Jeremiah 21
OGCREVIEW OF CHAPTER TWELVE
I. Facts to Master.
The occasion of the oracle addressed to king Zedekiah (Jeremiah 21:1-2).
The two ways God placed before the people (Jeremiah 21:8),
That which Jeremiah urged the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do (Jeremiah 21:9).
The identity of Shallum and his fate (Jeremiah 22:11-12).
The type of burial predicted for Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 22:19).
Identity of the lovers in Jeremiah 22:20-21.
Identity of Coniah and his fate (Jeremiah 22:25).
Identity of the shepherds who had scattered the flock of God (Jeremiah 23:2).
Description of the King whom God would raise Up (Jeremiah 23:5).
Three activities of the coming King (Jeremiah 23:5).
The name of the coming King (Jeremiah 23:6).
The group of leaders to whom a long sermon is addressed in chapter 23.
The two wicked cities to which God compares the inhabitants of Judah (Jeremiah 23:14).
The basic message of the false prophets (Jeremiah 23:17).
Test of the veracity of a prophet (Jeremiah 23:22).
Two metaphors depicting the Word of God (Jeremiah 23:29).
The expression which Jeremiah is no longer to use (Jeremiah 23:33-36).
That which the Lord showed Jeremiah (Jeremiah 24:1-2).
The significance of the good and bad figs (Jeremiah 24:4-10).
The date of the messages in chapter 25 (Jeremiah 25:1).
The length of time Jeremiah had thus far been preaching (Jeremiah 25:3).
The commander of the armies of the north (Jeremiah 25:9).
The length of time the nations would serve the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 25:11).
That which would transpire after the seventy years (Jeremiah 25:12-14).
That which Jeremiah was to cause the nations to drink (Jeremiah 25:15).
II. Questions to Ponder.
Was Jeremiah a traitor in view of the counsel which he offered the people in time of war? Jeremiah 21:9.
To the reign of what king can Jeremiah 21:11 to Jeremiah 22:9 be as signed? In this passage what is (a) the exhortation, (b) the promise, (c) the warning?
What can you deduce about the reign of Jehoiakim from Jeremiah 22:13-17?
Did Jehoiachin have children? See Jeremiah 22:30; 1 Chronicles 3:17-18; and Jehoiachin tablets in Documents from Old Testament Times. pp. 84-86. In what sense would he be childless?
What is the New Exodus predicted in Jeremiah 23:8? How does it exceed the great Exodus from Egypt?
Why does Jeremiah react as he does in Jeremiah 23:9?
How were the prophets of Jerusalem worse than the prophets of Samaria? Jeremiah 23:13-14.
By what methods did the false prophets try to imitate the true prophets? Is this true today as well? see Jeremiah 23:23-32.
Why is Jeremiah told to abandon the prophetic terminology burden of the Lord? (Jeremiah 23:33-38) What good Bible terms are misused or misapplied today? Should such terms continue to be used by New Testament Christians?
Should chapter 25 be dated before or after the battle of Carchemish? See Jeremiah 25:1.
Did Jeremiah literally take a cup and pass it among the nations? (Jeremiah 25:15; Jeremiah 25:17; Jeremiah 25:28) How might this have been possible?
What peculiarity is to be found in the Septuagint version of chapter 25?
Who was the king of Sheshach? Jeremiah 25:26.
What judgment is being described in Jeremiah 25:30-38?
SPECIAL STUDY JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES AND THE SEVENTY YEARS PROPHECY
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have made Jeremiah’s seventy years prophecy the basis for all chronology prior to 539 B.C., the year that Babylon fell to Cyrus. They assume that the seventy years are to be counted back from 537 B.C., the date they assign to the return of the Jews in the first year of Cyrus. This yields the date 607 for the 18th (or 19th) year of Nebuchadnezzar when Jerusalem was destroyed (Jeremiah 52:29; Jeremiah 52:12). So certain are the Witnesses that their methodology is correct that they are willing to toss aside all the standard chronological works and declare that they alone have the key to Bible chronology.
It is important to note that these students accept 539 B.C. uncritically as an absolute date from which to begin their count. They never state WHY they accept 539 as a starting point or WHY 539 is an absolute date. They fail to realize that 539 was reached by the same methodology which they reject for the years prior to 539. The truly absolute years in antiquity are those in which astronomers can pin-point an eclipse of the sun. The year 539 was not such a year. It was computed by adding together the regnal years of dozens of kings, both Assyrian and Babylonian and adding them (or subtracting them as the case might be) to some absolute year. Now if this process is accepted for arriving at the year 539, why is it invalid for the years prior to 539? Since the Jehovah’s Witnesses repudiate standard chronology, they are faced with the embarrassing prospects of talking about kings who were taken off thrones before they were ever put on thrones and men dying before they were born. Though they never mention this in their books, the Witnesses are forced to redate every Egyptian, Assyrian, Hittite, and Mitannian king prior to 539. It never seems to occur to these people that their understanding of Jeremiah’s seventy year prophecy might just be faulty. Most Bible believing Christians are perfectly at home within the framework of the standard chronology which has been painstakingly established by means of astronomy, archaeology, and scientific historiography. They find the seventy years prophecy a marvelous confirmation of the word of God. They do not have to resort to manipulation of ancient history and juggling of years as do the Jehovah’s Witnesses. In the interest of truth, and with a sincere desire to aid those who want to know the plain truth, this special study is offered.
I. WHAT WAS THE SEVENTY YEARS PERIOD?
In order to ascertain the precise significance of the seventy years period it will be necessary to examine carefully each of the verses in the Old Testament which speak of this period.
When seventy years are completed for (literally, to) Babylon, I will visit you (the Israelites).
This verse shows that the seventy years is allotted to Babylon i.e., to the world dominion of the Neo-Babylon empire. NO MENTION IS MADE HERE OF ANY SEVENTY YEARS OF DESOLATION IN JERUSALEM.
NOW I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. All nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes.
Surely this passage is dealing with the seventy years. The nations will serve Nebuchadnezzar for a set period of time. At the end of that period of time, Babylon will be overthrown. Now this prophecy was given in the reign of Zedekiah (Jeremiah 27:3) and it appears that the prophet is saying that the period of service to the Babylonian king has already begun.
This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste.
Again these verses do not assert that the land of Judah and Jerusalem would lie desolate for seventy years. The seventy years are THE YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE KING OF BABYLON BY ALL THE NATIONS. After the seventy years, the king of Babylon will be destroyed.
The seventy year period need not be a literal period of that length. It may be a symbolic number or round number. The use of round numbers in the Bible is not uncommon. In Genesis 15:13, for example, the figure 400 years is given for the length of the Egyptian bondage of the Israelites. This Egyptian bondage actually lasted 430 years (Exodus 12:40). It is not difficult to discover why the figure seventy years was chosen by Jeremiah for his prophecy of the LENGTH OF BABYLONIAN WORLD POWER. Seven in the Bible is a perfect number and ten appears to be the number of worldly power. So ten times seven is seventy, the complete number of years which God allotted to the dominion of Babylon. The number seventy in Jeremiah’s prophecy is symbolic and there is no reason to assume a priori that it was ever intended to be understood as seventy years to the day.
D. Daniel 9:2
In the first year of his reign (Darius, the Mede) I Daniel perceived in the books the number of years which, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
This passage simply tells us that at the end of seventy years the desolation in Palestine must cease. Jeremiah had predicted that at the end of the seventy years of Babylonian world dominion, God would destroy the king of Babylon and deliver His people from bondage (Jeremiah 29:10 f). Thus Daniel knew that shortly the Jews would be returning to rebuild the waste places of Judah since the seventy years were completed.
II. WHEN DID THE SEVENTY YEARS BEGIN?
The seventy years could not have begun before the fourth year of Jehoiakim, for this was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 25:1). The Babylonian king took the throne in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (605 B.C.). This was also the year in which he invaded the Hatti land (Syria-Palestine) and received heavy tribute from ALL the kings there.[232] In this year he besieged the city of Jerusalem, succeeded in binding Jehoiakim the king of Judah with fetters to carry him to Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:6-7) but finally allowed him to remain as a Babylonian vassal of Judah (2 Kings 24:1). Apparently Jehoiakim was forced to render tribute to his new master and to send hostages to Babylon according to the custom of that time (Daniel 1:1-2).
[232] See Documents from Old Testament Times, op cit.,p. 79.
Thus the FOURTH YEAR OF JEHOIAKIM (first year of Nebuchadnezzar) was a crucial year for Judah. This was the year that brought Jerusalem, and Judah under the yoke of Babylon. It was the beginning of the service to the king of Babylon prophesied by Jeremiah.
The prophecy of the seventy years was first given in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 25:1). Jeremiah predicted that Nebuchadnezzar would come (Jeremiah 25:9) and he did come, that very year. This was the year that Judah and all the kingdoms of Syria-Palestine began to SERVE THE KING OF BABYLON (Jeremiah 25:11). The nations which Jeremiah had in mind are mentioned in Jeremiah 25:18-26. These nations were not all conquered nor left desolate in a year or even several years. They were gradually brought under the control of Babylon. But when did this service to the king of Babylon begin? Most of the nations mentioned came under the control of Babylon in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign when he marched victoriously in the Hatti land. The city of Ashkelon, mentioned by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:20), was in fact CAPTURED in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar.[233] Ashkelon’s service to the king of Babylon must have begun in that year not some nineteen years later as required in the chronology of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
[233] Ibid.
Jeremiah seems to indicate that he considered the desolation to have already begun in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. In Jeremiah 25:18 the prophet states: Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and princes, to make them a desolation, and a waste, a hissing and a curse AS AT THIS DAY. Since this prophecy was delivered in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 25:1) what more conclusive proof is needed on the matter of when the desolations were to begin?
Generally in Bible prophecy desolation which is predicted upon a country comes on the country gradually, not all at once. Take the Babylon prophecies for instance. At the end of seventy years God promises to visit Babylon and make it an everlasting desolation (Jeremiah 25:12). But at the end of seventy years Babylon was merely captured. It did not become a desolation immediately. For some years the city thrived but during all those years Babylon was GRADUALLY becoming a complete desolation. The same applies to Jerusalem and Judah. With Nebuchadnezzar’s attack in 605 the land GRADUALLY began to become desolate. That desolation of course reached its height in 587 when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. But the desolation BEGAN in 605, the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.
The desolation which Jerusalem was to experience was to involve MORE THAN ONE KING. The plural kings and princes in Jeremiah 25:18 is important. Again this points to 605, the fourth year of Jehoiakim (first year of Nebuchadnezzar), as the beginning of the seventy year period. Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah would all be involved in the fulfillment. Even when Jehoiakim attempted to rebel against the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar sent warriors to ravish the land of Judah (2 Kings 24:1-2). How could the desolation of Jerusalem be said to involve KINGS if in fact it began in the 11th year of Zedekiah, last king of Judah, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses claim.
Important in this discussion is the passage found in 2 Chronicles 36:20-21,
He (Nebuchadnezzar) took into exile unto Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they were servants to him and his sons until the dominion of the kingdom of Persia (21) to fulfill (literally, to fill up) the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept its sabbaths, to fulfill (literally, to fill up) the seventy years. At the time of the destruction of Jerusalem Nebuchadnezzar took additional exiles to Babylon. There they were servants to the king of Babylon. This FILLED UP the prophecy of Jeremiah. This verse does not say that the service to the king of Babylon BEGAN with the deportation after the destruction of Jerusalem. Both the Bible and secular history agree that the Jews BEGAN to serve the king of Babylon some nineteen years earlier. This service in exile was to FILL UP the seventy years prophecy of Jeremiah, i.e., to fill up the remaining years of service to the king of Babylon. The service to the king of Babylon was to last until the beginning of the dominion of the Persian empire.
This service to the king of Babylon was also to last until the land of Palestine had enjoyed its sabbaths. This is an obvious reference to Leviticus 25. The Law of Moses provided for a sabbatical year (every seventh year) in which the land went untilled. At the end of seven sabbaths of years (49 years) a year of jubilee was celebrated in which captives went free and land reverted back to the original owners. According to the standard chronology Jerusalem fell in 587 and the captives returned home to claim their land in 538, exactly 49 years. During the last part of Jeremiah’s seventy year period the land of Palestine did keep its sabbaths-seven sabbatical years of time. These 49 years of sabbath rest for the land and continued service to the king of Babylon in Babylonia, filled up the remaining portion of Jeremiah’s prophecy of seventy years of service to the king of Babylon.
In the first year of Cyrus (538-537) the captives experienced their jubilee yearthey were released from their servitude and returned to their original possessions.
III. WHEN DID THE SEVENTY YEARS END?
The seventy years plainly ended with the overthrow of Babylon, not the return of the Jews as claimed by the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Then AFTER seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon. Babylon was punished in 539. Thus this must be the end of the seventy year period. The Jehovah’s Witnesses acknowledge that Babylon fell in 539. They claim that the seventy years began in 607. This is a period of only 68 years. How do the Witnesses explain that AFTER seventy years the king of Babylon will be punished? Was Jeremiah wrong? OR are the Jehovah’s Witnesses wrong when they insist on interpreting the seventy years literally as seventy years to the day?
When seventy years are completed FOR BABYLON, I will visit you (the Israelites). The seventy year period allotted to Babylon ended when Babylon fell in 539. It is AFTER that period is completed that God visits His people.
NOW in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom.
The proclamation of Cyrus releasing the Jews filled up the words of Jeremiah because Jeremiah had predicted that AFTER the seventy year period the Jews would be released. This verse does not indicate that the year or so between the fall of Babylon and the actual return of the Jews to Palestine was to be INCLUDED in the seventy year period as the Witnesses claim.
IV. THE SEVENTY YEARS OF INDIGNATION
In addition to Jeremiah’s prophecy of the seventy years of service to the king of Babylon there is a second, altogether different, seventy years period mentioned in Zechariah 1:12; Zechariah 7:5.
How long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which You have had indignation these seventy years?
This question was asked by the angel of the Lord in a vision seen by Zechariah in the second year of Darius, 520 B.C. Jerusalem still had not been fully restored. The Temple had not even been built yet. Because the Temple of the Lord was being neglected the people were under the wrath of God. God had sent a desolation (Hebrew chorev). See Haggai 1:3-11. There was drought and crop failure. This was the seventy years of indignation which began with the destruction of the Temple and ended with the rebuilding of that same Temple in 516 B.C.
This passage alone is sufficient to prove that the Jehovah’s Witnesses chronology is completely wrong. They place the destruction of the Temple in 607. But the Temple was not rebuilt until 516, a period of NINETY-ONE YEARS. How can the Witnesses fit this seventy year period mentioned by Zechariah into their chronology?
Say to all the people of the land to the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted?
Again the seventy year period since the destruction of the Temple is referred to. In this chapter the people are concerned as to whether it is any longer necessary to observe certain fast days now that the Temple was being rebuilt. For seventy years, 587-516 they had been observing fasts in the 5th and 7th month (Jeremiah 7:5) as well as in the 4th and 10th month (Jeremiah 8:19). These are not fasts required in the Law of Moses but fasts which commemorated events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem. They had a fast to bewail the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem (10th month), the breech in the walls of Jerusalem (4th month), the burning of the city (5th month), and the death of Gedaliah (7th month). Now that the Temple was being rebuilt they wanted to know whether or not they should keep these fasts.
Again let it be noted that the period from the destruction of the Temple to the rebuilding of some was seventy years, NOT NINETY-ONE YEARS AS NECESSITATED BY THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES.
V. OBJECTIONS To THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESS-’ VIEW THAT JERUSALEM WAS DESTROYED AND ZEDEKIAH REMOVED FROM THE THRONE IN 607 B.C.
NOTE: Page references in the following comments refer to Babylon the Great bus Eden published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
The Jehovah Witnesses have a profound misunderstanding of the means by which ancient chronology is established. On page 138 the writers assert that chronologers base their calculations on the astronomical Canon of Ptolemy whose system of astronomy has long since been exploded (p. 138). As a matter of fact the exact reigns of certain Assyrian kings can be computed on the basis of astronomical data contained in Assyrian King Lists which are contemporary with the events which they recorded. For example, an eclipse of the sun is recorded in the 9th year of the Assyrian king Ashurdan III. By means of astronomy this can be computed to have been on June 15, 763. This date is confirmed by the Canon of Ptolemy. From this date the reigns of all the Assyrian kings and neo-Babylonian kings can be computed by means of various king lists and building inscriptions. It is interesting that one of the truly absolute dates in antiquity Isaiah 853 the famous battle of Qarqar at which king Ahab was present. He is actually named in the records of king Shalmaneser III. But according to the Jehovah’s Witnesses Ahab died in 922SIXTY-NINE YEARS BEFORE HE WAS PRESENT AT THE BATTLE OF QARQAR. The misunderstanding of Jeremiah’s seventy year prophecy has thrown off the chronology of the Witnesses.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses twist the Scriptures to make them fit predetermined theories of history. On page 136-37 the Witnesses assert that there were no captives taken by Nebuchadnezzar in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. In order to maintain this false position the Witnesses twist Daniel 1:1. They assert that the third year of Jehoiakim mentioned here is not the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign but the third year of his vassalship to Nebuchadnezzar.
BUT NO OTHER PLACE IN THE BIBLE OR IN THE LITERATURE OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST DID ANY KING DATE HIS REIGN ACCORDING To HIS VASSALSHIP TO A FOREIGN RULER.
Here again the Witnesses reveal their ignorance of simple facts about the ancient Near East. To any unprejudiced mind Daniel 1:1 plainly means that Nebuchadnezzar did take hostages to Babylon in the first year of his reign which was also the 3rd year of Jehoiakim by the Babylonian method of reckoning regnal years.
In repudiating the scientific chronology prior to 539 the Witnesses make no attempt to point out where the reasoning of the historians has gone astray (p. 372). Now there is nothing wrong with suggesting that every chronologer outside the Witnesses-’ sect is wrong. But it would only seem fair that anyone who would make such a suggestion would indicate where everyone else went wrong in their thinking. THIS THE WITNESSES NEVER BOTHER TO DO. It is known from Babylonian records that Nebuchadnezzar reigned 43 years, his son Amel-Marduk reigned two years. The next king reigned 4 years, his son three months and Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, seventeen years. This totals 66+ years. BUT THE WITNESSES MAKE THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE LAST FOR 85 YEARS. Where do these additional years fit in? Was there some king who reigned for 20 years about whom the cuneiform sources, the Bible, the classical historians, and Jewish tradition knew nothing? What king that reigned 20 years could have been COMPLETELY forgotten? Did any of the five kings mentioned above reign more than the time assigned to them by the historians? If so, which one? The Witnesses are silent. Not one shred of proof is offered. The Witnesses ASSUME (without evidence) that the Hebrew word translated desolation means without inhabitant. They further ASSUME that when the Jews made their hasty exit to Egypt following the death of Gedaliah that ALL the people left the country. Judah was left without inhabitant (pp. 163, 64).
Now these ASSUMPTIONS are hard to reconcile with the plain statement of Jer 52:30 which records a deportation of Jews to Babylon FIVE YEARS AFTER JERUSALEM WAS DESTROYED. But here again the Witnesses twist the evidence. They assert without a shred of proof that these were not taken off the land of Judah but were captured when Nebuchadnezzar made nations that bordered on the desolated land of Judah drink of the bitter potion of being violently conquered (p. 167). Any unprejudiced mind can see here an effort to MAKE the Bible say what one WANTS it to say. Jeremiah 52:28-30 records three deportations of the Jews, the first two of which were off the land of Judah. By what rule of interpretation is one to assume that the third deportation mentioned here was not off the land of Judah?
Conclusion
There are in the Bible TWO SEVENTY YEAR periods. The first of these was prophesied by Jeremiah in 605 and began in that year. It lasted until 539, the year in which the Neo-Babylonian Empire came to an end. The prophet uses a symbolic number to represent the period of Babylonian domination. The second seventy year period began with the destruction of the Temple (587) and lasted until the rebuilding of the Temple (516). The Jehovah’s Witnesses declare that there were 2,520 years in the times of the Gentiles. (Your will be done On Earth, p. 104). Adding these years to 607 they arrive at the year 1914 for the beginning of the reign of Christ. But since the Witnesses are wrong about the date of the fall of Jerusalem, then THE WITNESSES MUST BE WRONG ABOUT THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES ENDING IN 1914.
Now since the Witnesses have been using both 607 and 1914 as foundation stones in their system of prophetic interpretation, and since they are WRONG on both dates, one certainly has ground for suspicion that their whole system of prophetic interpretation is questionable.
Jeremiah 21:1-2
CHAPTER TWELVE
POLITICAL PRONOUNCEMENTS OF THE PROPHET
Jeremiah 21:1 to Jeremiah 25:38
The oracles in Chapter s 21-25 are concerned mainly with political matters. These materials come from the reigns of three kings and may be arranged chronologically according to the following scheme:
- From the reign of Jehoiakim
- From the reign of Jehoiachin
- From the reign of Zedekiah
In addition to these oracles, other literary elements are clearly present in this section including narrative (Jeremiah 21:1-2; Jeremiah 25:1-2), autobiography (Jeremiah 23:9), vision (Jeremiah 24:1-2) and action parable (Jeremiah 25:15-29). Topically this section of the book can be divided into two subdivisions: (1) God and the leaders of Judah (Jeremiah 21:1 to Jeremiah 24:10); and (2) God and the World Order (Jeremiah 25:1-38).
I. GOD AND THE LEADERS OF JUDAH
Jeremiah 21:1 to Jeremiah 24:10
Chapter s 21-24 contain mainly oracles addressed to the leaders of Judah particularly the kings and the prophets. The material is not in chronological order as already noted. The section begins with a reply to king Zedekiah (Jeremiah 21:1-14) which is followed by general remarks directed to the royal house (Jeremiah 22:1-9). Standing next are three oracles directed to Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin (Jeremiah 22:10-30). chapter 23 begins with the promise of an ideal ruler who is to come (Jeremiah 23:1-8) and continues with a lengthy condemnation of the false prophets (Jeremiah 23:9-15). The section closes with a vision and the interpretation thereof (Jeremiah 24:1-10).
A. A Reply to King Zedekiah Jeremiah 21:1-14
The time Isaiah 588 B.C. A new Pharaoh had taken the throne, Pharaoh Hophra (588-569 B.C.), known in secular literature as Apries. Hoping to re-establish Egypt as a world power, he at once challenged the Babylonian supremacy. By means of lavish promises Hophra secured the support of a number of leaders in Jerusalem. Zedekiah eventually gave in to the political pressure to rebel against Babylon. This act of indiscretion brought on the invasion of the great Nebuchadnezzar. City after city in Judah was falling to the Chaldeans. Having no one to whom to turn except the man of God, Zedekiah sent a delegation to Jeremiah. The present paragraph contains (1) the appeal of the king (Jeremiah 21:1-2), (2) the answer of the prophet (Jeremiah 21:3-7), (3) advice to the people (Jeremiah 21:8-10), and (4) the alternatives for the royal house (Jeremiah 21:11-14).
- The appeal of the king (Jeremiah 21:1-2)
TRANSLATION
(1) The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying, (2) Please inquire of the LORD on our behalf, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is fighting against us; perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to His wondrous works and cause him to go up from us.
COMMENTS
Zedekiah selected two men to form his delegation to the prophet. Representing the civil authority was Pashur the son of Malchiah. This is not the same Pashur who appeared in Jeremiah 20:1 as a high ranking priest and false prophet. Representing the ecclesiastical authority was Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah who is mentioned again in Jeremiah 29:25 and Jeremiah 37:3. He was second in rank to the high priest (Jeremiah 52:24). Since Jeremiah had been for so long public enemy number one to the leaders in Jerusalem, it must have been very embarrassing for them to now seek him out for counsel and guidance.
The delegation was in no position to make demands. Rather they humbly petition the prophet to inquire of the Lord for them. The word inquire here is a technical word in the Hebrew which means to seek an oracle. They were seeking a revelation from God. These men do not come as penitent sinners casting themselves on the mercy of God. They say nothing in their conversation about forgiveness or repentance. They seem to be expecting some positive response on the part of God. No doubt they fully expected Him to intervene on behalf of Jerusalem in the present crisis even as He had done many years before when Sennacherib the Assyrian had besieged the city (2 Kings 19:35). Zedekiah and his counselors and court theologians could not believe that God had abandoned them. They seem to have forgotten all that Jeremiah had been saying throughout his ministry.
The spelling of the name of the Chaldean king in this verse should be noted. This is the spelling which predominates in Jeremiah and Daniel and is the only form in Ezekiel. Actually this form of the name is closer to the Babylonian original Nabukudurri-uzur. In the Bible the spelling Nebuchadnezzar is also found.
Jeremiah 21:3-7
- The answer of the prophet (Jeremiah 21:3-7)
TRANSLATION
(3) But Jeremiah said unto them, Thus shall you say to Zedekiah: Thus says the LORD God of Israel: I am about to turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will gather them into the midst of this city. (5) And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and in fury and in great wrath. (6) And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of great pestilence. (7) And after this (oracle of the LORD) I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even those who remain in this city from the plague, the sword, and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, even into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not have pity upon them nor mercy nor compassion.
COMMENTS
Jeremiah was not impressed or flattered by the coming of this royal delegation. He does not hesitate a moment to fire back an oracle to the king. Those soldiers who are attempting to defend the walls of Jerusalem will not be successful. God Himself will turn back i.e., render ineffective or inoperative, the defensive weapons of the armies of Judah. God will actually gather the Chaldean soldiers into the walls of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 21:4). Far from intervening on behalf of Judah the Lord will actually be fighting against them, His outstretched hand and strong arm which had on so many occasions in the past been directed against the enemies of the nation (e.g., Deuteronomy 26:8) are now turned against Judah. He who was the Captain of the host of Israel is now leading the charge of the Chaldean enemy. He is still the God of might and miracle but He is now using that power in His wrath against His apostate people (Jeremiah 21:5).
Not only is God directing the Chaldean attack against Jerusalem, He is about to unleash from his arsenal the weapons of plague and pestilence against His people (Jeremiah 21:6). A city under siege in antiquity was especially vulnerable to the outbreak of death-dealing pestilence since the food, water and sanitary facilities of the city were cut off by the enemy. Furthermore many rural folks would flock to the city during the time of attack thus swelling the population and placing an extra strain upon the community resources. Those who survive the terrible siege with its bloody assaults, its plague and famine the Lord will give into the ruthless hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah the king and the royal household are specifically included in this threat. The Chaldean will have no mercy or compassion upon those who fall into his hands (Jeremiah 21:7).
Jeremiah 21:8-10
- The advice to the people (Jeremiah 21:8-10)
TRANSLATION
(8) And unto this people you shall say, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. (9) The one who remains in this city shall die by the sword or by the famine or by the pestilence; the one who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live, and his life shall be as spoils to him. (10) For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good (oracle of the LORD). Into the hand of the king of Babylon it shall be given, and he shall burn it with fire.
COMMENTS
To the gloomy message for king Zedekiah Jeremiah adds an oracle addressed to the people in general. Using the solemn language of Deu 30:15 ff. God places before His people the alternatives of life and death (Jeremiah 21:8). While it is clear that Jeremiah is referring to the Deuteronomy passage, he is using the word life in a more restricted sense. In Deuteronomy the word life meant prosperous existence whereas here the word life means escape from death. The way of death is to remain in the besieged city of Jerusalem; the way of life is surrender to the enemy (Jeremiah 21:9). Jeremiah gave this same advice on other occasions (e.g., Jeremiah 38:1; Jeremiah 38:17). It would appear that not a few Jews followed this advice (Jeremiah 38:19; Jeremiah 39:9; Jeremiah 12:15). Those who surrender (literally, fall away) to the enemy will be rewarded only by the preservation of their lives. They will be like the soldier who goes into battle expecting to be enriched from the spoils of the enemy but who in the end is happy to return without the loss of his life. Resistance is useless for God has set His face against the city of Jerusalem for evil i.e., to destroy it, rather than for good i.e., to deliver the place. By continuing the struggle the fanatical defenders of the city are in reality fighting against God. He will deliver Jerusalem into the hand of the king of Babylon. The torch will be put to the holy city (Jeremiah 21:10). While there may be hope for individuals if they surrender, the doom of the city as a whole is sealed.
Jeremiah 21:11-14
- The alternatives for the royal house (Jeremiah 21:11-14)
TRANSLATION
(11) And to the house of the king of Judah: Hear the word of the LORD! O house of David, thus says the LORD: Judge with justice in the morning and deliver the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor lest My wrath go forth like fire unquenchable because of the evil of your[217] deeds. (13) Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain (oracle of the LORD), who say, Who shall terrify us and who shall come into our habitation? (14) But I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds (oracle of the Lord); I will kindle a fire in her forest and it will consume all that is round about her.
[217] Another reading is their deeds.
COMMENTS
The third brief oracle which comes as a response to the inquiry of Zedekiah is a last ditch appeal to the royal house (Jeremiah 21:11). They can still save their city if they are willing to make a radical change in the national policy, Two things are required: First, they might be able to escape the unquenchable fire of divine wrath if they will immediatelyin the morningbegin to practice and encourage social justice. The king and his administration must judge with justice and deliver the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor (Jeremiah 21:12). The word oppressed comes from a root which means to take by force, tear away, seize. The oppressed, then are those who have had their rights or properties taken away by force, i.e., by crooked justice. The Old Testament prophets had much to say in the area of social ethics. They were ahead of their times. Many Christians do not seem to have caught up with them in concern for the unfortunate and downtrodden.
The second thing that the royal house must do if disaster is to be averted is to cease their insane and irrational confidence in the inviolability of Jerusalem. In Jeremiah 21:13 God declares that he is against Jerusalem, the valley and rock of the plain. Jerusalem and Mt. Zion rise abruptly out of the surrounding valleys. Hence Jerusalem is the inhabitant of the valley. The city is like an impregnable rock which juts up from a plain. The word plain does not necessarily mean a level place but a plateau, either level or hilly. Because of the superior defenses of the city the Jewish defenders were confident of their ability to withstand the invader. Who shall come into our habitation? they boasted. Such boasts would suggest that the siege was in its early stages at the time Zedekiah sent the delegation to meet with Jeremiah. The confidence manifested by the Jerusalem leadership was ill-founded in view of the fact that God was punishing His people. According to the fruit of your deeds points to the fact that the punishment would correspond to the sins committed against God and man. Because of all of her crimes God will kindle a fire in the forest of Jerusalem i.e., in the houses of the city, and that fire will consume everything. (Jeremiah 21:14).