May God one time say flee to Egypt, as He did with Jesus’ parents, and under different circumstances say do not go, as He did with Jeremiah? Do we ask God for guidance? Let’s look at Jeremiah 42.
Were the people wise enough to ask for God’s guidance? Are we?
Then all the commanders of the armies, along with Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, approached Jeremiah the prophet and said, “May our petition come before you; pray to the Lord your God on our behalf, on behalf of this entire remnant (for few of us remain out of the many, as you can see with your own eyes), that the Lord your God may tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do.” (Jer 42:1-3 HCSB)
Was Jeremiah honest enough to tell the people all that God commands, or do we only want to hear smooth things?
Jeremiah the prophet told them, “I’ve heard, and I’m going to pray to the Lord your God just as you have requested. Whatever the Lord answers, I’ll tell you. I won’t withhold anything from you.” (Jer 42:4 ISV)
Did the people express their desire to do all that God would say through Jeremiah?
Then they said to Jeremiah, The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us. Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our God. (Jer 42:5-6 KJV)
Did God encourage the people to stay in their current circumstances?
Now it happened that at the end of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the military forces that were with him, and for all the people both small and great, and said to them, “Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him: ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I have relented of the calamity that I have done against you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares Yahweh, ‘for I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand. I will also show you compassion, so that he will have compassion on you and return you to your own soil. (Jer 42:7-12 LSB)
What did God say would happen if the people decided to flee to Egypt?
But if you are going to say, “We will not stay in this land,” so as not to listen to the voice of the Lord your God, saying, “No, but we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, or hear the sound of a trumpet, or hunger for bread, and we will stay there”; then in that case listen to the word of the Lord, you remnant of Judah. This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “If you really set your minds to enter Egypt and go in to reside there, then the sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there. So all the people who set their minds to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the sword, by famine, or by plague; and they will have no refugees or survivors from the disaster that I am going to bring on them.”’” (Jer 42:13-17 NASB)
Did God give a strong warning about what would happen if they would disobey Him and go down to Egypt?
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be a curse and an object of horror, a curse and an object of reproach; you will never see this place again.’ “Remnant of Judah, the Lord has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.’ I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the Lord your God in all he sent me to tell you. So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle.” (Jer 42:18-22 NIV)
Is God fooled by us when we promise something to Him insincerely?
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. (Gal 6:7 NKJV)
May God one time say flee to Egypt, as He did with Jesus’ parents, and under different circumstances say do not go, as He did with Jeremiah? Do we ask God for guidance? You decide!
