John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 43

And it came to pass, [that] when Jeremiah had made an end of
speaking unto all the people
The princes and the people, the whole body of them, who had desired the prophet to seek the Lord for them,and whom he called together to relate his answer, and declare his will; see (Jeremiah 42:1Jeremiah 42:8) ;they heard him out, and that was as much as they did; for as soon as he had done, they rose up andcontradicted him:

however, he faithfully declared all the words of the Lord their God, for whichthe Lord their God sent
him to them, [even] all the words ;
which are related in the preceding chapter, which were the words of the Lord, and so ought to have beenregarded; and the rather, as they were the words of their God, whom they professed, and which he had sent hisprophet to declare unto them; and who had kept back nothing, but had made known the whole; he had told thetruth, and nothing but the truth, and all the truth.

Then spoke Azariah the son of Hoshaiah. Perhaps the same with Jezaniah, or a brother of his, (Jeremiah 42:1); he is mentioned first, it may be, because he was the contriver of this scheme to go into Egypt, advised to it, and was most for it. The Septuagint and Arabic versions call him the son of Maaseiah; and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men.

These were the great men among them, who are commonly proud of their greatness; of their descent, family and blood; of their wealth and riches, and posts of honour; perhaps the captains of the forces are meant, who elsewhere are mentioned along with Johanan, (Jeremiah 40:13) (Jeremiah 41:11Jeremiah 41:13Jeremiah 41:16) (Jeremiah 42:1Jeremiah 42:8); these were men full of themselves, had a high opinion of their own wisdom, and were prudent in their own eyes; and could not bear to be contradicted or advised by the prophet, nor even by the Lord himself; and are justly, by the Targum, called wicked men; and so the Syriac version renders it; their pride was the cause of their rebellion against God, and disobedience to him, and of their ungenteel and insolent behaviour to the prophet.

Saying to Jeremiah, you speak falsely: or, "a lie" ^F5 ; it being contrary to their minds: so the prophets of the Lord, the ministers of the word, and even the word of God itself, are charged with falsehoods, when contrary to men's sentiments and lusts.

The Lord our God has not sent you to say, go not into Egypt to
sojourn there; they did not care to own it was the word of the Lord, whatever convictions of it they had in their minds; because they would not openly appear to be fighters against God, whom they professed to be their God; but deny that the prophet was sent by him with any such message to them; when they had all the reason to believe by former prophecies, which had had their fulfilment, that Jeremiah was a true prophet of the Lord, and that he had acted a very faithful part in the present affair: they themselves had sent him to the Lord to pray for them; he had done so, and the Lord had returned an answer by him; of which they had no reason to doubt, but their pride would not allow them to receive it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: (rqv) "mendacium", Schmidt.

But Baruch the son of Neriah sets thee on against us
First they charge the prophet with a lie, and deny his mission from the Lord; and now to lessen the prophet'scrime they charged him with, they lay the blame on Baruch, as if he, out of ill will to them, had instigatedthe prophet to deliver such a message; which is not at all likely, that he should be prevailed upon by ayounger person, and his secretary, to take such a step: nor can it be thought that Baruch should have anyinterest to serve by it; and, besides, both he and the prophet were too good men, the one to instigate, andthe other to be instigated, to declare a falsehood in the name of the Lord.

The end proposed, they suggest,was to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put
us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon ;
either that he or the prophet might deliver them into the hands of the Chaldeans, to be put to death by them,or be carried captive; which is not at all probable, it being inconsistent with that piety and humanity whichwere conspicuous in them both, and with their conduct, who chose rather to abide in their own land, with thissmall and despicable handful of people, than to go and live in the court of Babylon, where good care wouldhave been taken of them.

So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the
forces, and all the people
The generality of them, at least, all agreed together, were of the same mind, and in the same sentiment and practice:

And so obeyed not the voice of the Lord, to dwell in the land of Judah; it was the command of the Lord they should dwell there, and not go into Egypt; but they would not believe this was the voice of the Lord, only a scheme concerted between the prophet and Baruch; or which the former was instigated to deliver as the word of the Lord by the latter, and therefore would not give heed unto it;

Though the truth of the matter was, it was contrary to their inclination and resolution, and therefore, though they had reason to believe it was the will of God they should abide in their own land, yet they were determined they would not, but go into Egypt, as they, did.

But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces Who were united in their resolution to go into Egypt, contrary to the declared will of God: took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah ;

both such who were left in the land, when the rest were carried captive into Babylon, more particularly mentioned in (Jeremiah 43:6) ; and those, who upon the invasion of the land, and siege of Jerusalem, had fled to other countries, but now were returned from thence, in order to settle in it; having heard that a governor from among the Jews was appointed over it; as from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and other countries; see (Jeremiah 40:11Jeremiah 40:12) ; these, some of their own accord, others through persuasion, and others by force, went along with, or were taken and carried by the above captains into Egypt.