2 And said to Jeremiah the prophet, Let our request come before you, and make prayer for us to the Lord your God, even for this small band of us; for we are only a small band out of what was a great number, as your eyes may see:
It may be that their prayer for grace will go up to the Lord, and that every man will be turned from his evil ways: for great is the wrath and the passion made clear by the Lord against this people.
I will let loose the beasts of the field among you, and they will take away your children and send destruction on your cattle, so that your numbers will become small and your roads become waste.
And Simon, answering, said, Make prayer for me to the Lord, so that these things which you have said may not come on me.
See her seated by herself, the town which was full of people! She who was great among the nations has become like a widow! She who was a princess among the countries has come under the yoke of forced work!
It may be that the Lord your God will give ear to the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to say evil things against the living God, and will make his words come to nothing: so make your prayer for the rest of the people.
If the Lord of armies had not kept some at least of us safe, we would have been like Sodom, and the fate of Gomorrah would have been ours.
And all the people said to Samuel, Make prayer for us to the Lord your God so that death may not overtake us: for in addition to all our sins we have done this evil, in desiring a king.
And you will become a very small band, though your numbers were like the stars of heaven; because you did not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God.
And now be pleased to give ear, O my lord the king; let my prayer for help come before you, and do not make me go back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, for fear that I may come to my death there.
Then the king made answer and said to the man of God, Make a prayer now for the grace of the Lord your God, and for me, that my hand may be made well. And in answer to the prayer of the man of God, the king's hand was made well again, as it was before.
Then Pharaoh said, I will let you go to make an offering to the Lord your God in the waste land; but do not go very far away, and make prayer for me.
And if those days had not been made short there would have been no salvation for any, but because of the saints those days will be made short.
And it will come about that in all the land, says the Lord, two parts of it will be cut off and come to an end; but the third will be still living there. And I will make the third part go through the fire, cleaning them as silver is made clean, and testing them as gold is tested: and they will make their prayer to me and I will give them an answer: I will say, It is my people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.
And take from them a small number of hairs, folding them in your skirts. And again take some of these and put them in the fire, burning them up in the fire; and say to all the children of Israel,
For you have been acting with deceit in your hearts; for you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, Make prayer for us to the Lord our God, and give us word of everything he may say, and we will do it.
See, they say to me, Where is the word of the Lord? let it come now. As for me, I have not said; Let the day of trouble come to them quickly; and I have not been hoping for the death-giving day; you have knowledge of what came from my lips; it was open before you.
And when your hands are stretched out to me, my eyes will be turned away from you: even though you go on making prayers, I will not give ear: your hands are full of blood.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 42
Commentary on Jeremiah 42 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 42
Johanan and the captains being strongly bent upon going into Egypt, either their affections or politics advising them to take that course, they had a great desire that God should direct them to do so too like Balaam, who, when he was determined to go and curse Israel, asked God leave. Here is,
Jer 42:1-6
We have reason to wonder how Jeremiah the prophet escaped the sword of Ishmael; it seems he did escape, and it was not the first time that the Lord hid him. It is strange also that in these violent turns he was not consulted before now, and his advice asked and taken. But it should seem as if they knew not that a prophet was among them. Though this people were as brands plucked out of the fire, yet have they not returned to the Lord. This people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; and contempt of God and his providence, God and his prophets, is still the sin that most easily besets them. But now at length, to serve a turn, Jeremiah is sought out, and all the captains, Johanan himself not excepted, with all the people from the least to the greatest, make him a visit; they came near (v. 1), which intimates that hitherto they had kept at a distance from the prophet and had been shy of him. Now here,
Jer 42:7-22
We have here the answer which Jeremiah was sent to deliver to those who employed him to ask counsel of God.