Subsection 3 Part 1. Jerusalem Is Surrounded And Jeremiah Declares that There Is no Point In Holding Out Because Jerusalem Is About To Be Destroyed And Zedekiah Will Be Carried Off To Babylon To Meet Nebuchadrezzar Face To Face Where He Will Die ‘In Peace’ And Be Lamented By His Nobles ( Jer 34:1-7 ).

Jerusalem was in dire straits. Surrounded by the Babylonians and by armies from ‘all the kingdoms of the earth which were under his dominion’ it knew that only two other cities of Judah were still holding out, the fortified cities of Lachish and Azekah. Otherwise the whole of Judah was being ravaged and was in Nebuchadnezzar’s hands. But it still thought that it had one hope. It was depending on Pharaoh Hophra to arrive with an Egyptian army and drive off the Babylonians. Jeremiah, however, warns them against such a vain hope. Let them be in no doubt. Jerusalem would be taken and burned with fire and Zedekiah its king would be carried off to Babylon never again to participate in political intrigue (he would die ‘in peace’, excluded from political activity), and there he would meet Nebuchadnezzar face to face to receive his punishment. That was on the word of YHWH. It is noteworthy that there is no reference at this stage to his being blinded, confirmation that this is a prophecy before the event.

Jer 34:1

‘The word which came to Jeremiah from YHWH, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth which were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all its cities, saying,’

This is clearly describing a time prior to Jeremiah’s imprisonment. The impossible position of Jerusalem is underlined. They were surrounded by the armies of ‘all the kingdoms of the world’ which were under Nebuchadnezzar’s control. (Note the use of ‘world’ to indicate the local ‘known world’). ‘All the peoples’ were fighting against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. The idea is that there really was no hope. Of course, as vassals of Nebuchadnezzar the other kingdoms had little choice in the matter. It was part of their commitment as vassals to provide Nebuchadnezzar with regiments to bolster up his army.

The change in description from Nebuchadrezzar (used earlier in chapters 21-25, and in Jer 29:31; Jer 32:1; Jer 32:28; Jer 35:11; Jer 37:1; Jer 39:1; Jer 39:11, but not in Jer 27:1 to Jer 29:3) to Nebuchadnezzar indicates very little, for such a change could easily be made by the same author writing at a different time, especially as the use of the ‘n’ in place of the ‘r’ could simply have been in order to introduce a derogatory element into the name in view of the increasing intensity of the situation.

In Jeremiah the use of Nebuchadnezzar is mainly restricted to the passage Jer 27:1 to Jer 29:3 (Nebuchadrezzar appears in Jer 29:21), whilst also occurring here in Jer 34:1, with this last appearance having no obvious explanation. Nebuchadrezzar is used in Jer 32:1; Jer 32:28; Jer 35:11; Jer 37:1; Jer 39:1; Jer 39:11. In the end we may think what we like about the significance of the change for we have little to go on. The pattern is not wholly consistent.

Jer 34:2

‘Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, “Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus says YHWH, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire,”

YHWH here underlines their lack of hope. As ‘YHWH, the God of Israel’ He calls on Jeremiah to go to Zedekiah the king of Judah and tell him that YHWH Himself intends to deliver Jerusalem into the hand of the king of Babylon. This reveals Israel’s hopelessness in that if Israel’s own God was not supporting them, what possible hope could they have? Furthermore, He declares that the city will be burned with fire, something which was the regular treatment for a rebellious and obstinate city.

Jer 34:3

“And you will not escape out of his hand, but will surely be taken, and delivered into his hand, and your eyes will behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with you mouth to mouth, and you will go to Babylon.”

Nor should Zedekiah think that somehow he himself might escape from Nebuchadnezzar’s hand. He was to recognise that he would certainly be taken and handed over to Nebuchadnezzar, and would have to see him face to face, and speak to him mouth to mouth (he would of course do it grovelling before him with his face to the ground), for ‘he would go to Babylon’ whether he liked it or not.

Jer 34:4

‘Surely hear the word of YHWH, O Zedekiah king of Judah, “Thus says YHWH concerning you, You will not die by the sword,”

Furthermore he would not die nobly by the sword, neither in actively fighting for his country (no such noble death was to be his), nor by execution. This too was the word of YHWH. His only future lay in prison. (It should be noted that no mention is made of the fact that he would be blinded, something which demonstrates that the prophecies were not tampered with after the event. It would have been all too easy for a dishonest or over-enthusiastic copyist to introduce the idea. The fact that it did not happen reminds us how carefully copyists refrained from such activities).

Jer 34:5

“You will die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so will they make a burning for you, and they will lament you, saying, ‘Ah Lord!’ for I have spoken the word, the word of YHWH.”

Indeed he would die ‘in peace’ (i.e. in a non-belligerent situation, languishing in prison) and would have a normal royal funeral, with the burning of perfumes and spices (compare 2Ch 16:14; 2Ch 21:19) and the lamentations of his nobles. That at least would be permitted to him and was all that he had to look forward to. The emphasis is more on the fact that his usefulness was at an end and that he would not accomplish anything more in his life, rather than being intended as being an indication that he would have a pleasant life. He would, in fact, probably die in prison.

Jer 34:6-7

‘And Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, when the king of Babylon’s army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah which were left, against Lachish and against Azekah, for these alone remained of the cities of Judah as fortified cities.’

It is then emphasised that these words were spoken when Judah was on its last legs, with only two other fortified cities, apart from Jerusalem still holding out. Lachish and Azekah were in the low foothills of Judah and were two strong cities. Lachish was 40 kilometres (23 miles) south west of Jerusalem and surrounded on three sides by the River Lachish which meandered around it. It was important enough for Sennacherib of Assyria in c. 701 BC, having failed to capture Jerusalem, to celebrate its subjection by a relief sculpture in his palace at Nineveh. It was eventually to be taken again by the Babylonians in 586 BC. Azekah was seemingly almost as strong and held out bravely, although succumbing to the Babylonians some time earlier than Lachish. It was about 26 kilometres (18 miles) south west of Jerusalem. Interestingly we have possible contemporary evidence of its fall, for letters were discovered in the ruins of Lachish in which a guard commander, presumably writing from an outpost, informs his governor that ‘we are watching for the signal fires of Lachish for we cannot see those of Azekah’, which may indicate that the latter had ceased burning because the city was taken.

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

Jer 34:18  And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,

Jer 34:18 Scripture References – Note a similar covenant in Gen 15:9-10; Gen 15:17-18:

Gen 15:9-10, “And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.”

Gen 15:17-18, “And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Of The Captivity of Zedekiah

v. 1. The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, literally, “all the kingdoms of the country of the rule of his hand,” and all the people, the heaping of these expressions denoting the overwhelming power of His army, against which all resistance was useless, fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities thereof, the cities of Judah, which were considered tributary to the capital, saying,

v. 2. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Go and speak to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, delivering it according to His supreme will and purpose, and he shall burn it with fire;

v. 3. and thou shalt not escape out of his hand, as he afterwards attempted to do, 2Ki 25:4-6, but shalt surely be taken and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon. Jer 32:3-5.

v. 4. Yet hear the word of the Lord, who was ever ready to show mercy even in the midst of His punishments, O Zedekiah, king of Judah, Thus saith the Lord of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword, not be subject to a violent death,

v. 5. but thou shalt die in peace, depart this life by a natural death; and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odors for thee, after the custom of burning aromatic spices, which was observed for the kings and the members of the royal family; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah, lord; or, Alas, master; for I have pronounced the word, saith the Lord. So it was not to be his fate to die in battle like Jehoiakim and to remain unlamented and unburied. Jer 22:18-19.

v. 6. Then Jeremiah, the prophet, spake all these words unto Zedekiah, king of Judah, in Jerusalem,

v. 7. when the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, which had not been reduced in previous campaigns, against Lachish and against Azekah, two cities in the lowlands toward the southwest, on the border of the Philistine territory; for these defensed cities remained of the cities of Judah. As the Lord here showed mercy to Zedekiah, so He is ever full of compassion toward His children, for He remembers that they are dust.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

This chapter must be taken in connection with Jer 35:1-19. The whole section consists of three passages, introduced with a superscription in the same form, but otherwise unrelated. It serves to finish off the earlier prophetic portion of the book, Jer 36:1-32. opening a series of narratives.

The first passage (Jer 34:1-7) is virtually a postscript to Jer 32:1-44; Jer 33:1-26.; it apparently contains the prophecy referred to in Jer 32:3-5 as the cause of Jeremiah’s imprisonment. The same prophecy recurs in a shorter form in Jer 37:17, and, by comparing the context of this passage with Jer 32:1, etc; we are enabled to infer that the original prophecy was uttered at the renewal of the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, who had withdrawn for a time on the news of the approach of Pharaoh’s army.

Jer 34:1

All the kingdoms of the earth; etc.; rather, of the land. The accumulation of phrases is to convey the composite character of the Chaldean army. And against all the cities thereof; i.e. the fortified cities which still held outagainst Lachish and Azekah, if no more (per. 7).

Jer 34:2, Jer 34:3

(Getup. these verses with Jer 32:3-5.)

Jer 34:4

Yet hear the word of the Lord, etc. Clearly this introduces a limitation of the foregoing threat. Zedekiah will, it is true, be carried to Babylon, but he will not suffer a violent death; he will “die in peace,” and be buried with all customary royal honours. A difficulty, however, has been felt in admitting this view. How could Zedekiah be said to die in peace, when he was “in prison till the day of his death” (Jer 52:11)? and how could the deposed king of a captive people be honoured with a public mourning? The reply is

(1) that, as compared with a cruel death by flaying or impalement, it was “peace” to live in the obscure quiet of a prison; and

(2) that, as the Jews appear to have been left very much to themselves (see Ezekiel, passim), it is credible enough that they were allowed to show the customary honours to a deceased representative of David. At any rate, the alternative view seems not in accordance with sound exegesis, viz. that the verse means this, “If thou obey the word of the Lord, and surrender thyself to Nebuchadnezzar, thou shalt live and die in peaceable possession of the throne.” What parallel can be produced for this violent interpretation?

Jer 34:5

With the burnings of thy fathers. It was customary to burn spices at royal funerals (2Ch 16:14; 2Ch 21:19). Saying, Ah lord! (see on Jer 22:18).

The second of the group of prophecies in Jer 34:1-22; Jer 35:1-19. is composed of Jer 35:8 -22. It contains a denunciation of the Jews who, at the beginning of the siege, had emancipated their Hebrew slaves (according to Exo 21:1-4; Deu 15:12), but after the withdrawal of the Chaldeans had resumed possession of them. Verse 21 is couched in a form which indicates the precise date of the prophecy, viz. before the Chaldeans returned to renew the siege of Jerusalem.

Jer 34:8

A covenant. The scene of this “covenant” was the temple (Jer 34:15, Jer 34:18). Solemn agreements of this kind were not uncommon. To proclaim liberty unto them. The phrase, a very peculiar one, is taken from the law of jubilee (Le Jer 25:10), though the prescription on which the covenant was based refers exclusively to the seventh year of the slave’s servitude.

Jer 34:9

Should serve himself of them; literally, should work through them; i.e. “should employ them for forced labour;” as in Jer 25:13.

Jer 34:10

Now when all the princes, etc. This verse should rather be rendered thus: Then all the princes, and all the people, etc; obeyed, every one letting his slave, and every one his handmaid, go free, not serving them. selves of them any more; they even obeyed, and let them go.

Jer 34:13

Out of the house of bondmen. Egypt had been a “house of bondmen” to their fathers (Exo 13:3; Deu 6:12, and elsewhere); let them not make the holy city thus grievous to those who were equally with themselves children of Jehovah’s redeemed ones.

Jer 34:14

At the end of seven years, etc. This is the literal rendering, but the sense, as is clear from the parallel passage in Deu 15:12, and indeed from the next clause of this very verse, is “in the seventh (not, the eighth) year.”

Jer 34:15

Ye were now turned; or, ye returned (the primary meaning is simply “to turn;” hence

(1) to turn away, as in Jer 34:16;

(2) to return, as here; comp. (Jer 8:4).

Jer 34:17

I proclaim a liberty for you. Judah is henceforth to be “lord of himselfthat heritage of woe;” or rather, he is to become the slave of Sword, Pestilence, and Famine. The “liberty” now proclaimed does not profit Judah, who so much desires it. I will make you to be removed; rather, I will make you a shuddering (as Jer 15:4).

Jer 34:18

When they out the calf in twain, etc. This clause should be translated differently, and placed, for clearness, in a parenthesis (the calf which they cut in twain, and between the parts of which they passed). The division of the calf might, in fact, be called in Hebrew either “the covenant” or “the token of the covenant” (comp. Gen 17:10, Gen 17:11). It was a solemn assurance that he who should transgress God’s Law should share the same fate as the victim. The same idea seems to have dictated the Hebrew phrase, “to cut a covenant,” and the Greek and Latin equivalents ( : foedus icere); comp. the parallel narrative in Gen 15:10.

Jer 34:20

And their dead bodies, etc. One of Jeremiah’s repetitions (see Jer 7:33).

Jer 34:21

And Zedekiah and his princes. Graf infers from the separate mention of the king and his princes that these had themselves been unfaithful to the covenant. But the threat in this verse seems merely intended to enforce the preceding one by specializing the most prominent sufferers. Parallel passage: Jer 21:7. Which are gone up from you (see Jer 37:5).

HOMILETICS

Jer 34:1-7

A king’s doom.

Jeremiah reveals to King Zedekiah his approaching doom. The invader is already occupying the land and coming up before the walls of Jerusalem (verse 7). It is now too late to escape, resistance is vain, the doom is certain. What a terrible scene is that in the royal palace when the mournful prophet stands up to deliver his message to the terror-stricken monarch! Such events are rare in history. Yet the general truths on which the message of Jeremiah depended are eternal and clear to all who will see them. We have no prophet to tell us of the exact nature and date of our future judgments. But we know the principles of God’s government and can apply them to ourselves. We know that God is just and must punish sin; we know that “the wages of sin is death.” Therefore, though no voice sounds in our ears, the sentence is virtually pronounced every day we sin, and hangs over us continually until our sin is forgiven.

I. THE DOOM.

1. The city is to be destroyed. She has shared the king’s sin, therefore she must share his punishment. The destruction of Jerusalem was especially a blow to Zedekiah. They who have most can lose most. Jerusalem was a favoured citythe greater, therefore, was the guilt of her apostasy, and the heavier must be her doom. Past favours are no charms against future judgments.

2. The king shall not escape. (Verse 3.) Rank is no safeguard against the judgment of Heaven. God will call kings to account. So all who have accepted responsible posts will have to answer for their conduct in them. Zedekiah would find his sufferings aggravated by being a witness to the triumph of Nebuchadnezzar. Shame, remorse, mental anguish, are to the sensitive worse penalties than bodily torture.

II. THE MITIGATION. The doom is not utter. “In wrath God remembers mercy.” God never delights to punish, never gives one blow more than is absolutely necessary; does not hate, but pities and grieves for the victim. So Zedekiah’s life is to be spared, and he is to receive a measure of honour in his captivity. There are degrees of punishment in the Divine execution of justicesome will be beaten with fray stripes, some with many (Luk 12:47, Luk 12:48). In this fact we may see the hope of mercy to the penitent, for God does not wholly cast a soul off. The shadows fall thick, but the darkness is not that of midnight. When trouble comes we are too ready to complain if we do not fall into despair. We should look for mitigating circumstances, those rifts in the clouds that tell of the mercy not yet wholly gone, and give hopes of light after the storm is over. But it is foolish for any to take spiritual comfort to himself for the future life in such thoughts as these, for we may well fear that the lightest doom then will be unspeakably terrible. The refuge we are to seek is not in that poor mitigation, but in the full forgiveness and perfect salvation of Christ now offered to the worst men, even to those over whom hangs the heaviest threat of doom (Heb 7:25).

Jer 34:8-11

Superficial repentance.

In liberating their slaves under the influence of terror, and reclaiming them when the cause of alarm had disappeared, the Jews afford a striking instance of superficial repentance. This must be distinguished from an insincere repentance referred to in an earlier prophecy (Jer 3:10). That is nothing but a hollow mockery from the first, a mere pretence of conscious hypocrisy; but this is genuine so far as it goesonly it goes but a very little way.

I. THE CAUSE OF SUPERFICIAL REPENTANCE IS FEAR OF PAINFUL CONSEQUENCES. When the invader was at their gates Zedekiah and his people were so terrified that they were willing to do and promise anything that would mitigate the wrath of God who had permitted the calamity to visit them for their sins. Fear was the sole motive of their hasty covenant of emancipation. Now, this may be a useful initiative of a thorough repentance; but then it must lead to deeper feelings of hearty detestation of sin on its own account. Fear of penalties, without any abhorrence of the moral evil that merits them can only produce superficial results. Earnest repentance involves a turning from sin rather than a flight from its penalties. Hence the importance of seeking to lead men to repentance through influencing the conscience, rather than by means of mere appeals to selfish terror. Thus St, Paul reasoned with Felix “of righteousness and temperance” as well as of “judgment to come” (Act 24:25). Lurid pictures of the horrors of hell may work upon the feelings, of people with visible effect, but if these take the place of the far more difficult rousing of the moral sense, the effect of them will be very superficial and not all spiritual. Such a sensational style of preaching is tempting because it is easy, and apparently very effective, but its fruits are disappointing, and come short of the less pretentious efforts that aim at awakening the conscience.

II. THE CHARACTERISTIC OF SUPERFICIAL REPENTANCE IS CHANGE OF CONDUCT WITHOUT CHANGE OF HEART. That was no genuine reformation which Zedekiah hurried through in the face of imminent danger. True, the slaves were freed and the Law was obeyed. But there was no indication of a revived respect for the Law, nor of a lessening of greed and cruelty, nor of a larger recognition of the rights of fellow citizens. There was no change of heart, in fact. Such is the result of a repentance of fear without conviction of conscience. This reformation is worthless in the sight of God, who looks at the disposition of the heart.

III. THE EFFECT OF SUPERFICIAL REPENTANCE IS A TEMPORARY REFORMATION. As soon as Nebuchadnezzar withdrew his army, the Jews renounced their covenant and took back their slaves. The motive for the change was gone, and with it the change ceased. A repentance of terror is not likely to outlive the terror. The fears of the night are forgotten in the thoughtless confidence of the day. This is strikingly illustrated in the vacillation of Pharaohwilling to let the Hebrews go while a plague was raging, but withdrawing his promise as soon as it was stayed. Therefore this superficial repentance is practically worthless. Nothing can be solid and enduring in life that does not spring from personal conviction and true feeling. We need a real desire to turn from sin, and a determination to seek a better life for its own sake, in order to secure a lasting change. For this we must seek Divine grace, in order that we may be “born from above.”

Jer 34:17

Liberal punishment for illiberal conduct.

The Jews will not set free their enslaved fellow citizens; God therefore liberates sword, pestilence, and famine upon them. If they are illiberal in their conduct, God will not be stinted in his punishment of them.

I. THE EVILS OF LIFE ARE UNDER THE RESTRAINT OF GOD. They appear to be uncontrolled, but they are really God’s slaves. He holds in the hounds of retribution with his leash. They would fain tear their victim. But they vent their rage in vain till their Master lets them loose. Men can only be tormented by Satan when they are delivered over to Satan (1Co 5:5).

II. OUR CONDUCT DETERMINES OUR FATE. The terrible doom is no chance accident, nor is it a cruel act of despotism. It depends upon our behaviour whether or no God will liberate the powers of evil to do their fell work upon us.

III. ILLIBERAL CONDUCT WILL LEAD TO PERSONAL LOSS, The mean man overreaches himself. “There is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty” (Pro 11:24). History has proved that slavery is a commercial failure. Slave labour is most expensive. But beyond this it may bring upon itself justly earned calamities. Slavery was the curse of the ancient worldthe scene of its blackest iniquity, and the root of its direst misery. Few things are more terrible in the history of Rome than the social wars rising out of slavery. The persistent clinging to slavery by the Southern States of America caused the evils of war to be set free amongst them.

HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR

Jer 34:8-22

False obedience.

An incident of the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. At the first alarm the liberation of the Hebrew slaves was declared and solemnly ratified, according to the sabbatic law, which had long sunk into desuetude. The aim of this was a purely military one, viz. the advantage to be derived from the services of the freedmen in the army, and the removal of disabilities that might occasion disaffection within the walls. Yet an appearance of religion was given to it by the form it was made to assume as connected with the Law, and the solemn rites which were observed. That it was really only a time-serving expedient was shown by the restoration of the state of slavery directly it upreared as if the Chaldeans were going to desist from their purpose.

I. WHEREIN IT DIFFERS FROM TRUE OBEDIENCE. This will consist in the essence of the action, which, being moral, must have to do with motives. The form of the action was religions, but the real aim of it was one of selfish policy. Good people and bad are frequently found doing the same good and proper actions, but events frequently prove that they have acted from the most opposite motives. It was not to glorify God or to benefit the bondmen that the edict was put forth, but simply to advance their own interests and to “serve themselves” in a more effective way of their brethren. When righteousness is immediately and evidently advantageous, there are many who will become formally righteous; and when religion is fashionable, there are many who will be religious. When misdeeds are rectified it is so far a good thing; but that the reform may be real and permanent it must proceed from true repentance, and an earnest desire to serve God and the interests of our fellow men.

II. CONSIDERATIONS DETERMINING THE REAL NATURE OF REPUTED OBEDIENCE. In discovering the true character of reputed obedience it is well to study:

1. The circumstances. Here there were immediate pressure and distress, the existence of a dangerous element in the state, and the possibility of advantages from the military service of the freedmen. The greatest care is requisite in judging of the professions of persons in straitened or perilous circumstances, and to whom religion presents pecuniary, social, or other advantages. The existence of such circumstances affords a presumption against the genuineness of their conversion; and yet it is not of itself conclusive. A better criterion is to be found in:

2. Subsequent conduct. The speedy consignment of the freedmen back again to a state of slavery showed that the observance of the Law was unreal. Actions are ever more eloquent than words. So, when ardent and apparently enthusiastic professions rapidly cool down, and give place to calculating and selfish conduct, we see that the religious movement has had no deep root or has been unreal from its commencement. Death bed repentances are proverbially doubtful, because of the impossibility in most cases of applying this test; nevertheless we are justified in believing that in some cases these are genuine. Prisoners frequently belie their declarations when set at liberty. The subject of false repentance may deceive himself, the emotion being genuine, but the nature not being radically changed. Hence the necessity of insisting upon continued obedience from all who are under the influence of conviction, or who appear to be so.

III. THE PECULIAR OFFENSIVENESS OF FALSE OBEDIENCE. It is not a simple act of transgression, but complex and supremely self-conscious. As on this occasion the Jews were manifoldly sinful in

(1) their breach of faith with God and their fellow countrymen;

(2) in the dishonour they showed to God by lightly regarding the most solemn oath and ordinance; and

(3) in the hypocrisy by which the whole proceeding was characterized; so the false saint is a sinner of the deepest dye. Nor is he at liberty to confine his transgression within definite and foreseen limits; once committed to the false attitude, a repetition and intricate complexity of sin is inevitable. It is, therefore, often a culminating sin.

IV. THE PUNISHMENT OF FALSE OBEDIENCE. (Jer 34:17-22.) The penalty inflicted is very terrible and thorough; as if there were no hope for such men to be spiritually renewed again.

1. Exemplary. A curious and instructive parallelism between their crime and its punishment is to be observed: “Behold, I proclaim a liberty for you,” and “Their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.” This is in harmony with the didactic and symbolical character of the old dispensation.

2. Thorough and unmitigated. No word of hope or compassion is uttered. An end is to be made of such transgressions.

3. An element of scorn and contempt is discoverable. There is a terrible irony in the words, “I proclaim a liberty for you,” etc; which reveal the depth and absoluteness of their curse. The gospel dispensation, as it offers greater privileges and blessings to the truly penitent, is also accompanied with more awful penalties (Heb 4:11, Heb 4:12; Heb 6:4-8; Heb 10:29; Pro 1:26).M.

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY

Jer 34:1-7

The Lord, the prophet, and the king.

It is a sad scene that these verses bring before us.

I. THE LORD SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST. This was the intent of the prophet’s being charged with his message to King Zedekiah. If it were possible to save him, the Lord would do so, and, therefore, sent his servant again and yet again. Not lightly will the Lord let any evil doer go his own way.

II. THE PROPHET FAITHFULLY DISCHARGING A TERRIBLE DUTY. It was terrible every way.

1. In itself. To have to be the bearer of such evil tidings, and to one unprepared and unwilling to give heed to them. How much pleasanter to prophesy smooth things than these evil ones!

2. To his influence as a prophet. Men would desire to disbelieve him, and at length wouldas they had donepersuade themselves that they might do so. A whole atmosphere of unbelief and dislike would surround him and shut up men’s ears and hearts against him.

3. To his personal safety. Of course nothing but enmity was to be expected from such messages as these, and the prophet reaped the harvest to the full. They sought his life again and again, and wrought him all the ill they could (cf. subsequent chapters). And yet the prophet of God faithfully went through with his commission. Here is the test of fidelity, not in speaking that which men expect of you and will praise you for, but in speaking, when needful, that which men hate to hear. Can we lay claim to aught of such fidelity as this?

III. THE KING INFATUATED BY EVIL COUNSELS. There is reason to believe that, left to himself, he would have hearkened to the prophet. But those around him persuaded him to disregard all that the prophet said. Hence this opportunity of salvation for himself and for his people was put away. For had he obeyed, the threatening would not have been carried out (cf. Jer 18:8-12). But his heart was hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. In face of that, no fidelity, no evidence, no earnestness of appeal, no pleading, no voice of conscience, could prevail. He was joined to his idols. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of man is set in him steadfastly to do evil. Pray that from all such hardness of heart and contempt of God’s Word and commandment, the Lord would deliver us.C.

Jer 34:2

The woe of weakness.

“Zedekiah, King of Judah.” The life of this unhappy monarch is a piteous but powerful illustration of the misery of instability of character, the sorrows that dog the footsteps of the infirm will. What men need, in order to be happier and better than they are, is not more knowledge of what is rightthey are amply supplied with that; or the presence of plentiful good purpose and desire to do the righthell itself is paved with good intentions; but what is needed is strength of will, firmness and stability of character. It is for lack of that that men go so wrong and make such a miserable confusion of their own life and that of others. The history of Zedekiah illustrates all this. Therefore note

I. HIS CHARACTER AS SHOWN BY HIS HISTORY. He was son of the good King Josiah, and may have been one of the “princes” carried off to Babylon in the days of Jehoiakim. He appears to have attracted the favourable notice of Nebuchadnezzar, probably on the ground of the hope that Jeremiah the prophet cherished concerning him. That hope was expressed in the name given himZedekiah, “the Lord our Righteousness,” a name fulfilled only in One, but telling of the hopes that gathered round this young king. At twenty-one years of age he was placed on the throne of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, and then the extreme difficulties of his position became evident. In his own country and in those adjoining, a smouldering rebellion prevailed. This the great enemy of Babylon, Egypt, did not fail to fan and further to the utmost of her power. Only a leader was wanting, and the rebellion would at once break forth. The chief of Zedekiah’s own people were eager for him to head the revolt. For a time he refused, and seems (cf. Jer 51:59) to have taken a solemn oath of allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar. But keeping this oath was not easy. It was a cruel position for him, and he had not the strength which so critical a time and emergency demanded. The influence of Jeremiah and Ms fear of the Babylonian power drew him one way; the clamour of his princes, priests, and people, and the promised aid of Egypt drew him another. And so at length he yielded, and treated his oath as so many idle words. Loud and stern were the protests of the prophet of God against such shameless and senseless falsehood (cf. Eze 17:14; Eze 28:1-26.). But the princes of his court, as he himself pathetically admits (Jer 38:1-28.), had him completely under their influence: “Against them,” he complains, “it is not the king that can do anything.” He was thus driven to disregard the counsels of the prophet, which, as the event proved, were perfectly sound; and “he who might have kept the fragments of the kingdom together, and maintained for some generations longer the worship of Jehovah, brought its final ruin on his country, destruction on the temple, death to his family, and a cruel torment and a miserable captivity on himself.” And there are other recorded instances of his lack of moral strength. His allowing the rich men and all those who, contrary to the Law, had held their, brethren as bondslaves, to enslave them once more, notwithstanding that in the most solemn way they had covenanted with God not to do so; then his treatment of the Prophet Jeremiah,all showed, not so much that he was wicked, as that he was weak. Cruelly imprisoned by his enemies, the king sent for the prophet and placed him in gentler captivity in the court of his own palace. But there assailed by the angry accusations of the prophet’s foes, the king yielded, and let them cast him into a horrible pit, where, had he been long left, he must have miserably perished. Conscience, stirred up by the remonstrance of a faithful servant, led the king to interpose again for his relief, and to have him remitted to his prison in the king’s court. There Zedekiah treated him kindly; when the famine was raging in the city, he procured bread for him; he asked his prayers, and held long and frequent converse with him, but was all the while in abject fear lest the nobles should discover what their conversation had been about, and ha prevailed upon the prophet to condescend to an evasion of the truth in order not to betray him, poor weak king that he was (Jer 38:1-28.). Altogether wise was the counsel the prophet gave, but the king would and he would not. He did not know his own mind. But events moved on. The city was captured. The king and his household endeavoured to escape, were caught, carried before Nebuchadnezzar; his children were crucified in his presence; then his eyes were put out; and, loaded with fetters, he was dragged across the weary desert to Babylon, where he lived in misery until the Lord visited him (Jer 32:5)that is, until the Lord mercifully sent death to put an end to all his woe. It is a pitiful story, but one that teaches much concerning this instability of character which was this poor monarch’s ruin.

II. WHAT THIS HISTORY SUGGESTS AS TO SUCH CHARACTER. It suggests:

1. Its nature. That it is a halting perpetually between two opinionsa condition of perpetual indecision! You never know where to find such men, or can be sure as to what they will do. They promise so well; they turn out so ill. Like a chip on a stream, driven, tossed, turned hither and thither, entangled, engulfed at lastso is such a man. In secular matters it is ruin, in spiritual it is more disastrous still.

2. Its results. What a miserable man this Zedekiah must have been! And so are all such. The debtor’s pillow is proverbially a restless one, because of its wretchedness. Yet more so is that of the man who has no will of his own. And what Sorrow he brings upon others! He drags them down into the same vortex in which he is himself swallowed up. What ruin is wrought by such men in all the circles to which they belong!

3. Its cause. Want of a guiding principle in life. Without this, having no fixed rules, secular life is ruined. But in things spiritual this endeavour to serve God and mammon, this divided heart, is absolutely fatal. In such men the surrender to Christ has never been thorough and complete. They are as the seed on the stony ground.

4. Its cure. Living under the abiding realization of the presence of Christ. In armies that have begun to waver, the approach, the word, the eye of their leader has rallied them again and won them victory. So if, when tempted to waver, we feel the eye of Christ on us, we shall be firm. Therefore let him be the Lord of your souls.C.

Jer 34:8-22

Playing fast and loose with God.

See the history. Under fear occasioned by the prophet’s earnest appeals and the obvious fact that the judgment of God was drawing nearfor the Chaldeans were at the gatesthe king and his people solemnly vow to release their slaves. They had no right to retain them; they were sinning against God and them in so doing. Hence they let them go. But the fear departs, they think their danger has disappeared, and they enslave their brethren again. It was an abominable wickedness, and the prophet denounces awful doom upon them for it. Now, concerning such playing fast and loose with God, note that

I. THIS IS A VERY FREQUENT SIN. Illustrations are Pharaoh, Balaam, Israel’s whole career. And there are many such instances now. All insincere repentances are such. They may be:

1. Very general. This was so. All the people joined, high and low. Like the professed repentance of the people at John’s baptism.

2. Very solemnly entered upon. How deeply moved these people seemed! What vows they uttered!

3. And some fruits meet for repentance may be produced. These people did for a while set free their slaves. There was a real reformation for the time. The evil spirit went out of the man.

4. But yet it is all worthless, for the evil spirit returns, and with increased power. The repentance was so short-lived that it was as if it had never been. Yea, worse: “The last end of that man was worse than the first.”

II. ITS ORIGIN AND CAUSE ARE THE UNCHANGED HEART. Underneath the superficial soil there is, in spite of all the seeming repentance, the hard layer of rock. The motive was not the conviction of sin wrought by the Holy Spirit, but a craven fear and a desire, therefore, to buy off God’s anger. And in this ease it was a cheap way, for liberating their slaves was the best means of securing a strong addition to the forces by which they would defend their city and themselves. Hence, when danger ceased, as they thought, their repentance ceased along with it. What need we all have to be on our guard against the semblances of real religion which our evil hearts are so prone to take up with! And what need to pray that the Lord would show us if we be now self-deceived, and that he would perfectly renew our hearts within us!

III. ITS GUILT VERY GREAT. What an outrage it is to God! We would not bear the like conduct from our fellow men. What awful presumption it manifests! what hardness of heart! And its guilt is the more aggravated because such conduct so plainly shows that we clearly know and understand God’s will, though we only make pretence of obeying it.

IV. ITS DOOM IS VERY TERRIBLE. See the burning words of the prophet here (verses 17-22). And we have portents of that future doom in the hardening of the heart, the searing of the conscience, the being “given over to a reprobate mind,” the audacity in wickedness which such conduct produces. How hard to bring such men to repentance! or, if conviction of sin do come, into what depths of despair does it plunge the sinner! All these are indications of the holy displeasure of God which rests on such sin. May he keep us from it.C.

Jer 34:17

Slavery.

“Ye have not hearkened unto me,” etc. The Jews had become shamefully guilty of this sin of enslaving their brethren. They who had once been slaves themselves, but redeemed by God; they whose whole Law was a protest against it in its real forms of permanence and cruelty; they who were on no higher level than those they enslaved, all being on the same equality with God, members of the same race, worshippers of the same God;the slavery they were now practising was abhorrent indeed. Concerning slaverythe permanent and absolute possession of a fellow man, to buy and sell and do with him as he pleasethis is ever a great sin.

I. NATURE CONDEMNS IT.

1. We have a moral nature, a conscience, and this plainly condemns the degradation of a human being to a mere chattel,

2. Think of ourselves as slatted, and then how prompt we are to condemn. But if one man may be so held, then every man may.

3. All are on an equality before God, and have equal rights and responsibilities.

4. And chiefly because man is made in the imagine of God. Dare we make a chattel of him who bears the image and superscription of Deity? At once our heart condemns.

II. THE WORD OF GOD CONDEMNS IT.

1. Not by direct prohibition. Enough is known in the circumstances of the ages of the Bible to show abundant reason wherefore the servants of God were not commissioned to go and everywhere denounce this practice.

2. Nor by the absence of examples of good men who kept slaves. It was the universal practice.

3. Nor by absence of implied sanctions of this relationship. These facts have been urged in its favour, but we may urge:

(1) That if everything not distinctly prohibited in the Bible be right, then many very wrong things would be justified. For very few detailed rules for definite acts are given, but principles from which the mind of God may be easily inferred and his Law applied to all the minutiae of daily life.

(2) Paul no more sanctioned slavery than he did the vilest despotism, for if he told slaves to obey their masters, he bade all men be subject to the higher powers. Now, Nero was on the throne at that time. What the Word of God and experience alike teach is that the violent subversion of evil almost always inflicts greater evil than it removes.

(3) And the sacred writers had faith in the sure, even if silent, spread of the great principles of Christ which taught “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”

(4) And as to the Old Testament slavery and the Mosaic laws in regard to it, it is to be noted that it was a far milder and more genial thing than aught that modern times have known; and next, that the laws of Moses were given on this matter “for the hardness of men’s hearts,” so that, as with the law of divorce, what could not wisely be at once put down should be so limited and controlled as to be divested of its greater evils. But no greater slander or falsehood can be maintained than to say that the Bible upholds slavery. Its tone and teaching and its universal influence have been to put an end everywhere to the accursed thing.

III. EXPERIENCE CONDEMNS IT. Its influence on the slave, on the master, on the nation, the Church; its moral, domestic, political influence,all are disastrous and deadly. It is the prolific parent of the worst vicesselfishness, cruelty, licentiousness, tyranny. It has sealed the doom of all nations that have adhered to it, and must ever do so; whilst justice and freedom have ever had resting on them the manifest blessing of God. Christ came to preach liberty to the captives; his gospel is the Magna Charta of the human race.C.

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG

Jer 34:8-22

A right act done in a wrong spirit.

I. CONSIDER THE ACT ITSELF. It was emphatically a right act in itself. It did not become right or necessary merely by becoming a covenanted thing. It was an act that meant the attainment of liberty to a very considerable number of people who were not their own masters. God is always on the side of liberty, for only to the free individual is full opportunity given of serving God. And yet this must be said with qualification. External liberty is only of use when it is accompanied with deliverance from inward bondage. Hence, in the New Testament, no great stress is laid upon civil liberty; that would come in due time, and, irresistibly, by the growth and conquering power of Christian principle. The stress in the New Testament is on the maintenance by the individual of liberty within himself. But in ancient Israel there was a God-governed nation as well as God-governed individuals, and civil liberty had to be sought as far as possible by Divine provisions and commands.

II. THE CAUSE OF THE LIBERATION SO FAR AS IT WAS ACCOMPLISHED. There is some obscurity as to the origin of the covenant and act. Some unmentioned motive seems to have combined king and people to resolve on the liberation of all slaves; but it could only have been a motive of fear and worldly prudence. The same sort of forces must have been in operation as we observe in Pharaoh. A plague drags him a little in the direction of letting Israel go; then the plague ceases, and he draws back again. External force, then, or a shallow repentance, or perhaps something of both, led the people into making this covenant. It was not a deep pity for the oppressed that moved them. The covenant did not come from a deep and perfect insight into the golden rule. Thus there is a revelation of the moral attainments of the people. It is already shown to us how little the better they were for all their opportunities of knowing God’s Law and will.

III. THE RESULT OF A RIGHT ACT DONE IN A WRONG SPIRIT. The result is just what might have been expected. Inconvenience, awkwardness, daily, almost hourly, irritation, must have come at once. Just try to estimate some of the results. Only when the slaves had become free would the masters understand how dependent they had been upon them. The work of the covenant was not done when the slave was liberated. Really, it was only begun. The master bad then to set to work for himself. His former servant is now given opportunity to become his rival. Moreover, the liberated slave himself does not all at once get the spirit of a free man. When things have been going wrong for generations, they cannot be got right by some magical swiftness. Hence, many potent considerations tempted the masters in forcing a return to the former state of things. They had not counted the cost in beginning, and thus, it seems, they were able to take only a very few steps in the right course.

IV. THE PUNISHMENT. This is specially attached to the breaking of the covenant. The people had really no excuse to offer for breaking it, save the inconvenience and the temporal loss occasioned by keeping it. As far as we can see, this particular covenant was a voluntary one on their part. It recognized a law that had been made in the very coming out from the land of bondage, and it was a covenant to perform a certain outward act. The punishment was just enough; the real wonder would have been if something of the kind had failed to fall on those breaking such a covenant.Y.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Jer 34:1. The word, &c. We do not know exactly at what time this happened; but we know that it was in the 11th year of Zedekiah, and during the interval between the raising of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and his return to that city, after having repulsed the king of Egypt, who was coming to the succour of Zedekiah: see chap. Jer 37:5. Jeremiah was not at that time in prison. See the 4th, 14th, and 15th verses of that chapter, and chap. 32:

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

C. Historical Appendix to Jer 32:1-5

(Jer 34:1-7)

From the introductory words to chh. 32 and 33 we perceive that the event, which is here narrated (Jer 34:1-7), falls in the 10th year of Zedekiah, since the conference, in consequence of which Jeremiah was confined in the court of the prison (Jer 32:3), must be that of which we have an account in this passage. Both passages agree almost verbatim in the announcement of the fate impending on the king and the city (comp. Jer 32:3-5 with Jer 34:2-3); especially is the phrase thy mouth shall speak to His mouth, thine eyes shall see His eyes peculiar to both. What is said in Jer 34:4-5 of the fate of Zedekiah is found in a condensed form in Jer 32:5 in the words, and there shall he be until I visit him. The concluding words of Jer 32:5 though ye fight, etc., are not found in Jeremiah 34. (comp. rems. on Jer 32:1-5).Jer 34:1-7 is therefore evidently the special report, written by Jeremiah himself of his conference with Zedekiah. In consequence of this conference he was thrown back into the court, notwithstanding his favorable announcement to Zedekiah, Jer 34:4-5. The king might have expected something better from, the prophet, as he approached when not called for. It was after this return to the court that Jeremiah received the revelation contained in chh. 32. and 33. The event narrated in Jer 34:1-7 also precedes these two chapters in the order of time. The report of it, perhaps written by the prophet immediately after the interview, is however, as a brief isolated passage, added as an appendix. It is evident that the conversation with Zedekiah did not long precede the facts related in chh 32, 33, from the circumstance that the confinement of Jeremiah in the court, which is spoken of in Jer 32:3 as a consequence of the conversation, was properly a remanding to prison. If then the first confinement, as appears from Jer 37:17-21, especially Jer 34:21, falls in the last period of the siege, after the return of the Chaldeans from their diversion against the Egyptians (B. C. 687), the second incarceration cannot be placed earlier, but must be ascribed to a somewhat later date of the same year.

Jer 34:1-7

1The word which came unto Jeremiah from the .Lord [Jehovah] when [or while] Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the 1 earth, of [subject to, lit., the dominion of His hand] His dominion, and all the 2people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of 3Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth,2 and 4thou shalt go to Babylon. Yet [only] hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king5of Judah; Thus saith the Lord of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword: But thou shalt die in peace; and with the burnings3 of thy fathers the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odors4 for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah [alas] lord! for I have pronounced the word [spoken a word], saith6the Lord. Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king7of Judah in Jerusalem. When [while] the king of Babylons army [power] fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

During the siege (Jer 34:1) Jeremiah receives command to go and announce to king Zedekiah that the city will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon and burned (Jer 34:2). Zedekiah himself will be captured, brought before the king, and carried to Babylon (Jer 34:3). Yet he will not perish by the sword (Jer 34:4), but die in peace and be interred with royal honors, after the traditional manner (Jer 34:6). Jeremiah executed his commission punctually (Jer 34:5) at the time when Jerusalem and the still uncaptured fortified cities of Lachish and Azekah were being besieged (Jer 34:7).

Jer 34:1-5. The word saith Jehovah. The style in Jer 34:1-2 bears the character of great diffuseness, such as is peculiar to Jeremiah in the later period of his ministry. Hence such phrases as all the people, Jer 34:1, and tell him, Jer 34:2, which strictly taken are superfluous, need not surprise us.Of the dominion of his hand. This addition is a restriction and definition of the earth; not all kingdoms of the earth, but of the earth in so far as it was the dominion of his hand. Comp. Jer 51:28; 1Ki 9:19.Go, etc. Two questions here present themselves which it is not easy to answer. 1. How is the conference with Zedekiah here narrated connected with the other mentioned in Jer 32:3; Jer 37:17? 2. What relation does that bear which is said in Jer 34:4-5 of Zedekiahs end, to the other declarations concerning it (Jer 39:5-7; Jer 52:9-11; 2Ki 25:6-7)? These two questions seem to be heterogeneous. There is, however, a close connection between them, for which reason we investigate the second question here instead of at Jer 34:4-5.

Are the words of the prophet in Jer 34:2-5 to be understood in a good sense for Zedekiah, or as a menace? All depends on the understanding of the sentence yet hear, etc., Jer 34:4. Venema, Chr. B. Michaelis, Hitzig and Graf are of opinion that this sentence proposes an exceptional case, viz., in case Zedekiah obeys the command to give himself up to the Chaldeans the threatening pronounced against him in Jer 34:3 will not be fulfilled, but he will die in quiet possession of his throne. The reasons urged for this explanation are: The pleasant prospect, which in Jer 34:4-5 is placed before Zedekiah, would contradict the elsewhere constantly repeated exhortation to surrender himself; it would also be otherwise too favorable. Here it is presupposed that Jer 34:5 can be understood only of the quiet possession of the throne and of a peaceful end and honorable interment, which Zedekiah will receive as the reigning king. Aside from Jer 34:4 a, this explanation would certainly be possible. It is, however, also possible to understand Jer 34:5 as an antithesis to thou shalt not die by the sword, not a violent death in battle, but a natural, peaceful end. This might be, even if Zedekiah died a prisoner (comp. Jer 52:11), as imprisonment is not necessarily a hinderance to the usual funeral obsequies. The Jews were generally well treated while in captivity,many of them enjoyed the favor of the rulers, and excited the envy of the natives by their preferment, and most of them were undesirous of returning to their native land.Jehoiachin was elevated to royal honors after twenty-seven years, confinement (Jer 52:31). Why may not Zedekiah have been kept in mild imprisonment and permission have been given to the Jews after his death to bury their king according to the custom of their country? This appears to be the only possible explanation, as the sentence Thus saith the Lord of thee, Jer 34:4 b, cannot be other than a summary of the word of God, which, according to Jer 34:4 a, Zedekiah is to hear. I leave out of account that the other explanation would require Listen to or Heed the word, and also a designation of the divine word to which Zedekiah is to listen. But it would be indispensable that hear the word, etc., should be plainly designated as a condition, and what follows as a consequence of the conditions being fulfilled. As the words now read Jer 34:4 b can be taken only as the word which Zedekiah is to hear. Jer 34:4 a then expresses no condition, but in Jer 34:4-5 a restriction or more exact definition (not a continuation, as Hitzig supposed), is added to Jer 34:3. In Jer 34:3 it was said that Zedekiah should be captured and taken to Babylon. Jer 34:4-5 mitigate this harsh sentence, adding that he shall not die by violence there, but in peace and be buried with royal honors. Thus rendered, the passage harmonizes with the other intimations, which are given with respect to the end of the king: Jer 32:5; Jer 39:5-7; Jer 52:9-11; 2Ki 25:6-7. Is then this declaration adapted to excite the anger of the king? Though the first part of it is gloomy, the second presents some points of comfort. The terrible fate which befel the tyrant Jehoiakim (the words will lament thee, Jer 34:5, are in evident contrast to Jer 22:18) will not be Zedekiahs. His fate, when the severest crisis is past, will take a (relatively) better turn; he will at least enjoy a respectful treatment as a prisoner, and indeed again receive honor after death. Zedekiah is thus relatively favored. Should he for this have the prophet confined, as must have been the case if the conference reported here be identical with that mentioned in Jer 32:3? According to chh. 37 and 38., where the whole history of the relations between Zedekiah and the prophet is related according to its main features, the former confined the latter in the court only with benevolent intentions. In the first instance the court of the guard was assigned as a mitigation in contrast to the terrible detention he had suffered in the prison of Jonathan, the Scribe (Jer 37:20). Afterwards the court of the guard was again assigned him out of kindness, after his still more terrible confinement in the pit (Jer 38:13). Chh. 37 and 38 make the general impression that Zedekiah kept the prophet in custody only on account of the princes. I Had it not been for these he would have given him his entire freedom (comp. Jer 38:5). It should, moreover, be observed that according to Jer 34:2 Jeremiah seeks the king freely, while according to chh. 37 sq. this scarcely seems possible. Then we have reports of two conferences of Jeremiah with the king. On the first he is brought from strict confinement in the house of Jonathan (Jer 37:17), on the second he is brought after his deliverance from the pit (Jer 38:14). The fear, which Jeremiah expresses on this latter occasion, shows that he had no desire to present himself before the king. Thus it appears as if the different accounts of Jeremiahs conferences with Zedekiah would not agree, especially does a confinement in the court of the guard as a punishment, according to Jer 32:3, seem to agree neither with chh. 37 and 38 nor with Jer 34:2-5. Meanwhile as the apparent want of agreement itself excludes the idea of an interpolation, and as there is nothing in the language which betrays a strange hand, we are forced to the hypothesis that in Jer 32:1-5 and Jer 34:1-5 we have an account of a conference of Zedekiah with Jeremiah which is distinct from the two narrated in. Jer 37:17-20 and Jer 38:14-16. From the words with thou not certainly put me to death, Jer 38:15, it is clear that Jeremiah did not expect a very kindly disposition on the part of the king. It is conceivable that the court was assigned him as a place of punishment, when after a voluntary visit to the king (comp. Jer 22:1), he was dismissed with the ungracious words back into the court! Although, as we have shown, the words in Jer 34:4-5 are relatively favorable to the king, yet he may have expected something better of the prophet when he appeared uncalled for and have accordingly become indignant at the essentially invariable prediction of the capture of the city and his own imprisonment. If it is asked what was the object of this address to the king, not occasioned by the king but commanded by God, it is surprising that the prophet does not say what the fate of the city will be in case of voluntary submission (comp. Jer 38:17). He does not, however, say fully what will be the fate of the king in case of stubborn refusal to surrender. Nothing is here said of Zedekiahs children together with the princes of Israel being killed before his eyes, of his own eyes being put out (Jer 52:10), or of his wives being given to the Babylonian princes (Jer 38:21-23). This lack of an alternative distinguishes the present passage from Jer 21:9; Jer 38:2; Jer 38:17.

This passage reads like an unconditional sentence, in which, however, it is expressly remarked that this still severe sentence is yet to be regarded as a mitigation. (Comp. Jer 34:4-5 with Jer 22:18). It accordingly seems probable that this passage, together with the prophecy closely connected with it in chh. 32 and 33, belongs to the period indicated in Jer 38:28, i. e. to the period after the last exhortation which the prophet addressed to Zedekiah conditionally. Now a simple announcement is made to him of what will take place. The possibility that Zedekiah may yet tread the path of deliverance so often pointed out to him, is no longer thought of. It is still a great favor that the full terrible reality is not yet disclosed to him. He doubtless owed this as well as the relative mildness of his sentence to the good-will he had manifested towards the prophet. It certainly seems, as remarked above, that this announcement of his sentence, by the prophet who comes before him uncalled-for, first irritated him towards the latter, on which supposition the words, Wherefore dost thou prophesy? in Jer 32:3, would be explained.

And with the burnings of thy fathers. The burning of the dead was not a Jewish custom. Burning alive only occurs as a punishment, Lev 20:14; Lev 21:9 coll. Isa 7:25and there is a trace of burning corpses in time of pestilence in Amo 6:10 (if =). At any rate in the present passage it is the burning of spices which is meant, 2Ch 16:14; 2Ch 21:19. With this also will agree the dative of the pronoun and the form of the verb. Comp. the verb with the accusative of the thing and the dative of the person for whom the sacrifice is burned. Exo 30:20; Lev 7:5; 2Ch 13:11. [Calvin says, that to prevent putrefaction, the bodies of the dead were dried by a slow fire, but only at the burial of kings.S. R. A.]

For I have spoken a word. Not merely breath, but a word which is spirit, life, power has the Lord uttered. (Comp. Deut. 22:47; Psa 33:4; Psa 119:160; Pro 30:5; Isa 40:8; Isa 55:10-11; Jer 23:29). The expression I have spoken, without word, is found with special frequency in Eze 5:13; Eze 5:15; Eze 5:17; Eze 17:21; Eze 17:24, etc.

Jer 34:6-7. Then Jeremiah cities of Judah. The performance of the task is mentioned as a proof that Jeremiah had the courage to appear before the king with a message, which was by no means such as he wished to hear in a time of severe affliction.Lachish and Azekah were both situated in the Sephela, the low country in the south-western part of the tribe of Judah (Jer. 15:33, 35, 39). They were both fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:9). Lachish was besieged by Sennacherib (2Ki 18:14; 2Ki 18:17; 2Ki 19:8; Isa 36:2; Isa 37:8). [This celebrated siege is supposed by Layard to be depicted on certain slabs disinterred from the ruins of Nineveh.Cowles].Fortified cities cannot well be taken as in apposition to cities of Judah, because this addition would either be superfluous or would give the wrong thought that unfortified cities were still left. It cannot also well be attached as a definition to remained: nam hc oppida ex oppidis Jud munita supererant (Rosenmueller). It is not credible that there were no other fortified cities besides these. It can only be in apposition to these; these, as fortified cities, were still left. The reason of their remaining is thus expressed, and this reason was the strength of their fortifications.

Footnotes:

[1]Jer 34:1.The article is wanting before , as in Jer 3:2; Jer 14:18.

[2]Jer 34:3.[Literally: thy mouth shall speak with his mouth].

[3]Jer 34:5.[Henderson says twenty-eight MSS., with the 70., Arab., Syr., Vulg., read like the burnings.S. R. A.]

[4]Jer 34:5.[Some render: light the funeral fire, but comp. Exeg. rems.S. R. A.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

The Prophet is again commissioned with heavy tidings to Zedekiah and to the people. As the time of the captivity drew near, the alarm became greater.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

We cannot sufficiently admire the faithfulness of the Prophet, in following up the will of the Lord. Times were dangerous, but Jeremiah considered, that there was but the more reason to be conscientious. Though a prison was before him, and into it he knew he should be sent, yet whether men would hear, or whether they would forbear, he dared be honest. Eze 2:5-6 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

IX

THE PROPHECIES OF JEREMIAH IN THE REIGN OF ZEDEKIAH

Jer 21 ; 24, 27-29; Jer 34 ; 37-39

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 34:1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,

Ver. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. ] Still he voucheth his author for more authority sake. And this is held to be his sixteenth sermon.

And all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion. ] For never any monarch was master of the whole earth.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jeremiah Chapter 34

This chapter begins a new series, in which the proof of the wickedness of the people is brought out. We see their spasmodic efforts at repentance. Alas! it was no true work of God in their conscience, but simply the pressure of calamity for a time, which led them to form resolves, in a measure after the law of the Lord, but which utterly powerless when the affection was stayed for ever so little a while. Hence the word comes to Jeremiah from Jehovah, “When Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof.” And the Lord then told him to speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, from Himself, assuring him that He would “give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he should burn it with fire.” To fight it out was even to resist the Lord. It was not Nebuchadnezzar merely who was taking Jerusalem; Jehovah was giving up the city and their king of the house of David – a most solemn sign of His displeasure.

Indeed there is never any good received from a trial except it be taken from the hand of God. When humiliation comes, it is no use laying the blame on others, on this one or that one, but rather on God’s people as a whole – on ourselves – more especially if we have the chief responsibility of action. Here the king had an immense place, and of course the priests also. If the king was a righteous man, Jehovah always brought blessing to the people for his sole sake; if the king was ungodly, his evil drew down chastening on the people. Alas! if there was an ungodly king, there was also an ungodly people. We may say, Like people, like king; and not only “Like people, like priest.” In this case Jehovah intimates to Zedekiah a part of that which should befall him. “Thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth; and thou shalt go to Babylon.” (Ver. 3.) This is the more remarkable, because another prophet was given to prophesy that Zedekiah’s eyes should be put out, and that he should not see Babylon. “I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.” (Eze 12:13 .) Both are true. His eyes did not see the king of Babylon in Babylon, but he was taken prisoner in “the plains of Jericho” and brought to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There his eyes were put out. After seeing his sons put to death, he was blinded by the indignant king of Babylon, and not without deserving it. For Zedekiah had behaved extremely ill before God and man. He had profaned the name of Jehovah, he had shown less respect for that name than Nebuchadnezzar himself. The Gentile chief trusted that the name of Jehovah would bind the Jewish king in his oath: but it did not. Zedekiah, the son of David, broke the oath of Jehovah, and Nebuchadnezzar’s anger was great. Therefore he punished Zedekiah thus fiercely, giving him to see the death of his own sons, then putting his eyes out and bringing him to Babylon. Nevertheless his eyes did previously behold the eyes of the king of Babylon. He was confronted with the heed of gold, haughty and in the pride of his power, to whom God had given universal power. Thus Ezekiel was proved true, because Zedekiah went blinded from Riblah to Babylon; and Jeremiah was proved true, because he was taken prisoner in the land, did with his eyes behold the king of Babylon and was afterwards taken to Babylon. Thus most minutely can every word of the prophets be trusted.

But there was another instructive dealing of God. Along with the humiliation that would surely come upon the king, the son of David, God tells him, “Thou shalt not die by the sword.” He might have dreaded not merely the sword, but the furnace. Nevertheless God says to him, “Thou shalt die by the sword: but thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy father, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee saying, “Ah, lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the Lord.” That is to say, he would have a funeral suited to his dignity as a king, and after the usual mode of the Jews – a bed of spices prepared to burn the king’s body, and lamentations over him. The reason for this, that God, even in His judgment, carefully remembers whatever good there may have been. The Lord says, as it were, I will recompense; and He never fails. Zedekiah had acted wickedly: nevertheless his heart was towards the prophet, and he would have gladly spared him, but he was pushed on by others more wicked than himself. Consequently, when the supreme moment came, God extends mercy towards him; and thus he stands in full contrast with Jehoiakim, who had only the burial of an ass, as Jeremiah had proclaimed in an earlier chapter.

“Then the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem. And the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah” (ver. 6, 7), the cities that were intended to form a bulwark and a stay if an enemy came up against Jerusalem. But the people and the king formed a covenant, and this was what brought fresh displeasure from the Lord upon them. There was an old law from the days of the desert imposed on the children of Israel, that no Hebrew could ever be a servant to his brother longer than seven years, unless by his own voluntary choice, when his ear was bored, and he, with his wife and children, if he had any, remained servants to their master for ever. But as a rule, a manservant or maidservant could only serve six years, and in the seventh they went out free. The sabbatical year proclaimed that they could no longer righteously be kept in bondage. But it has been neglected, it seems for a very long period, probably for several hundreds of years; for the prophecy of the seventy years’ captivity notices this, and seems to imply a period of four hundred and ninety years, during which they had paid no heed no heed to the sabbatical year. However that may be, “When all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed and let them go.” (Ver. 10.)

But afterwards, when the sight of danger was past for the moment – for Nebuchadnezzar for a while raised the siege – “They turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.” (Ver. 11.) Then the word of the Lord comes by Jeremiah again, “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen.” How disgraceful then, if God had brought them out of bondage, that they should forget the will of the Lord as to their brethren in bondage. They might possess a stranger unlimitedly; but they might not keep one of their own brethren more than six years. Thus they had quite forgotten their obligations at home until the time of their affliction, when they reed and obeyed, letting their Hebrew bondmen go. Hence their guilt was much greater, because they had felt their sin and their fathers’ sin; they had seen what the will of God was, and having resolved to do it under pressure of danger, directly the occasion was gone they returned to their evil ways. “Therefore, thus saith the Lord, Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.” (Ver. 17.)

Nor was it merely that they had singularly lost sight of Jehovah’s will and transgressed His covenant, but they had contracted a solemn covenant made afresh, “when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof.” There was something similar in early days between their father Abram, as recorded in Gen 15 , and God. There was a remarkable covenant, when it is said that he took all the victims named and “divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.” (Ver. 10-12.) Thus and then it was made known to him, in presence of this sacrifice, that his seed were to be afflicted four hundred years, but that the nation whom they should serve, God would judge, and afterwards they should come out with great substance. “And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.” (Ver. 17.) This set forth the destiny of Israel, the smoking furnace representing their trial and affliction; the burning lamp that passed between them, the hope of the deliverance that would spring up out of darkness. Such were the dealings of God in righteous government.

These men seem to have imitated in a manner this covenant with Abram; but in them there was no faith counted for righteousness, though they solemnly acknowledged their obligation to the will of God, passing between the calf, which was not only a sacrificial sign for confirmation before the Lord, but a kind of imprecation of death upon themselves if they were unfaithful to the covenant, like the children of Israel in Exo 24 . And so says the Lord to those who had passed between the parts of the calf; “I will even (jive them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth. And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from you.” (Ver. 20, 21.) They were not to be killed as the others, but to be taken prisoners and put to humiliation; though God might assuage their calamity, as we have seen in the case of Zedekiah. As for the city, they flattered themselves that the Babylonians would never come back again; but says the Lord, I will “cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.” (Ver. 22.) So solemn are the ways of Jehovah, whether with the guilty king, in not forgetting his kindness to the prophet, whatever might be the judgment of his iniquity; or with the princes and priests, the still more guilty advisers of the king. Destruction came upon them to the uttermost, as also upon the city itself where such conscienceless deeds were allowed.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 34:1-5

1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, with all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying, 2Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him: Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. 3You will not escape from his hand, for you will surely be captured and delivered into his hand; and you will see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you face to face, and you will go to Babylon.” 4Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the LORD concerning you, ‘You will not die by the sword. 5You will die in peace; and as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn spices for you; and they will lament for you, Alas, lord!’ For I have spoken the word, declares the LORD.

Jer 34:1

NASB, NKJV,

TEV, NJBNebuchadnezzar

NRSV, JPSOA,

REBNebuchadrezzar

#1 with an n in Jer 27:6; Jer 27:8; Jer 27:20; Jer 28:3; Jer 28:11; Jer 28:14; Jer 29:1; Jer 29:3 (most common spelling outside Jeremiah)

#2 with an r in Jer 21:2; Jer 21:7; Jer 22:25; Jer 24:1; Jer 25:1; Jer 25:9; Jer 29:21; Jer 32:1; Jer 32:28; Jer 34:1; Jer 35:11; Jer 37:1; Jer 39:1; Jer 39:5; Jer 39:11; Jer 43:10; Jer 44:30 and several more (but only in Jeremiah , 4 times in Ezekiel)

The MT follows option #2. In Jeremiah the word is spelled both ways.

It is difficult to transcribe ancient names from one language to another, but it is surprising that two different spellings occur in one author. This may be a textual hint of a later editor/compiler.

all his army with all the kingdoms of the earth The military force was made up of (1) Babylonians; (2) mercenaries; and (3) vassal people (cf. 2Ki 24:1-2). This descriptive phrase links up with Jer 1:15.

Jer 34:2 Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah This chapter refers to two different messages related to Zedekiah, the last king of Judah.

1. his personal fate and the fate of Jerusalem

2. the fate of his leaders who broke their covenant with YHWH and their servants

hand A Hebrew idiom of power (cf. Jer 34:3; Jer 34:21; Jer 21:7). See Special Topic: Hand .

he will burn it with fire This was a

1. means of total destruction (i.e., uninhabited, cf. Isa 34:11-15; Zep 2:13-15)

2. symbol of the judgment of God (see Special Topic: Fire )

Jer 34:3 you will not escape The you is emphatic! There are three accounts of Zedekiah’s capture in the OT (cf. Jer 39:4-7; Jer 52:7-11; 2Ki 25:4-7). It was God’s will that Babylon succeed (cf. Eze 17:11-21). Only capitulation could have saved the city from destruction.

you will surely be captured This is an INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and an IMPERFECT VERB from the same root (BDB 1074, KB 1779), used for emphasis.

face to face Zedekiah was brought before Nebuchadnezzar. They had a personal (lit. mouth to mouth, BDB 804), eye to eye (BDB 744) encounter (cf. Jer 32:4).

Jer 34:4-5 Zedekiah will experience

1. the death of his sons

2. the death of all the princes (the royal family or leaders in general)

3. being blinded

4. exiled in chains

5. put in prison in Babylon until his death

However, at his death in Babylon (cf. Jer 52:11) he was honored as a royal Judean king.

Jer 34:4 This chapter is characterized by VERBS being doubled.

1. captured, Jer 34:3

2. die, Jer 34:4-5

3. speak, Jer 34:5-6

4. turn, Jer 34:11

5. proclaim, Jer 34:17

6. give, Jer 34:17-18

7. pass over, Jer 34:18-19

Says is often found side by side (cf. Jer 34:1-2; Jer 34:2; Jer 34:12-13), but these other VERBS being doubled form a characteristic of Jeremiah’s writing style.

Jer 34:5 burn spices for you Literally this is the VERB to burn (BDB 976). Exactly what, why, or how is not specified. It may be a reference to (1) large amounts of spices burnt in honor of the dead king as a symbol of prayers on his behalf (cf. 2Ch 16:14; 2Ch 21:19). The people did it not so much for him personally but for the memory of their homeland’s once-proud heritage. This was just opposite of Jehoiakim’s funeral (cf. Jer 22:18-19). (2) This is a conditional promise (though the if. . .then is not stated) message which did not come to pass because Zedekiah would not heed YHWH’s words from Jeremiah.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

The Twenty-Seventh Prophecy of Jeremiah (see book comments for Jeremiah).

The word. This chapter is Ch. Jer 32:1-5, told over again more fully.

Nebuchadnezzar. Not that he was necessarily present.

fought = were fighting, or about to fight.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 34

Now we come to a chronologically new set of prophecies, and this is one that Zedekiah threw him in jail for back in the thirty-first chapter, thirty-second chapter.

The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire ( Jer 34:1-2 ):

It made the king mad. Threw Jeremiah in jail.

And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon ( Jer 34:3 ).

And this is what Zedekiah referred to, that’s why he threw him in the prison.

Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah the king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword; But you will die in peace: and with the burnings for you, as they did to the former kings which were before you, they will burn incense for thee; for they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD. Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defensed cities remained in the cities of Judah. This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them; [so Zedekiah proclaimed] That all of them were to set their servants free, if he had a servant that was a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, that they were to set them free; that no one should have them for their servants, that is, a Jew who is his brother. Now when all the princes, and all the people, had entered into the covenant, they heard every one that they should let his manservant, and every maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more; then they obeyed, and let them go. But afterward they took them right back again. Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying, At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother who is a Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee for six years, you shall let him go free [in the seventh year]: but your fathers did not hearken to me, neither inclined their ear. And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty ( Jer 34:4-15 )

This was right. They haven’t been obeying this, but you were right when you did it, proclaiming liberty.

every man to his neighbor; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: But you turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, which he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and you brought them back into slavery, to be your servants and your handmaids. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, and to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in two, and passed between the parts thereof, The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf ( Jer 34:15-19 );

They did that in the covenant. They cut the calf and passed between it, which means we make the covenant. But they have broken it.

I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth. And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from you. Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah desolate [without a habitation] without any inhabitants ( Jer 34:20-22 ).

So this is because of the broken covenant. They did the right thing setting the slaves free because that was under the law. You’re not to have a Hebrew as your slave. If you do have one, he serves for six years, the seventh year he goes free. And that’s what we referred to earlier. Man has been under the bondage of Satan for 6,000 years. We’re about ready to go free in the millennial reign of Christ. Satan will be bound for a thousand years.

“

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Jer 34:1-7

Jer 34:1-5

THE PROPHECY REGARDING ZEDEKIAH

The word which came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying: Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: and thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon. Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus saith Jehovah concerning thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword; thou shalt die in peace; and 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], Ah Lord! for I have spoken the word, saith Jehovah.

All the kingdoms of the earth…

(Jer 34:1) This is a reference to the composite nature of Nebuchadnezzar’s army, which was made up of numerous detachments from the many nations that had submitted to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar as the suzerain overlord of all those countries had the right to demand troops of all of them to aid in his fight against enemies. He even had that right over Zedekiah who had at this juncture of events rebelled against him.

And against all the cities thereof…

(Jer 34:1). This refers to the surrounding cities in Palestine which were fortified towns and would of necessity be captured prior to the assault against Jerusalem the major stronghold. Lachish and Azekah (Jer 34:7) were the last two of these to hold out against the Chaldeans.

Thou shalt not escape out of his hand…

(Jer 34:3). This meant that Zedekiah would most certainly he required to give an account to Nebuchadnezzar his overlord, with whom he had negotiated a covenant of obedience, in all probability cutting a covenant after the pattern of that mentioned in Jer 34:18, below, and entailing the most terrible consequences upon its violation by the vassal.

Yet. thou shalt not die by the sword … but in peace …..

(Jer 34:4). The very word yet in this passage seems to hold out a certain hope for Zedekiah, always contingent, of course, (See Jer 18:7-10) upon his obedience to God’s command to deliver the city at once into the hands of his overlord. Whether or not this is actually the true understanding of this place does not appear absolutely certain to this writer; but Barnes, and many others, hold this view.

The city was doomed and Zedekiah’s capture was assured, but he was still in a position to procure good terms; and the prophet here laid before him the alternative; but Zedekiah with all the obstinacy of a weak man chose to continue the war, and lost: (1) the kingdom; (2) his eyesight; and (3) his liberty.

This view, in effect, denies that the prophecy here was fulfilled, due to Zedekiah’s violation of the condition implied in the prophecy itself. Ash, Dummelow, and others concur with Barnes in this understanding. Dummelow submits as proof of this interpretation that, “Although the key condition of Zedekiah’s surrender is omitted in this chapter, it is emphatically stated in Jer 38:17.” We accept this understanding of the place and note that, in addition to the benefits to Zedekiah which were conditionally promised here, the lives of his sons would also have been spared if he had obeyed the word of the Lord (Jer 38:17 ff).

Thou shalt die in peace…

(Jer 34:5). How could one die in peace, after his sons were slain before him, and after he had been blinded, enslaved, and deported to Babylon where he died? We agree with Matthew Henry that one may die in peace, even though in prison, and also that to die in peace might have referred to his attaining peace with God, as did Manasseh at the end of his life. Others have also suggested that, when contrasted with the death of Jehoiachim who died unmourned, receiving the burial of an ass, Zedekiah did indeed die in peace. If so, then this part of the prophecy was unconditional.

With the burnings of thy fathers, etc.,…

(Jer 34:5). The Jews never had a custom of cremation, and this refers to the lighting of bonfires upon the death of a beloved monarch, spices also being added to the burning faggots in such lamentations. The expression Ah Lord was the customary exclamation upon the death of a king. Barnes and others thought this promise of that kind of a burial for Zedekiah was a pledge (if he had obeyed the Lord) of a successful tenure on the throne of Jerusalem as a vassal of Babylon. However, it is by no means impossible that the captive Jews in Babylon would have been allowed thus to honor their deceased monarch. Still, we favor the view of this whole prophecy as conditional and the conclusion that it was not fulfilled because Zedekiah violated the conditions in it.

Jer 34:6-7

TIME WHEN THIS WAS PROPHESIED

Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, when the king of Babylon’s army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these [alone] remained of the cities of Judah [as] fortified cities.

It is a marvelous fact that the details of this siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar have been strikingly confirmed by the spade of the archaeologist within our very generation. “The Mari letters and the Lachish Ostraca (broken pieces of pottery with inscriptions upon them) have been uncovered in the ruins of Lachish during the years 1935-1938, and have been positively dated in this very year of the final siege of Jerusalem.” “These treasures were discovered by the Wellcome-Marston Expedition.”

Lachish and Azekah…

(Jer 34:7). These were important fortified towns, which longer than any others except Jerusalem itself, resisted the Chaldean army. Lachish, at one time, had been larger than Jerusalem itself, and according to the Lachish Letters was the last to surrender prior to the fall of Jerusalem. Lachish was located 23 miles southwest of Jerusalem, and Azekah was eleven miles north of Lachish. Letter No. 4 deals with the very time when this prophecy was written by Jeremiah.

It records urgent military messages from the commander of Jerusalem’s defenders to the garrison commander in Lachish, saying, “Let my lord know that we are watching the signals of Lachish (the smoke signals), according to all the indications which my lord has given; for we cannot see Azekah (evidently Azekah had fallen).”

There are also mentioned in these letters a half dozen names, including that of the father of Baruch, which are also found in this section of Jeremiah. Now, not for a moment, do we suppose that anything in the Bible needs to be confirmed either by pagan writers, or by fragments digged up from ancient ruins; but it is interesting and encouraging indeed to find that the deeper the spade of the archaeologist goes, the more is the proof of the truth of every word in the Holy Bible verified.

“This prophecy was given just a short time before Letter IV was written,” because Azekah had not yet fallen (Jer 34:7).

AN INCIDENT DURING THE FINAL SIEGE OF JERUSALEM Jer 34:1-22

Chapter 34 contains two messages delivered during the final siege of Jerusalem. The first of these messages is directed to king Zedekiah (Jer 34:1-7). According to Jer 34:7 the message was delivered after Nebuchadnezzar had conquered all the outlying cities of Judah except Lachish and Azekah and was about ready to begin the assault against Jerusalem. According to the calculations of Finegan the siege of Jerusalem began on January 15, 588 B.C. The first message of Jeremiah then was delivered a short time before this date.

The second message in this chapter (Jer 34:8-22) is directed to the people in general and the nobles in particular. In the summer of 588 B.C. the Egyptian army moved north to come to the aid of Zedekiah. The Chaldean army was forced to withdraw from Jerusalem to deal with the threat from the south. This second message of the prophet falls in the period just after the Chaldeans had been forced to lift their siege of Jerusalem.

A Solemn Declaration Jer 34:1-7

During the last days of Jerusalem Jeremiah had several conversations with the king Zedekiah. It is not easy to reconstruct the chronology of these interviews but it is generally agreed that the present episode was one of the earliest. A probable reconstruction is: Jer 21:1-10; Jer 34:1-7; Jer 32:3-5; Jer 37:1-10; Jer 37:16-21; Jer 38:14-28. The message consists of two parts, condemnation and consolation.

The condemnatory word is first spoken concerning the city and then concerning the king. Again Jeremiah emphasizes that Jerusalem shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon but then he adds a new element. For the first time the king is told that Jerusalem would be burned with fire (Jer 34:2). Zedekiah himself would be captured by the enemy. He would have to meet face to face the mighty Nebuchadnezzar against whom he had committed such a dreadful act of treachery in violating his solemn oath of allegiance. He would spend his last days as a captive in far away Babylon (Jer 34:3). Apparently Jeremiah now regarded the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of a portion of the population as inevitable.

To his word of condemnation Jeremiah now appends a word of consolation to the hapless Zedekiah. The king would not die by the sword (Jer 34:4) but would die in peace in captivity. He shall receive a royal funeral including the burning of spices and appropriate lamentation (Jer 34:5). That burnings of your fathers does not refer to cremation but to the burning of spices is made clear by 2Ch 16:14; 2Ch 21:19. Ah Lord is a phrase used in lamentation over a king who was respected. See Jer 22:18.Some commentators feel that this note of consolation to Zedekiah is conditional. Only if he surrenders immediately to Nebuchadnezzar will he be treated with due honor in life and death. This view may well be correct but it is not necessary. Zedekiah did spend his last years peacefully in Babylon and there is no reason to assume that he did not receive a royal burial in that land.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Chapters thirty-four and thirty-five contain prophecies of the siege. The armies of Nebuchadnezzar were round about Jerusalem, and Jehovah declared to Zedekiah that the king of Babylon would be successful, that the city would be taken and burned with fire, and that he himself would be carried captive to Babylon. Nevertheless, the word of Jehovah concerning Zedekiah was that he should not die by the sword, but in peace.

The next prophecy is a denunciation of the king for the false covenant he had made with the man servants and maid servants. Freedom had been promised to them, but they had been compelled to return to subjection and to slavery. This was a sin against the express Covenant God had made with His people, that the slaves should be set free every seventh year.

Because of this breaking of the Covenant and oppression of the people, Jehovah would fling them out, as the prophet satirically declared, to the liberty of the sword, pestilence, and famine. In this prophecy one of the sins which characterized the times is clearly manifest-oppression of the poor and helpless, against which the indignation of Jehovah is graphically set forth.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

BONDAGE IN PLACE OF LIBERTY

(Chap. 34)

The peculiarly vacillating character of Zedekiah and the nobles of Judah is very pronouncedly brought before us in the prophetic message to which our attention is now directed.

The three kings who followed the godly Josiah were apparently all deliberately opposed to Jeremiah, the advocate of submission to Babylon. Their policy was to rely upon Egypt, and by a league with Pharaoh to throw off the Chaldean yoke. Jeremiah, as we have seen, ever counseled the contrary. The king of Babylon had been appointed by GOD and set over the nations. Egypt was a broken reed. The only safe and right policy was to submit to the authority ordained of the Lord, and to acknowledge how richly the sins of Israel and Judah had deserved this national degradation.

Zedekiah was set up by Nebuchadrezzar, consequently was not so ardent an advocate of a confederacy with Egypt as his predecessors.

In fact, only upon a great triumph of the Egyptian arms did he decide to throw in his lot with that once powerful nation and rebel against his liege lord. He seems to have had sincere respect for Jeremiah, frequently counseling with him; but as he was a man of a double heart and not upright before GOD, there is a painful lack of obedience to the Word of GOD as thus delivered to him.

Finally, when his position became desperate and the city seemed about to fall, he threw the prophet into prison, and refused to hearken to his admonitions. At times, however, conscience seemed to awake, as in the present instance, but, alas, only to be again lulled to sleep. The incident here recorded probably occurred prior to the imprisonment of which the previous section treats. It was an attempt to enforce the law of GOD, long neglected, upon a vitally important matter, even the recognition of the Sabbatic year.

The armies of Nebuchadnezzar (as he is here called), consisting of the Chaldeans and subject legions from “all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion,” were surrounding the devoted city when the prophet was commanded to go and speak to Zedekiah (Jer 34:1). The message was one of gloom and disaster. The Lord was about to give the city into the hand of the Babylonian spoiler, and the king himself must go into captivity. Nevertheless, as there had been some good things in him – some regard, however slight, for the Word of GOD, some concern for the state of Judah – he was informed that he should not die by the sword, but in peace; and that customary honors upon the decease of princes should be paid to his remains. He would be lamented in a way that had not been done for the former kings (Jer 34:2-5).

Jeremiah delivered the divine communication as commanded, but we have no word as to the effect upon the unhappy monarch.

The foe had been almost everywhere triumphant; only two of Judah’s defenced cities remained unconquered, besides the capital. These were Lachish and Azekah, both west of Jerusalem, and about some fifteen miles apart. These were invested, and all hope of their holding out much longer was vain (Jer 34:6-7). It would seem that Zedekiah keenly felt the plight he was in, and in his distress he had made a covenant with all the people to observe the Sabbatic year – so far as it affected the relationship of masters and slaves. The portion referring to the land could not be carried out, as all the fields were overrun by the foragers of the Chaldean armies, and the husbandmen carried away or slain.

The law (Exo 21:1-6; Deu 15:12-18) regulated servitude in Israel by commanding that all male slaves of Hebrew birth, and all maidens not betrothed to the master or his son, should serve at the most but six years, and in the seventh go out free; unless, having been given a wife in bondage, the servant should of his own volition choose to remain with her in his subject condition. Rapacity and covetousness had made this law a dead letter for years. Now, the king and people covenanted to observe it, and to “proclaim liberty unto them; that every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother” (Jer 34:8-9).

This was fully in accord with the mind of the Lord; and if there had been purpose of heart to continue in it, and genuine repentance because of past sin, it would have been acceptable in His eyes. But, alas for man’s stability when left to himself! The proclamation was hardly made before it was repealed! Possibly some slight rift in the dark clouds overshadowing them gave them to suppose that, after all, the seriousness of their condition had been exaggerated; consequently they returned to their old ways, which had never been truly judged, bringing the servants and the handmaids once more into subjection (Jer 34:10-11).

The Lord, accordingly, once more put a word in His servant’s mouth, and sent him unto the vacillating and unstable people. He reminded them of the covenant made with their fathers when He brought them out of Egypt, and of the provisions of the year of release, as recorded in Deuteronomy 15, above referred to. Their action in proclaiming liberty He describes as being right in His sight. In turning from their covenant, and causing their servants once more to enter into bondage, they had polluted His name.

Now He would proclaim a liberty against them – even to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine! (Jer 34:12-17). It is true of nations as of men that whatsoever is sown must be reaped. Obedience to the Word of GOD brings blessing. Disobedience is the sure precursor of judgment. “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Pro 14:34)

In the most solemn manner had Judah’s princes and people sealed the covenant which their cupidity caused them so readily to violate. They had “cut the calf in twain and passed between the parts thereof” (Jer 34:18).

From of old this seems to have been a customary form for the contracting parties to a solemn covenant. A sacrifice was offered, and the pieces or parts thereof arranged in order on the altar; then the persons pledging themselves passed between the pieces. We see GOD pledging Himself thus in Abraham’s day. The patriarch was instructed to take “a heifer of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove and a young pigeon” (Gen 15:9).

All these were typical of the one true sacrifice – the Lord JESUS CHRIST – each representing Him in some special aspect.

– The young ox speaks of Him as the patient Servant, providing food for others.

– The goat is, in Matthew 25, used to picture the sinner, and points, therefore, to Him whom GOD made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of GOD in Him.

– The ram is the consecration offering, and tells of His submissive obedience unto death.

– The turtle-dove, as others have suggested, is the bird of love and sorrow: and never was either love or sorrow so great as His.

– The pigeon, of course, is similar; and both being from the heavens, they pointed to the One who came from heaven to die on earth for our redemption.

Abram, whose name had not yet been changed, took “all these and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another; but the birds divided he not.” (Gen 15:10) Each part being placed in order, he kept watch over them, driving away the unclean fowls which gathered to devour them, as the Christian today is called to contend earnestly for the great “mystery of godliness,” (1Ti 3:16) suffering no unclean one to rob him of the truth as to “the doctrine of Christ.” (2Jn 1:9)

Night falling, the watcher wearied, and fell into a deep sleep. A “horror of great darkness fell upon him” (Gen 15:12) – a symbol of the hiding of the Lord’s face, which his seed must in measure experience. It was then that GOD drew near and reiterated His promise of blessing for the chosen race, but open end up likewise something of their future sorrows, coupled with their final deliverance. Then He confirmed His covenant in a remarkable manner. A smoking furnace was seen, symbol of their affliction in the Egyptian bondage, and, following after it, “a burning lamp, which passed between the pieces.” (Gen 15:17)

This burning lamp, or, literally, lamp of fire, was the visible manifestation of GOD’s presence. By thus passing between the pieces He pledged Himself, by the Cross of His beloved Son, to fulfil all His covenant. And notice that Abram was not called upon to do likewise. He made no pledge. None was asked of him. It was a covenant of pure grace.

In this way, then, the people of Judah had confirmed a covenant in regard to the Sabbatic year of release. They had offered to the Lord a calf, and “passed between the parts thereof.” (Jer 34:18) Nothing could have been more solemn.

They bound themselves, by the strongest of all vows, to proclaim liberty to every bondman or bondmaid of Hebrew birth. But because there was no true self-judgment, no sincere repentance, they soon fell back to their old ways. As a result, all these unfaithful swearers who “passed between the parts of the calf” (Jer 34:19) should be given up to death; for their so doing was practically a declaration that they would forfeit their lives if they violated their agreement.

They should be taken at their word. The Lord would give them into their enemies’ hands; and their dead bodies should have none, like Abram, to drive away the carrion birds of prey, but they should “be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth” (Jer 34:19-20). It is a fearful thing to trifle with GOD. He is a consuming fire. How little even saints realize the solemnity of having to do with Him, the High and Lofty One, who inhabiteth Eternity!

From the last verses (Jer 34:21-22) we gather that the direct reason for the unfaithful going back of the people had been the withdrawal for a time of the army of the besiegers. They had evidently struck their tents and temporarily left the city to itself. This was taken to mean that the siege was abandoned. Those who before were desperate now became elated and careless. Their complacency was ill-timed. The Lord would command, “and cause them to return to this city, and they shall fight against it, and burn it with fire.” (Jer 34:22) The cities of Judah would become a desolation, without an inhabitant.

~ end of chapter 18 ~

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

CHAPTER 34:1-7

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah

The besieging army was before the walls of Jerusalem when the prophet is commanded to go to the king and tell him that the city will soon be burned. He announced also Zedekiahs fate. He could not escape, but would be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon. He would see Nebuchadnezzar eye to eye, speak with him mouth to mouth, and then be taken to Babylon. Ezekiel said he should not see Babylon Eze 12:13. Both statements are true. He saw the king as a prisoner at Riblah and there his eyes were put out 2Ki 25:6-30, and then he was taken away to Babylon. Yet he was not to die by the sword, but in peace. And Jeremiah discharged faithfully his message.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

am 3415, bc 589

The word: This chapter contains two discourses, one concerning the taking of the city, and Zedekiah’s captivity and death, Jer 34:1-7, and the other containing an invective against the inhabitants of Jerusalem for retaining their Hebrew slaves, Jer 34:8-22, both of which were delivered in the tenth year of Zedekiah.

when: Jer 34:7, Jer 32:2, Jer 39:1-3, Jer 52:4-11, 2Ki 25:1-9, 2Ch 36:12-17

all the kingdoms: Jer 1:15, Jer 27:5-7, Dan 2:37, Dan 2:38, Dan 4:1, Dan 4:22, Dan 5:19

of his dominion: Heb. the dominion of his hand

Reciprocal: Jer 1:3 – unto the end Zec 14:2 – gather

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jer 34:1. To avoid confusion the reader should frequently consult the information as to the “three captivities, or rather the three divisions or stages of the main period. Each of these divisions is sometimes referred to as a captivity and certain predictions or other statements are made on the basis of such a date. A fuller statement was made at 2 Ki, 24: 1 in volume 2 of this Commentary. At the time of our present verse the third of the captivities was about due and Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, was still on the throne in Jerusalem.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jer 34:1. The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar, &c., fought against Jerusalem The siege was begun in the ninth year of Zedekiah, the tenth month and tenth day of the month, which answers to the latter end of our December. See Jer 52:4. Blaney thinks the prophet received this revelation a month or two after the siege was begun, or toward the latter end of Zedekiahs ninth year; namely, during the interval between the raising the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and his return to that city, after having repulsed the king of Egypt, who was coming to the succour of Zedekiah, Jer 37:5. Jeremiah, it appears, was not at this time in prison: see Jer 34:4; Jer 34:14-15, of that chapter. And against all the cities thereof The lesser cities of Judea, which were subject to Jerusalem, as their metropolis, called elsewhere the daughters of Judah by way of distinction from the mother city.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 34:2. Go and speak to Zedekiah. This revelation was delivered in the tenth year of his reign, and would have saved the land, when all hopes of safety were fled.

Jer 34:4. Thou shalt not die by the sword. Mercy is mixed with judgment. The king had spared Jeremiahs life twice, when the priests sought to kill him, and afterwards, when the princes prayed the king to put him to death, because his predictions discouraged the soldiers;now the Lord spared the kings life.

Jer 34:5. They shall burn odours for thee. This was continued as long as the body laid in state. Then the funeral dirge was sung, Ah, Lord! Though these obsequies could do no good to the dead, yet they showed the respect which the Jewish princes enjoyed in captivity.

Jer 34:8. After that king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the peopleto proclaim liberty unto them. This being the sabbatical year, when they should give manumission to the Hebrew servants, whether they had served for debt or for trades, according to the law. Exo 21:2. Here therefore was an overt fruit of repentance, and proof of reformation.

Jer 34:16. But ye turned and polluted my name. No sooner had the Chaldean army broken up to go and give battle to the Egyptians, than both the princes and the people caused their servants to return under some pleas of debt or otherwise. Therefore the name of God, used in all covenants, was polluted by breach of promise.

Jer 34:17. ThereforeI will proclaim liberty for you. I will give spirit to the ChaldeansI will whet their swords. I will send you famine, and commission the pestilence; and I will cause you to be removed as servants into all the kingdoms of the earth, or cause you to wander as vagabonds and beg your bread.

Jer 34:18. I will give the men that have transgressed my covenantwhen they cut the calf in twain, &c. The sacrifice of Abraham is described in Genesis 15. The calf was divided in two; and in peace-offerings into smaller parts. This custom is more ancient than all records, and the practice was universal. When the Greeks made a truce with the Trojans, and agreed that Paris and Menelaus should decide the war by single combat, Homer describes the sacrifice, if we may follow the words of an old poet, thus

Almighty Jove, and all ye deathless powers,

Whoever first shall dare to break this treaty,

May their warm blood be poured upon the earth,

As is this wine.

Of the dividing of victims, we have a remarkable testimony in Livy, the best of Roman historians. When the Macedonian army, he says, returned from a campaign, they cut a dog transversely, and put the fore parts on one of the roads, and the hind parts on the other, between which the army had to march.Without the shedding of blood there was no remission of sins.

Jer 34:19. The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalemwhich passed between the parts of the calf, God gave into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, who judged them in Riblah for a double rebellion, and ordered sixty six of them to be executed on the spot: Jer 39:6; Jer 52:9-10.

REFLECTIONS.

In Zedekiah there was found some good; therefore the Lord showed him some mercy. But he lost his eyes, he lost his sons, he lost his court and his kingdom, by not obeying the word of the Lord in going out to Nebuchadnezzar, and submitting to mercy. To this must be added, that the moral character of the people was such as not to favour their prayers for national deliverance. The day was come to purge their crimes with blood, as stated in 2 Chronicles 36.

The final cause of the fall of Jerusalem, and the kingdom of Judah, was hypocrisy in renewing the national covenant. When the Chaldeans were at their gates, and death and famine stared them in the face, they remitted debts and let the captives go. This was so far pleasing to the Lord. But no sooner did the Egyptians advance, no sooner did the Chaldeans break off the siege to give them battle, than all the evil passions rose in their hearts. They reduced the poor a second time to servitude under the plea of debts uncancelled. Why then should God forgive the rich, who had no compassion on the poor? Why should God keep covenant with men, who had with all effrontery broken their covenant with heaven? Oh infatuated Jews; now you have to fight, and fight in sin against both God and man. You fall unpitied, despised, oppressed. And thou, oh christian, who hast been at deaths door, and had thy chamber thronged with sacraments, and thy prayers filled with vows; but on recovery, where are thy reformations? Be reminded, that if thy vows are false, the hand of justice will one day be faithful in its final arrests.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 34:1-7. The Fate of Jerusalem and of Zedekiah.In the course of the siege (5886), Jeremiah is sent to Zedekiah to tell him that the city will be taken and destroyed, that he will be brought before Nebuchadrezzar and sent to Babylon, but will obtain the customary royal honours after a peaceful death. At this time, it is said, the only other uncaptured cities were Lachish (Tell-el-Hesy, 35 m. SW. of Jerusalem, see p. 28) and Azekah (Jos 15:35, probably 15 m. SW. of Jerusalem). For the actual fate of the king, so different from that here promised, see Jer 52:11, and cf. Eze 12:13. The present prophecy must be explained as conditional on submission to Babylon, a condition not fulfilled.

Jer 34:5. burnings: with reference to the spices used (so mg.); bodies were buried.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

34:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when {a} Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all its cities, saying,

(a) Who commonly by Jeremiah was called Nebuchadrezzar and by others Nebuchadnezzar.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The announcement of Zedekiah’s fate 34:1-7

"The Book of Consolation has ended, and Jer 34:1 confronts its readers with the full force of the invading imperial army. The destruction of Jerusalem and the remainder of Judah seems inevitable (Jer 34:3) because the LORD has made Nebuchadrezzar ruler over all the nations and because burning with fire is a fitting consequence for their deeds. . . .

"This unit serves to direct the readers’ attention to the issue of obedience to the LORD’s word as it is explored in Jer 34:8-22 and chaps. 35-36." [Note: Ibid., p. 181.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The following message came to Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar and his large army were besieging Jerusalem (cf. Jer 21:1-10). Zedekiah’s rebellion against Babylon in 589 B.C. had prompted the siege (2Ki 24:18 to 2Ki 25:1; Eze 17:11-21). This incident antedates the events recorded in chapters 32-33, however, because Jeremiah was not yet imprisoned. The vassal nations under Nebuchadnezzar’s suzerainty were bound to supply troops to assist him in his wars against his enemies, which they had done (cf. 2Ki 24:2). [Note: See M. Weinfeld, "The Loyalty Oath in the Ancient Near East," Ugarit-Forschungen 8 (1976):380.]

"This verse underscores that the Nebuchadrezzar who now invades Judah is the same Nebuchadrezzar to whom the LORD, the creator, had granted authority over ’all nations,’ and even the wild animals, for a time (Jer 27:6-7)." [Note: Scalise, p. 180.]

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.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary