GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (15) “Aftermath: The Life & Times of Jeremiah”, part IX

 

“The word that the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon to attack the land of Egypt:

Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol;
    proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
Say, “Take your stations and be ready,
    for the sword shall devour those around you.”
Why has Apis fled?
    Why did your bull not stand?
    —because the Lord thrust him down.
Your multitude stumbled and fell,
    and one said to another,
“Come, let us go back to our own people
    and to the land of our birth,
    because of the destroying sword.”
Give Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the name
   “Braggart who missed his chance.” (Jer. 46.13-17)

     Jeremiah’s reputation had made its way to Nebuchadrezzar himself, who gave the captain of his bodyguard special orders concerning Jeremiah’s well-being while at his headquarters in Riblah (Jer. 39.11-12).  Perhaps Jeremiah’s correspondence with those who were exiled in 598 (cf. Jer. 29 & 51.59-64) caused the Babylonian king to be aware of what he was preaching in Jerusalem.  In any case, when Nabuzaradan found Jeremiah, he was in chains and ready for the long march east with the other captives.  Upon setting him free, Nabuzaradan gave Jeremiah the choice to either go to Babylon (with a promise of being well taken care of), or to remain in Judah with Gedaliah, the newly appointed governor.[1]  Jeremiah chose to stay and made his way to Gedaliah’s headquarters in Mizpah (Jer. 40.1-6).  This was a natural choice, since Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam, who had earlier protected Jeremiah from the mob who wanted to lynch him in the Temple courts (cf. Jer. 26.24).  Gedaliah had the same policy as Jeremiah vis-à-vis the Babylonians – submission (40.9).  Gedaliah organized the harvest of the summer fruits and urged the poor of the land who had been left in Jerusalem to make oil and wine (40.10-12).  Alas, this brief respite from the chaos was not to last…

     A certain Ishmael son of Nethaniah, a member of the extended royal family, in league with the king of Ammon, assassinated Gedaliah[2], his guards and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah.  He then proceeded to massacre a group of pilgrims from the territory of Israel, before deporting the population of Mizpah to Ammon (41.1-10).  After a rescue operation carried out by Johanan son of Kareah and some Judahite army officers who had come out of hiding, the inhabitants of Mizpah determined to go to Egypt in order to avoid Babylonian retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah (41.11-18)[3].  The survivors of Judah consulted Jeremiah and asked him to give them a word from Yahweh and promised to obey it (42.1-6).  Jeremiah told them that if they remained in the land of Judah, God would have mercy on them and “plant” them there; even Nebuchadrezzar would have mercy on them!  Jeremiah warned them stridently against seeking safety in Egypt, predicting that Babylonian military campaigns would catch up with them even there (42.7-22).  Predictably perhaps, Johanan and his people were not pleased with this message and accused Jeremiah of lying under the influence of Baruch.  They rounded everyone up and undertook the journey to Egypt, taking Jeremiah and Baruch with them (43.1-7).

     The Judahites in Egypt bold-facedly informed Jeremiah that they rejected his messages from Yahweh and insisted on continuing to offer a cult to the “Queen of Heaven” (44.15-19; cf. Jer. 7.16-20).  This may refer to Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of war, love and fertility or her Canaanite counterpart Astarte or Asherah (cf. Jer. 17.2).[4]  Jeremiah predicts death by starvation and war for almost the totality of the Judahite population in Egypt; the sign of the reliability of his prophecies would be the defeat of Pharaoh Hophra by Nebuchadrezzar (44.20-30).

     As far as we can conjecture, Jeremiah died in Egypt around the year 570.  Perhaps he got caught up in the coup against Pharaoh Hophra…[5]  Jeremiah’s prophecy that the exile in Babylon would last 70 years (Jer. 25.11-12; 29.10) was taken up by many during the post-exilic period as many attempts were made to calculate both the end of the period during which the Jews were oppressed by pagan empires and the arrival of the Messiah (cf. Dn. 9.1-27, chapters 2 & 7; cf. also 2 Chr 36.21; Zech 1.12).

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[1] Cp. Nabuzaradan’s language with that of Abraham in Gn. 13.9.

[2] In spite of Gedaliah having been warned about Ishmael’s intentions: 40.13-16.  It is uncertain whether this occurred in 587 or 583: cf. Brown, Michael L. “Jeremiah” in Longman & Garland, eds. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary 7: Jeremiah-Ezekiel, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010, pp. 462-68, 570.

[3] Indeed, the Babylonians returned in 582 and deported yet more Judahites: Merrill C. Tenney, ed. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible 3, Grand Rapids: Regency, 1976, p. 726.

[4] Brown, Michael L. “Jeremiah” in Longman & Garland, eds. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary 7: Jeremiah-Ezekiel, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010, pp. 165-66.

[5] Fourth king of the 26^th Egyptian dynasty.  Nebuchadrezzar did indeed march into Egypt in 568/7, but it seems that he came to an agreement with King Amasis, who had displaced Hophra (Hophra may have died c. 570 during the coup): Merrill C. Tenney, ed. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible 2, Grand Rapids: Regency, 1976, p. 246; cf. Ibid., 3, p. 201.  Ezekiel is also said to have died around this time.