This
chapter brings us very near the destruction of Jerusalem
by the Chaldeans, for the story of it lies
in the latter end of Zedekiah's reign; we have in it, I. A general idea of
the bad character of that reign, ver. 1, 2. II. The message which Zedekiah,
notwithstanding, sent to Jeremiah to desire his prayers, ver. 3. III. The
flattering hopes which the people had conceived, that the Chaldeans would
quit the siege of
Jerusalem, ver. 5. IV. The assurance God gave them by
Jeremiah (who was now at liberty, ver. 4) that the Chaldean army should
renew the siege and take the city, ver. 6-10. V. The imprisonment of
Jeremiah, under pretence that he was a deserter, ver. 11-15. VI. The
kindness which Zedekiah showed him when he was a prisoner, ver. 16-21.
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Zedekiah's
Wicked Reign; Sign of Jerusalem.
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B.
C. 589.
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1 And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned
instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon
made king in the land of Judah. 2 But neither he, nor his
servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD,
which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah. 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 the LORD
our God for us. 4 Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the
people: for they had not put him into prison. 5 Then Pharaoh's
army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged
Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem. 6
Then came the word of the LORD
unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 7 Thus saith the LORD,
the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you
unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to
help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. 8 And the
Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and
burn it with fire. 9 Thus saith the LORD;
Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us:
for they shall not depart. 10 For though ye had smitten the
whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but
wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his
tent, and burn this city with fire.
Here is, 1. Jeremiah's preaching slighted, v. 1, 2. Zedekiah
succeeded Coniah, or Jeconiah, and, though he saw in his predecessor the
fatal consequences of contemning the word of God, yet he did not take
warning, nor give any more regard to it than others had done before him. Neither
he, nor his courtiers, nor the people of the land, hearkened unto the
words of the Lord, though they already began to be fulfilled. Note,
Those have hearts wretchedly hard indeed that see God's judgments on others,
and feel them on themselves, and yet will not be humbled and brought to heed
what he says. These had proof sufficient that it was the Lord who spoke by
Jeremiah the prophet, and yet they would not hearken to him. 2. Jeremiah's
prayers desired. Zedekiah sent messengers to him, saying, Pray now unto
the Lord our God for us. He did so before (ch. xxi. 1, 2), and
one of the messengers, Zephaniah, is the same there and here. Zedekiah is to
be commended for his, and it shows that he had some good in him, some sense
of his need of God's favour and of his own unworthiness to ask it for
himself, and some value for good people and good ministers, who had an
interest in Heaven. Note, When we are in distress we ought to desire the
prayers of our ministers and Christian friends, for thereby we put an honour
upon prayer, and an esteem upon our brethren. Kings themselves should look
upon their praying people as the strength of the nation, Zech. xii. 5, 10.
And yet this does but help to condemn Zedekiah out of his own mouth. If
indeed he looked upon Jeremiah as a prophet, whose prayers might avail much
both for him and his people, why did he not then believe him, and hearken
to the words of the Lord which he spoke by him? He desired his good
prayers, but would not take his good counsel, nor be ruled by him, though he
spoke in God's name, and it appears by this that Zedekiah knew he did. Note,
It is common for those to desire to be prayed for who will not be advised;
but herein they put a cheat upon themselves, for how can we expect that God
should hear others speaking to him for us if we will not hear them speaking
to us from him and for him? Many who despise prayer when they are in
prosperity will be glad of it when they are in adversity. Now give us of
your oil. When Zedekiah sent to the prophet to pray for him, he had
better have sent for the prophet to pray with him; but he thought that below
him: and how can those expect the comforts of religion who will not stoop to
the services of it? 3. Jerusalem flattered by the retreat of the Chaldean
army from it. Jeremiah was now at liberty (v. 4); he went in and
out among the people, might freely speak to them and be spoken to by
them. Jerusalem also, for the present, was at liberty, v. 5 Zedekiah,
though a tributary to the king of Babylon, had entered into a private league
with Pharaoh king of Egypt (Ezek. xvii. 15), pursuant to which, when the
king of Babylon came to chastise him for his treachery, the king of Egypt,
though he came no more in person after that great defeat which
Nebuchadnezzar gave him in the reign of Jehoiakim (2 Kings xxiv. 7), yet
sent some forces to relieve Jerusalem when it was besieged, upon notice of
the approach of which the Chaldeans raised the siege, probably not for fear
of them but in policy, to fight them at a distance, before any of the Jewish
forces could join them. From this they encouraged themselves to hope that
Jerusalem was delivered for good and all out of the hands of its enemies and
that the storm was quite blown over. Note, Sinners are commonly hardened in
their security by the intermissions of judgments and the slow proceedings of
them; and those who will not be awakened by the word of God may justly be
lulled asleep by the providence of God. 4. Jerusalem threatened with the
return of the Chaldean army and with ruin by it. Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah
to desire him to pray for them, that the Chaldean army might not return; but
Jeremiah sends him word back that the decree had gone forth, and that it was
but a folly for them to expect peace, for God had begun a controversy with
them, which he would make an end of: Thus saith the Lord, Deceive not
yourselves, v. 9. Note, Satan himself, though he is the great
deceiver, could not deceive us if we did not deceive ourselves; and thus
sinners are their own destroyers by being their own deceivers, of which this
is an aggravation that they are so frequently warned of it and cautioned not
to deceive themselves, and they have the word of God, the great design of
which is to undeceive them. Jeremiah uses no dark metaphors, but tells them
plainly, (1.) That the Egyptians shall retreat, and either give back or be
forced back, into their own land (Ezek. xvii. 17), which was said of
old (Isa. xxx. 7), and is here said again, v. 7. The Egyptians shall
help in vain; they shall not dare to face the Chaldean army, but shall
retire with precipitation. Note, If God help us not, no creature can. As no
power can prevail against God, so none can avail without God nor countervail
his departures from us. (2.) That the Chaldeans shall return, and shall
renew the siege and prosecute it with more vigour than ever: They shall
not depart for good and all (v. 9); they shall come again
(v. 8); they shall fight against the city. Note, God has the
sovereign command of all the hosts of men, even of those that know him not,
that own him not, and they are all made to serve his purposes. He directs
their marches, their counter-marches, their retreats, their returns, as it
pleases him; and furious armies, like stormy winds, in all their
motions are fulfilling his word. (3.) That Jerusalem shall certainly
be delivered into the hand of the Chaldeans: They shall take it, and burn
it with fire, v. 8. The sentence passed upon it shall be
executed, and they shall be the executioners. "O but" (say they)
"the Chaldeans have withdrawn; they have quitted the enterprise as
impracticable." "And though they have," says the prophet,
"nay, though you had smitten their army, so that many were slain
and all the rest wounded, yet those wounded men should rise up and burn
this city," v. 10. This is designed to denote that the doom
passed upon Jerusalem is irrevocable, and its destruction inevitable; it
must be laid in ruins, and these Chaldeans are the men that must destroy it,
and it is now in vain to think of evading the stroke or contending with it.
Note, Whatever instruments God has determined to make use of in any service
for him, whether or mercy or judgment, they shall accomplish that for which
they are designed, whatever incapacity or disability they may lie under or
be reduced to. Those by whom God has resolved to save or to destroy,
saviours they shall be and destroyers they shall be, yea, though there were
all wounded; for as when God has work to do he will not want instruments to
do it with, though they may seem far to seek, so when he has chosen his
instruments they shall do the work, though they may seem very unlikely to
accomplish it.
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Jeremiah
Attempts to Quit Jerusalem; Jeremiah Imprisoned; Jeremiah
Favoured by the King.
B. C. 589.
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9.
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11 And it came to pass, that when the army of
the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,
12 Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of
Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people.
13 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 took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the
Chaldeans. 14 Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not
away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah,
and brought him to the princes. 15 Wherefore the princes were
wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of
Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison. 16 When
Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had
remained there many days; 17 Then Zedekiah the king sent, and
took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is
there any word from the LORD?
And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the
hand of the king of Babylon. 18 Moreover Jeremiah said unto king
Zedekiah, What have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or
against this people, that ye have put me in prison? 19 Where are
now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon
shall not come against you, nor against this land? 20 Therefore
hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee,
be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of
Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there. 21 Then Zedekiah the king
commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and
that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers' street,
until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the
court of the prison.
We have here a further account concerning Jeremiah, who relates more
passages concerning himself than any other of the prophets; for the
histories of the lives and sufferings of God's ministers have been very
serviceable to the church, as well as their preaching and writing.
I. We are here told that Jeremiah, when he had an opportunity for it,
attempted to retire out of Jerusalem into the country (v. 11, 12): When
the Chaldeans had broken up from Jerusalem because of
Pharaoh's army, upon the notice of their advancing towards them,
Jeremiah determined to go into the country, and (as the margin reads
it) to slip away from Jerusalem in the midst of the people, who, in
that interval of the siege, went out into the country to look after their
affairs there. He endeavoured to steal away in the crowd; for, though he was
a man of great eminence, he could well reconcile himself to obscurity,
though he was one of a thousand, he was content to be lost in the multitude
and buried alive in a corner, in a cottage. Whether he designed for Anathoth
or no does not appear; his concerns might call him thither, but his
neighbours there were such as (unless they had mended since ch. xi.
21) might discourage him from coming among them; or he might intend to hide
himself somewhere where he was not known, and fulfil his own wish (ch.
ix. 2), Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place! Jeremiah
found he could do no good in Jerusalem; he laboured in vain among them, and
therefore determined to leave them. Note, there are times when it is the
wisdom of good men to retire into privacy, to enter into the chamber and
shut the doors about them, Isa. xxvi. 20.
II. That in this attempt he was seized as a deserter and committed to prison
(v. 13-15): He was in the gate of Benjamin, so far he had
gained his point, when a captain of the ward, who probably had the
charge of that gate, discovered him and took him into custody. He was
the grandson of Hananiah, who, the Jews say, was Hananiah the false prophet,
who contested with Jeremiah (ch. xxviii. 10), and they add that this
young captain had a spite to Jeremiah upon that account. He could not arrest
him without some pretence, and that which he charges upon his is, Thou
fallest away to the Chaldeans--an unlikely story, for the Chaldeans had
now gone off, Jeremiah could not reach them; or, if he could, who would go
over to a baffled army? Jeremiah therefore with good reason, and with both
the confidence and the mildness of an innocent man, denies the charge:
"It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans; I am going upon
my own lawful occasions." Note, it is no new thing for the church's
best friends to be represented as in the interest of her worst enemies. Thus
have the blackest characters been put upon the fairest purest minds, and, in
such a malicious world as this is, innocency, nay, excellency itself, is no
fence against the basest calumny. When at any time we are thus falsely
accused we may do as Jeremiah did, boldly deny the charge and then commit
our cause to him that judges righteously. Jeremiah's protestation of his
integrity, though he is a prophet, a man of God, a man of honour and
sincerity, though he is a priest, and is ready to say it in verbo
sacerdotis--on the word of a priest, is not regarded; but he is brought
before the privy-council, who without examining him and the proofs against
him, but upon the base malicious insinuation of the captain, fell into a
passion with him: they were wroth; and what justice could be expected
from men who, being in anger, would hear no reason? They beat him, without
any regard had to his coat and character, and then put him in prison,
in the worst prison they had, that in the house of Jonathan the scribe;
either it had been his house, and he had quitted it for the inconveniences
of it, but it was thought good enough for a prison, or it was now his house,
and perhaps he was a rigid severe man, that made it a house of cruel bondage
to his prisoners. Into this prison Jeremiah was thrust, into the dungeon,
which was dark and cold, damp and dirty, the most uncomfortable unhealthy
place in it; in the cells, or cabins, there he must lodge, among
which there is no choice, for they are all alike miserable lodging-places. There
Jeremiah remained many days, and for aught that appears, nobody came
near him or enquired after him. See what a world this is. The wicked
princes, who are in rebellion against God, lie at ease, lie in state in
their palaces, while godly Jeremiah, who is in the service of God, lies in
pain, in a loathsome dungeon. It is well that there is a world to come.
III. That Zedekiah at length sent for him, and showed him some favour; but
probably not till the Chaldean army had returned and had laid fresh siege to
the city. When their vain hopes, with which they fed themselves (an in
confidence of which they had re-enslaved their servants, ch. xxxiv.
11), had all vanished, then they were in a greater confusion and
consternation then ever. "O then" (says Zedekiah) "send in
all haste for the prophet; let me have some talk with him." When the
Chaldeans had withdrawn, he only sent to the prophet to pray for him; but
now that they had again invested the city, he sent for him to consult him.
Thus gracious will men be when pangs come upon them. 1. The king sent for
him to give him private audience as an ambassador from God. He asked him
secretly in his house, being ashamed to be seen in his company, "Is
there any word from the Lord? (v. 17)-- any word of comfort?
Canst thou give us any hopes that the Chaldeans shall again retire?"
Note, Those that will not hearken to God's admonitions when they are in
prosperity would be glad of his consolations when they are in adversity and
expect that his ministers should then speak words of peace to them; but how
can they expect it? What have they to do with peace? Jeremiah's life and
comfort are in Zedekiah's hand, and he has now a petition to present to him
for his favour, and yet, having this opportunity, he tells him plainly that there
is a word from the Lord, but no word of comfort for him or his people: Thou
shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. If Jeremiah had
consulted with flesh and blood, he would have given him a plausible answer,
and, though he would not have told him a lie, yet he might have chosen
whether he would tell him the worst at this time; what occasion was there
for it, when he had so often told it him before? But Jeremiah was one that
had obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful, and would not, to
obtain mercy of man, be unfaithful either to God or to his prince; he
therefore tells him the truth, the whole truth. And, since there was no
remedy, it would be a kindness to the king to know his doom, that, being no
surprise to him, it might be the less a terror, and he might provide to make
the best of bad. Jeremiah takes this occasion to upbraid him and his people
with the credit they gave to the false prophets, who told them that the
king of Babylon should not come at all, or, when he had
withdrawn, should not come again against them, v. 19.
"Where are now your prophets, who told you that you should have
peace?" Note, Those who deceive themselves with groundless hopes of
mercy will justly be upbraided with their folly when the event has
undeceived them. 2. He improved this opportunity for the presenting of a
private petition, as a poor prisoner, v. 18, 20. It was not in
Jeremiah's power to reverse the sentence God had passed upon Zedekiah, but
it was in Zedekiah's power to reverse the sentence which the princes had
given against him; and therefore, since he thought him fit to be used as a
prophet, he would not think him fit to be abused as the worst of
malefactors. He humbly expostulates with the king: "What have I
offended against thee, or thy servants, or this people, what law have I
broken, what injury have I done to the common welfare, that you have put
me in prison?" And many a one that has been very hardly dealt with
has been able to make the same appeal and to make it good. He likewise
earnestly begs, and very pathetically (v. 20), Cause me to return
to yonder noisome gaol, to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die
there. This was the language of innocent nature, sensible of its own
grievances and solicitous for its own preservation. Though he was not at all
unwilling to die God's martyr, yet, having so fair an opportunity to get
relief, he would not let it slip, lest he should die his own murderer. When
Jeremiah delivered God's message he spoke as one having authority, with the
greatest boldness; but, when he presented his own request, he spoke as one
under authority, with the greatest submissiveness: Near me, I pray thee,
O my Lord the king! let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before
thee. Here is not a word of complaint of the princes that unjustly
committed him, no offer to bring an action of false imprisonment against
them, but all in a way of modest supplication to the king, to teach us that
even when we act with the courage that becomes the faithful servants of God,
yet we must conduct ourselves with the humility and modesty that become
dutiful subjects to the government God hath set over us. A lion in God's
cause must be a lamb in his own. And we find that God gave Jeremiah favour
in the eyes of the king. (1.) He gave him his request, took care that he
should not die in the dungeon, but ordered that he should have the liberty
of the court of the prison, where he might have a pleasant walk and
breathe a free air. (2.) He gave him more than his request, took care that
he should not die for want, as many did that had their liberty, by reason of
the straitness of the siege; he ordered him his daily bread out of the
public stock (for the prison was within the verge of the court), till all
the bread was spent. Zedekiah ought to have released him, to have made
him a privy-counsellor, as Joseph was taken from prison to be the second man
in the kingdom. But he had not courage to do that; it was well he did as he
did, and it is an instance of the care God takes of his suffering servants
that are faithful to him. He can make even their confinement turn to their
advantage and the court of the of their prison to become as green pastures
to them, and raise up such friends to provide for them that in the days
of famine they shall be satisfied. At destruction and famine thou shalt
laugh.
