Jeremiah 21

21:1 THE word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashhur the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying, 2 Inquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us: peradventure the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us. 3, 4 Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah: Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans which besiege you, without 5 the walls, and I will gather them into the midst of this city. And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in 6 great wrath. And I will smile the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall 7 die of a great pestilence. And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, even such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have 8 mercy. And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD: Behold, I set before you 9 the way of life and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth away to the Chal- 10 deans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. For I have set my face upon this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 11, 12 And touching the house of the king of Judah, hear ye the word of the LORD: O house of David, thus saith the LORD, Execute judgement in the morning, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go forth like fire, and burn that none can 13 quench it, because of the evil of your doings. Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and of the rock of the plain, saith the LORD: ye which say, Who shall come down 14 against us? or who shall enter into our habitations? and I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is round about her. 37:1 And Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of Jehoi- 2 akim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah. 3 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Ma- aseiah the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us. 4 Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into 5 prison. And Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that 6 besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they brake up from Jerusalem. Then came the 7 word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. 8 And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city; and they shall take it, and 9 burn it with fire. Thus saith the LORD: Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans 10 shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart. For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire. 11 And it came to pass that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem 12 for fear of Pharaoh’s army, then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land 13 of Benjamin, to receive his portion there, in the midst of the people. And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he laid hold on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou 14 fallest away to the Chaldeans. Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chal- deans; but he hearkened not to him: so Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to 15 the princes. And the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in 16 prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison. When Jeremiah was come into the dungeon house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there 17 many days; then Zedekiah the king sent, and fetched him: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is. He 18 said also, Thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, Wherein have I sinned against thee, or against thy servants, or 19 against this people, that ye have put me in prison? Where now are your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against 20 this land? And now hear, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the 21 scribe, lest I die there. Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard, and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

28:1 And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucel the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah spake unto all the people, saying, Thus saith the LORD, He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey, and he shall live. Thus saith the LORD, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it. Then the princes said unto the king, Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death; forasmuch as he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do anything against you. Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: and Jeremiah sank in the mire. Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, an eunuch, which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin; Ebed-melech went forth out of the king’s house, and spake to the king, saying, My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die in the place where he is because of the famine: for there is no more bread in the city. Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard. Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the LORD: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me. Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, will thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me. So Zedekiah the king swore secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life. Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: If thou wilt go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house: but if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me. But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, in that which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live. But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the LORD hath shewed me: Behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say, Thy familiar friends have set thee on, and have prevailed over thee: now that thy feet are sunk in the mire, they are turned away back. And they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire. Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die. But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king; hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death: also what the king said unto thee: then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die there. Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived. So Jeremiah abode in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

The part taken by the prophet Jeremiah, and the cause of his imprisonment. It is certain that Jeremiah sided throughout with the Babylonish party, not only in Josiah’s reign, but through the succeeding reigns of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. He could not but see the broken and iniquitous condition of his people. And this, with his inspired foresight of God’s chastening purposes, led him to use his utmost endeavor that Judah’s kings and people should not unnecessarily exasperate the Babylonish monarch. He would save them from all possible aggravation of wickedness as well as useless resistance, and thus from consequent suffering. Hence the enmity of the Egyptian party in the capital, often during the twenty years of these closing reigns, endangered the prophet’s life. Protected he was, however, up to the last siege of Jerusalem; partly by his manifest prophetic office, and partly by the friends God raised up—by the kings themselves, or by priestly and noble defenders. His imprisonment occurred toward the end of Zedekiah’s reign, about eighteen months before the final crisis of the kingdom, when Jerusalem was destroyed and the remaining people carried captive to Babylon. Zedekiah, a weak rather than wicked king, yielding to the Egyptian party, had been persuaded to renounce subjection to the king of Babylon, and enter into alliance with Egypt. B.—It is evident that Zedekiah was well affected toward Jeremiah; for he thrice asked his advice, first by a public embassy (21:1; 37:3) and subsequently in secret (37:17; 38:14); but he was far too weak a man to be capable of energetic action in his behalf, and so allowed him to be imprisoned and persecuted. The city had been besieged by the Chaldeans, and was tottering to its fall, when the approach of the Egyptian army gave the inhabitants hope of aid; and for a short time the Chaldeans departed from Jerusalem. Then Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah, asking him to pray unto the Lord for them, probably expecting that he would intercede for the city, as Isaiah had done in the days of Hezekiah (Isa. 37:6). Jeremiah’s answer was more unfavorable than he had given before. It was that the Egyptians would accomplish nothing, and that the Chaldeans would return and take the city. The princes were angry with Jeremiah, smote him, and put him in prison. Zedekiah, on the renewal of the siege, sent and took him out, and secretly ordered him brought to his palace, where he again consulted him, but with the same result. Jeremiah prays for milder treatment. Zedekiah, who was of a kindly disposition and remembered Jeremiah as an honored prophet in the days of his father, now gives him roomy quarters in the court of the guard, where he wrote the cheerful prophecy contained in chaps. 30-33; and as provisions were growing scarce, the king ordered that a loaf of bread should be given him every day. The purpose of the princes was frustrated by his removal to the guard-house, as there his friends had free access to him. B. C.

Chap. 21. This chapter contains the first of those prophecies, which were delivered by Jeremiah subsequent to the revolt of Zedekiah, and the breaking out of the war thereupon; and which are continued on to the taking of Jerusalem. The terms of this message seem to imply that the king of Babylon had but just commenced his hostilities against Judah, of which Zedekiah informs the prophet, as of a matter that might not have come to his certain knowledge; and desires him to intercede with God, that He would divert the storm by some such extraordinary interposition as He had been wont to manifest in favor of His people. Blayney.—The Lord’s answer through His prophet was very categorical, decisive and appalling, still leaving an open door, however, for hope on the one sole condition that the king and his people would thoroughly repent and reform their ways. Even at this late hour salvation was possible on these only righteous conditions.

8-10. This gives the people to understand distinctly that the city is doomed to destruction, and that their only hope of personal safety lies in going out and giving themselves up to the Chaldeans. This is a clear illustration of the language elsewhere used of the moral choice which the Lord sets before men between the way of life and the way of death—e.g., De. 30:15-20 and Josh. 24:14-24. H. C.

8. Set before you the way of life and the way of death.** The impression of every scene, of every lesson, of every folly is pushing you on to some decision—whether you will serve God or not, whether you will consecrate your life to its true end or not. On, on rolls the tide of hours, days and years, awifter and stronger in current, setting more resistless toward the cataract. Moment flows into moment, melts into the mass and is lost to view, but every drop swells the flood that presses you to the final issue. Gillett.

There are two courses in life. There are but two. The two are utterly irreconcilable and discordant. You cannot have them both. It must be one thing or the other. The choice is really made, degradingly and disgracefully by the very act of refraining from choosing. But if you would be men, choose, determine! I do not need to contemplate the possibility of anybody here saying, “You have set before me life and death, and I solemnly and deliberately choose death;” but I beseech you, take care that you do not slip into the choice of the worse part before you know where you are, and that years of careless yielding to circumstances and temptations do not at last rob you of the power to resolve that your life shall ever be otherwise moulded than by external forces. A. M.

Oh, if we could realize to ourselves who we are, and where I placed on what a mighty eminence of blessing; raised to what a height of privilege and hope; walking along what a narrow ridge of duty; beset by what terrible enemies; helped by what a wonderful indwelling Presence; travelling onward with a steady pace, which no power or skill of man can check or stay, to what a certain, an irreversible, an endless doom! Like a ship pressing with full sail into an unknown sea, with a thick mist around her, we are pressing into the future: we cannot stay—we cannot pause—we can furl no sails—we can let out no anchors; on we must go, and on we are going to find our rock, our quicksand or our harbor. Bp. Moberly.

Chap. 37. The date of this chapter falls during the reign of Zedekiah, and within the last eighteen months of his reign—i.e., within the period of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. It refers specially to the historic fact that during the progress of this siege the king of Egypt approached with an army for the relief of his own allies. Whereupon the Chaldeans raised the siege and marched against the Egyptians. In the result the Egyptians returned to their own country. The Chaldeans reinvested Jerusalem and ultimately took it. Precisely at what stage of the siege this diversion by the Egyptians occurred or how long the siege was suspended in consequence, we are not told. While they were absent Jeremiah took the opportunity to leave the city, was arrested at the city gate, and thrown into close confinement.

6-10. The imperilled Jews and their king were ready to grasp the faintest shadow of hope from this approach of an Egyptian army. But the Lord was against them. Hence no earthly power could save them from destruction. It was of the Lord’s mercy that He promptly and solemnly warned them against deceiving themselves with this vain hope. Such hope lessened the pressure of motive on their minds to repent before God and seek His favor. Hence the promptness and decision of this assurance that help from that quarter was vain. H. C.

12-21. We have here a further account concerning Jeremiah, who relates more passages concerning himself than any other of the prophets; for the histories of the lives and sufferings of God’s ministers have been very serviceable to the Church, as well as their preaching and writing. H.

12. Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem.** The investing army having withdrawn, communication was again opened between the city and the adjacent country. To go into the land of Benjamin. Jeremiah’s patrimony lay in Anathoth, in the tribe of Benjamin (Jer. 1:1), which was one of the cities assigned to the priests in the time of Joshua (Josh. 21:17, 18). To receive his portion there, or, “from thence.” It was evidently some matter of business connected with his paternal estate. It could hardly have been his purpose to remain in so exposed a situation, when the Chaldeans should return as he confidently expected (Jer. 37:8-10). Jeremiah steadfastly insisted upon sharing the fortunes of his countrymen even after the fall of the city, in spite of the tempting offers that were made to him of a comfortable home in Babylon (Jer. 40:4, 6); and it is not probable that he meant to desert them now.

15. And the princes smote him, and put him in prison.** In spite of his protestations, he was adjudged guilty, beaten and imprisoned. W. H. G.—The charge of intended desertion was a mere excuse for wreaking their malice on him. They hated Jeremiah because he had steadily opposed the popular determination to fight, and had foretold disaster. Add to that that he had held up a high standard of religion and morality to a corrupt and idolatrous people, and his “unpopularity” is sufficiently explained. A. M.

16. When Jeremiah was come into the dungeon house.** Literally, as in the margin, “house of the pit.” This pit, or cistern, is not further described, except as a place where Jeremiah was likely to perish (verse 20). The miserable plight in which he was in another filthy dungeon, into which he was subsequently thrust, is detailed somewhat at length in Jer. 38:6 sqq. W. H. G.

The princes were the power behind the throne. They hated Jeremiah. Although they might differ in many things from the priests and the false prophets, they agreed with them in detesting this stern, truth-telling man, as Pilate and Herod were made friends by their common hostility to Christ. The princes, too, held the sympathies of the populace, for all were united in a frenzy of fear and in opposition to the man who deservedly condemned them all. The hatred was political as well as personal and moral; and political passions are very likely to become virulent. The princes still clung, with stubborn conservatism, to the exhausted protection of Egypt. Jeremiah, instructed by God, counselled temporary surrender to Babylon; and no wonder, since that would be no more than a recognition of existing facts. It must be remembered, too, that the courtly party remaining in Jerusalem and Judah was only a remnant. The strongest of the princes had been deported to Babylon, where, with Jehoiachin and his household, they remained respected in imprisonment. Those left behind were but refuse. It is not surprising that these weak, base men were nagging the one great citizen surviving in the kingdom. Ezekiel and Daniel were among the exiles in Babylon. Jeremiah was practically alone in Judah. The party that had formerly been friendly to him was disintegrated and scattered. As for the rest, gnats, as they prefer carrion, enjoy the attempt to worry a lion to death. But the lion is, after all, the hero of that whole period of Hebrew history. Jeremiah belongs to the rare company who, when they do well, suffer for it, and yet take it patiently (1 Pet. 2 : 20). They are too good for this world, but acceptable with God. Persecution is now uncommon; the world has softened and grown wiser. Perhaps the average Christian, too, is less scrupulous and less brave. But it is still a poor type of piety which is popular with worldliness. McPherson.

17. After many days’ confinement in this horrible dungeon underground, the king took him out and asked him secretly if there was any word from the Lord. The prophet’s circumstances were at this time such as would most thoroughly test his loyalty to his Divine Lord. He had every earthly inducement to please the king; yet he fearlessly announced the king’s terrible doom from the Lord, “Thou shalt be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.” Prison discipline had not unnerved his steadfast purpose to be true to his God. He had an earnest personal plea to make for his liberty and his life. He wisely put this plea on its own bottom—an humble appeal to the king’s sense of justice and feelings of compassion. He could not swerve from his fidelity to God for the sake of even liberty or life.

18,19. What is my offence? I have only told you the truth, one proof of which you may yourself see; for where are those false prophets that gainsayed my words and belied the Lord, saying, “The king of Babylon shall not come up against this city and land?” Let the king look at the facts, and he will see that so far all my predictions have proved true. Why, then, should he count me his enemy for telling him the truth? H. C.—In Jeremiah’s answer we may note, as equally prominent and beautifully blended, respect, submission, consciousness of peril and impending death, and unshaken boldness. He knew that his life was at the disposal of the capricious, feeble Zedekiah. He bows before him as his subject, and brings his “supplication;” but not one jot of his message will he abate, nor smooth down its terribleness an atom. He repeats as unfalteringly as ever the assurance that the king of Babylon will take the city. He asserts his own innocence as regards king and courtiers and people; and he asks what has become of all the smooth-tongued prophets of prosperity, as if he had bid the king look over the city wall and see the tokens of their lies and of Jeremiah’s truth in the investing lines of the all but victorious enemy. Such a combination of perfect meekness and perfect courage, unstained loyalty to his king, and supreme obedience to his God, was only possible to a man who lived in very close communion with Jehovah, and had learned thereby to fear none else, because he feared Him so well, and to reverence all else whom He had set in places of reverence. True courage, of the pattern which befits God’s servants, is ever gentle. Bluster is the sign of weakness. A. M.

21. The king acceded to his request. By the king’s command Jeremiah was committed “into the court of the guard.” This was a court connected with a portion of the palace, which was used as a prison (Jer. 32 : 2). He was still in custody, but in much more comfortable quarters than those which he had previously occupied. W. H. G.

And they gave him daily a loaf of bread. He had interest enough in the prophet to interfere for his comfort, and to have him put into better quarters in the palace and provided with a “circle” (a round loaf) of bread out of Baker Street, as long as there was any in the city—not a very long time. But why did he do so much, and not do more? He knew that Jeremiah was innocent, and that his word was God’s; and what he should have done was to have shaken off his masterful “servants,” followed his conscience, and obeyed God. Why did he not? Because he was a coward, infirm of purpose, and therefore unstable as water. He is another of the tragic examples with which all life as well as Scripture is studded, of how much evil is possible to a weak character. In this world, where there are so many temptations to be bad, no man will be good who cannot strongly say “No.” The virtue of strength of will may be but like the rough fence round young trees to keep cattle from browsing on them and east winds from blighting them. But the fence is needed, if the trees are to grow. “To be weak is to be miserable,” and sinful, too, generally. “Whom resist” must be the motto for all noble, God-like, and God pleasing life. A. M.

38 : 1-4. Jeremiah persists in his plain preaching; what he had many a time said, he still says (verse 3), This city shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon; though it hold out long, it will be taken at last; so that every man might have his own life given him for a prey if he would be advised (verse 2). The princes persist in their malice against Jeremiah. They represented him to the king as a dangerous man, disaffected to his country and government; he seeks not the welfare of this people, but the hurt—an unjust insinuation, for no man had laid out himself more for the good of Jerusalem than he had done. H.—This charge of high treason kept out of view the counsel of the Lord, and gave no credit to Jeremiah’s claim of being sent of God to say these very words. It was not strange that, from their wicked standpoint, they should take the view they did. The strangeness and the guilt all lie in their disregard of the manifest proofs that Jeremiah spake from the Lord. The worst fact in their case was, that they had no heart to hear what God had said. In this lay their damning sin. Most righteously this became their ruin. H. C.

5. The king is not he that can do anything against you.** The king evidently speaks this in disgust with the princes for endeavoring to frustrate his clemency. He had once rescued Jeremiah out of their hands, and taken him under his royal protection. But his prerogative, he tells them, was likely to avail but little, when opposed by their obstinate and repeated importunities. The power was in reality theirs, and not his. Blayney.

7-9. Among all the royal household, and throughout the king’s court, no one is found to exhibit the spirit of the good Samaritan save this Ethiopian eunuch. The subsequent notice of him (39:15-18) shows that he put his trust in the Lord, a man of true piety, whom the Lord graciously preserved amid the general slaughter of the king’s household. To all the other discomforts and miseries of the prophet’s situation was added hunger. On this plea specially the eunuch urges the king to order his release, for at this time no bread remained in the city (cf. 37:21). H. C.—Ebed-melech was an Ethiopian, a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, and yet had in him more humanity, and more divinity too, than native Israelites had. Christ found more faith among Gentiles than among Jews. Ebed-melech lived in a wicked court and in a very corrupt, degenerate age, and yet had a great sense both of equity and piety. God has His remnant in all places, among all sorts. There were saints even in Cesar’s household. H.

17,18. This message the prophet had rerepeatedly given to the king and to his people. The Lord had fully purposed that the nation, unless saved by repentance, must fall before the Chaldean power. Their national pride repelled this advice; their infatuation plunged them deep in destruction. H. C.—The advice of Jeremiah clearly proves that the destruction of Zedekiah was not so determined but that he might have prevented it. The Divine threatenings and predictions and God’s knowledge of futurity do not deprive men of their liberty, since the evils with which they are threatened are brought on them by their own fault. Ostervald.

19,20. Some of Zedekiah’s people had already gone over to the Chaldeans against the will of their king, but according to the counsel of the Lord. The king anticipates and fears their taunts if he were to humble himself so low as to follow them. They might say, “And you too have come at last!” He is afraid the Chaldeans will deliver him into the hands of those Jews whom he would fain have punished for treason, and from whom he might therefore not unnaturally fear rough treatment. But it is always safe to obey God—a lesson which this king, alas! was slow to learn. H. C.

20-23. The pressing importunity with which Jeremiah followed the advice he had given the king. He assures him that if he would comply with the will of God herein the thing he feared should not come upon him (verse 20). Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, because it is His voice, so it shall be well unto thee. But he tells him what would be the consequence if he would not obey. He himself would fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, as implacable enemies, whom he might now make his friends, by throwing himself into their hands. H.

24-27. It was due to his timid fear of his princes (a fear unworthy of a king) that he devised this scheme for suppressing a part of the truth as to what had passed between himself and Jeremiah. A somewhat nice question of morals arises in cases of this sort on the point whether we are bound to tell the whole truth to men who demand it for a bad purpose; and if not, how far it is morally right to give or to favor the impression that we have told the whole truth when we have not. The latter is really the delicate point, for we readily assent to the doctrine that we are not bound, even though questioned, to tell all we know to all men under all circumstances.

28. So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken. This “court of the prison” was probably a less severe and close confinement than either “his dungeon and cabin” in the house of Jonathan (37:15, 16, 20) or the pit of mire, known as “the dungeon of Malchiah” (38:6-13). The original words might well be rendered, “The court of the guard-house.” In this state his friends seem to have had access to him, and he announced to them the words of the Lord. (Compare chap. 37:21 with chap. 38:1-3). H. C.

Jeremiah’s Purchase of a Field. His Prayer. His Prediction of Jerusalem’s Overthrow and Subsequent Rebuilding.

Embodied with the History, Vol. VII., page 436.