Chapter 43:1-7 (ESV) - When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the LORD their God, with which the LORD their God had sent him to them, Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The LORD our God did not send you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,’ but Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.” So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the LORD, to remain in the land of Judah. But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven— the men, the women, the children, the princesses, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD. And they arrived at Tahpanhes.
Question to consider: How could Johanan discern whether Jeremiah told the truth?
Jeremiah’s frustrations proved to be warranted and his suspicions true. So much for them saying, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.” (Jeremiah 42:5-6)
Instead they accused Jeremiah of lying— even though to date, Jeremiah was the only one who dealt with the people honestly and delivered to them every word that came from the mouth of God. You may be asking yourself why the people could be so easily deceived into believing that Jeremiah’s motivation was to deliver them into the hand of their enemies, but they would have seen Nebuchadnezzar as the imminent threat and Egypt as their only logical refuge.
Given that we live in a time that promotes propaganda from every direction, we should be able to empathize with their suspicions of Jeremiah even if they were in error. The key for our own discernment is to be able to identify where their view went astray. It is easy to paint someone who disagrees with our own conclusions about world events as crazy or wicked, but it is important to realize that even though someone has drawn a wrong conclusion, they may have taken perfectly logical steps to get there. All it takes is one faulty perspective or premise to send someone down an erroneous path.
If we listen to others and discover their motivations and basic definitions of reality, we can identify their line of reasoning and begin to understand them without prejudice. Once we have achieved that level of understanding of another individual's perspective, we can begin to determine whether our own views need to be modified or offer suggestions pertaining to their own. If we do not have the time or patience to achieve this level of understanding, it may be better to move on from the discussion.
This does not exempt people from accountability for their ideas and actions, but it should help us in our attempts to achieve a right understanding. In this case, there had been decades of Jeremiah consistently giving the true word of the LORD despite being persecuted and imprisoned for doing so. Johanan should have given him the benefit of the doubt that he was telling the truth here. If someone has proven to be faithful to the truth, even when the message is unpopular and causes unjust persecution, it should give people pause before calling him a liar. If Johanan didn’t know Jeremiah that well, he could have prayerfully taken the time to find out why the LORD would have them remain in the land, or he could have sought counsel from someone he trusted who knew Jeremiah’s prophetic history. Instead he leapt to an accusation and hardened his heart against the word of the LORD.
Dear heavenly Father, please help us to humble ourselves before Your word and learn it so that we may have discernment in a world full of lies. Please help us to lift the name of Christ above every name so that we may be conformed to His image. Amen.