Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"Then hear now the word of the LORD"
Text: Jeremiah 42:15
A STRONG WORD OF WARNING
Jeremiah had to give the remnant of Judah a strong word of warning. They were displaying all the characteristics that the kings of Judah possessed. They were not sincerely interested in what God said. They were inclined to follow the dictates of their heart.
“Then hear now the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah!
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
‘If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there,
then it shall be that the sword which you feared
shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt;
the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt;
and there you shall die.
So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there.
They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.
And none of them shall remain
or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them.'”
Jeremiah 42:15-17
1. “Then hear now the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah! Thus says the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel: ‘If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there'”
a) The remnant of Judah was addressed.
b) Their intentions were exposed.
i) They had planned to go to Egypt.
ii) They were planning to settle there.
c) This was not the word of the LORD to the remnant.
2. “Then it shall be that the sword which you feared
shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt;
the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt;
and there you shall die”
a) The sword would follow them and overtake them in Egypt.
b) Famine would also strike them.
c) They will die in Egypt.
3. “So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there.
They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.
And none of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them”
a) The word of warning was repeated.
i) The people will die by the sword.
ii) Or by famine.
iii) Or by pestilence.
b) The disaster that God will inflict on the disobedient.
i) No one will remain.
ii) No one will escape.
c) There is no alternative to obedience to the LORD and His word.