21 `And if thou art refusing to go forth, this `is' the thing that Jehovah hath shewn me:
Jehovah, Thine eyes, are they not on stedfastness? Thou hast smitten them, and they have not grieved, Thou hast consumed them, They have refused to receive instruction, They made their faces harder than a rock, They have refused to turn back.
See, may ye not refuse him who is speaking, for if those did not escape who refused him who upon earth was divinely speaking -- much less we who do turn away from him who `speaketh' from heaven,
and on their resisting and speaking evil, having shaken `his' garments, he said unto them, `Your blood `is' upon your head -- I am clean; henceforth to the nations I will go on.'
that there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man, a watchman I have given thee to the house of Israel, and thou hast heard from My mouth a word, and hast warned them from Me. In My saying to the wicked: Thou dost surely die; and thou hast not warned him, nor hast spoken to warn the wicked from his wicked way, so that he doth live; he -- the wicked -- in his iniquity dieth, and his blood from thy hand I require. And thou, because thou hast warned the wicked, and he hath not turned back from his wickedness, and from his wicked way, he in his iniquity dieth, and thou thy soul hast delivered.
And the sons `are' brazen-faced and hard-hearted to whom I am sending thee, and thou hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: and they -- whether they hear, or whether they forbear, for a rebellious house they `are' -- have known that a prophet hath been in their midst.
Only, know ye certainly, that if ye are putting me to death, surely innocent blood ye are putting on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants; for truly hath Jehovah sent me unto you to speak in your ears all these words.'
Therefore, thus said Jehovah: If thou turnest back, then I bring thee back, Before Me thou dost stand, And if thou bringest out the precious from the vile, As My mouth thou art! They -- they turn back unto thee, And thou dost not turn back unto them. And I have made thee to this people For a wall -- brazen -- fenced, And they have fought against thee, And they do not prevail against thee, For with thee `am' I to save thee, And to deliver thee -- an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have delivered thee from the hand of evil doers, And I have ransomed thee From the hand of the terrible!
And Moses cometh in -- Aaron also -- unto Pharaoh, and they say unto him, `Thus said Jehovah, God of the Hebrews, Until when hast thou refused to be humbled at My presence? send My people away, and they serve Me, for if thou art refusing to send My people away, lo, I am bringing in to-morrow the locust into thy border,
If ye are willing, and have hearkened, The good of the land ye consume, And if ye refuse, and have rebelled, `By' the sword ye are consumed, For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken.
Because I have called, and ye refuse, I stretched out my hand, and none is attending, And ye slight all my counsel, And my reproof ye have not desired. I also in your calamity do laugh, I deride when your fear cometh, When your fear cometh as destruction, And your calamity as a hurricane doth come, When on you come adversity and distress. Then they call me, and I do not answer, They seek me earnestly, and find me not. Because that they have hated knowledge, And the fear of Jehovah have not chosen. They have not consented to my counsel, They have despised all my reproof, And they eat of the fruit of their way, And from their own counsels they are filled.
By thee doth He recompense, That thou hast refused -- That thou dost choose, and not I? And what thou hast known, speak.
And He `is' in one `mind', And who doth turn Him back? And His soul hath desired -- and He doth `it'.
God `is' not a man -- and lieth, And a son of man -- and repenteth! Hath He said -- and doth He not do `it'? And spoken -- and doth He not confirm it? Lo, to bless I have received: Yea, He blesseth, and I `can'not reverse it.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Jeremiah 38
Commentary on Jeremiah 38 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 38
Jer 38:1-28. Jeremiah Predicts the Capture of Jerusalem, for Which He Is Cast into a Dungeon, but Is Transferred to the Prison Court on the Intercession of Ebed-melech, and Has a Secret Interview with Zedekiah.
All this was subsequent to his imprisonment in Jonathan's house, and his release on his interview with Zedekiah. The latter occurred before the return of the Chaldeans to the siege; the similar events in this chapter occurred after it.
1. Jucal—Jehucal (Jer 37:3).
Pashur—(Jer 21:1; compare Jer 21:9 with Jer 38:2). The deputation in Jer 21:1, to whom Jeremiah gave this reply, if not identical with the hearers of Jeremiah (Jer 38:1), must have been sent just before the latter "heard" him speaking the same words. Zephaniah is not mentioned here as in Jer 21:1, but is so in Jer 37:3. Jucal is mentioned here and in the previous deputation (Jer 37:3), but not in Jer 21:1. Shephatiah and Gedaliah here do not occur either in Jer 21:1 or Jer 37:3. The identity of his words in both cases is natural, when uttered, at a very short interval, and one of the hearers (Pashur) being present on both occasions.
unto all the people—They had free access to him in the court of the prison (Jer 32:12).
2. life … a prey—He shall escape with his life; though losing all else in a shipwreck, he shall carry off his life as his gain, saved by his going over to the Chaldeans. (See on Jer 21:9).
4. Had Jeremiah not had a divine commission, he might justly have been accused of treason; but having one, which made the result of the siege certain, he acted humanely as interpreter of God's will under the theocracy, in advising surrender (compare Jer 26:11).
5. the king is not he—Zedekiah was a weak prince, and now in his straits afraid to oppose his princes. He hides his dislike of their overweening power, which prevented him shielding Jeremiah as he would have wished, under complimentary speeches. "It is not right that the king should deny aught to such faithful and wise statesmen"; the king is not such a one as to deny you your wishes [Jerome].
6. dungeon—literally, the "cistern." It was not a subterranean prison as that in Jonathan's house (Jer 37:15), but a pit or cistern, which had been full of water, but was emptied of it during the siege, so that only "mire" remained. Such empty cisterns were often used as prisons (Zec 9:11); the depth forbade hope of escape.
Hammelech—(Jer 36:26). His son followed in the father's steps, a ready tool for evil.
sunk in the mire—Jeremiah herein was a type of Messiah (Ps 69:2, 14). "I sink in deep mire," &c.
7. Ebed-melech—The Hebrew designation given this Ethiopian, meaning "king's servant." Already, even at this early time, God wished to show what good reason there was for calling the Gentiles to salvation. An Ethiopian stranger saves the prophet whom his own countrymen, the Jews, tried to destroy. So the Gentiles believed in Christ whom the Jews crucified, and Ethiopians were among the earliest converts (Ac 2:10, 41; 8:27-39). Ebed-melech probably was keeper of the royal harem, and so had private access to the king. The eunuchs over harems in the present day are mostly from Nubia or Abyssinia.
8. went forth … and spake—not privately, but in public; a proof of fearless magnanimity.
9. die for hunger in the place where he is; for … no … bread in … city—(Compare Jer 37:21). He had heretofore got a piece of bread supplied to him. "Seeing that there is the utmost want of bread in the city, so that even if he were at large, there could no more be regularly supplied to him, much less now in a place where none remember or pity him, so that he is likely to die for hunger." "No more bread," that is, no more left of the public store in the city (Jer 37:21); or, all but no bread left anywhere [Maurer].
10. with thee—Hebrew, "in thine hand," that is, at "thy disposal" (1Sa 16:2). "From hence," that is, from the gate of Benjamin where the king was sitting (Jer 38:7).
thirty men—not merely to draw up Jeremiah, but to guard Ebed-melech against any opposition on the part of the princes (Jer 38:1-4), in executing the king's command. Ebed-melech was rewarded for his faith, love, and courage, exhibited at a time when he might well fear the wrath of the princes, to which even the king had to yield (Jer 39:16-18).
11. cast clouts—"torn clothes" [Henderson].
rotten rags—"worn-out garments." God can make the meanest things His instruments of goodness to His people (1Co 1:27-29).
under … armholes—"under the joints of thine hands," that is, where the fingers join the hand, the clothes being in order that the hands should not be cut by the cords [Maurer].
13. court of … prison—Ebed-melech prudently put him there to be out of the way of his enemies.
14. third entry—The Hebrews in determining the position of places faced the east, which they termed "that which is in front"; the south was thus called "that which is on the right hand"; the north, "that which is on the left hand"; the west, "that which is behind." So beginning with the east they might term it the first or principal entry; the south the second entry; the north the "third entry" of the outer or inner court [Maurer]. The third gate of the temple facing the palace; for through it the entrance lay from the palace into the temple (1Ki 10:5, 12). It was westward (1Ch 26:16, 18; 2Ch 9:11) [Grotius]. But in the future temple it is eastward (Eze 46:1, 2, 8).
15. wilt thou not hearken unto me—Zedekiah does not answer this last query; the former one he replies to in Jer 38:16. Rather translate, "Thou wilt not hearken to me." Jeremiah judges so from the past conduct of the king. Compare Jer 38:17 with Jer 38:19.
16. Lord … made us this soul—(Isa 57:16). Implying, "may my life (soul) be forfeited if I deceive thee" [Calvin].
17. princes—(Jer 39:3). He does not say "to the king himself," for he was at Riblah, in Hamath (Jer 39:5; 2Ki 25:6). "If thou go forth" (namely, to surrender; 2Ki 24:12; Isa 36:16), God foreknows future conditional contingencies, and ordains not only the end, but also the means to the end.
19. afraid of the Jews—more than of God (Pr 29:25; Joh 9:22; 12:43).
mock me—treat me injuriously (1Sa 31:4).
22. women—The very evil which Zedekiah wished to escape by disobeying the command to go forth shall befall him in its worst form thereby. Not merely the Jewish deserters shall "mock" him (Jer 38:19), but the very "women" of his own palace and harem, to gratify their new lords, will taunt him. A noble king in sooth, to suffer thyself to be so imposed on!
Thy friends—Hebrew, "men of thy peace" (see Jer 20:10; Ps 41:9, Margin). The king's ministers and the false prophets who misled him.
sunk in … mire—proverbial for, Thou art involved by "thy friends'" counsels in inextricable difficulties. The phrase perhaps alludes to Jer 38:6; a just retribution for the treatment of Jeremiah, who literally "sank in the mire."
they are turned … back—Having involved thee in the calamity, they themselves shall provide for their own safety by deserting to the Chaldeans (Jer 38:19).
23. children—(Jer 39:6; 41:10). "wives … children … thou"; an ascending climax.
24. Let no man know—If thou wilt not tell this to the people, I will engage thy safety.
25. Kings are often such only in title; they are really under the power of their subjects.
26. presented—literally, "made my supplication to fall"; implying supplication with humble prostration (see on Jer 36:7).
Jonathan's house—(Jer 37:15), different from Malchiah's dungeon (Jer 38:6). This statement was true, though not the whole truth; the princes had no right to the information; no sanction is given by Scripture here to Jeremiah's representation of this being the cause of his having come to the king. Fear drove him to it. Compare Ge 20:2, 12; on the other hand, 1Sa 16:2, 5.
left off speaking with—Hebrew, "were silent from him," that is, withdrawing from him they left him quiet (1Sa 7:8, Margin).
28. he was there when Jerusalem was taken—These words are made the beginning of the thirty-ninth chapter by many; but the accents and sense support English Version.