Zedekiah to Die in Babylon
Jer 34:1 While Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms and peoples in the empire he ruled were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding towns, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
Jer 34:2 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Go to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.
Jer 34:3 You will not escape from his grasp but will surely be captured and given into his hands. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.
Jer 34:4 “‘Yet hear the LORD’s promise to you, Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;
Jer 34:5 you will die peacefully. As people made a funeral fire in honor of your predecessors, the kings who ruled before you, so they will make a fire in your honor and lament, “Alas, master!” I myself make this promise, declares the LORD.'”
Jer 34:6 Then Jeremiah the prophet told all this to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem,
Jer 34:7 while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that were still holding out—Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities left in Judah.
Jer 34:8 The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves.
Jer 34:9 Everyone was to free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Hebrew in bondage.
Jer 34:10 So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free.
Jer 34:11 But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.
Jer 34:12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
Jer 34:13 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I said,
Jer 34:14 ‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free.’ Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me.
Jer 34:15 Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to your own people. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name.
Jer 34:16 But now you have turned around and profaned my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again.
Jer 34:17 “Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you, declares the LORD—’freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth.
Jer 34:18 Those who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces.
Jer 34:19 The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf,
Jer 34:20 I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.
Jer 34:21 “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them, to the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you.
Jer 34:22 I am going to give the order, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, take it and burn it down. And I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”
1 Jeremiah prophesied the captivity of Zedekiah and the city. 8 The princes and the people having dismissed their bondservants, contrary to the covenant of God, reassume them. 12 Jeremiah, for their disobedience, giveth them and Zedekiah into the hands of their enemies.
Zedekiah to Die in Babylon
Jer 34:1 While Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms and peoples in the empire he ruled were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding towns, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
This chapter begins by relating events that evidently took place at the beginning of the final siege of Jerusalem, while the prophet was still at liberty, for the prophecy here delivered to Zedekiah (vs. 2, 3) was quoted by the king as the reason for imprisoning Jeremiah (see on ch. 32:2).
Jer 34:3 You will not escape from his grasp but will surely be captured and given into his hands. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.
Jer 34:4 “‘Yet hear the LORD’s promise to you, Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;
This assurance was very likely given to Zedekiah to persuade him to cease resisting the Babylonians and to come to terms with Nebuchadnezzar. Though Zedekiah would be taken captive to Babylon, submission on his part would secure for him a peaceful life and an honourable burial.
Jer 34:5 you will die peacefully. As people made a funeral fire in honour of your predecessors, the kings who ruled before you, so they will make a fire in your honour and lament, “Alas, master!” I myself make this promise, declares the LORD.'”
Zedekiah is assured that no such dishonourable end would be his if he would only yield to Babylon.
Jer 34:7 while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that were still holding out—Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities left in Judah.
Lachish. This city is mentioned because, next to Jerusalem, it was one of the strongest defences of Judah (2 Kings 18:13, 14, 17; 2 Chron. 32:9), and because it and Azekah longest resisted Nebuchadnezzar.
In 1935 and 1938, 21 letters written in ink on ostraca, or potsherds were discovered in the ruins of Lachish. Several of these were written by a certain Hoshaiach, evidently an officer stationed nearby, to Yaosh, the commander of Lachish, preceding the Babylonian invasion. They vividly reveal the unsettled condition of the country on the eve of Judah’s downfall. One letter states:
“And let (my lord) know that we are watching for the signals of Lachish, according to all the indications which my lord hath given, for we cannot see Azekah” (W. F. Albright, trans., in J. B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts [Princeton: University Press, 1950], p. 322).
The vehemence with which Lachish was soon after destroyed is evidenced by the fact that so fiercely was the city burned that much of the brickwork of the wall was turned a bright red. These finds at Lachish may reflect the severity of the destruction that befell Jerusalem at the same time. The ruins are now called Tell ed–Duweir.
Azekah. This also was one of the “fenced cities” of Judah (2 Chron. 11:5–12). The site is now called Tell ez–Zakariyeh.
Jer 34:8 The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves.
To proclaim freedom. While the Mosaic law permitted the Israelites to be placed only under a limited time bondage (see on Ex. 21:2), many masters had exceeded their rights. The nobles of Judah, like those of Athens before Solon, applied the law of debt so as to place a large number of their fellows in slavery.
Now, under the pressing danger of the Babylonian attack, either to assure his receiving the willing cooperative service of freemen instead of the forced help of slaves, or for some other reason, Zedekiah promised freedom to all those in slavery in Jerusalem.
Jer 34:10 So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free.
They agreed. In view of the dangers that threatened from without, and the danger that an oppressed class of people might rise up to assist an invader (see Ex. 1:10), Zedekiah’s order to free the slaves met with general compliance on the part of princes and people.
Jer 34:11 But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.
When the Chaldeans temporarily raised the siege to meet the Egyptian army that was approaching (see v. 21; ch. 37:5), causing most of the inhabitants of Jerusalem to believe vainly that the danger to their city was passed, they again “brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.”
Jer 34:14 ‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free.’ Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me.
This was the law (see on Ex. 21:2) the people had violated (Jer. 34:8–11; see Isa. 58:6).
Jer 34:15 Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to your own people. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name.
A covenant before me.
This agreement to free the slaves was solemnly entered into by the king and by “all the princes, and all the people” (vs. 8–10) in the Temple courts, and so was made, in a sense, with God Himself (see Neh. 5:8–13). Therefore, in breaking this “covenant,” the people transgressed not only against their fellows but also against their God.
Jer 34:17 “Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you, declares the LORD—’freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth.
I proclaim freedom . The God-ordained freedom (Lev. 25:10) the people denied to their fellows would be turned by God’s judgment into a “liberty” that would leave the transgressors “to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine,” and also to the Captivity.
Jer 34:18 Those who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces.
For the significance of this ritual see on Gen. 15:10.
Jer 34:19 The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf,
Often these were of foreign birth (see on ch. 38:7), who became proselytes when entering the service of the king
Jer 34:20 I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.
This dishonour was considered an extreme punishment for transgression (see chs. 16:4; 19:7).
Jer 34:21 “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them, to the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you.
This shows, as indicated before (see on v. 11), that the Babylonians had raised the siege of Jerusalem, giving the princes of Jerusalem the false idea that danger had passed, and the false hope that help was coming from Egypt (ch. 37:5–10). Jer 34:22 I am going to give the order, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, take it and burn it down. And I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”