Jeremiah 34:1-22
1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,
2 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:
5 But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.
6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
7 When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.
8 This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
9 That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
10 Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.
11 But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.
12 Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
13 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying,
14 At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.
15 And ye were nowa turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:
16 But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.
17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
18 And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,
19 The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf;
20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.
21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which are gone up from you.
22 Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.
Jeremiah 34:2. Go and speak to Zedekiah. This revelation was delivered in the tenth year of his reign, and would have saved the land, when all hopes of safety were fled.
Jeremiah 34:4. Thou shalt not die by the sword. Mercy is mixed with judgment. The king had spared Jeremiah's life twice, when the priests sought to kill him, and afterwards, when the princes prayed the king to put him to death, because his predictions discouraged the soldiers; now the Lord spared the king's life.
Jeremiah 34:5. They shall burn odours for thee. This was continued as long as the body laid in state. Then the funeral dirge was sung, Ah, Lord! Though these obsequies could do no good to the dead, yet they showed the respect which the Jewish princes enjoyed in captivity.
Jeremiah 34:8. After that king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people to proclaim liberty unto them. This being the sabbatical year, when they should give manumission to the Hebrew servants, whether they had served for debt or for trades, according to the law. Exodus 21:2. Here therefore was an overt fruit of repentance, and proof of reformation.
Jeremiah 34:16. But ye turned and polluted my name. No sooner had the Chaldean army broken up to go and give battle to the Egyptians, than both the princes and the people caused their servants to return under some pleas of debt or otherwise. Therefore the name of God, used in all covenants, was polluted by breach of promise.
Jeremiah 34:17. Therefore I will proclaim liberty for you. I will give spirit to the Chaldeans I will whet their swords. I will send you famine, and commission the pestilence; and I will cause you to be removed as servants into all the kingdoms of the earth, or cause you to wander as vagabonds and beg your bread.
Jeremiah 34:18. I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant when they cut the calf in twain, &c. The sacrifice of Abraham is described in Genesis 15. The calf was divided in two; and in peace-offerings into smaller parts. This custom is more ancient than all records, and the practice was universal. When the Greeks made a truce with the Trojans, and agreed that Paris and Menelaus should decide the war by single combat, Homer describes the sacrifice, if we may follow the words of an old poet, thus
Almighty Jove, and all ye deathless powers,
Whoever first shall dare to break this treaty,
May their warm blood be poured upon the earth,
As is this wine.
Of the dividing of victims, we have a remarkable testimony in Livy, the best of Roman historians. When the Macedonian army, he says, returned from a campaign, they cut a dog transversely, and put the fore parts on one of the roads, and the hind parts on the other, between which the army had to march. Without the shedding of blood there was no remission of sins.
Jeremiah 34:19. The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem which passed between the parts of the calf, God gave into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, who judged them in Riblah for a double rebellion, and ordered sixty six of them to be executed on the spot: Jeremiah 39:6; Jeremiah 52:9.
REFLECTIONS.
In Zedekiah there was found some good; therefore the Lord showed him some mercy. But he lost his eyes, he lost his sons, he lost his court and his kingdom, by not obeying the word of the Lord in going out to Nebuchadnezzar, and submitting to mercy. To this must be added, that the moral character of the people was such as not to favour their prayers for national deliverance. The day was come to purge their crimes with blood, as stated in 2 Chronicles 36.
The final cause of the fall of Jerusalem, and the kingdom of Judah, was hypocrisy in renewing the national covenant. When the Chaldeans were at their gates, and death and famine stared them in the face, they remitted debts and let the captives go. This was so far pleasing to the Lord. But no sooner did the Egyptians advance, no sooner did the Chaldeans break off the siege to give them battle, than all the evil passions rose in their hearts. They reduced the poor a second time to servitude under the plea of debts uncancelled. Why then should God forgive the rich, who had no compassion on the poor? Why should God keep covenant with men, who had with all effrontery broken their covenant with heaven? Oh infatuated Jews; now you have to fight, and fight in sin against both God and man. You fall unpitied, despised, oppressed. And thou, oh christian, who hast been at death's door, and had thy chamber thronged with sacraments, and thy prayers filled with vows; but on recovery, where are thy reformations? Be reminded, that if thy vows are false, the hand of justice will one day be faithful in its final arrests.