Jeremiah 34

Babylon is besieging Jerusalem, and God tells King Zedekiah that the city will fall, though he himself will die in peace. Then the people free their Hebrew slaves in a solemn covenant, only to seize them back again. God answers that those who will not proclaim freedom to others will receive a very different ‘freedom’: to fall by sword, plague and famine.

Jeremiah 34:1

The word comes while Nebuchadnezzar’s whole army, with troops from the nations he rules, is attacking Jerusalem and the towns around it. The message is given in the middle of a crisis. God speaks to his people when they are most afraid and least inclined to listen.

BSA: word (“message from God, divine communication”): This is not Jeremiah’s opinion but a message that originates with God.

Jeremiah 34:2

Jeremiah must go in person to the king and say plainly that God will hand Jerusalem over to Babylon, and that the city will be burned. The judgment is not an accident of politics. The LORD is the one who gives the city up.

BSA: deliver (“to give, to hand over”): God himself is the one handing the city over, so Babylon’s victory happens under his rule.

See also: Jeremiah 21:10.

Jeremiah 34:3

Zedekiah will not slip away. He will be captured, stand before Nebuchadnezzar and speak with him face to face, and then be taken to Babylon. It is a hard word for a king to hear, spoken plainly and without softening.

BSA: grasp (“power, control”): The Hebrew word is ‘hand’, and it pictures a hand closing on him with no way of escape.

See also: Jeremiah 32:4.

Jeremiah 34:4-5

Yet there is mercy inside the judgment. Zedekiah will not be killed by the sword. He will die in peace, and people will burn spices and mourn for him as they did for earlier kings. God gives this word on oath, with his own authority behind it.

BSA: peace (“a state of wellness and friendship”): The Hebrew word shalom means more than quiet. It means being whole and at rest. spices (“with fragrant incense”): Burning spices at a king’s death was a way of honoring him.

Hebrew: שָׁלוֹם (shalom, H7965) — “peace, wholeness, wellbeing.” The word reaches beyond calm to a settled, whole condition. Even in a lost cause, God can grant a gentle end, and his promise holds.

Jeremiah 34:6-7

Jeremiah delivers the message in Jerusalem. By this time Babylon has overrun nearly all of Judah. Only Lachish and Azekah, two fortified towns, are still standing besides the capital. The walls are closing in.

BSA: fortified (“strong, walled”): These were the last strongholds, so the nation’s defenses were almost gone.

Jeremiah 34:8-9

Zedekiah leads the people in a covenant to proclaim liberty. Every Israelite must release his fellow Hebrews from slavery. This follows what God had long ago commanded, that no Israelite be kept in permanent bondage to another.

BSA: liberty (“freedom, release”): The Hebrew word is the one used for the release of slaves, a public announcement of freedom.

Hebrew: דְּרוֹר (derôr, H1865) — “liberty, release.” This is the word used for the proclamation of freedom in Israel’s law. It means a declared release, not merely a private kindness.

See also: Leviticus 25:10.

Jeremiah 34:10

At first everyone obeyed. The officials and the people agreed to the covenant and let their servants go. For a moment it looked like real repentance, and the people did what God had asked.

BSA: released (“sent away, set free”): The slaves were truly sent out as free people, so what happened next was a deliberate reversal.

Jeremiah 34:11

Then they changed their minds and took the freed people back, forcing them into slavery again. Probably the crisis had eased, and their fear faded with it. A promise made under pressure was dropped when the pressure lifted.

BSA: changed their minds (“repented, turned”): The same word used for turning back to God is here used for turning back to sin.

See also: Jeremiah 37:5.

Jeremiah 34:12-14

God recalls his covenant at the Exodus. He had freed Israel from the house of slavery, so they must free their own brothers in the seventh year. The law was a reminder of mercy received. Their fathers had not listened to it.

BSA: incline (“turn, bend”): To listen is pictured as bending the ear toward a speaker, a willing and attentive posture.

See also: Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12.

Jeremiah 34:15

God acknowledges the good they had done. They had proclaimed freedom and made their covenant in the temple, where his Name dwelt. That makes the later betrayal worse, because they had sworn in his own house.

BSA: Name (“My identity, character”): God’s Name stands for who he is, so swearing in his house put his character behind the promise.

Jeremiah 34:16

By taking the slaves back they profaned God’s name. They made a vow in his presence and then treated it as nothing. People who had gone free to live as they chose were dragged back under the yoke.

BSA: profaned (“polluted, dishonored”): Breaking an oath made in God’s name treats that name as common and worthless.

See also: Exodus 20:7.

Jeremiah 34:17

God answers in kind. They refused to proclaim freedom, so he proclaims a ‘freedom’ for them: freedom to die by sword, plague and famine. The word is turned like a sharp irony. Those who withhold mercy from others will find themselves without protection.

BSA: freedom (“a state of being free, release from bondage”): God uses their own word against them: they are released, but only into the hands of judgment.

See also: Matthew 7:2; James 2:13.

Jeremiah 34:18-19

In the old custom of making a covenant, the animal was cut in half and the parties walked between the pieces. It was a solemn way of saying that such a fate should fall on the one who broke the oath. Now every group in the nation had done exactly that.

BSA: pass (“walk, transition”): Walking between the halves was the act that sealed the oath and placed the person under its curse.

Hebrew: בְּרִית (berît, H1285) — “covenant.” In Hebrew one ‘cuts’ a covenant. The picture of a divided animal lies behind the very way the word is used.

See also: Genesis 15:9-10.

Jeremiah 34:20

The curse they invited will come true. God will hand them over to enemies who want them dead, and their bodies will lie unburied, food for birds and wild animals. It is a terrible picture of judgment that follows a broken oath.

BSA: lives (“souls, very existence”): The enemies seek the people’s whole being, not merely a military victory.

See also: Deuteronomy 28:26.

Jeremiah 34:21

Zedekiah and his officials are not excused. They too will be given to their enemies, even though Babylon’s army has for now pulled back from Jerusalem. The withdrawal was only a pause. It did not mean God had changed his word.

BSA: withdrawn (“gone away, ascended”): The army had lifted its siege for a time, which probably explains why the people felt safe enough to break their promise.

Jeremiah 34:22

God himself will command the Babylonians to return. They will fight against the city, take it and burn it, and the towns of Judah will be left empty. The one who gave the command to be faithful also controls the outcome when it is ignored.

BSA: desolation (“a waste, a ruin”): The land will be left empty and lifeless, with no one living in it.

See also: Jeremiah 37:8.