Jeremiah 34:1-22
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, 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: 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.” (Jeremiah 34:1-3)
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian forces had invaded Judah for
the third time and were systematically defeating the individual cities. The siege of Jerusalem itself would take
about two years, but this time they are frustrated enough they will not stop
until the city is completely wiped out.
God sent Jeremiah with a message to King Zedekiah, warning him that God
will not protect Jerusalem but will turn it over to the Babylonians, and
Zedekiah will be captured as well and taken to Babylon himself.
“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: 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.
Then Jeremiah the
prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 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. ” (Jeremiah 34:4-7)
While Zedekiah would be taken to Babylon as a prisoner, he
would not be executed but would die in peace and his burial would be with
respect like previous kings of Judah, and the people would be reminded that it
was what God had said. When Jeremiah
delivered the prophecy, only two fortified cities, Lachish and Azekah were
still standing. All the others had been
destroyed.
“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; 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.
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. 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.” (Jeremiah
34:8-11)
Under the law, God specified that
a person could not be forced into bondage more than six years. In the Sabbatical year they were to be
released. Exodus 21;2 commanded, “ If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years
he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.” The Jews had not observed that law for a
century or more. In an effort to gain support for the rebellion against
Babylon, Zedekiah negotiated an agreement that the slaves would all be
freed. The wealthy agreed to free their
employees, realizing people would fight
harder to protect their own stuff, but when
they realized that they would have to do things themselves or pay to have work
done they violated the agreement and forced the former employees and servants
back into slavery. Giving servants
freedom was a great idea but it was for other people to do.
“Therefore the word of
the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 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, 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.
And ye were now
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: But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant,
and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to
return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for
handmaids.” (Jeremiah 34:12-16)
Though their reasons for setting the servants free was
wrong, they were doing what he commanded, and God was pleased by their commitment. He was angered when they then reversed themselves
and forced the people back into subjection just like they had been before.
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. 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.
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; 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. 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. 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 34:17-22)
God was going to proclaim liberty for them the same way they
had proclaimed liberty to their servants.
Making it seem like they were really getting free when in fact they were
even more enslaved. They will be forced
into subjection by military force, by disease, by starvation, and carried away
as captives to every country of the earth.
The people who had participated in making the agreement, signing and
oath before God, in his name, who then broke it will be delivered into
servitude to their enemies and people who want to kill them. Their bodies will not be buried but will
provide food for the scavengers. Though the Babylonians had withdrawn the army
when Zedekiah as made king, God himself will order them to return and defeat,
and completely burn it down, leaving the entire land of Judah uninhabited.
By making the commitment to free their servants, Judah had
shown they were aware what they were doing was wrong. There is no way breaking the promise and
forcing the people back into subjection after promising to free them could be
an accident or a mistake, It was a
deliberate and intentional breaking of God’s command and their own word. It was inexcusable.
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