“Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them.” (Jeremiah 43:8–10, ESV)
I cannot explain it but I have seen occasions where people’s phobias come back to bite them. Perhaps it is overreaction to a threat of some sort. They might fear something so much that they panic. Let’s say they fear spiders and jump away when they see one only to trip and fracture a bone.
In other situations, they make foolish decisions do to fears. They may be afraid of doctors and when a symptom pops up, they foolishly ignore it because they fear the worst.
In other cases, people will warn them of a looming disaster. Perhaps a major hurricane is coming and they need to evacuate. Yet they refuse the warning.
In this passage of Scripture, we see a combination of these things happening for those that fled from Judah to Egypt. You will remember that Jeremiah warned them that If they fled to Egypt that they would perish there and never return to the land they loved. The prophet told them that if the stayed in Juda that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon would ensure their protection.
Yet they feared that Nebuchadnezzar would not do what Jeremiah had told them from the Lord. The Lord wanted them to stay in Judah and work the land there. But they refused to listen. Why? It was because they feared Nebuchadnezzar and, did not believe the word of the Lord. Instead, they believed that the king would send his armies to destroy the people in the land of Judah. So, due to fear they went to Egypt.
In Egypt, at the entrance to a building that Pharaoh would use as a palace while in the city of Tahpanhes, Jeremiah gave the Jews a message through an object lesson. The Lord had him take large stones and burry them in the courtyard at the entrance to the palace and told them that the one they feared, Nebuchadnezzar, would come against Egypt and establish his throne above those stones. Jeremiah went on the prophesy, as he did before, that they would perish by pestilence, in captivity, and by the sword. The very fears that drove them to flee to Egypt would come upon them in Egypt.
What did they do wrong? They did not listen to the prophet who had brought the truth of God to them. They failed to live by faith and instead lived according to human wisdom.
This is the great problem that we see today, the issue of living by sight rather than faith. It permeates all of us if we are not careful. It infects believers and also churches at times. The Bible speaks to us today and instructs us in every area of life. However, many try to infuse their own human reasoning into God’s word rather than seeking His pure and perfect communication with us. The result is that we miss the mark and often create for ourselves major issues.
True faith that casts out fear is trusting in God at His word. To do this, we must be in His word, His word must be in us, and we must be obedient to it even when our human fleshly wisdom thinks otherwise.
