JEREMIAH
37
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2003 James Melough
37:1. “And king
Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah (Jehoiakin) the son of
Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of
Judah.”
Following the death of the
good king Josiah, the people made Jehoahaz his son king, but after a brief and
evil three-month reign he was deposed by Pharaoh-nechoh, who appointed Eliakim,
brother of Jehoahaz, as king, changing his name to Jehoiakim, the change of
name signifying that he was the vassal of Pharaoh-nechoh, to whom he paid the
tribute which the Pharaoh had imposed upon the land.
The political scene,
however, was changing, with Babylon emerging as the major power, so that
Jehoiakim became vassal to Nebuchadnezzar for three years, at the end of which
time he rebelled, with the result that the Babylonians again invaded the land,
and Jehoiakim, after an eleven-year reign, died, his son Jehoiakin (Coniah)
succeeding him, and who, after a brief three-month reign was taken to Babylon
where he was imprisoned for thirty-seven years, after which he died without
ever returning to Canaan, Nebuchadnezzar having made Jehoiakin’s uncle
Mattaniah king and changing his name to Zedekiah, the king now being
discussed, and being the last king of Judah.
37:2. “But
neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the
words of the Lord, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.”
(The writer here continues
to be Baruch, Jeremiah’s amanuensis).
Zedekiah and all the people
rejected the word of God given through Jeremiah, as God had foreknown they
would.
37:3. “And
Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of
Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the Lord
our God for us”
At this time the Babylonian
siege of Jerusalem had been temporarily lifted while Nebuchadnezzar went to
deal with the Egyptians who had come to assist Judah. It seems to have been
Judah’s expectation, or at least hope, that the Egyptians would be successful
in the conflict with the Babylonians, hence the seeming humility of Zedekiah
in asking for the help of the One he now called “the Lord our God,” but Whom
he had refused to obey when things seemed to be going well for him; and no one
will have difficulty seeing in this the pattern of the conduct of virtually
all men. The God Who is acknowledged only in adversity, is ignored the rest
of the time, raising the question, How can men have the audacity to seek the
help of the One they have not only flagrantly disobeyed, but also despised and
mocked, when they foolishly imagined that they had no need of Him?
“Pray now ... for us.” What
Jeremiah was to pray for isn’t disclosed, but presumably it was that Egypt
would emerge the victor in the conflict with Babylon, and prove to be a more
tolerant master. This is typical of men everywhere and in all ages. They are
concerned primarily with earthly things rather than spiritual. Zedekiah’s
primary concern should have been for the salvation of his soul, and the souls
of his people, for unknown to him, Babylon was to be the victor, and he
himself, together with multitudes of the people, soon to die by
Nebuchadnezzar’s command, while the survivors of the slaughter would be
carried captive to Babylon.
37:4. “Now
Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into
prison.”
Toward the end of the siege
Jeremiah was imprisoned, but at this stage he still had his liberty.
37:5. “Then
Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that
besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.”
The siege was lifted only
briefly while the Babylonians went to do battle with the approaching Egyptians
who had come to aid Judah.
37:6. “Then came
the word of the Lord unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “
37:7. “Thus
saith the Lord, 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.”
The Egyptians upon whom
Zedekiah had pinned his hopes, were to prove to be a “broken stick.” They
would return to Egypt, defeated by the Babylonians.
Egypt, however, represents
the world of business and pleasure living in careless independence of God, and
here Zedekiah’s dependence upon it portrays the false confidence men have in
the things of this world to meet all their need, forgetting that that same
world can do nothing to meet their greatest need: the salvation of their
souls. The departure of defeated Egypt, leaving Judah to perish at the hand
of Babylon, points symbolically to a reality concerning life: in the final
analysis men find that as they draw near to the end of life, the world can
offer them no hope for what lies beyond the grave.
37:8. “And the
Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn
it with fire.”
37:9. “Thus
saith the Lord; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely
depart from us: for they shall not depart.”
God thus declared the
victory of Babylon, and the destruction of Judah. And again the literal
language is but the vehicle by which God conveys spiritual truth relative to
man’s spiritual need. Babylon, as discussed already, represents the world of
false religion, as much the enemy of God and men as is what is represented by
Egypt.
As dying Judah was left to
face destruction at the hand of Babylon, so are unconverted men left also to
face eternal destruction at the hand of the false religion portrayed by
Babylon, and upon which men foolishly rest all their hopes for eternity. That
same religion which promises eternal life by a means other than faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, will prove to be an even more deadly foe than did
Babylon to Judah. While in the dim light of earth it seems to be the way to
heaven, it will prove to be instead the way to hell, and the eventual eternal
torment of the lake of fire.
As Judah’s national
existence was destroyed by the sword of Babylon, so will the expectation of
every man who expects to escape hell and enter heaven by means of religion,
instead of faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
More delusive, but just as
deadly, is the equally common belief that religion plus faith in Christ is the
formula for salvation.
That combination is the
deadly potion presented by Satan, and gulped down greedily by countless
multitudes who awake from their stupor to find themselves, not in the heaven
they had anticipated, but in the hell they thought they were escaping. Faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ takes men to heaven. Faith plus religion, morality,
church membership, baptism, confirmation, or anything else, takes them to hell
and the eternal torment of the lake of fire; for to add anything to faith as a
means of salvation is to declare the inadequacy of Christ’s vicarious
sin-atoning death, and therefore to make God a liar.
37:10. “For
though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you,
and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every
man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.”
What foolish Judah failed to
understand was that they had crossed the invisible line that separates God’s
mercy from His wrath: they had refused to repent within God’s time, and now
they were to be destroyed, there being nothing that could avert that dread
decree. And so is it with every man who also refuses to repent within God’s
acceptable time: though he may live for many years after crossing that fatal
line, he is just as sure of hell and the lake of fire as though he were
already there.
37:11. “And it
came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem
for fear of Pharaoh’s army,”
37:12. “Then
Jeremiah went forth out of
Jerusalem to go into the
land of Benjamin, to
separate himself thence in the midst of the people.”
As already discussed, the
Babylonians had lifted the siege only temporarily while they dealt with the
Egyptians who had come with the intention of helping Judah.
Other translations of the
latter part of this verse make it clear that the prophet was returning to his
own place to attend to some matters concerning his property there, e.g., “to
take possession of the property that belonged to him among the people there,”
ATT; “with the purpose of taking up his heritage there” BAS; “to
take part with his family in a division of an inheritance,” NAB; “to
divide his property,” JERUS; “to see the property he had bought,”
TAYLOR; “take possession of his patrimony,” NEB.
The meaning of “separate” as
used here confirms these translations, for it is connected with the thought of
dividing, apportioning, distributing, etc. The Bible Knowledge Commentary
makes it clear that this had nothing to do with his purchase of the field in
Anathoth, “This land transaction probably does not relate to his purchase in
chapter 32. By the time of the purchase in chapter 32 Jeremiah had already
been arrested and confined to the courtyard of the guard (cf. 32:2). When he
started toward Anathoth (chap. 37) he had not yet been arrested (cf. 37:4,21;
38:13, 28). Therefore the events of chapter 37 took place before the events
of chapter 32.”
37:13. “And when
he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name
was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah
the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.”
As Jeremiah was leaving
Jerusalem by way of the Benjamin gate, during the brief period when the
Babylonians had lifted the siege in order to deal with the Egyptians, Irijah,
a commander of the guard, and about whom nothing else is known, arrested him
on the false charge of deserting to the Chaldeans (Babylonians).
37:14. “Then
said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he
hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the
princes.”
Rejecting Jeremiah’s protest
of innocence, Irijah brought him before the city officials.”
37:15.
“Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in
prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the
prison.”
Believing Irijah’s false
charge, the enraged officials had Jeremiah flogged and thrown into prison.”
37:16. “When
Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had
remained there many days;”
37:17. “Then
Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in
his house, and said, Is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said,
There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of
Babylon.”
A cabin was a vault, or
arch-roofed cell, so that Jeremiah was lowered down into the dungeon as into a
well, indicating that his place of imprisonment was dreadful in the extreme:
dark, cold, wet: a place in fact more conducive to death than to life. It
must have sorely tried his faith in God, not only by its condition, but by the
fact that he had to remain there “many day,” yet there is no record of his
having voiced any complaint.
Deliverance came when a
fearful Zedekiah, desperately seeking to know whether the prophet had had any
communication from God, had him brought up into the palace where he himself
questioned him.
True servant that he was,
realizing that the delivery of bad news was very likely to result in his being
returned to the dungeon, Jeremiah nevertheless delivered the dread message God
had given him: Zedekiah was a doomed man destined to be delivered into the
hand of Nebuchadnezzar.
37:18. “Moreover
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 prison?”
All the offence was on their
part. By rejecting the message God had had His servant deliver, they were
demonstrating their rebellion against God Himself; and their unjust brutal
treatment of the prophet was therefore vicariously tantamount to the treatment
they would also have meted out to Him, for relative to the treatment of His
servants, God has declared through the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ,
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye
have done it unto me,” Mt 25:40.
37:19. “Where
are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon
shall not come against you, nor against this land?”
Jeremiah’s speech and
conduct reveal that he had implicit trust in God, for neither by word nor deed
did he attempt to placate Zedekiah who was very likely to be incensed by what
the prophet said. He didn’t hesitate to declare to the king the folly of
having heeded the words of the false prophets, when that was the last thing
Zedekiah needed to hear: he had learned by bitter experience just how foolish
he had been.
37:20.
“Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I
pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the
house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
He presented his personal
petition only after he had faithfully declared to the king what was very
unwelcome truth that was little likely to elicit a favorable response. It is
clear that however much he wished to be delivered from having to return to the
dungeon, he would not solicit the king’s favor by any minimizing of his,
Zedekiah’s, guilt in the sight of God.
His words “lest I die there”
confirm the terrible nature of the place of his long imprisonment.
37:21. “Then
Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of
the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece (loaf) of bread out of
the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah
remained in the court of the prison.”
The king apparently had
philosophically accepted his fate, having learned too late the folly of having
listened to the lies of the false prophets, and having no rancor against
Jeremiah whose words he ought to have heeded from the beginning. Nor is their
anything to indicate that his kindness to the prophet was anything but
altruistic. He appears, in fact, a pathetic figure, reconciled to his sad
fate, realizing the justice of his punishment, and accepting it without
bitterness against God or man.
The “court of the prison” to
which Jeremiah was then transferred was a courtyard in the royal palace.
[Jeremiah
38]