CHAPTER 22

(609 B.C.)

GOD WILL YET SPARE JUDAH: CONDITIONS TO BE MET; OTHERWISE JUDGMENT

¹Thus says the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

²And say, Hear the Word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits upon the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates (in this Chapter and the prior one, the four kings who hastened and presided at the ruin of their people is contrasted with the Righteous King, Who will restore and bless His People [23:5-6]. These four kings were Jehoahaz [also called Shallum], Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. The king whom Jeremiah addresses in Verses 1 and 2 is Jehoiakim):

³Thus says the LORD; Execute you judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. (The Message from the Lord was simple, to the point, with absolutely no reason that it be misunderstood.)

⁴For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. (This Promise is almost identical to the same Promise given previously [17:25].)

⁵But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, says the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation. (I swear by Myself, says the LORD, is a solemn oath synonymous with the expression, As I live, says Jehovah, and refers to the certitude of the Word being carried out.)

⁶For thus says the LORD unto the kings house of Judah; You are Gilead unto Me, and the head of Lebanon; yet surely I will make you a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited. (You are Gilead unto Me, and the head of Lebanon, refers to the beauty of Judah. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited, has a terrible significance. It was carried out in totality.)

⁷And I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons: and they shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. (The destroyers were the Chaldeans. The choice cedars actually referred to the palaces erected by the king and his nobles. They were built of cedar. As well, they were burned by the Chaldeans.)

⁸And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to this neigh bour, Wherefore has the LORD done thus unto this great city? (Nebuchadnezzar no doubt thought that it was his military power that did this unto this great city, Jerusalem; however, he was only an instrument in the Hands of the LORD.)

⁹Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the Covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them. (The people of Judah traded the LORD their God for other gods. The Covenant was the Bible, and it was forsaken.)

PROPHECY AGAINST SHALLUM (JEHOAHAZ)

¹⁰Weep you not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him who goes away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. (Weep you not for the dead, neither bemoan him, refers to Josiah [II Chron. 35:24-25]. They had a reason to weep for him, because he was the last Godly king on the throne of David. But weep sore for him who goes away, refers to king Jehoahaz [Shallum; II Ki. 23:30-34]. For he shall return no more, nor see his native country, refers to Jehoahaz being taken captive unto the land of Egypt [Ezek. 19:1-4]. He only reigned three months and was the youngest son of Josiah.)

¹¹For thus says the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more (it seems that Shallum [Jehoahaz], although younger, was preferred above his brother Jehoiakim. Pharaoh-Neco preferred his brother to him; therefore, after only a three-month reign, he took him to Egypt, where he died! This was approximately 20 years before the total destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar):

¹²But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more. (Jehoahaz was two years younger than his brother Jehoiakim, and by right should not have had the throne after the death of his father Josiah. However, it seems from II Chron. 36:1 that the people preferred him over Jehoiakim; therefore, he would become king, but only for some three months. As stated, he was taken to Egypt by Pharaoh, and there he died.)

PROPHECY AGAINST JEHOIAKIM

¹³Woe unto him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; who uses his neighbours service without wages, and gives him not for his work (this speaks of Jehoiakim, who took the place of Jehoahaz, and to whom Jeremiah was sent by the Lord, recorded at the beginning of this Chapter. He reigned for eleven years and was marked by the worst characteristics of idolatry and despotism);

¹⁴Who says, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cuts him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. (This is but one example of palatial excellence being built at the expense of the poor, fatherless, and widowed.)

¹⁵Shall you reign, because you closest yourself in cedar? did not your father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? (The way this palace was built by Jehoiakim violated Lev. 19:13 and Deut. 24:14-15. The question, Shall you reign...?, rather asks, Do you prove your royal qualities because you live in a cedar palace? This tells us that his government was for the benefit of himself and his lackeys around him, and not for the people.

Your father refers to Josiah.)

¹⁶He (Josiah) judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know Me? says the LORD. (Because Josiah did these things, the Holy Spirit says, and two times at that, Then it was well with him. What he did pleased the Lord; therefore, he had the Blessings of God.)

¹⁷But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. (In this Passage, we see that Jehoiakim was the total opposite of his father Josiah!)

¹⁸Therefore thus sa ys the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! (It is noteworthy that II Ki. 24:6 omits the usual mention of the burial of this deceased king. II Chron. 36:6 records that he was bound in fetters in order to be carried to Babylon, but it does not state that he ever reached that city. Here and in 36:30 his miserable end is predicted, and most certainly the Prophecy came to pass.)

¹⁹He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. (It is strange that the man, even the king, would hear this type of Prophecy, knowing that it was speaking of him, and in no uncertain terms, and still reject it!)

PROPHECY AGAINST CONIAH, WHO WAS ALSO CALLED JEHOIACHIN OR JECHONIAH

²⁰Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all your lovers are destroyed. (As the Nineteenth Verse finished with Jehoiakim, this Verse deals with his son and successor, Jehoiachin. Your lovers are destroyed, refers to the nations to which Judah looked, but which did not help her.)

²¹I spoke unto you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth, that you obeyed not My voice. (Even though Jehoiachin [Coniah] will be addressed momentarily, at this point the Holy Spirit is speaking directly to Judah.)

²²The wind shall eat up all your Pastors, and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shall you be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness. (The Pastors referred to here actually speak of rulers of all kinds. It does not refer to Pastors of Churches, as we know such today! The wind spoken of is the armed force of Nebuchadnezzar, who would either kill or take into captivity all of these individuals.)

²³O inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how gracious shall you be when pangs come upon you, the pain as of a woman in travail! (Even though it seems as if Jeremiah is speaking of Lebanon, he actually is speaking of the nobles of Jerusalem, who built their homes out of the great cedar trees of Lebanon.)

²⁴As I live, says the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon My Right Hand, yet would I pluck you thence (in fact, due to him being the king of Judah, and, thereby, the leader of Gods chosen People, he, in effect, was the signet upon Gods Right Hand. However, the Lord had disowned him, i.e., yet will I pluck you thence, signifying that the scepter of power would pass from Judah to another, in this case, to the heathen monarch Nebuchadnezzar);

²⁵And I will give you into the hand of them who seek your life, and into the hand of them whose face you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

²⁶And I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there shall you die. (Jehoiachin [Coniah] and his mother Nehushta died in Babylon. The mentioning of her, and by the Holy Spirit at that, shows that she was rather influential and had no doubt encouraged Coniah in his rebellion.)

²⁷But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return. (The words, they desire to return, no doubt indicate that their stay in Babylon was not a happy one; furthermore, they would never again see the land given to them by God, which had been polluted by their sin.)

²⁸Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? (The question, Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol?, is strong indeed! The word idol means a despised earthen vessel; the potter has no pleasure in it and, therefore, breaks it.)

²⁹O Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the Word of the LORD. (The declaration of this Verse is solemn! With the fall of Judah, there would be no nation left in the world who knew anything about Jehovah; consequently, the entirety of the world would suffer as a result of her fall.)

³⁰Thus says the LORD, Write you this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. (And so it came to pass! Though Coniah had descendents, not one of them ever sat upon the throne at Jerusalem. Great attention is given to this king, even though he reigned only a very short time, because he was the last in the Davidic line of kings; so it ended in him.

While it is true that Zedekiah succeeded him, he was only his uncle. Therefore, not being in the direct lineage of David, he was not actually looked at by God as king, at least in the lineage of David.)