Deeper Commentary
Jeremiah 34:1 The word which came to Jeremiah
from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army and all
the kingdoms of the land that were under his dominion, and all the
peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of it,
saying-
The emphasis is upon how indeed all nations of the lands around
Israel came to fight against Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 34:2 Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, Go speak to Zedekiah
king of Judah and tell him, Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give this
city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire-
This was surely a conditional prophecy, even though no condition is
given at the time: “I will give this city into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire”. But the Jews made some sort of
repentance, releasing their slaves… and the Babylonian armies retreated
(Jer. 34:21,22). Then they enslaved their brethren again- and, v.22 says,
only because of this did the Babylonian armies return and burn Jerusalem.
Thus the initial prophecy of burning with fire was conditional. And the
Jews realized this and therefore repented. In similar vein, “the king of
Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land” was capable of not
being fulfilled, if Judah would only have repented (Jer. 36:3,7,29).
Jeremiah 34:3 and you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon- This was still conditional; Zedekiah could have repented. It was because he did not humble himself before the words of Jeremiah that the destruction and exile happened (2 Chron. 36:12-17). Zedekiah did see the eyes of the king, but his eyes were then put out. But it seems that in his blindness he repented to some degree.
Jeremiah 34:4 Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus
says Yahweh concerning you, You shall not die by the sword- This was
the previous judgment upon Zedekiah and the royal family (specifically
:20; Jer. 21:7,9; also Jer. 9:16; 15:9; 20:4; 24:10). The idea may be that
if he repented, a different destiny was possible. And indeed, he died in
peace, albeit blind and in exile. We can conclude therefore that in the
blindness and imprisonment he experienced, he did repent. Blindness was
used as a spur to repentance in the lives of Saul, Elymas and others.
Jeremiah 34:5 You shall die in peace; and with the burnings of your
fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they make a
burning for you; and they shall lament you saying, Ah Lord! Because I have
spoken the word, says Yahweh- Previously, the fate of Zedekiah was to
have been the consuming of his carcass in shame (Jer. 19:7). As noted on
:4, the Divine intentions for Zedekiah were changed because of his later
repentance. The prophecy here mentions no conditions. But consider the words
of Ez. 12:13 about the same man: “My net also will I spread upon him, and
he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon…yet shall
he not see it, though he shall die there” [i.e. he would be made blind
before arrival]. The surrounding verses give an accurate prophecy of how
Zedekiah was captured whilst fleeing from Jerusalem. And the same is said
in Jer. 32:4; 38:17. It surely has to be recognized that the ‘prophecy’
that Zedekiah would die in peace was conditional upon his obedience to the
word of Jeremiah- even though those conditions aren’t recorded (although
they are implicit surely).
Jeremiah 34:6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah
king of Judah in Jerusalem- Given the power of Zedekiah against
people like Jeremiah, this was spoken with great bravery, that was
motivated by a real desire to see his repentance.
Jeremiah 34:7 when the king of Babylon’s army was fighting against
Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against
Lachish and against Azekah; for these alone remained of the cities of
Judah as fortified cities- "Remained" is the word for "remnant". It
is this "remnant" which could have repented and been saved. The rest of
Judah had fallen apart from them. We constantly encounter all the
potential salvations that were possible.
Jeremiah 34:8 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after that the
king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at
Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them- God's response to this
covenant was to speak of His own covenant with Israel (:13). His covenant
relationship with them was conditional upon their covenant attitude to
each other; and that is an abiding principle. Relationship with God
depends upon our relationship and attitude to each other; as John puts it,
we cannot claim to love God without loving our brother. This is why
attitude to others within the covenant is so critically important, as upon
that our whole relationship with God may stand or fall. It was apparently
a jubilee year, when the slaves should in any case be released. This
explains why they had a choice; to give the land and people rest, or to
allow the land and common people to "keep Sabbath" in the desolation and
exile which would happen after the invasion.
Jeremiah 34:9 that every man should let his male servant, and every man
his female servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none
should make bond servants of them, of a Jew his brother- Heb. 'should
work through them', i.e. "should employ them for forced labour". It was on
the back of this kind of abuse that the wealthy had built their great
houses in Jerusalem. They were supposed to release them anyway in the
Sabbath year, and that year was a jubilee year as well (:17). If they
enslaved their brethren, then they were to be enslaved by the Babylonians.
If they liberated their brethren, then they would be liberated from
otherwise certain bondage (Jer. 30:8 uses the same language). Again we
must perceive the point- that abuse of our brethren will lead to our
condemnation. Our attitude to those weaker than ourselves is so critically
important; it is upon this that our relationship with God depends. In the
light of this, we must carefully reassess any policies of disfellowship
which our church, fellowship or denomination demands us to uphold. As we
have been called to freedom, our attitude to our brethren should be
seeking to liberate them, rather than enslave them. The tragedy is that at
the restoration, these abusive practices were revived (Neh. 5:5), when it
was exactly because of them that Judah had gone into captivity.
Jeremiah 34:10 All the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered
into the covenant, that everyone should let his male servant and everyone
his female servant, go free, that none should make bond servants of them
any more; they obeyed, and let them go- All those obeyed who had
entered the covenant; which might suggest some didn't even enter it.
A study of “the princes” of Judah at the time of the
final Babylonian invasion shows that they were not against Jeremiah nor
responding to God’s word (Jer. 26:16; 36:14,19); indeed at one stage they
pulled back from their path of refusing to respond (Jer. 34:10). But “the
princes” were the ones whom Zedekiah feared (Jer. 38:25), and that fear
led him to reject God’s word. And “the princes” were finally condemned for
their weakness (Jer. 32:32); it was they who imprisoned and sought to kill
Jeremiah because ultimately they could not abide his word (Jer. 37:15;
38:14). One person or a very small group can easily lead a whole group,
even of believers, into sin. And so it is that whole groups of people-
even God’s people- can be very fickle.
Jeremiah 34:11 but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the
handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into
subjection for servants and for handmaids-
Note the play on the word "return". By making their servants 'return' to
bondage, they were 'returning' to the bondage of sin and selfishness. And
this example is so true to our lives- we can forgive a person at one point
in time, or in some way 'release' them; but find it impossible to maintain
that intensity, just as David failed with Shimei.
The prophets not only reflected God’s dismay and passionate feelings, they expressed their own dismay too. Lack of justice was a major concern of the prophets. But to us, injustice may be so commonplace we don’t really worry about it too much. Given all the idolatry going on at the time of Jeremiah, we'd have expected the condition for being spared judgment at the hands of their invaders to be: 'Throw your idols away!'. But here God had offered them a reprieve if they stopped abusing their brethren. When, temporarily, the Jews ceased doing that and proclaimed liberty to their brethren- the pending judgment was put on hold. When they again abused their brethren, not giving them the "liberty" which must be afforded to all those made in God's image, then the Babylonians returned. And we need to ask whether we proclaim liberty to our brethren- or abuse them by not allowing them the basic freedom which is the dignity God allows to each of His children. It’s rather like Paul writing to the Corinthians, and firstly addressing the sin of their divisiveness. What about their drunkenness at the breaking of bread, false doctrine, idolatry, using temple prostitutes? Paul focuses firstly on the sin of their divisions.
Jeremiah 34:12 Therefore the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh
saying- As noted on :11, what the wealthy had done was technically
within the limits of the law, but was such an obvious abuse of it that God
responds very sternly.
Jeremiah 34:13 Thus says Yahweh, God of Israel: I made a covenant with
your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying- God's covenant with His
people at this point was dependent upon their abiding by the covenant
agreement to not abuse and rather liberate their brethren. Accepting
covenant relationship with God involves a solemn understanding that we are
not to abuse the weak, but are to do to them as God has done with us. We
are to take them out of bondage, not into it. And we can return people to
bondage by guilt tripping them and places burdens upon them.
Jeremiah 34:14 At the end of seven years you shall let go every man his
brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six
years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers didn’t listen
to Me- Serving six years was counted inclusively as serving to the
end of seven years. There was to be a generosity of spirit in dealing with
their brethren.
Neither inclined their ear- Inclining or humbling / bowing down the ear means that true response to God's word ought to be a humbling experience. We cannot come away from engagement with God's word without being humbled. And this very phrase is used of how God bows down / inclines His ear to human prayer (2 Kings 19:16; Ps. 17:6; 31:2; 71:2 and often). We see here the mutuality possible between God and man, and the interplay between Bible reading and God's response to our prayers. We speak to God in line with our understanding of His word, and He responds to our prayers. Bible reading and prayer therefore mesh together in the Christian life, as part of the upward spiral of spirituality. God is not silent to our prayers- He reveals Himself in response through His word.
Jeremiah 34:15 You had now turned, and had done that which is right in My
eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and you had made
a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name- They
turned in repentance, and then turned back (:16). The turning of their
captivity was to be response to their final turning back to God; the idea
of 'turning' / repenting is such a major theme in Jeremiah. For all their
sins of rebellion and idolatry, the threatened judgment could have been
turned away simply if they repented of this one thing. This highlights how
critically important is love for our brethren, and not seeking to get out
of our responsibilities to the weak by claiming technical obedience to
Divine law. For this was just what they were doing- capitalizing on their
brethren's poverty by letting them sell themselves to them as slaves,
abusing their services, and then technically releasing them but letting
these poor people sell themselves back into slavery to them soon
afterwards.
Jeremiah 34:16 but you turned and profaned My name, and caused every man
his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their
pleasure, to return; and you brought them into subjection, to be to you
for servants and for handmaids- God's Name has within it the ideas
of salvation, redemption and liberation of His people. To act contrary to
that is to profane His Name. This is the essence of blasphemy.
God will not let His Name be polluted by His people (Is. 48:11; Ez.
20:9). But they did pollute His Name (Jer. 34:16), and the restored exiles
did just the same rather than learn any lesson (Mal. 1:7). God invites
us to see His efforts to stop His Name being polluted as somehow defeated
by the extent of Israel's pollutions. This theme comes out clearly in
Ezekiel: they polluted Him, but He strove lest His Name should be
polluted. Here is the extent of freewill which God gives man to sin- and
also the extent of the hopefulness of God. It's as if He didn't imagine
they would pollute Him as much as they did.
Jeremiah 34:17 Therefore thus says Yahweh: you have not listened to Me, to
proclaim liberty each man to his brother and each man to his neighbour:
behold, I proclaim to you a liberty, says Yahweh, to the sword, to the
plague and to the famine- The play upon 'proclaiming liberty' has
more appropriacy when we appreciate that this was a Sabbath and jubilee
year. There is definite allusion to the prophecy of Is. 61:1, that the
reestablished Messianic kingdom would be heralded by a proclamation of
liberty to the captives; the same Hebrew phrase is used. Jeremiah's
proclamation of this liberty was therefore a foretaste of that; if the
Jews had accepted it and themselves proclaimed it, then despite all their
other weaknesses, the most amazing turnaround could have happened. They
who were on the brink of miserable destruction and condemnation could have
been transformed into the restored Kingdom of God. The liberty was
proclaimed to them. But instead they preferred petty power over others;
their short term selfishness was too great, and the most wonderful,
eternal opportunity was missed. They refused to accept their weaker,
poorer brethren as their neighbours and equal brothers. And so it is with
people to this day.
And I will make you to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth- This removing / tossing to and from of Judah from their land uses the same word as in Dt. 28:25; in response to their breaking of the covenant, they would be "removed (s.w.) into all the kingdoms of the eretz, throughout the land promised to Abraham. But this curse could have been turned into a blessing; for the restoration prophets envisaged the nations of the eretz repenting and converting to Yahweh. This could have been achieved by the exiles witnessing to the various peoples and languages within the Babylonian / Persian empire. But this didn't happen as was potentially possible. The exiles didn't repent, and so their repentance and experience of the grace of forgiveness was not the powerful pattern of conversion to their neighbours which it could have been.
Jeremiah 34:18 I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who
have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me,
when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts- The
covenant in view seems specifically the covenant to release the slaves
(:8). A calf was cut in two, representing how they would be cut in pieces
if they failed to keep it. This contrasts with the new covenant, which was
based upon the promises to Abraham. As noted on Gen. 15, this was a
unilateral covenant from God to man. Yahweh alone passed through the
pieces, whereas Abraham remained powerless to do so. He was simply the
recipient of grace. The old covenant in the law of Moses was different; it
depended upon the human side keeping their part of the agreement. It seems
that now, at this dire point, God was willing to retain Israel within the
covenant, even though they had broken it- if they kept their side of it,
in simply liberating their brethren and not abusing them. But they failed
to do even that, and so they were to be cut to pieces. But in grace, even
that didn't happen to them all. For many of them went into exile rather
than being slain with the sword, and as noted on Jer. 33, Zedekiah died in
peace rather than be cut in pieces.
Jeremiah 34:19 the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the
eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed
between the parts of the calf- As explained on :18, this meant that
they were to be cut into parts, seeing they had broken the covenant. They
of course would have argued that they didn't break the covenant; they had
freed their slaves, but the slaves being in desperate straits had sold
themselves back to them for another six years soon afterwards. But they
were breaking thereby the obvious spirit of the law, and this was counted
as having broken the covenant agreement made, to liberate their brethren.
Jeremiah 34:20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and
into the hand of those who seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be
for food to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth- The
covenant of Gen. 15 featured the passing between the pieces, with birds of
prey eager to come and eat the pieces of the slain calf. They had broken
the covenant and were to be treated likewise. As explained on :19, they
would have argued that they hadn't broken the covenant in the letter; but
they had in spirit. And so they were to be cut in pieces and eaten by wild
animals, with no decent burial. All because they refused to liberate their
brethren. But did this really happen to them? The impression is given that
the royal family went into exile and Zedekiah himself died in peace. Here
again we would then see God in wrath remembering mercy, such was His
grace.
Jeremiah 34:21 Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the
hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and
into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army who have for now gone away
from you- To be given into the hand / power of those who want to kill
you is surely tantamount to saying that they will kill you. As explained
on :4,5, this was initially the prophetic scenario for Zedekiah; he would
die by the sword. But by grace this was changed; he didn't repent at that
time when he was intended to, and yet he presumably did later, after he
was blinded and imprisoned.
Jeremiah 34:22 Behold, I will command, says Yahweh, and cause them to
return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and
burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
without inhabitant- The 'return' of Judah to the sin of abusing their
brethren, even despite doing to technically in the name of casuistic
obedience to the law, was what caused the Babylonians to return. God
placed such huge significance upon their attitude to their brethren; to
the point that He effectively makes the entire return of the Babylonians
to destroy the city and temple to pivot upon this matter.
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