And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.
19. I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen away to the Chaldeans ] See on Jer 38:4. These Jews, he fears, if the Chaldaeans delivered him into their hands, would maltreat him for not doing himself as they had done at an earlier period, and so sparing the city the miseries of a siege. Cp. Jer 37:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Jews that are fallen to the Chaldaeans – These deserters probably formed a numerous party, and now would be the more indignant with Zedekiah for having rejected their original advice to submit.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 38:19-20
I am afraid of the Jews.
Fatal timidity
I remember very well, when I first went out to Australia, that one fine evening a little bird was seen to be following the ship, evidently a land-bird driven out to sea. When the little thing got tired it tried to alight on some portion of the rigging, though it seemed afraid to do so. On one occasion the captain stretched forth his hand and tried to take hold of the little bird, but it eluded his grasp and went back far away into the darkness of the night, falling upon the waves without the hope of rescue. (T. Spurgeon.)
Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord.
Obedience
I remember, years ago, entering the bed-chamber of an eminent saint, one autumn morning, whose diminishing candles told how long he had been feeding on the Word of God. I asked him what had been the subject of his study. He said he had been engaged since four oclock in discovering all the Lords positive commandments, that he might be sure that he was not wittingly neglecting any one of them. It is very sad to find how many in the present day are neglecting to observe to do the Lords precepts–concerning His ordinances, concerning the laying-up of money, the evangelisation of the world, and the manifestation of perfect love. They know the Lords will, and do it not. They appear to think that they are absolved from that observing to do, which was so characteristic of Deuteronomy. As though love were not more inexorable than law! (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. They mock me.] Insult me, and exhibit me in triumph.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But if Zedekiah went out according to the prophets advice, and delivered himself, what needed he to fear his subjects (that had deserted the city) delivering of him? It seems rather therefore to be the sense, lest the Chaldeans, when I have yielded myself to them, should deliver me into the hands of those Jews which have fallen to them, and they should mock me: so as he seems to be more concerned for his honour than for his own life, and his familys, and the whole city: thus often great persons are more patient of death than of reproach and dishonour.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. afraid of the Jewsmorethan of God (Pro 29:25; Joh 9:22;Joh 12:43).
mock metreat meinjuriously (1Sa 31:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah,…. In answer to this advice he gave him, persuading him to give up himself and the city into the hands of the Chaldeans:
I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans; who did go out of the city, and surrendered to the Chaldeans, whom Zedekiah had cruelly used, or severely threatened:
lest they deliver me into their hands, and they mock me; that is, lest the Chaldeans should deliver him into the hands of the Jews, and they should jeer and scoff at him, for doing the same thing he had forbidden them on the severest penalty; or lest they should put him to death in the most revengeful and contemptuous manner, as Kimchi’s note is: but all this was either a mere excuse, or showed great weakness and pusillanimity, and was fearing where no fear was; for, on the one hand, it was not reasonable to think that the Chaldeans, when they had got such a prize as the king of the Jews, that they should easily part with him, and especially deliver him up into the hands of his own people; and, on the other hand, it is not likely, that, should he be delivered into their hands, they would ever have treated him in so scornful and cruel a manner, who was their prince, and a partner with them in their captivity.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Against the advice that he should save his life by surrendering to the Chaldeans, Zedekiah suggests the consideration, “I am afraid of the Jews, who have deserted [ as in Jer 37:13] to the Chaldeans, lest they give me into their hands and maltreat me.” , illudere alicui , to abuse any one by mockery or ill-treatment; cf. Num 22:29; 1Ch 10:4, etc. Jeremiah replies, Jer 38:20., “They will not give thee up. Yet, pray, listen to the voice of Jahveh, in that which I say to thee, that it may be well with thee, and that thy soul may live. Jer 38:21. But if thou dost refuse to go out i.e., to surrender thyself to the Chaldeans, this is the word which the Lord hath shown me has revealed to me: Jer 38:22. Behold, all the women that are left in the house of the king of Judah shall be brought out to the princes of the king of Babylon, and those [women] shall say, Thy friends have misled thee and have overcome thee; thy feet are sunk in the mud, they have turned away back. Jer 38:23. And all thy wives and thy children shall they bring out to the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand; for thou shalt be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and thou shalt burn this city with fire.” – After Jeremiah had once more assured the king that he would save his life by voluntary surrender, he announces to him that, on the other alternative, instead of his becoming the sport of the deserters, the women of his harem would be insulted. The women who remain in the king’s house, as distinguished from “thy wives” (Jer 38:23), are the women of the royal harem, the wives of former kings, who remain in the harem as the concubines of the reigning king. These are to be brought out to the generals of the Chaldean king, and to sing a satire on him, to this effect: “Thy friends have misled thee, and overpowered thee,” etc. The first sentence of this song is from Oba 1:7, where ere stands instead of . The friends ( , cf. Jer 20:10) are his great men and his false prophets. Through their counsels, these have led him astray, and brought him into a bog, in which his feet stick fast, and then they have gone back; i.e., instead of helping him out, they have deserted him, leaving him sticking in the bog. The expression is figurative, and the meaning of the figure is plain ( is plural). , . ., is equivalent to , a bog, Job 8:11. Moreover, the wives and children of Zedekiah are to fall into the hand of the Chaldeans. , the participle, is used instead of the finite tense to express the notion of indefinite personality: “they bring them out.” “.tuo m e ht gnirb , properly, “to be seized in the hand,” is a pregnant construction for, “to fall into the hand and be held fast by it.” “Thou shalt burn this city,” i.e., bring the blame of burning it upon thyself. Ewald, Hitzig, and Graf, following the lxx, Syr., and Chald., would change into , but needlessly.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Zedekiah seems, here to have had a good reason why he should not immediately obey the Prophet. And often the best of the faithful openly set forth their anxieties, and we have seen that even the Prophet, when any apprehension of danger was entertained, sometimes mentioned it. It was not then a thing to be blamed, that Zedekiah ingenuously confessed that he was prevented by the fear of those who had revolted to the Chaldeans. For we know that subjects, having once cast off the yoke, and violated their pledged faith, conduct themselves in an insolent way; for they know that those to whom they have not performed their duty would be implacable to them. Zedekiah then was justly anxious, and his simplicity in explaining to the Prophet his fear, seemed worthy of an excuse, for he seemed to give some sign of obedience. But the event at length will shew us, that he was so bound by fear, that he refused the counsel of God and the Prophet. It often happens, as I have just said, that the faithful also fear, and thus vacillate or stand still, when God commands them anything hard and difficult, and they would willingly withdraw from the contest, but they at length obey God, and surrender their own thoughts, and submit in obedience to God. But Zedekiah so feared, (112) that he could not partake of God’s goodness promised to him.
We hence see what the faithful have in common with the reprobate, and also how they differ from one another. At first the faithful fear as well as the unbelieving; they are anxious, they vacillate, and make known their perplexities: the unbelieving at the same time indulge themselves, and become hardened in their perverse purposes; but the faithful fight with themselves, and subject their thoughts to the will of God, and thus overcome fear by faith; they also crucify the flesh, and give themselves up wholly to God. We have seen the same thing before in the Prophet. But we shall now see the obstinacy of King Zedekiah, to which we have referred. Then Zedekiah feared lest the Jews, who had revolted to the Chaldeans, should treat him with insolence. The Prophet thus answered him —
(112) The verb means trouble of mind or anxiety rather than fear, “I am disturbed with regard to the Jews,” etc. The Vulgate is, “I am solicitous,” and the Targum., “I am anxious. Our version, “I am afraid of,” is the Syriac. The king seems to have been too proud to own that he had fear. The last clause in the verse may be thus rendered, “And they exult over me.” The verb means to raise up or elevate one’s self, and then the preposition ב means over, or against. The king was disturbed in his mind, being apprehensive of the taunts and insults of those already gone to the Chaldeans. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(19) I am afraid of the Jews . . .The special form of fear was characteristic of the weak and vacillating king. It was not enough to know that his life would be safe. Would he also be saved from the insults of his own subjects, who had already deserted to the enemy? These were, in the nature of the case, friends and followers of the prophet, and had acted on his advice (Jer. 21:9). The king, who had shrunk from Jeremiahs taunts (Jer. 37:19), could not, for very shame, expose himself to the derision of others. Perhaps even he feared more than mere derisionoutrage, death, mutilation, such as Saul feared at the hands of the Philistines (1Sa. 31:4).
(2022) Obey, I beseech thee. . . .The kings misgiving is met in part by an earnest entreaty to obey the voice of the Lord, in part by the assurance that thus it shall be well with him (literally, there shall be peace to thee); in part also by bringing before him the mockery which is certain to await him if he persists in his defiance. The women of the harem, the surviving wives and concubines of former kings, as well as his own, should become the spoil of the Chaldan princes, and should take up their taunting proverbs against him. Thy friends (literally, the men of thy peace, as in Jer. 20:10; the men who promised peace and safety), they set thee on, and having dragged thee into the mire of shame, have left thee there. The imagery of the taunt seems drawn from the prophets recent experience (Jer. 38:6). The king was plunging into a worse slough of despond than that into which Jeremiah had sunk in the dungeon of Malchiah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. I am afraid of the Jews More “afraid” of them than of God! more afraid of contumely and ridicule than of calamity and ruin!
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 38:19 And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.
Ver. 19. Then Zedekiah said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews. ] Thus hypocrites will at one time or other detect themselves, as Zedekiah here plainly declareth that he more feared the loss of his life, honour, wealth, &c., than of God’s favour and kingdom; so do the most among us. Pilate feared how Caesar would take it if he should release Jesus. Herod laid hold on Peter, after he had killed James, that he might please the people. The Pharisees could not believe, because they received glory from men. This generous king cannot endure to think that his own fugitives should flout him; but to be ruled by God, and his holy prophet advising him for the best, he cannot yield. Thus still vain men are niggardly of their reputation and prodigal of their souls. Do we not see them run wilfully into the field, into the grave, into hell? and all lest it should be said they have as much fear as wit.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
afraid = apprehensive.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I: Jer 38:5, 1Sa 15:24, Job 31:34, Pro 29:25, Isa 51:12, Isa 51:13, Isa 57:11, Joh 12:42, Joh 19:12, Joh 19:13
mock: Jer 38:22, Jdg 9:54, Jdg 16:25, 1Sa 31:4, Isa 45:9, Isa 45:10
Reciprocal: Eze 11:8 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A ROYAL PUPPET
And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid.
Jer 38:19
I. It is strange to think of the contrast between this reed shaken with the wind, and the stalwart oak, defying every storm, which Jeremiah was.The prophet stood alone. He stood as adamant against every foe. He held by his testimony. Nothing could shake him. He was not to be bribed nor cajoled, nor terrified into silence. He was a pulpit that all the wealth of the state could not tune. He delivered the same message to the king in secret audience as to the people in public assembly. Yet to that timid, cowering, pithless man he could impart no breath of his own dauntless spirit and iron will. He clings to Jeremiah: he shows him favours: he believes that what the prophet speaks is the word of God, and yet he never has a grain of courage to act according to his counsel.
II. If decision of character be lacking in any man, that indeed is a fatal want.We habitually underrate the seriousness of such a defect. We so often apologise for a man, saying, There is no evil in him, but he is weak. Now in this world, where the forces of evil are so aggressive, where the current flows so fiercely towards evil, where temptation is so insistent, that is a sentence of doom. We are apt to think of such a man as Zedekiah, that if only he had been a private citizen he would have been inoffensive and respectable. He was amiable and religiously inclined, and had nothing vicious in him. He was a weak man in a false position, in a place that before all things else required force of character. He was without conviction, without strength of will, without resolution. Now, we had better awaken to the brutal fact that God does not supply cloisters and sequestered retreats, sheltered from all rough blasts, for such effeminate souls. They are like the rest of us, thrust out into life, and they go under. They cannot swim against the stream. Invertebrate they are, and without force to resist, and the decision ever to say no. The only thing they can do is weakly to yield. Now it follows that such a fatal temperament shuts a man out of the ranks of Christians. Christs appeal is always to decision. He puts iron into the blood. He calls us to follow Him, to take up our cross, to deny ourselves. If all we can do or care to do is to go with the crowd, then we cannot have part or lot with Him. It may all the more open our eyes to the evil of this disposition if we follow the career of this last king of Judah, who to his own and his nations ruin was cursed with feebleness of will.
Illustration
What a pitiable character is this weak king, shuttle-cocked between stronger wills, sometimes sending for Jeremiah and having secret talks with him, which he is desperately afraid may leak out, sometimes listening to the princes, and then again doing as Ebed-melech urges. There is a dash of bitterness in his answer to the truculent demand for the prophets life: The king is not he that can do anything against you. Like all weak men, he resents the dominance of the stronger will to which he yields, and yet yields to the dominance which he resents. Poor creature! the times were out of joint, and he, certainly, was not the man to set them right. So he hobbled along on both knees, to use Elijahs contemptuous simile, and, of course, ruined himself and all that was entrusted to him. Such men always do. This is no world for an irresolute man to make his way in.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Jer 38:19. Zedekiah seemed to be in a state of nervous agitation. He was afraid of the Jews who had already been taken by the Chaldeans lest they be peeved because they had been taken while the king was still comparatively free. He feared they might cause him to be turned over into the hand of the enemy and that would make him an object of reproach.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 38:19-20. Zedekiah said, I am afraid of the Jews, &c. The sense seems to be, that he was afraid lest the Chaldeans, when he had given himself up to them, should deliver him into the hands of those Jews who had fallen to them, and they should insult over and deride him, as being obliged at last to do what he had blamed, and, if he had been able, would have punished them for doing. Thus the Vulgate, Solicitus sum propter Judos, qui transfugerunt ad Chalds: ne forte tradar in manus eorum et illudant mihi. He was conscious he had acted a base part in violating the oath of homage and fidelity which he had given to the king of Babylon, and that he was considered by many of the Jews, especially by those who had gone over to the Chaldeans, as having ruined his country by his impolitic measures. Thus he was more concerned for his honour than for his life, and the lives of his wives and children, and the safety of the whole city. And thus often great persons are more patient of death than of reproach and dishonour. But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee The Chaldeans will not do so base an act, but deal with thee as with a prince. God foresees all possible events, and what would be the consequence of the several counsels men propose to themselves. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord: so it shall be well with thee Let not thy fears, therefore, respecting the treatment thou wilt meet with, be a temptation to thee to disobey the command of God: for if thou doest as thou art advised to do, thou shalt live Though not in that splendour in which thou now livest, yet in a much more comfortable state than if the city be taken by storm.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
38:19 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that have fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they {i} mock me.
(i) Which declares that he more feared the reproach of men than the threatenings of God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Zedekiah admitted that he feared the Jews who had already surrendered. He feared that if he surrendered, the Babylonians would turn him over to those Jews, and they would torture him.