Original Meaning
CHAPTER 37 PROVIDES yet another account (like ch. 36) of royal failure and the continued rejection of the prophetic word. The royal culprit this time is Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, who is the pathetic leader of the doomed city.
37:1–2. According to verse 1, Zedekiah was placed on the throne in Judah by the Babylonians. They had surrounded Jerusalem in the winter months of 598/597 B.C. In March 597 the city surrendered to the Babylonians, and Jehoiachin, who had been king only a few months, was deported to Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar placed Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah on the throne. The deporting of Jehoiachin (sometimes called Coniah) and the appointing of Zedekiah as king were parts of a “divide and conquer” strategy on the part of the Babylonians. With two different men in two different communities claiming title to the Judean kingship, there was much occasion for internal tensions among the Judeans of Babylon and Palestine. The Babylonians hoped this would lessen the possibility of rebellion against their policies.
These two verses are actually a summary statement of Zedekiah’s eleven years of reign. Details of his kingship and of his relationship with Jeremiah are picked up in verse 3 and continue through the end of chapter 38. The section 37:3–38:28 concern only the period of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem during the years 588–587/586.
37:3–10. An Egyptian army is moving toward Judah in a manner intended to threaten the Babylonian army. This is probably part of the Pharaoh Hophra’s scheme to regain control of affairs in Judah in the spring or summer of 588.3 According to verse 4, Jeremiah was not confined or imprisoned during all of Zedekiah’s reign, but the rest of chapter 37 confirms that he was confined in a variety of circumstances.
Verses 6–10 report on a revelation given Jeremiah by the Lord, a message that he is to transmit to Zedekiah: Babylon will succeed in taking the city. Even the language of verse 8 is paralleled almost exactly in 34:22. What is new in the revelation is the prediction that the Egyptian army will not turn the tide of the Babylonian intent to take Judah and Jerusalem.
37:11–15. The appearance of the Egyptian army causes a temporary lifting of the Babylonian siege. Possibly Jeremiah’s futile attempt to leave Jerusalem at this time is the prelude to the visit of his cousin during his imprisonment (32:1–14). According to the summary statement in 37:12, Jeremiah wants to go to the Benjamite tribal area in order to get his share of the property there. With the (temporary) lifting of the siege must have come a lot of frenetic activity among the inhabitants of the region. In Jeremiah’s case, the guards of the city are suspicious that the prophet wants to leave the city in order to desert to the Babylonians. He is beaten and placed in confinement.
37:16–21. Zedekiah appears to be a classic case of a divided mind under pressure. On the one hand, he desperately seeks guidance for the difficulties of Judah, including his requests that Jeremiah pray to God (37:3) and that Jeremiah mediate God’s will to him (37:17; see also ch. 21). On the other hand, the word of the Lord causes him consternation and demands of him what his self-serving and vacillating nature will not allow. Indeed, in his irrational behavior Zedekiah mistreats the very prophet he approaches for help.
Jeremiah is confined to a house belonging to a scribe (37:15) and later to a place associated with a guardhouse (37:21). Neither place appears to be a prison in the modern sense of the word, although Jeremiah’s personal circumstances are painful. He is beaten at the scribe’s house, and his rations in the guardhouse quarters are minimal. Later still, he will be thrown into a cistern (38:6). In 37:18 Jeremiah inquires of the king in what way he has sinned against the king or the people that he should be treated in this manner. He has consistently preached what God has given him to deliver, and he has responded whenever the king has inquired of him. The implied point is that he has told the truth and that Zedekiah is persecuting him for it.
Bridging Contexts
ZEDEKIAH AND A WORD FROM THE LORD. Zedekiah turns to the appropriate source in seeking answers to his dilemma: He seeks a word from the Lord. He fails, however, to listen to the word God communicates. Appropriately for the national crisis, he advocates prayer (37:3) and seeks a message from the Lord through Jeremiah (37:17). The problem is that God has previously informed Zedekiah that his actions and those of the people are unacceptable, and nothing seems to have changed—nothing from the side of God or that of Zedekiah. God has not changed his mind regarding the assessment of king and people, and Zedekiah seems oblivious to the prophet’s message. For his part, Zedekiah seems to have followed a form of the proverbial advice to “shoot the bearer of bad news.”
Hindsight is usually better than foresight. The tragedy of this account is that God makes known the near future, and Zedekiah is simply incapable of hearing and responding.
Persecution and the prophets. Persecution comes to prophets. In a variety of ways the book of Jeremiah is one long testimony to the cost of prophetic activity. His imprisonment is one of several in the Bible for prophets; Joseph, Micaiah ben Imlah, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, and John the seer of the Apocalypse are all companions in faith incarcerated for their role in delivering God’s word. Some who represent the message of the Lord suffer the ultimate human judgment of death (e.g., Uriah the son of Shemaiah, 26:20–23). Indeed, as is made clear in Jesus Christ, were God himself to advocate his Word, the reaction does not necessarily differ.
Contemporary Significance
THE PRAYERS OF GOD’S PEOPLE. When is prayer for deliverance not acceptable? The question initially seems out of place since a loving God is typically open to the cries of his people, even if the timing of his response remains mysterious. Jesus taught his disciples to pray that they not be led into temptation but that God will deliver them from evil (Matt. 6:13). But there is a difference between Zedekiah and Moses, and between Jesus’ disciples and the Judeans of Jeremiah’s day. Disciples of Jesus cannot blatantly disregard his Word and then assume that a prayer for deliverance is efficacious; correspondingly, Zedekiah cannot assume that his rejection of God’s Word will somehow induce God to send a different word of instruction.
There are circumstances where prayer is not what God desires. Although this sounds like a radical statement, it is worth some moments of reflection. Prayer is a staple of the Christian life, but it cannot be used as a reason for shirking one’s responsibility or as an excuse for not being obedient to divine instruction.
A widely told anecdote concerns a man caught in his house during a period of heavy rains and flooding. As the water began to rise around his house, a neighbor came by to take him to higher ground and safety. The man refused to go, saying that he would wait out the storm and trust the Lord. As the water began to pour into the house, the man moved to the second story of the house. A police officer in a small boat came back and called to the man in the second-story window. The man replied similarly that he would wait out the storm and trust in the Lord. As the water continued to rise, the man climbed to his roof. A helicopter came by, and the man motioned for it to go on. After several frustrating minutes, the helicopter departed.
The man waited to see what would transpire next, and when the water continued to threaten, he began to pray to the Lord. He got an answer: “I sent a neighbor, a police officer, and a helicopter. Why didn’t you listen?”
This seemingly trite story illustrates an important scriptural lesson. When God sends his servants to proclaim his message, and the servants and their message are rejected, then what other recourse is open? Unfortunately in many crises, no other avenue is open except that of failure and self-incurred destruction.
Stories of the recalcitrant and the disobedient (e.g., Zedekiah) in Scripture are not told so that a different generation can gleefully note how stupid “they” were. They are recorded so that any generation of God’s people who read them can be instructed. After all, somebody among the faithful got it right and preserved the accounts for posterity. The foolish finally point by way of contrast to what is healthy among the people. It is far more instructive to read the accounts sympathetically, giving due attention to the possibility that in one way or the other we have become Zedekiah or Judah in our day.
It is important to remember how easy it is to assault the messenger rather than to listen carefully and to learn humbly from him or her. It is more convenient to reject an “unfriendly” assessment than it is to look in the mirror of God’s Word.
Paradoxically, there is also hope in this disquieting account. Even in judging Zedekiah and the people, God is still at work to keep his promises. Zedekiah’s family (i.e., that of David) will still be privileged to play a crucial role in God’s economy. Moreover, what most Judeans think is an awful tragedy—the fall of the state and the resulting exile—is also the seedbed of new beginnings.
Jeremiah 38:1–28a
Jeremiah 38:1–28a
1SHEPHATIAH SON OF Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, 2“This is what the LORD says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. He will escape with his life; he will live.’ 3And this is what the LORD says: ‘This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”
4Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”
5“He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.”
6So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.
7But Ebed-Melech, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, 8Ebed-Melech went out of the palace and said to him, 9“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.”
10Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”
11So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12Ebed-Melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, 13and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
14Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the LORD. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”
15Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”
16But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: “As surely as the LORD lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who are seeking your life.”
17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. 18But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from their hands.’”
19King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”
20“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the LORD by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. 21But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has revealed to me: 22All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you:
“‘They misled you and overcame you—
those trusted friends of yours.
Your feet are sunk in the mud;
your friends have deserted you.’
23“All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will be burned down.”
24Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die. 25If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’ 26then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’”
27All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.
28And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.
Original Meaning
CHAPTER 37 PROVIDES yet another account (like ch. 36) of royal failure and the continued rejection of the prophetic word. The royal culprit this time is Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, who is the pathetic leader of the doomed city.
37:1–2. According to verse 1, Zedekiah was placed on the throne in Judah by the Babylonians. They had surrounded Jerusalem in the winter months of 598/597 B.C. In March 597 the city surrendered to the Babylonians, and Jehoiachin, who had been king only a few months, was deported to Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar placed Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah on the throne. The deporting of Jehoiachin (sometimes called Coniah) and the appointing of Zedekiah as king were parts of a “divide and conquer” strategy on the part of the Babylonians. With two different men in two different communities claiming title to the Judean kingship, there was much occasion for internal tensions among the Judeans of Babylon and Palestine. The Babylonians hoped this would lessen the possibility of rebellion against their policies.
These two verses are actually a summary statement of Zedekiah’s eleven years of reign. Details of his kingship and of his relationship with Jeremiah are picked up in verse 3 and continue through the end of chapter 38. The section 37:3–38:28 concern only the period of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem during the years 588–587/586.
37:3–10. An Egyptian army is moving toward Judah in a manner intended to threaten the Babylonian army. This is probably part of the Pharaoh Hophra’s scheme to regain control of affairs in Judah in the spring or summer of 588.3 According to verse 4, Jeremiah was not confined or imprisoned during all of Zedekiah’s reign, but the rest of chapter 37 confirms that he was confined in a variety of circumstances.
Verses 6–10 report on a revelation given Jeremiah by the Lord, a message that he is to transmit to Zedekiah: Babylon will succeed in taking the city. Even the language of verse 8 is paralleled almost exactly in 34:22. What is new in the revelation is the prediction that the Egyptian army will not turn the tide of the Babylonian intent to take Judah and Jerusalem.
37:11–15. The appearance of the Egyptian army causes a temporary lifting of the Babylonian siege. Possibly Jeremiah’s futile attempt to leave Jerusalem at this time is the prelude to the visit of his cousin during his imprisonment (32:1–14). According to the summary statement in 37:12, Jeremiah wants to go to the Benjamite tribal area in order to get his share of the property there. With the (temporary) lifting of the siege must have come a lot of frenetic activity among the inhabitants of the region. In Jeremiah’s case, the guards of the city are suspicious that the prophet wants to leave the city in order to desert to the Babylonians. He is beaten and placed in confinement.
37:16–21. Zedekiah appears to be a classic case of a divided mind under pressure. On the one hand, he desperately seeks guidance for the difficulties of Judah, including his requests that Jeremiah pray to God (37:3) and that Jeremiah mediate God’s will to him (37:17; see also ch. 21). On the other hand, the word of the Lord causes him consternation and demands of him what his self-serving and vacillating nature will not allow. Indeed, in his irrational behavior Zedekiah mistreats the very prophet he approaches for help.
Jeremiah is confined to a house belonging to a scribe (37:15) and later to a place associated with a guardhouse (37:21). Neither place appears to be a prison in the modern sense of the word, although Jeremiah’s personal circumstances are painful. He is beaten at the scribe’s house, and his rations in the guardhouse quarters are minimal. Later still, he will be thrown into a cistern (38:6). In 37:18 Jeremiah inquires of the king in what way he has sinned against the king or the people that he should be treated in this manner. He has consistently preached what God has given him to deliver, and he has responded whenever the king has inquired of him. The implied point is that he has told the truth and that Zedekiah is persecuting him for it.
Bridging Contexts
ZEDEKIAH AND A WORD FROM THE LORD. Zedekiah turns to the appropriate source in seeking answers to his dilemma: He seeks a word from the Lord. He fails, however, to listen to the word God communicates. Appropriately for the national crisis, he advocates prayer (37:3) and seeks a message from the Lord through Jeremiah (37:17). The problem is that God has previously informed Zedekiah that his actions and those of the people are unacceptable, and nothing seems to have changed—nothing from the side of God or that of Zedekiah. God has not changed his mind regarding the assessment of king and people, and Zedekiah seems oblivious to the prophet’s message. For his part, Zedekiah seems to have followed a form of the proverbial advice to “shoot the bearer of bad news.”
Hindsight is usually better than foresight. The tragedy of this account is that God makes known the near future, and Zedekiah is simply incapable of hearing and responding.
Persecution and the prophets. Persecution comes to prophets. In a variety of ways the book of Jeremiah is one long testimony to the cost of prophetic activity. His imprisonment is one of several in the Bible for prophets; Joseph, Micaiah ben Imlah, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, and John the seer of the Apocalypse are all companions in faith incarcerated for their role in delivering God’s word. Some who represent the message of the Lord suffer the ultimate human judgment of death (e.g., Uriah the son of Shemaiah, 26:20–23). Indeed, as is made clear in Jesus Christ, were God himself to advocate his Word, the reaction does not necessarily differ.
Contemporary Significance
THE PRAYERS OF GOD’S PEOPLE. When is prayer for deliverance not acceptable? The question initially seems out of place since a loving God is typically open to the cries of his people, even if the timing of his response remains mysterious. Jesus taught his disciples to pray that they not be led into temptation but that God will deliver them from evil (Matt. 6:13). But there is a difference between Zedekiah and Moses, and between Jesus’ disciples and the Judeans of Jeremiah’s day. Disciples of Jesus cannot blatantly disregard his Word and then assume that a prayer for deliverance is efficacious; correspondingly, Zedekiah cannot assume that his rejection of God’s Word will somehow induce God to send a different word of instruction.
There are circumstances where prayer is not what God desires. Although this sounds like a radical statement, it is worth some moments of reflection. Prayer is a staple of the Christian life, but it cannot be used as a reason for shirking one’s responsibility or as an excuse for not being obedient to divine instruction.
A widely told anecdote concerns a man caught in his house during a period of heavy rains and flooding. As the water began to rise around his house, a neighbor came by to take him to higher ground and safety. The man refused to go, saying that he would wait out the storm and trust the Lord. As the water began to pour into the house, the man moved to the second story of the house. A police officer in a small boat came back and called to the man in the second-story window. The man replied similarly that he would wait out the storm and trust in the Lord. As the water continued to rise, the man climbed to his roof. A helicopter came by, and the man motioned for it to go on. After several frustrating minutes, the helicopter departed.
The man waited to see what would transpire next, and when the water continued to threaten, he began to pray to the Lord. He got an answer: “I sent a neighbor, a police officer, and a helicopter. Why didn’t you listen?”
This seemingly trite story illustrates an important scriptural lesson. When God sends his servants to proclaim his message, and the servants and their message are rejected, then what other recourse is open? Unfortunately in many crises, no other avenue is open except that of failure and self-incurred destruction.
Stories of the recalcitrant and the disobedient (e.g., Zedekiah) in Scripture are not told so that a different generation can gleefully note how stupid “they” were. They are recorded so that any generation of God’s people who read them can be instructed. After all, somebody among the faithful got it right and preserved the accounts for posterity. The foolish finally point by way of contrast to what is healthy among the people. It is far more instructive to read the accounts sympathetically, giving due attention to the possibility that in one way or the other we have become Zedekiah or Judah in our day.
It is important to remember how easy it is to assault the messenger rather than to listen carefully and to learn humbly from him or her. It is more convenient to reject an “unfriendly” assessment than it is to look in the mirror of God’s Word.
Paradoxically, there is also hope in this disquieting account. Even in judging Zedekiah and the people, God is still at work to keep his promises. Zedekiah’s family (i.e., that of David) will still be privileged to play a crucial role in God’s economy. Moreover, what most Judeans think is an awful tragedy—the fall of the state and the resulting exile—is also the seedbed of new beginnings.
Jeremiah 38:1–28a
Jeremiah 38:1–28a
1SHEPHATIAH SON OF Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, 2“This is what the LORD says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. He will escape with his life; he will live.’ 3And this is what the LORD says: ‘This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”
4Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”
5“He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.”
6So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.
7But Ebed-Melech, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, 8Ebed-Melech went out of the palace and said to him, 9“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.”
10Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”
11So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12Ebed-Melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, 13and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
14Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the LORD. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”
15Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”
16But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: “As surely as the LORD lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who are seeking your life.”
17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. 18But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from their hands.’”
19King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”
20“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the LORD by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. 21But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has revealed to me: 22All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you:
“‘They misled you and overcame you—
those trusted friends of yours.
Your feet are sunk in the mud;
your friends have deserted you.’
23“All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will be burned down.”
24Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die. 25If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’ 26then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’”
27All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.
28And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.
Original Meaning
CHAPTER 37 PROVIDES yet another account (like ch. 36) of royal failure and the continued rejection of the prophetic word. The royal culprit this time is Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, who is the pathetic leader of the doomed city.
37:1–2. According to verse 1, Zedekiah was placed on the throne in Judah by the Babylonians. They had surrounded Jerusalem in the winter months of 598/597 B.C. In March 597 the city surrendered to the Babylonians, and Jehoiachin, who had been king only a few months, was deported to Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar placed Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah on the throne. The deporting of Jehoiachin (sometimes called Coniah) and the appointing of Zedekiah as king were parts of a “divide and conquer” strategy on the part of the Babylonians. With two different men in two different communities claiming title to the Judean kingship, there was much occasion for internal tensions among the Judeans of Babylon and Palestine. The Babylonians hoped this would lessen the possibility of rebellion against their policies.
These two verses are actually a summary statement of Zedekiah’s eleven years of reign. Details of his kingship and of his relationship with Jeremiah are picked up in verse 3 and continue through the end of chapter 38. The section 37:3–38:28 concern only the period of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem during the years 588–587/586.
37:3–10. An Egyptian army is moving toward Judah in a manner intended to threaten the Babylonian army. This is probably part of the Pharaoh Hophra’s scheme to regain control of affairs in Judah in the spring or summer of 588.3 According to verse 4, Jeremiah was not confined or imprisoned during all of Zedekiah’s reign, but the rest of chapter 37 confirms that he was confined in a variety of circumstances.
Verses 6–10 report on a revelation given Jeremiah by the Lord, a message that he is to transmit to Zedekiah: Babylon will succeed in taking the city. Even the language of verse 8 is paralleled almost exactly in 34:22. What is new in the revelation is the prediction that the Egyptian army will not turn the tide of the Babylonian intent to take Judah and Jerusalem.
37:11–15. The appearance of the Egyptian army causes a temporary lifting of the Babylonian siege. Possibly Jeremiah’s futile attempt to leave Jerusalem at this time is the prelude to the visit of his cousin during his imprisonment (32:1–14). According to the summary statement in 37:12, Jeremiah wants to go to the Benjamite tribal area in order to get his share of the property there. With the (temporary) lifting of the siege must have come a lot of frenetic activity among the inhabitants of the region. In Jeremiah’s case, the guards of the city are suspicious that the prophet wants to leave the city in order to desert to the Babylonians. He is beaten and placed in confinement.
37:16–21. Zedekiah appears to be a classic case of a divided mind under pressure. On the one hand, he desperately seeks guidance for the difficulties of Judah, including his requests that Jeremiah pray to God (37:3) and that Jeremiah mediate God’s will to him (37:17; see also ch. 21). On the other hand, the word of the Lord causes him consternation and demands of him what his self-serving and vacillating nature will not allow. Indeed, in his irrational behavior Zedekiah mistreats the very prophet he approaches for help.
Jeremiah is confined to a house belonging to a scribe (37:15) and later to a place associated with a guardhouse (37:21). Neither place appears to be a prison in the modern sense of the word, although Jeremiah’s personal circumstances are painful. He is beaten at the scribe’s house, and his rations in the guardhouse quarters are minimal. Later still, he will be thrown into a cistern (38:6). In 37:18 Jeremiah inquires of the king in what way he has sinned against the king or the people that he should be treated in this manner. He has consistently preached what God has given him to deliver, and he has responded whenever the king has inquired of him. The implied point is that he has told the truth and that Zedekiah is persecuting him for it.
Bridging Contexts
ZEDEKIAH AND A WORD FROM THE LORD. Zedekiah turns to the appropriate source in seeking answers to his dilemma: He seeks a word from the Lord. He fails, however, to listen to the word God communicates. Appropriately for the national crisis, he advocates prayer (37:3) and seeks a message from the Lord through Jeremiah (37:17). The problem is that God has previously informed Zedekiah that his actions and those of the people are unacceptable, and nothing seems to have changed—nothing from the side of God or that of Zedekiah. God has not changed his mind regarding the assessment of king and people, and Zedekiah seems oblivious to the prophet’s message. For his part, Zedekiah seems to have followed a form of the proverbial advice to “shoot the bearer of bad news.”
Hindsight is usually better than foresight. The tragedy of this account is that God makes known the near future, and Zedekiah is simply incapable of hearing and responding.
Persecution and the prophets. Persecution comes to prophets. In a variety of ways the book of Jeremiah is one long testimony to the cost of prophetic activity. His imprisonment is one of several in the Bible for prophets; Joseph, Micaiah ben Imlah, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, and John the seer of the Apocalypse are all companions in faith incarcerated for their role in delivering God’s word. Some who represent the message of the Lord suffer the ultimate human judgment of death (e.g., Uriah the son of Shemaiah, 26:20–23). Indeed, as is made clear in Jesus Christ, were God himself to advocate his Word, the reaction does not necessarily differ.
Contemporary Significance
THE PRAYERS OF GOD’S PEOPLE. When is prayer for deliverance not acceptable? The question initially seems out of place since a loving God is typically open to the cries of his people, even if the timing of his response remains mysterious. Jesus taught his disciples to pray that they not be led into temptation but that God will deliver them from evil (Matt. 6:13). But there is a difference between Zedekiah and Moses, and between Jesus’ disciples and the Judeans of Jeremiah’s day. Disciples of Jesus cannot blatantly disregard his Word and then assume that a prayer for deliverance is efficacious; correspondingly, Zedekiah cannot assume that his rejection of God’s Word will somehow induce God to send a different word of instruction.
There are circumstances where prayer is not what God desires. Although this sounds like a radical statement, it is worth some moments of reflection. Prayer is a staple of the Christian life, but it cannot be used as a reason for shirking one’s responsibility or as an excuse for not being obedient to divine instruction.
A widely told anecdote concerns a man caught in his house during a period of heavy rains and flooding. As the water began to rise around his house, a neighbor came by to take him to higher ground and safety. The man refused to go, saying that he would wait out the storm and trust the Lord. As the water began to pour into the house, the man moved to the second story of the house. A police officer in a small boat came back and called to the man in the second-story window. The man replied similarly that he would wait out the storm and trust in the Lord. As the water continued to rise, the man climbed to his roof. A helicopter came by, and the man motioned for it to go on. After several frustrating minutes, the helicopter departed.
The man waited to see what would transpire next, and when the water continued to threaten, he began to pray to the Lord. He got an answer: “I sent a neighbor, a police officer, and a helicopter. Why didn’t you listen?”
This seemingly trite story illustrates an important scriptural lesson. When God sends his servants to proclaim his message, and the servants and their message are rejected, then what other recourse is open? Unfortunately in many crises, no other avenue is open except that of failure and self-incurred destruction.
Stories of the recalcitrant and the disobedient (e.g., Zedekiah) in Scripture are not told so that a different generation can gleefully note how stupid “they” were. They are recorded so that any generation of God’s people who read them can be instructed. After all, somebody among the faithful got it right and preserved the accounts for posterity. The foolish finally point by way of contrast to what is healthy among the people. It is far more instructive to read the accounts sympathetically, giving due attention to the possibility that in one way or the other we have become Zedekiah or Judah in our day.
It is important to remember how easy it is to assault the messenger rather than to listen carefully and to learn humbly from him or her. It is more convenient to reject an “unfriendly” assessment than it is to look in the mirror of God’s Word.
Paradoxically, there is also hope in this disquieting account. Even in judging Zedekiah and the people, God is still at work to keep his promises. Zedekiah’s family (i.e., that of David) will still be privileged to play a crucial role in God’s economy. Moreover, what most Judeans think is an awful tragedy—the fall of the state and the resulting exile—is also the seedbed of new beginnings.
Jeremiah 38:1–28a
Jeremiah 38:1–28a
1SHEPHATIAH SON OF Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, 2“This is what the LORD says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. He will escape with his life; he will live.’ 3And this is what the LORD says: ‘This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”
4Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”
5“He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.”
6So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.
7But Ebed-Melech, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, 8Ebed-Melech went out of the palace and said to him, 9“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.”
10Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”
11So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12Ebed-Melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, 13and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
14Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the LORD. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”
15Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”
16But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: “As surely as the LORD lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who are seeking your life.”
17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. 18But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from their hands.’”
19King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”
20“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the LORD by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. 21But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has revealed to me: 22All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you:
“‘They misled you and overcame you—
those trusted friends of yours.
Your feet are sunk in the mud;
your friends have deserted you.’
23“All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will be burned down.”
24Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die. 25If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’ 26then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’”
27All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.
28And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.