And it came to pass when the army of the Chaldeans was gone up from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh's army,
Jerusalem was under siege. Then Egypt marched, and the Chaldean army — the army of Babylon — pulled back from the walls. Everything in this chapter turns on how people read that pause — as rescue, or as a delay that changed nothing.
One writer looks past the politics of the moment to what God was doing, and reads the pause as a test of faith.
On the surface it was a contest between the courts of Egypt and Babylon. In truth it was the chastening and humbling of the house of David and of Jerusalem under the hand of God, for their rebellion against His name… This was the season of patience the Lord usually gives. Evil men have not yet declared themselves openly and fully. Appearances favour the false against the true for a while, and in this way faith is put to a fuller test.
The retreat gave the city's popular preachers the evidence they wanted, and the people were ready to believe them.
To understand these chapters more fully, remember this. The army besieging the gates of Jerusalem pulled back for a time, because an Egyptian army had come against it. No doubt this gave the false prophets a chance to preach their false hope, and the people were deceived… They were sure it was a good sign, and they expected a favourable message. Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet and swept away the false hope they had been deceiving themselves with.
Zedekiah's government read the moment as a win for its policy. Judah had leaned on Egypt before, with the same result.
Now there was no faith in the policy of Zedekiah or his advisers. Egypt stepped in, and they were elated at the brief relief. At once they let themselves hope that Jeremiah was wrong to predict the rule of Nebuchadnezzar and the collapse of Judah… The help of man is useless against the word of God. This was not the first time Egypt had proved a broken reed that pierced the hand of those who leaned on it. Pharaoh's army went home without striking a blow for Judah. That only delayed the Babylonian siege, and the Babylonians soon came back to destroy the city with fire.
The lifted siege moved Jeremiah too — but in the opposite direction from everyone else.
Fair and promising appearances came and went, but they could not lure him away from the conclusions of faith. (See Jeremiah 37.) The Egyptian allies had arrived, so the Babylonian army had broken up their camp under the walls of Jerusalem. This flattered the Jewish people into hope. But Jeremiah left the city, because he would still hold to the conclusions of faith — that God had doomed Jerusalem in righteous judgment.
Acting on what he believed cost him at once.
Jeremiah at least believed the word of the Lord. So when the pressure lifted for a short time, he tried to leave the city for his place in the land of Benjamin. This exposed him to the damaging suspicion of his enemies.
One writer follows the chapter to its end — the word held firm, the prophet went to prison, and God did not forget the righteous.
The circumstances looked favourable, and they might make it seem that the wicked can escape judgment. But they do not alter the certainty of the word. Jeremiah tried to use the opportunity to avoid the judgment coming on the rebellious city. But this only serves to show the heart's hatred of God's testimony. The princes of the people accused Jeremiah of favouring the enemy, because he announced the judgment that would fall on the people through them, and they put him in prison… However terrible His judgment may be, God remembers [righteous men]; for His judgment is terrible because He is righteous.
- Pause. The Babylonian retreat was real, but it was short. It was a stretch of patience in which appearances favoured the false against the true.
- Test. That is when faith meets its fuller test. The evidence of the moment points one way, and God's word points the other.
- Deception. The city read relief as rescue; false prophets fed the hope, and the word of the Lord swept it away.
- Conviction. Fair appearances did not lure Jeremiah from the conclusions of faith. He walked out of the city others thought safe.
- Cost. Acting on God's word got him arrested as a traitor. Yet the word stood, and God remembers the righteous even while judgment falls.
that Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to have his portion there among the people.
Jerusalem got a short breathing space: the Babylonians, also called Chaldeans, pulled back when Egypt's army appeared. In that gap Jeremiah left the city for his home district to collect his portion — and a captain at the gate called it desertion.
The lifted siege changed the mood in the city but not the verdict of God. One writer sees in Jeremiah's exit a man who read God's word rather than his circumstances:
Occasional fair and promising appearances could not lure him away from the conclusions of faith. The Chaldean army had broken up their camp under the walls of Jerusalem because the Egyptian allies had arrived. This flattered the Jewish people into hopes. But Jeremiah left the city, because he would still hold to the conclusions of faith — that God had doomed Jerusalem in righteous judgment.
The verse says he went to receive his portion, but not why. One writer ties that portion to Jeremiah's place among the priests:
When the Chaldean army had left, Jeremiah went out to his hometown Anathoth. Why is not revealed. He may have gone to claim his portion, which belonged to him as a priest. At the gate of Benjamin a captain arrested him and charged the prophet with desertion, and he denied the charge. The charge was easy to make, because Jeremiah had earlier urged the people to submit to the Chaldeans.
Another writer reads the errand as a search for food, and follows what happened next:
A few years later the siege of Jerusalem stops for a time. Jeremiah takes the chance to leave the city and try to get some food in the land of Benjamin. As he is going through the gate, a captain arrests him, accusing him of deserting to the Chaldeans. Jeremiah protests against the untrue accusation, but in vain. Irijah brings him to the princes. They become very angry. They beat the prophet and put him in prison in "the vaults," where he has to stay "many days." This time no one delivers him.
The destination was not a foreign refuge. It was the district Jeremiah came from, a short walk away, and the village there belonged to the priests:
Although known as a prophet, Jeremiah belonged to the family of "the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin." As far as we know, he never acted as a priest. His village of Anathoth lay a little over three miles northeast of Jerusalem, and it belonged to the priests, the descendants of Aaron, from the family of the Kohathites (Josh. 21:18; 1 Chron. 6:60)... Jeremiah was a Levite, but people counted him a Benjaminite, since his birthplace lay in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.
Jeremiah acted on the word he believed. That is what gave his enemies their suspicion:
Jeremiah at least believed the word of the Lord. So when the siege lifted for a short time, he tried to withdraw from the city to his place in the land of Benjamin. This left him open to the unjust suspicion of his enemies.
The arrest at the gate led to a long imprisonment. One writer notes who ended up treating the prophet better:
King Zedekiah did not listen to the words of the Lord which He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, and neither did his servants or the people of the land (Jer. 37:2). 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.
- The gap — The Chaldeans pulled back when Egypt's army came. This "flattered the Jewish people into hopes," but God's judgment was still coming.
- The errand — Jeremiah used the gap to go to Benjamin for his portion. Writers differ on why: one suggests the portion due to him as a priest, another food.
- The home — Benjamin meant Anathoth, a village of priests three miles from Jerusalem, and the district where Jeremiah was born.
- The charge — He had told the city to submit to Babylon, so a charge of desertion was "easy to make" at the gate. He denied it. No one listened.
- The cost — Acting on the word he believed left him "open to the unjust suspicion of his enemies." In the end Babylon's king treated him better than his own people did.
And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he laid hold on the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Thou art deserting to the Chaldeans.
Babylon's army — the Chaldeans — had pulled back from Jerusalem, and Jeremiah used the pause to leave the city. A guard arrested him at the Benjamin Gate as a traitor, and the charge raises two questions: why was he leaving, and why did it sound so believable?
Two names anchor the scene, and the repository identifies both plainly. The officer who made the arrest is known for nothing else in Scripture:
Captain of the guard at Jerusalem who arrested Jeremiah.
The gate itself had already been a place of suffering for him. It was at this same gate that the priest Pashhur had earlier put him in the stocks:
Pashhur had Jeremiah locked in the stocks for the rest of the day and all through the night. He stood at the gate of Benjamin, where everyone could see his torture and suffering. Passers-by could compete with each other in mocking him.
Commentators differ on Jeremiah's errand. Some read it as a claim on property that was his by right:
When the Chaldean army had left, Jeremiah went out to go to his hometown Anathoth, for a reason that is not revealed. He may have gone to claim the portion that belonged to him as priest.
Others tie the journey to what he believed about the city's future:
Jeremiah at least believed the word of the Lord, and so he tried to withdraw from the city, during its short relief, to his place in the land of Benjamin. This exposed him to the damaging suspicion of his enemies.
Either way, Egypt's arrival did not change his mind:
He refused to let occasional fair and promising appearances lure him away from the conclusions of faith. The Chaldean army had broken up their camp under the walls of Jerusalem because the Egyptian allies had arrived. This raised the hopes of the Jewish people. But Jeremiah left the city, because he still held to the conclusions of faith: God had doomed Jerusalem in righteous judgment.
The accusation was not invented. Jeremiah had been telling the people to submit to Babylon:
Such a charge was easy to make, because Jeremiah had earlier urged the people to submit to the Chaldeans.
The leaders treated a prophecy of defeat as sympathy for the enemy:
Jeremiah tried to use the opportunity to avoid the judgment coming on the rebellious city. But this only shows the heart's hatred of God's testimony. The princes of the people accused him of favouring the enemy and put him in prison. They did so because he announced the judgment that would fall on the people at the enemy's hands.
Jeremiah denied the charge, and it changed nothing:
As he is going through the gate, a captain arrests him, accusing him of deserting to the Chaldeans. Jeremiah protests against the untrue accusation, but in vain. Irijah brings him to the princes. They become very angry. They beat the prophet and put him in prison in "the vaults," where he has to remain "many days." This time no one delivers him.
Being right did not protect him. Events proved his message true, and his leaders punished him for it:
What evidence this is of the lot of the one who is true to God in this world! His prophecies were vindicated, but he was persecuted all the same.
The contrast only sharpened:
They put him in prison. He gained his liberty 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.
Jeremiah's loneliness had a meaning beyond himself:
Disgraced by his own people, Jeremiah led a solitary life, having neither wife nor children. This loneliness was a heavy burden for him. However, he occasionally enjoyed the support of friends who stood up for him. In all this he is a picture of the One who was to come later: the humble, solitary Man whose own people rejected Him despite all the grace He showed.
- Faith walked out. Jeremiah left Jerusalem because he still believed the judgment was coming. Egypt's help looked promising, but it did not change his mind.
- Faith was misread. He had told the people to submit to Babylon, so the desertion charge sounded credible at the gate.
- Faith was hated. Underneath the charge lay the heart's hatred of God's testimony. It treated the messenger of judgment as an ally of the enemy.
- Faith was punished. The princes ignored his true denial. They beat him and jailed him for many days, and no one came to get him out.
- Faith was vindicated anyway. His words came true, yet his own people persecuted him all the same. In the end Babylon's king treated him better than Judah's king — the pattern of a solitary, rejected Prophet still to come.
And Jeremiah said, It is false I am not deserting to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him; and Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
The siege had paused, and Jeremiah left Jerusalem for the land of Benjamin. An officer stopped him at the gate, called him a deserter, and would not believe his denial — so what does a servant of God do when the truth does not clear him?
Egypt's approach had pulled the Chaldean army — Babylon's forces — back from the walls, and the city read that as hope. Jeremiah read it differently.
Fair and promising appearances now and then could not draw him away from the conclusions of faith. The Chaldean army had broken camp under the walls of Jerusalem, because the Egyptian allies had arrived. This fed the hopes of the Jewish people. But Jeremiah left the city, because he would still hold to the conclusions of faith — that God had doomed Jerusalem in righteous judgment.
That is why his walk out of the gate looked suspicious. Acting on the word cost him his reputation:
Help from man is useless against the word of God. Egypt had failed before, like a cracked staff that pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it. Jeremiah at least believed the word of Jehovah. So, during the short relief, he tried to withdraw from the city to his place in the land of Benjamin. This exposed him to the harmful suspicion of his enemies.
One writer traces the whole episode, from an ordinary trip for food to a cell.
During a pause in the siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah takes the chance to leave the city and try to get some food in the land of Benjamin. As he is going through the gate, a captain arrests him, accusing him of deserting to the Chaldeans. Jeremiah protests against the untrue accusation, but in vain. Irijah brings him to the princes. They become very angry, beat the prophet, and put him in prison in the vaults, where he has to stay many days. This time no one rescues him.
A false charge works best when it borrows something true.
When, at the gate of Benjamin, a captain arrested him and charged the prophet with desertion, he denied the charge. Such a charge was easy to make, because Jeremiah had earlier called the people to submit to the Chaldeans.
Irijah's refusal to listen was not a failure of evidence. The real issue lay deeper, in a settled hostility to the message Jeremiah carried.
Jeremiah tried to use the chance to get away from the judgment that was coming on the rebellious city. But this only shows the heart's hatred of God's testimony. The princes of the people accused Jeremiah of favouring the enemy, because he announced the judgment that would fall on the people through them. So they put him in prison.
Everything Jeremiah had predicted came true, and it made no difference to how he was treated. Being right did not spare him prison.
This shows what life holds for the one who is true to God in this world! His prophecies proved true, but he was persecuted all the same.
The enemy he supposedly joined treated him better than his own nation did.
Neither King Zedekiah, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the words of the Lord which He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah. 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 same trick — dressing up a message from God as disloyalty to the nation — had already hit the prophet Amos:
Amaziah, the apostate priest at Bethel, who had charge of the idol worship, falsely accused the prophet Amos before King Jeroboam. It was a religious-political accusation. The enemy accused Jeremiah in the same way (Jeremiah 37:14-15); he did the same with our Lord and His apostles.
- Word first. Jeremiah believed what God had said, so a lull in the siege did not alter his reading of the city's future.
- Word acted on. Holding to the word moved him to leave the city, and that step handed his enemies their charge.
- Word hated. Irijah would not listen. The real offence was not desertion but the message Jeremiah carried.
- Word proved. Everything he foretold came true, and they persecuted him anyway. In the end Babylon's king treated him better than his own king did.
- Word's pattern. The same religious-political charge hit Amos before him, and the Lord and His apostles after him.
And the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in the place of confinement in the house of Jonathan the scribe for they had made that the prison.
During a pause in the siege, Jeremiah left Jerusalem, and a guard captain at the gate of Benjamin seized him as a deserter to Babylon. His crime was believing what God had said — and the beating and the cell that followed raise the question of what God does with a servant nobody rescues.
The Babylonian army had pulled back because Egypt's forces were on the move, and the city took heart. Jeremiah refused to read the change as good news.
Occasional bright and promising appearances could not pull him away from what faith had concluded. The Chaldean army had broken camp under the walls of Jerusalem because the Egyptian allies had arrived. This flattered the Jewish people into hope. But Jeremiah left the city, because he would still hold to what faith had concluded — that God had doomed Jerusalem in righteous judgment.
The very step that proved his confidence in God's word is what handed him over to his enemies.
Jeremiah at least believed the word of Jehovah. So when the pressure lifted for a short time, he tried to withdraw from the city to his own place in the land of Benjamin. This left him open to the damaging suspicion of his enemies.
He denied deserting. But his own long-standing message gave the charge a surface of truth.
At the gate of Benjamin a captain arrested him and charged the prophet with desertion, and he denied it. Such a charge was simple to make, because Jeremiah had earlier urged the people to submit to the Chaldeans.
The same move shows up elsewhere. The priest at Bethel reported the prophet Amos to the king:
Amaziah was the priest at Bethel who had turned from God and ran the idol worship. He brought a false accusation against the prophet before King Jeroboam. It was a religious and political accusation. The enemy accused Jeremiah in the same way (Jeremiah 37:14-15), and he did the same with our Lord and His apostles.
Their rage showed something deeper than a legal mistake.
Jeremiah tried to use the chance to escape the judgment that was coming on the rebellious city. But this only shows the hatred of the heart toward God's testimony. The princes of the people accused Jeremiah of favouring the enemy, because he announced the judgment that would fall on the people through that enemy, and they put him in prison.
The scribe's house was not a simple holding cell.
They first threw him into prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe. It was a dungeon, perhaps some underground place, and they put him there. 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, they might have released him.
Earlier in his life others had stepped in to protect him. Not now.
They become very angry and beat the prophet and put him in prison in "the vaults" where he has to remain "many days." This time no one delivers him.
Being proved right did not spare him.
What proof this is of what happens to anyone who is true to God in this world! His prophecies proved true, yet people persecuted him all the same.
His freedom, when it came, came from an unexpected hand.
King Zedekiah did not listen to the words of the Lord which He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, and neither did his servants or the people of the land (Jer. 37:2). Instead, they put him in prison. He only got his freedom when the city fell, and the king of Babylon treated him better than the king of his own people, whom he had served so well. This is often the case with true servants of the Lord.
One writer places Jeremiah's dungeon alongside other cases of the same suffering.
Joseph, for instance, suffered for righteousness when Potiphar put him in prison, because he had refused what his master's wife wanted. David suffered wrongfully when Saul hunted him like a partridge. And Jeremiah suffered too, as a saint, when they put him into the dungeons, first in the house of Jonathan the scribe (Jer. 37).
- Faith walked out. The Egyptian relief did not flatter Jeremiah. He left the city holding to what God had said, and that step put him within reach of his enemies.
- Faith was slandered. His own message to submit to Babylon made the desertion charge easy — the same religious and political accusation later aimed at the Lord and His apostles.
- Faith exposed hearts. The rage of the princes was not a legal mistake but the hatred of the heart toward God's testimony.
- Faith cost. The scribe's house was an underground dungeon where he feared he would die, and this time no one came to get him out.
- Faith was still right. His words came true and they punished him anyway. Babylon's king treated him better than his own king did. He suffered, as commentators put it, wrongfully — as a saint.
When Jeremiah was come into the dungeon and into the vaults, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,
Officials had seized Jeremiah at the city gate, beaten him, and thrown him into the house of Jonathan the scribe, which served as a prison. Verse 16 tells where they kept him and how long, and it raises a hard question: why does God leave a faithful messenger underground for "many days"?
Two things carry the weight of this verse: the kind of cell, and the length of the stay. Older translations call these cells "the vaults," and the Chaldeans are the Babylonians. One writer traces how Jeremiah got there — and what did not happen next:
As he is going through the gate, a captain arrests him, accusing him of deserting to the Chaldeans. In vain Jeremiah protests against the untrue accusation. Irijah brings him to the princes. They become very angry and beat the prophet and put him in prison in "the vaults" where he has to remain "many days." This time no one delivers him.
This was not house arrest. One writer describes the place, what Jeremiah feared in it, and how he got out:
They first threw him into prison in 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). Zedekiah seems to have been somewhat friendly towards him. He called him secretly to his palace and asked him for a word from the Lord. At Jeremiah's request, the king then released him from the dungeon and put him in the court of the prison, where the king's order kept him from starving (37:21).
While Jeremiah sat in the cells, an army stood at the gates. One writer links the two, and follows the story to its end:
The armies of the Chaldeans are before the gates of Jerusalem! They demand admission. They are God's messengers of judgment, for the city would not put up with His prophetic messenger. Neither King Zedekiah, nor his servants, nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord which He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 37:2). On the contrary, 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.
Jeremiah could have traded a softer message for his freedom. Another writer weighs what those months cost him, and what he said anyway:
These had been frightful months for Jeremiah. It would be understandable if he had softened his message to get free. But he stayed faithful to the mission God gave him. He answers: "You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon."
Zedekiah eased the prophet's conditions but left him in prison. One writer draws the lesson from that mix of pity and injustice:
The king was not without conscience. He sent for the prophet, who held firmly to the testimony of Jehovah, so humbling to Zedekiah; yet the king eased his sufferings in the prison. What an evidence of the lot of him who is true to God in this world! Events proved his prophecies true, but people persecuted him all the same. … Vain indeed is the help of man, yes of princes, even if they were of the house of David.
- Accused. A false charge of desertion put Jeremiah before angry officials. They beat him and jailed him in the house of Jonathan the scribe.
- Buried. The cells were an underground place, and Jeremiah was afraid he would die there.
- Forgotten. He stayed "many days," and this time no one came to rescue him.
- Unchanged. Only the king could free him. Jeremiah still gave him the plain word: he would be handed over to Babylon.
- Vindicated. His prophecies came true, and his own people persecuted him anyway. He gained his freedom only when the city fell, and a foreign king treated him better than his own. The help of man is worth nothing, even the help of princes from David's line.
king Zedekiah sent and took him out. And the king asked of him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from Jehovah? And Jeremiah said, There is; and he said, Thou shalt be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.
Jeremiah is in prison, and King Zedekiah sends for him in secret to ask whether God has said anything. The answer he gets is the one he has already refused to obey.
Zedekiah is not indifferent to God. His problem is that his conscience never reaches his conduct.
Jeremiah 37 gives us Zedekiah in the same state of disobedience. He keeps up a show of religion. He has a moment of relief which raises some hope, so the king seeks an answer from the Lord through His prophet… In general Zedekiah himself has more conscience than some of the other last kings of Judah… But he was too weak to allow his conscience to lead him in the path of obedience.
This was not a single lapse. The pattern of asking and then ignoring runs through his whole reign.
He was hypocritical also. He pretended to want the prophet's prayers, saying, "Pray now to the Lord our God for us" (Jer. 37:3). At times he also pretended to have confidence in the prophecies of Jeremiah ("Inquire of the Lord for us," Jer. 21:2). When those prophecies came, he refused to heed or believe them.
The king could have sent for the prophet in the open. He sent for him in secret, because he feared men more than he feared God.
The Book of Jeremiah says much about God's warnings to Zedekiah through Jeremiah (Jer. 34:2, 21). It also speaks of Zedekiah's fear of men, which made him talk with Jeremiah in secret. He was concerned about what God had spoken, but in fear he gave in to his noble sin of disobeying the word of the Lord (Jer. 37:16-21; 38:4-27).
The king wants the answer to have changed. He asks a man who has sat in a dungeon and knows the king can send him back.
We do not know how long Jeremiah stayed in the dungeon. Then King Zedekiah sends for him and asks him in secret if there is "any word from the Lord." The anxious king hopes to hear a word of relief. It is a tense moment. The prophet has already suffered so much, and he thinks about the fact that Zedekiah can free him or send him back to the dungeon. Then he answers: "There is."
Jeremiah's reply was short, and it cost him his one chance of release.
He was first thrown into prison in 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… Had his message been less faithful, he might have been released.
The pressure to soften the message was real.
These had been terrible months for Jeremiah. He could understandably have softened his message a little to get released. But he stayed faithful to the mission God gave him, and he answers: "You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon."
Being right did not make Jeremiah's life easier.
The king was not without conscience. He sent for the prophet, who faithfully held to the testimony of the Lord — a message that humbled Zedekiah — yet the king eased his sufferings in the prison. What proof this is of what happens to the man who is true to God in this world! His prophecies came true, but he was persecuted all the same.
Zedekiah's hope rested on how things looked at that moment. These chapters answer that kind of hope.
Jeremiah 37-39 form another testimony to this in a different shape under Zedekiah. Appearances of good do not weaken God's word, nor do small circumstances give security where He is not trusted.
- Conscience. Zedekiah had a real conscience about God's word. He had more of it than some of the other last kings of Judah. But he was too weak to let it lead him into obedience.
- Secrecy. Fear of men, not fear of God, set the terms. Zedekiah asked his question behind closed doors.
- Hope. The anxious king sent for the prophet, hoping for relief. But appearances of good do not weaken God's word.
- Cost. A softer message might have freed Jeremiah. He answered "There is," and gave the same verdict again.
- Outcome. His prophecies came true, and he suffered anyway. That is the lot of the man who is true to God in this world.
And Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, What have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in the prison?
Jeremiah's enemies have seized him at the city gate and shut him in an underground cell, and now the king who allowed it sends for him in secret. He gives God's word without softening it, then asks the king a question no one in Jerusalem could answer: what crime had he committed?
Jeremiah's arrest came from acting on what he believed, not from any crime. When he left the city, his enemies accused him of going over to the Chaldeans — the Babylonian army besieging Jerusalem.
Jeremiah at least believed the word of the Lord, and so, when the siege lifted for a short time, he tried to withdraw from the city to his own place in the land of Benjamin. This exposed him to the unjust suspicion of his enemies… A guard seized him and said, "You are deserting to the Chaldeans." Then Jeremiah said, "It is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans." But the guard would not listen to him.
His denial changed nothing.
In the palace the king wanted news from God. A comfortable answer could have bought Jeremiah his freedom. He gave God's message instead.
He was first thrown as a prisoner into the house of Jonathan the secretary. It was a dungeon, perhaps some underground place… It was a horrible place, for Jeremiah was afraid he might die there (37:20). Zedekiah seems to have been somewhat friendly towards him. He called him to his palace in secret. There the king asked him whether there was any word from the Lord, and Jeremiah answered that the king would be handed over to the king of Babylon. When Jeremiah asked him, Zedekiah 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 gone free.
In the same breath Jeremiah asks a second question. Where were the prophets who had promised that Babylon would never come? They had vanished, while the one who warned of it sat in a cell.
To be stubborn and refuse God's word of warning is the sure road to seeing that word fulfilled in our own misery and destruction. To obey is better than sacrifice in the worst of times as much as in the best. But the prophets of men prophesy what suits their masters' wishes and their own immediate interests. They only hurry on the evil they promise to keep away, and the safety they promise is as hollow as it is loud.
Events had already proved Jeremiah right. That proof bought him no relief. The king half-listens, eases his conditions a little, and leaves him a prisoner.
The king was not without conscience. He sent for the prophet, who faithfully held to the testimony of the Lord — a message so humbling to Zedekiah — but he still eased his sufferings in the prison. What an evidence of the lot of him who is true to God in this world! His prophecies proved true, but people persecuted him all the same.
A conscience that stirs but never obeys is the king's whole story.
Zedekiah shows some conscience by releasing him. In general Zedekiah himself has more conscience than some of the other last kings of Judah… But he was too weak to let his conscience lead him into obedience.
God had not forgotten the man in the cell.
In the middle of all this misery and evil we find some rare examples of righteous men; and however terrible His judgment may be, God remembers them… The prison even becomes a place of safety for Jeremiah.
A man falsely accused, standing alone before those who should have welcomed him — that is not only a scene from one reign.
Disgraced by his brothers, Jeremiah led a solitary life, having neither wife nor children. This loneliness was a heavy burden for him. However, he occasionally enjoyed the support of friends who stood up for him. In all this he is a picture of the One who was to come later — the humble, solitary Man whose brothers rejected Him, despite all the grace He showed.
- Accused — Jeremiah's only "offence" was believing God's word and acting on it. The desertion charge was a lie, and no one listened to his denial.
- Faithful — a softer message could have bought his release. He gave the hard one instead, and stayed in the dungeon for it.
- Exposed — his question about the missing prophets shows up men who say what their masters want to hear. Their promised safety is as hollow as it is loud.
- Vindicated — events proved him right, but that did not set him free. This is the lot of anyone true to God in this world.
- Kept — the king had conscience enough to ease his suffering, but too little to obey. God remembered His servant, and the prison itself became a place of safety.
And where are your prophets that prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?
Jeremiah is in prison when the king sends for him. He holds to his message, and then puts a question of his own to the king — about the men whose predictions the court had preferred to his.
Jeremiah calls them "your prophets", not the Lord's. They had one message: no sword, no famine, peace guaranteed. One writer points back to an earlier chapter, where God says where that message came from and where it would end.
Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! The prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.'" Then the Lord said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I did not send them, nor did I command them, nor speak to them. They prophesy to you a false vision and divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their own heart." … The false prophets must be the first to fall by the very disaster they had promised the people would escape. And the people must learn the folly of listening to man's promises, through their own righteous ruin.
So the question answers itself. Those who promised safety are the first to fall by the very disaster they denied.
The false hope had a hard fact behind it. Egypt's army had marched out, and the Babylonians (the Chaldeans) pulled back from Jerusalem. To the court this looked like proof that Jeremiah had been wrong all along.
There was no faith in the policy of Zedekiah or his advisers. Egypt stepped in, and their moment of relief left them elated. At once they let themselves hope that Jeremiah was wrong to predict Nebuchadnezzar's supremacy and the collapse of Judah… Man's help is worthless against the word of God. This was not the first time Egypt had proved a broken reed, piercing the hand of those who leaned on it. Pharaoh's army went back without striking a blow for Judah. That only delayed the Chaldean siege, and they soon came up again to destroy the city with fire.
Another writer puts the principle plainly:
The favourable circumstances, through which it might appear that the wicked may escape from judgment, do not alter the certainty of the word.
Jeremiah read the same lull and drew the opposite conclusion.
Fair and promising appearances now and then could not draw him away from the conclusions of faith. The Chaldean army had broken camp under the walls of Jerusalem, because the Egyptian allies had arrived. This flattered the Jewish people into hope. But Jeremiah left the city, because he would still hold to the conclusions of faith — that God had doomed Jerusalem in righteous judgment… All this is a fine display of a soul walking by the light of God, not only through darkness, but through darkness that looked like light.
Jeremiah asked this question as a prisoner. Being proved right did not get him out.
The king was not without conscience. He sent for the prophet, who held faithfully to the testimony of Jehovah, so humbling to Zedekiah, and he eased the prophet's sufferings in the prison. What a picture of the lot of the one who is true to God in this world! His prophecies came true, and he was persecuted all the same.
Zedekiah heard the question and did nothing with it. Conscience moved him, but obedience never followed.
Zedekiah shows some conscience by releasing Jeremiah. In general there is more conscience in Zedekiah personally than in some others of the last kings of Judah… But he was too weak to allow his conscience to lead him in the path of obedience. … Still, in the middle of all this misery and wickedness we find some rare examples of righteous men. However terrible His judgment may be, God remembers them, for His judgment is terrible because He is righteous.
- Lie — The king's prophets guaranteed no sword and no famine. God's verdict: He never sent them, and their message came out of their own hearts.
- Lull — Egypt's advance lifted the siege for a moment, and the palace read the pause as proof Jeremiah was wrong. The Babylonians came back and burned the city.
- Light — Jeremiah left Jerusalem during the relief everyone else celebrated. He walked by God's light through a darkness that looked like daylight.
- Loss — Those who promised escape from disaster fell first by it. Jeremiah's question points at the empty space where they stood.
- Limp — Zedekiah had conscience enough to send for the prophet and ease his prison, never enough to obey him. Weakness, not open defiance, kept him from obedience.
And now hear, I pray thee, my lord, O king let my supplication, I pray thee, come before thee; and cause me not to return into the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.
Jeremiah is in a cell. The king who put him there has brought him out in secret, and Jeremiah has just told him he will fall into Babylon's hands. Only then does he ask something for himself — not freedom, but that he not be sent back to the place where he expects to die.
The house of Jonathan the secretary, which older translations call the scribe, was no ordinary lock-up. One writer gives the timing and the conditions:
The siege of Jerusalem began in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign. It was in the tenth year, a year later (39:1), that we find Jeremiah in prison. 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). Zedekiah seems to have been somewhat favourably inclined towards him. He asked him secretly to his palace. In answer to the king's question about a word from the Lord, Jeremiah told him that the king would be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon. After that, at Jeremiah's request, Zedekiah released him from the dungeon and put him into the court of the prison, and by the king's order kept him from starvation (37:21). We are given the full text of his faithful message; had it been less faithful, he might have been released.
The arrest came out of an act of faith. When the siege lifted for a short time, Jeremiah acted on the word of God:
Jeremiah at least believed the word of the Lord, and so sought to retire from the city, when relieved for a short space, to his place in the land of Benjamin. This exposed him to the injurious suspicion of his enemies.
Here is the striking thing about the request. It comes straight after the harshest possible answer to the king's question. The prophet had every incentive to trade a softer message for his release:
These had been frightful months for Jeremiah. He could understandably have softened his message a little to get deliverance. However, remaining faithful to the mission entrusted to him by God, he answers: "You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon."
He asks for mercy. He does not bargain with the word.
Zedekiah did move the prophet out of the dungeon and keep him from starving. Yet the man who granted the favour could never act on his own conscience:
Zedekiah shows some conscience by releasing him. In general there is more conscience in Zedekiah personally than in some others of the last kings of Judah… But he was too weak to allow his conscience to lead him in the path of obedience.
The relief was real. It changed nothing about the prophet's lot:
What an evidence of the lot of the one who is true to God in this world! His prophecies were vindicated, but he was persecuted all the same… Vain indeed is the help of man, even of princes, though they were of the house of David.
A prophet in a pit can feel remote from normal life. One writer places Jeremiah's dungeon alongside Joseph's prison and David's flight from Saul, as cases of suffering that believers still share:
Peter writes to encourage those suffering wrongfully (1 Peter 2:19), or any suffering for righteousness (3:14), as well as any suffering for the name of Christ (4:14-16). When we suffer wrongfully, or suffer for righteousness' sake, we suffer as saints. So far we may find ourselves in company with those of old. Joseph, for instance, suffered for righteousness when put in prison by Potiphar. David suffered wrongfully when hunted like a partridge by Saul. And Jeremiah suffered too, as a saint, when put into the dungeons: first in the house of Jonathan the scribe, and then in that of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, which was in the court of the prison (Jer. 37; 38).
- Word. Jeremiah believed what God had said and acted on it when the siege lifted for a moment. That act of faith is what got him arrested.
- Chains. The house of Jonathan the scribe was a dungeon, perhaps underground. Jeremiah feared he would die there.
- Request. He pleads for his life only after giving the king the message he least wanted to hear. He asks for mercy without trimming a word of the truth.
- Relief. Zedekiah had conscience enough to move him and feed him, never enough to obey. Help from princes, even of David's line, is thin.
- Refuge. God remembers the righteous, and the prison itself became a safe place for Jeremiah. He suffered as a saint suffers wrongfully, so his story is company for anyone treated badly for doing right.
Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard, and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent. And Jeremiah abode in the court of the guard.
The siege of Jerusalem is closing in, and the prophet who announced it is in custody for telling the truth. This verse records one small mercy from King Zedekiah. Jeremiah is moved out of the underground cells into the court of the guard, and given a loaf a day while the city still has bread.
Jeremiah had asked not to be sent back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, where he feared he would die. The king's order in this verse is the direct answer to that request.
Zedekiah, however, in answer to Jeremiah's plea does not send him back to the vaults, but has him committed into the court of the guard; "and a loaf of bread was given him daily from the bakers' street, until all the bread of the city was gone."
What makes the relief striking is when it came. Jeremiah had just told the king to his face that he would be handed over to Babylon, and the king improved his conditions anyway.
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). Zedekiah seems to have been somewhat favourably inclined towards him… When Jeremiah asked, Zedekiah released him from the dungeon and put him into the court of the prison. The king's order also kept him from starvation (37:21).
The verse names the street the bread came from.
In Jerusalem there was apparently a part of the city given over to the bakers. Jeremiah was to have a loaf of bread from the bakers' street — or bazaar, as it would be called in the East today — as long as the bread lasted.
This one act of decency shows Zedekiah's character — and its limits.
Zedekiah shows some conscience by releasing him. In general Zedekiah himself has more conscience than some of the other last kings of Judah (see v. 21, and Jer. 21; Jer. 38:10, 14, 16). For this reason, perhaps, those few words of favour and mercy were addressed to him in Jeremiah 34:5. But he was too weak to allow his conscience to lead him in the path of obedience.
This mix of real feeling and no strength is common.
Many a bad man whose conscience towards God is not utterly silenced has a great deal of natural feeling. He has the sense that a thing is wrong, but he has no force to do the right. He sees what is right and values the man that says what is right, but has no spiritual power to carry him in the path of what is right.
Kelly ties this small kindness to the mercy Zedekiah received.
But the Lord showed him mercy, because, I think, of what he had done to His servant Jeremiah. "You shall not die by the sword, but you shall die in peace." How gracious is Jehovah! He tempered the judgment which fell upon Zedekiah because of a certain relenting in the heart of the king towards His prophet. The kindly act is not forgotten by God.
Jeremiah's situation improves; it does not end. He is fed, but he is still a prisoner.
The king was not without conscience. He sent for the prophet, who held firmly to the testimony of Jehovah, so humbling to Zedekiah; yet the king eased his sufferings in the prison. What an evidence of the lot of him who is true to God in this world! His prophecies were vindicated, but he was persecuted all the same.
Darby finds God's hand at work in where Jeremiah ended up.
The ways of God are always perfect. His judgments may look to man like an overwhelming flood, yet everything, even to the smallest detail, is directed by His hand; and the righteous are spared. The prison even becomes a place of safety for Jeremiah.
The daily loaf lasted only while the city had bread. What follows shows how the two men finished.
He does not seem to have seen the king again, as he remained in the court of the prison till the city fell before the besieging army… Zedekiah fled when he saw the princes of Babylon sitting in the middle gate, but he was overtaken. His sons were killed "before his eyes". Then those eyes were put out, and he was carried to Babylon in chains. Jerusalem was burned, and Jeremiah was left free to live with the remnant of his people.
- Bread after truth. Jeremiah gave the king the worst possible news, then asked not to go back to the dungeon — and got the guard court and a daily loaf instead.
- Bread from a street. The bakers' street was Jerusalem's baking quarter, and the daily ration lasted only while the besieged city still had bread.
- Bread from a weak hand. Zedekiah had real conscience — more than some of the last kings of Judah — but not the strength to obey.
- Bread remembered. God does not forget a kindly act, even from a failing man: Zedekiah was told he would die in peace.
- Bread without freedom. Jeremiah was fed and proved right, yet still a prisoner — the cost of being true to God. And the prison became the place where God kept him safe.
And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying,
Four officials of Judah — Shephatiah, Gedaliah, Jucal and Pashhur — overhear Jeremiah. He is speaking to all the people, and Babylon's army is besieging the city. What they heard, they treated as treason, and the chapter that follows takes Jeremiah down into a pit of mud.
Scripture keeps the names of these four men. One writer sets out what they heard, and what they did about it:
The time of God's discipline has come. Nebuchadnezzar has already besieged the city, so God's message is to accept the judgment from His hand and surrender to the Chaldeans. Certain men, whose names Scripture has preserved (38:1), hear Jeremiah's words. They say to the king, in agreement with the princes, "Please let this man be put to death." In their eyes Jeremiah is a mere traitor — an ally of Nebuchadnezzar.
A reference work lists one of the four under a second form of his name:
Jehucal. Son of Shelemiah and an officer of Zedekiah. Jeremiah 37:3. Jeremiah 38:1 calls him Jucal.
In Jeremiah 37:3 the king sent that same officer to ask Jeremiah to pray for them. The man who once wanted the prophet's prayers now wants his life.
The message itself put two roads in front of the city:
Yet even then God has a word for the people, and sets before them the way of life, no less than that of death. "He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war."
The Chaldeans were the Babylonian army besieging the city.
Under the political charge lay something deeper. One writer contrasts how faith and unbelief meet God's discipline:
The Lord meant their exile to be for their eventual good. In a day of ruin, faith always recognises God's discipline and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and calls its opposition patriotism, or perhaps religion. That is why the men of Judah saw Jeremiah as a thoroughly false Jew. He always advised them to submit to the king of Babylon. They thought themselves much better Jews, because they were willing to fight against him.
They dressed the charge in the language of loyalty to the nation:
Jeremiah is next accused of high treason. The charge rests on the message the Lord gave him: "He who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live." Like those who refuse on conscience to fight in a war, they accused him of being unpatriotic. "This man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm." They demand his life.
Their demand ended with the prophet sunk in mud. One writer sees more in that scene than Jeremiah's own suffering:
In verse 6 we see him in a deep dungeon. They lowered him into it with ropes, and he sank into the vile mire. This reminds us of Him, our blessed Lord, who was also accused by false witnesses, and who went Himself into the horrible pit and the miry clay, into the deepest suffering and the jaws of death, to take us out of the dungeon where sin has put us.
What happened to Jeremiah follows a pattern:
The testimony of God never fails in the end to rouse the enmity of man. And so the prophet proved, especially at the hands of those who seek present influence in the earth.
Jeremiah's word threatened the influence these men were holding on to.
Their demand succeeded because the throne had no backbone:
Zedekiah himself persecutes Jeremiah and shuts him up in the court of the prison. Yet in fact the king is the captive of his captains and his princes, and he does not dare to resist them. He did not really hate Jeremiah. He was driven by the fear of men instead of the fear of the Lord, whom he had despised and dishonoured.
Yet the plan these men began did not end as they intended:
So the Lord cared for His servant even in the middle of the fiery trials of a siege. He did not forget Jeremiah's kind helper either. At the end of Jeremiah 39 we find a special word from the Lord to Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian: "I will surely save you… because you have put your trust in Me, declares the LORD." Blessed indeed are all who trust in Him!
- Heard. Four officials overhear Jeremiah's message to the people. Scripture keeps their names — and one of them had once come to ask the prophet for prayer.
- Hated. The word offered life through surrender. They called it treason, because unbelief resists God's discipline and calls the resistance patriotism.
- Handed over. Zedekiah gave way. He feared men more than the Lord, and so became the captive of his own officers.
- Humbled. They sank Jeremiah in the mire — and one writer sees there a picture of Christ, who went into the pit and the mire to bring us out of the dungeon sin put us in.
- Helped. The pit was not the end: the Lord cared for His servant through Ebed-melech, and rewarded the man who trusted Him.
Thus saith Jehovah He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; and he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.
Jerusalem is under siege, and Jeremiah tells the city in public that it will fall: only those who walk out and surrender will live. Why would God send His own people to a pagan invader, and why did these words get Jeremiah charged with treason?
The verse is not only a threat. The same breath that announces death by sword, famine and disease also opens a door. One writer notes what God still holds out to His people after He has passed sentence:
Yet even then God has a word for the people, and sets before them the way of life, no less than that of death.
In an earlier crisis God told His people to stand still and watch Him destroy their attackers. Now He commands the opposite. The timing changed, not God:
Their application to the path of faith may vary and does... In Hezekiah's time they were told, "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." The Assyrian would not even cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. They were to stay perfectly calm and firm; and the host of Assyria was destroyed. But in Jeremiah's time a set hour of judgment had come. Then the man who went out of the city to the Chaldeans, their enemies, would save himself.
God had not ended the relationship. Only what He asked of them changed:
They were still God's people, as much as before. Yet for a time He was saying in judgment, "not My people," and that made the difference. It was not that God's mind was altered or His relationship to His people changed — that never will be. Under Hezekiah they were protected; under Zedekiah they were to bow to the judgment.
Walking out of the gates looked like cowardice, and it led to exile. In truth it was the one move that trusted God's word, while the fighters who stayed thought themselves the better patriots:
The Lord meant their exile to be for their eventual good. In a day of ruin faith always recognises the chastening of God and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and counts it patriotism or perhaps religion to oppose. For this reason Jeremiah seemed to the men of Judah to be a very false Jew. He always advised them to submit to the king of Babylon. They considered themselves much better Jews, because they were willing to fight against the king of Babylon.
Refusing to surrender was not bravery. It was the same rebellion that had brought the siege:
The prophet's advice urged submission to the Chaldeans, and such men found it deeply distasteful. The same spirit that rebelled against the Lord could not help refusing to bow. It would not accept His chastisement or their own humiliation. But this is the only path of godly feeling and repentance.
The man who walks out gets one thing only: his life, carried off like spoil from a battlefield. The ESV reads "his life as a prize of war"; older translations say "his life for a prey." God gave Baruch the same promise, and one writer weighs how much it offers:
He was simply told that his life would be given to him as a "prey" or "spoil" wherever he might be carried. God would preserve his life and that was the only profit he was to expect.
Saying this in a city under siege was enough to get Jeremiah arrested. The officials quoted his words back at him as evidence:
Jeremiah is next accused of high treason. The charge rests on the message the Lord gave him: "He who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live." They accused him of being unpatriotic. "This man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm." They demand his life.
- Chastening. The siege was God's own hand disciplining His people. Their task now was not to fight the enemy but to bow to the judgment.
- Surrender. The hour of judgment had come, so faith bowed instead of fighting. Resistance was the old rebellion in patriotic dress.
- Life. The offer to the one who goes out is real but bare. He keeps his life, carried off like spoil from God's hand, and nothing more.
- Unchanged. An earlier generation received the opposite order, yet God's relationship to His people never altered. Only their conduct under His hand had to change.
- Cost. Speaking this word made Jeremiah a traitor in the officials' eyes. They answered God's message by demanding his death.
Thus saith Jehovah This city shall certainly be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, and he shall take it.
Jerusalem is under siege, and Jeremiah keeps telling the city one thing: it will fall, and the only way to live is to walk out and surrender. Two questions press in: how can God give His own city to a foreign army, and why does the man telling the truth end up in a pit of mud?
By this point the message is not a warning God might still take back. The siege had lifted for a moment, and hope rose in the city. Commentators point out that such a turn changes nothing about God's word:
Circumstances may turn favourable. They may make it look as if the wicked can escape judgment. But they do not change the certainty of God's word.
The verse says the city will be given — and the giver is not Babylon. Writers note the surprising title God gives the invading king:
This book names Nebuchadnezzar, whom the Lord calls "My Servant," about forty times. God raises him up to carry out His judgment on Israel, and on other nations too. The Lord says, "I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, My servant... and all nations shall serve him." God gives him this dominion. He takes it away from Israel.
Surrendering to the invading army looks like cowardice, or worse. But the reason God used a foreign king leaves Judah no ground to claim the better side:
God told His prophet Jeremiah that the only path of safety and the only path of honouring Him was to submit to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon might be very wicked. But God's people were wicked too. God handed them over to the king of Babylon as a judgment on their evil.
That reverses the usual test of loyalty. The man who yields is the believing one, and the man who fights on has found a noble name for unbelief:
In a day of ruin faith always recognises God's discipline and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and counts it patriotism, or perhaps religion, to oppose. Jeremiah seemed to the men of Judah a very false Jew for this reason. He always advised them to submit to the king of Babylon. They thought they were much better Jews, because they were willing to fight the king of Babylon.
The officials who heard these words went straight to the king and asked for Jeremiah's death. Commentators treat that reaction as the usual result of God's testimony:
The testimony of God never fails in the end to rouse the enmity of man. And so the prophet found, especially at the hands of those who want present influence in the earth.
What made the counsel unbearable was not the military advice but the humbling built into it:
The same spirit that rebelled against the LORD was bound to refuse to bow to His discipline and to their own humbling. But this is the only path of godly feeling and repentance.
Earlier, through Isaiah, God had told this same city to stand still and trust Him to keep the Assyrian army away. Now He tells it to walk out and surrender to the Chaldeans, the army of Babylon. The difference is not in God but in the day:
The same word and the same Spirit spoke through Isaiah. They told the people of Jerusalem to be still, and said God would keep them safe from the Assyrian. Through Jeremiah that same Spirit said that whoever went out to the Chaldeans would live. What was faith and obedience in the one case was nothing less than presumption and disobedience in the other.
Staying inside the walls felt like the loyal choice. It was a way of dodging God:
Those who wanted to stay in Jerusalem were refusing to accept God's discipline. They thought they could evade it, either by staying in Jerusalem to fight or by fleeing to Egypt. Ever since the first group of Jews was carried off to Babylon, God had handed government in the world over to Nebuchadnezzar. The only right course of action was to accept this fact and to confess the sins that had led to it.
- Settled. Better circumstances do not soften God's word. The city's fall was a verdict, not a threat.
- Given. Babylon does not seize the city. God hands it over, using a king He calls "My Servant," and He takes dominion from Israel.
- Bow. In a day of ruin, faith accepts God's discipline and bows to it. Unbelief resists, and calls resisting patriotism.
- Hated. The spirit that rebelled against God would not accept His discipline, so the city's leaders called the messenger a traitor and asked for his death.
- Timed. The same Spirit told one generation to stand still and this one to walk out. Obedience in one day would have been presumption in the other.
And the princes said unto the king, Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death; for why should he weaken the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking to them according to these words? for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
Jeremiah had told the whole city that staying meant death, and that walking out to the Babylonian army — the Chaldeans — meant life. The officials heard surrender, so they asked the king to kill him for draining the courage of the soldiers.
The officials answer a message from God with a demand for death. One writer sets out the charge:
Jeremiah is next accused of high treason. The charge rests on the message the Lord gave him: "He who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live." They accused him of being unpatriotic. "This man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm." They demand his life.
The verse raises a question: what counts as love for your country? Those who wanted to fight on believed they were the better Jews:
In a day of ruin, faith always recognises the chastening of God and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and counts it patriotism, or perhaps religion, to oppose. That is why the men of Judah saw Jeremiah as a very false Jew. He always told them to submit to the king of Babylon. They thought themselves much better Jews, because they were willing to fight against the king of Babylon.
Surrender meant admitting that the siege was God's hand on their own sin. That was the admission they would not make:
To such men the prophet's counsel to submit to the Chaldeans was utterly distasteful. The same spirit that rebelled against the Lord was bound to refuse to bow to His chastening and their own humbling. But this is the only path of godly feeling and repentance. To the flesh it was not seeking the peace of Israel, but its harm.
Another writer names the two escapes they preferred, and why the king of Babylon had the right to rule:
Those who wanted to stay in Jerusalem were refusing to accept God's discipline. They thought they could evade it, either by staying in Jerusalem to fight or by fleeing to Egypt. Since the first deportation, God had entrusted government in the world to Nebuchadnezzar. The only right course of action was to acknowledge this fact and to confess the sins that had led to it.
The demand comes from the men around the throne, not from the crowd. One writer notes where opposition to God's word bites hardest:
The testimony of God never fails in the end to rouse the enmity of man. And so the prophet proved, especially at the hands of those who seek present influence in the earth.
The same writer explains why such men got their way:
The king was a moral picture of the people, for they, like him, had a dim, weak, ineffective sense that Jeremiah had the mind of the Lord. But neither of them had the energy of faith that resists what seems advantageous now. So everything lay open to bold men whose strong will worked without conscience or fear of the Lord.
The stated reason for the death sentence may not have been the real one. One writer treats the military argument as a cover, and points out who held power in Jerusalem:
The princes persecute the prophet and seek to put him to death, under the pretext that he is weakening the hands of the people. Zedekiah fears the princes. In fact the king is the captive of his captains and princes, and does not dare resist them. In reality he did not hate Jeremiah. He was under the pressure of the fear of men, instead of letting the fear of the Lord govern him — the Lord whom he had despised and dishonoured.
The man accused of wanting his nation's harm was the one who mourned over it:
He knew that the judgment of God was waiting for it all. He looked ahead to happy days far off, beyond the present corruption and the judgment that was coming. Jeremiah mourned over all this corruption. He testified against it all. And, like his Master, men hated him for his testimony.
- Message — Jeremiah's crime was repeating God's word: those who go out to the Babylonians live. They called it high treason, and called him unpatriotic.
- Refusal — Surrender meant bowing to God's chastening and owning the sin behind it. That is the only path of repentance.
- Relabelling — Unbelief resists God's hand and calls the resistance patriotism. Those who fought on thought they were the better Jews.
- Pretext — "Weakening the hands" was the cover story of men who wanted influence now. The king feared them more than God, and gave way.
- Reversal — The man accused of seeking his people's harm was the one who mourned over them. Men hated him for his testimony, as they hated his Master.
And king Zedekiah said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do a thing against you.
Jeremiah has told the besieged city that surrender to Babylon is the only way to live, and the officials now want him dead. Zedekiah's reply hands the prophet over, and raises a question: why can a king do nothing against his own officials?
Jeremiah's message made him enemies among the officials. One writer sees their hostility as the usual outcome when God's word meets men who chase present advantage.
The testimony of God never fails in the end to rouse the enmity of man. And so the prophet proved, especially at the hands of those who seek present influence in the earth.
The Chaldeans in Jeremiah's message are the army of Babylon. Another writer sets out how his message had changed, and how the men around the throne heard it.
He no longer says, "Amend your ways, repent, and God will hold back the judgment." The time of chastisement has come. Already Nebuchadnezzar has besieged the city. So the message from God is to accept the judgment from His hand and surrender to the Chaldeans... In their eyes Jeremiah is a mere traitor — an ally of Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah lacks strength of character. He hands Jeremiah over to them, knowing that he is powerless before them.
Zedekiah half believed Jeremiah. So did the nation. But half belief left both of them at the mercy of men who had no such hesitation.
The king was a moral picture of the people. Like him, they had a dim, feeble, ineffective sense that Jeremiah had the mind of the Lord. But neither king nor people had the energy of faith that resists what looks like present advantage. So everything lay open to bold men whose strong will worked without conscience or fear of the Lord. The prophet's advice was to submit to the Chaldeans, and such men found that utterly distasteful. The same spirit that rebelled against the Lord was bound to refuse to bow to His chastisement and their own humiliation. But this is the only path of godly feeling and repentance.
Zedekiah was not the worst of Judah's last kings. His problem lay somewhere else.
In general Zedekiah himself has more conscience than some of the other last kings of Judah... But he was too weak to let his conscience lead him in the path of obedience. This last chapter gives us the history of his weakness. Yet in the middle of all this misery and wickedness we find some rare examples of righteous men. However terrible His judgment may be, God remembers them. His judgment is terrible because He is righteous.
The words "the king can do nothing against you" turn the throne upside down. Another writer draws out the irony: the man with the crown is the one in chains.
Zedekiah himself persecutes Jeremiah and shuts him up in the court of the prison. But in fact the king is the captive of his own captains and princes, and does not dare to resist them. In reality he did not hate Jeremiah. He was under the pressure of the fear of men, instead of letting the fear of the Lord govern him — the Lord whom he had despised and dishonoured.
That pressure works the same way in any life. One writer names the danger, and the only escape from it.
How dreadful a thing, that through fear of offending a mere man I may end up offending God Himself! The only safety from such snares is a dependent, genuine trust in the Lord.
The same weak king who gave Jeremiah up later kept him from death. And help came from the last place anyone would look — inside the king's own household.
Jeremiah 38 also tells how Jeremiah sank into a dungeon, and only Zedekiah's kindness kept him from death. But in that wicked house there was one man who feared the Lord: Ebed-melech the Ethiopian. He showed compassion for the prophet in the dungeon and did much to rescue him.
- Truth first. God's message was to accept His judgment and surrender. Men who wanted present advantage heard only treason.
- Half faith fails. King and people alike had a dim sense that Jeremiah spoke for God — and no energy of faith to act on it.
- Conscience is not enough. Zedekiah had more conscience than some of Judah's other last kings, yet was too weak to let it lead him into obedience.
- Fear reverses the throne. The king who says he can do nothing is the captive of his own officials, ruled by fear of men instead of fear of the Lord.
- God still remembers. In that wicked house one man feared God, and he did much to rescue the prophet from the dungeon.
Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the son of Hammelech, which was in the court of the guard, and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
A king who did not hate Jeremiah handed him over anyway, out of fear of his own officials. They lowered the prophet by ropes into an empty water pit, and he sank in the mud. Two questions follow. Why did faithful preaching end in a pit, and where was God while His servant sank?
Jeremiah's crime was his message. He told the city that the time for repentance was over. God's word now was to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar's army. The officials heard that as treason.
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. Upon hearing Jeremiah's words, certain men whose names Scripture records (38:1) say to the king, "Please let this man be put to death." In their eyes Jeremiah is a mere traitor — an ally of Nebuchadnezzar.
Their refusal went deeper than politics.
The same spirit which rebelled against the Lord could not but refuse to bow to His chastisement and their own humiliation. But this is the only path of godly feeling and repentance.
These officials had their way because the king did not dare resist them.
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. But the fear of men pressed on him instead of the fear of the Lord, whom he had despised and dishonoured.
This was not a cell built for prisoners.
A pit used for water, but sometimes dry and used as a prison. Joseph called his prison a dungeon, though perhaps it was not a pit. Jeremiah was put into a pit, and he sank in the mire.
There was no water to drown him and no floor to stand on. That, with the false charge behind it, points one writer to Christ.
In the sixth verse we see him in a deep dungeon. They lowered him into it with ropes. And Jeremiah sank into the vile mire. This reminds us of Him, our blessed Lord. He too was accused by false witnesses. He Himself went into the horrible pit and the miry clay, into the deepest suffering and the jaws of death, to take us out of the dungeon where sin has put us. The wicked princes evidently meant to leave Jeremiah in that dungeon to suffer a horrible death.
But the likeness has a limit.
Joseph, when cast into the pit, was spared; but when Jesus was nailed to the cross, "God did not spare His own Son."
Jeremiah later recorded what he prayed while sinking.
In Lamentations the prophet recalls the distress of his soul in this terrible situation: "They flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; water closed over my head; I said, 'I am lost'" (Lam. 3:53-54). Feeling that he is perishing, he cries to God: "I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea. You came near on the day I called on You, and said, 'Do not fear.' O Lord, You have taken up my cause; You have redeemed my life."
God's answer came through a foreigner.
Jeremiah was let down into a miry dungeon after further false accusation by men who sought his death, and Zedekiah was too weak to withstand them. Then a man named Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, took it on himself to bring about the prophet's deliverance from the miry pit. He still had some sense of right and wrong, when it seemed to have departed from Israel altogether... So the Lord cared for His servant even in the middle of the fiery trials of a siege. He did not forget Jeremiah's kind helper either.
Another writer looks back at this pit, and forward to a rescue still to come.
The prophet alludes to what has happened to Jeremiah when he had encouraged the people to surrender to the Chaldeans... When Christ appears, He will deliver these prisoners, this small remnant that will then dwell in Jerusalem.
- Pit — a cistern, not a cell: no water to drown him, no floor to stand on, and men who meant him to die there.
- Fear — Zedekiah feared his officials more than he feared the Lord, so the truthful man went down.
- Cry — Jeremiah answered the mire with prayer, and God's word back to him was "Do not fear."
- Rescue — God sent help through an Ethiopian outsider, and He did not forget the man who helped.
- Christ — the sinking prophet is a small picture of One who went into the miry clay. God did not spare Him, so that He could take us out of the dungeon where sin put us.