And Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they went up from Jerusalem.
Egypt's army marched out, and the Chaldeans — the Babylonians besieging Jerusalem — pulled back from the walls. The city looked saved, but was this rescue or only a pause?
The news reads like a clash of two superpowers. One commentator looks past the politics to what God was doing with His own people through it.
On the surface it was a contest between the courts of Egypt and Chaldea. In truth it was God's hand chastening and humbling the house of David and Jerusalem for their rebellion against His name.
One writer names the Pharaoh behind the move, and pictures how the city reacted.
At last a gleam of hope appeared. An Egyptian army, under their King Hophra, the grandson of Necho, advanced through Phoenicia and forced the Chaldeans to lift the siege of Jerusalem. You can imagine the joy and the swing of feeling in the city. It was probably because of this that Jeremiah, who still predicted disaster, was thrown into prison.
Zedekiah had already sent men to ask Jeremiah to pray. The lifted siege gave that prayer a hopeful backdrop. It changed nothing about what God had said.
Jeremiah 37 shows us Zedekiah in the same state of disobedience. He keeps up a show of religion. He has a moment of relief, and it stirs up some hope, so he asks the Lord for an answer through His prophet. But favourable circumstances may make it look as if the wicked can escape judgment. They do not alter the certainty of the word.
The withdrawal had a purpose in God's hand. It tested faith, and for the moment it spared the prophet.
This was the time 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 faces a fuller test. So the prophet had not yet met open contempt and persecution, and the king was still asking for his prayers.
Judah had leaned on Egypt before. One writer weighs what that help was worth.
Man's help is useless 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 returned without striking a blow for Judah, and that only delayed the siege by the Chaldeans, who soon came up again to destroy the city with fire.
Another writer applies this beyond Judah to God's people at any time.
Egypt gave no help to Israel and only wounded them badly. It was like a staff that breaks under the weight of the man leaning on it, and pierces his hand. Whenever God's people turn to Egypt (the type of the world) for help, and form ungodly alliances, they do so to their own hurt and shame.
Jeremiah did not read the retreat the way the city did. He warned the people, and then he moved.
For a time it looked as if God's judgment on the city would be turned aside. Pharaoh's army came out of Egypt, and Jerusalem was relieved. The Chaldeans withdrew. The prophet warned them not to deceive themselves, because the Chaldeans would return. He backed up his prophecy by his action, and left the city to be among God's people in Benjamin.
Pharaoh's army did more than lift a siege. One writer traces how people use a change of circumstances to argue against what God has said.
The appearance of Pharaoh's army on the scene shows up the hollowness of everyone except those who had faith. Men would like to find God wrong and reduce His word to their own uncertainty. To do this they eagerly make use of the weakness of the instruments He employs, and of every shift in the changing circumstances of this world. Faith knows that God's faithfulness and care never fail, and that the future alone solves the riddle of the present.
- Rebellion. On the surface it looked like Egypt against Babylon. Underneath, God was humbling the house of David for its rebellion against His name.
- Respite. The lifted siege was the patience the Lord usually gives. Appearances favour the false for a while, and faith faces a fuller test.
- Religion. Zedekiah asked for prayer and stayed disobedient. Favourable circumstances never alter the certainty of God's word.
- Reed. Egypt was a broken reed that pierced the hand leaning on it. Turning to the world for help brings hurt and shame.
- Resolve. Jeremiah warned the city not to deceive itself, then left it, holding to what God had said.
And the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
An Egyptian army marched out, the Babylonian besiegers pulled back from Jerusalem, and King Zedekiah sent men to ask Jeremiah to pray. God answers in that moment of relief — and the question is whether better circumstances change what He has already said.
The siege lifted because of Egypt, and the city read the change as a sign in its favour.
To understand these chapters more fully, remember what had happened. The army besieging Jerusalem pulled back for a time, because an Egyptian army had come out against it. No doubt this gave the false prophets a chance to preach their false hope, and it deceived the people... They thought it was surely a good sign and expected a favourable message. The word of the LORD came to the prophet and swept away the false hope they had been feeding themselves.
Zedekiah asks for a word only because something has shifted outside the walls.
Jeremiah 37 gives us Zedekiah in the same state of disobedience. A show of religion is kept up, and, having a moment of relief which stirs up some hope, the king seeks an answer from the LORD through His prophet. But the favourable circumstances, which might make it look as though the wicked can escape judgment, do not alter the certainty of the word.
The message that follows this verse names Egypt's retreat before it happens, and closes the door on every calculation the court had made.
There was no faith in the policy of Zedekiah or his advisers. Egypt stepped in, and that moment of relief lifted them. At once they let themselves hope that Jeremiah was wrong in predicting Nebuchadnezzar's supremacy and the collapse of Judah. The word for the king who had sent to inquire was this: "Behold, Pharaoh's army that came to help you is about to return to Egypt, to its own land. And the Chaldeans shall come again and fight against this city. They shall capture it and burn it with fire." The help of man is worthless against the word of God. Pharaoh's army went home without striking a blow for Judah, and that only delayed the siege. The Chaldeans soon came up again and destroyed the city with fire.
Egypt was the help Judah leaned on, and there is a picture for what that leaning did to them.
Egypt gave no help to Israel and only wounded them badly, like a staff that breaks under the weight of the man leaning on it and pierces his hand. Whenever God's people turn to Egypt — the picture of the world — for help, and form ungodly alliances, they do it to their own hurt and shame.
Zedekiah's message asked for prayer. Commentators weigh the request against what he did with every answer he received.
Zedekiah has been rightly described as "weak, vacillating, and treacherous"... He was a hypocrite too. He pretended to want the prophet's prayers, saying, "Please pray for us to the LORD our God" (Jer. 37:3). At times he also pretended to have confidence in Jeremiah's prophecies — "Inquire of the LORD for us" (Jer. 21:2) — which, once delivered, he refused to heed or believe.
One man in the city acted on this word while the enemy was still gone.
Jeremiah was not to be lured away from the conclusions of faith by occasional fair and promising appearances. 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. He would still hold to the conclusions of faith — that God had doomed Jerusalem in righteous judgment.
Acting on the word cost him his freedom.
Jeremiah sought to use the opportunity to get away from the judgment coming on the rebellious city. But this only brought out the heart's hatred of God's testimony. The princes of the people accused him of favouring the enemy, because he announced that judgment would come on the people by the enemy's hand, and they put him in prison.
- Word over weather. The siege lifted, the mood lifted — and into that moment God's word came, unchanged. Favourable circumstances do not alter the certainty of what God has said.
- Word over Egypt. The army that came to help would turn around and go home. The help of man is worthless against the word of God. Egypt had already proved a broken reed that pierces the hand leaning on it.
- Word over false comfort. The relief gave false prophets their opening, and the people believed them. God's word swept that self-deception away.
- Word over religion. Zedekiah asked for prayer and pretended to trust the answer. Then he refused to heed it — religion on show, disobedience underneath.
- Word obeyed. Jeremiah acted on it. He left the city while the enemy was still gone, and it landed him in prison.
Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
Jeremiah 37 opens with a sudden turn in the war. An Egyptian army marches north, and the Babylonian army — the Chaldeans — lifts its siege of Jerusalem. Zedekiah sends to Jeremiah, hoping God will confirm the good news. The answer comes back that Egypt's army will go home again.
This looked like a straight fight between two empires. One writer looks at what was going on underneath.
On the surface it was a contest between the courts of Egypt and Chaldea. In truth it was the hand of God disciplining and humbling the house of David and Jerusalem for their rebellion against His name.
The pull-back was real, and for a moment it looked like rescue. One writer describes what caused it and how the city reacted.
At last a gleam of hope appeared. An Egyptian army under their King Hophra, the grandson of Necho, advanced through Phoenicia. It forced the Chaldeans to lift the siege of Jerusalem (Jer. 37:5-7). You can imagine the celebration and the reaction in Jerusalem. That is probably why Jeremiah, who still predicted disaster, was thrown into prison (Jer. 37:4). But the relief of Jerusalem was brief.
Can a change in the circumstances overturn what God has already said? That is what this verse settles.
The show of religion goes on. A moment of relief stirs up some hope, so the king asks the Lord for an answer through His prophet. The circumstances look favourable, and they might make it seem that the wicked can escape judgment. But they do not change the certainty of the word.
The people had a hope of their own. God's answer through Jeremiah left nothing of it.
They were deceiving themselves with a false hope. The word of the Lord swept it away as it came to the prophet (verses 7-10). There was no hope.
Egypt's army would go home without striking a blow for Judah. Egypt had failed those who leaned on it before.
The help of man is useless against the word of God. This was not the first time Egypt had proved to be a broken reed that pierces the hand of those who lean on it. Pharaoh's army went back without striking a blow for Judah. That only delayed the siege, and the Chaldeans soon came up again to destroy the city with fire.
Going down to Egypt was a habit, not a one-off mistake. One writer turns the point on the reader.
Egypt has been a staff that breaks under Israel — a staff of reed, which offered much but never kept its promises, and brought only ruin to all who trusted it. Going down to Egypt for help was the constant snare of the people of God. God had rescued them out of that land, and they had seen His judgment on it in their own rescue. Yet they could turn back to it again and again. Sadly, this is an inconsistency that not one of us who knows himself can be a stranger to! … The lesson is as plain as it is basic. It is the lesson, "Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?"
Zedekiah had sent men to ask Jeremiah to pray. It sounds devout. One writer judges it by what the king did with the answers he got.
He was hypocritical also. He pretended to want the prophet's prayers, saying, "Please pray for us to the LORD our God" (Jer. 37:3). At times he also pretended to trust the prophecies of Jeremiah ("Inquire of the LORD for us," Jer. 21:2). When those prophecies came, he refused to listen to them or believe them. "He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD" (2 Chron. 36:12).
While the city celebrated, the prophet used the lull for a different purpose — and paid for it.
Jeremiah at least believed the word of the Lord. So when the city had relief for a short time, he tried to leave it for his own place in the land of Benjamin. This left him open to the damaging suspicion of his enemies.
- Unshaken. A turn of events in Judah's favour could not touch what God had already said. Better circumstances "do not alter the certainty of the word."
- Exposed. What the people called hope, God called self-deception. His message through Jeremiah swept it away.
- The reed. Egypt promised much and never delivered. Leaning on it only pierced the hand that leaned.
- Consulted only. Zedekiah asked for prayer and asked for prophecies, then refused to obey the answers.
- Acted on. Jeremiah believed the word and moved on it, and his enemies suspected him for it.