Jeremiah 37

CHAPTERS 3739THEME: Word of God destroyed; Jeremiah imprisoned but then released; Judah begins captivityWe move now into a new section of the book which places the emphasis on the historical events. Jeremiah could be saying, “I told you so,” but he is too much involved. He is crushed and broken by the message which he has had to give to the people and now by its fulfillment as the city that he loves is destroyed and the nation he loves goes into captivity. Jeremiah has been faithful in revealing God and acting as His witness. If you want to know how God feels about all that is taking place, look into the face of Jeremiah with the tears streaming down his cheeks. Over thirty years of ministry have gone by for Jeremiah. We saw him start as a young man of about twenty years of age, a young priest who was called to be a prophet of God. Now he is in prison, and the army of the king of Babylon is outside the walls of Jerusalem. They have been there for a long siege of eighteen months duration. Jeremiah gives some of this history in chapter 52, and more is recorded in 2 Kings and in 2 Chronicles. This is now the third and final time that Nebuchadnezzar has come down against Jerusalem. The other two times he had taken a certain number of the people captive and had placed Zedekiah on the throne as his vassal. Zedekiah wanted to get out from under the king of Babylon, so he made an overture to Pharaoh of Egypt. Pharaoh decided to come up to try to relieve Zedekiah. Of course, what he planned to do was to put Judah under the rule of Egypt. When Pharaoh came up to Jerusalem, the commanders of Nebuchadnezzar turned aside, and instead of besieging the city they withdrew. At this point it looked as if the prophecies of Jeremiah might be wrong. So God gave to Jeremiah this very strong word:

Jeremiah 37:7

The destruction of Jerusalem was determined by God. Even though it looked as if Babylon’s armies had been frightened away, they would be back. There are five recorded imprisonments of the prophet. The imprisonment described in this chapter was due to the fact that Jeremiah had said to the king that he was not to make an alliance with Pharaoh but was to surrender to Babylon.

Jeremiah 37:11

While the city is being relieved, Jeremiah comes out of Jerusalem to go up to his hometown of Anathoth. Now notice what happens

Jeremiah 37:13

He made the accusation against Jeremiah that he was going over to the enemy.

Jeremiah 37:14

Poor Jeremiah was not only put in prison, but he was put in the dungeonfor how long, we are not told. The next verse says only that it was for “many days.” This was a time of great suffering for Jeremiah, but God had not forgotten. He moved the king to call for him.

Jeremiah 37:17

Then Jeremiah takes this occasion to plead for his life:

Jeremiah 37:20

The king didn’t release him, but at least he saved his life.

Jeremiah 37:21

Jeremiah will remain in prison now until the armies of Babylon take the city of Jerusalem.