God Cares And Hopes For His People

Jeremiah 40:7-41:15                                 Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 40:15b                                     4-2-18

“….Why should he take your life and cause all the Jews who are gathered around you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah to perish?”

Dear Lord Heavenly Father, thank you for your word which is a solid rock on which we can stand. Lord, how solid and how great a foundation you are. Help me to stand even firmer on your word through this passage. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: God Kept The Land So His People Could Return (40:7-16)

Verses 40:7-16, “When all the army officers and their men who were still in the open country heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor over the land and had put him in charge of the men, women and children who were the poorest in the land and who had not been carried into exile to Babylon, 8 they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men. 9 Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you. 10 I myself will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians who come to us, but 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.”

11 When all the Jews in Moab, Ammon, Edom and all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as governor over them, 12 they all came back to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, from all the countries where they had been scattered. And they harvested an abundance of wine and summer fruit.

13 Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers still in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah 14 and said to him, “Don’t you know that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.

15 Then Johanan son of Kareah said privately to Gedaliah in Mizpah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life and cause all the Jews who are gathered around you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah to perish?”

16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Don’t do such a thing! What you are saying about Ishmael is not true.”

When the Babylonians left, they did not leave a hellish wasteland. They left behind the poorest people to tend the fields and the vineyards. They appointed a governor that cared about the people. It was horrible that that the people had to be torn from their homes and forced to relocate to Babylon. But the country still had Israelites living there and the infrastructure was left somewhat intact.

Gedaliah was appointed governor of the occupied Judah. He lived in Mizpah, near the center of the land, and did his best to be a good shepherd for his scattered people. Jeremiah stayed with him. Jews who had been living in the surrounding countries trusted him and returned to settle down in Judah. They harvested an abundance of wine and summer fruit. Johanan and his officers also joined Gedaliah.

I can see that God raises up leaders to help his people. Yes, he disciplined his people in order to get them to turn their hearts back to him. Yes, he allowed them to be subjected to a great amount of suffering. It was redemptive in nature and brought on by the stubborn disobedience of the people themselves. Though they deserved to driven away and forgotten, God left a remnant in the land and he established a governor who really cared for the people. There was a place for the people of Judah to return to, and some of them did return from surrounding nations, (even before the exiles returned). God created such an environment in the occupied land that the people, from surrounded nations, trusted the governor. They had land to work in, land that produced bountiful harvests. Many returned. But they were not the ones that were in exile in Babylon.

God was keeping the land in anticipation of when he would bring his people back from exile in seventy years. They would have something to come back to and rebuild in. This was God’s hope, that his peoples’ hearts’ would be changed and that they would worship him and obey his word and live up to their purpose to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Our God lives in hope.

Gedaliah is an example of a good leader. Look at verses 9-10 again, “Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you. 10 I myself will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians who come to us, but 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.”  Yes, he was governing over a conquered people. He was representing an invading nation, but he did his best to care for the people under very difficult situations.

God establishes his people and puts them in positions of community leadership. He does that so the they may use their positions in order to serve the people and for the betterment of their lives. They are to be servant leaders. The fact that Gedaliah was established was God’s mercy to the people.

Part 2: Nothing Can Thwart God’s Plans (41:1-15)

Verses 40:17-41:15, “41 In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood and had been one of the king’s officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. While they were eating together there, 2 Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land. 3 Ishmael also killed all the men of Judah who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Babylonian soldiers who were there.

4 The day after Gedaliah’s assassination, before anyone knew about it, 5 eighty men who had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes and cut themselves came from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria, bringing grain offerings and incense with them to the house of the Lord. 6 Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he met them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.” 7 When they went into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern. 8 But ten of them said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have wheat and barley, olive oil and honey, hidden in a field.” So he let them alone and did not kill them with the others. 9 Now the cistern where he threw all the bodies of the men he had killed along with Gedaliah was the one King Asa had made as part of his defense against Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the dead.

10 Ishmael made captives of all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah—the king’s daughters along with all the others who were left there, over whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.

11 When Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him heard about all the crimes Ishmael son of Nethaniah had committed, 12 they took all their men and went to fight Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They caught up with him near the great pool in Gibeon. 13 When all the people Ishmael had with him saw Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers who were with him, they were glad. 14 All the people Ishmael had taken captive at Mizpah turned and went over to Johanan son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and fled to the Ammonites.”

Nothing can thwart the plans of God, not even a small minded, nationalistic military officer. There was a lot of political intrigue going on that threatened the peace of the land.  Johanan warned Gedaliah not to trust Ishmael, an anti-Babylonian relative of King Zedekiah, with suspicious connections in Ammon, Israel’s ancient enemy. He offered to secretly kill Ishmael. Gedaliah, however, accepted Ishmael as a brother, and showed him hospitality. Then, while they were eating, Ishmael and his ten men assassinated Gedaliah. A vicious purge followed, until Johanan arrived with his small army. Then Ishmael fled to Ammon.

The peace in the region was held in a delicate balance. There were others who wanted to control things through violent political intrigue. What Ismael wanted was freedom from the Babylonians, even at the cost of co-operating with the Ammonites. What was he thinking? Did he think that the Babylonians were going to stand by idly and allow this to happen? No. He was literally inviting their ire. They would return with their army and squash this man’s plans. His plans were born out of nationalism. They were plans to support a former king who lived in disobedience to God. They were plans that that trusted in an idol worshipping neighbor.  It lacked wisdom. God could never bless those plans.

According to God’s sovereignty this was not going to happen. With a small army, Ishmael as driven out of the land and sent back to the Ammonites. God doesn’t honor and protect efforts born out of nationalism. He honors acts of faith that seek to bring glory and honor to him and support his plans alone.

Prayer: “Lord, thank you for caring for your people and raising up people who can take care of them. Thank you for living in hope that your people will return to you.  We place all of hope and trust in you.”

One Word: God cares for his people.