Having revealed their unwillingness to listen to the Lord, Johanan and the other leaders take all the remnant of Judah
and they make their way to Tahpanhes in Egypt. They also take Jeremiah and Baruch with them. There must have been some who were not part of this remnant that fled to Egypt because there is a group taken into exile by the Babylonians later on (see Jeremiah 52:30). But in the way the group is described, the narrator makes it clear that this was the most significant part of the remnant of Judah1.
It is not clear from the narrative whether Jeremiah and Baruch go with the group willingly or whether they were forced. If they were taken by force then the people may have the same attitude towards Jeremiah as they had towards the ark and the temple. Even though they refuse to listen to him, they still view him as a real prophet and possibly view him as a kind of lucky charm2. They may see it as inviting trouble on themselves to simply leave a prophet to perish in the land while they flee to safety in Egypt. If Jeremiah went with them willingly, then it may be that he did so because he remained committed to a people who still needed to hear the Lord’s word, even though they refused to listen3.That had been the nature of his entire ministry in Judah – faithfully speaking the Lord’s word to a rebellious and unfaithful people.
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us.