It
is plain that the prophecies of this book are not placed here in the same
order in which they were preached; for there are chapters after this which
concern Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Jeconiah, who all reigned before Zedekiah,
in whose reign the prophecy of this chapter bears date. Here is, I. The
message which Zedekiah sent to the prophet, to desire him to enquire of the
Lord for them, ver. 1, 2. II. The answer which Jeremiah, in God's name, sent
to that message, in which, 1. He foretels the certain and inevitable ruin of
the city, and the fruitlessness of their attempts for its preservation, ver.
3-7. 2. He advises the people to make the best of bad, by going over to the
king of Babylon, ver. 8-10. 3. He advises the king and his
family to repent and reform (ver. 11, 12), and not to trust to the strength
of their city and grow secure, ver. 13, 14.
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Zedekiah's
Message to Jeremiah.
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B.
C. 590.
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1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the
LORD, when king Zedekiah sent
unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the
priest, saying, 2 Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD
for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be
that the LORD
will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up
from us. 3 Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to
Zedekiah: 4 Thus saith the LORD
God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are
in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against
the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them
into the midst of this city. 5 And I myself will fight against
you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in
fury, and in great wrath. 6 And I will smite the inhabitants of
this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
7 And afterward, saith the LORD,
I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and
such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from
the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the
hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and
he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them,
neither have pity, nor have mercy.
Here is, I. A very humble decent message which king Zedekiah, when he was in
distress, sent to Jeremiah the prophet. It is indeed charged upon this
Zedekiah that he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet,
speaking from the mouth of the Lord (2 Chron. xxxvi. 12); he did not
always humble himself as he did sometimes; he never humbled himself till
necessity forced him to it; he humbled himself so far as to desire the
prophet's assistance, but not so far as to take his advice, or to be ruled
by him. Observe,
1. The distress which king Zedekiah was now in: Nebuchadrezzar made war
upon him, not only invaded the land, but besieged the city, and had now
actually invested it. Note, Those that put the evil day far from them will
be the more terrified when it comes upon them; and those who before slighted
God's ministers may then perhaps be glad to court an acquaintance with them.
2. The messengers he sent--Pashur and Zephaniah, one belonging to the
fifth course of the priests, the other to the twenty-fourth, 1 Chron. xxiv.
9, 18. It was well that he sent, and that he sent persons of rank; but it
would have been better if he had desired a personal conference with the
prophet, which no doubt he might easily have had if he would so far have
humbled himself. Perhaps these priests were no better than the rest, and
yet, when they were commanded by the king, they must carry a respectful
message to the prophet, which was both a mortification to them and an honour
to Jeremiah. He had rashly said (ch. xx. 18), My days are consumed
with shame; and yet here we find that he lived to see better days than
those were when he made that complaint; now he appears in reputation. Note,
It is folly to say, when things are bad with us, "They will always be
so." It is possible that those who are despised may come to be
respected; and it is promised that those who honour God he will honour,
and that those who have afflicted his people shall bow to them, Isa.
lx. 14.
3. The message itself: Enquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us, v.
2. Now that the Chaldean army had got into their borders, into their bowels,
they were at length convinced that Jeremiah was a true prophet, though loth
to own it and brought too late to it. Under this conviction they desire him
to stand their friend with God, believing him to have that interest in
heaven which none of their other prophets had, who had flattered them with
hopes of peace. They now employ Jeremiah, (1.) To consult the mind of God
for them: "Enquire of the Lord for us; ask him what course we
shall take in our present strait, for the measures we have hitherto taken
are all broken." Note, Those that will not take the direction of God's
grace how to get clear of their sins would yet be glad of the directions of
his providence how to get clear of their troubles. (2.) To seek the favour
of God for them (so some read it): "Entreat the Lord for us; be
an intercessor for us with God." Note, Those that slight the prayers of
God's people and ministers when they are in prosperity may perhaps be glad
of an interest in them when they come to be in distress. Give us of your
oil. The benefit they promise themselves is, It may be the Lord will
deal with us now according to the wondrous works he wrought for our
fathers, that the enemy may raise the siege and go up from us.
Observe, [1.] All their care is to get rid of their trouble, not to make
their peace with God and be reconciled to him--"That our enemy may go
up from us," not, "That our God may return to us." Thus
Pharaoh (Exod. x. 17): Entreat the Lord that he may take away this death.
[2.] All their hope is that God had done wondrous works formerly in the
deliverance of Jerusalem when Sennacherib besieged it, at the prayer of
Isaiah (so we are told, 2 Chron. xxxii. 20, 21), and who can tell but he may
destroy these besiegers (as he did those) at the prayer of Jeremiah? But
they did not consider how different the character of Zedekiah and his people
was from that of Hezekiah and his people: those were days of general
reformation and piety, these of general corruption and apostasy. Jerusalem
is now the reverse of what it was then. Note, It is folly to think that God
should do for us while we hold fast our iniquity as he did for those that
held fast their integrity.
II. A very startling cutting reply which God, by the prophet, sent to that
message. If Jeremiah had been to have answered the message of himself we
have reason to think that he would have returned a comfortable answer, in
hope that their sending such a message was an indication of some good
purposes in them, which he would be glad to make the best of, for he did not
desire the woeful day. But God knows their hearts better than Jeremiah does,
and sends them an answer which has scarcely one word of comfort in it. He
sends it to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel (v. 3),
to intimate to them that though God allowed himself to be called the God
of Israel, and had done great things for Israel formerly, and had still
great things in store for Israel, pursuant to his covenants with them, yet
this should stand the present generation in no stead, who were Israelites in
name only, and not in deed, any more than God's dealings with them should
cut off his relation to Israel as their God. It is here foretold,
1. That God will render all their endeavours for their own security
fruitless and ineffectual (v. 4): "I will be so far from
teaching your hands to war, and putting an edge upon your swords, that I
will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hand, when you
sally out upon the besiegers to beat them off, so that they shall not give
the stroke you design; nay, they shall recoil into your own faces, and be
turned upon yourselves." Nothing can make for those who have God
against them.
2. That the besiegers shall in a little time make themselves masters of
Jerusalem, and of all its wealth and strength: I will assemble those in
the midst of this city who are now surrounding it. Note, If that place
which should have been a centre of devotion be made a centre of wickedness,
it is not strange if God make it a rendezvous of destroyers.
3. That God himself will be their enemy; and then I know not who can
befriend them, no, not Jeremiah himself (v. 5): "I will be so
far from protecting you, as I have done formerly in a like case, that I
myself will fight against you." Note, Those who rebel against God
may justly expect that he will make war upon them, and that, (1.) With the
power of a God who is irresistibly victorious: I will fight against you
with an outstretched hand, which will reach far, and with a strong
arm, which will strike home and wound deeply. (2.) With the displeasure
of a God who is indisputably righteous. It is not a correction in love, but
an execution in anger, in fury, and in great wrath; it is upon a
sentence sworn in wrath, against which there will lie no exception, and it
will soon be found what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the
living God.
4. That those who, for their own safety, decline sallying out upon the
besiegers, and so avoid their sword, shall yet not escape the sword of God's
justice (v. 6): I will smite those that abide in the city (so
it may be read), both man and beast, both the beasts that are for
food and those that are for service in war, foot and horse; they shall,
die of a great pestilence, which shall rage within the walls, while the
enemies are encamped about them. Though Jerusalem's gates and walls may for
a time keep out the Chaldeans, they cannot keep out God's judgments. His
arrows of pestilence can reach those that think themselves safe from other
arrows.
5. That the king himself, and people that escape the sword, famine,
and pestilence, shall fall into the hands of the Chaldeans,
who shall cut them off in cold blood (v. 7): They shall not spare
them, nor have pity on them. Let not those expect to find mercy
with men who have forfeited God's compassions, and shut themselves out from
his mercy. Thus had the decree gone forth; and then to what purpose was it
for Jeremiah to enquire of the Lord for them?
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Answer
to Zedekiah's Message; Advice to the King and the People.
B. C. 590.
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8 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus
saith the LORD;
Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine,
and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans
that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a
prey. 10 For I have set my face against this city for evil, and
not for good, saith the LORD:
it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it
with fire. 11 And touching the house of the king of Judah, say,
Hear ye the word of the LORD;
12 O house of David, thus saith the LORD;
Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out
of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that
none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
13 Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and
rock of the plain, saith the LORD;
which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our
habitations? 14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of
your doings, saith the LORD:
and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all
things round about it.
By the civil message which the king sent to Jeremiah it appeared that both
he and the people began to have a respect for him, which it would have been
Jeremiah's policy to make some advantage of for himself; but the reply which
God obliges him to make is enough to crush the little respect they begin to
have for him, and to exasperate them against him more than ever. Not only
the predictions in the foregoing verses, but the prescriptions in these,
were provoking; for here,
I. He advises the people to surrender and desert to the Chaldeans, as the
only means left them to save their lives, v. 8-10. This counsel was
very displeasing to those who were flattered by their false prophets into a
desperate resolution to hold out to the last extremity, trusting to the
strength of their walls and the courage of their soldiery to keep out the
enemy, or to their foreign aids to raise the siege. The prophet assures
them, "The city shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon,
and he shall not only plunder it, but burn it with fire, for God
himself hath set his face against this city for evil and not for good,
to lay it waste and not to protect it, for evil which shall have no
good mixed with it, no mitigation or merciful allay; and therefore, if you
would make the best of bad, you must beg quarter of the Chaldeans, and
surrender prisoners of war." In vain did Rabshakeh persuade the Jews to
do this while they had God for them (Isa. xxxvi. 16), but it was the best
course they could take now that God was against them. Both the law and the
prophets had often set before them life and death in another sense--life if
they obey the voice of God, death if they persist in disobedience, Deut. xxx.
19. But they had slighted that life which would have made them truly happy,
to upbraid them with which the prophet here uses the same expression (v.
8): Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death,
which denotes not, as that, a fair proposal, but a melancholy dilemma,
advising them of two evils to choose the less; and that less evil, a
shameful and wretched captivity, is all the life now left for them to
propose to themselves. He that abides in the city, and trusts to that
to secure him, shall certainly die either by the sword without the
walls or famine or pestilence within. But he that can so far
bring down his spirit, and quit his vain hopes, as to go out, and fall to
the Chaldeans, his life shall be given him for a prey; he shall save his
life, but with much difficulty and hazard, as a prey is taken from the
mighty. It is an expression like that, He shall be saved, yet so as by
fire. He shall escape but very narrowly, or he shall have such
surprising joy and satisfaction in escaping with his life from such a
universal destruction as shall equal theirs that divide the spoil. They
thought to make a prey of the camp of the Chaldeans, as their ancestors did
that of the Assyrians (Isa. xxxiii. 23), but they will be sadly
disappointed; if by yielding at discretion they can but save their lives,
that is all the prey they must promise themselves. Now one would think this
advice from a prophet, in God's name, should have gained some credit with
them and been universally followed; but, for aught that appears, there were
few or none that took it; so wretchedly were their hearts hardened, to their
destruction.
II. He advises the king and princes to reform, and make conscience of the
duty of their place. Because it was the king that sent the message to him,
in the reply there shall be a particular word for the house of the king,
not to compliment or court them (that was no part of the prophet's business,
no, not when they did him the honour to send to him), but to give them
wholesome counsel (v. 11, 12): "Execute judgment in the
morning; do it carefully and diligently. Those magistrates that would
fill up their place with duty had need rise betimes. Do it quickly, and do
not delay to do justice upon appeals made to you, and tire out poor
petitioners as you have done. Do not lie in your beds in a morning to sleep
away the debauch of the night before, nor spend the morning in pampering the
body (as those princes, Eccl. x. 16), but spend it in the despatch of
business. You would be delivered out of the hand of those that distress you,
and expect that therein God should do you justice; see then that you do
justice to those that apply to you, and deliver them out of the hand of
their oppressors, lest my fury go out like fire against you in a
particular manner, and you fare worst who think to escape best, because
of the evil of your doings." Now, 1. This intimates that it was
their neglect to do their duty that brought all this desolation upon the
people. It was the evil of their doings that kindled the fire of
God's wrath. Thus plainly does he deal even with the house of the king;
for those that would have the benefit of a prophet's prayers must thankfully
take a prophet's reproofs. 2. This directs them to take the right method for
a national reformation. The princes must begin, and set a good example, and
then the people will be invited to reform. They must use their power for the
punishment of wrong, and then the people will be obliged to reform. He
reminds them that they are the house of David, and therefore should
tread in his steps, who executed judgment and justice to his people. 3. This
gives them some encouragement to hope that there may yet be a lengthening of
their tranquillity, Dan. iv. 27. If any thing will recover their state from
the brink of ruin, this will.
III. He shows them the vanity of all their hopes so long as they continued
unreformed, v. 13, 14.
Jerusalem
is an inhabitant of the valley, guarded with mountains on all sides,
which were their natural fortifications, making it difficult for an army to
approach them. It is a rock of the plain, which made it difficult for
an enemy to undermine them. These advantages of their situation they trusted
to more than to the power and promise of God; and, thinking their city by
these means to be impregnable, they set the judgments of God at defiance,
saying, "Who shall come down against us? None of our neighbours
dare make a descent upon us, or, if they do, who shall enter into our
habitations?" They had some colour for this confidence; for it
appears to have been the sense of all their neighbours that no enemy could
force his way into
Jerusalem
, Lam. iv. 12. But those are least safe that are most secure. God soon shows
the vanity of that challenge, Who shall come down against us? when he
says (v. 13), Behold, I am against thee. They had indeed by
the wickedness driven God out of their city when he would have tarried with
them as a friend; but they could not by their bulwarks keep them out of
their city when he came against them as an enemy. If God be for us, who can
be against us? But, if he be against us, who can be for us, to stand us in
any stead? Nay, he comes against them not as an enemy that may lawfully and
with some hope of success be resisted, but as a judge that cannot be
resisted; for he says (v. 14), I will punish you, by due
course of law, according to the fruit of your doings, that is,
according to the merit of them and the direct tendency of them. That shall
be brought upon you which is the natural product of sin. Nay, he will not
only come with the anger of an enemy and the justice of a judge, but with
the force of a consuming fire, which has no compassion, as a judge sometimes
has, nor spares any thing combustible that comes in its way. Jerusalem has
become a forest, in which God will kindle a fire that shall consume
all before it; for our God is himself a consuming fire; and who is
able to stand in his sight when once he is angry?
