Jeremiah 37

Jeremiah Chapter Thirty-Seven Verse 1 Jeremiah 37 AND This chapter and the next, record events in the life of Jeremiah during the final days of the siege of Jerusalem in the closing period of the reign of Zedekiah (circa 589 B.C.), which resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of many of its inhabitants to Babylon. In fact, “From this chapter to Jeremiah 44 (inclusive), we have little else than an account of events relating to the personal history of Jeremiah."[1]During this final siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah had evidently requested help from Pharaoh-Hophra who had come to the throne of Egypt that very year. He made a move as if to help Zedekiah and his Jerusalem defenders against the Babylonians, with the result that, for a short time only, Nebuchadnezzar lifted the siege and devoted his full attention to the forces of Pharaoh-Hophra. Some say that the Egyptian force was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, and others suppose that Pharaoh-Hophra withdrew without a battle. Either way, the result was an unqualified disaster for Zedekiah and Jerusalem. During that short interval, while the siege had been lifted, the events of this chapter occurred. We have already studied Jeremiah 34 which gives an account of the Jewish reaction to this temporary respite from the siege. They thought, “Hallelujah! The war is over”; and so they enslaved the servants whom they had just manumitted! Jeremiah 37:1-2“And Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiachim, whom Nebuchadnezzar 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 Jehovah, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.“This is a brief recapitulation of the history of the past eleven years. In the first capture of Jerusalem, the Babylonians had taken Coniah and carried him away to Babylon along with many other captives. Nebuchadnezzar placed Coniah’s uncle Zedekiah on the throne as a sworn vassal of the king of Babylon. He reigned eleven years, and the events of this chapter were very near the end of that period. Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar returned for the final siege which is under way in this chapter. Verse 3 “And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto Jehovah our God for us. Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people; for they had not put him into prison. And Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans that were besieging Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they brake up from Jerusalem.““Pharaoh …” (Jeremiah 37:5). “This was Pharaoh-Hophra, the Apries of Herodotus; his intervention availed nothing."[2] Feinberg stated that the “Babylonians defeated the Egyptian army”;[3] but Harrison was of the opinion that the Egyptians “withdrew without a battle."[4] History has no record of any battle having been fought; and the opinion of Harrison seems more likely to be correct. The reason for Zedekiah’s request for Jeremiah to pray for the city seems to have been grounded in the hope that God would again spare the city from destruction as he had done by a miraculous intervention in the death of the entire army of Sennacherib in 701 B.C. Indeed, such a thing might have happened, if Zedekiah had been the kind of man that Hezekiah was; but Jeremiah 37:2, above, indicates that Zedekiah and all the people were solidly committed to wickedness and rebellion against God. Verse 6 “Then came the word of Jehovah unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah 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. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city; and they shall take it, and burn it with fire. Thus saith Jehovah, Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans 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 would they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.“Contrary to what would most certainly have been in the prophet’s own personal best interests, Jeremiah gave the same message he had already repeated to Zedekiah so often, namely, that God would destroy the city by the hand of the Chaldeans; and that this would surely come to pass, even if Judah were to kill their whole army except a few wounded men. This shows how certain was the fulfillment of what God had prophesied, and it was even a more unfavorable answer than the one Zedekiah had received in Jeremiah 21:4-7. “Deceive not yourselves” (Jeremiah 37:9). “Satan himself, though he is the great deceiver, could not deceive us if we did not deceive ourselves. Sinners are their own destroyers, being their own deceivers, despite the fact of their being so frequently warned against it, and also having in their possession the Word of God, the great design of which is to undeceive them!"[5]This expression, “Do not deceive yourselves,” is a translation of a remarkable Hebrew idiom, the literal meaning of which is, “Do not cause your souls to rise (lift up)."[6]Jeremiah 37:10 stresses the certainty of fulfillment of God’s purpose of destroying the apostate Israel, which had long ago reached a point of no return in their iniquity. The prophecy states that even if the Babylonian army itself had been practically destroyed, with only a few wounded men surviving, even to that pitiful remnant God would give the victory over Jerusalem! Verse 11 “And it came to pass that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land 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 art falling away to the Chaldeans. Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him; so Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah and brought him to the princes. And the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonothan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.““Jeremiah went forth … to go into the land of Benjamin …” (Jeremiah 37:12) Jeremiah’s home was in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin, only a short distance from Jerusalem; and there were many excellent reasons which might have prompted Jeremiah to make that short trip. It is impossible for men to know exactly why he attempted to do so, for God’s Word does not tell us. “To receive his portion there …” (Jeremiah 37:12) This is ambiguous and has been variously understood as a reference to his seeking a supply of bread, or attending to that business about buying a field, or (following the KJV) merely seeking to find a place of retirement. Able scholars have supported all of these suppositions. “In the midst of the people …” (Jeremiah 37:12). Does this refer to the people in the midst of whom Jeremiah would “receive his portion,” or to the throng of people in the gate of Benjamin rushing out into the country during the intermission in the siege of the city in order to procure supplies to last through the siege? Again, no one can be sure of the meaning; but Dummelow’s comment seems to be fully justified. “There was naturally a rush to get out of the city on account of the confinement as well as the scarcity of provisions."[7]“Thou art falling away to the Chaldeans …” (Jeremiah 37:13). This charge of Irijah was a fabrication of his own evil mind, there being no evidence whatever to support his false allegation. “The charge was vicious and nonsensical; and some have suggested that Irijah’s charge was motivated by his desire for revenge against Jeremiah for predicting the death of his grandfather Hananiah (Jeremiah 28:16)."[8]“Irijah… brought him to the princes …” (Jeremiah 37:14). And what a dishonorable reprobate gang of “princes” these proved to be! Without mercy, reason, or honor, they scourged and imprisoned the man of God! They were a different group altogether from those princes who, at an earlier time, had treated Jeremiah with favor upon the occasion of Jehoiachim’s having the scroll read to him and then cutting it in pieces and burning it. Verse 16 “When Jeremiah was come into the dungeon-house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there 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 Jehovah? And Jeremiah said, There is. He said also, Thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. Moreover Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, Wherein have I sinned against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison? Where now are your prophets that prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?““The dungeon-house, and the cells …” (Jeremiah 37:16). The prison mentioned here was a huge cistern-like excavation beneath the house of Jonathan, with cells excavated into the side of it, having no light or ventilation. Inmates were expected to die from such treatment; and yet Jeremiah survived it many days. “The king asked him secretly in his house …” (Jeremiah 37:17). Zedekiah’s secrecy was due to his fear of his ministers who hated Jeremiah and who urgently desired to murder him; but the king’s conscience no doubt drove him to arrange this secret interview. Also, the conceited arrogance of the whole Jewish nation continued right down to the very day the city fell and Nebuchadnezzar removed the survivors to Babylon. Despite their consummate wickedness, they still believed Jerusalem and the temple were invulnerable and that God would yet spare them. Therefore Zedekiah asked, “Is there any word from Jehovah?” “Wherein have I sinned against thee, etc. …” (Jeremiah 37:18). It should be noted that Jeremiah here accused the king of being responsible for his imprisonment, pressing, at the same time, his plea of innocence from any wrong-doing. “Where now are your prophets that prophesied, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you …” (Jeremiah 37:19)? What a powerful argument is this! “The implication is, `Why should a truth-teller be in jail, and the tellers of lies be free’”?[19] Having laid such a foundation for it, Jeremiah skillfully presented his plea for mercy. Verse 20 “And now hear, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication be presented before thee, that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the 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.““Lest I die there …” (Jeremiah 37:20). This was no remote possibility but a practical certainty if Jeremiah had been returned to that evil dungeon in the house of Jonathan. “The king commanded …” (Jeremiah 37:21). Jeremiah had not asked to be released, recognizing the practical impossibility of it, due to the murderous hatred of Zedekiah’s ministers and advisers; and to the credit of the king he honored Jeremiah’s request for a less intolerable confinement. “The bakers’ street …” (Jeremiah 37:21). “This is the only place in Scripture where the name of a street in Jerusalem appears. It was a Near Eastern custom to name streets after those who worked in them."[10] We see the same phenomenon in New York City and other large cities where industries and professions tend to proliferate on certain streets. The garment district, the floral district, and the millinery streets, and the financial district are the result. This change for Jeremiah, placing him in the house of the guard, was fortunate indeed for mankind, because, as Payne Smith pointed out, “That was the place and the time during which Jeremiah wrote the cheerful prophecies contained in Jeremiah 30-33."[11] These included the magnificent prophecy of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31.

Jeremiah 37:1

Jeremiah 37:1, The last date we had was the fifth year of Jehoiakim (ch, 36: 9). That king reigned 11 years (2 Kl. 23: 36), and we are now in the first year of Zedekiah; hence a. period of 6 or 7 years has passed since the preceding chapter. Coniah (or Jehoiachin) is mentioned here, hut he reigned only 3 months so we may overlook him in making practical estimates of dates.

Jeremiah 37:2

Jeremiah 37:2. Zedekiah, like his predecessor, refused to hearken to the words of God which were spoken by tbe prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 37:3

Jeremiah 37:3. Notwithstanding his rebellious attitude Zedekiah had the boldness to send men to Jeremiah to ask for his prayers.

Jeremiah 37:4

Jeremiah 37:4. This verse is explanatory on the subject of Jeremiah’ s freedom. Some previous passages had spoken of his imprisonment, hut the parts of Jeremiah’ s book are not always chronological as to dates, This verse is necessary, therefore, to clarify the situation of the prophet.

Jeremiah 37:5

Jeremiah 37:5. The Egyptians were not favorably disposed toward the Babylonians, and when the latter had come up against Jerusalem, the Egyptians came up and offered to help the Jews to resist the siege. Seeing this, the Babylonians withdrew from Jerusalem for the time In order to meet the Egyptians; I shall quote some history on this event: “ Now when Zedekiah had preserved the league of mutual assistance that he had made with the Babylonians eight years, he brake it, and revolted to the Egyptians, in hopes, by their assistance, of overcoming the Babylonians. When the king of Babylon knew this, he made war against him. He laid his country waste, and took his fortified towns, and came to the city of Jerusalem itself to besiege it. But when the king of Egypt heard what circumstances Zedekiah was in, he took a great army with him, and came into Judea, as if he would raise the seige; upon which the king of Babylon departed from Jerusalem, and met the Egyptians, and joined battle with them, and beat them; and when he had put them to flight, he pursued them, and drove them out of all Syria [Palestine], Now as soon as the king of Babylon was departed from Jeru-salem, the false prophet deceived Zedekiah, and said, that the king of Babylon would not any more make war against him or his people, nor remove them out of their own country into Babylon; and that those men in captivity would return, with all those vessels of the temple, of which the king of Babylon had despoiled that temple.” Josephus, Antiquities, Book 10, Chapter 7, Section 3. I trust the reader will take careful note of this historical quotation as it explains many of the verses just now before us.

Jeremiah 37:6

Jeremiah 37:6, The prophet Jeremiah is often mentioned by name to distinguish him from false prophets. At the present time there were some of them trying to mislead the king of Judah into a false feeling of security.

Jeremiah 37:7

Jeremiah 37:7. There is no evidence that the prophet prayed for any special favor for Zedekiah as he evidently expected, but he did look to the Lord for Information. God told him to Inform the king of Judah that the army of Pharaoh, which was at that moment approaching the city of Jerusalem, would return to their own land and hence would he of no help for Zedekiah.

Jeremiah 37:8

Jeremiah 37:8. After the Chaldeans (or Babylonians) had driven Pharaoh back to his own land as per the preceding verse, they were to return to the siege about Jerusalem. (See the quotation from Josephus at verse 5.) This verse is a prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem which would complete the captivity. The fulfillment of this is recorded in 2 Kings 25:8-10.

Jeremiah 37:9

Jeremiah 37:9. Deceive not yourselves was said in allusion to the false prophets mentioned in verse 6. False assurances of peace are dangerous because they act as a hindrance to necessary reformation of life.

Jeremiah 37:10

Jeremiah 37:10. Wounded men do not literally rise up and perform military duty except by a miracle. The passage was so worded to mean that no apparent obstacle could prevent the Lord from carrying out his plans. The Chaldeans were bound to succeed now because God willed it to be so.

Jeremiah 37:11

Jeremiah 37:11. This refers to the time when the Babylonians withdrew from the siege of Jerusalem to meet the Egyptians, mentioned in verse 5 and illustrated with a quotation from Josephus.

Jeremiah 37:12

Jeremiah 37:12. The withdrawal of the Babylonian army gave Jeremiah an opportunity to get. out of Jerusalem. The land of Benjamin was near the capital city and was a part of the kingdom of Judah, hence he was still within his own country.

Jeremiah 37:13

Jeremiah 37:13. Jeremiah’s movement was misinterpreted by a guardsman and he was accused of trying to desert his country in favor of the enemy. This was not only a false accusation, but was foolish since the Benjamites were his fellow citizens.

Jeremiah 37:14

Jeremiah 37:14. Of course Jeremiah denied the accusation in strong terms, asserting that it was a falsehood. Nevertheless the guard ignored the denial and brought the prophet to the princes.

Jeremiah 37:15

Jeremiah 37:15. For some reason the house of a scribe named Jonathan was being used as a prison at this time. The prophet was given unjust and cruel treatment and shut up in this prison.

Jeremiah 37:16

Jeremiah 37:16. Dungeon is from BOWS and is defined by Strong, “ A pit hole (especially one used as a cistern or prison) The word therefore does not necessarily mean a place of darkness but only a place dug out for various uses. The original for cabins really means “ a vault or cell,” and here means the departments dug In the pit.

Jeremiah 37:17

Jeremiah 37:17. We do not know whether the king had anything to do directly with putting Jeremiah into the prison. However, he certainly knew about it for when he wished to obtain some information he had him brought out. He was given the word from, the Lord which was practically what he had been told before, that he was to be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 37:18

Jeremiah 37:18. Now we know that the king had something to do with the imprisonment of Jeremiah, for in his protest he charged him with the words ye have put me in prison.

Jeremiah 37:19

Jeremiah 37:19. Jeremiah further shamed him for listening to his false prophets who had contradicted the predictions of the inspired prophet.

Jeremiah 37:20

Jeremiah 37:20. Jeremiah did not retraet anything he had predicted; he did not even request to have his imprisonment entirely set aside. He only requested for himself that he not be returned to the cells lest he die.

Jeremiah 37:21

Jeremiah 37:21. Jeremiah’s request was granted and he was placed in the court which was the yard around the prison and which was enclosed with a fence or other barrier. (See the comments at ch. 32: 2.) He was also favored by the icing’ s command that he he given daily rations of bread as long as the supply lasted.