The Arrogance of Unbelief: When God's Answer is No Text: Jeremiah 43:1-7
Introduction: The Pious Fraud
We come now to a sorry episode in the history of God's people, a moment that is both tragic and profoundly instructive. It is a master class in the art of self-deception. In the previous chapter, the remnant of Judah, led by Johanan the son of Kareah, came to Jeremiah with a great show of piety. They had just survived the assassination of Gedaliah, the governor appointed by Babylon, and they were terrified of reprisals. So they came to the prophet and said, in effect, "Pray for us! Seek the face of Yahweh your God. Whatever He says, whether it is good or bad, we will obey" (Jer. 42:6). They bound themselves with a solemn oath. It all sounds very spiritual, very commendable.
Jeremiah prayed for ten days, and then God gave him the answer. The answer was simple: Stay put. Do not go to Egypt. Trust me here, in the land of Judah, and I will protect you from the king of Babylon. But if you disobey, if you set your faces to go to Egypt because you think it is a safer bet, then the very sword you fear will find you there. Famine and pestilence will hunt you down in the land of Pharaoh, and you will die there. The command was unambiguous. The consequences were laid out with terrifying clarity.
And it is here, in our text today, that the mask of piety is ripped away, and we see the ugly face of arrogant unbelief underneath. They had already made up their minds. Their request for God's will was a pious fraud. They were not seeking guidance; they were seeking divine ratification for a decision they had already made in the committee rooms of their own fearful hearts. When God's answer contradicted their own wisdom, they did not repent of their plan. They attacked the prophet.
This is a perennial temptation for the people of God. We want God's blessing on our plans, but we are not nearly so keen on His plans. We are happy to obey, provided His commands align with our preconceived notions of what is safe, prudent, and reasonable. But the moment the word of the Lord cuts across the grain of our own desires and our own risk assessments, the rebellion surfaces. And when it does, it is never content to be mere disobedience. It must always justify itself, and it does so by slandering the messenger and questioning the message. This is not just an ancient story about a stubborn remnant; it is a mirror for our own hearts.
The Text
But it happened that as soon as Jeremiah, whom Yahweh their God had sent, had finished speaking to all the people all the words of Yahweh their God, that is, all these words, Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are speaking a lie! Yahweh our God has not sent you to say, ‘You are not to enter Egypt to sojourn there’; but Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon.” So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the military forces and all the people did not listen to the voice of Yahweh to stay in the land of Judah. But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the military forces took the entire remnant of Judah, who had returned from all the nations to which they had been banished, in order to sojourn in the land of Judah, the men, the women, the little ones, the king’s daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, together with Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah, and they entered the land of Egypt (for they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh) and went in as far as Tahpanhes.
(Jeremiah 43:1-7 LSB)
The Indictment of the Prophet (vv. 1-2)
We begin with the immediate, hostile reaction to God's clear word.
"But it happened that as soon as Jeremiah... had finished speaking... all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, 'You are speaking a lie!'" (Jeremiah 43:1-2)
Notice the speed. There is no deliberation, no prayerful consideration, no humble discussion. As soon as Jeremiah stops talking, the attack begins. This reveals that their hearts were already set. The ten days Jeremiah spent in prayer were ten days they spent hardening their resolve. The word of God did not penetrate; it simply bounced off the armor of their pride.
The text identifies the ringleaders as Azariah, Johanan, and "all the arrogant men." Arrogance is the engine of unbelief. Pride is what cannot stomach being told what to do, especially when the instruction runs contrary to our own calculations. Samuel told Saul that "rebellion is as the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry" (1 Sam. 15:23). These men were idolaters. Their god was their own sense of security, their own political savvy. They had weighed the options: on one hand, the promise of the invisible God; on the other, the visible might of Egypt. And in their arrogant wisdom, they chose Egypt.
Their accusation is blunt: "You are speaking a lie!" This is the first resort of the disobedient heart. It is not enough to simply disobey; the authority of the command must be nullified. If Jeremiah is a liar, then they are not rebels. They are discerning truth-seekers, courageously resisting falsehood. This is a classic case of projection. They are the liars, having broken their solemn oath to obey, but they accuse the faithful prophet of lying. They are rewriting the script in real time to cast themselves as the heroes.
The Conspiracy Theory (v. 3)
Having dismissed the message as a lie, they must now invent a motive for the lie. This is where the conspiracy theory comes in.
"but Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon." (Jeremiah 43:3 LSB)
This is utterly pathetic, but also very revealing. They cannot bring themselves to say that God is wrong, so they must find a human scapegoat. They cannot attack God directly, so they invent a nefarious plot orchestrated by Jeremiah's faithful scribe, Baruch. The prophet, they imply, is a mere puppet. The real mastermind is Baruch, who is secretly a Babylonian sympathizer, a fifth columnist, trying to deliver them into the hands of the enemy.
This is how unbelief works. It cannot live with the plain meaning of God's Word when that Word is inconvenient. So it must create an alternative narrative, a hidden story, a conspiracy, that explains away the clear command. Why? Because a conspiracy can be debated and dismissed. A direct command from God cannot. They are replacing the fear of God with the fear of a back-room deal. They are reducing the prophet of the Almighty to a dupe in a political game.
Notice the shape of their logic. They believe that obedience to God (staying in Judah) will lead to death and exile. They believe disobedience to God (fleeing to Egypt) will lead to life and safety. They have inverted reality. The very thing God said would destroy them, they see as their only salvation. The very place God designated for their safety, they see as a death trap. Sin does not just make us rebellious; it makes us stupid. It corrupts our reason. They are so blinded by their fear of the Babylonians that they cannot see the far greater danger of defying the God who commands the Babylonians.
The Tragic Action (vv. 4-7)
Having justified their rebellion, they now put it into action, and the scope of their sin is breathtaking.
"So Johanan... and all the people did not listen to the voice of Yahweh to stay in the land of Judah. But Johanan... took the entire remnant of Judah... and they entered the land of Egypt (for they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh)..." (Jeremiah 43:4-7 LSB)
The text is emphatic, repeating the charge: "they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh." This is the heart of the matter. All the accusations against Jeremiah, all the conspiracy theories about Baruch, were just smoke and noise to cover this one central fact: they refused to hear and obey God.
And their disobedience is not a private affair. They drag everyone with them. They take "the entire remnant", the men, women, children, and even the king's daughters. This is what leaders do. Their choices, for good or ill, affect everyone under their charge. These arrogant men, in their flight from a phantom danger, were leading the last vestiges of God's people in Judah into a certain and divinely-promised destruction.
And in a final, bitter irony, they force Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the scribe to go with them. The very man who spoke God's warning against Egypt is now a captive on the road to Egypt. The men who accused him of being a traitor now hold him hostage. This is a profound picture of a rebellious church. It is not content to merely ignore the Word of God; it tries to domesticate it. It wants the minister in the building, it wants the Bible on the shelf, but it does not want the Word to have any authority. They are dragging the symbols of God's presence with them into the very land of disobedience. They want the comfort of the prophet's presence without the conviction of his words. They want a pet prophet, not a prophet of God.
Conclusion: The Safety of Obedience
This story is a stark warning. The remnant of Judah thought they were making a pragmatic choice. They were choosing the devil they knew (Egypt) over the God they refused to trust. They thought the road to Tahpanhes was the road to safety. But God had already declared it to be a dead end. True safety is never found in disobeying a direct command from God. Our political calculations, our economic forecasts, our personal feelings of security, all of it is dust in the wind when set against the revealed will of God.
The temptation for us is the same. God's Word gives us clear commands. Stay in the land of covenant faithfulness. Do not go down to the Egypt of worldliness, of compromise, of trusting in the arm of the flesh. Remain faithful in marriage. Be honest in business. Worship me on the Lord's Day. Forgive those who sin against you. And our hearts, like Johanan's, often protest. "But that's not safe! If I forgive him, he'll walk all over me. If I'm honest in this deal, I'll go bankrupt. If I stay in this marriage, I'll be miserable."
And so we invent our own little conspiracy theories. "Well, the pastor doesn't really understand my situation. The Bible was written for a different time. My circumstances are an exception." We accuse Baruch. We find a reason, any reason, to set aside the plain command of God because we have already decided, in our arrogant hearts, that we know a safer way.
But there is no safer way. The safest place in all the world, whether it is surrounded by the Babylonian army or the scorn of a hostile culture, is the place of obedience. The path of faith is the only path of life. These men went down to Egypt to escape the sword, and it was in Egypt that the sword found them, just as God had said. Let us learn the lesson they refused to learn. Let us not be a people who ask for God's will with our fingers crossed behind our backs. Let us be a people who, when the Word of the Lord comes, whether it seems good to us or bad, whether it aligns with our wisdom or shatters it, we say with a true heart, "We will listen to the voice of Yahweh our God, and we will obey."