The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah that year was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the king of Babylon's army was then besieging Jerusalem; and the prophet Jeremiah was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah's house.
This verse fixes the date at the worst possible moment. Babylon's army ringed the walls, and God's own prophet sat locked inside the palace grounds. Why was he in custody? And what does God do with a servant He shuts in while the city falls apart?
Commentators place this moment inside the city's last siege, with the end already fixed.
The crisis was now at hand. Jerusalem was undergoing its last siege. The king of Babylon had begun it before the end of Zedekiah's ninth year. He took the city early in his eleventh year, after surrounding it for some eighteen months — though an interruption broke it for a time.
The "court of the guard" (older translations say "court of the prison") was not his first cell. The reason he was there is plain: he kept saying what God gave him to say.
To understand this imprisonment, read Jeremiah 37:11-21. He was first thrown as a prisoner into the house of Jonathan the scribe. It was a dungeon, perhaps some underground place... It was a horrible place, for Jeremiah was afraid he might die there. Zedekiah seems to have felt some goodwill towards him... Zedekiah, at his request, released him from the dungeon and put him into the court of the prison... Here, in our chapter, is the full text of his faithful message; had it been less faithful he might have been released.
Enemies stood outside the wall and inside it.
The prophet himself was in a very bad situation, and so was the city. Jerusalem was besieged and certain to be taken by the king of Babylon. Jeremiah was not only in danger from the Chaldeans but he was imprisoned in the city; that is, he was in double sorrow. He was in sorrow from the Jews even more than from the Gentiles.
The end of the siege brought a strange reversal.
King Zedekiah did not listen to the words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah. Neither did his servants, nor the people of the land. Instead, they put him in prison. He got his freedom only when the city fell. The king of Babylon treated him better than the king of his own people, whom he served so faithfully. This is often the case with true servants of the Lord.
Prison held the prophet. It did not hold God's word.
As an old writer remarks, if the prophet was bound, the word of God was not bound. The word of the Lord came to him with this message: "Hanameel, the son of Shallum your uncle, will come to you and say, 'Buy my field at Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours.'"
Prison was not a pause in the prophet's work. God used it to test whether he believed his own preaching.
The Lord allows His servants to be tested constantly. If the Lord gives us to witness to some great truth we shall have to prove our own faith in that truth.
The test came as a business deal, at the least likely moment for one.
You would suppose such a time was most unsuitable for doing business. But the business he then undertook was above all an act of faith. It demanded the prophet's fullest confidence in the testimony God had raised him up to give.
The siege was not only judgment. God took up those very circumstances to speak about what He would do later.
In Jeremiah 32 the Lord takes up the circumstances of Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem. He uses them to declare His purpose of grace: their final restoration. He has the prophet buy a field as a token that the people would own the land again. "Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in my anger... and I will bring them again into their place, and I will cause them to dwell safely."
- Shut up. Babylon's army stood outside the walls. Jeremiah sat inside a guarded courtyard in his own king's palace — enemies on both sides.
- Why shut up. He was jailed for the accuracy of his message; had his word been less faithful, he might have walked free.
- Not shut up. The prophet was bound; the word of the Lord was not — it reached him in the courtyard and gave him his next assignment.
- Tested there. God tests His servants on the very truth He gave them to preach. Prison was where Jeremiah proved his own faith in his prophecy.
- Answered there. The city was about to fall. From that same courtyard God promised to gather His people, bring them back, and keep them safe.
For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why dost thou prophesy and say, Thus saith Jehovah Behold, I give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
Jeremiah is in prison in Jerusalem, held in the palace guard court while the army of Babylon closes in. His crime is what he has been saying. The king demands to know why he keeps predicting the city's fall. That question raises the issue of the whole chapter. Can silencing the messenger silence the message?
The chapter opens by setting the arrest inside Jerusalem's final siege.
The crisis was now at hand. Jerusalem was undergoing its last siege. The king of Babylon had begun it before Zedekiah's ninth year closed. He took the city early in his eleventh year, after a siege of some eighteen months — though it was broken off for a time. The chapter first explains why the prophet was in prison when this message came to him from the Lord.
Jeremiah's danger came from two directions at once.
Jeremiah was not only in danger from the Chaldeans but he was imprisoned in the city; that is, he was in double sorrow. He was in sorrow from the Jews even more than from the Gentiles.
Zedekiah is the one who locked him up. But the real power lay with his officials.
Zedekiah himself persecutes Jeremiah and shuts him up in the court of the prison (Jer. 32:2-3), but in fact it is the king who is the captive of his captains and of his princes and does not dare resist them. In reality he did not hate Jeremiah. He was driven by the fear of men, instead of being ruled by the fear of the Lord — the Lord whom he had despised and dishonoured (Jer. 38:24-28).
That weakness ran right through his dealings with the prophet. When his officials later demanded Jeremiah's death, he gave way again.
Zedekiah, who lacks strength of character, delivers him into their hand, realizing that he is powerless before them.
The city would not hear the man God sent, so God sent an army instead.
The armies of the Chaldeans are before the gates of Jerusalem! They demand admission. They are God's messengers of judgment, for the city had refused to bear His prophetic messenger. King Zedekiah did not listen to the words of the Lord which He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah. Neither did his servants, nor the people of the land (Jer. 37:2). Instead, they put him in prison. He only got his freedom when the city fell. The king of Babylon treated him better than the king of his own people, whom he served so faithfully. This is often the case with true servants of the Lord.
The words Zedekiah tried to silence all came true — including two that sound like they clash.
Jeremiah warned Zedekiah many times against his course, and advised him to submit to Babylon. For this the princes of Judah persecuted Jeremiah. When the city fell, Zedekiah tried to escape with his wives and children, but they caught him. Two prophecies about him are remarkable: one that he will speak with the king of Babylon and "see him eye to eye," Jer. 32:4; and the other that "he shall be brought to Babylon, yet he shall not see it, and he shall die there." Ezek. 12:13. And so it happened. They took him before Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, killed his sons in front of him, put out his eyes, and carried him to Babylon.
Locking the prophet up did not stop God speaking.
Then from verse 6 we have the message itself. As an old writer remarks, if the prophet was bound, the word of God was not bound.
While the city was falling, God told Jeremiah to buy land.
Yet, at such a moment Jeremiah's uncle asked him to buy a field. What! when they were about to be all swept out of the land and carried into captivity! Should he then buy a field? What reason could there be for such a deal? But it was the Lord who told him to do it. Buying that field was a testimony of the greatest value. Despite the desolation, despite the destruction of the city, Jeremiah believed that the Jews would return to their possessions. He believed the land would be farmed again and houses built there.
The same God stands behind both the judgment and the promised return.
He points out the sin of the people and of the city from the beginning. But now their ruin looked certain to them, and sin had driven them to despair. At that moment the Lord declares not only a return from captivity, but the full power of His grace... It was He who had brought all this evil in judgment, and it was He who would bring all the good which He had promised.
- Warned — Jeremiah told Zedekiah many times to submit to Babylon. The arrest was the king's answer.
- Afraid — the king who held the keys was himself held by fear of his princes, not by the fear of the Lord.
- Unbound — they shut the prophet in, but not the word of God; the next message reached him inside the prison.
- Fulfilled — every silenced word came true: capture, sons killed before his eyes, eyes put out, a Babylon he never saw.
- Restored — from that same cell Jeremiah bought a field. The hand that brought the evil would bring the promised good.
and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans; for he shall certainly be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;
Babylon's army surrounded Jerusalem when this message came, and Jeremiah sat under arrest inside the king's own palace grounds. It names the end of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah — no escape, capture, and a face-to-face meeting with Nebuchadnezzar. Could the king silence that word by jailing the man who spoke it?
Softer words could have set Jeremiah free. One writer traces how he landed in prison:
To understand this imprisonment, you need to read Jeremiah 37:11-21. He was first thrown as a prisoner into the house of Jonathan the scribe. It was a dungeon, perhaps some underground place... It was a horrible place, for Jeremiah was afraid he might die there (37:20)... Here, in our chapter, is the full text of his faithful message; if it had been less faithful, he might have gone free.
Being right did not protect him:
What an evidence of the lot of him who is true to God in this world! His prophecies proved true, but he was persecuted all the same.
The verse says Zedekiah will not escape. One writer explains why a man still schemes after a warning like that:
Hopes built on man are empty, most of all for God's people when He is passing moral judgment. Unbelief is full of one thing only: schemes to fend off submission to God. It resists submission even more than conviction. At last the moment comes to carry out the warning they ignored so long. Then the bold-hearted turn into cowards, all the more because their conscience is guilty.
The words about eyes and mouth read like a riddle. One writer weighs how exactly they came true:
The case of Zedekiah is perhaps even more astonishing, because of the exactness with which puzzling details came true... That word about his eyes came again and again. Afterwards it must have made him feel he had stood in the presence of omniscience when he heard, but did not heed, the words of the suffering prophet.
Another writer sets this word beside what the prophet Ezekiel said about the same king:
Ezekiel predicted that Zedekiah would not see Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, though he would die there. Jeremiah predicted that Zedekiah's eyes would see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and that the two would speak face to face. To a shallow reader this might seem hard to reconcile, if not a contradiction. But such a thought would only be ignorance, and irreverence too. Each prophet spoke from God beforehand, and the events proved both words true. The fugitive king was pursued and overtaken before he crossed the Jordan. At Riblah the king of Babylon judged the matter. He had Zedekiah's sons killed before their guilty father's eyes. Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with chains and carried him to Babylon. So he never saw Babylon, though he went there. He did see the eyes of the angry conqueror who spoke with him face to face. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
Jeremiah kept preaching, but his message had changed:
He no longer urges them to "Amend your ways, repent and the judgment will be suspended." The time of chastisement has arrived. Already Nebuchadnezzar has besieged the city. Therefore the message from God is to accept the judgment from His hand and surrender to the Chaldeans. When they hear Jeremiah's words, certain men... join the princes in asking the king, "Please let this man be put to death." In their eyes Jeremiah is a mere traitor – an ally of Nebuchadnezzar.
Those who took that advice lived:
Only a small remnant kept their lives: those who received the Lord's message and handed themselves over to the Chaldeans.
The prison held the man, not the message:
As an old writer remarks, if the prophet was bound, the word of God was not bound.
God does not leave such a servant untested:
The Lord allows His servants to be tested again and again. If the Lord gives us some great truth to testify to, we will have to prove our own faith in that truth.
- Spoken — the words that cost Jeremiah his freedom are the words God kept. A softer message might have bought his release.
- Slighted — Zedekiah schemed instead of submitting. When the ignored warning came true, the bold heart turned coward.
- Seen — the word about his eyes came again and again. The king had stood before a God who knows everything, and never noticed.
- Settled — Jeremiah said he would see the eyes of the king of Babylon. Ezekiel said he would not see Babylon. Riblah made both true; no word of the Lord falls to the ground.
- Spared — only those who took the message and surrendered lived. The prophet stayed bound; the word never was.
and he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith Jehovah though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?
Jerusalem was under siege, and God sent one last word to King Zedekiah through a prophet locked in the palace guardhouse. The king would end up in Babylon, and fighting could not change that — though another prophet, Ezekiel, seems at first to say the opposite.
These words came from a prisoner. The prophet's plight matched the city's.
The prophet was in a very bad case himself, and so was the city. The king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem and was certain to take it. Jeremiah was not only in danger from the Chaldeans; he was also a prisoner in the city. That is, he was in double sorrow. He was in sorrow from the Jews even more than from the Gentiles.
The king's own name carried the verdict he refused to hear.
Zedekiah is an outstanding example of that. He refused "the words of the LORD" (Jeremiah 36:2). His captors killed his two sons before his eyes. They put out his own eyes and carried him away to Babylon. His name means "The justice of Jehovah." That justice fell on him because he refused the word the prophet spoke.
The Chaldeans — the Babylonian army — were not the real opponent.
To fight it out was even to resist the Lord. It was not only Nebuchadnezzar who was taking Jerusalem. Jehovah was giving up the city and their king from the house of David. That was a most solemn sign of His displeasure.
His own people thought he was a traitor. They thought their fighting made them the better Jews.
In a day of ruin faith always recognises the chastening of God and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and accounts it patriotism or perhaps religion to oppose. Jeremiah seemed to be in the eyes of the men of Judah a very false Jew for this reason. He always counselled them to submit to the king of Babylon. They accounted themselves much better Jews, because they were willing to fight against the king of Babylon.
Jeremiah said Zedekiah would look Nebuchadnezzar in the eye and go to Babylon. Ezekiel said he would never see it. Both came true, and the history shows how.
Both prophets implied that he would be caught, though he might try to escape. Both said he must go to Babylon… To a shallow reader this might seem hard to fit together, or even a contradiction. But such a thought would be only ignorance… Pursuers overtook the fleeing king before he crossed the Jordan. At Riblah the king of Babylon judged his case. He had Zedekiah's sons killed in front of their guilty father. Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with chains and carried him to Babylon. So he did not see Babylon, though he went there. Yet he did see the eyes of the angry conqueror, who spoke with him mouth to mouth. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
The verse leaves Zedekiah in Babylon "until I visit him." Writers point out how his life there ended.
He announced also Zedekiah's fate. He could not escape, but would be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon. He would see Nebuchadnezzar eye to eye and speak with him mouth to mouth. Then he would be taken to Babylon… Yet he was not to die by the sword, but in peace. And Jeremiah faithfully delivered his message.
The same chapter that seals the king's fate has God telling the prisoner to buy a field. The timing is the point.
God gave the precious promises in these two chapters at a moment marked out by the imprisonment of His prophet… The king of Babylon's army was then besieging Jerusalem. Zedekiah tried to stop the prophet from speaking, God was shut out, and everything looked very black. Despair and desolation faced them. At such a moment God shows His redemption and grace by telling the prophet to buy the field of Hanameel, because "the right of redemption" belonged to Jeremiah… It is just so with God — the right of redemption is His… "Man's extremity is God's opportunity!"
Buying land in a doomed city cost Jeremiah something. It asked him to stake money on the promise he had been preaching.
The Lord allows His servants to be tested constantly. If the Lord gives us to witness to some great truth we shall have to prove our own faith in that truth.
- Word refused. Zedekiah jailed the messenger to silence the message. His name means "the justice of Jehovah" — and that justice caught up with him.
- Word resisted. To fight the Chaldeans was to fight the Lord, for He was the one giving up the city. Unbelief called that fight patriotism.
- Word fulfilled. At Riblah Zedekiah met the king of Babylon eye to eye. Then, blinded, he went to Babylon and never saw it. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
- Word of grace. In the same prison, God told Jeremiah to buy a field. The right of redemption is His. Man's extremity is God's opportunity.