Jeremiah 34
OGCREVIEW OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I. Facts to Master
The time of the events recorded in chapter 34 (Jeremiah 34:1; Jeremiah 34:6-7).
Summary of Jeremiah’s message to king Zedekiah (Jeremiah 34:2-5).
The covenant which the nobles of Jerusalem made and then broke (Jeremiah 34:8-11).
The law regarding Hebrew slaves (Jeremiah 34:14).
The threat as regards the Chaldean army (Jeremiah 34:22).
The time when the incident recorded in chapter 35 took place (Jeremiah 35:1).
The group that Jeremiah was to take to the temple (Jeremiah 35:2).
That which Jeremiah was to offer these people (Jeremiah 35:2).
The distinguishing characteristics of the Rechabites (Jeremiah 35:6-7).
Name of the forefather who gave the Rechabites these commands (Jeremiah 35:6).
The blessing pronounced on the Rechabites be cause of their faithfulness to the command of their father. (Jeremiah 35:19).
The year when Jeremiah first committed his messages to writing (Jeremiah 36:1).
The length of time Jeremiah had thus far been preaching (Jeremiah 36:1).
The one to whom Jeremiah dictated the scroll (Jeremiah 36:4),
The reason Jeremiah could not himself proclaim the Word in the temple (Jeremiah 36:5-6).
That which the princes advise Baruch to do when they heard the words of the scroll (Jeremiah 36:19)
Time and place of the reading of the scroll be fore the king (Jeremiah 36:9; Jeremiah 36:22).
Reaction of Jehoiakim to the reading of the scroll (Jeremiah 36:23)
Commandment which came to Jeremiah after the destruction of the scroll (Jeremiah 36:27 ff.).
Prophecy regarding king Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 36:30).
II. Questions to Ponder
From independent research what can you discover about the famous Lachish Letters? Is Jeremiah mentioned in these letters?
What is meant by the burning of the fathers? (Jeremiah 34:5).
Why did the Jerusalem nobles suddenly release their Hebrew slaves and then just as suddenly re-enslave them? (Jeremiah 34:8-11).
What is meant by the expression cut the calf in twain and passed between the parts thereof? (Jeremiah 34:18).
Why is a covenant so sacred? (Jeremiah 34:15-16).
What valuable lessons can be learned from the Rechabites? Why were they in Jerusalem? Why does Jeremiah offer them wine? (Jeremiah 35:1-11).
What details can be deduced from chapter 36 about how a Biblical book was produced?
Jehoiakim has been called the first higher critic of the Bible. Is this an appropriate designation?
Chapter 36 contains the first recorded attempt to destroy the word of God. At what other periods of history have rulers attacked Scripture?
What Chapter s of the present book of Jeremiah were likely included in the scroll Jeremiah dictated to Baruch? How did the second edition of the book differ from the first?
Jeremiah 34:1-7
I. AN INCIDENT DURING THE FINAL SIEGE OF JERUSALEM Jeremiah 34:1-22
Chapter 34 contains two messages delivered during the final siege of Jerusalem. The first of these messages is directed to king Zedekiah (Jeremiah 34:1-7). According to Jeremiah 34:7 the message was delivered after Nebuchadnezzar had conquered all the outlying cities of Judah except Lachish and Azekah and was about ready to begin the assault against Jerusalem. According to the calculations of Finegan the siege of Jerusalem began on January 15, 588 B.C. The first message of Jeremiah then was delivered a short time before this date.
The second message in this chapter (Jeremiah 34:8-22) is directed to the people in general and the nobles in particular. In the summer of 588 B.C. the Egyptian army moved north to come to the aid of Zedekiah. The Chaldean army was forced to withdraw from Jerusalem to deal with the threat from the south. This second message of the prophet falls in the period just after the Chaldeans had been forced to lift their siege of Jerusalem.
**A. A Solemn Declaration Jeremiah 34:1-7
TRANSLATION**
(1) The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that were ruled by his hand and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against her cities, saying, (2) Thus says the LORD the God of Israel: Go and say to Zedekiah king of Judah and say unto him, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it. (3) And you shall not escape from his hand, but shall surely be taken and given into his hand; and eyeball to eyeball and face to face you shall speak to the king of Babylon, and you shall go to Babylon. (4) But hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the LORD concerning you: You shall not die with the sword. You shall die in peace. As they made burnings for your fathers, the kings who preceded you, so shall they make a burning for you. They will lament you by saying, Ah lord! Because I have spoken a word (oracle of the LORD). (6) And Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem (7) while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah which were left, against Lachish and Azekah, for they alone of the fortified cities of Judah were left.
COMMENTS
During the last days of Jerusalem Jeremiah had several conversations with the king Zedekiah. It is not easy to reconstruct the chronology of these interviews[297] but it is generally agreed that the present episode was one of the earliest. The message consists of two parts, condemnation and consolation.
[297] A probable reconstruction is: Jeremiah 21:1-10; Jeremiah 34:1-7; Jeremiah 32:3-5; Jeremiah 37:1-10; Jeremiah 37:16-21; Jeremiah 38:14-28.
The condemnatory word is first spoken concerning the city and then concerning the king. Again Jeremiah emphasizes that Jerusalem shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon but then he adds a new element. For the first time the king is told that Jerusalem would be burned with fire (Jeremiah 34:2). Zedekiah himself would be captured by the enemy. He would have to meet face to face the mighty Nebuchadnezzar against whom he had committed such a dreadful act of treachery in violating his solemn oath of allegiance. He would spend his last days as a captive in far away Babylon (Jeremiah 34:3). Apparently Jeremiah now regarded the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of a portion of the population as inevitable.
To his word of condemnation Jeremiah now appends a word of consolation to the hapless Zedekiah. The king would not die by the sword (Jeremiah 34:4) but would die in peace in captivity. He shall receive a royal funeral including the burning of spices[298] and appropriate lamentation[299] (Jeremiah 34:5). some commentators feel that this note of consolation to Zedekiah is conditional. Only if he surrenders immediately to Nebuchadnezzar will he be treated with due honor in life and death. This view may well be correct but it is not necessary. Zedekiah did spend his last years peacefully in Babylon and there is no reason to assume that he did not receive a royal burial in that land.
[298] That burnings of your fathers does not refer to cremation but to the burning of spices is made clear by 2 Chronicles 16:14; 2 Chronicles 21:19.
[299] Ah Lord is a phrase used in lamentation over a king who was respected. See Jeremiah 22:18.
Jeremiah 34:8-11
B. A Shameful Repudiation Jeremiah 34:8-11
TRANSLATION
(8) The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom, (9) so that each man would set free his Hebrew slave or handmaiden, that no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage. (10) And all the princes and all the people who entered into the covenant to set free his Hebrew slave or maidservant, that they might not enslave them anymore; they hearkened and set them free. (11) But after they had done this they changed their mind and caused the slaves and maidservants whom they had set free to return and forced them once more to become slaves and handmaids.
COMMENTS
Jeremiah 34:8-11 reveal the background of the blistering denunciation which is contained in the last half of the chapter. Here is recorded one of the most disgusting acts of hypocrisy ever recorded in the Bible. Israel, like other nations of the ancient Near East, had laws which permitted an impoverished man to sell himself into slavery. While this provision may seem harsh by western standards it was certainly a boon for the poor. Numerous invasions, enormous taxation and natural disasters (such as the drought mentioned in Jeremiah 14:1) would have reduced many Israelitesformer land ownersto abject poverty. The wealth of the nation such as it was seems to have been concentrated in the hands of a relatively few members of the aristocracy. Under such conditions, no doubt many Israelites found slavery an attractive alternative to starvation. However the law of Moses had strict regulations governing the servitude of fellow Hebrews. Such bond-slaves were to be released after six years of service unless, of course, they preferred to remain in this state (Exodus 21:5 f.; Deuteronomy 15:16 f.). The slave owners of Jerusalem had been guilty of violating these regulations, refusing to release their slaves at the end of the legally stipulated period.
When Jerusalem came under siege in January 588 B.C., king Zedekiah took the initiative in securing the release of these Hebrew bondsmen. First came the proclamation; each master proclaimed liberty, i.e., emancipated his slaves. Then, in the Temple in Jerusalem, the king and princes ratified the agreement by participating in ancient and solemn ceremonies. A calf was slaughtered and divided down the middle. One half was laid against the other with a passage between and the covenanters walked between the pieces. The significance of this act was probably that of an implied curse: May the party who breaks this covenant be cut in two even as the calf is divided. Perhaps an oath was actually repeated as the parties passed between the halves of the dead animal. By such a ceremony God’s covenant with Abraham had been ratified many years earlier (Genesis 15:9 f.).
What motivated the slave owners to suddenly comply with the law and release their slaves? Their impulse was born while the Chaldeans were pounding on the gates of Jerusalem. Perhaps the thought was that by correcting this open and flagrant abuse of the law they might influence God to intervene on their behalf and spare the city.[300] Their action might be likened to death-bed repentance or fox-hole religiona sort of last ditch effort in the time of peril. In the present crisis these men were willing to try anything, even the religion of Jeremiah. On the other hand other motives may have influenced the nobles in their, decision. With Jerusalem under siege the slaves might have become economic liabilities rather than assets. They would no longer be able to work the farm lands which lay outside the city walls. With food scarce within the city the slave owners were hard pressed to feed their own families let alone their slaves. Furthermore, freeing the slaves would make more men available for the defense of Jerusalem. A free man has more incentive to fight against the invaders than a slave. Thus Zedekiah probably did not have a great deal of difficulty in persuading the nobles to release their slaves.
[300] Sheldon Blank (op. cit., p. 47) sees a vague hint that this was the motivation in Jeremiah 34:15 which he translates, you turned today and did what pleased Me. Blank thinks this means, you did what you did in order to please Me.
When the Egyptian forces came to the relief of Jerusalem in the summer of 588 B.C. the siege of Jerusalem was temporarily lifted. The foolish inhabitants of the city thought that the danger was over. The enemy would not return! God had delivered them! Thinking that normal conditions would soon be restored, the nobles issued a new proclamation: they revoked the freedom they had given, broke their solemn pledge, and brought the former slaves into servitude again. Thus is the usual sequel of religious commitments made under duress. This shameful repudiation of a sacred covenant made with God and man incensed Jeremiah and he delivered the stinging rebuke which follows.
Jeremiah 34:12-22
C. A Stern Denunciation Jeremiah 34:12-22
TRANSLATION
(12) And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, (13) Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying, (14) At the end of seven years you shall set free each man his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you. When he has served you six years you shall set him free from serving you. But your fathers did not obey Me nor did they listen. (15) But as for you, you had turned and done that which is right in My eyes, to proclaim liberty each man to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before Me in the house that bears My name. But then you turned and profaned My name, and you caused each man his slave and handmaid, whom you had set free, to return, forcing them to be your slaves and handmaids. (17) Therefore thus says the LORD: You have not obeyed Me to proclaim liberty one to another. Behold, I am about to proclaim to you liberty (oracle of the LORD) unto the sword, pestilence and famine; and I will make you an object of terror to all kingdoms of the earth. (18) I will also make the men who transgressed My covenant, who did not perform the words of the covenant which they made before Me, like the calf which they cut in two when they passed between the partsthe princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the officers, the priests and all the people of the land who had passed between the parts of the calf(20) and I will give them into the hand of their enemies who seek their life. And their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth. (21) And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies who seek their life, even into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has gone up from you. (22) Behold, I am about to issue a command (oracle of the LORD), and I will bring them back unto this city; and they shall fight against it and capture it and burn it; and the cities of Judah I will make a desolation without inhabitant.
COMMENTS
God had something to say about the hypocritical actions of the Jerusalem nobles and Jeremiah was the instrument by which His word was spoken. In his message Jeremiah condemns the act of treachery which has just been committed (Jeremiah 34:12-16) and spells out the consequences of that act (Jeremiah 34:17-22).
Jeremiah begins his condemnation of the act of treachery by reminding his hearers of the stipulations of the Sinai covenant with regard to servitude. A Hebrew who served six years was to be released in the seventh year (Jeremiah 34:13-14). Apparently this law had been generally ignored because Jeremiah says the fathers of his hearers refused to hearken to this commandment of God (Jeremiah 34:14). God had actually been pleased that finally the nobles, whatever their ulterior motives, had compiled with His law and had released their slaves (Jeremiah 34:15). But the wrath of God was kindled when these nobles went back on their word. Since the nobles had pledged in the name of God and in the house of God to release their slaves, Jeremiah charges that they had profaned the name of God.[301]
[301] The idea that God’s name suffers profanation because of His people has two different meanings in the Old Testament. (a) God is defamed by the shameful conduct of his people (Leviticus 18:21; Leviticus 19:12; Leviticus 20:3; Leviticus 21:6; Leviticus 22:2; Leviticus 22:32; Amos 2:7; Jeremiah 34:16; Ezekiel 20:39; Malachi 1:12). (b) God is also disgraced because of the shameful condition of his people (Isaiah 48:11; Ezekiel 36:16 ff; Ezekiel 23 Eze 20:8-10; Ezekiel 20:14; Ezekiel 20:22; Ezekiel 39:7). Sheldon Blank has a helpful discussion of the whole concept though written from an extremely liberal standpoint. See Prophetic Faith in Isaiah (New York: Harper, 1958), pp. 117-126.
Such an act of betrayal and treachery as committed by the nobles of the land will have serious consequences. The paragraph begins with a rather sarcastic word. Since the nobles had failed to proclaim liberty to their slaves in accordance with both the ancient and the recent covenant, God will proclaim liberty to them. They will be free from those obligations which they regard as unbearable; they will be free from the gracious protection of the Lord. God will deliver them over to that fourfold alliance of evils: sword, pestilence, famine and captivity (Jeremiah 34:17). Freedom from God, from divine obligations and restraint, is not true freedom at all. The cruel taskmaster of sin will take an awful toll in the life of that individual who declares his independence from God.
The punishment of the hypocritical covenanters will be appropriate to the crime that was committed. They had piously passed between the halves of the calf they had cut in two and in so doing had pronounced upon themselves a self-malediction if they should be unfaithful to the terms of the covenant. Just as that calf had been slain, so they would be given over into the hands of the Chaldeans who would slay them. Like the carcasses of animals, their bodies would be left unburied, exposed to the ravaging appetite of scavenger birds and beasts (Jeremiah 34:20).
This paragraph closes with a specific word for Zedekiah the king and a specific word about the Babylonian armies which have withdrawn from the siege of Jerusalem. King Zedekiah would be handed over to the Chaldeans along with his princes (Jeremiah 34:21). The Chaldeans will return; Jerusalem will fall. The city will be burned and left desolate (Jeremiah 34:22). The word of God spoken by his prophet some forty years earlier will be fulfilled.
II. AN ILLUSTRATION FROM AN EARLIER PERIOD CHAPTER 35
At this point Jeremiah or the final editor of the book introduces an incident from an earlier period of the prophet’s ministry to illustrate the disobedience of the people. Chapter 35 is unconnected chronologically with the preceding and following Chapter s. The event here narrated dates back to the reign of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 34:1; Jeremiah 34:11) who ruled from 609 to 598 B.C. It is difficult to place the episode more precisely with the reign of that king. Jehoiakim started his reign as an Egyptian vassal (2 Kings 23:35). After the battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C. he swore allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar and remained faithful to him for three years, from 604 to 601 B.C. (2 Kings 24:1). Encouraged by an Egyptian defeat of Nebuchadnezzar late in 601 B.C. Jehoiakim rebelled against his overlord. Nebuchadnezzar, having returned to Babylon to lick the wounds of defeat, was unable to return to Jerusalem to deal with his rebellious vassal. In the meantime he sent local garrisons of Chaldean troops along with Syrian, Ammonite and Moabite mercenaries to raid Judah and harass Jehoiakim (2 Kings 24:2). It was probably to this period of Jehoiakim’s reign (599 or 598 B.C.) that the present episode is to be assigned.