Jeremiah 43:8-13 – Defiance is wilful blindness.

Johanan and the remnant whom Nebuchadnezzar did not deport to Babylon forcefully took Jeremiah and Baruch to Egypt. There they lodged at Tahpanhes. While there Jeremiah 43:8 said that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. It was a warning to the people that even if they sought refuge in Egypt, it would still not thwart God’s plan. There was no way they could escape the Babylonians or the Chaldeans. To enhance His message to them, God instructed Jeremiah to bury some stones on the pavement in front of Pharoah’s palace in Tahpanhes.   

And on that very pavement, Jeremiah declared that the Babylonians would establish their throne over it. God said, “Behold, I am going to send and get Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and I am going to set his throne right over these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his canopy over them. He will also come and strike the land of Egypt.” God added that “Those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and those for the sword to the sword.”

 

There was no escaping from the hand of God through the assault of the Chaldeans. God guaranteed that Babylon would overrun Egypt without any difficulty. This was how God put it: Nebuchadnezzar would wrap up Egypt much like how a shepherd would wrap up his garment. He would also destroy the temples of Egypt’s gods, as well as the obelisks and monuments erected over the land.  

 

There is only one way to see this event: not obeying God leads to a bad end.  This account reveals to us a people who thought they knew better than God. Though God’s will was evident and they knew deep within, they dodged it, choosing to walk into a web of their own making. Take heed, there are ways that may seem right to our eyes, the end thereof God said, is death. Know it or not, defiance is wilful blindness at its worst.