_THE DESCENT INTO EGYPT_
xlii., xliii.
"They came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice
of Jehovah."--JER. xliii. 7.
Thus within a few days Jeremiah had experienced one of those sudden
and extreme changes of fortune which are as common in his career as in
a sensational novel. Yesterday the guide, philosopher, and friend of
the governor of Judah, to-day sees him once more a helpless prisoner
in the hands of his old enemies. To-morrow he is restored to liberty
and authority, and appealed to by the remnant of Israel as the
mouthpiece of Jehovah. Johanan ben Kareah and all the captains of the
forces, "from the least even unto the greatest, came near" and
besought Jeremiah to pray unto "Jehovah thy God," "that Jehovah thy
God may show us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing we may do."
Jeremiah promised to make intercession and to declare faithfully unto
them whatsoever Jehovah should reveal unto him.
And they on their part said unto Jeremiah: "Jehovah be a true and
faithful witness against us, if we do not according to every word that
Jehovah thy God shall send unto us by thee. We will obey the voice of
Jehovah our God, to whom we send thee, whether it be good or evil, that
it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of Jehovah our God."
The prophet returned no hasty answer to this solemn appeal. As in his
controversy with Hananiah, he refrained from at once announcing his
own judgment as the Divine decision, but waited for the express
confirmation of the Spirit. For ten days prophet and people were alike
kept in suspense. The patience of Johanan and his followers is
striking testimony to their sincere reverence for Jeremiah.
On the tenth day the message came, and Jeremiah called the people
together to hear God's answer to their question, and to learn that
Divine will to which they had promised unreserved obedience. It ran
thus:--
"If you will still abide in this land,
I will build you and not pull you down,
I will plant you and not pluck you up."
The words of Jeremiah's original commission seem ever present to his
mind:--
"For I repent Me of the evil I have done unto you."
They need not flee from Judah as an accursed land; Jehovah had a new
and gracious purpose concerning them, and therefore:--
"Be not afraid of the king of Babylon,
Of whom ye are afraid;
Be not afraid of him--it is the utterance of Jehovah--
For I am with you,
To save you and deliver you out of his hand.
I will put kindness in his heart toward you,
And he shall deal kindly with you,
And restore you to your lands."
It was premature to conclude that Ishmael's crime finally disposed of
the attempt to shape the remnant into the nucleus of a new Israel.
Hitherto Nebuchadnezzar had shown himself willing to discriminate;
when he condemned the princes, he spared and honoured Jeremiah, and
the Chaldeans might still be trusted to deal fairly and even
generously with the prophet's friends and deliverers. Moreover the
heart of Nebuchadnezzar, like that of all earthly potentates, was in
the hands of the King of Kings.
But Jeremiah knew too well what mingled hopes and fears drew his
hearers towards the fertile valley and rich cities of the Nile. He
sets before them the reverse of the picture: they might refuse to obey
God's command to remain in Judah; they might say, "No, we will go into
the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of
the trumpet, nor hunger for bread, and there will we dwell." As of
old, they craved for the flesh-pots of Egypt; and with more excuse
than their forefathers. They were worn out with suffering and toil,
some of them had wives and children; the childless prophet was
inviting them to make sacrifices and incur risks which he could
neither share nor understand. Can we wonder if they fell short of his
inspired heroism, and hesitated to forego the ease and plenty of Egypt
in order to try social experiments in Judah?
"Let what is broken so remain.
The Gods are hard to reconcile:
'Tis hard to settle order once again.
* * * * *
Sore task to hearts worn out by many wars."
But Jeremiah had neither sympathy nor patience with such weakness.
Moreover, now as often, valour was the better part of discretion, and
the boldest course was the safest. The peace and security of Egypt
had been broken in upon again and again by Asiatic invaders; only
recently it had been tributary to Nineveh, till the failing strength
of Assyria enabled the Pharaohs to recover their independence. Now
that Palestine had ceased to be the seat of war the sound of Chaldean
trumpets would soon be heard in the valley of the Nile. By going down
into Egypt, they were leaving Judah where they might be safe under the
broad shield of Babylonian power, for a country that would soon be
afflicted by the very evils they sought to escape:--
"If ye finally determine to go to Egypt to sojourn there,
The sword, which ye fear, shall overtake you there in the
land of Egypt,
The famine, whereof ye are afraid, shall follow hard after
you there in Egypt,
And there shall ye die."
The old familiar curses, so often uttered against Jerusalem and its
inhabitants, are pronounced against any of his hearers who should take
refuge in Egypt:--
"As Mine anger and fury hath been poured forth upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem,
So shall My fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall
enter in Egypt."
They would die "by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence"; they
would be "an execration and an astonishment, a curse and a reproach."
He had set before them two alternative courses, and the Divine judgment
upon each: he had known beforehand that, contrary to his own choice and
judgment, their hearts were set upon going down into Egypt; hence, as
when confronted and contradicted by Hananiah, he had been careful to
secure divine confirmation before he gave his decision. Already he
could see the faces of his hearers hardening into obstinate resistance
or kindling into hot defiance; probably they broke out into
interruptions which left no doubt as to their purpose. With his usual
promptness, he turned upon them with fierce reproof and denunciation:--
"Ye have been traitors to yourselves.
Ye sent me unto Jehovah your God, saying,
Pray for us unto Jehovah our God;
According unto all that Jehovah our God shall say,
Declare unto us, and we will do it.
I have this day declared it unto you,
But ye have in no wise obeyed the voice of Jehovah your God.
* * * * *
Ye shall die by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence,
In the place whither ye desire to go to sojourn."
His hearers were equally prompt with their rejoinder; Johanan ben
Kareah and "all the proud men" answered him:--
"Thou liest! It is not Jehovah our God who hath sent thee to say, Ye
shall not go into Egypt to sojourn there; but Baruch ben Neriah
setteth thee on against us, to deliver us into the hand of the
Chaldeans, that they may slay us or carry us away captive to Babylon."
Jeremiah had experienced many strange vicissitudes, but this was not
the least striking. Ten days ago the people and their leaders had
approached him in reverent submission, and had solemnly promised to
accept and obey his decision as the word of God. Now they called him a
liar; they asserted that he did not speak by any Divine inspiration,
but was a feeble impostor, an oracular puppet, whose strings were
pulled by his own disciple.[167]
Such scenes are, unfortunately, only too common in Church history.
Religious professors are still ready to abuse and to impute unworthy
motives to prophets whose messages they dislike, in a spirit not less
secular than that which is shown when some modern football team tries
to mob the referee who has given a decision against its hopes.
Moreover we must not unduly emphasise the solemn engagement given by
the Jews to abide Jeremiah's decision. They were probably sincere, but
not very much in earnest. The proceedings and the strong formulæ used
were largely conventional. Ancient kings and generals regularly sought
the approval of their prophets or augurs before taking any important
step, but they did not always act upon their advice. The final breach
between Saul and the prophet Samuel seems to have been due to the fact
that the king did not wait for his presence and counsel before
engaging the Philistines.[168] Before the disastrous expedition to
Ramoth Gilead, Jehoshaphat insisted on consulting a prophet of
Jehovah, and then acted in the teeth of his inspired warning.[169]
Johanan and his company felt it essential to consult some divine
oracle; and Jeremiah was not only the greatest prophet of Jehovah, he
was also the only prophet available. They must have known from his
consistent denunciation of all alliance with Egypt that his views were
likely to be at variance with their own. But they were consulting
Jehovah--Jeremiah was only His mouthpiece; hitherto He had set His
face against any dealings with Egypt, but circumstances were entirely
changed, and Jehovah's purpose might change with them, He might
"repent." They promised to obey, because there was at any rate a
chance that God's commands would coincide with their own intentions.
Butler's remark that men may be expected to act "not only upon an even
chance, but upon much less," specially applies to such promises as the
Jews made to Jeremiah. Certain tacit conditions may always be
considered attached to a profession of willingness to be guided by a
friend's advice. Our newspapers frequently record breaches of
engagements that should be as binding as that entered into by Johanan
and his friends, and they do so without any special comment. For
instance, the verdicts of arbitrators in trade disputes have been too
often ignored by the unsuccessful parties; and--to take a very
different illustration--the most unlimited professions of faith in the
infallibility of the Bible have sometimes gone along with a denial of
its plain teaching and a disregard of its imperative commands. While
Shylock expected a favourable decision, Portia was "a Daniel come to
judgment": his subsequent opinion of her judicial qualities has not
been recorded. Those who have never refused or evaded unwelcome
demands made by an authority whom they have promised to obey may cast
the first stone at Johanan.
After the scene we have been describing, the refugees set out for Egypt,
carrying with them the princesses and Jeremiah and Baruch. They were
following in the footsteps of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Jeroboam and
many another Jew who had sought protection under the shadow of Pharaoh.
They were the forerunners of that later Israel in Egypt which, through
Philo and his disciples, exercised so powerful an influence on the
doctrine, criticism, and exegesis of the early Christian Church.
Yet this exodus in the wrong direction was by no means complete. Four
years later Nebuzaradan could still find seven hundred and forty-five
Jews to carry away to Babylon.[170] Johanan's movements had been too
hurried to admit of his gathering in the inhabitants of outlying
districts.
When Johanan's company reached the frontier, they would find the
Egyptian officials prepared to receive them. During the last few months
there must have been constant arrivals of Jewish refugees, and rumour
must have announced the approach of so large a company, consisting of
almost all the Jews left in Palestine. The very circumstances that made
them dread the vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar would ensure them a hearty
welcome in Egypt. Their presence was an unmistakable proof of the entire
failure of the attempt to create in Judah a docile and contented
dependency and outpost of the Chaldean Empire. They were accordingly
settled at Tahpanhes and in the surrounding district.
But no welcome could conciliate Jeremiah's implacable temper, nor could
all the splendour of Egypt tame his indomitable spirit. Amongst his
fellow-countrymen at Bethlehem, he had foretold the coming tribulations
of Egypt. He now renewed his predictions within the very precincts of
Pharaoh's palace, and enforced them by a striking symbol. At
Tahpanhes--the modern Tell Defenneh--which was the ancient Egyptian
frontier fortress and settlement on the more westerly route from Syria,
"the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying, Take great stones in
thine hand, and hide them in mortar in the brick pavement, at the entry
of Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes, in the presence of the men of Judah;
and say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel:--
"Behold, I will send and take My servant Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon:
I will set his throne upon these stones which I have hid,
And he shall spread his state pavilion over them."
He would set up his royal tribunal, and decide the fate of the
conquered city and its inhabitants.
"He shall come and smite the land of Egypt;
Such as are for death shall be put to death,
Such as are for captivity shall be sent into captivity,
Such as are for the sword shall be slain by the sword.
I will kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt;
He shall burn their temples, and carry them away captive:
He shall array himself with the land of Egypt,
As a shepherd putteth on his garment."
The whole country would become a mere mantle for his dignity, a
comparatively insignificant part of his vast possessions.
"He shall go forth from thence in peace."
A campaign that promised well at the beginning has often ended in
despair, like Sennacherib's attack on Judah, and Pharaoh Necho's
expedition to Carchemish. The invading army has been exhausted by its
victories, or wasted by disease and compelled to beat an inglorious
retreat. No such misfortunes should overtake the Chaldean king. He
would depart with all his spoil, leaving Egypt behind him subdued into
a loyal province of his empire.
Then the prophet adds, apparently as a kind of afterthought:--
"He also shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, in the land
of Egypt."
(so styled to distinguish this Beth-Shemesh from Beth-Shemesh in
Palestine),
"And shall burn with fire the temples of the gods of Egypt."
The performance of this symbolic act and the delivery of its
accompanying message are not recorded, but Jeremiah would not fail to
make known the divine word to his fellow-countrymen. It is difficult
to understand how the exiled prophet would be allowed to assemble the
Jews in front of the main entrance of the palace, and hide "great
stones" in the pavement. Possibly the palace was being repaired,[171]
or the stones might be inserted under the front or side of a raised
platform, or possibly the symbolic act was only to be described and
not performed. Mr. Flinders Petrie recently discovered at Tell
Defenneh a large brickwork pavement, with great stones buried
underneath, which he supposed might be those mentioned in our
narrative. He also found there another possible relic of these Jewish
_émigrés_ in the shape of the ruins of a large brick building of the
twenty-sixth dynasty--to which Pharaoh Hophra belonged--still known as
the "Palace of the Jew's Daughter." It is a natural and attractive
conjecture that this was the residence assigned to the Jewish
princesses whom Johanan carried with him into Egypt.
But while the ruined palace may testify to Pharaoh's generosity to the
Royal House that had suffered through its alliance with him, the
"great stones" remind us that, after a brief interval of sympathy and
co-operation, Jeremiah again found himself in bitter antagonism to his
fellow-countrymen. In our next chapter we shall describe one final
scene of mutual recrimination.[172]
FOOTNOTES:
[167] Cf. chapter on "Baruch."
[168] 1 Sam. xiii.
[169] 1 Kings xxii.
[170] lii. 30.
[171] So Orelli, _in loco_.
[172] For the prophecy against Egypt and its fulfilment see further
chapter XVII.