Jeremiah 39 - Introduction

Jeremiah 39:1-18. Capture of the city. Jeremiah's fortunes. Promise to Ebed-melech

(i) The words in brackets are clearly a gloss, introduced from Jeremiah 52:4-7. "And it came to pass … taken" (Jeremiah 38:28 b) connects naturally with Jeremiah 39:3. (ii) Jeremiah 39:4 are absent from the LXX, they interrupt the train of thought and look like an abridgement of Jeremiah 52:7-16. On the other hand it was not (as stated in these vv.) when the princes had taken up their position that Zedekiah, according to ch. 52, fled, but at an earlier stage (Jeremiah 39:7). Unless they are an insertion here, it is difficult to understand why no reference is made in them to the princes mentioned in Jeremiah 39:3. (iii) Jeremiah 39:11. In these (also absent from LXX) Nebuzaradan is mentioned (Jeremiah 39:11 as well as Jeremiah 39:9), although, according to ch. Jeremiah 52:12, he did not arrive at Jerusalem till a month later. Moreover, he is absent from the list in Jeremiah 39:3. Gi., Du. and Co. agree in rejecting all these vv., Gi. speaking, however, less confidently as to (iii). See further in introd. and other notes on ch. 52.

The ch. may be summarized as follows.

(i) Jeremiah 38:28; Jeremiah 38:28; Jeremiah 39:3. After a siege by Nebuchadnezzar which lasted for eighteen months less one day, the wall was breached and the city captured. (ii) Jeremiah 39:4. Zedekiah flees by the way of the Arabah, is overtaken, brought to Riblah, and, after his sons and the nobles have been slain, is blinded and carried in fetters to Babylon. Jerusalem is burned and its walls broken down. The remainder of the people are carried captive to Babylon, except the very poor who are given fields and vineyards to cultivate. (iii) Jeremiah 39:11. Jeremiah, by Nebuchadnezzar's orders, is released and given in charge to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, who takes him to his house, permitting him to move about freely. (iv) Jeremiah 39:15. While Jeremiah is still in the guard-court, he is charged with a message to Ebed-melech that in the overthrow of the city his life shall be spared, because he has put his trust in the Lord.

Jeremiah 38:28 b. And it came to pass … taken Owing to a wrong division of chs. in MT. and A.V., these words were mistranslated in the latter (" and he wasthere when Jerusalem was taken"). In R.V. they are rightly rendered and connected directly in sense with ch. 39.