"Let what is broken so remain. The Gods are hard to reconcile: 'Tis hard to settle order once again.
* * * * *
Sore task to hearts worn out by many wars."
But Jeremiah had neither sympathy nor patience with such weakness. Moreover, now as often, valour was the better part of discretion, and the boldest course was the safest. The peace and security of Egypt had been broken in upon again and again by Asiatic invaders; only recently it had been tributary to Nineveh, till the failing strength of Assyria enabled the Pharaohs to recover their independence. Now that Palestine had ceased to be the seat of war the sound of Chaldean trumpets would soon be heard in the valley of the Nile. By going down into Egypt, they were leaving Judah where they might be safe under the broad shield of Babylonian power, for a country that would soon be afflicted by the very evils they sought to escape:--
"If ye finally determine to go to Egypt to sojourn there, The sword, which ye fear, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, The famine, whereof ye are afraid, shall follow hard after you there in Egypt, And there shall ye die."
The old familiar curses, so often uttered against Jerusalem and its inhabitants, are pronounced against any of his hearers who should take refuge in Egypt:--
"As Mine anger and fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, So shall My fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter in Egypt."
They would die "by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence"; they would be "an execration and an astonishment, a curse and a reproach."
He had set before them two alternative courses, and the Divine judgment upon each: he had known beforehand that, contrary to his own choice and judgment, their hearts were set upon going down into Egypt; hence, as when confronted and contradicted by Hananiah, he had been careful to secure divine confirmation before he gave his decision. Already he could see the faces of his hearers hardening into obstinate resistance or kindling into hot defiance; probably they broke out into interruptions which left no doubt as to their purpose. With his usual promptness, he turned upon them with fierce reproof and denunciation:--
"Ye have been traitors to yourselves. Ye sent me unto Jehovah your God, saying, Pray for us unto Jehovah our God; According unto all that Jehovah our God shall say, Declare unto us, and we will do it. I have this day declared it unto you, But ye have in no wise obeyed the voice of Jehovah your God.
* * * * *
Ye shall die by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, In the place whither ye desire to go to sojourn."
His hearers were equally prompt with their rejoinder; Johanan ben Kareah and "all the proud men" answered him:--
"Thou liest! It is not Jehovah our God who hath sent thee to say, Ye shall not go into Egypt to sojourn there; but Baruch ben Neriah setteth thee on against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may slay us or carry us away captive to Babylon."
Jeremiah had experienced many strange vicissitudes, but this was not the least striking. Ten days ago the people and their leaders had approached him in reverent submission, and had solemnly promised to accept and obey his decision as the word of God. Now they called him a liar; they asserted that he did not speak by any Divine inspiration, but was a feeble impostor, an oracular puppet, whose strings were pulled by his own disciple.[167]
Such scenes are, unfortunately, only too common in Church history. Religious professors are still ready to abuse and to impute unworthy motives to prophets whose messages they dislike, in a spirit not less secular than that which is shown when some modern football team tries to mob the referee who has given a decision against its hopes.