Jeremiah 38:2 “.. but those who surrender to the Babylonians will live. They will escape with their lives.”

Some translations say, “surrender”, but the proper translation of these words are more, “but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live”. It is not just a case of giving in, or give over, letting yourself be captured, but they actually have “to go to” these new rulers and submit to a new life. This is not an easy thing to do.. that means giving up your property, your lifestyle, your rules, even your beliefs, your everything. Understandably, the rulers in Israel would not be happy with this!! So in verse 6, “so they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern”.

This was the obvious problem.. the rulers want to be religious, but they want to make the rules. Jeremiah straight out tells them in verse 15, “If I answer you, you’ll kill me. If I give you advice, you won’t listen to me”. In time of conflict, it is not easy to give in. But unless YHWH is with us in war, and gives the go-ahead, all our efforts are in vain. Best is, to stay put and wait it out. Just trusting that YHWH still takes care of each one, even if all circumstances seem impossible.

Matthew 6:25-26 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?“