Jeremiah 40 reminds me of my experience trying to help my mom find hearing aids. Hearing loss can be very isolating. While researching options features and brands, I was delighted to learn there were others that had been through it, offering encouragement and guidance. In today’s chapter, Jeremiah is singled out while marching into exile. As the chapter begins, Jeremiah is “bound in chains among all the captives from Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried into exile to Babylon”. He is discovered by the commander of the Babylonian guard. The Babylonian invaders had heard of Jeremiah’s prophesies. “The Lord your God decreed this disaster… He has done just as He said He would. All this happened because you people sinned against the Lord and did not obey Him”. In what must have been a shock to Jeremiah, the commander continued, “Today I am freeing you from the chains on your wrists”. He offers a multitude of options, “Come with me to Babylon, if you like… the whole country lies before you; go wherever you please”. Freedom can be a scary thing to us, and sometimes we just revert back to old habits.
Before Jeremiah left, the commander added, “Go back to Gedaliah… whom the king of Babylon has appointed over… Judah, and live with him among the people”. This was not an order, it was just another option, “or go anywhere else you please”. He did not let Jeremiah go without meeting his immediate needs, “The commander gave him provisions and a present and let him go”. Jeremiah went back to Judah and “the people who were left behind in the land”. Jeremiah chose to go back to the desperate people of Israel, rather than the luxury of Babylon or the solitude of being on his own.
Once back in Judah, Jeremiah remained out of the limelight because he is not mentioned for some time. Big changes were happening in the void left in Israel. “When all the army officers… heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah… as governor… in charge of… the poorest in the land… who had not been carried into exile to Babylon… they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah”. There will be a struggle for power over the remnant in Israel. The governor reassured the people, “Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians… Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you”. His focus was to reestablish the agriculture and live in peace, “you are to harvest the wine, summer fruit and olive oil, and put them in your storage jars, and live in the towns you have taken over”. The scattered Jews heard the Babylonians “left a remnant in Judah… they all came back to the land of Judah… from all the countries where they had been scattered. And they harvested an abundance of wine and summer fruit”. As is usually the case, someone looks to take power in times of peace. Johanan, the army officer approached the governor with an assassination plan, falsely claiming to protect the governor. “Let me go and kill Ishmael… no one will know it”. The governor simply does not fall for it. “Don’t do such a thing! What you are saying about Ishmael is not true”. People at peace do not look for conflict. Friend, no matter where you are today, you can experience freedom through Jesus Christ. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Will you share that peace or isolate yourself?