JEREMIAH
34
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2003 James Melough
34:1. “The word
which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,
and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all
the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof,
saying,”
God spoke again to Jeremiah
while Nebuchadnezzar and his army, and the armies of the nations under his
control, were besieging
Jerusalem.
34:2. “Thus
saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and
tell him, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of
the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:”
34:3. “And thou
shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered
into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon,
and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.”
Zedekiah’s resistance was
futile, for God was about to deliver him and the city into the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar, who would burn Jerusalem, and carry the king prisoner to
Babylon.
34:4. “Yet hear
the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the Lord of thee,
Thou shalt not die by the sword:”
34:5. “But thou
shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings
which were before thee, so shall they burn odors for thee; and they will
lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the Lord.”
The “burnings” mentioned
here was the customary burning of incense at funerals in honor of the dead;
but what is said here has to be understood in context: it would be true only
if Zedekiah obeyed God’s word, and surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar, which
Zedekiah foolishly refused to do, with the result that he was blinded, and
died a prisoner in Babylon, see 39:7; 52:7-11; 2 Ki 25:5-5; Ezek 12:12-13.
34:6. “Then
Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in
Jerusalem,”
34:7. “When the
king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of
Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced
cities remained of the cities of Judah.”
Jerusalem, and the two
cities mentioned, were the only ones remaining to be taken by the Babylonians.
34:8. “This is
the word that came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, after that the king Zedekiah
had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem to proclaim
liberty unto them;”
34:9. “That
every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an
Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to
wit, of a Jew his brother.”
There can be little doubt
that this liberation of the Hebrew slaves was impelled not by altruism, but by
a belated attempt to appease God, for His law was that every Hebrew slave was
to serve no more than six years, after which he or she was to go out free, see
Ex 21:1-4. But Israel had disobeyed this law, as they had every other that
God had given, and this belated obedience was simply an attempt to appease
Him, and induce Him to deliver them from the Babylonians.
34:10. “Now when
all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant,
heard that everyone should let his manservant, and everyone his maidservant,
go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed,
and let them go.”
The widespread nature of
their dereliction relative to God’s law concerning slavery, is declared by the
fact that princes and people alike were guilty.
34:11. “But
afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they
had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and
for handmaids.”
Their repentance was
short-lived. The approach of the Egyptian army had required the Babylonians
to temporarily lift the siege in order to deal with the Egyptians, a
withdrawal which Judah foolishly thought was permanent.
34:12.
“Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,”
34:13. “Thus
saith the Lord, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the
day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondmen, saying,”
34:14. “At the
end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been
sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go
free from thee; but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their
ear.”
This law is recorded in Ex
21:1-4. The seventh year is mentioned here because it was the year in which
the slavery ended, and freedom began.
34:15. “And ye
were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty very
man to his neighbor; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which
is called by my name:”
Their ratification of this
covenant had been solemnly made in God’s very presence in the Temple.
34:16. “But ye
turned and polluted (profaned, dishonored) my name, and caused every man his
servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their
pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for
servants and for handmaids.”
Their violation of the
covenant dishonored God’s name, for it impugned His integrity since it had
been made in His very presence in His house, the Temple.
34:17.
“Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming
liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I
proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence,
and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of
the earth.”
God’s requital of their
perfidy was that He was now going to release them from His protecting care,
and instead deliver them into the hand of the Babylonians to die by the sword,
disease, and hunger, the survivors being carried captive into the surrounding
nations.
34:18. “And I
will give the men that have transgressed my covenant which have not performed
the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the
calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,”
34:19. “The
princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests,
and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf;”
The reference here is to the
custom used in ratifying a legal agreement. The covenanting parties walked
between the two halves of a split calf, thus signifying the wish that the fate
of the slain calf should be that of the one who violated the covenant. For an
example of this, see Ge 15 which records God’s covenant made with Abraham.
The widespread nature of
Judah’s dereliction is declared in the fact that the guilty included all the
people from the prince, to the priest, to the common man.
34:20. “I will
even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that
seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the
heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.”
God would utterly forsake
that wicked generation, the slaughter He would execute by means of the
Babylonians being so terrible as to make burial impossible. Their carcases
would be left as food for the birds and beasts of prey.
34:21. “And
Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their
enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of
the king of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from you.”
The words, “... which are
gone up from you” refers to the fact that the Babylonian’s had temporarily
withdrawn from besieging Jerusalem in order to engage the Egyptians who had
attempted to aid Judah.
34:22. “Behold,
I will command, saith the Lord, and cause them to return to this city; and
they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will
make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.”
They would return, however,
burning the city to the ground, and leaving the cities of Judah without
inhabitant, so that the land would become an unpeopled desolation.
[Jeremiah
35]