Jeremiah 34:1-7

I. AN INCIDENT DURING THE FINAL SIEGE OF JERUSALEM Jeremiah 34:1-22

Chapter 34 contains two messages delivered during the final siege of Jerusalem. The first of these messages is directed to king Zedekiah (Jeremiah 34:1-7). According to Jeremiah 34:7 the message was delivered after Nebuchadnezzar had conquered all the outlying cities of Judah except Lachish and Azekah and was about ready to begin the assault against Jerusalem. According to the calculations of Finegan the siege of Jerusalem began on January 15, 588 B.C. The first message of Jeremiah then was delivered a short time before this date.

The second message in this chapter (Jeremiah 34:8-22) is directed to the people in general and the nobles in particular. In the summer of 588 B.C. the Egyptian army moved north to come to the aid of Zedekiah. The Chaldean army was forced to withdraw from Jerusalem to deal with the threat from the south. This second message of the prophet falls in the period just after the Chaldeans had been forced to lift their siege of Jerusalem.

A. A Solemn Declaration Jeremiah 34:1-7

TRANSLATION

(1) The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that were ruled by his hand and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against her cities, saying, (2) Thus says the LORD the God of Israel: Go and say to Zedekiah king of Judah and say unto him, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it. (3) And you shall not escape from his hand, but shall surely be taken and given into his hand; and eyeball to eyeball and face to face you shall speak to the king of Babylon, and you shall go to Babylon. (4) But hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the LORD concerning you: You shall not die with the sword. You shall die in peace. As they made burnings for your fathers, the kings who preceded you, so shall they make a burning for you. They will lament you by saying, Ah lord! Because I have spoken a word (oracle of the LORD). (6) And Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem (7) while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah which were left, against Lachish and Azekah, for they alone of the fortified cities of Judah were left.

COMMENTS

During the last days of Jerusalem Jeremiah had several conversations with the king Zedekiah. It is not easy to reconstruct the chronology of these interviews[297] but it is generally agreed that the present episode was one of the earliest. The message consists of two parts, condemnation and consolation.

[297] A probable reconstruction is: Jeremiah 21:1-10; Jeremiah 34:1-7; Jeremiah 32:3-5; Jeremiah 37:1-10; Jeremiah 37:16-21; Jeremiah 38:14-28.

The condemnatory word is first spoken concerning the city and then concerning the king. Again Jeremiah emphasizes that Jerusalem shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon but then he adds a new element. For the first time the king is told that Jerusalem would be burned with fire (Jeremiah 34:2). Zedekiah himself would be captured by the enemy. He would have to meet face to face the mighty Nebuchadnezzar against whom he had committed such a dreadful act of treachery in violating his solemn oath of allegiance. He would spend his last days as a captive in far away Babylon (Jeremiah 34:3). Apparently Jeremiah now regarded the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of a portion of the population as inevitable.

To his word of condemnation Jeremiah now appends a word of consolation to the hapless Zedekiah. The king would not die by the sword (Jeremiah 34:4) but would die in peace in captivity. He shall receive a royal funeral including the burning of spices[298] and appropriate lamentation[299] (Jeremiah 34:5). some commentators feel that this note of consolation to Zedekiah is conditional. Only if he surrenders immediately to Nebuchadnezzar will he be treated with due honor in life and death. This view may well be correct but it is not necessary. Zedekiah did spend his last years peacefully in Babylon and there is no reason to assume that he did not receive a royal burial in that land.

[298] That burnings of your fathers does not refer to cremation but to the burning of spices is made clear by 2 Chronicles 16:14; 2 Chronicles 21:19.

[299] Ah Lord is a phrase used in lamentation over a king who was respected. See Jeremiah 22:18.