Jeremiah 39:12

39:11-14 The servants of God alone are prepared for all events; and they are delivered and comforted, while the wicked suffer. They often meet with more kindness from the profane, than from hypocritical professors of godliness. The Lord will raise them up friends, do them good, and perform all his promises.

Take him, and look well to him,.... Take him out of prison; take him under your immediate care; receive him kindly, and use him humanely; provide everything necessary for him, and let him not want for anything: or, "set thine eyes upon him" (m) look pleasantly at him, and let him be always under your view and inspection; treat him not with neglect and contempt, but see to it that nothing is wanting to him: and do him no harm; no injury to his person by beating, imprisoning, or starving him; nor suffer any to be done to him by the common soldiers, or by his own people: but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee: let him have whatever he asks for: this was great favour from a Heathen prince indeed, and more than he met with from his own countrymen. (m) "et oculos tuos pone super eum", V. L. Vatablus, Pagninus, Montanus, Schmidt.

12 . If we are to accept this as historical (see introd. note to ch.), Nebuchadnezzar’s action was due to the fact that Jeremiah had consistently throughout counselled submission to him on the part of the Jews. See Jeremiah 40:4 . look well to him ] Heb. set thine eyes upon him . Jeremiah 39:12

It is more than probable that Nebuchadrezzar had been informed by some of the chief commanders of his army, who had it from some of the Jews that had escaped out of the city to the Chaldean army, that Jeremiah had constantly told the king and the nobles that the Chaldeans should take the city, and as steadily persuaded both the king, and princes, and people to surrender it to them, and prevent the effusion of blood; and that he was imprisoned for this, and had been a great sufferer that way; and that this made, this heathen prince so kind to the prophet as to give this order. In the mean time the hand of God is to be taken notice of, who undoubtedly put this into the heart of this pagan prince; and we may learn that none shall lose any thing at last by being faithful to the commands of God, though they may be for the present losers. What we translate, look well to him, is in the Hebrew, set thine eyes upon him ; and expounded by the following words, commanding him to do him no harm, and to give or grant to him whatever he desired.

Nebuchadnezzar gave orders regarding Jeremiah, through Nebuzaradan, the chief of the body-guards: "Take him, and set thine eyes upon him, and do him no harm; but, just as he telleth thee, so do with him." In obedience to this command, "Nebuzaradan, the chief of the body-guards, sent-and Nebushasban the head chamberlain, and Nergal-sharezer the chief magician, and all (the other) chief men of the king of Babylon-they sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and delivered him over to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him out to the house. Thus he dwelt among the people." - On the names of the Chaldean grandees, see on Jeremiah 39:3 . Instead of the chief chamberlain (רב־סריס) Sarsechim, there is here named, as occupying this office, Nebushasban, who, it seems, along with Nebuzaradan, was not sent from Riblah till after the taking of Jerusalem, when Sarsechim was relieved. We cannot come to any certain conclusion regarding the relation in which the two persons or names stand to one another, since Nebushasban is only mentioned in Jeremiah 39:13, just as Sarsechim is mentioned only in Jeremiah 39:3. Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the man who had already on a former occasion given protection to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 26:24), was, according to Jeremiah 40:5, placed by the king of Babylon over the cities of Judah, i.e., was nominated the Chaldean governor over Judah and the Jews who were left in the land.

To him, as such, Jeremiah is here (Jeremiah 39:14) delivered, that he may take him into the house. בּית is neither the temple (Hitzig) nor the palace, the king's house (Graf), but the house in which Gedaliah resided as the governor; and we find here הבּית, not בּביתו, since the house was neither the property nor the permanent dwelling-place of Gedaliah. - According to this account, Jeremiah seems to have remained in the court of the prison till Nebuchadnezzar came, to have been liberated by Nebuzaradan only at the command of the king, and to have been sent to Gedaliah the governor. But this is contradicted by the account in Jeremiah 40:1., according to which, Nebuzaradan liberated the prophet in Ramah, where he had been kept, confined by manacles, among the captives of Judah that were to be carried to Babylon: Nebuzaradan sent for him, and gave him his liberty. This contradiction has arisen simply from the intense brevity with which, in this verse, the fate of Jeremiah at the capture and destruction of Jerusalem is recorded; it is easy to settle the difference in this way: - When the city was taken, those inhabitants, especially males, who had not carried arms, were seized by the Chaldeans and carried out of the city to Ramah, where they were held prisoners till the decision of the king regarding their fate should be made known. Jeremiah shared this lot with his fellow-countrymen.

[Bible] 39:4. And when Sedecias the king of Juda and all the men of war saw them, they fled: and they went forth in the night out of the city by the way of the king's garden, and by the gate that was between the two walls, and they went out to the way of the desert. 39:5. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them: and they took Sedecias in the plain of the desert of Jericho, and when they had taken him, they brought him to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon to Reblatha, which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judgment upon him. 39:6. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias, in Reblatha, before his eyes: and the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Juda. 39:7. He also put out the eyes of Sedecias: and bound him with fetters, to be carried to Babylon. 39:8. And the Chaldeans burnt the king's house, and the houses of the people with fire, and they threw down the wall of Jerusalem. 39:9. And Nabuzardan the general of the army carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and the fugitives that had gone over to him, and the rest of the people that remained. 39:10. But Nabuzardan the general left some of the poor people that had nothing at all, in the land of Juda, and he gave them vineyards, and cisterns at that time. 39:11. Now Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had given charge to Nabuzardan the general concerning Jeremias, saying: 39:12. Take him, and set thy eyes upon him, and do him no harm: but as he hath a mind, so do with him. 39:13. Therefore Nabuzardan the general sent, and Nabuzardan, and Rabsares, and Neregel, and Sereser, and Rebmag, and all the nobles of the king of Babylon, 39:14. Sent and took Jeremias out of the court of the prison, and committed him to Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan, that he might go home, and dwell among the people. 39:15. But the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, when he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying: Go, and tell Abdemelech the Ethiopian, saying: