And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
1. And Zedekiah reigned as king ] This and Jer 37:2 are apparently an editorial note to indicate to the reader that the narrative now no longer relates, as did the last two chs., to the reign of Jehoiakim. The rest of the ch. we may consider to be taken substantially from Baruch’s memoirs.
Coniah ] See on Jer 22:24.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
It is evident that Zedekiah was well affected toward Jeremiah. In Jer. 3738, dealing with events during the siege of Jerusalem, we have an account of his relations with Jeremiah and of the prophets personal history up to the capture of the city.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XXXVII
Zedekiah succeeds Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, in the Jewish
throne, and does that which is evil in the sight of the Lord,
1, 2.
The king sends a message to Jeremiah, 3-5.
God suggests an answer; and foretells the return of the
Chaldean army, who should most assuredly take and burn the
city, 6-10.
Jeremiah, in attempting to leave this devoted city, and retire
to his possession in the country, is seized as a deserter, and
cast into a dungeon, 11-15.
The king, after a conference with him, abates the rigour of his
confinement, 16-21.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXVII
Verse 1. And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah] Of the siege and taking of Jerusalem referred to here, and the making of Zedekiah king instead of Jeconiah, see 2Kg 24:1, &c., and the notes there.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The history of this succession we have 2Ki 24:17; 2Ch 36:10. Zedekiahs name was Mattaniah, the king of Babylon changed his name to Zedekiah. He reigned instead of Jehoiachin, the son of Jehoiakim, who reigned but three months, 2Ki 24:8; his name was Jeconiah, 1Ch 3:16, and, in a way of derision or contempt, is here called
Coniah. The king of Babylon made this Zedekiah king, who is here called the son of Josiah, and, 2Ki 24:17, Jehoiachins fathers brother, to distinguish him from another Zedekiah, son of Jehoiakim, as appears from 1Ch 3:16.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Coniahcurtailed fromJeconiah by way of reproach.
whomreferring toZedekiah, not to Coniah (2Ki24:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned,…. The brother of Jehoiakim, whose untimely death, and want of burial, are prophesied of in the preceding chapter. The name of Zedekiah was Mattaniah before he was king; his name was changed by the king of Babylon, who made him king, 2Ki 24:17;
instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim: the same with Jehoiakim, or jeconiah, called Coniah by way of contempt; he reigned but three months, and so was not reckoned as a king, not being confirmed by the king of Babylon, but was carried captive by him, and his uncle placed in his stead:
whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah; to whom he became tributary, and swore homage and fealty, 2Ch 36:13.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The account of what befell Jeremiah and what he did during the last siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, until the taking of the city, is introduced, Jer 37:1 and Jer 37:2, with the general remark that Zedekiah – whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah in place of Coniah (on which name see on Jer 22:24) – when he became king, did not listen to the words of the Lord through Jeremiah, neither himself, nor his servants (officers), nor the people of the land (the population of Judah). Then follows, Jer 37:3-10, a declaration of the prophet regarding the issue of the siege, which he sent to the king by the messengers who were to beseech him for his intercession with the Lord. Jer 37:3-5. The occasion of this declaration was the following: Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah two of his chief officers, Jehucal the son of Shelemiah (see on Jer 38:1), and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest (see Jer 21:1 and Jer 29:25), with this charge: “Pray now for us to Jahveh our God.” This message was sent to Jeremiah while he still went in and out among the people, and had not yet been put in prison ( , Jer 37:4 and Jer 52:31, an unusual form for , Jer 37:15 and Jer 37:18, for which the Qeri would have us in both instances read ); the army of Pharaoh (Hophra, Jer 44:30), too, had marched out of Egypt to oppose the Chaldeans; and the latter, when they heard the report of them ( , the news of their approach), had withdrawn from Jerusalem ( , see on Jer 21:2), viz., in order to repulse the Egyptians. Both of these circumstances are mentioned for the purpose of giving a clear view of the state of things: ( a) Jeremiah’s freedom to go in and out, not to prepare us for his imprisonment afterwards, but to explain the reason why the king sent two chief officers of the realm to him, whereas, after his imprisonment, he caused him to be brought (cf. Jer 37:17 with Jer 38:14); and ( b) the approach of the Egyptians joined with the raising of the siege, because this event seemed to afford some hope that the city would be saved. – This occurrence, consequently, falls within a later period than that mentioned in Jer 21:1-14.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Zedekiah’s Wicked Reign; Sign of Jerusalem. | B. C. 589. |
1 And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. 2 But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah. 3 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us. 4 Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison. 5 Then Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem. 6 Then came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 7 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. 8 And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. 9 Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart. 10 For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.
Here is, 1. Jeremiah’s preaching slighted, Jer 37:1; Jer 37:2. Zedekiah succeeded Coniah, or Jeconiah, and, though he saw in his predecessor the fatal consequences of contemning the word of God, yet he did not take warning, nor give any more regard to it than others had done before him. Neither he, nor his courtiers, nor the people of the land, hearkened unto the words of the Lord, though they already began to be fulfilled. Note, Those have hearts wretchedly hard indeed that see God’s judgments on others, and feel them on themselves, and yet will not be humbled and brought to heed what he says. These had proof sufficient that it was the Lord who spoke by Jeremiah the prophet, and yet they would not hearken to him. 2. Jeremiah’s prayers desired. Zedekiah sent messengers to him, saying, Pray now unto the Lord our God for us. He did so before (Jer 21:1; Jer 21:2), and one of the messengers, Zephaniah, is the same there and here. Zedekiah is to be commended for his, and it shows that he had some good in him, some sense of his need of God’s favour and of his own unworthiness to ask it for himself, and some value for good people and good ministers, who had an interest in Heaven. Note, When we are in distress we ought to desire the prayers of our ministers and Christian friends, for thereby we put an honour upon prayer, and an esteem upon our brethren. Kings themselves should look upon their praying people as the strength of the nation, Zec 12:5; Zec 12:10. And yet this does but help to condemn Zedekiah out of his own mouth. If indeed he looked upon Jeremiah as a prophet, whose prayers might avail much both for him and his people, why did he not then believe him, and hearken to the words of the Lord which he spoke by him? He desired his good prayers, but would not take his good counsel, nor be ruled by him, though he spoke in God’s name, and it appears by this that Zedekiah knew he did. Note, It is common for those to desire to be prayed for who will not be advised; but herein they put a cheat upon themselves, for how can we expect that God should hear others speaking to him for us if we will not hear them speaking to us from him and for him? Many who despise prayer when they are in prosperity will be glad of it when they are in adversity. Now give us of your oil. When Zedekiah sent to the prophet to pray for him, he had better have sent for the prophet to pray with him; but he thought that below him: and how can those expect the comforts of religion who will not stoop to the services of it? 3. Jerusalem flattered by the retreat of the Chaldean army from it. Jeremiah was now at liberty (v. 4); he went in and out among the people, might freely speak to them and be spoken to by them. Jerusalem also, for the present, was at liberty, v. 5 Zedekiah, though a tributary to the king of Babylon, had entered into a private league with Pharaoh king of Egypt (Ezek. xvii. 15), pursuant to which, when the king of Babylon came to chastise him for his treachery, the king of Egypt, though he came no more in person after that great defeat which Nebuchadnezzar gave him in the reign of Jehoiakim (2 Kings xxiv. 7), yet sent some forces to relieve Jerusalem when it was besieged, upon notice of the approach of which the Chaldeans raised the siege, probably not for fear of them but in policy, to fight them at a distance, before any of the Jewish forces could join them. From this they encouraged themselves to hope that Jerusalem was delivered for good and all out of the hands of its enemies and that the storm was quite blown over. Note, Sinners are commonly hardened in their security by the intermissions of judgments and the slow proceedings of them; and those who will not be awakened by the word of God may justly be lulled asleep by the providence of God. 4. Jerusalem threatened with the return of the Chaldean army and with ruin by it. Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah to desire him to pray for them, that the Chaldean army might not return; but Jeremiah sends him word back that the decree had gone forth, and that it was but a folly for them to expect peace, for God had begun a controversy with them, which he would make an end of: Thus saith the Lord, Deceive not yourselves, v. 9. Note, Satan himself, though he is the great deceiver, could not deceive us if we did not deceive ourselves; and thus sinners are their own destroyers by being their own deceivers, of which this is an aggravation that they are so frequently warned of it and cautioned not to deceive themselves, and they have the word of God, the great design of which is to undeceive them. Jeremiah uses no dark metaphors, but tells them plainly, (1.) That the Egyptians shall retreat, and either give back or be forced back, into their own land (Ezek. xvii. 17), which was said of old (Isa. xxx. 7), and is here said again, v. 7. The Egyptians shall help in vain; they shall not dare to face the Chaldean army, but shall retire with precipitation. Note, If God help us not, no creature can. As no power can prevail against God, so none can avail without God nor countervail his departures from us. (2.) That the Chaldeans shall return, and shall renew the siege and prosecute it with more vigour than ever: They shall not depart for good and all (v. 9); they shall come again (v. 8); they shall fight against the city. Note, God has the sovereign command of all the hosts of men, even of those that know him not, that own him not, and they are all made to serve his purposes. He directs their marches, their counter-marches, their retreats, their returns, as it pleases him; and furious armies, like stormy winds, in all their motions are fulfilling his word. (3.) That Jerusalem shall certainly be delivered into the hand of the Chaldeans: They shall take it, and burn it with fire, v. 8. The sentence passed upon it shall be executed, and they shall be the executioners. “O but” (say they) “the Chaldeans have withdrawn; they have quitted the enterprise as impracticable.” “And though they have,” says the prophet, “nay, though you had smitten their army, so that many were slain and all the rest wounded, yet those wounded men should rise up and burn this city,” v. 10. This is designed to denote that the doom passed upon Jerusalem is irrevocable, and its destruction inevitable; it must be laid in ruins, and these Chaldeans are the men that must destroy it, and it is now in vain to think of evading the stroke or contending with it. Note, Whatever instruments God has determined to make use of in any service for him, whether or mercy or judgment, they shall accomplish that for which they are designed, whatever incapacity or disability they may lie under or be reduced to. Those by whom God has resolved to save or to destroy, saviours they shall be and destroyers they shall be, yea, though there were all wounded; for as when God has work to do he will not want instruments to do it with, though they may seem far to seek, so when he has chosen his instruments they shall do the work, though they may seem very unlikely to accomplish it.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
PART III
A NATION IN CRISIS
(Chapters 37-45)
JEREMIAH – CHAPTER 37
JEREMIAH BEATEN AND IMPRISONED
For 40 years the kings, princes and people of Judah have ignored the faithful warnings of judgment delivered by the prophet Jeremiah. So, the people who were divinely chosen to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” are delivered into the hands of their enemies – a TOTAL FAILURE! By this judgment Jeremiah is finally recognized as the true man of God – though, even then, the remnant left behind refused to heed his voice!
Vs. 1-5: “PRAY FOR US!”
1. Zedekiah was a mere puppet of Babylon – installed by Nebuchadnezzar (597 B.C.) after Coniah had been taken captive to Babylon, (vs. 1; Eze 17:11-21).
2. Neither the rulers nor the people in Judah were willing to heed the words that God had spoken to them through Jeremiah, (vs. 2; 2Ki 24:18-20; 2Ch 36:11-16; comp. Pro 29:12).
3. After the siege was temporarily lifted (because the Babylonians were distracted by news of the approaching Egyptian army) Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah – desiring that he pray to God for Judah, that the respite might be permanent, (vs. 3-5; Jer 2:27; Jer 42:1-4; Jer 42:20 -22).
a. One of the men sent to Jeremiah was an enemy, Jehukal, who was soon to seek Jeremiah’s death, (Jer 38:4).
b. Zepaniah, the priest, had been sent to Jeremiah on a previous occasion, (Jer 21:1-2; Jer 29:25; Jer 52:24).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
The Prophet tells us here, that after Jeconiah the king had been led into exile, the Jews had not on that account repented, though God had as it were forced them to return to him; for it was so severe a chastisement, that to become worse was an evidence of monstrous stupidity. Jeremiah, however, says that they were not reformed by that punishment; for Zedekiah, who had succeeded Jeconiah, rejected sound doctrine, and did not obey the counsel of the Prophet.
But we must bear in mind the history of that time, that we may understand the meaning of the Prophet: the Jews made Jeconiah king in the place of his father, but in the third month the army of the king of Babylon came. Then Jeconiah surrendered himself to them of his own accord. Now the Prophet had said, that there would be no legitimate successor to Jehoiakim; and this was fulfilled, though his son was set on the throne, for a three months’ reign was so unimportant that it was deemed as nothing. And when Nebuchadnezzar saw that the people could hardly be kept in order without a king, he made Mattaniah king, whom he called Zedekiah. And he immediately revolted to the Egyptians and made a treaty with them, in order that he might shake off the yoke of the king of Babylon. Hence the Prophet says, that though Zedekiah had been taught by the example of Jehoiakim and of his nephew Jeconiah, he yet became nothing the better, he does not shnply blame his ingratitude: it is indeed certain that he had been severely reproved by the Prophet for having acted perfidiously towards the King Nebuchadnezzar, for he ought to have kept faith with him to the last. He feigned a reason of his own for revolting from him; no new cause had occurred; but it was only that he might be exempt from tribute, and also lest the malevolent should object to him that he reigned by permission, and that. he was the slave of another king. As, then, he saw that his reign would be exposed to many reproaches, except he revolted from the king of Babylon, he made a treaty with the Egyptians. This deserved reproof: but the Prophet speaks here generally of his obstinate wickedness, and also of that of the whole people.
King Zedekiah, he says, the son of Josiah, reigned instead of Coniah Here the word, Jeconiah, is curtailed, as it is probable, for the sake of degrading him; and we have seen that this has been the common opinion. He is then called Coniah by way of reproach, when yet his full name was Jeconiah. He says that Zedekiah was made king by Nebuchadnezzar: hence his perfidy and ingratitude became manifest. It is added, that he hearkened not to the word of Jehovah, nor his servants, nor his people I have said that Zedekiah was condemned, not simply because he obeyed not the Prophet by keeping faith with the King Nebuchadnezzar, but also because he retained the superstitions of his fathers, and corrupted the true worship of God, and would not be called back to the doctrine of the Law.
The disobedience then, mentioned here, extended to the whole Law of God, or to the two tables; for the Jews had then become degenerate together with their king; they did not purely worship God, but polluted themselves and the Temple by impious and filthy superstitious, and they were also libidinous, avaricious, cruel, violent, and dishonest, and had thus cast off the whole teaching of the Law. And this was a proof of strange blindness, as they had before their eyes the calamities of the city and the reproach to which their king had been subjected; for as we have already said, his sons had been slain in his presence, his own eyes had been pulled out, and he was bound with chains, after having been judged guilty of a capital offense. Such an example ought surely to have terrified Zedekiah and all the rest, so as to make thenl at length wise, and to seek reconciliation with God. But the Prophet says, that they did not hearken to the word of Jehovah
He mentions the king, then his counsellors, and in the third place, the whole people; as though he had said, that this madness was found not only in the king, but also in his counsellors and in the whole community, so that no one was excusable. He then begins with the head, even the king himself, and shews also that his counsellots were nothing better, and afterwards adds the common people, in whom the fault seems to have been less; for we know that the lower orders go astray through want of wisdom and ignorance. But the Prophet here shews that even the lowest of the people were disobedient to God.
We ought to notice especially the words, that they hearkened not to the word of Jehovah which he had spoken by Jeremiah For he intimates, that though God did not appear from heaven, it was sufficient to condemn the unbelieving, that he spoke by his Prophets. There was, then, no reason why the wicked should make evasions and say, that it was not their purpose to reject God and his doctrine, but that they only refused deference to mortals, and would not regard the words of men as heavenly oracles. This evasion availed them nothing, for God would have them to hearken to his servants. Though he did not shew himself from heaven, nor addressed them in a visible form, it was yet enough that he had once for all testified, that after the promulgation of the Law, there would always be Prophets among the people, and had commanded them to be reverently attended to. Nor could the Jews avail themselves of that evasion, which the ungodly commonly resorted to, that they could not distinguish between true and false Prophets; for if they had examined the doctrine of Jeremiah, they would have found that it had certain marks by which they could have easily seen that it was altogether consistent with the Law. That they then rejected the Prophet and his heavenly doctrine, was a proof of their obstinacy and contempt, but not through ignorance. It follows, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.1. Chronology of the Chapter. In the tenth and eleventh year of Zedekiah. Later than chap. 21, for that embassy was sent when Nebuchadnezzar was marching against Jerusalem; this, during the crisis when the Egyptian army came and temporarily drew off Nebuchadnezzars from the siege (Jer. 37:5). In notes on chap. 34 will be seen the mood of the nation at this moment. But as the interval passed, while the armies of Egypt and Chaldea struggled together outside of the city, Zedekiah was moved to solicit the prophets intercession with God for his people.
For other notes cf. on chaps. 21 and 34.
2. Literary Criticisms. Jer. 37:10. Wounded men: men thrust through. Jer. 37:12. To separate himself thence in the midst of his people. The Syriac, To divide thence share with the people; Vulgate, To divide thence a possession in the sight of the citizens; Targum, To divide an inheritance he had there with the people; Septuagint, To purchase thence. Kimchi, Rosenmller, Dahler, and others construe the meaning thus: Jeremiah slipped away, &c. (as in A.V. margin). But , to be smooth, in its form here, means to make smooth or divide: hence Henderson, that he might take his portion thence among the people; and Naegelsbach, that he might divide his inheritance.
Jer. 37:15. Into the dungeons and into the cabins. Some interpret , curved posts or stocks; but the word rather describes arched vaults. Dungeon is lit. house of a cistern. Great excavations existed under the palace and temple at Jerusalem, as reservoirs for water.
SECTIONAL DIVISION OF CHAPTER 37
Jer. 37:1-10. PRAYERS ASKED, BUT IN VAIN
i. A disobedient hearer (Jer. 37:1), though warned by sad example (Jer. 37:2), asking the prophets prayers (Jer. 37:3) in an hour of distress (Jer. 37:5).
ii. A self-willed suppliant (Jer. 37:7) answered with a message of judgment (Jer. 37:7-8) and words of solemn admonition (Jer. 37:9-10).
Jer. 37:11-15. A PRUDENT USE OF OPPORTUNITY MALICIOUSLY THWARTED
i. A judicious effort. The prophets intention was wise (Jer. 37:12); the brief interval was auspicious (Jer. 37:11). See Lit. Crit. supra.
ii. A false charge. Maliciously made (Jer. 37:13); emphatically repudiated (Jer. 37:14); eagerly believed (Jer. 37:14).
iii. A foul injustice. Angry antagonists (Jer. 37:14); abusive treatment; unwarrantable imprisonment.
Jer. 37:16-21. WRONGFUL SUFFERINGS ALLEVIATED
i. Royal leniency. Waited for patiently (Jer. 37:16); exercised more from personal anxiety than righteous regret (Jer. 37:17).
ii. Troubled inquiry. Sought secretly, eagerly, tremblingly (Jer. 37:17); answered emphatically (Jer. 37:17).
iii. Righteous expostulation. Against personal wrong (Jer. 37:18); against heeding delusive teachers (Jer. 37:19).
iv. Sufferings ameliorated. The pathetic pleadings of distress (Jer. 37:20); the royal exercise of compassion (Jer. 37:21).
HOMILETIC OUTLINES ON CHAPTER 37
Jer. 37:3. Theme: A BAD MAN ASKING A GOOD MANS PRAYERS.
I. What led to this bad man needing this good mans prayers?
1. Neglect of the warning of example (Jer. 37:2). All the woes which came upon Jechoniah and his people afforded Zedekiah no effectual admonition of the miseries which follow disobedience.
2. Imminent perils were gathering (Jer. 37:5.) He sought Jeremiahs counsel once before (chap. 21), when the king of Babylons army first approached; and now asked his prayers when his hopes and fears struggled within him as the Egyptians and Chaldeans warred outside the citys walls. He was in anxiety; and it is then that bad people come for the sympathy and help of the godly.
II. What mood was this bad man in while asking the good mans prayers?
1. He cared not to hear the Lords messages and commands (comp. Pharaoh, Exo. 8:28-29).
2. He dared not to intercede the Lord himself (comp. Exo. 10:16-17).
3. And he craved not the Lord Himself but only His help.
III. What facts are suggested by bad men asking a good mans prayers?
1. It is urgent for every man to have a way open by which to reach God in prayer. Even bad men, prayerless men, will come to need this; and the moment will be urgent in their history: in trouble, in death.
2. Intercessory prayers for others have power with God. Scripture instancesMoses, Elijah, &c. Even evil persons seem to know this, and cherish the thought, and use the prayers of others in their own extremity. Wicked people, in alarm, will ask such prayers.
3. Prayers in which God Himself is rejected from the soul, and merely His help selfishly and sordidly asked, are an affront to Jehovah. Jeremiah would not carry such prayers before the Throne.
4. Sinners defeat the prayers of good men by their own wicked lives. They war against the pleadings of the godly.
5. Bad men dare not venture before God themselves, and therefore seek the intercession of the good. Penitents, though sinners, have sought God, for in their penitence they cease to be included among bad persons: their hearts are in grief for their sin. There is a Way to God for even the guilty, and the Way is open always: it is through Jesus; for if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father, and none shall seek His intercession in vain.
See Addenda: USELESS PRAYEES.
Jer. 37:9. Theme: DECEPTIVE HOPE. Thus saith the Lord, Deceive not yourselves, &c.
I. Delusive helps rise in our despair.
They are the will-o-wisps on the swamp decoying the lost traveller into deeper misery.
1. Misery makes us ready to be deceived. We hunger then for any faint hope of help. The desert travellers, expiring with thirst, see the mirage: it is an illusion of their fevered vision. A shipwrecked crew sight a vessel, but it is the creation of their mad imagination. In the hour of worldly misfortune we seize the frailest promise of relief. Sinners dying in their sins call for the minister, the sacramentgrasp at any help; will take mans lying words, Peace, peace! while they are still unforgiven by God, unreconciled through Christ.
2. Delusions come upon all who turn from God. These Jews trusted and sought help from the Egyptians, and would not heed Gods messages through Jeremiah that the Chaldean power should scatter the forces of Pharaoh. No! they turned from God, and trusted in Egypt.
At a crisis when the Chaldean army was besieging the city, the army of Pharaoh came to their succour.
Yes; and lying comforters will appear to souls who reject God. The atheist, assuring them there is no future, no judgment to come, no penalty for sin. The sacramentarian or sacerdotalist, with their false theories of the efficacy of the Churchs sacraments, and the priestly functions of confessors and clergymen. The moralist, who will urge that, though religion has been neglected, the Spirit grieved, Christ passed by, yet he cant be wrong whose life is in the right.
God sometimes gives disobedient souls over to their delusions, so that they believe a lie. They resolutely reject Him, and He says to all awakening agencies of grace, He has turned to idols, let them alone!
II. Deceptive hopes leave us in deeper distress. The darkness is more blinding for the momentary flash of light. The silence is more ghostly for the swiftly-gone voice of pity.
By Pharaoh-Hophras approach, Nebuchadnezzars army was temporarily drawn off from the siege of Jerusalem, but Jer. 37:9; see Jer. 37:7-8.
1. They bring a temporary delight. The city went into jubilation at the sight of the Egyptian banners. A man in mental wretchedness rushes into exhilarating company and indulgences; and lo! he laughs the laughter of fools. Conscience smitten with the pangs of conviction seeks the opiate of a thrilling book, and soul-misery is forgotten in the enchantment of exciting fiction.
Souls consciously needing a Saviour attend the routine of Ritualism, and get lulled into something of quietude; or betake themselves to self-righteous efforts, and gather a new pleasure from these adopted reformatory habits.
2. They fail to fulfil their promises. The tower of Babel did not lift its builders up to heaven! The inflated boastings of Goliath did not fulfil the proud hopes of the Philistines. The army of Egypt did not effect the deliverance of the city from Nebuchadnezzars siege.
Then follows a melancholy disillusionising. No misery can exceed that of being, for a brief respite, raised up from the black depths of despair only to be cast down again into profounder deeps.
And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish. Indeed, every hope which rejects God shall mock the soul with its falsity. In death or in eternity. The storm shall beat upon the house reared on sand, and great shall be its fall. Oh, deceive not yourselves; literally, your souls. There is a Hope sure and steadfast: Christ is our Hope.
3. They defeat not the purposes of God. Deceptive hopes are powerless to avert facts. It is as if attempting to arrest Omnipotence with a spiders web. God intended Nebuchadnezzars victory, yet the Jews cherished the hope of Pharaohs triumph. But God is ruling human events. He has a will mightier than our desires. The Chaldeans shall not depart.
a. Nor will the horrors of death depart from the dying sinner.
b. Nor will the terrors of judgment be evaded by those who despise God and reject His grace in Jesus.
c. Nor will the purposes of God yield to our schemings, for He doeth according to His will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and none shall stay His hand.
d. Nor will the Divine terms of salvation be altered for mans caprice, or any other means of securing Gods mercy be accepted. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
Therefore, deceive not yourselves.
Jer. 37:12. Theme: SEEKING RETIREMENT. Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem, to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people. Various interpretations of his reason and purpose
I. His wearied heart craved quietude amid family scenes. Benjamin was his birthplace. He was tired with the tumult and antagonism of the city, for he saw that he spent himself in fruitless labours. So, worn out with weariness, burdened at heart over the refractoriness and hardness of those among whom he had laboured so long and in vain, he sought retirement and rest.
Perhaps, too, he might there find his people more ready to heed his messages, and, by repentance, to avert the Divine judgments.
1. Labours abundant justify Gods servants in seeking temporary repose. Come ye apart and rest a while.
2. From scenes of official life the human yearnings turn to the tenderer associations of home.
II. In despair of further usefulness in the city, he sought more congenial surroundings. We know how he shrank from the prophets ministry in Jerusalem (see on chap. Jer. 12:5). His experience there had been very adverse and disappointing. The luxurious dream of a rural ministry allured him. And now, that evidently his work at Jerusalem had failed, he seized the opportunity for retiring to Anathoth.
1. Service in forefront scenes becomes very harassing and exhausting.
2. Failure in work naturally impels the worker to ask an altered sphere of ministry.
III. Disasters gathering on the nation impelled him to concern for personal safety. The siege would bring ruin and famine. Now was the favourable moment to quit Jerusalem and hide from the miseries which were imminent.
1. Family interests claimed his attention. He was needed in Benjamin for some division of the family inheritance, which the siege rendered desirable (see Lit. Crit.)
2. In times of common trouble we strongly covet the surroundings of family affection.
Jer. 37:14. Theme: FALSE CHARGES. Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans.
False charges, false witnesses, false words, false pretences, have been so common in this deceitful world, that no marvel David said in his haste, All men are liars.
But there are lovers of truth in the world, who scorn a lie; disciples of Him who said, I am the Truth.
I. When wrongly charged it is right to falsify the accusation. To be silent under a false charge is tacitly to admit its truth. All such untruths should be indignantly refuted. In this we have warrant not only from Jeremiahs example, but also in our Lord and His apostles.
But while it is sad to see good men falsely accused
II. It is sadder to see men so depraved as to be guilty of knowingly bringing false accusation. Better be the accused than the false accuser; the slave than the slave-owner.
Dear as freedom is, and in my hearts
Just estimation, prized above all price,
I had much rather be myself the slave
And wear the bonds than fasten them on him.
COWPER.
III. Christianity distinguishes its disciples with genuineness and truth. Yet none have had grosser charges laid against them. The apostles were charged with encouraging sin that grace might abound. The early Christians were charged with fostering sedition and turning the world upside down. The Protestant martyrs were charged with heresy.
IV. Current errors need to be confronted with the cry, It is false!
1. Ecclesiastical theories of apostolic succession, of baptismal regeneration, of transubstantiation, of the sinners annihilation, of universal restoration, of the Universal Fatherhood of GodSocinian in its origin and tendency. To the law and the testimony, and so test Church politics, creeds, rites, and customs.
2. Errors are being disseminated by the press which should impel us to search the Scriptures daily, to see if these things are so. And wherever we meet an unscriptural theory, let us boldly cry, It is false!
Time will ensure the triumph of truth. The greatest friend of truth is Time.Condensed and arranged from Walks with Jeremiah, by Rev. D. Pledge.
Jer. 37:15. Theme: INJUSTICE TO THE JUST. Though prepared to defend and exculpate himself, he was not allowed to explain or plead.
I. Disqualified judges were wroth.
1. Anger renders men incapable of judgment.
2. Prejudice proves fatal to administration of justice.
3. Hatred gives no place to rectitude or humanity.
II. Unproved accusations.
1. Malice cares not to wait for justification.
2. Wicked men allow passion to hurry them on to indulge their wrath.
3. Innocence has no hope of fair treatment from guilty men.
III. Lawless cruelty. Smote him.
1. Pity for Gods servants is absent from the hearts of those who hate God.
2. Violence, regardless of righteousness, has often been the cruel lot of the godly.
3. Indignation against a faithful witness for God carries men to shameful extremes and criminal brutality. For the wicked hateth the righteous and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.
IV. Foul imprisonment.
1. It gratified them to hinder his further witnessing against their iniquity.
2. In their revenge they added barbarity to indignity. The dungeon.
3. Weary days spent in vileness and darkness: remained there many days.
This was
1. A heavy cross for a consciously innocent man to bear.
2. Only the comforts of Gods Spirit could have sustained him amid this cruel usage.
3. How light are our sufferings for Christ compared with these!
See Addenda: INJUSTICE.
Jer. 37:17. Theme: A SECRET INQUIRER. The king sent and asked him secretly in his house, Is there any word from the Lord?
I. An inquirer, anxious about a Divine message.
1. Fearing lest it should be one of doom.
2. Curious to learn, though unwilling to obey, the word of the Lord.
3. Wishful that there might come a word which would give sanction to his own predetermined course.
II. An inquirer, solicitous for his Own dignity.
1. Ashamed to openly show himself an inquirer.
2. Contriving a secret interview, in order to avoid inconvenience.
3. Devoid alike of courage and of self-abasement.
III. An inquirer, touched by a sentiment of tenderness and mercy. The king
1. Relieved the prophet from his unjust imprisonment.
2. Showed him consideration in bringing him into his house.
3. Doubtless felt some compunction for the wrong done to him, and some conviction of his own wrong course of actionthis prompting his kindlier conduct.
IV. An inquirer answered by an uncongenial word from God.
1. Denouncing his false hopes in Egypt.
2. Foretelling his personal overthrow. Why such a message sent from God to an inquirer?
i. Because, though an inquirer, he was determined upon a disobedient course of action.
ii. Because, though an inquirer, he was in no humble and contrite spirit.
iii. Because, though an inquirer, he was time-serving and cowardly.
iv. Because, though an inquirer, he ought not to have been an inquirer at all; for he had already heard enough from God through Jeremiah, and ought long ago to have ceased asking for any word additional, and obeyed what God had already said to him.
Jer. 37:19. Theme: DELUSIONS REFUTED. Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come, &c.?
Not only had false prophets risen, but both kings and people had shown eagerness to heed their misleading prophecies. (See on Jer. 28:14, p. 489; and Jer. 28:15, p. 494.)
I. Men covet congenial teachers. Your prophets.
1. A delusive wish to hear only pleasant prophesyings.
2. A rash readiness to hear only pleasant prophesyings.
3. A fatal proneness to believe the prophesyings we covet.
II. Time is fatal to falsity. Where now?
1. False words fascinate and gratify for the moment.
2. Gilded hopes charm so long as they endure.
3. Cherished delusions have an ominously brief existence.
III. Experience supplies the test of truth.
1. Man wants safe, rather than mere pleasant, teaching.
2. Deceitful words will, in due time, meet their certain refutation.
3. The day of adversity will shatter all refuges of lies.
IV. Gods refutation of false hopes. The king of Babylon, &c. But
1. The derided event is actually realised. So Satans lie, In the day ye shall not surely die.
2. God will see that truth is vindicated against falsity.
3. Sinners will find that Gods messages, though reviled, turn out true.
V. Beguiled souls deserted by their leaders. Where now are your prophets?
1. They who ruin others will wish to shun their dupes in the day of calamity.
2. Baffled prophets hide from their own shame in the hour of defeat.
3. Deceivers, and those they deceived, must bear the doom of their delusions. All liars shall have their part in the lake, &c., as these wicked prophets had to share the misery of Jerusalems ruin.
See Addenda: FALSITY.
ADDENDA TO CHAP. 37: ILLUSTRATIONS AND SUGGESTIVE EXTRACTS
VALUELESS PRAYERS. Scarcely any ministers, and many a Christian, but can recall instances of their prayers being asked by persons who have been prayerless themselves. One will suffice. I went to see a woman in G. She was dying, but without a gleam of hope.
Oh, pray for me; I cannot, cannot pray for myself, sir.
Indeed; but why not for yourself?
My state is too hard; I have known all about religion since childhood, but have insulted my conscience, rejected God, resisted the Spirit, neglected Christ. And oh, I dare not, I cannot speak to Heaven now!
All my pleading failed to awaken hope in her, or to induce her to an effort to pray. It seemed awful. No! She should be thankful if I would pray for her; but she could not even frame in her thoughts a petition; prayer in her was dead.
Although I did kneel and earnestly plead for her, yet when I asked her if she had joined in any one of my direct and urgent cries, she answered
No, I have no power to bring my mind into any definite desire; I have killed prayer in my soul; I cant now speak a thought to God.
His camrade too arose,
And with the outward forms
Of righteousness and prayer insulted God.
Southey.
We are told
How much the prayers of righteous men avail,
And yet tis strange how very few believe
Those blessed words, or act as were they true.
One reason of this incredulity
May be, that conscience whispers to their souls,
Not righteous men are ye. And thus they think
That useless it would be to strive in prayer
For others good, when scarcely for themselves
They hope for mercy. Lukewarm hearts and faint,
Lift up your feeble hands and bend the knee;
A Mightier than ye your guilt hath borne,
And for His sake, not yours, all prayer is heard.
Lady Chatterton.
INJUSTICE. When Athens was ruled by the thirty tyrants, Socrates the philosopher was summoned to the Senate House and ordered, together with others, to seize one Sevon, a man of rank and fortune, whom they determined to destroy that they might possess his estate. This commission Socrates flatly refused; and boldly replied, I will never willingly assist in an unjust act.
Cherides sharply replied, Dost thou think, Socrates, to talk always in this style, and not to suffer?
Far from it, he answered. I expect to suffer a thousand ills, but none so great as to do unjustly.
A wise man never goes the peoples way;
But as the planets still move contrary
To the worlds motion, so doth he to opinion:
He will examine if those accidents
Which common fame calls injuries, happen to him
Deservedly or no? Come they deservedly?
They are no wrongs then, but punishments.
If undeservedly, and he not guilty?
The doer of them first should blush, not he.
Jonson.
FALSITY. The essence of a lie is the intention to deceive.
A very capital painter in London exhibited a work of art representing a friar habited in his canonicals. Viewing the painting at a distance, you would think the friar to be in a praying attitude, for his hands are clasped together, and held horizontally to his breast; his eyes seem meekly closed like those of the publican in the Gospel; before him lies what looks like a book, over which prayerfully he bends as in devout meditation. But take a nearer survey, and the deception vanishes. The book is discovered to be a punch-bowl; in the hands pressed together is a lemon whose juice he is squeezing into the bowl; and the half-closed eyes are for protection from the spurting juice, and not for prayer.
Get nearer liars and their falsity is manifest.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
EVENTS DURING THE LAST DAYS OF JERUSALEM
Jer. 37:1 to Jer. 39:18
A period of some eighteen years separates the events of chapters 36 and 37. The focus in chapters 37 through 39 is upon the events during the last days of Jerusalem. The total destruction of the city foretold by Jeremiah throughout his ministry was hastening toward fulfillment. During this period of time Jeremiah suffered many indignities. His life was constantly in danger at the hands of his personal enemies. More than once he nearly died because of the deplorable prison conditions in which he found himself. But the physical agonies suffered by Jeremiah during those last few months before the fall of Jerusalem were as nothing compared to the mental and spiritual anguish of seeing his beloved land going down to destruction.
INTRODUCTION Jer. 37:1-2
TRANSLATION
(1) And Zedekiah son of Josiah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made to rule over the land of Judah reigned as king instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. (2) But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land obeyed the words of the LORD which he spoke through the instrumentality of Jeremiah the prophet.
COMMENTS
The first two verses of chapter 37 relate the background of this section of the book. Here Zedekiah is introduced as though he had not appeared before. This is somewhat strange since he has appeared many times prior to this point. Perhaps these verses are a transitional device wed by the editor of the book (Baruch) to notify the reader that he is jumping from the reign of Jehoiakim to the reign of Zedekiah.
Zedekiah had been installed as the vassal of king Nebuchadnezzar in March of 597 B.C. when Jehoiachin (Coniah) his nephew was carried away to Babylon (Jer. 37:1). While Zedekiah was not the ruthless tyrant that his brother Jehoiakim had been he still did not submit to the word of God as spoken through Jeremiah the prophet (Jer. 37:2). Zedekiah was a weak-kneed monarch who suffered the pressures of a troubled conscience on the one hand and a group of radical and misguided young princes on the other. In the view of Jeremiah the security of the nation depended upon Zedekiahs faithfulness to his vassal oath (Jer. 27:11-15). One senses that Zedekiah really would like to have followed the advice of Jeremiah. But tremendous political pressure was brought to bear against the king. He was not his own man. He was a puppet in the hands of the princes.
Following the brief introduction (Jer. 37:1-2) this section records how Jeremiah was consulted (Jer. 37:3-10), confined (Jer. 37:11 to Jer. 38:28), and confirmed (Jer. 39:1-14). The section closes with an appendix consisting of a brief message directed to Ebed-melech (Jer. 39:15-18). The biographical accounts and prose discourses of this section are arranged in strict chronological sequence.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXXVII.
(1) And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah . . .The eight chapters that follow form a continuous narrative of the later work and fortunes of the prophet. They open with recording the accession of Zedekiah, following on the deposition of Coniah or Jeconiah. Here, as in Jer. 22:24, we have the shortened form of the name of the latter. The relative pronoun whom Nebuchadrezzar . . . made king refers to Zedekiah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
JEREMIAH’S PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH THE KING, Jer 37:1-10.
1. Coniah Jeconiah.
Whom Nebuchadrezzar made king “Whom,” that is, Zedekiah.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
A Summary Of The Political Situation At This Stage ( Jer 37:1-5 ).
The political situation at this stage can be summed up in a few words. Jerusalem was under siege because Zedekiah, Jehoiakim’s uncle, who was now king and had previously been appointed by Nebuchadnezzar, had rebelled against him and withheld tribute. And he had done this contrary to YHWH’s words through Jeremiah. Neither he nor his people had been willing to listen to the voice of YHWH. Nevertheless they asked for Jeremiah to pray for them and allowed him his freedom, but were meanwhile looking for deliverance by Egyptian forces.
We can therefore imagine their exuberance when, as a consequence of the advance of an Egyptian army, the siege appeared to have been lifted. They began to think that it was they who had made the right choice after all. With the defeat of the Babylonians by the Egyptians they would have peace with honour and no more be subjected to the Babylonian yoke. And surely Pharaoh Hophra with his chariots and horsemen would be too powerful for the Babylonians.
Jer 37:1
‘And Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.’
In fulfilment of Jer 36:30 Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin was displaced by his uncle Zedekiah when Jerusalem surrendered to the Babylonians in 597 BC. Coniah was short for Jeconiah, which was another name for Jehoiachin. He was carried off to Babylon with all the leading politicians and artisans, including Ezekiel, leaving a depleted Jerusalem to carry on as best they could, bereft of their finest leaders.
It should be noted that Zedekiah was not the popular choice. He was the choice of Nebuchadnezzar. To the people Jehoiachin was still king, and we know that this was later even recognised in Babylon. But he never ‘sat on the throne of David’ as ruler over Judah. He would die in exile, even though in his latter days he would be released from prison and be treated with honour.
Jer 37:2
‘ But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the words of YHWH, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.’
But neither Zedekiah nor his people listened to the voice of YHWH. This is Jeremiah’s equivalent of the phrase used in Kings, ‘he did what was evil in the sight of YHWH’. Jeremiah’s emphasis is on their disobedience. Neither the king, nor his aristocracy, nor the people, listened to the words of YHWH spoken through the prophet Jeremiah. They were too taken up in their own ideas, and in their own way of living and worship.
Jer 37:3
‘And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Pray now to YHWH our God for us.”
Yet even in his disobedience Zedekiah hoped that YHWH would look on the needs of His people, for he asked Jeremiah to pray to ‘YHWH OUR God for us’. It was a case of ‘any port in a storm’. It has always been man’s vain hope that when it comes down to the wire God will not take his sin too seriously. But as Jeremiah had already made clear, and will continue to make clear, God takes sin very seriously. That is why such a prayer would have been in vain. The time had come for final judgment. It had been long in coming, but now it was here.
It is clear that Zedekiah was putting feelers out to Jeremiah because in his own heart he had great respect for him and his message. Note indeed how he sent high officials to consult with him rather than simply summoning him to court. But his problem was that the majority of his advisers were pressing him to rebellion, and had no time for Jeremiah whom they saw as a traitor, and he did not feel strong enough to resist them. He was overall a weak king. Both the men sent by the king to Jeremiah had elsewhere had dealings with him, Jehucal in Jer 38:1 and Zephaniah (not the prophet) in Jer 21:1; Jer 29:25. Jehucal was his enemy, but Zephaniah appears to have been more neutral, and possibly even sympathetic.
Jer 37:4
‘Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, for they had not put him in prison.’
Meanwhile it is emphasised that at this stage Jeremiah was not in prison. He was still free to go about among the people. In fact it is his imprisonments that will be the theme of this passage. For the king and the people still pinned their hopes in the power of Egypt and in the promises of the Pharaoh. Thus they were willing for a time to tolerate what they saw as Jeremiah’s pessimism.
But Jeremiah would not have been alone in supporting the idea of yielding to Babylon. Even among the nobility there were many who sympathised with his message as we have already seen. The Lachish letters also tell us of ‘nobles who weaken the hands of the people’, presumably by calling for surrender to Babylon. The king’s advisers were thus torn between those who advised submission to Babylon, and those who called for resistance and trust in Egypt. But it was the Egyptian party who were winning. And after all, Egypt was local.
Jer 37:5
‘And Pharaoh’s army had come forth out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they decamped from Jerusalem.’
And for a while the Egyptian party appeared to have been right. News came that Pharaoh Hophra had come out of Egypt at the head of a large army, in order to relieve Jerusalem, in response to Zedekiah’s previous negotiations with him (Eze 17:15-18). It must have appeared to them as though Jerusalem had been saved. Who could stand against the might of the Egyptians with their powerful chariots and horsemen?
Indeed to all outward appearances that was the case, for on hearing the news of the Egyptian advance the Chaldean army raised the siege, departed from Jerusalem and went out to face the Egyptians. The people were jubilant. Once more Jerusalem had been delivered! It was, however, to prove a false dawn.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
SECTION 2 ( Jer 26:1 to Jer 45:5 ).
Whilst the first twenty five chapters of Jeremiah have mainly been a record of his general prophecies, mostly given during the reigns of Josiah and Jehoiakim, and have been in the first person, this second section of Jeremiah (Jer 26:1 to Jer 45:5) is in the third person, includes a great deal of material about the problems that Jeremiah faced during his ministry and provides information about the opposition that he continually encountered. This use of the third person was a device regularly used by prophets so that it does not necessarily indicate that it was not directly the work of Jeremiah, although in his case we actually have good reason to think that much of it was recorded under his guidance by his amanuensis and friend, Baruch (Jer 36:4).
It can be divided up as follows:
1. Commencing With A Speech In The Temple Jeremiah Warns Of What Is Coming And Repudiates The Promises Of The False Prophets (Jer 26:1 to Jer 29:32).
2. Promises Are Given Of Eventual Restoration And Of A New Covenant Written In The Heart (Jer 30:1 to Jer 33:26).
3. YHWH’s Continuing Word of Judgment Is Given Through Jeremiah And Its Repercussions Leading Up To The Fall Of Jerusalem Are Revealed (Jer 34:1 to Jer 39:18).
4. Events Subsequent To The Fall Of Jerusalem (Jer 40:1 to Jer 45:5).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
SECTION 2 ( Jer 26:1 to Jer 45:5 ). (continued).
As we have previously seen this Section of Jeremiah from Jer 26:1 to Jer 45:5 divides up into four main subsections, which are as follows:
1. Commencing With A Speech In The Temple Jeremiah Warns Of What Is Coming And Repudiates The Promises Of The False Prophets (Jer 26:1 to Jer 29:32).
2. Following The Anguish To Come Promises Are Given Of Eventual Restoration, Central To Which is A New Covenant Written In The Heart And The Establishment Of A Shoot (Branch) Of David On His Throne (Jer 30:1 to Jer 33:26).
3. YHWH’s Continuing Word of Judgment Is Given Through Jeremiah, The Continuing Disobedience Of The People Is Brought Out, And Jeremiah’s Resulting Experiences Leading Up To The Fall Of Jerusalem Are Revealed (Jer 34:1 to Jer 38:28).
4. The Fall Of Jerusalem And Events Subsequent To It Are Described (Jer 39:1 to Jer 45:5).
We have already commented on Subsections 1). in Jeremiah 4 and subsection 2). in Jeremiah 5. We must now therefore consider subsection 3). This subsection deals with various experiences of Jeremiah (although not in chronological order) in the days of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah.
Section 2 Subsection 3. YHWH’s Continuing Word of Judgment Is Given Through Jeremiah, The Continuing Disobedience Of The People Is Brought Out, And Jeremiah’s Resulting Experiences Leading Up To The Fall Of Jerusalem Are Revealed ( Jer 34:1 to Jer 38:28 ).
The promise of future restoration having been laid out Jeremiah now returns to the current situation with Jerusalem under threat. He demonstrates the different ways in which YHWH has been rejected, and treated with contempt by 1). a hypocritical pretence of obedience to the covenant, which is reneged on, 2). a treating of YHWH’s Fatherhood with contempt by the people, something which is in stark contrast with the obedience and reverence shown by the Rechabites to their father, 3). a burning of YHWH’s very word in a brazier, and 4). a continuing misuse of YHWH’s prophet. All this but confirms YHWH’s prophecies of judgment against Jerusalem,
The subsection divides up easily into five parts, each of which is opened by a crucial phrase, thus:
1. 34:1-7 ‘The word which came to Jeremiah from YHWH when Nebuchadnezzar — fought against Jerusalem and all its cities.’ This was a word declaring that Jerusalem would be destroyed and Zedekiah would be carried off to Babylon and meet Nebuchadnezzar face to face. There he will die ‘in peace’ and be lamented by his nobles.
2. 34:8-22 ‘The word which came to Jeremiah from YHWH after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people at Jerusalem to proclaim freedom to them.’ Zedekiah having persuaded the more wealthy in Jerusalem to enter into a covenant before YHWH to set free their Hebrew slaves, thus fulfilling the Sinai covenant, the more wealthy do so, but once the danger appears to be past, change their minds and re-enslave them, bringing down on themselves the renewed wrath of YHWH and the certainty of Babylonian subjection.
3. 35:1-19 ‘The word which came to Jeremiah from YHWH in the days of Jehoiakim.’ YHWH uses the example of the Rechabites as an illustration of a filial obedience to their father, which is the very opposite of Judah’s disobedience to their Father, something which will result in judgment coming on Judah and Jerusalem.
4. 36:1-32 ‘And it came about in the fourth year of Jehoiakim — this word came to Jeremiah from YHWH.’ Jeremiah records his prophecies in a book in the days of Jehoiakim, prophecies which impress the nobles, but which are treated with disdain by Jehoiakim and his associates, resulting in Jehoiakim cutting up the ‘leaves’ of the book and burning them, thereby bringing judgment on himself.
5. 37:1-38:28 ‘And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah — but did not listen to the words YHWH which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.’ YHWH’s prophet is rejected. Jeremiah warns the king not to expect deliverance through the approaching Egyptian army, and on seeking to visit his hometown during a lull in the siege is accused of attempted desertion and is shut up in prison, although there he is surreptitiously consulted by Zedekiah. His various sufferings, resulting from his prophesying, including a near death experience, are described, and he ends up in the royal prison where he is comparatively well treated.
It will be noted from this that after the initial warning of the success of the Babylonians there is a continuing emphasis on the growing disobedience towards, and rejection of, YHWH and His covenant. This is illustrated firstly by the breaking of a solemn covenant made by the people, a covenant in which they guaranteed to free their Hebrew slaves as required by the Sinaitic covenant, something which they subsequently reneged on; secondly by a disobedience which is shown to be the direct opposite of the obedience of the Rechabites (who sought to be faithful to the principles of wilderness days) to their father; thirdly by the disrespect shown to YHWH’s prophecies as written down by Jeremiah when Jehoiakim contemptuously burned them in a brazier; and fourthly by the continual disrespect shown to Jeremiah himself in his various imprisonments. The growth in intensity of the disobedience as each chapter progresses (breach of the ancient covenant, falling short of a righteous example presented before their very eyes, burning the currently received word of YHWH, and finally misusing the prophet of YHWH because of his up to date prophecies), helps to explain why the prophecies have been put in this order.
We may also see here a deliberate attempt to sandwich between two references to the approaching end and to Zedekiah’s reign, reasons as to why that end is necessary from earlier days. This follows a similar pattern to chapters 21-24 which also sandwiched earlier situations between two examples of the days of Zedekiah.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Disobedience Of Judah And Its King Is Highlighted By Their Treatment Of The Prophet Of YHWH ( Jer 37:1 to Jer 38:28 ).
These events once again took place during the reign of Zedekiah, the final king of Judah before the exile. Along with Jer 34:1-7 this passage forms an inclusio for this subsection on disobedience, paralleling the similar inclusio in chapters 21-24, which brings out that the final intention of the prophecy at this stage is to concentrate on the destruction of Jerusalem and its aftermath in the light of the sin that has gone before.
With this in view the different imprisonments of Jeremiah at the hands of both king and people are emphasised in what follows. The passage commences by underlining the fact that he had not been imprisoned at first (Jer 37:4), and then goes on to deal with a number of imprisonments (Jer 37:15; Jer 37:21; Jer 38:6; Jer 38:13; Jer 38:28), something which is emphasised in the concluding verse (Jer 38:28). Thus there is a continual emphasis throughout on his imprisonment. In this we have the fourth and greatest example of the disobedience of both king and people in that they sought to restrain the prophet of YHWH, something in the main unknown in previous generations.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jer 37:21 So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king.
Jer 37:21
Lam 2:20, “Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?”
Lam 4:10, “The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
Psa 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
A Prophecy Concerning the Outcome of The Siege
v. 1. And King Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, v. 2. But neither he nor his servants, nor the people of the land did hearken unto the words of the Lord which He spake by the prophet Jeremiah. v. 3. And Zedekiah, the king, sent Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, v. 4. Now, Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, v. 5. Then Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt, v. 6. Then came the word of the Lord unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, v. 7. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, v. 8. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
v. 9. Thus saith the Lord, Deceive not yourselves, v. 10. For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Nothing worthy of relation appears to have happened to Jeremiah till the latter period of the reign of Zedekiah. The first two verses of this chapter form the transition. The embassy to Jeremiah mentioned in verse 3 took place after the temporary withdrawal of the Chaldeans from Jerusalem.
Jer 37:1
Coniah; i.e. Jehoiachin (see on Jer 22:24). Whom Nebuchadrezzar made king. Zedekiah, not Jehoiachin, is referred to (see 2Ki 24:17).
Jer 37:3
And Zedekiah the king sent. This was Zedekiah’s second embassy to Jeremiah. His request on the former occasion bad been for a prophecy; on the present it was for an “effectual fervent prayer,” such as Hezekiah’s embassy asked of Isaiah (Isa 37:6). But the issue was to be very different from that in the case of Sennacherib’s invasion! Jehucal. The same man appears in Jer 38:1, among those who brought about the imprisonment of Jeremiah. Zephaniah. The high priest’s deputy, mentioned again in Jer 21:1; Jer 29:25; Jer 52:24.
Jer 37:4
Now Jeremiah came in and went out, etc. Had he been a prisoner, an embassy of high officials could not, with propriety, have been sent to him (comp. verse 17; Jer 38:14).
Jer 37:5
Then Pharaoh’s army, etc.; rather, And Pharaoh’s army had, etc.; as a further description of the circumstances under which the embassy was sent. The withdrawal of the Chaldeans seemed to offer a gleam of hope. The Pharaoh referred to was the Hophra of the Jews, the Apries of Herodotus, the Uah-ab-ra of the monuments. His interference was useless; indeed, Hophra was one of the most unfortunate of the Egyptian kings (see Jer 44:30).
Jer 37:10
Even if the Jews had defeated the whole Chaldean army, and there remained but a group of sorely wounded men, these in their weakness would be enabled to carry out God’s sure purpose. But wounded men hardly brings out the force of the Hebrew; the word rendered “men” is emphatic, and expresses paucity of numbers, and that rendered “wounded” is, literally, pierced through.
Jer 37:11
For fear of, etc.; rather, because of.
Jer 37:12
As soon as communication with the outside world was possible, Jeremiah took the opportunity of going to his native country, to obtain something or other which he could only obtain “thence.” The Authorized Version says that his object was to separate himself thence. But
(1) the rendering is linguistically untenable; and
(2) the assumed object is incongruous with the circumstances and Character of Jeremiah, who was neither inclined to seek safety in isolation nor had any motive at present for doing so. The only safe rendering is, to claim his share thence. Whether there was just then a reallotment of communal lands must be left undecided; this would, however, be the most plausible hypothesis, if we could be sure that the present was a sabbatical year. The additional words, in the midst of the people, would then acquire a special significance. The “people” would be the representatives of families who had an equal right to allotments with Jeremiah.
Jer 37:13
The gate of Benjamin; i.e. the gate looking northwards towards Benjamin (comp. Jer 20:2; Jer 38:7; Zec 14:10). It appears to be the same as the gate of Ephraim (2Ki 14:13; Neh 8:16). Thou fallest away, etc. Perhaps an allusion to Jeremiah’s declaration (Jer 21:9) that “he that falleth away to the Chaldeans he shall live,”
Jer 37:15
The princes were wroth with Jeremiah. As Graf has pointed out, the princes, who had evinced their respect for Jeremiah on former occasions (Jer 26:1-24; Jer 36:1-32) had probably shared the captivity of Jehoiachin; Zedekiah’s “princes” would be of a lower origin and type, and ready (like the judges in the French “terror”) to accept any charge against an unpopular person without proper examination. The house of Jonathan the scribe. “Scribe,” i.e. one of the secretaries of state. The house of Jonathan seems to have been specially adapted for a prison, as the next verse shows. Chardin, the old traveller, remarks, “The Eastern prisons are not public buildings erected for that purpose, but a part of the house in which the criminal judges dwell. As the governor and provost of a town, or the captain of the watch, imprison such as are accused in their own houses, they set apart a canton of them for that purpose when they are put into these offices, and choose for the jailor the most proper person they can find of their domestics” (Chardin).
Jer 37:16
Into the dungeon, and into the cabins. The former word undoubtedly implies an underground excavation. The latter is of more uncertain signification. It most probably means “vaults;” but it may mean “curved posts”something analogous to stocks (see on Jer 20:2).
Jer 37:17
Meantime the Chaldean army has returned, and reinvested the city. Zedekiah, in his anxiety, sends for Jeremiah privately to his palace. Thou shalt be delivered, etc. (comp. Jer 32:3, Jer 32:4; Jer 34:2, Jer 34:3).
Jer 37:21
Court of the prison; rather, court of the watch (as Jer 32:2). A piece of bread; literally, a circle (i.e. round cake) of bread. This is mentioned elsewhere in descriptions of poverty (1Sa 2:36; Pro 6:26); but as the ancient Oriental bread was not our delicate white bread, it was a real “staff of life.” The Syrian peasants still eat cakes of coarse meal, of about the thickness of parchment, and equal in size to a large plate (Orelli’s ‘Travels’). The bakers’ street. Probably the several trades were confined to special quarters and streets. In Cairo each trade has still its own bazaar (saddlers, carpets, hardware, goldsmiths, sweetmeats, etc.).
HOMILETICS
Jer 37:1-3
Prayer without obedience.
Though Zedekiah will give no heed to the message from God to him through Jeremiah, he is not the less anxious to secure the prophet’s intercession with God for deliverance from approaching calamity. The king illustrates the too common case of those people who will fly to the protection of religion in trouble, though they neglect all its obligations of holiness and of service.
I. RELIGION REQUIRES OBEDIENCE GOD‘S WILL. It is not all on one side, God speaks to us, and speaks words of command as well as words of consolation. It is, therefore, our duty to hear and obey.
1. Ignorance is no excuse, if we wilfully refuse to hear the truth. Zedekiah and his servants did not obey because they did not” hearken,” i.e. would not hearken. We are not responsible for failing through not knowing our duty if we could not know it. But if we could, it was our duty to ascertain it. The soldier who puts aside the despatch of his commander unopened, and then acts contrary to the orders contained in it is, of course, as guilty as if he did so knowingly; for it was his duty to read the orders he received before going into action.
2. The example of those who have done wrong before is no excuse. Zedekiah followed the example of Jehoiakim. But he knew it was wrong. He had seen the miserable end of his predecessor’s reign. He should have taken warning from this. But men are more inclined to imitate the crimes of the wicked than to learn the lesson of their fate.
3. High position does not mitigate guilt, but, on the contrary, it aggravates it. Zedekiah led the people with him in his rejection of God’s message through Jeremiah. He knew what influence he exerted, and he ought to have been the more careful that it was not wrongly used.
II. PRAYER WITHOUT OBEDIENCE IS VAIN. Zedekiah seeks Jeremiah’s prayers, but in vain. It is not necessary, indeed, that our obedience should be faultless before God will hearken to a single prayer. If this were the ease, no prayer of man’s could be heard. But it is requisite that we should repent of our past disobedience, and should be unfeignedly desirous of obeying God in the future. For otherwise our purely self-seeking religion is an insult to God. Besides, we cannot hope to change the essential principles of God’s action by our prayer. If it is his will to chastise us for our sin, he cannot change his will so long as we remain unchanged in conduct. But when we turn from the sin which deserves the penalty, it may be possible for God to modify his treatment of us in answer to our prayer of submission. Therefore it is so necessary that we should pray through the intercession of Christ. Then, though our obedience is still most imperfect, if we desire to do better, Christ is our Representative and the promise of our future obedience, and therefore his good merits go to plead with God to answer our prayer offered in his Name.
Jer 37:9
Self-deception.
“Deceive not yourselves.”
I. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SELF–DECEPTION. As fallible beings, surrounded with mystery, and often beset by illusions we are likely to fall into unavoidable mistakes for which we cannot be held responsible. There are other errors which we might avoid if we took the right means for ascertaining the facts; but from indifference, or from indolence, or from unwillingness to see an unpleasant truth that is already half suspected, we neglect these means, and thus land ourselves in a delusion. This is self-deception.
1. It may be conscious and deliberate. The very notion is paradoxical. But we are not logical machines; our belief is often most inconsistent. Our will and feelings have great influence over our convictions. We rarely contemplate things in the white light of truth. And in so far as we permit our vision to be blinded by passion or distorted by prejudice, we may deceive ourselves.
2. This self-deception may be unconscious. Yet it is culpable if we voluntarily neglect the means of seeing things as they are. We may not know that we are deceiving ourselves. But we must know that we are not doing all we can to avoid delusions.
II. THE OCCASIONS OF SELF–DECEPTION.
1. These may be found in the superficial appearance of events. The outward seeming does not correspond with the inward verity. The temptation is to rest satisfied with the mere appearance and assume that it is an index of the underlying fact. Thus when the Chaldean army retreated from before Jerusalem at the advance of Pharaoh-Hopbra, Zedekiah was ready to believe that his revolt was successful.
2. Occasions may be found in our own inclinations. Zedekiah wished to see no more of the Chaldean army, and “the wish was father to the thought.”
3. They may be found in preconceived notions. We expect the facts to verify our opinions, and we contrive to make them do so by ignoring what will not agree with them, and selecting for consideration only what is favourable. All this may be traced in the history of religious delusions. People blind themselves to the thought of future judgment because, on the surface of life and for the present, all goes well. They are toe ready to form their creed according in their inclination, dropping out unpleasant ideas as though there were no dark truths in existence. They go to the Bible for confirmation of their own “views” rather than for instruction, and, if need be, correction of them, and of course they have eyes only to see those texts which make for this confirmation. Note: Jeremiah tried to deliver the Jews from self-deception. A Divine revelation is necessary to save us from religious self-deception. The Bible aims at this result as well as at enlightening our ignorance.
III. THE EVIL OF SELF–DECEPTION.
1. It is disloyal to truth. It is our duty not to rest in a delusion. The obligation of truthfulness reaches to our thinking as well as to our speaking.
2. It is dangerous to our own souls. Facts remain unchanged whatever fanciful notions we may weave about them till they are quite unrecognizable, and when the time for action comes, they will act as they are, not as we think them. The careless, who decline to consider a future judgment, are not the less amenable to it. Those people who have sought refuge in the Roman Catholic Church from the torment of doubt have not done anything to settle the facts about which they were troubled; like the ostrich, who hides his head in a bush, they have quieted their doubt by turning from it; but if it was well grounded originally, it must be ultimately confirmed to their undoing.
Jer 37:10
The irresistible will of God.
I. THE FACT. The Jews were ready to believe that Egypt was a match for Babylon, and to hope that through the conflict of these two powers they might regain their liberty. Even if they were justified in thinking so from a calculation of the material resources of these great empires, Jeremiah reminded them that there were other considerations to be taken into account before the result could be predicted. It was the will of God that Babylon should conquer Jerusalem. Therefore, if the Chaldean army were reduced to a disorganized group of wounded men, Jerusalem would still succumb. The Jews had found that, while they were faithful to God, they were strong against hordes of enemies. They were to learn that when they had put themselves against God, the position was reversed, and the weakest foe could overthrow them. So it was true against them, as it had been on their side, that “a little one should chase a thousand.” It has been the mistake of kings and of peoples to leave out of their calculations the chief factor of their historyto forget that God is ever working out his will through their cross purposes. Do we not make the same mistake in our private lives? If God is almighty, it follows beyond question that he must accomplish what he purposes, though to us there seems no means of doing so, and though he neither reveals the means nor in most cases the end, working them out “deep in unfathomable mines.” Still, we know some things concerning God’s will and the way he works it out; e.g. he always wills what is just and good; material events are largely beyond our control and under the influence of providence; moral influences count for much in history, and these are directly affected by the spiritual relations of God with the minds of men.
II. THE RELATION OF THIS FACT TO FATALISM AND TO NECESSARIAITISM.
1. The relation of it to fatalism. It must be distinguished from materialistic fatalism, which denies all will in nature; from pagan fatalism, which sets the decrees of the fates above the power of the gods; from Mohammedan fatalism, which ascribes every event to the will of God, but regards that will as the unfettered choice of an irresponsible despot. The irresistible power in providence as revealed in the Bible is a will, a Divine will, a holy will, that always works out purposes of justice, purity, and love.
2. The relation of this fact to necessarianism. If God’s will is irresistible what room is there for our will? Must not that be necessarily bound by his will? This question arises from confusing two phases of the will of God. The phrase, “will of God,” represents two things
(1) what God purposes to do himself, and
(2) what he desires us to do.
The first governs his actions, the second inspires his Law. Now, it is the first that is irresistible; the second is plainly resistible. All sin is nothing but man’s rebellion against God’s will, i.e. God’s will in the second sensewhat he wishes us to do. This is really no contradiction to what we know of the first will of Godwhat he purposes to do himselfbecause in his almighty will of action he chooses to give us free will containing the power of resisting his Law. Still, God’s will to act must harmonize with his wilt in his Law for our conduct. If we resist the second will, we shall find ourselves in conflict with the first, against which all resistance is futile. Therefore true wisdom will lead us to do God’s will where we are free in relation to it, that we may find ourselves in agreement with God’s will where opposition means only failure and ruin.
Jer 37:11-21
Jeremiah imprisoned as a traitor.
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO THE IMPRISONMENT. Whatever interpretation we are to set on the ambiguous passage which gives the reason for Jeremiah’s attempt to leave Jerusalem (verse 12)whether it were to escape from the city, or to abandon a work that appeared to be fruitless for work in the country districts, or to take a possession at a redistribution of land in the sabbatical year, or to claim his share as a priest,it is difficult to acquit him of all blame for allowing personal considerations to move him from what he ought to have known was his post. At the best, his conduct was open to misinterpretation. Even when we mean no wrong it is our duty to avoid the appearance of evil. Still, we must not be harsh in condemning the prophet. A servant of God has his natural human rights and the civil rights which he shares with his fellow citizens. People are very unjust in charging good men with worldliness for exercising those rights, and in assuming that religious people are to be blamed for self-interested conduct which in itself is irreproachable and is acknowledged to be so amongst men under ordinary circumstances. We are not surprised, however, to find the prophet accused of treason. He had frequently advised submission to Babylon. It was now hastily assumed that he and his friends were about to secure their own escape from the horrors of a siege by basely deserting their fellow citizens. The best men are liable to the vilest accusations. The world holds no man above suspicion. Christ was accused of a great crime. Therefore we should learn patience Under similar inflictions, remembering that God knows all, and that it is far better to suffer unjustly than to be unpunished but guilty. We should also learn to avoid the mistake of the Jews. People are too much inclined to put the worst construction on a doubtful action. “Charity thinketh no evil.”
II. THE CIRCUMSTANCES FOLLOWING THE IMPRISONMENT. Jeremiah had been harshly treatedstruck by the courtiers of Zedekiah and thrust into a dungeon. There God met him (verse 17), as God repeatedly visited him, in prison. His life’s work was not stayed by outward restraints. That must have been some consolation to the prophet. A devoted servant of God is more concerned about his mission than about his personal comfort. Apprehending a return of danger from the Chaldean army, the weak Zedekiah sent and consulted Jeremiah secretly. The prophet’s reply was bold and clear (verse 17). Never had he been more definite or more concise. What courage and fidelity to truth for a prisoner thus to address a king! Having delivered his message, Jeremiah proceeded to plead his own cause. How many of us reverse the order, putting self-interest first and crowding other interests into the background! Jeremiah was favourably heard by the king, and his condition considerably ameliorated. He did not suffer this time for his fidelity. It is fair to note that faithfulness does not always lead to martyrdom. In the end it is always safer to be brave and true than to play the coward’s part.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR
Jer 37:2, Jer 37:3
(Vide Jer 21:1, Jer 21:2.)M.
Jer 37:5-10
Hopes that betray.
The king, continuing in his rebellion against God as well as against Nebuchadnezzar, invoked the aid of Pharaoh-Necho. At the tidings of his advance the Chaldeans raised the siege, but only that they might defeat the Egyptians, and return again in greater force and fury.
I. THE NATURE OF THESE HOPES.
1. They are based upon human means alone.
2. They arise from following the dictates of our own will and wisdom.
II. HOW THEY BETRAY.
1. They are full of promise, and gain confidence.
2. They must fail,
(1) because they are inadequate to the real need, and
(2) they are opposed to the will of God.
3. They spiritually ruin. They lead us first to ignore and then to resist the will of God. In this alone is our welfare secured. For although the first expression and demand of that will be gloomy and severe, the end of it to the obedient is peace and salvation (1Pe 1:3-9).M.
Jer 37:10
God’s purpose independent of means.
The declaration of the certainty of the judgments upon Judah is absolute. They are not to be avoided by any human effort or apparent success. The soldiers of Chaldea, although they were to be wounded (“thrust through” equivalent to “dead”?), would still avail for the work they had to do, and would be raised again to do it.
I. THE LESSON. A twofold one, viz.:
1. The inevitableness of the Divine will, whether it be to destroy or to save.
2. God’s independence of human means. He can save by “many or by few.” He is declared able “of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” It pleased him by “the foolishness of preaching” to save many, etc.
(1) The sinner in rebellion against God, however great his outward success and however feeble the opposition to him, has reason to fear. It is an easy thing for his Maker to crush him. It will not require a great instrumentality. Herod was eaten of worms.
(2) The Christian worker should rejoice and be encouraged. Every true word or work will have its effect. He must succeed, however insignificant his company or his means.
II. THE TYPE. The ghostly army that was to “burn the city with fire” represents the mighty power of God to create his agents, and symbolizes the death and resurrection of Christ. It is the dead Christ who is raised again to fulfil the will of God in judgment and salvation.M.
Jer 37:11-16
The servant of God accused of treason.
This attempt of Jeremiah’s to go out of Jerusalem, whatever its special purpose may have been (as to this there is great diversity of view), was at once suspected of being treasonable, or, at any rate, it was made an occasion of accusing and punishing him. His asseverations were not listened to, but quickly and with much anger he was consigned to a loathsome prison, where he languished for many days. This teaches that
I. THOSE WHO ARE FAITHFUL TO GOD WILL FREQUENTLY BE SUSPECTED OF THE WORST MOTIVES. The immediate purpose to be served by going out from Jerusalem was innocent enough, viz. mere resort to the country as safer than the city, or to take possession of his inheritance in Benjamin. No effort was made at concealment, it was done “in the midst of the people.” Yet he was accused of being about to “fall away [desert] to the Chaldeans.” It would appear as if the prophet’s persistent declarations of the success of the Chaldean arms and the downfall of Judah were attributed to his sympathy with the enemy. Many of the greatest servants of God have had similar experiences. Christ himself was accused of the worst intentions against the Jewish nation.
II. HOW IS THIS?
1. Because the natural mind fails to understand the things of God. The motive power or central principle is so diverse, or the means employed are so peculiar, that the real benevolence of intention is not perceived. When Christians remember how hard it is for even themselves to justify God’s ways, they ought to expect that others not expressly taught of him will fail thoroughly to apprehend their drift. The policy of the Divine life and service, even in its plainest duties and appointments, is surrounded with mystery; its wisdom is not of this world. It is often hard for those who are condemned by Christ’s ministers to realize that the denunciations to which they are subjected do not spring from personal enmity. The greatest efforts ought, therefore, to be made to prove how good and loving the spirit is in which words of Christian rebuke are uttered. And the whole conduct of believers should be careful and blameless. “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Mat 10:16).
2. The natural mind is predisposed against truth and goodness.M
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Jer 37:2-4
Give us of your oil.
Here we have King Zedekiah, his servants, and his people, asking the prayers of the prophet of God, whose word of counsel and warning they had all along despised. The verses remind us of the parable of the ten virgins; for, as there, the foolish say unto the wise, “Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out,” so here the foolish king and people entreat the aid of the wise servant of God when, as the midnight cry came to those virgins, so the dread judgment of God came to them. “Pray now unto the Lord our God for us,” say they who had refused to listen when he spoke to them from the Lord their God. Note
I. HOW GRIEVOUSLY WICKED THE PEOPLE HAD BEEN. (Cf. Jer 37:2.) It was with them as with the family of the rich man told of in Luk 16:1-31. He, being in torments, thought of his five brethren who were all of them living in sin. There, as here, there were none righteous. And so with Sodom and Gomorrah.
II. YET HOW VERY ANXIOUS THEY WERE FOR THE PROPHET‘S PRAYERS. Luk 16:3, “Pray now,” etc. Reasons of this were:
1. They had waked up to the conviction that the prophet’s message was true.
2. They were in sore peril, and knew not how to help themselves.
3. They knew that the prophet had power with God.
4. They felt they could not go to God in prayer themselves. How much of the asking for the prayers of God’s ministers on the part of those who are on their death bed is owing to like causes!
III. HOW USELESS SUCH PRAYERS ARE. Did the prayer of Dives do any good? or of the five foolish virgins? or those of the prophet, for we may suppose that he did pray? Now, the reasons of their uselessness are such as these:
1. To have granted them would have defeated God’s purpose in regard to his people. That purpose was to purify them, to separate them from their sins. But they did not wish when they asked these prayers to be severed from sin, only to be relieved of trouble. But such desire could not be granted; therefore God held them down to the consequences of their sin.
2. Their request was an insult to God. Such men are well described in Mrs. H.W.B. Stowe’s book, ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ where one of them, Haley, is thus spoken to by a comrade: “After all, what’s the odds between me and you? ‘Tain’t that you care one bit more or have a bit more feelin’; it’s clean, sheer, dog meanness, wanting to cheat the devil and save your own skin, Don’t I see through it? And your ‘gettin’ religion,’ as you call it, arter all, is too p’isin mean for any crittur; run up a bill with the devil all your life, and then sneak out when pay time comes! Boh!” Is there not a vast amount of this meanness? Its despicableness is only equalled by its uselessness.
3. It would make God the minister of sin.
CONCLUSION. Learn, unless there be true repentance, neither our own prayers nor those of other people, though they be the greatest saints of God, will avail us anything. Even coming to Christ apart from repentance will fail us. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,” etc.C.
Jer 37:5
Building on the sand.
Such was the conduct of the people who encouraged themselves to hope from the withdrawal of the armies of Babylon from around Jerusalem that now they were delivered for good and all, and had no further cause for fear. They misread facts, interpreting them according to their desires rather than according to the truth. It was true that the army of Egypt was advancing and that of Babylon retreating. But, as the onflux of the wave does not prove that the tide is coming in nor its reflux that the tide is going out, so this temporary advance and retreat told of no permanent results or of what the real issue should be. But yet they thought it did. It was a case of building on the sands of unwarranted hope rather than on the rock of the Word of God. Hope ever tells a flattering tale, but never so much so as when she promises peace to those to whom God has said there shall be no peace. Now, concerning such building on the sand, note
I. THE FOUNDATION. There are many such; e.g.:
1. Reasonings from the observed prosperity of the wicked.
2. The assertions or suggestions of the sin loving heart: that there is no God; if there be, he is too merciful to punish sin; repentance at last will do; the efficacy of sacraments, etc. These are all of them instances of 1.
3. The slow footedness of God’s judgments. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men are steadfastly set in them to do evil.” And God is long suffering, not willing that any should perish.
II. THE STRUCTURES RAISED THEREUPON. They are often characterized by much material comfort. Worldly prosperity is not too weighty for them. Great freedom from anxiety, “Not in trouble as other men are.” They are very attractive, and seem to be the abodes of true happiness. Mirth, festivity, and song abound in them often far more than in those which are built upon the rock.
III. THE OVERTHROW. This always comes, it came in the instance given here. The armies of Babylon did come back. It may come in this life. There are warnings of it every day. But if not now, then in the great day of judgment. And this overthrow will make us full of sorrow according to the days wherein we have never been afflicted, and the years wherein, as we have thought, we have seen no evil.
CONCLUSION. Read the events of God’s providence, not by the light of thy sin-loving heart, but by the light of God’s sure Word, of God’s Spirit within thee, and of God’s not partial but complete dealing with men, taking in the whole of life, and, if needs be, eternity also. “Be not deceived.”C.
Jer 37:9
Be not deceived.
There was ground for this exhortation, and there is still. Then as now
I. VERY MANY WERE DECEIVED.
II. APPEARANCES WERE DECEPTIVE.
III. NONE COULD CLAIM EXEMPTION FROM THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING DECEIVED.
IV. THERE WAS A TRAITOR WITHIN THE CAMP. Their hearts wished that to be true which they therefore thought to be true.
V. TO BE DECEIVED IS TO BE PLUNGED IN THE UTTERMOST OF SORROW.
VI. WE NEED NOT BE. There is One who says, “I will guide thee with my counsel.”C.
Jer 37:13
Falsely accused.
Our Lord Jesus said, “It is sufficient for the servant that he be as his Master.” Now, as he was falsely accused, so here we find his servant likewise. Note
I. TO BE FALSELY ACCUSED IS THE COMMON LOT OF GOD‘S PEOPLE. How many instances we have!Abel, Joseph, Moses, David, etc. Because of such slanders the psalmist said, “All men are liars.” And here the Prophet Jeremiah, having no thought of deserting his countrymen, is nevertheless accused of so doing. And today the world is ever ready with its slander. It avows that all the godly are but hypocrites, knaves, or fools. With what eagerness does it fasten upon the faults of a good man! How ready to take up an accusation against him!
II. HOW IS IT TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR? We reply:
1. Men of the world do not understand the principles on which the godly act. Hence what they do not understand they misrepresent.
2. They know their own motives, and attribute the like to the godly. They act from purely worldly motives, and hence they conclude godly men do the same.
3. They hate religion, and therefore are always ready to revile it.
4. It is “a comfort to Sodom” to think that the godly are no better than themselves after all. But
III. HOW IS IT TO BE DEALT WITH?
1. Sometimes by silence. Silence leaves opportunity for and suggests reflection. How often of our Lord is it said, “He answered not a word” (cf. Joh 13:1-38.)]
2. Sometimes by indignant denial. Thus the prophet acted here; verse 14, “It is false,” etc. They might have known, and probably did know, bow false their accusation was. Where there is great and true indignation felt at being thought capable of a given crime, that feeling, may often be shown; often, indeed, it ought to be, as when
(1) the honour of God is concerned;
(2) the good of his Church;
(3) what is shameful as well as sinful is charged against us.
3. Sometimes by showing the necessary untruthfulness of the accusation. This also our Lord did, as when they charged him with being in league with Beelzebub.
4. Sometimes by committing it all to God. Of our Lord it is said, “When he was reviled, he reviled not again, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.”
5. Sometimes by showing the motive of the false accusation. As when our Lord likened those who found fault with him to petulant children playing in the market place, who would be pleased with nothing.
6. Always by remembering that we are in the fellowship of Christ herein, and seeking his Spirit’s aid to rightly bear this trial.C.
Jer 37:14, Jer 37:15
Characteristics of injustice.
They may be traced in the incident recorded in these verses. Unjust judges as were these
I. WILL NOT HEARKEN TO THE ACCUSED.
II. ARE BIASED BY PASSION.
III. ARE NEEDLESSLY CRUEL.
IV. SEEK NOT EIGHT, BUT REVENGE.
LEARN. To be careful what manner of spirit we are of whenever we are called upon to judge one another. Let us be thankful that the Judge before whom we stand, and who surveys all our ways, is that gracious Lord to whom the Father has committed all judgment, and who judges not righteously only, but in all mercy as well.C.
Jer 37:20
“Out of weakness made strong.” This verse an utterance, not of a sturdy invincible soul, but one of a gentle, shrinking, and often timid nature. Note
I. THE PROPHET JEREMIAH belonged to the company of those who, out of weakness, God has made strong.
1. By nature and temperament he was the reverse of strong. Proof in this verse. Suffering was ever terrible to him. Hence he piteously pleads for the king’s help. And passim we have indications of the gentleness of his nature. But:
2. Notwithstanding this, see how strong he became. When it came to the test, how he endured (cf. Jer 1:10, Jer 1:17, Jer 1:18)! Nothing would induce him to alter his word towards the king, the prophets, and the people generally. He softened not one line of his message, although it would have been so much to his advantage to have done so. Now
II. THIS IS THE GLORY OF GOD‘S GRACE ALWAYS. There will be glory by and by, an outward glory on every child of God. “Eye hath not seen,” etc. But the present glory of God’s grace is this, that out of weakness it makes its recipients strong. See what it did for the apostles, and especially for St. Peterthey the recreants and the denier of the Lord, but afterwards his valiant and undaunted witnesses. And grace has done the same for not a few in prospect of suffering and trial from which beforehand they would have utterly shrunk away. Women and children were amongst the number of the martyrs; and in the moral martyrdoms of this softer age they are so still. God strengthens his servants “with might by his Spirit in the inner man? And this is the glory of his grace. Not the numbers of the Church, nor her wealth, rank, gifts, or aught of such sort, but the spiritual strength that characterizes her. “I can do all things,” said St. Paul, “through Christ which strengtheneth me.” And it will be so yonder in the better world hereafter. The glory of that day will not be the golden streets, the gates of pearl, the foundations of precious stones; not the vast throng of the redeemed, nor aught that belongs only to their circumstances, happy as they will be; but it will be the character of them all. And this will be their security also. The defences of that condition of the redeemed will not be outward, but inward. They, having been strengthened with might by the Spirit of God in the inner man, will have come to be rootedlike the giant oak, which no tempest can uproot from the groundand groundedlike the deep-laid foundation of the temple, which naught can overthrowin love, and so Christ will dwell in their hearts. Yes, their glory will be their defence also.
CONCLUSION. Seek, therefore, this grace of Divine strength. Bow your “knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” that, “according to the riches of his glory,” he would grant you this. Then, though weak and wavering by nature, steadiness and strength shall be given to your will, your heart, and so God will make you as he did his prophetas “a defenced city, an iron pillar, a brazen wall” (Jer 1:18).C.
Jer 37:21
The rough wind stayed in the day of the east wind.
Very terrible to the prophet were the sufferings he had to bear. Hence he seeks for relief by petitioning the king for help, which the king is led to bestow (Jer 37:21). It is an illustration of how God stays his rough wind, etc. Note
I. GOD OFTEN LETS SORE TROUBLE COME TO HIS SERVANTS.
II. BUT HE APPOINTS IT ACCORDING TO THEIR POWER OF ENDURANCE. He is not a hard master, gathering where he has not strawed, nor reaping where he has not sown. He fits the back for the burden it has to bear. If staying in the dread dungeon was too great a trial for his prophet, he will have him taken out. The wave that would have sunk the boat in which our Lord was with his disciples was never permitted to beat into it. A great many others came, but not that one. And so it ever is. “As thy day, so thy strength.” God will be our “arm every morning.”
III. THEREFORE “TAKE NO THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW,” etc.C.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Jer 37:3
A request for intercession.
A request of this kind has always to be looked at through the character of the man who prefers it. It makes all the difference whether it be the utterance of grovelling superstition or of enlightened piety. It is a long way from this request of Zedekiah to the request of Paul: “Brethren, pray for us.” Let us try to estimate
I. THE NOTION ZEDEKIAH HAD OF GOD. A notion evidently altogether detached from any considerations of character; we are told in Jer 37:2 that Zedediah did not hearken to the words of the Lord through his prophet Jeremiah, and we could infer as much from the request here addressed to the prophet. Zedekiah looked upon Jehovah pretty much as he did upon the deities of surrounding nations. The notion was that the immense power of these deities could be turned in any direction desired, if only they were sufficiently propitiated. Now, if Zedekiah had cared to attend to the volume of prophecy, he would have seen very clearly that he who comes to God must believe that he is a God who will not pass over the misgovernment, the cruelty, the injustice, of human kings. And so when we come to God our prayers will have reality just in proportion as they show a distinct understanding of the character of God.
II. THE NOTION ZEDEKIAH HAD OF PRAYER. Had he indeed any notion at all? Did he mean anything more than that Jeremiah should go and do whatever he thought necessary and effectual? Intercessory prayer can be of little use to those who do not pray for themselves. Zedekiah wanted a certain end, namely, that by help of Egypt he should repel the Chaldeans. And he looked upon Jehovah as being a sort of heavenly Pharaoh. And just as he had sent, doubtless, one ambassador to ask for Pharaoh’s help, so now he wants to make Jeremiah an ambassador to Jehovah. This was all very foolish, ignorant, and presumptuous on Zedekiah’s part; but what better are we when we make up our prayers of petitions for things that we desire without stopping to consider that no petition is worth anything unless it not merely accords with the will of God, but even springs from that will? The use of prayer is that God may serve us according to his estimate of our needs, not according to our estimate.
III. THE NOTION ZEDEKIAH HAD OF THE PROPHET. He had a superstitious feeling that Jeremiah could do something for him he could not do for himself. We see here the secret of the power of priestcraft. We see how it was that false prophets got such a hold. We see how it is that priestcraft and spiritual dictation still prevail. The great bulk of men will not do the right thing towards God, they will not repent and crucify self, but a deep necessity impels them to do something, and so they seek to other men. Zedekiah was making an altogether wrong use of the prophet. His duty was to obey the prophet’s messages, then he would not have needed to ask Jeremiah to pray for him. And let all people understand with respect to ministers of religion, that they exist to teach and help in a brotherly way; hut that also they are frail and fallible, and possess no mystic virtue to make their prayers more efficacious than the prayers of other people. Intercessory prayer is the duty, the privilege, the power, of every Christian.Y.
Jer 37:9, Jer 37:10
Israel’s delusion as to its enemy.
I. THE DELUSION ENTERTAINED. That a great army is before Jerusalem is, of course, no delusion, and that it may effect a great deal of damage of a certain sort is no delusion. The delusion lies here, in supposing that the removal of the army would be the removal of the danger. And this delusion being strong in the minds of the people led them to seek the help of Egypt. A carnal foe was to be overcome by the help of a carnal friend. And similarly we are all led into most mistaken policies of life by seeing only our visible enemies. In our solicitude to guard against the seen enemy, and keep in safety our own visible possessions, we make too much of visible things altogether. It is very hard, of course, to admit this; it is very hard for the natural mind to see its delusions; but then it is the very mark of delusions that they put on the semblance of fundamental and important truths. Again and again appeal is made to what is called common sense to testify to the validity of delusions. The common belief of the multitude is cited to stop the mouth of any one who ventures to proclaim what he is sure is true. Those who have got to the heights and advanced places of spiritual experience know full well that the maxims and rules of the natural man are little but a mass of pernicious delusions. Thus men carefully preserve the shell of life, while the interior treasure for which the shell exists is utterly neglected.
II. THE DELUSION EXPOSED. God makes plain who the real enemy of Jerusalem is, an enemy whom a thousand Pharaohs and a thousand Egypts would vainly contend against. In one sense Jehovah himself is enemy, but what he says amounts to this, that Jerusalem itself is its own worst enemy. While it is rebellious against him, and full of all unrighteousness, he must work against it by all available instruments. To destroy the Chaldean army is only as it were to break the warriors sword; he can seize another and continue the conflict. It is of the greatest possible consequence that we should know in any conflict whether we are fighting simply against man, or whether behind the man who is in front of us there be the purpose and the strength of God. How much of human energy has been wasted, how many have had failure stamped on all their efforts, simply because it has not been known that God has been behind human conflicts! God would have us make sureand he gives us ample means for the attainmentthat we are not fighting against him.
III. THE DELUSION MAINTAINED. This is made plain to us as we read on in the narrative. An example is given to us of how people often do not wake to the delusions of life till too late. They walk contentedly in a vain show, and the realities flowing out of the ministry of Christ they reckon to be dreams. We may depend upon it that delusions will be maintained, most ingeniously, most tenaciously, until by the power of God our eyes are opened to distinguish reality from appearance, and truth from falsehood.Y.
Jer 37:17-19
The secret question of a king and the bold answer of a prophet.
I. THE SECRET QUESTION OF A KING.
1. The secrecy. Why should a king with all his authority do a thing in secrecy? Was it policy or fear that dictated this secret consultation with Jeremiah? Fear, probably, was the largest element. He was afraid of what the princes and courtiers around him would say. Note other secret interviews sought by men of rank and authority. Herod, a king, privily calls the wise men from the East. Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, comes to Jesus by night. What men of position do cannot be concealed easily. The very effort to conceal is often only a more effective publication. The lesson is that, however quietly and unobtrusively we may do a thing, we must do it so as not in the least fearing publicity. The very difficulty of keeping secrets is a divinely ordained difficulty to help in keeping men in the paths of righteousness.
2. The evident faith of the king in Jeremiah’s office. The faith was superstitious and unpractical, but still, such as it was, it exerted a power over the king’s conduct. This increases the king’s responsibility, for it shows that he was not able to get Jeremiah and his message out of his mind.
3. The indication as to what sort of answer was expected. Not in words, of course, but we can guess what the tone of the inquiry was. Jeremiah came from a prison to prophesy, and doubtless the king thought that the privations of the past and the hopes of liberty might draw some flattering word from the prophet. Altogether, what a pitiable position this king was inwaiting eagerly, half in terror, half in threatening, upon the word of one of his humble subjects, and the same a prisoner!
II. THE BOLD ANSWER OF A PROPHET. What great things are required from a prophet! He must always be in close and living relation to truth. He must always be ready to meet the manifold temptations which beset a man who is specially sent forth to speak the truth. His first question must ever be, notWhat is the safe path, or the easy path? butWhat is God’s path? Here he was in close and private dealing with a king. Perhaps, as he looked upon Zedekiah thus sending for him secretly, he compassionated him rather than feared him. It was such a revelation of the hollowness of human grandeur. Jeremiah here before Zedekiah is even somewhat of a type of Jesus before Pilate. Jesus will go on testifying to the truth. He will not make Pilate’s task one whir easier by accommodating himself to Pilate’s desires. Truth, eternal realities, fundamental duties, fidelity to the clear voice of God within the heart,these must prevail in every one who would follow in the path of Jesus or of prophets and apostles. There is neither real prudence nor real charity without these things.Y.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Jer 37:1. Made king Zedekiah was but a tributary king, having taken an oath of homage to the king of Babylon. He was not so bad as many of his predecessors, though he was feeble, irresolute, and had but little credit and little religion.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
II. The Events in the Tenth and Eleventh year of Zedekiah
(chap. 3738)
1.The embassy of the King and the Imprisonment of the Prophet in its First and Second Stage
Chap. 37
1And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned1 instead of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king2 in the land of Judah 2But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the Lord [Jehovah], which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.
3And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the 4son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the Lord [Jehovah] our God for us. Now Jeremiah came in and went out among 5the people: for they had not put him into prison.3 Then Pharaohs army was come forth out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
6Then came the word of the Lord [Jehovah] unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 7Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me; Behold, Pharaohs army, which is come 8forth to help you, shall return [is returning]4 to Egypt into their own land. The Chaldeans shall come gain, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it 9with fire. Thus saith the Lord; Deceive not yourselves,5 saying, The Chaldeans 10shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart. For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man6 in his tent, and burn 11this city with fire. And it came to pass,7 that when the army of the Chaldeans was 12broken up [had retired] from Jerusalem for fear of [before] Pharaohs army, Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate 13himself thence [to raise an inheritance there] in the midst of the people. And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward [watch] was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took [seized] Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away [art going over] to the 14Chaldeans. Then said Jeremiah, It is false [a lie]: I fall not away [am not going 15over] to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for 16they had made that the prison. When8 Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, 17and into the cabins,9 and Jeremiah had remained there many days; Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said 18he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, What have I offended against thee, or against thy 19servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison? Where are now10 your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not 20come against you, nor against this land? Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted11 before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there 21Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give [and they gave him] him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison [or guard.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This chapter consists of two parts, reporting two events, which had their course or beginning in the pause occasioned by the departure of the Chaldeans. In the first part (Jer 37:1-10) it is related that Jeremiah replied to an embassy of king Zedekiah, which he sent to the prophet with the request for his intercession (Jer 37:1-5):The army of Pharaoh which has come out to your assistance will return again to their own country, the Chaldeans however will resume the siege of Jerusalem and capture the city and burn it (Jer 37:6-8). Therefore deceive not yourselves! Even were the Egyptians to smite the entire Chaldean army, and there were only a few wounded men left, these would rise from their tents and burn Jerusalem (Jer 37:9-10).In the second part the imprisonment of the prophet is described, in Jer 37:10-16 its occasion and first stage, and then in Jer 37:17-21, the (by the favor of Zedekiah) less severe second stage.Jeremiah had wished, during the pause caused by the temporary withdrawal of the Chaldeans, to leave Jerusalem and go into the land of Benjamin to attend to a little business of inheritance (Jer 37:11-12). He was however detained at the gate by the commander of the watch, as he entertained the suspicion that Jeremiah wished to go over to the enemy (Jer 37:13). Jeremiahs assurance that he had no such intention was of no avail. He was brought before the princes, who caused him to be beaten and closely imprisoned in a dungeon, where he languished for some time (Jer 37:14-16). From this prison Zedekiah had him secretly brought one day, to inquire whether there was any word from the Lord. Jeremiah could answer in the affirmative, but could only give a revelation of the same tenor as before, Thou wilt be given into the hands of the Chaldeans. Still at the earnest petition of the prophet Zedekiah does not send him back to the prison, but has him confined in the court of the guard, and scantily supplied with bread (Jer 37:17-21).
Jer 37:1-2. And king Zedekiah the prophet Jeremiah. With respect to Coniah comp. rems. on Jer 22:24.People of the land. Comp. rems. on Jer 1:18.Did not hearken. Comp. Jer 36:31.
Jer 37:3-5. And Zedekiah from Jerusalem. Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, is also mentioned among the princes in Jer 38:1 coll. 4. Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, was, according to Jer 52:24 coll. Jer 21:1; Jer 29:25 a priest of the second order. The messengers were thus very respectable.Pray now. The prophet is not merely to inquire, but to intercede. Comp. to inquire of me. Jer 37:7. From this it is apparent that notwithstanding the withdrawal of the Chaldeans the state of mind was not one of perfect confidence. The result of the conflict between the rival forces had still to be expected.Came in and went out. This is emphasized in antithesis to the subsequent imprisonment and also to the statement in Jer 36:26, that Jeremiah and Baruch had to hide themselves. The freedom in which Jeremiah lived accorded with the respect which the king showed him, and explains at the same time how Jeremiah could think of a journey. Both verses 4 and 5 are to be regarded as a parenthetical and explanatory sentence (Ewald, 341).Pharaohs army. This Pharaoh was Pharaoh Hophra (Jer 44:30), successor of Psammuthis, and ascended the throne B. C. 588. In the first, or at least the second year of his reign, seventeen years after the battle of Carchemish, he undertook to make war on Nebuchadnezzar, occasioned probably by the embassy of Zedekiah (Eze 17:15). Hophra was slain (comp. Eze 29:1-16; chh. 3032) and the hopes excited in the Israelites by the withdrawal of the Chaldeans were shown to be nugatory.
Jer 37:6-10. Then came the word with fire. Jeremiah does not cease to demonstrate the vanity of their hopes. He might have insinuated himself into the favor of the king and great men by a prophecy correspondent to their wishes, but he does not. With inflexible fidelity he proclaims the word of the Lord as he has received it.Deceive not your souls. Comp. Jer 29:8; 2Ki 18:29 coll. 2Ch 32:15. The prophet warns against self-deception. On this meaning of comp. Naegelsb.Gr., 81, 2.
Jer 37:11-16. And it came to pass many days. Jeremiah wishes to use the time, while the ways are free, to do some business in the land of Benjamin, (probably from in Anathoth).To separate, etc. This is a difficult passage. LXX. translates , which Theodoret explains by . The other ancient translations all express the idea of division of inheritance, in which they are followed by most of the commentators. The different explanations are as follows: Abarbanel takes in the sense of demulcere (to smooth. Comp. Pro 29:5) and refers it to the people of Anathoth who were inimical to Jeremiah: Ad demulcendum eos blandis verbis, ut amarent ipsum et inter illos inveniretur, si abirent in exilium. Kimchi, Sanctius: Ad dividendum se et separandum ab Hierosolymis, in quibus fuit in medio populi. Lyranus:Ut agrum emtum (cap. 32) separaret ab aliis. Luther: To till fields [cker zu bestellen]. Hitzig: To separate his own from the portions of land which had become common property in the Sabbatical year (which Hitzig regards as B. C. 588, on the basis of Jer 34:8 sqq.) Tremellius, Piscator, Rosenmueller:Ad lubrificandum se ipsum, i. e., ad subducendum se. Seb. Schmidt: Ut divideret cum populo relicta Chaldorum spolia, partemque sibi acciperet et in urbem secum sumeret. L. de Dieu:Ut partitim commoraretur nunc hic nunc illic. All these explanations are manifestly forced or grammatically incorrect. The ancient interpretation alone, which understands of a division of inheritance, appears admissible according to the present form of the text. The form of the word is like Isa 23:11. Comp. Olsh., 78, c. In the midst of the people declares that the prophet had no secret purpose, but wished to transact his business with the usual amount of publicity. Comp. Ruth 4. In this explanation however some points must still be considered unsatisfactory. 1. That must be taken in the specific meaning to divide inheritance in which it nowhere else occurs; though ,, may mean patrimonium (Num 18:20); 2. That to the Hiphil, in order to be able to connect it with , must be specially also attributed the meaning of fetching, since primarily it contains only the idea of parting. Meanwhile, as said above, the text as it stands does not afford a satisfactory meaning. It has been attempted to alter the text. J. D. Michaelis would read or . This however would not be good Hebrew. The scriptio defection, as well as the similarity of and renders it easier to read . means to change, which meaning appears with various modifications. For not only all kinds of change of place are designated by it (comp. transiit, Job 9:11; transgressus est, Isa 24:5; abiit, Son 2:11; perrexit, 1Sa 10:3; pertransivit, Jdg 5:26; periit, Isa 2:18, in which meanings it is for the most part synonymous with ) but change of material (comp. renovari, revivescere, Hab 1:11; Psa 90:5) and of form (comp. Piel., Gen 41:14; Hiph., Gen 31:7; Gen 31:41; Gen 35:2; further and ). It might then be declared that the prophets going to Benjamin had for its object a change of residence. might very suitably be referred to Jerusalem. It might however also according to well known usage (comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 112, 5, d) signify in that direction, thither (comp. Isa 17:13). It might thus be intimated to us that the prophet had no intention of going over to the Chaldeans, or of fleeing to secure his personal safety, but simply of returning to his native place, because he knew that a residence in Jerusalem no longer afforded him any safety, and because he regarded his ministry there as ended. (Comp. Starke, ad h. l.) It is however declared by the words in the midst of the people that he did not take this step alone and secretly, but publicly and in company with many others, perhaps of those who believed in his prophetic utterances. From this as well as from (because it indicates that the prophet took his way not to the army of the Chaldeans, but in the opposite direction) it would be clear how unjustifiable the imprisonment of the prophet was. In this however I merely express my own supposition.On the gate of Benjamin comp. Jer 38:7, and rems. on Jer 20:2.Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans. The expression appears to be an allusion to the answer, which Jeremiah, according to Jer 21:9, gave a former embassy of Zedekiah. I say a former. For at the time, to which Jeremiah 21 belongs, Jerusalem was besieged by the Chaldeans, but the prophet was at liberty (comp. Jer 21:1-2, and Jer 37:3, with Jer 37:17). After his imprisonment, related in Jer 37:13, however, Jeremiah was not again set at liberty. Chap. 21. must therefore be placed before the retirement of the Chaldeans related in Jer 37:5. The princes, before whom Jeremiah was brought, were, as Graf correctly remarks, not the same as those, who had so warmly espoused his cause under Jehoiakim (chh. 26, 36) These had probably been carried away with Jehoiachin into captivity (Jer 34:1; Jer 29:2) comp. rems. on Jer 28:1.The house of the secretary Jonathan, of which we have no further knowledge, was used as a prison, because there were parts of it adapted for such a purpose. These are designated (1) by the word . This word does not necessarily everywhere mean a pit, though it certainly does in Jer 38:6-7; Jer 38:9, as is shown by passages like Gen 40:15; Exo 12:29. It is at any rate a subterranean cavity, and is a house where there are such cavities, for the word may be taken collectively. Such places are (2) designated as . The word occurs here only. In the dialects, according to the radical meaning, it is to let ones-self down, to encamp, to turn in, and a camp, a place to put up at, a booth, a cell. (Fuerst). Here it is evidently the subterranean cell of a prison. (Comp. Rosenmuellerad h. l.)
Jer 37:17-21. Then Zedekiah court of the guard. The second stage of imprisonment! The weak king, dependent on his nobles, has the prophet secretly brought from his prison to ask him, whether there is not a word from the Lord which in their desperate condition would give them some light and comfort. From the scarcity of means of subsistence (Jer 37:21) it is seen that the city was again blockaded. Jeremiahs prophecy (Jer 37:8) was thus already fulfilled. This was doubtless the circumstance which filled Zedekiah with so much solicitude, that he determined to have the prophet called, a step which involved humiliation to himself (comp. Jer 37:19), and it might also compromise him with the princes (comp. secretly, Jer 37:17).From the circumstance that Zedekiah has the prophet brought from the prison in the house of Jonathan, it is plainly seen that we have not before us the same conference, as that spoken of in Jer 32:3-5 and Jer 34:2-5. For in this Jeremiah took part voluntarily, and for this as a punishment he was confined in the court of the guard, (Jer 32:3). For the conference here recorded he was brought from the prison, and afterwards as a favor assigned to the court of the guard. Since now the other conference at all events belongs to the last stage of the siege, as was shown above on Jer 34:1-5, which entire stage Jeremiah spent partly in prison and partly in the guard-court, the conference recorded here must be the earlier of the two.It is accordingly also clear that the prophecy thou shalt be delivered into the band of the king of Babylon cannot be, as Graf supposes, identical with that contained in Jer 32:4-5; Jer 34:2-5 i. e., it is so in subject but not in time. Jeremiah boldly tells the king the truth; but he also uses the opportunity to promote his own personal interest. He does this by giving expression on the one hand to the consciousness of his innocence, which was exhibited with eclat in the shaming of the false prophets (Jer 37:18-19), and on the other by beseeching earnestly that he may not be taken back to the dungeon (Jer 37:20).On let my supplication, etc., comp. Jer 36:7.On court of the guard, comp. Jer 32:2.On piece of bread and bakers, street, comp. the articles Backen and Brod in Herzog, R.-Encycl. [Smith, Dict. I., 227].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Jer 37:2-3. The Lords words Zedekiah did not care to hear, but the help of the Lord he would have liked to have. This seeking for help then did not proceed from a truly believing heart. It was merely an experiment, as in time of need one tries everything. Hence Zedekiah did not venture to come to the Lord himself, but Jeremiah was to intercede for him. It is, however, in vain for intercession to be made for him, and he himself does not help to pray. Take the example of Pharaoh, Exo 8:29; Exo 9:28; Exo 10:17. Cramer.
2. On Jer 37:5-10. Nothing is more bitter than in time of greatest need to see apparent help again disappear. Raised from the depths, one is then cast back into a still profounder deep. The Jews had invoked the aid of the Egyptians on their own responsibility. It was a triumph of worldly policy. The Lord disappoints their calculations. He is not to be so easily put out. The Chaldeans withdraw, but only to defeat the Egyptians, and then return. And Jeremiah must be the prophet of this disappointed hope. A few mortally wounded men, he must proclaim, would suffice to execute the Lords decree on Jerusalem. Comp. 2Sa 5:6.
3. On Jer 37:10. This passage is also adduced as an instance, of the so-called scientia media or de future conditionato (Vide Budde, Inst Dogm., pag. 228), together with 1Sa 23:11-12; Jer 38:17; Eze 3:6; Mat 11:21-22; Mat 24:22; Act 27:31. Starke.
4. On Jer 37:11-12. If Jeremiah really wished to leave Jerusalem, because in the city he no longer hoped to secure safety or any success to his ministry (comp. Starke: It appears that the prophet would betake himself to the country-people, because he hoped from them better results in penitence and the averting of the divine judgments, since hitherto he had been mostly hindered in his office by the priests and the court), he was in error and took an arbitrary step. For in the first place the servant of God, who is at his post, is under divine protection, and in the second, he had to proclaim the will of God again and again to the stubborn people. There was then still the possibility of their obedient submission to the divine will. Jeremiah did afterwards repeatedly show that deliverance was still possible on the condition of submission (Jer 38:2-3; Jer 38:17), and also, as he had to proclaim ruin unconditionally (Jer 32:3-5; Jer 34:2-5), this testimony was necessary, partly as a proof of the inviolability of the divine counsel, partly to cut off all excuse for the Jews afterwards, partly as a foil to the glorious Messianic prophecies (chh. 32. and 33.) which pertain to this last stage before the destruction of the city. If then Jeremiah really had the purpose at that lime to leave the city, it was an arbitrary step, which was not to succeed, and for which his arrest and what followed was a just punishment. In this sense Diedrich also says (S. 120), The saints also err, and God deals with them punctiliously, so they also must be docile under the divine chastisements.
5. On Jer 37:15. Jeremiahs prophecies applied to the whole situation (political), and he thus could not avoid the appearance, which his disposition to recommend to the king the surrender of the city occasioned. God be praised! our Lords kingdom is not of this world. His servants may renounce the matters, which pertain thereto, with full freedom, and this the more because the Lord raises the instruments who are to labor for the amelioration of the State and the circumstances of mankind also from this kingdom, but gives the prophets of the New Testament a complete dispensation therefrom; of which we have a living example in Jesus and all His Apostles, who did not meddle by a word in any of the civil matters of the authorities, under whom they taught. Justice and chastity were Pauls themes with the procurator Felix, which were matters of the interior, and that is enough. Zinzendorf.
6. On Jer 37:17. The king was commanded to put the book of the law before him, and always have it with him, Deu 17:19. As now he did not do this, he must be in awe even of his own servants: sometimes he must look at his counsellors through his fingers and let them do as they will, and though he might have been a master, he must be a servant. For God poureth contempt upon princes and looseth the covenant of the mighty (Job 12:21). Cramer.
7. On Jer 37:18-20. In the consciousness of his official dignity the prophet proudly appears before the king, saying, Although it has come out clearly that I was right and your prophets wrong, you have done me injustice. Nevertheless he applies with humble and earnest petition to the king in behalf of his person, that he may not betaken back again to the dreadful prison. After Jeremiahs example, one may well petition tyrannical magistrates for a mitigation of persecution, but not speak to please them for the sake of the mitigation. Cramer.
8. On Jer 38:1-4. Jeremiah is like a running spring, which has an abundance of water. The mouth of the tube may be stopped. But no sooner is a slight temporary opening afforded, than the water breaks forth with full power. Although he knew what was before him, he was not silent. For he could not be silent (Jer 20:9). Even if they had beaten him to death on the spot with clubs, yet dying he would have cried: he that goeth forth shall live. Jeremiah was, however, no arch traitor, but the truest patriot in all Israel. Is not this proved by the courage, with which he inflexibly repeated his apparently so unpatriotic counsel? Certainly his opponents regard him as the most dangerous man among the people, just as Ahab accused. Elijah of troubling Israel (1Ki 18:18), Amaziah Amos (Jer 7:10), the Jews Paul (Act 16:20).
9. On Jer 38:5. Legal right to carry out their will, in opposition to that of the king, the princes had none. Zedekiahs speech, therefore, displays only his individual weakness. He also shows by it how little he was subject to God. For had he been faithful to God, he would have found means to compel the obedience of his princes. He who has the right, has also the Lord on his side. If this was manifest in the case of the poor priest Jeremiah, how much more so in that of the king. But this king was no Jeremiah.
10. On Jer 38:6. No prophet was ever maltreated so pitiably as Jeremiah. He represents the culminating point in the humiliation of the servant of Jehovah, but also the extreme point in the alienation from God of the theocracy, which was immediately followed as a merited punishment by the deepest outward decline. Therefore in Jeremiah also must Christs resurrection become visible (Diedrich).
11. On Jer 38:7-13. A Moor, a heathen, must have compassion and raise his voice against. the enormity. while all Israel was silent. Thus is completed the testimony to Israels decline, and the guilt appears to be a common one.
12. On Jer 38:14-15. This seems to be the manner of princes. They say: I wish to hear the truth, the truth only, the whole truth. And when one tells them the truth, he draws upon himself their highest displeasure. For these lords, accustomed to a Homeric life of the gods ( ), do not like to be disturbed in this their bliss. Nothing, however, affects them more rudely than the truth. Zedekiah even does not seem to have been in earnest with his pray, hide nothing from me, for otherwise he would at least have done what he could to follow the prophets counsel.
13. On Jer 38:19-23. Zedekiah gives as a pretext his dread of mocking and maltreatment from the fugitive Jews. For these, the malcontents, who attributed all the blame to his government and had therefore fled, might possibly have him delivered over to them, and then take their revenge on him. Jeremiah assures him that he has no insult to fear from them. But he will be exposed to the most sensible insults from a quarter where he would least expect it, viz., from the women of his own harem. To be received by his own wives with insulting songs, instead of songs of victorywhat greater disgrace could be conceived for a man and a prince? Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim.
14. On Jer 38:24-27. Did Jeremiah participate in a prevarication, or not? The opinions on this point are divided. Frster says: Non quidem disertis verbis mentitus est Jeremias; interim tamen hoc ejus factum speciem quondam mendacii habet, vel carte est dissimulatio, qu non omni ex parte excusanda. Others on the other hand call attention to two points: 1. Although in Jer 38:15-17, no such request is mentioned as, according to Jer 38:26, Jeremiah is said to have made, it is yet implied, both in the words of the prophet in Jer 38:15, and in the answer of the king, Jer 38:16. It follows from what is said by both of them, that Jeremiah wished that he might neither be put to death nor brought into such a condition as would inevitably involve his death. Consequently, he at any rate, cherished the same wish, which he expressed to the king in Jer 38:20. 2. If then the declaration of Jer 38:26 does not contain the whole truth, it contains no untruth. The princes, however, had no right to demand the whole truth from Jeremiah. For they were simply murderers. No one, however, is bound to a murderer to expose himself to his knife, by the confession of the truth. This latter view may well be the correct one. [Comp. Wordsworth and Stanley, Jewish Church, p. 524.S. R. A.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer 37:3. To supplicate the Lord or to intercede with the Lord is indeed right, but it is useless and wrong to desire the help, but not the Lord Himself. [Sinners contradict their prayers, and thus render them unsuccessful, by their lives. Lathrop.S. R. A.]
2. On Jer 37:5-10. Instructive example of the difference between mans help and Gods help. Mans help self-sought, self-made, shows at first indeed a joyous hopeful countenance, but it is hollow and vacuous, and confidence therein is self-deception. In due course it shows itself perfectly powerless, indeed it turns to the contrary, to destruction. Gods help on the other hand is announced at first under gloomy aspects and hard conditions (surrender to the Chaldeans), but these hard conditions are wholesome chastisement, from which proceed life and salvation.
3. On Jer 37:11-13. It is the manner of Gods enemies, that they shamefully misinterpret the acts of His servants, when these indeed justify themselves, but when they find no hearing they suffer and are silent; only from the confession of the truth they will not forbear. The Major Prophets, by Heim and Hoffmann.
4. On Jer 38:4. Worldly people are still disposed to reproach the preachers of the Gospel with the injury which they inflict on the commonwealth, because they seek to hinder the God-forgotten course of the commonwealth, as the worldly people wish it to be. One must not be put out by this, but go on. Heim and Hoffmann.
5. On Jer 38:4-13. As at the time of Christ the external theocracy was approaching its final overthrow, so at the time of Jeremiah it was its precursory overthrow. Christ was the prophet of the former, Jeremiah of the latter. As Christ was accused of being an arch-traitor and corrupter of the people (Joh 11:48; Joh 11:50), so also Jeremiah. The true ground here, as there, was diabolical hatred to the divine truth and carnal dependence on outward supports and their own excellence. The princes, who threw Jeremiah into the pit, correspond to the rulers of the people at the time of Christ, the weak Zedekiah to the weak Pontius Pilate, Ebed-melech to those believers from the heathen (the ruler of Capernaum, the Canaanitish woman, the Samaritans) who put Israel to shame by their faith. And as Jeremiah is delivered from the pit, so Christ after three days rises from the grave.
6. On Jer 38:19-23. Our ways and Gods ways 1. Our ways: (a) preserve us not from that which we feared (Jer 38:22): (b) they lead to destruction (Jer 38:23). Gods ways: (a) preserve us from that which we feared (Jer 38:19-20): (b) they lead to safety and life (Jer 38:20)
Footnotes:
[1]Jer 37:1.Naegelsb.: And Zedekiah became king. The phrase (instead of the simple , as is especially common in the book of Kings. Comp. 1Ki 11:43; 1Ki 12:17; 1Ki 14:20; 1Ki 14:31, etc.), does not occur except in Jer 23:5 where, however, there is more reason for the . We must not, however, find a parallel, as Kimchi does, with such expressions as , where the noun stands in the accusative, nor with Hitzig attract , and translate: and a king, Zedekiah, came to the government, etc., for Zedekiah was not king when he came to the government. is rather to be taken as more exact definition of the predicate: and Zedekiah came to the government as king, etc. The pleonasm seems to accord with Jeremiahs more diffuse style.
[2]Jer 37:1. before is accus., and to be referred to Zedekiah. Comp. 2Ki 24:17.
[3]Jer 37:4. . Here, as in Jer 52:31, in which passages alone the word occurs, the Masoretes would alter without any necessity to . Comp. Gesen., 84, 13, etc.
[4]Jer 37:7. . The participle, having itself no tense can, from the context, signify only that they are in the act of returning.
[5]Jer 37:9.[Literally: your souls.S. R. A.]
[6]Jer 37:10.Hitzig correctly remarks that , in antithesis to denotes individuals, and that therefore it is more correct to connect with what follows, as the punctuation denotes, since it is evidently intended to express that these individuals, without any previous agreement, would arise, moved by a divine impulse, to perform the work of destruction.
[7]Jer 37:11.. This form stands here, a trace of the later usage, for . Comp. Jer 3:9; Jer 38:28 b; Ewald, 345 b; Naegelsb. Gr., 88, 7, Anm.
[8]Jer 37:16. at the beginning of the verse is surprising. Neither its causal nor its temporal signification is suitable here. The LXX translate , Hitzig, Ewald, Graf and others read with reference to 1Sa 2:21, and 2Ki 20:12 coll. Isa 39:1.
[9]Jer 37:16.[Or: cells; Naegelsbach has: vaults. Some suppose it to mean bent bars, by which the prisoner was confined, and in which he sat as in a cage in a distorted position, (Gesen., Graf). Wordsworth.S. R. A.]
[10]Jer 37:19.With respect to the form , the question is, how the Chethibh is to be pronounced or Usually the former is adopted, an obscuration of the suffix-meaning being maintained as in . Fuerst on the other hand (Vid. H. W. B. S. 66) is of opinion that we are to read which stands for with the old plural termination, the traces of which are preserved in verbs and particles (Comp. Olsh., 16, b). The decision is difficult, as the form is a solitary one with either punctuation.
[11]Jer 37:20.[Literally: fall].
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The history of the siege by the Chaldeans, is related in part in this Chapter. At the report of Pharaoh’s army, the siege is raised. Jeremiah going to the land of Benjamin, is smitten and cast into prison, but after many days is taken out. He still prophesieth evil to the land.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
What an awful thing it is, when children tread in the steps of their ungodly fathers, and the rising generation seem but to exceed the former in impiety.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Punishment of Evil
Jer 37:9-10
The great teaching of the text is that we must not allow appearances to mislead us respecting the fact and certainty of the law of retribution.
I. We mark some illustrations of the law of retribution furnished by the history of the nations. The Old Testament records many instances of the fact that God makes the law of retribution to act by unlikely instruments, in unlikely ways, and at unlikely times. Very memorable was the retribution that Israel brought on Egypt. At the other end of their national history, Israel itself furnishes a most striking illustration of the working of the law of retribution through all improbabilities. When the Christ was crucified through weakness, the people cried, ‘His blood be upon us, and upon our children’. How unlikely did it seem that the Victim of Calvary could ever be avenged upon an unjust nation! And yet that ‘wounded Man’ rose up invested with strange powers, and burned their city with fire. Let us not think that these instances of retribution are to be placed in the category of the miraculous; they were the natural consequences of great denials of truth and justice. Men unjustly ‘pierced through’ are terrible avengers in all ages and nations.
II. We note the law of retribution as exemplified in the individual life. What is true of the mass is first true of the atom; what is true of the ocean is first true of the drop. It is easy to see the law of retribution when it is exemplified in the broad effects of national calamity, but not so easy to apprehend its action in the individual fortune. ‘Deceive not yourselves.’ God has wonderful ways of confounding us, and we may be sure that our sins will find us out.
1. Let us not permit ourselves to be deceived by flattering prophets. God is merciful, but fire does not forget to burn, teeth to tear, water to drown, and no transgression of the Law can pass without detection and punishment.
2. Let us not deceive ourselves because appearances seem to promise immunity. When Joseph’s brethren had thrown their young brother into a pit and left him there, how utterly hopeless seemed the lad’s condition! He was to all intents and purposes buried alive, and it seemed absolutely impossible that he should ever avenge himself upon the fratricides. But in due time the wounded man was on the throne of Egypt, and the strong-handed clever sinners were lamenting, ‘Verily we are guilty concerning our brother’.
3. Let us not deceive ourselves because judgment is delayed. As the Hindoos say, ‘When men are ripe for slaughter, even straws turn into thunderbolts’.
4. Let us improve the gracious respite. Many rebel altogether against the doctrine of grace, sternly insisting on inexorable law, justice, retribution; they utterly reprobate the ideas of repentance, forgiveness!, and salvation. But mercy is a fact as much as justice is. The death of Calvary is the most solemn and tremendous sanction ever given to law, and yet it opens a door of escape to a world of sinners. There is forgiveness with Him, and plenteous redemption.
W. L. Watkinson, The Transfigured Sackcloth, p. 181.
References. XXXVII. 11-21. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah and Jeremiah, p. 361. XXXVII. 17. J. Paterson, British Weekly Pulpit, vol. ii. p. 597. XXXVIII. T. Champness, New Coins from Old Gold, p. 206. XXXVIII. 3, 4; XL. 4; XL. 6. F. W. Aveling, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvi. 1899, p. 324. XXXVIII. 5. A. Ramsay, Studies in Jeremiah, p. 221. XXXVIII. 7. D. T. Young, Neglected People of the Bible, p. 165. XXXVIII. 24-26. A. Ramsay Studies in Jeremiah, p. 221. XXXIX. 1-10. A. Maclaren Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah and Jeremiah, p. 367. XXXIX. 18. Ibid. p. 374. XL. 4-6. A. Ramsay, Studies in Jeremiah, p. 47. XLIII. 13 (R.V.). C. Jerdan, Pastures of Tender Grass, p. 142. XLIV. 4. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlvi. No. 2684. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah and Jeremiah, p. 377. Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxx. 1906, p. 3. W. M. Taylor, Outlines of Sermons on the Old Testament, p. 248. W. Michell, Plain Preaching for a Year, vol. i. p. 236. Hugh Black, University Sermons, p. 9. XLV. 1-5. A. Ramsay, Studies in Jeremiah, p. 159. Stopford A. Brooke, The Old Testament and Modern Life, p. 319.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
IX
THE PROPHECIES OF JEREMIAH IN THE REIGN OF ZEDEKIAH
Jer 21
We have here the prophecies of Jeremiah, during the reign of Zedekiah, the last king of the Jewish people. These prophecies are to be found as indicated at the head of this chapter. They are not all the prophecies that Jeremiah uttered or that were written during this reign, but they are the prophecies that he uttered relative to that period and bearing upon the events of that reign. During Zedekiah’s reign he also wrote the messianic prophecy that we shall discuss in the next chapter.
When Jehoiakim burned the roll of his prophecies, he commanded his officers to go and take Jeremiah and Baruch. The Lord hid them or they would have lost their lives as Uriah had. Jeremiah and Baruch remained in hiding during the remainder of Jehoiakim’s wicked reign, four or five years. The latter part of this reign, as given in our books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles, was a troublous time. Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. That king stirred up bands of the Moabites and the Edomites to come and trouble his kingdom. His cities were besieged and he himself was slain and his body cast forth as refuse outside the walls of the city. His son, Jehoiachin, succeeded him to the throne. Jehoiachin was quite young, some authorities say eight years, other authorities, eighteen years of age. His mother reigned with him, and was probably the power behind the throne. Jehoiachin continued the rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, and the result was that in a little over three months, that great king buried his hosts against Jerusalem and besieged the holy city. Jehoiachin, acting on good and wise advice, surrendered the city, and so he himself with his queen mother and the royal family were deported. Nebuchadnezzar, convinced that he was not a safe man to have upon the throne, had him and his royal family taken to Babylon and confined there. On the succession of “Evil Merodac” to the throne he was given a certain amount of liberty.
About 597 B.C. something over 7,000 of the best blood of Jerusalem, including the princes, the nobles, and the elders, with their wives, their slaves, and the most valuable and choice vessels of the Temple were carried away to Babylon. Ezekiel was carried away with them and began his prophecy in the fifth year of this captivity.
We can readily see that the removal of 7,000 of the best people from Jerusalem, such a thinning of the people, would give an opportunity to the many that were left. These nobles, princes, and elders, who were left in Jerusalem, were congratulating themselves that they were much better than those unfortunates who were carried off into exile. Such a conclusion would be perfectly natural. They were saying, “Those who had to go away and suffer such hardships are bad and so are suffering for their sins. We are left here in peace and so the Lord is with us.” That resulted in pride, and was a very foolish state of mind for this people. Jeremiah knows that destruction is awaiting them, if they continue in their ways of wickedness.
The theme of Jer 24 is Jeremiah’s comparison between those in exile and those left behind. Note the following points:
1. The vision (Jer 24:1-3 ). Jeremiah is shown in a vision two baskets of figs, set before the Temple of the Lord. He goes on to explain the occasion and the time when this occurred. The description is found in verse Jer 24:2 : “One basket of very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.” Jer 24:3 continues the description, as given to Jehovah by the prophet.
2. The fate of the good figs (Jer 24:4-7 ). “Like these good figs so will I regard the captives of Judah.” Those in exile are the ones referred to, and so he says he will take care of them: “I will bring them again into this land: I will set mine eyes upon them for good.”
3. The fate of the bad figs (Jer 24:8-10 ). These bad figs were the people living in Jerusalem, those who were puffed up, regarding themselves better than others because they were so fortunate as to escape deportation. “These bad figs are so bad that they cannot be eaten. So will I give up Zedekiah and the kings of Judah, and his princes and the residue of Jerusalem and those that remain in this land and them that dwell in the land of Egypt. I will even give them up to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all the places whither I shall drive them.”
Naturally the effect of that kind of preaching upon the people of Jerusalem was not very gratifying. Jeremiah did not make friends very fast by that kind of comparison and application. But he was a true prophet. He preached God’s truth, whether welcome or not.
The theme of Jeremiah’s 27-29 is Jeremiah’s exhortation to submit to the yoke of Babylon. This prophecy occurred during the first or second year of the reign of Zedekiah, who had been put upon the throne by Nebuchadnezzar as his vassal. The date is about 596 B.C., certainly within two years after the exile under Jehoiachin. There was a movement among the various small nations surrounding Judah, a sort of revival of their political interests. The kings and the princes of these sections had conceived the idea that they could league together and revolt against Babylon. The kings of these various nations had sent their ambassadors to Zedekiah at Jerusalem to form a league, or a conspiracy, by which they could throw off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah was but a weakling, a mere tool in the hands of his chief princes. He had a certain reverence for Jeremiah and therefore he consulted him about it. But he feared the princes. He wanted to do right, but being a weak king, he was led to ruin and destruction by bad advice. He was afraid of Jeremiah, afraid of Nebuchadnezzar, afraid of his princes, and afraid of the prophets. To such a man all these nations came for consultation. They held their convention in Jerusalem, and to such a conference Jeremiah came as adviser. He advised that they all submit to Babylon.
Now, in Jer 27:1 there is an interpretation. It says, “In the reign of Jehoiachin,” and it should be, “The reign of Zedekiah.” Compare Jer 27:12 . Somehow that mistake has crept into the text. Jeremiah is commanded to make a yoke. He sets the yoke upon the heads of these ambassadors as a symbol. It is something like his symbolic action with the girdle. He puts the yoke on the heads of these envoys of Moab, Tyre, and the rest; also Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and gives his message. It is in verse Jer 27:6 : “And now have I given all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, my servant. The beasts of the field I have given him also.” Verse Jer 27:7 : “And all the nations shall serve him and his sons’ sons till the time of his own land come.” Then destruction shall come upon him: Verse Jer 27:8 : “And it shall come to pass that the nation and the kingdom that shall not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith Jehovah, with the sword and with famine and with pestilence till I have consumed them by his hand.” Then he throws out this warning: Don’t listen to the preaching of your prophets for they are false. They have not the word of God. Listen to me and submit. No better advice was ever given to a king. Jeremiah was a man who had divine wisdom and gave advice that would have saved the people. He was called to be the savior of his country, and to be the prophet of the nations, the nations mentioned here. He would have saved them all, if they had listened to him.
We have some specific advice of the prophet to Zedekiah, the king, in Jer 27:12-15 . Notice what he says: “And I spake to Zedekiah, the king of Judah, according to all these words, saying, bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live.” But this advice to Zedekiah was to a weakling. He was respectful to the prophet, but afraid of his princes.
In Jer 27:16 he says, “I spake to the priests and the people, saying, Thus [He warns them against these false prophets, which had doubtless been inciting this revolt among the nations by prophesying that they could succeed.] . . . Serve the king of Babylon and live.” These prophets are prophesying a lie unto you. Why should this land become a desolation? These prophets had been preaching to the people that this exile would soon be over; that they would soon bring back the beautiful vessels of the Temple. This was fine talk to the people, for they wanted those vessels back. That suited the people fine, and the prophets knew it, so they just preached what the people wanted. These vessels will not come back. Just wait a little while and see if their prophecies come true. Thus saith the Lord concerning you: You shall be carried to Babylon and you shall be there until the day that I visit that land. Not only are these vessels not coming back, but you are going into exile also. Now, that was not a popular kind of talk, but it was divine wisdom.
A conflict with Hananiah, the false prophet, is described in Jer 28 . Here was a strange incident. We have a conflict between two men, able men, influential men, men of high position and rank; one a false prophet, the other a true prophet. Externally both are good men. Hananiah was the son of a prophet, of the priestly line. Doubtless this Hananiah had been hired by the enemies of Jeremiah to counteract his influence with the people. They hired this man to make the people believe that these vessels would come back. So Hananiah comes forward. He stands in the gate of the Temple and thus addresses the people: “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon; within two full years I will bring into this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, took away from this place. I will bring back Jehoiachin and the royal family within two years and everything will be restored within that two years.”
Now, that was delightful preaching. That was just what the people wanted. But there was Jeremiah and he had to be reckoned with. Hananiah had all the marks of truth in him. Jeremiah seems to have wavered. He treats this man with all the courtesy of a gentleman. He stands there and listens to his message. He stood with the people that stood in the house of the Lord. When Hananiah had finished he said: “Amen: the Lord do so; may it be as you have said.” Jeremiah would have been glad if it had been true. He was patriotic and loyal. Nothing would have rejoiced him more than for this to have happened. “Oh, that it might be so!”
But in Jer 28:7-8 he says, “Nevertheless hear thou this that I speak unto thee. The prophets that spake in the olden time prophesied against many countries and against many kingdoms.” What did he mean by that? That the prophets who were true prophets prophesied destruction; that the punishment was coming. He means to say that the criterion by which one could determine a true prophet was that he prophesied evil. Now this man Hananiah was a false optimist. The true prophet sees the evil as well as the good. So by that process of reasoning he proved that Hananiah was a false prophet. He prophesied only good, hence he could not be a true prophet. I have prophesied evil and therefore I am in line with the tried and true prophets. How did the people like that?
We may well suppose that the majority of them did not like it. When Hananiah saw that the tide was coming his way, that the people were with him, he seized the yoke that Jeremiah was wearing before the people and smashed it to pieces. This is what he says: “Even so will I break the yoke of the king of Babylon before two full years end.” That was a bold stroke. Jeremiah was silenced for the time. But he did not give it up entirely; he went his way and talked to Jehovah about it. God gave him his answer. In Jer 28:13 we have it: “Go, tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Thou hast broken the bars of wood; but thou hast made in their stead bars of iron.” This kingdom shall be suddenly destroyed, as for Hananiah the Lord said, “Thou makest this people to trust in a lie. . . Behold, I will send thee away from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast spoken rebellion against Jehovah.” And Hananiah died the same year in the seventh month, two months after this incident.
An account of a letter of Jeremiah to the exiles is found in Jer 29 . Zedekiah was the vassal of Nebuchadnezzar and in order to assure him that he was true he sent two messengers to him. Their names are given in Jer 29:3 . These two messengers took letters from Zedekiah to the king in Babylon. Jeremiah took occasion to send a letter by these messengers to the exiles in Babylon. False prophets were over there, too.
They had been predicting that they would soon return to their own land. So Jeremiah sent them a letter, the substance of which is to be found from Jer 29:4 on to the end of the chapter. This we will discuss briefly. He advised the people to settle down, to marry, to be true to the king of Babylon and after seventy years, that is, about two generations, God’s will concerning the king of Babylon would be accomplished, and then they should return to their own place. In Jer 29:13 we have a beautiful statement: “Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” In Jer 29:21-22 we have this statement regarding two false prophets in Babylon, Ahab and Zedekiah, who were prophesying the destruction of Babylon and the immediate return. Word of this comes to the ears of Nebuchadnezzar. That king was not a man to be trifled with. Here were two exiles stirring up an insurrection in his realm. Jeremiah says, “He roasted them in the fire.” He tried to do the same thing with the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It was not an uncommon thing for a man to burn people to death then. That was the fate of these two false prophets.
But we come to another incident in Jer 29:24 . There was one Shemaiah who sent letters from Babylon to the princes and guardians of the Temple about Jeremiah, and said that this man, this Jeremiah ought not to be at large. Verse Jer 29:26 : “Every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in the stocks. . . Now therefore, why hast thou not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who maketh himself a prophet to you, for as much as he hath sent unto us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long,” and thus and so. Then the men of the Temple read the letter to Jeremiah, and he responds, verse Jer 29:32 : “Behold, I will punish Shemaiah and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he behold the good that I will do unto my people, saith Jehovah, because he hath spoken rebellion against Jehovah.”
Jeremiah’s advice to Zedekiah during the siege is given in Jer 21 . This chapter is very much out of chronological order. This weak king is still in the hands of his princes, who are trying to throw off the yoke of Babylon. They have been all this time expecting help from Egypt. PharaohNecho who had slain Josiah, king of Judah, had been succeeded by Pharaoh-Hophra. He had overthrown his adversaries at home and was now ready for Asia. There was an Egyptian party in Jerusalem and they soon had their plans ready for Zedekiah. They proposed to form an alliance with this Pharaoh against Nebuchadnezzar. This they did against the advice of Jeremiah. The outcome of the matter was that Nebuchadnezzar swept down upon Judah and Jerusalem to subdue them.
Zedekiah sent an anxious message to Jeremiah inquiring if there was any message from the Lord. His answer was brief. He simply told him that the Lord would not save the city as he did when Isaiah was the prophet. But he says in verse Jer 21:5 : “I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm even in anger and in wrath and in great indignation, and I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beasts and they shall die of great pestilence.” This siege was to end in the downfall of the city. In Jer 21:8 he says, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword and by famine and by the pestilence, but he that goeth out and falleth away to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live and his life shall be unto him for a prey.”
The incidents of the siege are described in Jer 34 . Under the preaching of Jeremiah and the stress and strain of the siege, the people’s consciences were awakened and they gave heed to the law of Moses and made a covenant that they would liberate all the slaves according to the law of Moses, which said that when a Hebrew became a slave to another that he should be such only six years. That is recorded in the law as found in Exo 21:2 and Deu 15:12 . That law was given by Moses. They usually neglected it, but they did it now while there was pressure on them, but as soon as the pressure was removed they went back to their old ways again, Jer 34:11 : “But afterward, they turned and caused the servants and handmaidens, whom they had caused to go free to return and brought them into subjection for servants and handmaidens.” This occurred while Pharaoh-Hophra was coming up to Jerusalem to relieve the city. Nebuchadnezzar defeated him and drove him back. When the pressure was removed their conscience grew calloused again. Jeremiah broke out in great bitterness against this, Jer 34:17 : “You granted liberty, then you took it back. I proclaim to you a liberty to the sword and to famine. I will make you to be a curse among the nations of the earth.” In spite of all the solemnity with which you made the covenant you broke it. I will cause the Chaldeans to return to the city and make it without inhabitants.
The effect of Jeremiah’s preaching is recorded in Jeremiah 37-39. Jeremiah’s forty years and more of preaching had verily been in vain. The people would not heed. There seemed to be a fixedness in their perverseness. They evidently hardened their hearts to go after idols. There is a saying, “Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.” It was so with these people. They were mad after idolatry. The siege had now been on more than a year. It lasted eighteen months altogether, accompanied with all the horrors of a siege. These events are recorded in Jeremiah 37-39. We take them up in order:
Jer 37:2 : “Neither he, nor the people of the land, hearkened unto the words of the Lord.” This general statement is followed by the details:
Zedekiah was a weakling. He wanted to do what Jeremiah said, and if he had been stronger he would have done so. So he sent for him and asked his advice. He says, Jer 37:3 : “Pray now unto the Lord our God for us.” Jeremiah answered him, Jer 37:7 : “Behold, Pharaoh’s army that is come forth to help you shall return into their own land; the Chaldeans shall come again and fight against this city. They shall take it and burn it with fire.”
At the time the siege was raised and the Chaldeans went to meet the Egyptians, many people broke out of the city. Jeremiah was one of them. He started to go to his home at Anathoth to take charge of a certain piece of property he had bought, verse Jer 37:12 : “Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem at the gate of Benjamin.” He came in collision with the captain of the ward whose name was Irijah and he said to Jeremiah, “Thou goeth to the Chaldeans; thou art falling away to the Chaldeans.” Many others were doing the same thing and nothing was said about it, but these people now had a chance to get in a blow at Jeremiah, because he had been stoutly counseling the people to surrender to the Chaldeans. Jeremiah said, “I do not fall away to the Chaldeans.” Irijah did not believe him, but seized him and brought him before the princes, “and the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan, the scribe.” This is the second time Jeremiah had been arrested, but the first time he was imprisoned.
The king called for Jeremiah and asked him, “Is there any word from the Lord?” “No,” said Jeremiah, “The only word is this: Thou shalt be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.” Then he pleads for himself: “Cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan, the scribe, lest I perish there.” Zedekiah, the king, was kindly disposed toward him. He gave him some liberty. He remained in the court of the guard six months or more, guarded by the king.
Then the princes put him in the dungeon. These princes were the real cause of the fall of Jerusalem. They hated Jeremiah. They had been treating with Egypt, and he had advised against them; his counsel had weakened many of the people in their loyalty to the plans of the princes; so they hated him, and now that they had him in their hands they wreaked their vengeance on him. Verse Jer 37:4 : “Then the princes said to the king, Let this man we pray thee be put to death, forasmuch as he hath weakened the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people.”
That the king was a weakling is shown in verse Jer 37:5 : “Then Zedekiah, the king, said, Behold he is in your hands; do as you will, for the king is one that can do nothing against you.” There was a certain Justification for these princes who saw only the military aspect of it. If any man had done as did Jeremiah, in connection with the siege of Richmond or Vicksburg, he would have been promptly dealt with as a traitor. So they took Jeremiah and threw him into a deep cistern, or pit. It had no water in it, but it was deep with mud and he sank down into that, and they left him thinking that would be the last of him. At last, they thought, his tongue was silenced. But he was rescued by a slave, an Ethiopian, named Ebedmelech. He felt kindly toward Jeremiah, so he went to the king and the king gave him liberty to rescue him (Jer 38:7-13 ).
Another audience with the king is allowed Jeremiah (Jer 38:14-28 ). This is Jeremiah’s last audience with Zedekiah. Verse Jer 38:17 : “If thou go forth to the king of Babylon thou shalt live, and the people.” He could yet save the city. Then the king told him not to tell anybody about the interview. If there had been a man on the throne, he would have saved the city. Then follows an account of the capture of the city and its destruction (Jer 39:1-10 ). A careful reading of this passage will be sufficient.
Jeremiah was saved by the command of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He had heard about Jeremiah and his services, how he had counseled the people to surrender, and spared his life; told them to take good care of him and let him do as he would.
The prophecy in Jer 39:15-18 is concerning Ebed-melech, the slave who had saved Jeremiah’s life. It is beautiful to see how Jeremiah remembered this man. He writes down in the word of God what should be his reward, thus: “I will surely save thee, saith Jehovah.”
Jerusalem is now a smoking ruin, and the people are scattered far and wide. The nobles and the princes are slain before the king, and his own sons are slaughtered before his own eyes. Zedekiah’s eyes are put out and he is carried captive to Babylon. If he had only followed the advice of Jeremiah, all would have been well. The position of a prophet in the state is supreme; it is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon any man.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the theme of this chapter of this INTERPRETATION and what the historical setting?
2. What is the theme of Jer 24 and how is it presented? Explain fully.
3. What is the theme of Jeremiah 27-29 and what the general condition in Judah and the surrounding nations at this time?
4. How do you explain the name “Jehoiachim” in Jer 27:1 , what the symbolic action of the prophet here and what its meaning? (Jer 27:1-11 .)
5. What is the specific advice of the prophet to Zedekiah, the king, in Jer 27:12-15 ?
6. What is his advice to the priests and the people and how does he meet the prophecies of the false prophets?
7. Give an account of the conflict between Hananiah and Jeremiah (Jer 28 ).
8. Give an account of the letter of Jeremiah to the exiles (Jer 29 ).
9. What is Jeremiah’s advice to Zedekiah during the siege? (Jer 21 .)
10. What are the incidents of the siege? (Jer 34 .)
11. What is the effect of Jeremiah’s preaching and how are the people characterized? (Jeremiah 37-39.)
12. What is the general statement of this in Jer 37:1-2 ?
13. Give an account of the king’s request of Jeremiah and his response (Jer 37:3-10 ).
14. Give an account of Jeremiah’s second arrest and first imprisonment (Jer 37:11-15 ).
15. Give an account of his deliverance from the prison (Jer 37:16-21 ).
16. What was next done with him and what the particulars (Jer 38:4-6 )?
17. How did he escape and what the particulars?
18. Give an account of Jeremiah’s last audience with the king (Jer 38:14-28 ).
19. Give an account of the capture of the city and its destruction (Jer 39:1-10 ).
20. How was Jeremiah saved and what the particulars? (Jer 39:11-14 .)
21. What is the prophecy in Jer 39:15-18 ?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Jer 37:1 And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
Ver. 1. And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah. ] This also and the next chapter are, as the former, historical, and so easily understood, that to set long notes upon them were, saith one, a rather to obscure them than to explain them.
a A Lapide.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jeremiah Chapter 37
The last two chapters presented an episode quite out of historical connection with what went before or follows after. They showed us the contrast between the sons of Rechab and the men of Judah, and the presumptuous profanity of the king, albeit Josiah’s son Jehoiakim. People or prince, all was hopeless evil against the God of Israel.
We now return to the beginning of Zedekiah’s history, whom the king of Babylon called to the throne instead of Jechoniah or Jehoiachin. Outwardly it was a contest between the courts of Egypt and Chaldea; in truth, it was the chastening and humiliation of the house of David and of Jerusalem under the hand of God for their rebellion against His name. “And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the Lord, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah. And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah And Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the Lord our God for us. Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison. Then Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.” (Ver. 1-5.) It was the term of patience which the Lord is wont to give, when evil men do not yet openly and thoroughly pronounce, and appearances favour for a while the false against the true, and faith is thus put to the fuller test. Thus the prophet was not yet treated with manifest contempt and persecution, and the king was still seeking his prayers by one of the house of Aaron as well as by a minister of’ the government. The appearance of Pharaoh’s army on the scene detects the hollowness of all save those who were of faith. Men would like to find God wrong and reduce His word to their own uncertainty, and to this end they avail themselves greedily of the weakness of the instruments He employs, as well as of each shift in the changeful circumstances of this world as it now is. The day is coming when the state of man and of the earth will be an adequate witness of God’s government. It is not so yet, nor will it be till Jesus comes, having received for Himself the kingdom, and slays the enemies who would not have Him to reign over them. Unbelief always assumes that this world, without and before the return of the Lord to reign, is the scene of God’s displayed government, and reasons on present results as the expression and criterion of His ways, than which (spite of the certainty of His ever-controlling providence) nothing can be farther from the truth. Faith knows that, while the faithfulness and care of God never fails, it is the future alone which solves and divulges the riddle of the present. For this we must patiently wait.
Now there was no faith in the policy of Zedekiah or his advisers. They were elated at their momentary relief through the intervention of Egypt, and immediately allow themselves the hope that Jeremiah was mistaken in predicting the supremacy of Nebuchadnezzar and the prostration of Judah. “Then came the word of the Lord unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. Thus saith the Lord; Deceive not your. selves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart. For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.” (Ver. 6-10.) Vain is the help of man against the word of God; not now for the first time had Egypt proved a broken reed, piercing the hand of such as leaned on it. The return of Pharaoh’s army without a blow for Judah only deferred the prosecution of the siege by the Chaldeans, who soon came up again to destroy the city with fire.
Jeremiah at least believed the word of Jehovah, and so sought to retire from the city, when relieved for a short space, to his place in the land of Benjamin. This exposed him to the injurious suspicion of his enemies. “And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people. And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans. Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes. Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison. (Ver. 11-15.)
The king was not without conscience, when the prophet was sent for and faithfully adhered to the testimony of Jehovah, so humbling to Zedekiah, but assuaged his sufferings in the prison. What an evidence of the lot of him who is true to God in this world! His prophecies were vindicated, but he was persecuted notwithstanding. “When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days; then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah What have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison? Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land? Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there. Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.” (Ver. 16-21.) Vain indeed is the help of man, yea of princes, were they of the house of David
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Jeremiah
ZEDEKIAH
Jer 37:1
Zedekiah was a small man on a great stage, a weakling set to face circumstances that would have taxed the strongest. He was a youth at his accession to the throne of a distracted kingdom, and if he had had any political insight he would have seen that his only chance was to adhere firmly to Babylon, and to repress the foolish aristocracy who hankered after alliance with the rival power of Egypt. He was mad enough to form an alliance with the latter, which was constructive rebellion against the former, and was strongly reprobated by Jeremiah. Swift vengeance followed; the country was ravaged, Zedekiah in his fright implored Jeremiah’s prayers and made faint efforts to follow his counsels. The pressure of invasion was lifted, and immediately he forgot his terrors and forsook the prophet. The Babylonian army was back next year, and the final investment of Jerusalem began. The siege lasted sixteen months, and during it, Zedekiah miserably vacillated between listening to the prophet’s counsels of surrender and the truculent nobles’ advice to resist to the last gasp. The miseries of the siege live for ever in the Book of Lamentations. Mothers boiled their children, nobles hunted on dunghills for food. Their delicate complexions were burned black, and famine turned them into living skeletons. Then, on a long summer day in July came the end. The king tried to skulk out by a covered way between the walls, his few attendants deserted him in his flight, he was caught at last down by the fords of the Jordan, carried prisoner to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah away up in the north beyond Baalbec, and there saw his sons slain before his eyes, and, as soon as he had seen that last sight, was blinded, fettered, and carried off to Babylon, where he died. His career teaches us lessons which I may now seek to bring out.
I. A weak character is sure to become a wicked one.
Like most weak men, he found that temptations to do wrong abounded more than visible inducements to do right, and he was afraid to do right, and fancied that he was compelled by the force of circumstances to do wrong. So he drifted and drifted, and at last was smashed to fragments on the rocks, as all men are who do not keep a strong hand on the helm and a steady eye on the compass. The winds are good servants but bad masters. If we do not coerce circumstances to carry us on the course which conscience has pricked out on the chart, they will wreck us.
II. A man may have a good deal of religion and yet not enough to mould his life.
Are there not many of us who have a belief in God and a general acquiescence in Christ’s precepts, who order our lives now and then by these, and yet have not come up to the point of full and final surrender? Alas, alas, for the multitudes who are ‘not far from the kingdom,’ but who never come near enough to be actually in it! To be not far from is to be out of, and to be out of is to be, like Zedekiah, blinded and captived and dead in prison at last.
III. God’s love is wonderfully patient.
That patient love pleads with each of us as persistently as Jeremiah did with Zedekiah.
IV. The long-delayed judgment falls at last.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 37:1-5
1Now Zedekiah the son of Josiah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah, reigned as king in place of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. 2But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the LORD which He spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. 3Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Please pray to the LORD our God on our behalf. 4Now Jeremiah was still coming in and going out among the people, for they had not yet put him in the prison. 5Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s army had set out from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who had been besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they lifted the siege from Jerusalem.
Jer 37:1 king of Babylon had made king Zedekiah was Jehoiachin’s uncle (Mattaniah, cf. 2Ki 24:17) who was made a vassal king by Nebuchadnezzar. See 2Ki 24:17 for the historical account.
Coniah This is the contracted name for Jeconiah, whose throne name was Jehoiachin (cf. Jer 22:24; Jer 22:28; Jer 24:1; Jer 52:31; 2Ki 24:12; 1Ch 3:16; 2Ch 36:9-10). It has been eighteen years since the events recorded in chapter 36 (i.e., 605 B.C. – 586 B.C.).
Jer 37:2 the people of the land This phrase (BDB 766 I CONSTRUCT 75) is used in two distinct senses: (1) pre-exilic, landed gentry and (2) post-exilic, common poor people. Here it seems to refer to all the people of Jerusalem, therefore, a third usage.
Jer 37:3 Jehucal Jehucal is one of the leaders who asserts that Jeremiah should be put to death for treason (cf. Jer 38:1-4).
Zephaniah In Jer 52:24 he is called the second priest. He seems to have been favorable to Jeremiah (cf. Jer 21:1; Jer 29:25-29).
please pray to the LORD This must have been a request for a special prayer for the protection of Jerusalem, but Jeremiah had already proclaimed its defeat (cf. Jer 21:1-14). The request does show that Zedekiah believed Jeremiah was a true prophet.
Jer 37:5 Pharaoh In the Bible this Pharaoh is called Hophra in Jer 44:30. He is also known as Apries (i.e., Herodotus 2.161; 4.159). He ruled from 589-570 B.C.
the Chaldeans In this passage this title is synonymous to Babylonians, but at one time they referred to wise men from Media (cf. Dan 1:4 online at www.freebiblecommentary.org ).
they lifted ths siege However, a battle between Egyptian and Babylonian armies did not occur (or at least is not recorded) and the siege of Jerusalem was quickly restored. It lasted from 588 B.C. until 586 B.C., when the city fell (cf. Jeremiah 52; 2 Kings 25; 2Ch 36:17-21).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Coniah: i.e. Jeconiah, called also Jehoiachin. whom: i.e. Zedekiah.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 37
Now we come to the third part of the book of Jeremiah and this covers the period of Zedekiah the king. These particular prophecies, thirty-seven through thirty-nine, cover from the time that Zedekiah ascended to the throne unto his captivity in Babylon. So he again gives us the time of the prophecy.
And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah ( Jer 37:1 ).
So Zedekiah was king under the order of Nebuchadnezzar. When Jehoiakim died, you remember Jeremiah said, “There won’t be any of your family sitting upon the throne.” Well, one of his sons, Jehoiachin, sought for a time to sit upon the throne. He lasted for three months and Nebuchadnezzar came back and deposed him and Nebuchadnezzar set up Zedekiah as the king over Judah so that Jehoiakim was not succeeded by his own children. And the Word of the Lord was fulfilled. “Who Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon made king over the land of Judah.”
But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, would hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah ( Jer 37:2 ).
People had closed their ears to the warning of God. Zedekiah refused to listen. He would listen privately. He would call Jeremiah and talk to him privately, but then publicly he would denounce him.
And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us. Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not yet put him into prison. Then Pharaoh’s army had come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem ( Jer 37:3-5 ).
Now the Babylonian army was there, but when they heard that the Egyptian army was coming the Babylonian army withdrew. They withdrew their men from Jerusalem.
Then came the word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, will return to Egypt into their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. Thus saith the LORD; Don’t deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart ( Jer 37:6-9 ).
Now the people thought, “Oh, we’re free, you know, from the Chaldeans. The Egyptian army has frightened them off. They’ve gone. Now we can do our own thing. Now we can be independent of Babylon. Now we won’t have to pay tribute.” And they rebelled against the Babylonian authority. But Jeremiah warned them against this. He said, “Don’t think that you’re free of them, they’re going to return again.”
For though you had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans ( Jer 37:10 )
Even if you had wiped out the whole army.
and there were only a few wounded men left ( Jer 37:10 ),
God has determined to deliver you unto the Chaldeans. And just a few wounded men would be able to take you and they’ll burn this city with fire.
So it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself from the midst of the people ( Jer 37:11-12 ).
So Jeremiah started to take off and go up to Benjamin but,
As he was in the gate of Benjamin ( Jer 37:13 ),
One of the gates of Jerusalem at that time.
a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You’re going over [to the Babylonians] to the Chaldeans. Then said Jeremiah, That is not true; I am not going over to the Chaldeans. But this captain would not listen to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him before the princes. When the princes were angry with Jeremiah, they smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that a prison. When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there for many days ( Jer 37:13-16 );
So they imprisoned Jeremiah thinking that he was going to go over to the Babylonians. Jeremiah declared that wasn’t his intention, but yet they made him a prisoner anyhow to keep him from that.
Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out; and the king asked him secretly in the house, and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, What have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison? Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land? ( Jer 37:17-19 )
There were prophets that said, “The Babylonians will never come into this land.” He said, “Where are those prophets now that gave you that story?”
Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my prayer, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there ( Jer 37:20 ).
Please don’t send me back to that prison. I’ll die there if you do. He was put there in the prison at the house of Jonathan the scribe.
Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison ( Jer 37:21 ),
Let us not put him back in the dungeon.
and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison ( Jer 37:21 ).
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Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Jer 37:1-2
Jer 37:1-2
And Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of Jehovah, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.
This is a brief recapitulation of the history of the past eleven years. In the first capture of Jerusalem, the Babylonians had taken Coniah and carried him away to Babylon along with many other captives. Nebuchadnezzar placed Coniah’s uncle Zedekiah on the throne as a sworn vassal of the king of Babylon. He reigned eleven years, and the events of this chapter were very near the end of that period. Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar returned for the final siege which is under way in this chapter.
EVENTS DURING THE LAST DAYS OF JERUSALEM
Jer 37:1 to Jer 39:18
A period of some eighteen years separates the events of chapters 36 and 37. The focus in chapters 37 through 39 is upon the events during the last days of Jerusalem. The total destruction of the city foretold by Jeremiah throughout his ministry was hastening toward fulfillment. During this period of time Jeremiah suffered many indignities. His life was constantly in danger at the hands of his personal enemies. More than once he nearly died because of the deplorable prison conditions in which he found himself. But the physical agonies suffered by Jeremiah during those last few months before the fall of Jerusalem were as nothing compared to the mental and spiritual anguish of seeing his beloved land going down to destruction.
INTRODUCTION Jer 37:1-2
The first two verses of chapter 37 relate the background of this section of the book. Here Zedekiah is introduced as though he had not appeared before. This is somewhat strange since he has appeared many times prior to this point. Perhaps these verses are a transitional device wed by the editor of the book (Baruch) to notify the reader that he is jumping from the reign of Jehoiakim to the reign of Zedekiah.
Zedekiah had been installed as the vassal of king Nebuchadnezzar in March of 597 B.C. when Jehoiachin (Coniah) his nephew was carried away to Babylon (Jer 37:1). While Zedekiah was not the ruthless tyrant that his brother Jehoiakim had been he still did not submit to the word of God as spoken through Jeremiah the prophet (Jer 37:2). Zedekiah was a weak-kneed monarch who suffered the pressures of a troubled conscience on the one hand and a group of radical and misguided young princes on the other. In the view of Jeremiah the security of the nation depended upon Zedekiahs faithfulness to his vassal oath (Jer 27:11-15). One senses that Zedekiah really would like to have followed the advice of Jeremiah. But tremendous political pressure was brought to bear against the king. He was not his own man. He was a puppet in the hands of the princes.
Following the brief introduction (Jer 37:1-2) this section records how Jeremiah was consulted (Jer 37:3-10), confined (Jer 37:11 to Jer 38:28), and confirmed (Jer 39:1-14). The section closes with an appendix consisting of a brief message directed to Ebed-melech (Jer 39:15-18). The biographical accounts and prose discourses of this section are arranged in strict chronological sequence.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
This and the two following chapters contain the history of the siege up to the fall of the city. In the first part of this chapter Jeremiah was free. Zedekiah occupied the throne, but was disobedient to the messages of Jehovah. Pharaoh’s army had come out of Egypt, and, believing that the movement of Pharaoh was directed against themselves, the Chaldeans who were besieging the city departed for a season.
Then Jeremiah delivered a message to Zedekiah, charging him not to be deceived by the appearance of the moment, declaring the ultimate victory of the Chaldeans over Jerusalem. In the interval of the absence of the Chaldean army, Jeremiah left Jerusalem and went to Bethlehem on family business. There he was arrested on the charge of falling away to the Chaldeans, his constant prophecy of their victory evidently being interpreted as proof of his sympathy with them. From the prison Zedekiah brought him to inquire if he had anything to say. He immediately answered by declaring against the certainty of the victory over the king of Babylon. At the same time he protested against the treatment which he had received, and asked that he might not be sent back to the dungeon from which he had been brought. This request was granted by Zedekiah, but Jeremiah was kept a prisoner in the court of the guard.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE FALL OF JERUSALEM
(Chaps. 37-39)
We now enter upon what is more especially the historical part of the book.
Jeremiah’s admonitory ministry was drawing to a close. Faithfully and fervently he had, ever since Josiah’s day (that is, for a period of some thirty years or more), warned and pleaded and entreated his backsliding and treacherous people; but there had been no true response. They had put the Lord’s word behind their backs and drifted further and further from His counsels. Now the judgment so long announced, while the Lord waited in longsuffering patience, can be no more delayed, but must fall with awful fury upon the devoted nation.
The words spoken through Hosea two centuries earlier must at last be fulfilled. “I will go and return to My place till they acknowledge their offence” (or, till they be guilty; that is, confessedly so), “and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early” (Hos 5:15).
In wondrous grace and mercy they had been spared the final blow thus far; but there is now no remedy. Nothing can turn aside the Lord’s indignation. They must learn in captivity what they would not be taught in their own land.
In the 37th and 38th chapters we have a detailed account of the temporary withdrawal of the Babylonian troops upon the occasion of the Egyptian invasion. This for the moment raises the hopes of the people, as already noted in chap. 34. Jeremiah, having the secret of the Lord, assures them that the respite is but temporary and that the Chaldeans will return shortly and utterly destroy Jerusalem.
Then we find this honored servant of GOD seeking to escape from the doomed city. It is apparently a mistake on his part: though we would not criticize. He was worn in body and mind. His testimony was rejected. He himself was hated and persecuted.
What more natural than that, feeling his work is completed, he should seek quiet and respite in his old home in the land of Benjamin? It was indeed a natural thing, but not a spiritual one; hence we find the Lord does not permit him to carry out his purpose. His apprehension results in a false charge and imprisonment. From death he is marvelously delivered.
Chap. 39 gives the fall of the city. The prophet is, however, favored by the conqueror. There was no need to flee to Benjamin. The hand of GOD is stretched forth to protect His servant in the woeful day. But we must look at all this more in detail, for it is of intense interest, and pregnant with instruction.
“And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the Lord which He spake by the prophet Jeremiah” (Jer 37:1-2).
We have already noticed that no chronological order is followed in the arrangement of this book. Rather, we have prophecies and incidents grouped together, and narrated in such moral order as to give us an ever-increasing sense of the departure from GOD, which culminated at last in His rejection of His once-favored heritage, and the pouring out of condign judgment.
In these two verses we have a succinct account of Zedekiah’s whole reign. It was eleven years of indifference to the Word of the Lord. This king personally was not so daringly impious as some of his predecessors. He realized in some measure the claims of GOD upon him and his people, but he never earnestly set himself, like Hezekiah or his father Josiah, to seek His face and to do those things that were pleasing in His sight. He was supine and frivolous – almost incredibly so, at so serious a time.
In the next verse we read of his sending Jehucal and Zephaniah the priest (whose acquaintance we made in chaps. 21, 29) to Jeremiah with the request, “Pray now unto the Lord our GOD for us.” (Jer 37:3) It was a similar errand upon which Zephaniah had gone shortly before (Jer 21:1-2). There is no word of repentance; no confession, or grief for Judah’s awful sin. The Lord is owned in a certain sense, and His aid is sought, but all is selfish; there is no prostration of soul in His presence.
Pharaoh’s army had essayed to come out of Egypt to the relief of the Hebrew king, who had sent ambassadors beseeching him to “give him horses and much people” (Eze 17:15).
Hearing of this move, the Chaldeans immediately raised the siege of Jerusalem and departed to give battle to this new enemy ere he could secure any real advantage (Jer 37:5).
This to the Jews seemed a good omen and greatly revived their hopes. Now, if their long-neglected GOD would help them, they might achieve a decided victory, and by union with Egypt throw off the hated Babylonian yoke. This was not to be, however.
In answer to Zedekiah’s request, the prophet replies:
“Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt, into their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. Thus saith the Lord: Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart. For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire” (Jer 37:6-10).
Both in grace and in judgment GOD will fulfil all His word. For stubborn, willful Judah there can be no deliverance, because there is no self-judgment nor humbling on their part. It seemed as though some mad infatuation possessed the people. They “knew not the time of their visitation,” as was the case with their children in a later period.
How strikingly analogous was their condition to that of Christendom, “whose judgment now of a long time slumbereth not.” (2Pe 2:3)
Men still love to deceive themselves with a vain optimism founded on the desires of their own deceitful hearts, ignoring the sure testimonies of Him who hath said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will recompense.” (Rom 12:19) Teachers and people, or clergy and laity, as they are unscripturally designated, congratulate themselves on the great strides being made, as they affirm, by Christianity and civilization; but, alas, in how large a measure is it a mere Christless religiousness and a culture that in no sense affects the heart!
The departure from GOD and His Word plainly evidenced on every hand calls forth no confession of sin, no repentance; but, instead, men congratulate each other and boast of large-mindedness and liberality, while despising the ways that be in CHRIST, and the paths of scriptural simplicity.
Church and world are linked up in an unholy concubinage, and thus GOD is dishonored and His claims ignored. Surely the prophetic Word points to dire judgment to come upon the professing body, composed largely, as it is, of mere earth-dwellers who are strangers to the heavenly calling. It is a time when every faithful minister of CHRIST needs both grace and wisdom to “cry aloud and spare not,” (Isa 58:1) but to show the people their sins.
We know the end of this empty profession, persistently dishonoring CHRIST’s holy name and Word, must be the subjection to spiritual Babylon, whose power is yet to be supreme on earth in matters religious, though but for a brief space, GOD having likewise already pronounced her judgment (Revelation 17, 18).
What GOD had decreed concerning Israel and Judah for their apostasy and forgetfulness of His Word was fulfilled to the letter. His declarations concerning a far guiltier Christendom shall likewise be carried out.
It was when Jeremiah saw that all hope of the people’s repentance was past, and that sure and certain wrath awaited them, that he essayed to leave the city, where he had ministered so long, to go to the land of Benjamin, probably to his own home.
It is to be remembered he was a priest of Anathoth, a city belonging to that tribe. He was now considerably past middle life, possibly prematurely aged because of all that he had gone through, and his usefulness appeared to be over. It does not seem to be fear that actuates him. Through grace he is above that. It would rather seem to be a longing for rest after so arduous a life, with its sorrows and its disappointments.
Accordingly, taking advantage of the withdrawal of the Chaldean army, he endeavors to make good his purpose (Jer 37:11-12). However good and right that purpose might appear, it is a step in advance of the Lord. It is never safe to plan one’s own way, or to seek an easier path for one’s self. In this instance the prophet clearly is acting in the energy of nature. GOD has a service for him still, as will be manifested in due time, even after the rebellious city has been overthrown. Jeremiah, devoted servant as he was, erred in choosing for himself.
Even a Paul went to Jerusalem against the plain testimony of the Holy Ghost, drawn by natural affection for his kinsmen after the flesh.
So our prophet is for the moment turned aside from the path of implicit dependence upon GOD, led apparently by a desire for rest and quiet after his stormy life. He must learn, as every other, that it is not in man to direct his way. The Lord is not yet through with him. He has a ministry for the poor who are to be spared from the sword, and for all who are left in the land.
As a result of his effort to better his condition, he is misunderstood and brought into deeper distress.
He was in the gate of Benjamin when a captain of the ward, Irijah, apprehended him, saying, “Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans” (Jer 37:13). In vain Jeremiah protested his innocence and the utter falsity of the charge. Irijah refused to credit his explanation, and carried him before the princes. It is hardly to be supposed that these men really believed him to be guilty, but it gave them an opportunity to vent their hatred upon the man who had so often reproved them. He was ignominiously smitten, and, apparently without a hearing, was cast into prison, in the house of Jonathan the scribe (Jer 37:15).
From what befell Jeremiah we may learn it is always best to sit still when there is no command from GOD to move.
The best of servants and the most faithful men blunder when they take things into their own hands. Little as one may realize it, or mean it to be so at the time, this acting for one’s self really implies lack of confidence in GOD’s love and care. Faith can wait upon Him, assured that He is far too much concerned about His children to overlook anything that is for their good; hence it is quiet and restful amid all changing circumstances. Unbelief forgets GOD and suggests that we must act; opportunities are slipping away-something must be done, and at once. This looks, to the natural mind, like sound judgment and common sense; but, alas, how often, when acted upon, are things made not better, but worse! It is far preferable to wait quietly upon Him whose wisdom never fails, and who sees the end from the beginning, than to rashly venture forth in the energy of nature, only to be defeated in the very purpose one seeks to achieve.
That the king knew the prophet was innocent of the charge upon which Irijah had arrested him is evident from the remaining verses of the chapter (Jer 37:16-21).
Jeremiah was cast into the dungeon and into the cells – probably underground apartments, gloomy and damp. There he was allowed to remain for many days, neglected, and with no opportunity given to clear himself of the imputation of treachery. Eventually Zedekiah sent and took him out for a secret conference in the palace, and asked him, “Is there any word from the Lord?” (Jer 37:17)
What a picture is here presented for us: the man on the throne and the man from the dungeon confronting each other, and the former is forced to own the superiority of the latter. The falsely accused prisoner has the secret of the Lord, and the haughty monarch is dependent on the prisoner to learn of the Lord’s purpose.
In reply to the anxious question Jeremiah gives the old answer. There is indeed a message from the Lord: it is the same so often given before, and unheeded. “For,” said he, “thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” (Jer 37:17)
There is no effort to palliate the terrible truth; no endeavor to win the king’s favor by good words and fair speeches. The plain, unwelcome truth is declared; and then, with neither apology nor flattery, he pleads his cause before the king:
“What have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison? Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land? Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee, that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.” (Jer 37:18-20)
Manifestly the army of the king of Babylon had again invested the city; the word of Jeremiah had proved true, and the false prophets had been put to shame. Convinced that injustice and wrong had been done the man of GOD, Zedekiah gives order that his circumstances be made more endurable, though he does not release him nor declare abroad his innocence. With the shame of supposed crime against his country hanging over him still, Jeremiah is taken from the dungeon and given a place in the court of the prison, with the allowance of “a daily piece of bread out of the baker’s street,” (Jer 37:21) so long as any bread remains in the city. Famine rations are being served out by weight. The end cannot be far away.
Among the king’s ministers of state there were many, however, who entertained for the pessimistic prophet feelings far different to those of the monarch himself. It was reported to a few of these that Jeremiah had said to the people:
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Jeremiah and Zedekiah and the Fall of Jerusalem (37-39)
CHAPTER 37
1. Jeremiahs warning (Jer 37:1-10)
2. Jeremiahs arrest (Jer 37:11-21)
Jer 37:1-10. To understand more fully these chapters it must be remembered that the besieging army before the gates of Jerusalem was temporarily withdrawn, because an Egyptian army had appeared against it. This was no doubt an occasion for the false prophets to preach their false hope, so that the people were deceived. Once more Zedekiah sent to the prophet a deputation (Jer 21:1) after Nebuchadnezzar had made him king. The occasion was on account of the withdrawal of the Chaldean army (Jer 37:5). They thought that it was surely a good sign and expected a favorable message. The false hope with which they were deceiving themselves was swept away by the word of Jehovah as it came to the prophet (Jer 37:7-10). There was no hope and after Zedekiah had rebelled (see our annotations on 2Ki 24:1-20; 2Ki 25:1-30, the king of Babylon came and burnt the city with fire.
Jer 37:11-21. When the Chaldean army had left, Jeremiah went forth to go to his hometown Anathoth, for what is not revealed. He may have gone to claim his portion which belonged to him as priest. When, in the gate of Benjamin a captain arrested him, charging the prophet with desertion, he denied the charge. Such a charge could easily be made on account of Jeremiahs former exhortation to submit to the Chaldeans. He is put in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; but later the dungeon is changed to the court of the prison. (See the annotations to Jer 32:2.)
We give a diagram which illustrates the chronology of the siege of Jerusalem and the fall of the city.
I. The Siege begun in the ninth year
Jer 39:1……………………………………………Siege begun
Jer 34:10………………………..Manumission of slaves
II. The Siege raised temporarily in the ninth or tenth year
Jer 37:3-10============Jer 21:1-7……..Jeremiah consulted by deputies from the king.
Jer 34:8-22 ……………………Re-enthralment of slaves.
Jer 37:11-16…………………………………….Jeremiah seized, and imprisoned in Jonathans house.
III. The Siege renewed in the ninth or tenth year
Jer 37:17-21=Jer 32:1-5 = Jer 34:1-7 Jeremiah brought in tenth year to be secretly consulted by the king: put afterwards in court of guard.
Jer 32:6-44 Field bought by Jeremiah.
Jer 33:1-26 Further prophecy in court of guard.
Jer 38:1-3=Jer 21:8-10.Jeremiah advises people to desert to Chaldeans.
Jer 38:4-6.Jeremiah put in miry dungeon.
Jer 38:7-13.Jeremiah restored by Ebed-melech to court of guard.
Jer 38:14-28.Jeremiah consulted by king in third entry of Temple: remanded to court of guard.
IV. The Siege ended in the eleventh year
Jer 39:1-14.City taken and destroyed.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
am 3406-3416, bc 598-588
Zedekiah: 2Ki 24:17, 1Ch 3:15, 2Ch 36:10
Coniah: Jer 22:24, Jer 22:28, Jer 24:1, Jeconiah, Jer 52:31, 2Ki 24:12, 1Ch 3:16, 2Ch 36:9, Jehoiachin
made: Eze 17:12-21
Reciprocal: 2Ki 24:8 – Jehoiachin 2Ki 24:18 – Zedekiah 2Ki 24:19 – And he did Jer 21:1 – when Jer 34:2 – Go Lam 3:59 – thou hast Eze 14:7 – and cometh Eze 17:5 – the seed Eze 17:13 – hath taken
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 37:1, The last date we had was the fifth year of Jehoiakim (ch, 36: 9). That king reigned 11 years (2 Kl. 23: 36), and we are now in the first year of Zedekiah; hence a. period of 6 or 7 years has passed since the preceding chapter. Coniah (or Jehoiachin) is mentioned here, hut he reigned only 3 months so we may overlook him in making practical estimates of dates.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
CLOSING EVENTS OF THE SIEGE
We are again in Zedekiahs reign (Jer 37:1), and the same disobedience as before marks the period (Jer 37:2). We are astonished at the effrontery accompanying it, (Jer 37:3). Note the occasion when this prayer is solicited (Jer 37:4-5). Egypt has come up to help, and the Babylonians in consequence, have raised the siege in order to meet the approaching army. Is it not an indication that God has changed His mind about Judah after all? The answer is found in Jer 37:6-10.
Jer 37:11-15 tell their own sad story. Notice the vacillation of the king (Jer 37:16-17). Why does this man thus play hot and cold, and fast and loose with heaven? If God is the Lord, why not serve Him, and if not, why be interested to inquire of Him? Has this type of man yet vanished from the earth? How does he now lighten the prophets suffering (Jer 37:18-21)? How does the last verse indicate the straitness of the siege?
In chapter 38, what illustration have we of the political weakness and the moral meanness of Zedekiah (Jer 38:1-6)? Whom does God now raise up to befriend His servant (Jer 38:7-13)? What further counsel of the king follows (Jer 38:14-23)? Is any change of the divine policy evident in this?
Although the king urges on the prophet a subterfuge (Jer 38:24-25), there is no reason to feel that the prophet employed it. He probably did not tell the princes all that transpired, nor was there obligation on him to do so, but that he deliberately lied, even to save his life, is beyond belief (Jer 38:26-28).
In chapter 39 the end is reached. Compare Jer 39:5-6 with Jer 32:4 and Eze 12:13.
Note that a remnant is left in Jerusalem though the bulk of the people are deported (Jer 39:10). Note the deference paid the prophet by the besieging army (Jer 39:11-14), and the manner in which God promised kindness to Ebed-Melech (Jer 39:15-18).
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
Jer 37:1-2. Zedekiah, whom Nebuchadrezzar made king See 2Ki 24:17; 2Ch 36:10, where is related the history of Zedekiahs succession. He was but a tributary king, having taken an oath of homage to the king of Babylon. He was a feeble and irresolute prince, and although not so bad as many of his predecessors, yet he had but little true piety or virtue. Neither he nor his servants, &c., did hearken unto the words of the Lord Though they saw in his predecessor the fatal consequences of contemning the word of God, and though it had already begun to be fulfilled, yet they did not take warning, nor give any more heed to it than others had done before them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 37:5. Pharaohs army was come forth out of Egypt. The Chaldeans were afraid of them, and raised the siege. But this joy to Jerusalem was of short continuance; the Chaldeans returned after the retreat of the Egyptian army, which had no object but to compel them to retire.
Jer 37:13. Irijah took Jeremiah, saying, thou fallest away to the Chaldeans. Irijah, being captain of the guard at the gate, hated Jeremiah for what had happened to his grandfather, Hananiah, the false prophet. But Jeremiahs motive in trying to go to Anathoth, where his lands lay, was to get some subsistence. Here Irijah covered his malice with the cloak of zeal, as a soldier for the safety of the public.
Jer 37:15. In prison, in the house of Jonathan the scribe. Jonathan was a secretary of state. In the East, as anciently in England, great men sometimes had prisons adjacent to their houses. The Lollards Tower subsists to this day, adjacent to the palace of the archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth, where martyrs and reputed heretics have been confined.
REFLECTIONS.
Jeremiah, knowing his inspiration, was not elated with joy when the Chaldeans ceased to besiege Jerusalem to pursue the Egyptians: he knew they would return, and therefore warned them against security. Vain was their help from the reed of Egypt. But how absurd it is for persons to desire the prayers of ministers, when they will not regard their exhortations. So Zedekiah did; and this is too common a case in times of distress. Men are then glad of the prayers of their friends and ministers, whom they before slighted; they are desirous to receive consolation from those, from whom they never would receive advice. But there is little reason to hope for any success from such prayers, and ministers have no consolation to administer to the disobedient; for they must still say, as God says, There is no peace to the wicked.
The delay and suspension of divine judgments too often harden sinners in their evil ways. While the Chaldeans besieged Jerusalem, there were some signs of remorse among the people; when they retired, the Israelites grew bad again. This is often the case with sinners, because sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed; and when judgments are at a distance, they go on to do wickedly. When God afflicts them, they entertain some serious thoughts and good resolutions; but when the affliction is gone, their goodness is gone also, and they return again to folly. Thus they deceive themselves. But the determination of God is peremptory, that except men repent they shall perish.
See the power of God over all creatures, Jer 37:10. He is the supreme commander of all armies, and can do what he pleases with them. He is never at a loss for instruments; they may be weak and unlikely, but they shall execute his purposes. Whether we hope for nothing from them, or fear nothing from them, if God directs them they shall prosper. Without him, vain is the help of man: with him, sufficient is the power of the weakest. How much more reasonable then is it to fear Him, than any human power. The principal reflection here is, how wretched is the state of a sinner, who is always contending with his own conscience. There is something strangely unaccountable in the conduct of Zedekiah. He had seen the death of his brother, and the captivity of his nephew and sister, exactly answering the divine prediction by Jeremiah. He began his reign with these awful objects in view; he saw Gods judgments on others, and felt them himself; yet he continued unhumbled. Sometimes he was under strong convictions; then infatuated by his evil counsellors. Sometimes he desired Jeremiahs prayers; then he consented to put him in prison. Then he sent for him to know what the Lord said; and yet rejected his commands. This is the case with many now: they show some reverence to Gods ministers, and attend upon ordinances, yet continue unaffected and unsanctified. Often uneasy in their own minds, sometimes full of alarms and fears; then settle in a false peace. The wicked are like the troubled sea that cannot rest. If we desire to be easy and happy, let us reverence the word of God, hearken to the voice of his ministers, and keep a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jeremiah 37, 38. Fortunes of Jeremiah during the Siege (588586).
Jer 37:1-10. Zedekiah, made vassal-king in place of his nephew, Jehoiachin (in 597) sends Jehucal (Jer 38:1) and Zephaniah (Jer 21:1, where a similar inquiry earlier in the siege is recorded) to ask for Jeremiahs intercession with Yahweh (cf. Isa 37:4), at a time when the siege has been raised through the Egyptian expedition of Pharaoh (Hophra, 589564; cf. Jer 44:30). Jeremiah sends back to say that the Babylonians will return, and that the capture of the city is certain, even though the Babylonian army had but a few wounded survivors. (The Egyptians were presumably defeated by the Babylonians on this occasion, cf. Eze 30:21).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
37:1 And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of {a} Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon {b} made king in the land of Judah.
(a) Who was called Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah.
(b) And called him Zedekiah, while before his name was Mattaniah, 2Ki 24:17 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Zedekiah’s prayer request and its answer 37:1-10
This event happened about 18 years after the one recorded in chapter 36.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The historical situation 37:1-5
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Nebuchadnezzar, sovereign over Judah since Jehoiakim’s unsuccessful rebellion against him in 598 B.C., set up Zedekiah, Jehoiakim’s brother, as Judah’s king in 597 B.C. (cf. 2Ki 24:17). Jehoiakim’s son, Jehoiachin (Coniah), had reigned for three months following his father’s deposition, but then Nebuchadnezzar deported him to Babylon (2Ki 24:12). Jehoiachin was never the authorized king of Judah. Thus Jeremiah’s prophecy about Jehoiakim’s end had come to pass (cf. Jer 36:30).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER XI
A BROKEN COVENANT
Jer 21:1-10, Jer 34:1-22, Jer 37:1-10
“All the princes and peoplechanged their minds and reduced to bondage again all the slaves whom they had set free.” Jer 34:10-11
IN our previous chapter we saw that, at the point where the fragmentary record of the abortive conspiracy in the fourth year of Zedekiah came to an abrupt conclusion, Jeremiah seemed to have regained the ascendency he enjoyed under Josiah. The Jewish government had relinquished their schemes of rebellion and acquiesced once more in the supremacy of Babylon. We may possibly gather from a later chapter that Zedekiah himself paid a visit to Nebuchadnezzar to assure him of his loyalty. If so, the embassy of Elasah ben Shaphan and Gemariah ben Hilkiah was intended to assure a favourable reception for their master.
The history of the next few years is lost in obscurity, but when the curtain again rises everything is changed and Judah is once more in revolt against the Chaldeans. No doubt one cause of this fresh change of policy was the renewed activity of Egypt. In the account of the conspiracy in Zedekiahs fourth year, there is a significant absence of any reference to Egypt. Jeremiah succeeded in baffling his opponents partly because their fears of Babylon were not quieted by any assurance of Egyptian support. Now there seemed a better prospect of a successful insurrection.
About the seventh year of Zedekiah, Psammetichus II of Egypt was succeeded by his brother Pharaoh Hophra, the son of Josiahs conqueror, Pharaoh Necho. When Hophra-the Apries of Herodotus-had completed the reconquest of Ethiopia, he made a fresh attempt to carry out his fathers policy and to reestablish the ancient Egyptian supremacy in Western Asia; and, as of old, Egypt began by tampering with the allegiance of the Syrian vassals of Babylon. According to Ezekiel, {Eze 17:15} Zedekiah took the initiative: “he rebelled against him (Nebuchadnezzar) by sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people.”
The knowledge that an able and victorious general was seated on the Egyptian throne, along with the secret intrigues of his agents and partisans, was too much for Zedekiahs discretion. Jeremiahs advice was disregarded. The king surrendered himself to the guidance-we might almost say, the control-of the Egyptian party in Jerusalem; he violated his oath of allegiance to his suzerain, and the frail and battered ship of state was once more embarked on the stormy waters of rebellion. Nebuchadnezzar promptly prepared to grapple with the reviving strength of Egypt in a renewed contest for the lordship of Syria. Probably Egypt and Judah had other allies, but they are not expressly mentioned. A little later Tyre was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar; but as Ezekiel {Eze 26:2} represents Tyre as exulting over the fall of Jerusalem, she can hardly have been a benevolent neutral, much less a faithful ally. Moreover, when Nebuchadnezzar began his march into Syria, he hesitated whether he should first attack Jerusalem or Rabbath Ammon:-
“The king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way to use divination: he shook the arrows to and fro, he consulted the teraphim, he looked in the liver.” {Eze 21:21}
Later on Baalis, king of Ammon, received the Jewish refugees and supported those who were most irreconcilable in their hostility to Nebuchadnezzar. Nevertheless the Ammonites were denounced by Jeremiah for occupying the territory of Gad, and by Ezekiel {Eze 25:1-7} for sharing the exultation of Tyre over the ruin of Judah. Probably Baalis played a double part. He may have promised support to Zedekiah, and then purchased his own pardon by betraying his ally.
Nevertheless the hearty support of Egypt was worth more than the alliance of any number of the petty neighbouring states, and Nebuchadnezzar levied a great army to meet this ancient and formidable enemy of Assyria and Babylon. He marched into Judah with “all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the peoples,” and “fought against Jerusalem and all the cities thereof.”
At the beginning of the siege Zedekiahs heart began to fail him. The course of events seemed to confirm Jeremiahs threats, and the king, with pathetic inconsistency, sought to be reassured by the prophet himself. He sent Pashhur ben Malchiah and Zephaniah ben Maaseiah to Jeremiah with the message:-
“Inquire, I pray thee, of Jehovah for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us: peradventure Jehovah wilt deal with us according to all His wondrous works, that he may go up from us.”
The memories of the great deliverance from Sennacherib were fresh and vivid in mens minds. Isaiahs denunciations had been as uncompromising as Jeremiahs, and yet Hezekiah had been spared. “Peradventure,” thought his anxious descendant, “the prophet may yet be charged with gracious messages that Jehovah repents Him of the evil and will even now rescue His Holy City.” But the timid appeal only called forth a yet sterner sentence of doom. Formidable as were the enemies against whom Zedekiah craved protection, they were to be reinforced by more terrible allies; man and beast should die of a great pestilence, and Jehovah Himself should be their enemy:-
“I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans
I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a strong arm, in anger and fury and great wrath.”
The city should be taken and burnt with fire, and the king and all others who survived should be carried away captive. Only on one condition might better terms be obtained:-
“Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.
He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence; but he that goeth out, and falleth to the besieging Chaldeans, shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.” {Jer 21:1-10}
On another occasion Zephaniah ben Maaseiah with a certain Tehucal ben Shelemiah was sent by the king to the prophet with the entreaty, “Pray now unto Jehovah our God for us.” We are not told the sequel to this mission, but it is probably represented by the opening verses of chapter 34. This section has the direct and personal note which characterises the dealings of Hebrew prophets with their sovereigns. Doubtless the partisans of Egypt had had a severe struggle with Jeremiah before they captured the ear of the Jewish king, and Zedekiah was possessed to the very last with a half superstitious anxiety to keep on good terms with the prophet. Jehovahs “iron pillar and brasen wall” would make no concession to these royal blandishments: his message had been rejected, his Master had been slighted and defied, the Chosen People and the Holy City were being betrayed to their ruin; Jeremiah would not refrain from denouncing this iniquity because the king who had sanctioned it tried to flatter his vanity by sending deferential deputations of important notables. This is the Divine sentence:-
“I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon,
And he shall burn it with fire.
Thou shalt not escape out of his hand;
Thou shalt assuredly be taken prisoner;
Thou shalt be delivered into his hand.
Thou shalt see the king of Babylon, face to face;
He shall speak to thee, mouth to mouth,
And thou shalt go to Babylon.”
Yet there should be one doubtful mitigation of his punishment:-
“Thou shalt not die by the sword;
Thou shalt die in peace:
With the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings that were before thee,
So shall they make a burning for thee;
And they shall lament thee, saying, Alas lord!
For it is I that have spoken the word-it is the utterance of Jehovah.”
King and people were not proof against the combined terrors of the prophetic rebukes and the besieging enemy. Jeremiah regained his influence, and Jerusalem gave an earnest of the sincerity of her repentance by entering into a covenant for the emancipation of all Hebrew slaves. Deuteronomy had reenacted the ancient law that their bondage should terminate at the end of six years, {Deu 15:12; Cf. Exo 21:2; Exo 23:10} but this had hot been observed: “Your fathers hearkened not unto Me, neither inclined their ear.” {Jer 34:14} A large proportion of those then in slavery must have served more than six years; {Jer 34:13} and partly because of the difficulty of discrimination at such a crisis, partly by way of atonement, the Jews undertook to liberate all their slaves. This solemn reparation was made because the limitation of servitude was part of the national Torah, “the covenant that Jehovah made with their fathers in the day that He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt”-i.e., the Deuteronomic Code. Hence it implied the renewed recognition of Deuteronomy, and the restoration of the ecclesiastical order established by Josiahs reforms.
Even Josiahs methods were imitated. He had assembled the people at the Temple and made them enter into “a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, to keep His commandments and testimonies and statutes with all their heart and soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.” {2Ki 23:3} So now Zedekiah in turn caused the people to make a covenant before Jehovah, “in the house which was called by His name,” {Jer 34:14} “that every one should release his Hebrew slaves, male and female, and that no one should enslave a brother Jew.” {Jer 34:9} A further sanction had been given to this vow by the observance of an ancient and significant rite. When Jehovah promised to Abraham a seed countless as the stars of heaven, He condescended to ratify His promise by causing the symbols of His presence-a smoking furnace and a burning lamp-to pass between the divided halves of a heifer, a she-goat, a ram, and between a turtle dove and a young pigeon. {Gen 15:1-21} Now, in like manner, a calf was cut in twain, the two halves laid opposite each other, and “the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land passed between the parts of the calf.” {Jer 34:19} Similarly, after the death of Alexander the Great, the contending factions in the Macedonian army ratified a compromise by passing between the two halves of a dog. Such symbols spoke for themselves: those who used them laid themselves under a curse; they prayed that if they violated the covenant they might be slain and mutilated like the divided animals.
This covenant was forthwith carried into effect, the princes and people liberating their Hebrew slaves according to their vow. We cannot, however, compare this event with the abolition of slavery in British colonies or with Abraham Lincolns Decree of Emancipation. The scale is altogether different: Hebrew bondage had no horrors to compare with those of the American plantations; and moreover, even at the moment, the practical results cannot have been great. Shut up in a beleaguered city, harassed by the miseries and terrors of a siege, the freedmen would see little to rejoice over in their new found freedom. Unless their friends were in Jerusalem they could not rejoin them, and in most cases they could only obtain sustenance by remaining in the households of their former masters, or by serving in the defending army. Probably this special ordinance of Deuteronomy was selected as the subject of a solemn covenant, because it not only afforded an opportunity of atoning for past sin, but also provided the means of strengthening the national defence. Such expedients were common in ancient states in moments of extreme peril. In view of Jeremiahs persistent efforts, both before and after this incident, to make his countrymen loyally accept the Chaldean supremacy, we cannot doubt that he hoped to make terms between Zedekiah and Nebuchadnezzar. Apparently no tidings of Pharaoh Hophras advance had reached Jerusalem; and the nonappearance of his “horses and much people” had discredited the Egyptian party, and enabled Jeremiah to overthrow their influence with the king and people. Egypt, after all her promises, had once more proved herself a broken reed; there was nothing left but to throw themselves on Nebuchadnezzars mercy.
But the situation was once more entirely changed by the news that Pharaoh Hophra had come forth out of Egypt “with a mighty army and a great company.” {Eze 17:17} The sentinels on the walls of Jerusalem saw the besiegers break up their encampment, and march away to meet the relieving army. All thought of submitting to Babylon was given up. Indeed, if Pharaoh Hophra were to be victorious, the Jews must of necessity accept his supremacy. Meanwhile they revelled in their respite from present distress and imminent danger. Surely the new covenant was bearing fruit. Jehovah had been propitiated by their promise to observe the Torah; Pharaoh was the instrument by which God would deliver His people; or even if the Egyptians were defeated, the Divine resources were not exhausted. When Tirhakah advanced to the relief of Hezekiah, he was defeated at Eltekeh, yet Sennacherib had returned home baffled and disgraced. Naturally the partisans of Egypt, the opponents of Jeremiah, recovered their control of the king and the government. The king sent, perhaps at the first news of the Egyptian advance, to inquire of Jeremiah concerning their prospects of success. What seemed to every one else a Divine deliverance was to him a national misfortune; the hopes he had once more indulged of averting the ruin of Judah were again dashed to the ground. His answer is bitter and gloomy:-
“Behold, Pharaohs army, which is come forth to help you,
Shall return to Egypt into their own land.
The Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city;
They shall take it, and burn it with fire.
Thus saith Jehovah: Do not deceive yourselves, saying,
The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us:
They shall not depart.
Though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you,
And there remained none but wounded men among them,
Yet should they rise up every man in his tent,
And burn this city with fire.”
Jeremiahs protest was unavailing, and only confirmed the king and princes in their adherence to Egypt. Moreover Jeremiah had now formally disclaimed any sympathy with this great deliverance, which Pharaoh-and presumably Jehovah-had wrought for Judah. Hence it was clear that the people did not owe this blessing to the covenant to which they had submitted themselves by Jeremiahs guidance. As at Megiddo, Jehovah had shown once more that He was with Pharaoh and against Jeremiah. Probably they would best please God by renouncing Jeremiah and all his works-the covenant included. Moreover they could take back their slaves with a clear conscience, to their own great comfort and satisfaction. True, they had sworn in the Temple with solemn and striking ceremonies, but then Jehovah Himself had manifestly released them from their oath. “All the princes and people changed their mind, and reduced to bondage again all the slaves whom they had set free.” The freedmen had been rejoicing with their former masters in the prospect of national deliverance; the date of their emancipation was to mark the beginning of a new era of Jewish happiness and prosperity. When the siege was raised and the Chaldeans driven away, they could use their freedom in rebuilding the ruined cities and cultivating the wasted lands. To all such dreams there came a sudden and rough awakening: they were dragged back to their former hopeless bondage-a happy augury for the new dispensation of Divine protection and blessing!
Jeremiah turned upon them in fierce wrath, like that of Elijah against Ahab when he met him taking possession of Naboths vineyard. They had profaned the name of Jehovah, and-
“Therefore thus saith Jehovah:
Ye have not hearkened unto Me to proclaim
A release every one to his brother and his neighbour:
Behold, I proclaim a release for you-it is the utterance of Jehovah-
Unto the sword, the pestilence, and the famine;
And I will make you a terror among all the kingdoms of the earth.”
The prophet plays upon the word “release” with grim irony. The Jews had repudiated the “release” which they had promised under solemn oath to their brethren, but Jehovah would not allow them to be so easily quit of their covenant. There should be a “release” after all, and they themselves should have the benefit of it-a “release” from happiness and prosperity, from the sacred bounds of the Temple, the Holy City, and the Land of Promise-a “release” unto “the sword, the pestilence, and the famine.”
“I will give the men that have transgressed My covenant into the hands of their enemies . . .
Their dead bodies shall be meat for the fowls of heaven . . .
And for the beasts of the earth, Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of . . .
The host of the king of Babylon, which are gone up from you.
Behold, I will command-it is the utterance of Jehovah-
And will bring them back unto this city:
They shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire.
I will lay the cities of Judah waste, without inhabitant.”
Another broken covenant was added to the list of Judahs sins, another promise of amendment speedily lost in disappointment and condemnation. Jeremiah might well say with his favourite Hosea:-
“Oh Judah, what shall I do unto thee?
Your goodness is as a morning cloud,
And as the dew that goeth early away.” {Hos 6:4}
This incident has many morals; one of the most obvious is the futility of the most stringent oaths and the most solemn symbolic ritual. Whatever influence oaths may have in causing a would be liar to speak the truth, they are very poor guarantees for the performance of contracts. William the Conqueror profited little by Harolds oath to help him to the crown of England, though it was sworn over the relics of holy saints. Wulfnoths whisper in Tennysons drama-
“Swear thou today, tomorrow is thine own”-
states the principle on which many oaths have been taken. The famous “blush of Sigismund” over the violation of his safe conduct to Huss was rather a token of unusual sensitiveness than a confession of exceptional guilt. The Christian Church has exalted perfidy into a sacred obligation. As Milman says:-
“The fatal doctrine, confirmed by long usage, by the decrees of Pontiffs, by the assent of all ecclesiastics, and the acquiescence of the Christian world, that no promise, no oath, was binding to a heretic, had hardly been questioned, never repudiated.”
At first sight an oath seems to give firm assurance to a promise; what was merely a promise to man is made into a promise to God. What can be more binding upon the conscience than a promise to God? True; but He to whom the promise is made may always release from its performance. To persist in what God neither requires nor desires because of a promise to God seems absurd and even wicked. It has been said that men “have a way of calling everything they want to do a dispensation of Providence.” Similarly, there are many Nays by which a man may persuade himself that God has cancelled his vows, especially if he belongs to an infallible Church with a Divine commission to grant dispensations. No doubt these Jewish slaveholders had full sacerdotal absolution from their pledge. The priests had slaves of their own. Failing ecclesiastical aid, Satan himself will play the casuist-it is one of his favourite parts-and will find the traitor full justification for breaking the most solemn contract with Heaven. If a mans whole soul and purpose go with his promise, oaths are superfluous; otherwise, they are useless.
However, the main lesson of the incident lies in its added testimony to the supreme importance which the prophets attached to social righteousness. When Jeremiah wished to knit together again the bonds of fellowship between Judah and its God, he did not make them enter into a covenant to observe ritual or to cultivate pious sentiments, but to release their slaves. It has been said that a gentleman may be known by the way in which he treats his servants; a mans religion is better tested by his behaviour to his helpless dependents than by his attendance on the means of grace or his predilection for pious conversation. If we were right in supposing that the government supported Jeremiah because the act of emancipation would furnish recruits to man the walls, this illustrates the ultimate dependence of society upon the working classes. In emergencies, desperate efforts are made to coerce or cajole them into supporting governments by which they have been neglected or oppressed. The sequel to this covenant shows how barren and transient are concessions begotten by the terror of imminent ruin. The social covenant between all classes of the community needs to be woven strand by strand through long years of mutual helpfulness and goodwill, of peace and prosperity, if it is to endure the strain of national peril and disaster.