The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after that Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him, being bound in chains, among all the captivity of Jerusalem and Judah, that were carried away captive to Babylon.
Jerusalem has fallen. The prophet who warned of it now stands in a line of chained captives at Ramah, and God's word reaches him there, at the moment his chains come off.
This verse opens a new part of the book. What follows is no longer prophecy about a coming fall. It is the story of the people left behind after it.
In Jeremiah 40 to Jeremiah 44, we have the anarchy and moral disorder that prevailed among the Jews who were left behind in the land or its vicinity when most of their fellow countrymen had been carried captive to Babylon. Jeremiah becomes their helper, ministering to them the word of the LORD, but finds among them the greatest unbelief.
Nebuchadnezzar himself had ordered Jeremiah's protection. Yet the prophet ended up in irons among the captives bound for Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar had given special orders about Jeremiah: "Keep an eye on him and do him no harm; but do for him whatever he asks of you." The captain of the bodyguard takes him out of the court of the guard. Yet, through some unexplained mistake, he is bound with chains and found among the captives being transported to Babylon.
Nebuzaradan then tells Jeremiah why the city fell. The LORD had warned of this disaster and has now brought it, because the people sinned. One writer warns us not to mistake that speech for faith.
It is easy to admit the truth once a prophecy has come true. Even a man with no part in God's blessing for His people can do it — especially when it raises him above his fallen enemies. Nebuzaradan can talk piously once his master had gained the victory over Jerusalem, just as the LORD had declared. Here is the confession: He had warned, and at last carried out His word, and this because of their sins.
With the chains off, Jeremiah faces a real choice: comfort in Babylon, or hardship at home.
Jeremiah is now reaching the end of his public ministry. He is probably at least sixty years old. Two choices are placed before him. He may go to Babylon. There he can enjoy the king's favours. There he will find his friends Daniel, Ezekiel and other captives taken away earlier. And there he can spend the rest of his life in relative quiet. On the other hand, he may remain with the poor of the land in Palestine and carry on a ministry among them.
He stayed. He went to Gedaliah at Mizpah and lived among the people who were left in the land.
But Jeremiah had no heart for Chaldea, whatever attractions might seem to be there. He preferred to suffer in the land with the lowest of those whom men had left behind... It was love to remain in the scene of their humiliation; it was a pledge of restoration.
One writer applies the same choice to a small, unimpressive gathering a believer might be tempted to leave.
He prefers to stay with the poor of the people of God in their poverty rather than enjoy the favours of the king of Babylon. Perhaps there is not much to attract a person in one's own meeting — not many spiritual gifts, not an abundance of warm fellowship. If, however, the Lord through His presence fulfils His promise to be in the midst of two or three gathered to His name, is that not the place where one should stay, and, leaning on Him, try to add some spiritual blessing there?
The people left in the land were in the right place. The chapters that follow show how they behaved.
Chapters 40-41 expose the mistaken idea that a remnant in the land — in the right place — must somehow have better qualifications. To be in the right place without being right with the right Person will only leave us open to bad behaviour and to hypocrisy, as is illustrated here. Even with the prophet of God among them, whose word they pretended to value, they acted deceitfully. Calling on the Lord Himself out of a pure heart is our safety.
- Chains — the king's orders protected Jeremiah, yet he ended up bound among the captives. At Ramah, God's word reaches him.
- Released — the chains come off, and a new section of the book opens: the story of those left in the land.
- Confession — a foreign officer names the true reason for the ruin. But admitting a prophecy after it comes true costs nothing.
- Choice — comfort in Babylon or poverty at home. Near the end of his life, the prophet chose the poor of the land.
- Love — staying in the scene of their humiliation was love, and a pledge of restoration. Yet the right place is no substitute for the right heart.
And the captain of the body-guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, Jehovah thy God pronounced this evil upon this place,
A foreign officer stands in the ruins of a city his own army has just destroyed. He turns to a prisoner and tells him why it fell. His answer is the same message Jeremiah had preached, and the same message Jerusalem refused. The words are true. But the mouth they come from raises a question the commentators press: does admitting that God has spoken make a man God's own?
The speaker is Nebuchadnezzar's top commander. The hand that broke Jerusalem is the hand that unlocks Jeremiah's chains.
He was captain of the guard, the commander in chief of Nebuchadnezzar's army at the capture of Jerusalem, and later at its destruction. He set Jeremiah free from his chains. He told him that God had brought all this destruction on Jerusalem because the people had sinned against Jehovah and had not obeyed His voice. He let Jeremiah go wherever he wanted.
Jeremiah was a protected prisoner by Nebuchadnezzar's own command. Something then went wrong.
Nebuchadnezzar had given special orders about Jeremiah: "Keep an eye on him and do him no harm; treat him just as he asks you to." The captain of the body-guard takes him out of the court of the guard. Yet by a mistake no one can explain, he ends up in chains among the captives on their way to Babylon.
The officer calls the LORD Jeremiah's God, not his own. And the confession costs him nothing: the ruin he describes is his own side's victory.
We see from this how easy it is to own the truth once a prophecy has come true. It is easy even for a man who has no part in God's blessing for His people. It is easier still when it exalts him over the enemy who has fallen. Nebuzaradan can talk piously once his master had gained the victory over Jerusalem according to the declaration of the Lord. He admits that God had warned, that God carried out His word in the end, and that this came because of their sins.
The contrast with Jeremiah's own countrymen is sharp.
But while Jeremiah laboured and testified, he had the bitter lot of finding his worst enemies among those he loved and pitied and rebuked so strongly. Their refusal to believe Jehovah's word came from their rebellion of will against Jehovah Himself, as it always does, whatever men say or boast. Nebuchadnezzar and his servants shone in honouring Jeremiah. They stood in sharp contrast to the priests, the false prophets, and even kings Jehoiakim and Zedekiah.
The officer calls the fall of the city God's doing, not Babylon's. Jeremiah had told them the same thing, and told them what to do about it.
But the question was, What had God said? 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 gave them into the hands of the king of Babylon as a judgment on their evil.
Accepting that verdict is where faith and unbelief part.
Jehovah meant their exile to be for their eventual good. This is a very important point. 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.
The officer reports it as history. God had said it in advance, down to details no one could have arranged.
The case of Zedekiah is perhaps even more astonishing, because of how exactly the puzzling details came true. God plainly foretold that He would hand Zedekiah over, with the city and the people, to Nebuchadnezzar — and that is what happened. There was nothing obscure in that, though it was solemnly true. There was nothing puzzling either in Jeremiah's words to Zedekiah: the city would be burned with fire, and his eyes would see the eyes of the king of Babylon. No doubt, once the words came true, they would speak with a loud voice to Zedekiah. The reference to his eyes, made so often, must have made him feel afterwards that he had stood in the presence of One who knows everything, when he heard, but did not heed, the words of the suffering prophet.
- Spoken — God announced the disaster long before Babylon marched. The word came first, the army second.
- Verified — the word came true down to the details, so those who ignored it had to face a God who knew everything in advance.
- Confessed — even a foreign commander could say it plainly, because owning a prophecy costs nothing once it has come true.
- Refused — the people who had the word rejected it; their unbelief was rebellion of the will, not a lack of evidence.
- Received — faith bows to God's chastening, which He meant for their eventual good. Unbelief resists and calls its resistance loyalty.
and Jehovah hath brought [it about] and done according as he said; for ye have sinned against Jehovah, and have not hearkened unto his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you.
Jerusalem has fallen. The prophet who warned the city now stands in chains among the prisoners bound for Babylon. The commander who burned the city turns to him and explains the disaster in the prophet's own terms. Why can a foreign soldier say what Judah would never accept?
The speaker is the officer who led Nebuchadnezzar's army at the fall of the city:
Captain of the guard, or commander in chief of Nebuchadnezzar's army at the capture of Jerusalem, and afterwards at its destruction. He released Jeremiah from his chains. He told him that God had brought all this destruction on Jerusalem, because the people had sinned against the LORD and had not obeyed His voice. He gave Jeremiah liberty to go where he pleased.
How Jeremiah ended up in chains at all is a puzzle, since the king had given orders for his safety:
Nebuchadnezzar had given special orders about Jeremiah: "Keep an eye on him and do him no harm; do for him whatever he asks of you." The captain of the bodyguard takes him out of the court of the guard. Yet, by a mistake no one can explain, he is bound with chains. He ends up among the captives on their way to Babylon.
The officer's words are true. But commentators note how easy such words are once the outcome is clear and you stand on the winning side:
We see from this how easy it is to own the truth after a prophecy comes true. Even a man with no part in God's blessing for His people can do it, especially when the truth lifts him above the fallen enemy. Nebuzaradan can talk like a godly man once his master had won the victory over Jerusalem, just as the Lord had declared. It is confessed that He had warned, and finally carried out His word, and this because of their sins.
The officer names two causes: sin, and refusal to listen. Judah's leaders had heard the way out and treated it as treason:
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. Jeremiah seemed to the men of Judah to be a very false Jew for this reason. He always advised 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.
Even after the city fell, the same offer stood, and the same refusal followed:
If these survivors had accepted Nebuchadnezzar's rule at this last hour, peace would have reigned in the land. These few who remained would have kept it. There is no thought of trusting in the Lord. They consult Jeremiah, but refuse to obey the word of the Lord from his mouth.
What the officer confesses is that God said it and God did it. That exactness runs through the whole book:
God's word about King Jehoahaz, or rather "Shallum" (Jer. 22:11-12), came true with solemn precision, and so did His word about King Jehoiakim (Jer. 22:17-19). The case of King Zedekiah is perhaps even more astonishing, because puzzling details came true so exactly.
Jeremiah went free. Commentators point to the hand behind the Babylonian king's orders:
We do not doubt that Nebuchadnezzar knew much of this history. He knew what happened in Jerusalem during the siege. Perhaps he even knew the great messages concerning himself. But it was the Lord who made him act as he did. His loving eye was open above His servant, who had served so faithfully.
And there is a bitter irony in who finally treated him well:
King Zedekiah did not listen to the words of the Lord spoken through the prophet Jeremiah. 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. 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.
- Said. God announced the disaster through His prophet long before the armies came. His words then came true "with solemn precision," detail by detail.
- Refused. Judah heard the way of escape — submit and live — and called it treason. Unbelief resists God's chastening; faith bows to it.
- Done. The officer's verdict is the whole book in one line: God warned, God acted, and He acted because of their sins.
- Confessed. A man with no share in God's blessing can state the truth once the judgment is over and he stands on the winning side. True words are not the same as a changed heart.
- Kept. The nation lost everything. The one man who had believed God went free, because the Lord moved a foreign king to protect him. His eye was open above His servant the whole time.