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Scripture Reading: Jer. 37; Jer. 38; Jer. 39:15-18
In this message on Israel's stubbornness in their sinning against Jehovah and Jeremiah's firmness in his speaking for Him before the fall of Jerusalem, we will cover chapters thirty-seven and thirty-eight and a part of chapter thirty-nine.
Chapter thirty-seven concerns the first step of Jeremiah's imprisonment. Zedekiah the son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had made king in the land of Judah, reigned as king instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. Neither Zedekiah nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of Jehovah spoken through Jeremiah the prophet. Zedekiah sent someone with a priest to Jeremiah, asking him to pray to Jehovah their God for them.
At that time Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, not having been put in prison yet. The army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt, and when the besieging Chaldeans heard the news, they withdrew from Jerusalem. Then Jehovah charged Jeremiah to tell the king of Judah that Pharaoh's army, which had come out to help Judah, was returning to its own land of Egypt, and the Chaldeans would return and fight against the city of Jerusalem, capture it, and burn it. Jehovah said, "Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans will surely go away from us; for they will not go away. For even if you had struck down the whole army of the Chaldeans, who are fighting against you, and only wounded men remained among them, they would rise up each one in his tent and burn this city with fire" (vv. 9-10).
When the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem, Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive his portion there. But he was seized by the captain of the guard at the Gate of Benjamin and falsely accused of trying to desert to the Chaldeans. When he was accused Jeremiah said, "It is false! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans" (v. 14a). However, the captain of the guard did not listen to him but seized him and brought him to the princes. The princes were angry with Jeremiah, struck him, and put him in prison, where he remained many days.
Later, Zedekiah the king sent and took him out; and the king questioned him in the king's house secretly, asking, "Is there any word from Jehovah?" Jeremiah answered, "There is," and then he said, "You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon" (v. 17). He also said to Zedekiah the king, "In what have I sinned against you or against your servants or against this people, that you have put me in prison? And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land?" (vv. 18-19). Then he asked the king not to send him back to prison, lest he die there. So Zedekiah the king commanded that Jeremiah be placed into the court of the guard and gave him a loaf of bread daily from the bakers' street until all the bread was gone from the city. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
In chapter thirty-eight we have a record concerning the second step of Jeremiah's imprisonment. The princes heard Jeremiah speaking to all the people that he who remained in the city would die, but he who went out to the Chaldeans would live and that the city would surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he would capture it. When the princes heard this, they said to the king, "Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the men of war who are left in this city and the hands of all the people by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm" (v. 4). In reply, Zedekiah the king said, "Behold, he is in your hand, for the king can do nothing against you" (v. 5). Then the princes cast Jeremiah with ropes into a pit in the court of the guard, and he sank into the mire.
When the eunuch Ebed-melech, the Cushite, heard about this, he went to the king and told him the evil that the princes had done to Jeremiah the prophet, who would die in the pit because of the famine. Then Zedekiah the king commanded the eunuch, the Cushite, to take with him thirty men to bring Jeremiah out of the pit before he died. And the eunuch did accordingly.
Then Zedekiah the king sent men to bring Jeremiah to himself at an entrance of the house of Jehovah. He said to Jeremiah, "I am going to ask you something; do not hide anything from me" (v. 14). Jeremiah replied, "If I tell you, indeed will you not put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me" (v. 15). Then Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah secretly, saying that as Jehovah, who had made his soul, lives he would not put him to death or give him into the hand of those who sought his life.
After Zedekiah made this promise, Jeremiah said to him, "Thus says Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, If you will indeed surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, you will live, and this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your house will live. But if you do not surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not escape out of their hand" (vv. 17-18). When Zedekiah heard this, he told Jeremiah that he was afraid of the Jews who had deserted to the Chaldeans, that they would give him into their hand and they would abuse him. Jeremiah assured Zedekiah that they would not give him up. Then he went on to say, "Listen now to the voice of Jehovah in what I am speaking to you, and it will be well with you, and your soul will live. But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that Jehovah has shown me: Then behold, all the women who have been left in the house of the king of Judah will be brought out to the princes of the king of Babylon....They will lead out all your wives and your sons to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape from their hand but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and you will cause this city to be burned with fire" (vv. 20-22a, 23).
After Jeremiah spoke these words, Zedekiah charged him not to let anyone know of these words and he would not die. Then he told Jeremiah how to answer the princes when they came to him and tried to find out what the conversation was between the king and Jeremiah. Jeremiah did according to the word of the king and remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured.
Jeremiah 39:15-18 concerns the destiny of Ebed-melech. When Jeremiah was shut up in the court of the guard, the word of Jehovah came to him and charged him to tell Ebed-melech the Cushite that Jehovah, the God of Israel, was about to bring His words against that city for evil before him. Jehovah would deliver him, and he would not be given to the people of whom he was afraid. Jehovah would save him, and he would not fall by the sword. Rather, he would have his own life as spoil because he had put his trust in Jehovah.
