1The Word which came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion, and all the peoples, fought against Jerusalem and against all its cities; saying, 2Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, Thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 3And you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. And your eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon. 4Yet hear the Word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah king of Judah, thus says Jehovah concerning you: You shall not die by the sword. 5You shall die in peace; and as the burnings of incense for your fathers, the former kings which were before you, so they shall burn incense for you. And they shall lament for you, saying, Ah, lord! For I have spoken the Word, says Jehovah. 6Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 7when the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah; against Lachish, and against Azekah; for these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah. 8The Word that came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them; 9that each man should let his male slave, and each man his female slave, if they were a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, to go free; that no one should keep a Jewish brother enslaved. 10And all the rulers obeyed, and all the people who had entered into the covenant allowed them to go free, each man his male slave, and each man his female slave, so that no one should be enslaved among them any more; and they obeyed and let them go. 11But afterward they changed their minds and caused the slaves and slave women whom they had let go free, to return! And they subjected them as slaves and slave women. 12Therefore the Word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, 13Thus says Jehovah the 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 slavery, saying, 14At the end of seven years let each man free his brother, a Hebrew, who has been sold to him. And when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you. But your fathers did not heed me, nor extend their ears. 15And you had turned today, and had done what was right in My eyes proclaiming liberty, each man to his neighbor. And you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. 16But you turned and violated My name, and each man caused his slave, and each man his slave woman, whom you had set free to do as they pleased, to return. And you brought them back into bondage to be slaves and slave women to you. 17Therefore thus says Jehovah: You have not heeded Me to proclaim liberty each man to his brother, and each man to his neighbor! Behold, I proclaim liberty for you, says Jehovah, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. And I will cause you to be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not done the words of the covenant which they made before Me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts; 19the rulers of Judah, and the rulers of Jerusalem, the officials, and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf; 20I 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 heavens and to the beasts of the earth. 21And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his rulers, 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 withdrawn from you. 22Behold, I will command, says Jehovah, and cause them to return to this city. And they shall fight against it and capture it, and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 CAPTIVITY OF ZEDEKIAH AND THE PEOPLE FORETOLD FOR THEIR DISOBEDIENCE AND PERFIDY. (Jer. 34:1-22)
Jerusalem and . . . all the cities thereof--(see on
Jer 19:15). It was amazing blindness in the king, that, in such a desperate position, he should reject admonition.
3 (
Jer 32:4).
4 Mitigation of Zedekiah's punishment.
5 the burnings of thy fathers--Thy funeral shall be honored with the same burning of aromatic spices as there was at the funerals of thy fathers (
2Kn 16:14;
2Kn 21:19). The honors here mentioned were denied to Jehoiakim (
Jer 22:18).
Ah, lord!--The Hebrews in their chronology (Sederolam) mention the wailing used over him, "Alas! King Zedekiah is dead, drinking the dregs (that is, paying the penalty for the sins) of former ages."
7 these . . . retained--alone (compare
2Kn 11:5,
2Kn 11:9).
8 By the law a Hebrew, after having been a bond-servant for six years, on the seventh was to be let go free (
Wj 21:22;
Pwt 15:12).
Zedekiah made a covenant--with solemn ceremonial in the temple (
Jer 34:15,
Jer 34:18-
Jer 34:19).
them--bond-servants (
Jer 34:9).
9 none . . . serve himself of a Jew-- (
Kpł 25:39-
Kpł 25:46).
11 During the interruption of the siege by Pharaoh-hophra (compare
Jer 34:21-
Jer 34:22, with
Jer 37:5-
Jer 37:10), the Jews reduced their servants to bondage again.
13 The last year of Zedekiah was the sabbatical year. How just the retribution, that they who, against God's law and their own covenant, enslaved their brethren, should be doomed to bondage themselves: and that the bond-servants should enjoy the sabbatical freedom at the hands of the foe (
Jer 52:16) which their own countrymen denied them!
14 At the end of seven years--that is, not on the eighth year, but within the limit of the seventh year, not later than the end of the seventh year (
Wj 21:2;
Wj 23:10;
Pwt 15:12). So "at the end of three years" (
Pwt 14:28;
2Kl 18:10), and "after three days, I will rise again" (
Mt 27:63), that is, on the third day (compare
Mt 27:64).
15 in the house . . . called by my name--the usual place of making such covenants (
2Kl 23:3; compare
1Kl 8:31;
Neh 10:29).
16 polluted my name--by violating your oath (
Wj 20:7).
17 not . . . proclaiming liberty--Though the Jews had ostensibly emancipated their bond-servants, they virtually did not do so by revoking the liberty which they had granted. God looks not to outward appearances, but to the sincere intention.
I proclaim a liberty--retribution answering to the offense (
Mt 7:2;
Mt 18:32-
Mt 18:33;
Gal 6:7;
Jak 2:13). The Jews who would not give liberty to their brethren shall themselves receive "a liberty" calamitous to them. God will manumit them from His happy and safe service (
Ps 121:3), which is real "liberty" (
Ps 119:45;
Jn 8:36;
2Ko 3:17), only to pass under the terrible bondage of other taskmasters, the "sword," &c.
to be removed--The Hebrew expresses agitation (see on
Jer 15:4). Compare
Pwt 28:25,
Pwt 28:48,
Pwt 28:64-
Pwt 28:65, as to the restless agitation of the Jews in their ceaseless removals from place to place in their dispersion.
18 passed between the parts thereof--The contracting parties in the "covenant" (not here the law in general, but their covenant made before God in His house to emancipate their slaves,
Jer 34:8-
Jer 34:9) passed through the parts of the animal cut in two, implying that they prayed so to be cut in sunder (
Mt 24:51; Greek, "cut in two") if they should break the covenant (
Rdz 15:10,
Rdz 15:17).
20 I will even give--resuming the sentence begun, but not completed (
Jer 34:18), "I will give," &c.
seek their life--implacably: satisfied with nothing short of their blood; not content with booty.
dead bodies--The breakers of the covenant shall be cut in pieces, as the calf between whose parts they passed.
21 gone up--that is, raised the siege in order to meet Pharaoh-hophra (
Jer 37:7-
Jer 37:10). The departure of the Chaldeans was a kind of manumission of the Jews; but as their manumission of their bond-servants was recalled, so God revoked His manumission of them from the Chaldeans.
22 I will command--Nebuchadnezzar, impelled unconsciously by a divine instigation, returned on the withdrawal of the Egyptians.
By the obedience of the Rechabites to their father, Jeremiah condemns the disobedience of the Jews to God their Father. The Holy Spirit has arranged Jeremiah's prophecies by the moral rather than the chronological connection. From the history of an event fifteen years before, the Jews, who had brought back their manumitted servants into bondage, are taught how much God loves and rewards obedience, and hates and punishes disobedience.