CHAPTER 34

(591 B.C.)

ZEDEKIAHS OVERTHROW AND CAPTIVITY

¹The 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 (this Prophecy was given by Jeremiah after Nebuchadnezzar had laid siege to Jerusalem and other cities in Judah),

²Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire (shortly before Nebuchadnezzars time, Egypt had ruled all the country up to the River Euphrates. However, when Nebuchadnezzar came to the throne, he defeated the Egyptians at the Battle of Carchemish. Therefore, there was great animosity between Egypt and Babylon. Consequently, Zedekiah thought that Egypt might come to his rescue. Jeremiah tells him that this will not happen):

³And you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon. (Not only is the future of the city foretold, but Zedekiahs future, as well!)

⁴Yet hear the Word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus says the LORD of you, You shall not die by the sword (meaning that he would be taken prisoner to Babylon, which he was):

⁵But you shall die in peace: and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they burn odors for you; and they will lament you, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the Word, says the LORD. (The words, But you shall die in peace, lends some credence to the possibility that Zedekiah, in the misery of his blindness and captivity in Babylon [for he was blinded by his captors], experienced a true Conversion.)

⁶Then Jeremiah the Prophet spoke all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem (even though he took his life in his hands by telling the king these words, still, Jeremiah was true to his calling in delivering the Message from the Lord to this king of Judah),

⁷When the king of Babylons army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities re mained of the cities of Judah. (Nebuchadnezzars plan in taking the cities of Lachish and Azekah was to guard against Egypt.)

THE BROKEN COVENANT CONCERNING SERVANTS

⁸This is the Word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty unto them (it seems that Zedekiah now tried to press fairness and justice for all, even the poorest of the poor, which the Lord demanded, but which was too little, too late!);

⁹That 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. (The command was that every Hebrew, whether man or woman, be instantly released from their servitude, which seems not to have been done for many years. In other words, thousands of poorer Jews had literally been pressed into the service of slavery, with others growing very rich at their expense.)

¹⁰Now when all the princes, and all the people, wh o 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. (It was probably hoped that the slaves, being freed, would now more heartily help in resisting the enemy, etc. The next Verse will show that the repentance of the nobles was not true heart Repentance, but rather the necessity of the moment.)

¹¹But 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. (In the summer of the same year, when the siege was made, and also the covenant was, therefore, made to let the slaves go free in obedience to Gods Word, the Egyptians began to advance to the rescue of Jerusalem; so Nebuchadnezzar withdrew to meet their attack.

Seeing their immediate danger lessened and what looked like certain rescue by the Egyptians, the nobles at once forced the slaves back into service. Then God sent Jeremiah with his Message of rebuke and prediction that the Chaldean army would return to complete the destruction of Jerusalem.)

¹²Therefore the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying (the absolute lack of sincerity on the part of the people, even in the face of certain judgment, is staggering in its concept and fearful in its principle; consequently, one can readily see the reason for the necessary judgment),

¹³Thus says 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 (the Lord reminds them that He had brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, in effect, delivering them from their slavery, and now, because of their rebellion, the entire nation was about to go back into slavery. The Covenant of which the Lord speaks is found in Lev. 25:10, 39-46 and Deut. 15:12-18),

¹⁴At the end of seven years you let go every man his brother an Hebrew, which has been sold unto you; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers hearkened not unto Me, neither inclined their ear. (The implication is: this Covenant had been ignored by the people for many, many years, which had caused great hardship for many of, if not most of, the people of Judah and Jerusalem.)

¹⁵And you were now turned, and had done right in My sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and you had made a Covenant before Me in the House which is called by My Name (In the House which is called by My Name, shows that the Covenant was made in the Temple. But the people had broken it):

GODS CONDEMNATION AND JUDGMENT

¹⁶But you turned and polluted My Name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

¹⁷Therefore thus says the LORD; You have not hearkened unto Me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, says 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 having delivered the Hebrews from slavery, the cruelty of their action in enslaving others was, therefore, made more inexcusable. Behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, is an antithesis, which means the opposite of what is said.)

¹⁸And I will give the men who have transgressed My Covenant, who 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 (this was called cutting the covenant. A calf was killed and cut into two parts, with the contracting parties then walking between the parts. The idea was that if anyone broke the covenant, they would be cut in two pieces, just like the calf [Gen. 15:9-17]),

¹⁹The 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 (a distinction and guilt appears to be drawn here between those who originate evil and those who are, through weakness of character, led into evil. The former [Vss. 19-20] were doomed to the major punishment of death; the latter [Vs. 21], i.e., Zedekiah and his princes, to the punishment of slavery);

²⁰I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them who seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the Earth. (They had broken the Covenant which they had solemnly made; therefore, they would pay the penalty.

I will even give them, proclaims the totality of Gods Judgment and rule. And yet, His People conducted themselves toward Him as if He had no control over their lives.)

²¹And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylons army, which are gone up from you. (As stated, a distinction was made by the Lord between the guilty parties. Some were condemned to slavery, while others were condemned to death. God Alone knows the human heart; therefore, He Alone can pronounce judgment that is equitable and right.)

²²Behold, I will command, says the LORD, and cause them (the Babylonians) 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. (Due to the rumored approach of the Egyptian army, the Babylonians lifted their siege from Jerusalem. As a consequence, the Covenant made by Zedekiah, the Priestly Order, and the Nobles of Jerusalem was broken. The slaves who had been set at liberty were quickly pressed back into slavery. Such greatly angered the Lord, and judgment was pronounced, as is evident in this Chapter.)