Jeremiah 34:12-22

C. A Stern Denunciation Jeremiah 34:12-22

TRANSLATION

(12) And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, (13) Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying, (14) At the end of seven years you shall set free each man his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you. When he has served you six years you shall set him free from serving you. But your fathers did not obey Me nor did they listen. (15) But as for you, you had turned and done that which is right in My eyes, to proclaim liberty each man to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before Me in the house that bears My name. But then you turned and profaned My name, and you caused each man his slave and handmaid, whom you had set free, to return, forcing them to be your slaves and handmaids. (17) Therefore thus says the LORD: You have not obeyed Me to proclaim liberty one to another. Behold, I am about to proclaim to you liberty (oracle of the LORD) unto the sword, pestilence and famine; and I will make you an object of terror to all kingdoms of the earth. (18) I will also make the men who transgressed My covenant, who did not perform the words of the covenant which they made before Me, like the calf which they cut in two when they passed between the partsthe princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the officers, the priests and all the people of the land who had passed between the parts of the calf(20) and I will give them into the hand of their enemies who seek their life. And their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth. (21) And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies who seek their life, even into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has gone up from you. (22) Behold, I am about to issue a command (oracle of the LORD), and I will bring them back unto this city; and they shall fight against it and capture it and burn it; and the cities of Judah I will make a desolation without inhabitant.

COMMENTS

God had something to say about the hypocritical actions of the Jerusalem nobles and Jeremiah was the instrument by which His word was spoken. In his message Jeremiah condemns the act of treachery which has just been committed (Jeremiah 34:12-16) and spells out the consequences of that act (Jeremiah 34:17-22).

Jeremiah begins his condemnation of the act of treachery by reminding his hearers of the stipulations of the Sinai covenant with regard to servitude. A Hebrew who served six years was to be released in the seventh year (Jeremiah 34:13-14). Apparently this law had been generally ignored because Jeremiah says the fathers of his hearers refused to hearken to this commandment of God (Jeremiah 34:14). God had actually been pleased that finally the nobles, whatever their ulterior motives, had compiled with His law and had released their slaves (Jeremiah 34:15). But the wrath of God was kindled when these nobles went back on their word. Since the nobles had pledged in the name of God and in the house of God to release their slaves, Jeremiah charges that they had profaned the name of God.[301]

[301] The idea that God's name suffers profanation because of His people has two different meanings in the Old Testament. (a) God is defamed by the shameful conduct of his people (Leviticus 18:21; Leviticus 19:12; Leviticus 20:3; Leviticus 21:6; Leviticus 22:2; Leviticus 22:32; Amos 2:7; Jeremiah 34:16; Ezekiel 20:39; Malachi 1:12). (b) God is also disgraced because of the shameful condition of his people (Isaiah 48:11; Ezekiel 36:16 ff; Ezekiel 23 Ezekiel 20:8-10; Ezekiel 20:14; Ezekiel 20:22; Ezekiel 39:7). Sheldon Blank has a helpful discussion of the whole concept though written from an extremely liberal standpoint. See Prophetic Faith in Isaiah (New York: Harper, 1958), pp. 117-126.

Such an act of betrayal and treachery as committed by the nobles of the land will have serious consequences. The paragraph begins with a rather sarcastic word. Since the nobles had failed to proclaim liberty to their slaves in accordance with both the ancient and the recent covenant, God will proclaim liberty to them. They will be free from those obligations which they regard as unbearable; they will be free from the gracious protection of the Lord. God will deliver them over to that fourfold alliance of evils: sword, pestilence, famine and captivity (Jeremiah 34:17). Freedom from God, from divine obligations and restraint, is not true freedom at all. The cruel taskmaster of sin will take an awful toll in the life of that individual who declares his independence from God.

The punishment of the hypocritical covenanters will be appropriate to the crime that was committed. They had piously passed between the halves of the calf they had cut in two and in so doing had pronounced upon themselves a self-malediction if they should be unfaithful to the terms of the covenant. Just as that calf had been slain, so they would be given over into the hands of the Chaldeans who would slay them. Like the carcasses of animals, their bodies would be left unburied, exposed to the ravaging appetite of scavenger birds and beasts (Jeremiah 34:20).

This paragraph closes with a specific word for Zedekiah the king and a specific word about the Babylonian armies which have withdrawn from the siege of Jerusalem. King Zedekiah would be handed over to the Chaldeans along with his princes (Jeremiah 34:21). The Chaldeans will return; Jerusalem will fall. The city will be burned and left desolate (Jeremiah 34:22). The word of God spoken by his prophet some forty years earlier will be fulfilled.

II. AN ILLUSTRATION FROM AN EARLIER PERIOD CHAPTER 35

At this point Jeremiah or the final editor of the book introduces an incident from an earlier period of the prophet's ministry to illustrate the disobedience of the people. Chapter 35 is unconnected chronologically with the preceding and following Chapter s. The event here narrated dates back to the reign of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 34:1; Jeremiah 34:11) who ruled from 609 to 598 B.C. It is difficult to place the episode more precisely with the reign of that king. Jehoiakim started his reign as an Egyptian vassal (2 Kings 23:35). After the battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C. he swore allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar and remained faithful to him for three years, from 604 to 601 B.C. (2 Kings 24:1). Encouraged by an Egyptian defeat of Nebuchadnezzar late in 601 B.C. Jehoiakim rebelled against his overlord. Nebuchadnezzar, having returned to Babylon to lick the wounds of defeat, was unable to return to Jerusalem to deal with his rebellious vassal. In the meantime he sent local garrisons of Chaldean troops along with Syrian, Ammonite and Moabite mercenaries to raid Judah and harass Jehoiakim (2 Kings 24:2). It was probably to this period of Jehoiakim's reign (599 or 598 B.C.) that the present episode is to be assigned.