Deeper Commentary
Jeremiah 38:1 Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of
Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah and Pashhur the son of Malchijah heard
the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people saying-
Gedaliah was the son of the Pashhur of Jer. 20:1 who had put Jeremiah in
the stocks. Jucal is that of Jer. 37:3. The other Pashhur is that of Jer.
21:1.
Jeremiah 38:2 Thus says Yahweh, He who remains in this city shall die by
the sword, by the famine and by the plague; but he who goes forth to the
Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey, and he
shall live-
Jeremiah himself taught that Israel should surrender to the Babylonians,
in accordance with God’s word. He himself tried to do this, in obedience;
but he was caught by the Jews. He promptly denied that he was doing this,
overcome by the patriotism of the moment, in a desire to save his skin
(Jer. 37:14; 38:2).
Jeremiah 38:3 Thus says Yahweh, This city shall surely be given into the
hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it- It was
on one hand "sure" and certain, but right up to the very end, it was
possible for Judah to repent and the siege to be lifted. 'Given... and
taken' is the term used for how Yahweh gave the cities of Canaan to Israel
and they took them (Josh. 10:32). He had given Jerusalem into the hand of
their enemies- exactly the opposite of how people then understood a tribal
god to act. He was supposed to always protect his city from the hand of
their enemies, regardless of their morality. Yahweh was showing Himself to
be so much more than mere religion, a simple tribal god. Denominationalism
can be little more than believing in tribal deities.
Jeremiah 38:4 Then the princes said to the king, Please let this man be
put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in
this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to
them: for this man doesn’t seek the welfare of this people, but their
hurt- The hands of the Jews are contrasted with the hands of Babylon
(:3). They were as it were arm wrestling against God's intentions. The
Jews were to be repentant and "seek the welfare" or "peace" of Babylon,
to the end Babylon might repent and become part of God's restored kingdom
(Jer. 29:7). This was such a radically different agenda to that of the
flesh. By their impenitence, the Jews were seeking hurt and not peace /
welfare to themselves (Am. 5:14 s.w.).
Jeremiah 38:5 Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the
king is not he who can do anything against you- The LXX makes this
clause a comment of the narrator (“For the king was not able...").
Jeremiah in :15 didn't consider this to be the case, understanding it
rather as an excuse. Zedekiah ought to have reflected that his lack of
hand / power in this matter was true on a larger scale too; for he had
been given into the hand of the Babylonians (:3). God may bring a smaller
scale situation into our lives to teach us of our powerlessness on a
larger scale.
Jeremiah 38:6 Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of
Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard- AVmg.
"the son of Hammelech" (Jer. 36:26). This was as it were the punishment
cell within the prison.
And they let down Jeremiah with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mud; and Jeremiah sank in the mud- See on :22. The only way to eat would have been to have food lowered down, and seeing the city was suffering famine, chances of survival were slim. The pit in which there was no water would have reminded him of Joseph's experience (Gen. 37:24), and he may well have looked therefore towards some miraculous deliverance. His thoughts at this time are in Lam. 3, where he wrote in his mind a prayer or psalm about it. But he felt his prayers were shut out by the covering placed upon the dungeon (Lam. 3:8,53), and he was enclosed within hewn stone (Lam. 3:9)- what the dungeon walls were made of. It was presumably a sewer, with excrement falling before his face. He therefore felt he was in a living death and burial, surrounded by gravel stones as if in a grave (Lam. 3:16). His enemies mocked him from above (Lam. 3:14), pouring water that was probably excrement upon him (Lam. 3:54; as the dungeon was a sewer), his teeth were broken from the beating and perhaps from the descent into the dungeon (Lam. 3:16), and he felt bitter with God rather than full of faith and hope in deliverance (Lam. 3:15). But then his faith revived, reflecting how God had still not destroyed Judah by His great grace (Lam. 3:22), and therefore every day he survived until morning he saw as God's grace to him, in which he could hope (Lam. 3:23). He realized he was Judah's representative; for they too were to be sent forth from Babylon, the pit in which there was no water (Zech. 9:11). And this gave him hope; just as God's great grace to Israel historically should be basis for our hope. See on :13.
Jeremiah 38:7 Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the
king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king
then sitting in the gate of Benjamin)- This was the spot where
Jeremiah had been arrested (Jer. 37:13) and earlier had been put in the
stocks there (Jer. 20:2). Perhaps therefore the king's inner thoughts were
upon Jeremiah, and Ebedmelech was guided therefore to approach the king at
just the right time.
Jeremiah 38:8 Ebedmelech went forth out of the king’s house and spoke to
the king saying- He approached the king outside of the king's house,
privately. Always we sense Zedekiah's concern about image and what others
would think of him.
Jeremiah 38:9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they
have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon;
and he is likely to die in the place where he is- Heb. "is dead of
hunger on the spot". This kind of apparent exaggeration is common in
Semitic languages.
Because of the famine- Jeremiah had frequently prophesied that the impenitent Jews were to die of the famine. Now, Jeremiah is on the brink of death because of famine. He was led by these experiences to absolutely identify with the condemned. Just as the Lord Jesus died the death of sinners, of a criminal, and thereby tasted death for every man. Being a captive in the dungeon who is released is exactly the language of Isaiah about the release of the exiles from captivity. Jeremiah was their example and personification. They could have followed his path, but chose to remain in that dark dungeon of Babylon.
For there is no more bread in the city- This was only true at the end (Jer. 52:6); if it were literally true, there would have been no point in releasing Jeremiah. This exaggerated language is not corrected, as often in the Biblical record.
Jeremiah 38:10 Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian saying,
Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out
of the dungeon before he dies-
That it would take thirty men to get Jeremiah out of the dungeon indicates
the serious depth to which Jeremiah had sunk. And there was the
possibility of opposition to Ebedmelech if he attempted to do this alone.
We can imagine the racism against an Ethiopian, especially as Egypt /
Ethiopia had now been shown to be false friends of Judah and powerless to
help Judah. Yet God so loves to work through the despised and
marginal.
Jeremiah 38:11 So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the
house of the king under the treasury, and took from there rags and
worn-out clothes and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah-
It was common in those days to symbolically tear clothes in grief.
And what then happened to the clothes? They were kept in the treasury, as
the material itself was valuable. These symbols of past repentance were
used to save Jeremiah's life.
Jeremiah 38:12 Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put now these
rags and worn-out clothes under your armpits under the cords. Jeremiah did
so- We note Ebedmelech's sensitivity, imagining how the cords would
bite into Jeremiah's armpits unless there was some material to cushion
them. His voice echoing down the sewer would have seemed as the voice of
God responding to Jeremiah's feeble prayers as recorded in Lam. 3.
Jeremiah 38:13 So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up
out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard-
Perhaps Jeremiah as Judah's representative experienced the 'drawing up'
unto salvation offered to Judah in the new covenant, when he was "drawn
up" out of certain death in the dungeon (Jer. 38:13, s.w. "with loving
kindness have I drawn you [up]", Jer. 31:3). His hope in salvation from
the pit was because he perceived he was Israel's representative; see on
:6. The dungeon "was in the court of the guard" so Jeremiah would
have lived continuously within sight of the dungeon of death, the ultimate
punishment cell in the makeshift prison.
Jeremiah 38:14 Then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet
to him into the third entry that is in the house of Yahweh- Or, "the
entry of the body-guard". Perhaps this was the king's special entry to the
temple (2 Kings 16:18).
And the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me- Zedekiah was aware that Jeremiah would be tempted to give him only some of God's word, hiding from him the harder parts. Zedekiah wanted God's truth, and yet was unprepared to act upon it. That is so true of so many people, and probably of all of us at some times and in some ways. To 'want to find the truth' can be trendy and attractive; but the question is not so much as to whether we have an interest in finding it, but will we do with it once confronted with it. See on :26.
Jeremiah 38:15 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to you,
will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will
not listen to me- Jeremiah clearly didn't accept Zedekiah's plea of
impotence in :5. Instead of simply begging Zedekiah for deliverance and
saying what Zedekiah wanted to hear, Jeremiah comes over as absolutely
committed to the truth of God's words about the situation.
Jeremiah 38:16 So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah saying, As
Yahweh lives, who made us this soul, I will not put you to death- The
fact God has given us life ought to mean that we are truthful and honest
in our words; and that we will seek to preserve the life of others rather
than take it from them. This is all the implication of the most basic
truth of the Genesis record- that God created man and made him a living
soul / creature.
Neither will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life- This may have been said with a nod towards "these men" nearby. It contradicts Zedekiah's excuse that he could do nothing against the will of his courtiers in :5. We too can plead weakness, railroading and impotence to justify our lack of purpose and commitment to principle.
Jeremiah 38:17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, Thus says Yahweh, the God
of Armies, the God of Israel: If you will go forth to the king of
Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live, and this city shall not be
burned with fire; and you shall live, and your family- Jeremiah picks
up on Zedekiah's comment that God made us this soul (:16). This is the way
towards dialogue; using the words and phrases of others and reframing them
in a way which will therefore be the more persuasive to them. God here
offers salvation from the whole judgment scenario for the sake of just one
thing- if Zedekiah had surrendered to Babylon. Likewise if the Jews had
properly released their bondservants, then the Babylonians would have
departed. All the idolatry, murder and spiritual prostitution would have
been overlooked just for the sake of one act of obedience. These offers
were made in order to highlight the importance of the request being made-
in this case, to accept the rightness of the Divine judgment for sin. Just
one man's humility could have averted so much suffering. But human fear
and pride was too great to allow it.
Jer. 34:5 says that "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!". 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 38:18 But if you will not go forth to the king of Babylon’s
princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and
they shall burn it with fire-
God
somehow arranged things within His purpose so that Zedekiah’s repentance
would have enabled the salvation of all Israel. But his failure to repent
meant that judgment came on His people. What this shows is that there are
times and places where God is willing to save people for the sake of the
spirituality of a third party, but if he or she fails in this, deliverance
doesn’t
necessarily
arise from another place, as it would have done in Esther’s time.
And you shall not escape out of their hand- Zedekiah's attempt to escape the city was therefore made in conscious disobedience to these words.
Jeremiah 38:19 Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews
who are fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand
and they mock me- These were the Jews who had accepted their judgment
was just and had surrendered. They had likely been abused by Zedekiah and
the Jewish leadership beforehand. And so he feared they would mock him.
Jeremiah had used just this word about what would be done to Jerusalem by
the Babylonians (Jer. 6:9), but Zedekiah's pride was such that he feared
the mocking of his fellow Jews more than he did that of the Babylonians.
We have a window here into the extent of his pride, and the fears which
arise from pride.
Jeremiah 38:20 But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver you. Obey, I beg
you, the voice of Yahweh, in that which I speak to you: so it shall be
well with you, and your soul shall live- These Jews were those who
had heeded Jeremiah's warnings and surrendered to the Chaldeans in
recognition of their sins. They were therefore probably known to Jeremiah,
and would therefore welcome Zedekiah's surrender. The implication is that
Zedekiah's soul would not live unless her surrendered. But he didn't
surrender. Yet by grace he was not killed, but actually died in peace in
Babylon. Presumably he did therefore repent, and God by utter grace
changed his deserved punishment.
Jeremiah 38:21 But if you refuse to go forth, this is the word that Yahweh
has shown me- The Hebrew for "refuse" is only elsewhere used of
Pharaoh refusing to let Israel go (Ex. 8:2; 9:2; 10:4). The deliverance of
Israel was likewise being allowed to hinge upon the humility or pride of
one man. Zedekiah was surely intended to see the appeal to precedent in
Biblical history, just as we often are. This is one advantage of being
familiar with the text and basic narrative of the Bible through daily
Bible reading.
Jeremiah 38:22 behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s
house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those
women shall say, Your familiar friends have deceived you and have
prevailed over you. Your feet are now sunk in the mud, and they now turn
away from you- Preaching has to be personal. For God is all about the salvation of
persons; and He hungers for intimacy with her persons whom He has created.
We each make an individual witness, and that witness is intended by God to
be uniquely suitable for certain people within our sphere of contact.
Jeremiah is an example of how our witness to others should be framed in the
language of our own experiences, thus giving it credibility. He had just
been in the dungeon, where he had sunk down in the mud (Jer. 38:6). But he
soon afterwards appeals to Zedekiah to have the courage to do what God wants
and not what his princes think is humanly smarter. Metaphorically, Jeremiah
says, it was Zedekiah whose “feet are sunk in the mire” (Jer. 38:22).
‘Spiritually, you’re like I was physically’, was what Jeremiah was saying.
And because he personalized his message in this way, it became all the more
credible. Thus a blind brother can speak about our spiritual blindness with
an obvious appropriacy and credibility which the sighted lack. This is why
all witness simply has to be personal- impersonal handing out of tracts or
hiding behind web sites on the internet isn’t the essentially personal
witness which God intended.
Jeremiah 38:23 They shall bring out all your wives and your children to
the Chaldeans; and you shall not escape out of their hand, but shall be
taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and you shall cause this city to
be burned with fire-
Zedekiah's attempt to escape the city was therefore made in conscious
disobedience to these words. We note the emphasis upon the suffering of
women and children (:22,23). It is simply so that there are
consequences of human sin which mean that others are affected far beyond
the sinner. The innocent suffer because of the sins of others. That is why
sin is so multi dimensional; although in this case it would be true to say
that the women themselves were also guilty of idolatry (Jer. 7:18; 44:17).
But this could have been overlooked for the sake of one man's humble
repentance.
Jeremiah 38:24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Let no man know of these
words, and you shall not die- Again, his claim of being impotent to
save Jeremiah in :5 is shown to be false. He was worried lest it become
known that God had made this deal with him, whereby his repentance alone
could radically affect the outcome for Jerusalem. Again, his pride and
concern about image is so pathetically apparent. His offer of not killing
Jeremiah if he didn't publish this latest word from the Lord is in fact
similar to what he imagined the princes' position would be (:25). So this
was but a carefully calculated offer.
Jeremiah 38:25 But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and
they come to you and tell you, Declare to us now what you have said to the
king; don’t hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also what
the king said to you- This connects with how Zedekiah had asked
Jeremiah not to "hide" God's word from him; see on :26.
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 38:26 then you shall tell them, I presented my supplication
before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house
to die there- The dungeon of death was in the court of the guard,
where Jeremiah was now located. He likely was quartered just meters away
from it. "Jonathan's house" was perhaps a name for that dungeon of death.
And Jeremiah surely had requested this, and so this was not untrue; but it
was a hiding from the princes of what had really transpired. Zedekiah had
asked Jeremiah not to do this to him, but to give full disclosure of God's
word (:14). He ought to have reflected upon this inconsistency, and
instead have openly told the princes of the situation and his obedience
to God's word.
Jeremiah 38:27 Then came all the princes to Jeremiah, and asked him; and
he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So
they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived-
The fact we are now reading of it shows that it was of course finally
perceived.
LXX "And they were silent, because the word of the Lord was not heard".
Zedekiah heard the word, but didn't really hear it; just as we can hear
and read the word of God but not really hear it. This surface level
hearing of God's word becomes a more acute temptation as we become the
more familiar with the Bible text.
Jeremiah 38:28 So Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day
that Jerusalem was taken- We imagine the Babylonian soldiers closing
in on the court, the guards fleeing, and the soldiers encountering the
grateful but confused prisoners.
Previous Chapter
