Jeremiah 34

Jeremiah 34:1

VII. HISTORICAL SECTION (Chaps. 34-45) A. The Downfall of Judah and Jerusalem (Chaps. 34-39)1. Zedekiah’s Captivity Foretold (Chap. 34)34:1-7 While the Babylonians were besieging Jerusalem, Jeremiah was commanded to tell the king, Zedekiah, that he would be carried into exile and would die in Babylon, though not . . . by the sword. 34:8-22 At one time during the fighting, King Zedekiah made the people agree to set at liberty all Jewish slaves, perhaps so that they would help defend the city. Later, when the enemy withdrew for a while under pressure from the Egyptian army (Jer_37:1-10), the people put all the slaves back in bondage again! They thus profaned God’s name by breaking a promise made before Him. God therefore decreed that they would experience the “liberty” of the sword, . . . pestilence, and famine. Those who had ratified the covenant to free the slaves (v. 15) by sacrificing a calf in the temple area, and then had broken the covenant, would be delivered to their enemies for slaughter. Zedekiah . . . and his princes would be taken captive. The Babylonians would return and burn the city with fire.