Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Jeremiah 37:16-21
After Having Spent Some Time In Prison Jeremiah Was Summoned To Appear Before King Zedekiah Who Secretly Sought His Counsel, Giving Jeremiah The Opportunity To Appeal Against His Situation. As A Result He Was Transferred To The Prison In The Palace-Complex Which Was For Important State Prisoners Where He Was Better Treated (Jeremiah 37:16).
Having been put in prison under unpleasant circumstances it appears that Jeremiah was badly treated, for he would later speak to the king of the possibility that he might have died under his ill-treatment. Common prisons were at their best very unpleasant and unwholesome places, and as an enemy of the state he was probably put in the part where conditions were at their worst and the warders least sympathetic. Furthermore one of YHWH's charges against the people had been the way in which they treated each others and their tendency to violence. Thus we may assume that Jeremiah discovered this aspect of their behaviour to the full.
Fortunately for his wellbeing, however, Zedekiah eventually decided to consult him secretly, and called for him, no doubt under the pretence of examining his case. By this time the siege had probably been renewed, and it is probable that Zedekiah was desperately seeking a way out, and wanted to know if YHWH had any word for him. YHWH had, and it was simple. ‘You will be delivered into the hands of the Babylonians'.
Jeremiah then appealed against the conditions under which he was being held and Zedekiah had him moved to the prison for important state prisoners, where he was treated as befitted such prisoners.
‘When Jeremiah had come into the dungeon-house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days, then Zedekiah the king sent, and fetched him. And the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from YHWH?” And Jeremiah said, “There is.” He also said, “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”
Jeremiah was placed in a dungeon (house of a pit) which was seemingly separated into separate pits or cells (the word is used only here). The aim was both to prevent him being able to speak to the people, and in order to vent their spite on him for his pro-Babylonian views. And he was held there for some weeks. It would appear that he received little food (prisoners were rarely fed, it was left to relatives to bring them food) but much rough treatment. Eventually he was summoned before the king, purportedly in order to be examined. But the real reason was because Zedekiah wanted to consult him privately. He therefore got him alone in his palace and asked him whether there was any word from YHWH. The siege may well by now have been recommenced, and he possibly hoped that he would hear something comforting.
Jeremiah assured him that not only had he received a word from YHWH, but that that word had not changed. It was that ‘you' (the king and his people) would be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon. We should not that even his desire to escape from the awful conditions under which he was being held did not dissuade Jeremiah from proclaiming the true word of YHWH.
‘Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, “In what way have I sinned against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?”
But recognising the king's sympathy he then asked him why he was being kept under such awful conditions. How, he asked, had he sinned against the king and his council, or indeed against the people, in telling them the truth? Had not what he said come about?
“Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land?' ”
Why, he was asking, are you consulting me when you have your own prophets? Was it not clear from Zedekiah's own words that he had little confidence that they had any word from YHWH. And no wonder, for their prophecies had proved false. Surely it was the prophets who had misinformed them by declaring that the king of Babylon would never come against the city who should have been being punished, rather than him. Why then was he suffering because he had prophesied what had actually happened?
“And now hear, I pray you, O my lord the king, let my supplication, I pray you, be presented before you, that you do not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.'
So he asked Zedekiah to prevent him from being sent back to the prison in the house of Jonathan the Scribe lest he die there. The conditions in that prison were clearly very bad.
‘Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard, and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.'
Zedekiah responded to his plea and commanded that he be committed to the court of the guard, which was adjacent to the palace (Jeremiah 32:12; Nehemiah 3:25) and was where the high level prisoners would be kept, watched over by elite troops. And there, while rations held out, he received a daily allowance of food, a loaf of bread from the court bakers. The city had been able to renew its resources somewhat, but it was still on strict rations. Note the ominous ‘until all the bread in the city was spent'. Things would by then be getting to starvation level.
‘The baker's street.' Like many large cities, in Jerusalem different occupations had their own streets and local markets (compare Nehemiah 3:8; Nehemiah 3:32). This was the street of the bakers.
‘Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.' Note the repetition of this idea in Jeremiah 38:6; Jeremiah 38:13; Jeremiah 38:28. What follows therefore is a description of what occurred to him in the court of the guard once rations had run out.