Jeremiah 42:20

For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it. YE DISSEMBLED IN YOUR HEARTS - rather, 'ye have used deceit against your (own) souls.' It is not God, but yourselves, whom ye deceive, to your own ruin, by your dissimulation (). (Calvin) But the words following accord best with the English version, ye have dissembled in your hearts (, note) toward me when ye sent me to consult God for you....

He now adds another circumstance, that they had sent him under the pretense of rare piety, as though they were in every way ready to render obedience to God. But he first says that they had _deceived _themselves, or had been deceived. The verb תעה, _toe, _from which the _Hithpael _comes, means to err or go astray. But interpreters do not agree; for some give this explanation, that they deceived the Prophet in their hearts, that is, that they craftily retained their perverse design of going to Egypt, and at the same time professed that they were ready to obey. But as the Prophet’s name is not mentioned here, this explanation seems unnatural. I therefore prefer the other explanation, that they deceived themselves; and ב, _beth, _is here redundant, as in many places: _Ye deceived, _then, _your own souls, when ye sent me, _he says, _to Jehovah _The Prophet intimates that when they so

7-22 If we would know the mind of the Lord in doubtful cases, we must wait as well as pray. God is ever ready to return in mercy to those he has afflicted; and he never rejects any who rely on his promises. He has declared enough to silence even the causeless fears of his people, which discourge them in the way of duty. Whatever loss or suffering we may fear from obedience, is provided against in God's word; and he will protect and deliver all who trust in him and serve him. It is folly to quit our place, especially to quit a holy land, because we meet with trouble in it. And the evils we think to escape by sin, we certainly bring upon ourselves. We may apply this to the common troubles of life; and those who think to avoid them by changing their place, will find that the grievances common to men will meet them wherever they go. Sinners who dissemble with God in solemn professions espec...

Verse Jeremiah 42:20. _FOR YE DISSEMBLED IN YOUR HEARTS_] What a most miserable and incorrigible people! Ingratitude, hypocrisy, rebellion, and cruelty seem to have been enthroned in their hearts! And what are they still? Just what their fathers were, except in the mere article of _idolatry_; and that they do not practise because they are indifferent to their own religion and to that of all others. Examine their devotions and their lives, and see whether Charity herself can say they believe in the God of Abraham!...

YE DISSEMBLED IN YOUR HEARTS - Or, “ye have led yourselves astray,” i. e., your sending me to ask counsel of God was an act of self-delusion. You felt so sure that God would direct you to go into Egypt, that now that He has spoken to the contrary, you are unable to reconcile yourselves to it....

EXPOSITION Jeremiah receives a request to inquire of God concerning the proposed emigration, and a "word of the Lord" follows. JEREMIAH 42:1 JEZANIAH THE SON OF HOSHAIAH. For "Jezaniah," the Septuagint has "Azariah," the name given in the Hebrew text of Jeremiah 43:2. JEREMIAH 42:2 SAID UNTO JEROMIAH THE PROPHET. Jeremiah, we have been already told, was one of the refugees at Mizpah (Jeremiah 40:6), and consequently was forced into the train of Ishmael ...

FOR YE DISSEMBLED IN YOUR HEARTS,.... Did not honestly and faithfully declare their intentions; they said one thing with their mouths, and meant another in their minds; they pretended they would act according to the will of God, as it should be made known to them by him, when they were determined to take their own way. Some render it, "ye have deceived [me] in your hearts" z; the prophet, so Kimchi; by that which was in their hearts, not declaring what was their real intention and design: or, "ye have deceived your souls" a; you have deceived yourselves and one another; I have not deceived you, nor the Lord, but you have put a cheat upon your own souls: or, "you have used deceit against your souls" b; to the hurt of them, to your present ruin and everlasting destruction: WHEN YE SENT ME UNTO THE LORD YOUR GOD; the prophet did not go of himself, they desired him to go: SAYING, PRAY FOR...

CHAPTER 42 _ 1. Jeremiah the intercessor (Jeremiah 42:1) _ 2. The answer from Jehovah (Jeremiah 42:7) Jeremiah 42:1. The remnant, the few who were left after the terrible happenings recorded in the preceding chapter were now cast upon the Lord and besought the prophet to pray for them: “That the LORD thy God may show us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.” They believed in Jeremiah as a man of God. He promises to do so, and when the answer comes he will not keep back anything. Jeremiah 42:7. The answer came ten days later. Then the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah. If

JEREMIAH 42:1 TO JEREMIAH 43:7. THE MIGRATION INTO EGYPT. Jeremiah is asked by the leaders (Jeremiah 42:1 _mg.,_ with LXX) and the people to seek Yahweh's guidance, which they solemnly (Jeremiah 42:5 _mg._) promise to follow (Jeremiah 42:1). After ten days, the Divine revelation comes to the prophet and is communicated to the people, to the effect that they are to remain in Judah, where Yahweh promises to protect them from the Babylonians; their hope of prosperity in Egypt will be found delusive; Yahweh will treat them in Egypt as He has

YE DISSEMBLED, &C. None but Jehovah could know this. Compare Jeremiah 41:17; Psalms 139:2. Joh 1:48. John 2:24; John 2:25. HEARTS. souls. Hebrew. _nephesh._...