But if thou refuse to go forth, this [is] the word that the LORD hath showed me:
21. the word ] viz. the picture of the women which follows. Dr. makes it to be an actual vision on the part of the prophet, and so renders “all the women were brought forth while they said, etc.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But if thou refuse to go forth,…. Out of Jerusalem, to the Chaldean army, and submit to them:
this [is] the word that the Lord hath showed me, or the thing which should certainly come to pass; the word of prophecy the Lord had showed to the prophet, and which he now declares to the king; who asked of him a word, was desirous to know whether there was a word from the Lord, and what it was; and this it is which follows, in case he continued impenitent, obstinate, and disobedient.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He then adds, If thou refuse to go forth, this is the word which God hath shewed to me Jeremiah again declares that Zedekiah resisted in vain, because he kicked, as it is said, against the goad, for he could not possibly escape from coming into the hand of his enemies; which, when done, then neither the city nor the Temple would be spared. But the Prophet repeats again, that it had been shewn to him what to speak, he then spoke not in his own name, but by God’s command; which, it may be, was not then given him: but the Prophet knew that God’s decree, of which he had been the herald, could not be abolished. He then says, that this word had been shewed to him by God, even what follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Jer 38:21 But if thou refuse to go forth, this [is] the word that the LORD hath shewed me:
Ver. 21. Bat if thou refuse to go forth. ] Promises and threatenings make an excellent mixture; the tartness of the one giveth us better to taste the sweetness of the other.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
if thou: Jer 5:3, Exo 10:3, Exo 10:4, Exo 16:28, Job 34:33, Pro 1:24-31, Isa 1:19, Isa 1:20, Heb 12:25
this is: Jer 15:19-21, Jer 26:15, Num 23:19, Num 23:20, Num 24:13, Job 23:13, Eze 2:4, Eze 2:5, Eze 2:7, Eze 3:17-19, Act 18:6, Act 20:26, Act 20:27
Reciprocal: 2Ki 8:10 – the Lord Jer 17:27 – then Jer 21:7 – I will Jer 42:19 – know
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 38:21. Refuse to go forth is a key phrase in this situation. There was to be no avoiding the falling into the hands of the Babylonians The question was whether it would be done through the unresisting surrender of the king, or that he would be taken by force and be treated as a captive of war would be.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 38:21-23. But if thou refuse, this is the word that the Lord hath showed me Namely, what follows in the next two verses. Behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judahs house The kings wives, his daughters, and the other women that belong to the kings court and family, shall become a prey to the chief officers of the king of Babylons army. And those women shall say, Thy friends have set thee on, &c. They shall tell thee that, for these thy calamities, thou mayest thank thy hearkening to thy priests and false prophets; (called in the Hebrew the men of his peace, because they soothed up the king with the promises of peace;) in other words, those very women shall then reproach thee for having suffered thyself to be insnared by the ill advice of thy friends, and brought under insuperable difficulties. They will say to thee, Thy feet are sunk in the mire Thou art plunged into calamities from which thou canst not extricate thyself. And they are turned away back Even thy friends, by following whose counsel thou art brought into these snares and troubles, forsake thee in thy distress, every one shifting for himself. And thus shall a greater evil come upon thee than that which thou fearest, and the fear of which makes the unwilling to comply with the will of God concerning thee. So shall they bring out all thy wives, &c. The prophet partly repeats and partly enlarges on the argument advanced in the former verse, with a view to prevail on the king to surrender himself to the Chaldeans. He urges, that if he would not do it, not only himself but his wives and children also would fall into his enemies hands, and that their reflection upon him, for the misery he had brought upon them and his country, would be no small aggravation of his affliction.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
If Zedekiah kept refusing to give himself up, the Lord promised that all the women in the palace would end up as the property of the enemy officers. It was customary for a conquering king to take over the harem of his defeated foe (cf. 2Sa 16:21-22). These women would curse Zedekiah for allowing his friends to mislead him. They would use the words-that Jeremiah here composed or perhaps quoted from a traditional song-about being betrayed and deserted by friends (cf. Jer 20:10; Psa 41:9; Psa 69:14; Oba 1:7). While the king delayed, his officers would get away. What had happened to Jeremiah physically (Jer 38:6) would happen to Zedekiah politically, militarily, and spiritually: both were stuck in the mud.