Jeremiah 37:2

37:1-10 Numbers witness the fatal effects of other men's sins, yet heedlessly step into their places, and follow the same destructive course. When in distress, we ought to desire the prayers of ministers and Christian friends. And it is common for those to desire to be prayed for, who will not be advised; yet sinners are often hardened by a pause in judgments. But if God help us not, no creature can. Whatever instruments God has determined to use, they shall do the work, though they seem unlikely.

But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land,.... The king, his courtiers and subjects the royal family, nobility, and common people; they were all degenerate and corrupt. Jarchi observes, that Jehoiakim was wicked, and his people righteous; and that Zedekiah was righteous, and his people wicked but he seems to found his character on that single action of taking Jeremiah out of prison; whereas, according to this account, king and people were all wicked: for neither one or other did hearken unto the words of the Lord, which he spake by Jeremiah the prophet; neither those which were spoken in the former nor in the latter part of his reign, concerning the destruction of the city by the Chaldeans. This short count is given to show how just it was to give up such a prince and people to ruin.

(2) But neither he, nor his servants . . . —The verse gives a general survey of the character of Zedekiah’s reign preparatory to the actual history that follows, which falls towards its close, probably in the seventh or eighth year of his reign. It will be noted that the “servants” here, as in Jeremiah 36:24 , are the personal attendants of the king, his courtiers, as distinct from the “princes” of Judah and the “people of the land,” that is, the great body of unofficial laymen.

The account of what befell Jeremiah and what he did during the last siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, until the taking of the city, is introduced, Jeremiah 37:1 and Jeremiah 37:2 , with the general remark that Zedekiah - whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah in place of Coniah (on which name see on Jeremiah 22:24 ) - when he became king, did not listen to the words of the Lord through Jeremiah, neither himself, nor his servants (officers), nor the people of the land (the population of Judah). Then follows, Jeremiah 37:3-10 , a declaration of the prophet regarding the issue of the siege, which he sent to the king by the messengers who were to beseech him for his intercession with the Lord. Jeremiah 37:3-5 .

The occasion of this declaration was the following: Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah two of his chief officers, Jehucal the son of Shelemiah (see on Jeremiah 38:1 ), and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest (see Jeremiah 21:1 and Jeremiah 29:25 ), with this charge: "Pray now for us to Jahveh our God." This message was sent to Jeremiah while he still went in and out among the people, and had not yet been put in prison (כּליא, Jeremiah 37:4 and Jeremiah 52:31 , an unusual form for כּלא, Jeremiah 37:15 and Jeremiah 37:18 , for which the Qeri would have us in both instances read כּלוּא); the army of Pharaoh (Hophra, Jeremiah 44:30 ), too, had marched out of Egypt to oppose the Chaldeans; and the latter, when they heard the report of them (שׁמעם, the news of their approach), had withdrawn from Jerusalem (עלה מעל, see on Jeremiah 21:2 ), viz., in order to repulse the Egyptians. Both of these circumstances are mentioned for the purpose of giving a clear view of the state of things: (a) Jeremiah's freedom to go in and out, not to prepare us for his imprisonment afterwards, but to explain the reason why the king sent two chief officers of the realm to him, whereas, after his imprisonment, he caused him to be brought (cf.

CHAPTER 37 Jeremiah 37:1-21. H ISTORICAL S ECTIONS , T HIRTY - SEVENTH THROUGH F ORTY - FOURTH C HAPTERS. T HE C HALDEANS R AISE THE S IEGE TO G O AND M EET P HARAOH - HOPHRA. Z EDEKIAH S ENDS TO J EREMIAH TO P RAY ## TO G OD IN B EHALF OF THE J EWS : IN V AIN ,J EREMIAH T RIES TO E SCAPE TO H IS N ATIVE P LACE , BUT I S A RRESTED. Z EDEKIAH A BATES THE R IGOR OF H IS I MPRISONMENT. 1. Coniah —curtailed from Jeconiah by way of reproach. whom —referring to Zedekiah, not to Coniah (2 Kings 24:17). 2. Amazing stupidity, that they were not admonished by the punishment of Jeconiah [C ALVIN ], (2 Chronicles 36:12, 14)! 3. Zedekiah … sent —fearing lest, in the event of the Chaldeans overcoming Pharaoh-hophra, they should return to besiege Jerusalem. See on Jeremiah 21:1; that chapter chronologically comes in between the thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth chapter. The message of the king to Jeremiah here in the thirty-seventh chapter is, however, somewhat earlier than that in the twenty-first chapter; here it is while the issue between the Chaldeans and Pharaoh was undecided; there it is when, after the repulse of Pharaoh, the Chaldeans were again advancing against Jerusalem; hence, while Zephaniah is named in both embassies, Jehucal accompanies him here, Pashur there.

And Pharaoh`s army was come forth out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they went up from Jerusalem. And the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel: Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh`s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. Thus saith Jehovah: Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans are certainly gone away from us; for they are not gone. 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. And it came to pass when the army of the Chaldeans was gone up from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh`s army, that Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to have his portion there among the people. And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he laid hold on the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Thou art deserting to the Chaldeans. And Jeremiah said, It is false: I am not deserting to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him; and Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.