 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Context · Reflection

Jeremiah 43:8-13: in context

8Then the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, 9“Take great stones in your hand and hide them in mortar in the brick work which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah. 10Tell them, the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his royal pavilion over them. 11He will come, and will strike the land of Egypt; such as are for death will be put to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword. 12I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt. He will burn them, and carry them away captive. He will array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he will go out from there in peace. 13He will also break the pillars of Beth Shemesh that is in the land of Egypt; and he will burn the houses of the gods of Egypt with fire.’”

The remnant of Judah, against God's command, has fled to Egypt for safety, dragging Jeremiah with them. And there, in Egypt, God gives Jeremiah a sign. He is to hide large stones in the pavement at the entrance of Pharaoh's palace, and to declare: I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar, my servant, and set his throne on these very stones; he will come and strike Egypt, burning its temples and carrying off its gods. The judgment the refugees fled to Egypt to escape would follow them there; Egypt was no safe refuge from the hand of God.

The point of the sign is that Egypt was no escape. The refugees had fled there believing it a safe haven, a refuge from the Babylonian sword and the troubles of their own land. But God declares that Nebuchadnezzar, whom he calls his servant, would come to Egypt too, that the very judgment they fled would follow them to the place they thought secure. There was no fleeing to a refuge God had not appointed; the hand they ran from could reach them in Egypt as easily as in Judah. There is a sobering truth in this about the false refuges we run to. When trouble comes, or when God calls us to a hard obedience, we are tempted to flee to some Egypt of our own, a place we imagine will be safe, a refuge of our own choosing where we can escape what God has decreed or what he is asking of us. But no refuge we choose in flight from God can finally shelter us from his hand; the thing we flee can follow us to Egypt. The Jews would have been safer staying under God's hand in obedience than fleeing to Egypt in fear; the refuge they chose was no refuge at all. And there is a deeper note in that God calls even Nebuchadnezzar my servant: the pagan conqueror, the very power the refugees feared, was an instrument in God's hand, and there was no escaping God by fleeing the tool he wielded. The lesson is that safety is found not in fleeing to refuges of our own choosing but in staying under the hand of God, in obedience, wherever he places us. The false refuge cannot shelter us from what God has decreed; better his hand in obedience than Egypt in flight.

Am I tempted to flee to some Egypt of my own choosing, a refuge I imagine will shelter me from what God has decreed or from a hard obedience he asks, when no refuge chosen in flight from God can shelter me from his hand, and safety is found in staying under it rather than fleeing from it?

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