Jeremiah 42:1-22

42:1-6 | The Jewish military contingent led by Johanan comes to seek counsel and prayer from the prophet Jeremiah, and they pledge that they will obey the voice of the Lord. Jeremiah agrees to pray for them, indicating that the time when he was prohibited from praying for the people (7:16; 11:14; 14:11; 15:1) was over.

42:7 | Even as the Lord’s prophet, Jeremiah had to pray, seek the Lord, and wait for an answer from God for ten days before he could answer Johanan and the other officers. People often want their prayers answered immediately, but waiting to answer is often part of the way God matures believers in their faith (Dan. 10:12, 13).

42:10-12 | Johanan and the officers with him believed that the best course of action was to flee to Egypt to escape Babylonian reprisals for the murder of Gedaliah. Jeremiah’s counsel was the same as he had given before the fall of Jerusalem: submit to Babylon and do not be afraid of the king of Babylon.

42:13-19 | The issue here was not how Babylon would respond to Gedaliah’s murder but whether Johanan and his officers would obey the voice of the Lord. They would be no more successful in fleeing from God’s presence by going to Egypt than Jonah had been by getting on a ship to flee to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3).

42:22 | Obedience to the Lord leads to life, but disobedience brings death (Prov. 14:12).