JEREMIAH 37A
No one listened to Jeremiah verse 1- 2
And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah
the son of Jehoiakim
whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king
in the land of Judah
BUT neither he – nor his servants – nor the people of the land
did hearken unto the words of the LORD
which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah
King asked Jeremiah to pray verse 3- 4
And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah
the son of Maaselah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah – saying
Pray now unto the LORD our God for us
Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people
for they had not put him into prison
Egypt comes to help Judah verse 5
THEN Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt
and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem
heard tidings of them they departed from Jerusalem
LORD sends message through Jeremiah verse 6- 8
THEN came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah – saying
Thus says the LORD – the God of Israel
Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah
that sent you unto ME to inquire of ME
BEHOLD – Pharaoh’s army – which is come forth to help you
shall return to Egypt into their own land
And the Chaldeans shall come again
and fight against this city – and take it
and burn it with fire
LORD states Jerusalem is going to burn verse 9- 10
Thus says the LORD
Deceive not yourselves – saying
The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us
FOR they shall not depart
FOR though you had smitten the whole army of the
Chaldeans that fight against you
and there remained but wounded men among them
YET should they rise up every man in
his tent – and burn this city with fire
Jeremiah arrested under false charges verse 11- 13
And it came to pass
that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem
for fear of Pharaoh’s army
THEN Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go
into the land of Benjamin
to separate himself thence in
the midst of the people
And when he was in the gate of Benjamin
a captain of the ward was there
whose name was Irijah – the son of Shelemiah
the son of Hananiah
And he took Jeremiah the prophet – saying
You fall away to the Chaldeans
Jeremiah in prison verse 14- 15
THEN said Jeremiah – It is false
I fall not away to the Chaldeans
BUT he hearkened not to him – so Irijah took Jeremiah
and brought him to the princes
WHEREFORE the princes were wroth with Jeremiah – and smote him
and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe
for they had made that the prison
King Zedekiah wants message from LORD verse 16- 17
WHEN Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon – and into the cabins
and Jeremiah remained there many days
THEN Zedekiah the king sent – and took him out
and the king asked him secretly in his house – and said
Is there any word from the LORD?
And Jeremiah said – There is – for – said he
you shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon
Jeremiah asks king for release from prison verse 18- 20
Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah
What have I offended against you – your servants – this people
that you have put me in prison?
Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you – saying
The king of Babylon shall not come again you
nor against this land?
THEREFORE hear now – I pray you – O my lord the king
let my supplication – I pray you – be accepted before you
that you cause me not to return to the
house of Jonathan the scribe – lest I die there
Jeremiah moved to palace prison verse 21
THEN Zedekiah – the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah
into the court of the prison
and that they should give him DAILY a piece of bread
out of the bakers’ street
until all the bread in the city were spent
Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 2 But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearkenunto the words of the LORD, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah. (8085 “hearken” [shama] means obey, publish, understand, diligently, or pay close attention to.)
DEVOTION: We have been warned throughout the Bible that the end times were going to be bad. Some don’t believe we are in the end times. I had a problem with the end times as I have said before back in the 70’s when I started in ministry. I didn’t understand how people could be marked with the mark of the beast. The Bible informs us in the book of Revelation that there would be no buying and selling without the mark of the beast on the forehead or hand.
Now we know that there are computer chips that have been put in the hands of individuals who receive government help with the payment for their lunches. They just scan the hand of the individuals who go through line to see if they are paying with money or the government is paying the bill. No one knows which is true except the office.
Now there is new chips being put in our computers and animals. There might be even chips in humans that we don’t know about. We have to realize that the Bible is informing us of what is going to happen in the future today just like the LORD was informing Judah about their future.
Some people will listen while others will just want to kill the messenger. Jeremiah found himself in that circumstance because he was telling those in authority what was going to happen because God said so. The Bible is God’s Word and HE has given us enough information for us to realize that all the circumstances are lining up better today than ever before for the start of the end times.
CHALLENGE: Are we going to listen or just think that either the Bible isn’t the Word of God to us today or think that we have a lot of time to witness to our friends and relatives about the LORD?
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 10 For though you had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire. (1856 “wounded” [daqar] means thrust through, pierced, stricken, riddled, or be very hungry.)
DEVOTION: Numbers mean nothing to God. HE can use a large army or a small army. HE can use 300 men to defeat an army of 185,000 trained soldiers. HE can use a young lad to defeat a warrior giant.
Strength means nothing to HIM. HE used one man to defeat the Philistines. HE used one man to preach a sermon to save a city of over two hundred thousand. Here HE states that HE can use dying soldiers to defeat the city of Jerusalem and burn it to the ground.
Too often we count on numbers to succeed. One person who has given his life wholly to the LORD can win a multitude of sinners. The Holy Spirit wants us to count on HIM to help us against any army against us.
Judah thought that because the Egyptian army was coming to help them against the Babylonians they didn’t have anything to worry about. They were sadly mistaken. God had spoken and HIS word was final. They were going to go into captivity for seventy years.
The king thought if he put the messenger in prison there would be peace. Jeremiah in prison was still the LORD’S prophet. He still told the king that he was going to go into captivity.
Our world should never revolve around numbers. If we count on our bank account to get us through a crisis, we would be wrong. If we count on our talent to get us through a crisis, we would be wrong. If we count on human beings to get us through a crisis, we would be wrong. The true of the matter is that we need to count on the LORD alone and HE can deliver us from any crisis. Can HE use money? YES!! Can HE use our talent? YES!!! Can HE use other humans? YES!!
CHALLENGE: Our confidence has to be in the LORD alone. If we continually put this into practice we can give a proper example to those around us.)
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 20 Therefore hear now, I pray you, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray you, be accepted before you; that you cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there. (8467 “supplication” [t@chinnah] means favor, grace, plea, petition, request, asking for mercy or showing of kindness to someone.
DEVOTION: Zedekiah didn’t listen to the LORD. His servants did not listen to the LORD. However, he wanted Jeremiah to pray for him. He was trying to cover all the bases even if he didn’t really believe in the LORD or HIS prophecies.
Pharaoh came from Egypt to help the people of Judah. The army of Nebuchadrezzar went out to meet them. Zedekiah thought that they were going to be safe. He wanted Jeremiah to talk with the LORD regarding their future.
The LORD told Jeremiah that even if all the soldiers of Nebuchadrezzar were wounded, they would still burn Jerusalem.
Jeremiah had left the city of Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to claim his inheritance but was stopped by the captain of the ward. He was asked questions – to which – he gave a truthful answer but was taken to the princes and beaten and put in prison. He stayed there many days. He was falsely accused but still spent time in prison.
The king secretly sent for him to ask him questions regarding the LORD’S answer to pray. Jeremiah asked the king not to send him back to prison. The king gave him his request and also daily bread to eat.
Our KING is greater than Zedekiah. HE answers our conversation with HIM (prayer) on a daily basis by giving us our daily bread. HE is a great provider. Are we communicating with HIM? What are we praying for today? Is our need as real as Jeremiah’s need?
CHALLENGE: Remember that even when we are telling the truth, we might not be believed. The LORD knows the truth and our actions. HE knows our hearts.)
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
- Chastity (Purity in living)
- Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
- Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
- Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
- Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
- Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
- Frugality (wise use of resources)
- Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
- Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
- Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
- Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
- Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
- Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Jeremiah asked to pray Judah verse 3
LORD replies to Jeremiah verse 7
Supplications verse 20
- Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
- Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Words of the LORD verse 2
Word of the LORD verse 6
Any word from the LORD verse 17
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 17
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign, Plural name) verse 3, 7
LORD our God verse 3
God of Israel verse 7
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Nebuchadrezzar verse 1, 17, 19
Babylon verse 1, 17, 19
Pharaoh verse 5, 7, 11
Egypt verse 5, 7
Chaldeans verse 5, 8- 11, 13,
14
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Not listening to words of the LORD verse 2, 20
Deceive self verse 9
Lie about God’s prophet verse 13, 14
Hitting a prophet of God verse 15
Offend others verse 18
False prophets verse 19
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Prophet verse 2, 6, 13
Prison verse 4, 15
Separate verse 12
Hear the Word of the LORD verse 20
Daily bread verse 21
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Zedekiah verse 1- 3, 17, 18, 21
Judah verse 1, 7
Jeremiah the prophet verse 2- 4, 6, 12- 21
Jehucal verse 3
Zephaniah verse 3
Jerusalem verse 5, 11, 12
Israel verse 7
Benjamin verse 12, 13
Irijah verse 13, 14
Princes verse 14, 15
Jonathan the scribe verse 15, 20
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
QUOTES
Chapters 37–44 give a detailed account of the siege and fall of Jerusalem and some events that followed that catastrophe. Jeremiah had faithfully proclaimed God’s messages to Judah for forty years. Now all his warnings were being fulfilled with the imminent fall of Jerusalem. Events were vindicating him as a true prophet (Deut 18:15–22; Jer 28). The people should have begun to believe him, but instead they considered him a traitor for encouraging them to surrender to the Babylonians. Furthermore, his warnings that the temple could be destroyed, that the land of their forefathers could be taken from them, and that the Davidic dynasty could be overthrown were blasphemous to them. His messages, which, if heeded, could have saved Judah, only hardened the hearts of the people. (Huey, F. B. (1993). Jeremiah, Lamentations (Vol. 16, p. 327). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
2–3The root of Judah’s trouble was not political but spiritual; the people were disobedient to God (v.2). In spite of his refusal to heed the word of God, Zedekiah sent messengers to Jeremiah (v.3). It was the second time he had done this (cf. 21:1–2). The approach of the Egyptian forces (vv.5, 9) seemed to contradict the message of 34:2–7; moreover, with the withdrawal of the Babylonian army, Zedekiah may have thought that Jeremiah’s predictions of doom were wrong after all (so Cundall). Also, Zedekiah may have been encouraged by his alliance with Pharaoh Hophra (c. 590–570 b.c.). At any rate, he revolted against Babylon. He may indeed have doubted his own prophets, and so he wanted to get a message from Jeremiah that would please him. Thus he asked the prophet to pray for him (v.3)—i.e., to support his actions (so Cunliffe-Jones). In other words, what Zedekiah wanted was for the Lord to make the temporary withdrawal of the Babylonians permanent. He may somehow have felt that the presence of Jeremiah, though he predicted doom, would insure God’s protection against Jerusalem’s capture. As for his regard for Jeremiah, it was tinged with superstition. Jehucal (cf. 38:1), one of the messengers Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah, later became an enemy of the prophet. (Feinberg, C. L. (1986). Jeremiah. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Vol. 6, p. 610). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
37:1–2. The events in this section focus on Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, who was placed on the throne as a vassal king by Nebuchadnezzar (cf. 2 Kings 24:15–17). In these dark days Judah needed a strong and godly leader. Unfortunately Zedekiah possessed neither quality. From the king to the common people, no one paid any attention to Jeremiah’s words of warning until it was too late. (Dyer, C. H. (1985). Jeremiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1182). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
“Pray for us!” (vv. 1–10)Afraid to come personally lest he lose the support of his officials, the king sent Jehucal (Jucal) and Zephaniah to solicit the prayers of Jeremiah for the king and the nation. Jehucal was not Jeremiah’s friend, and he eventually urged the king to have the prophet killed (Jer. 38:1, 4). God had told Jeremiah not to pray for the people, but when the Babylonian army departed to deal with the Egyptians, it seemed like prayer wasn’t needed (37:5–10). No doubt the false prophets announced that this event was a miracle, like the slaying of the Assyrian army in Hezekiah’s day (Isa. 36–37). Once again, they were living on false hopes even though Jeremiah told them that Nebuchadnezzar would return and finish the work God had given him to do. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Decisive (p. 146). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books)
We now enter upon what is more especially the historical part of the book. Jeremiah’s admonitory ministry was drawing to a close. Faithfully and fervently he had, ever since Josiah’s day (that is, for a period of some thirty years or more), warned and pleaded and entreated his backsliding and treacherous people; but there had been no true response. They had put Jehovah’s word behind their backs and drifted further and further from His counsels. Now the judgment so long announced, while the Lord waited in long-suffering patience, can be no more delayed, but must fall with awful fury upon the devoted nation. The words spoken through Hosea two centuries earlier must at last be fulfilled. “I will go and return to My place till they acknowledge their offence” (or, till they be guilty; that is, confessedly so), “and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early” (Hosea 5:15).
In wondrous grace and mercy they had been spared the final blow thus far; but there is now no remedy. Nothing can turn aside Jehovah’s indignation. They must learn in captivity what they would not be taught in their own land. (Ironside, H. A. (1906). Notes on the prophecy and Lamentations of Jeremiah (p. 202). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers.)
Ver. 2. But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, &c.] The king, his courtiers and subjects; the royal family, nobility, and common people; they were all degenerate and corrupt. Jarchi observes, that Jehoiakim was wicked, and his people righteous; and that Zedekiah was righteous, and his people wicked; but he seems to found his character on that single action of taking Jeremiah out of prison; whereas, according to this account, king and people were all wicked: for neither one or other did hearken unto the words of the Lord, which he spake by Jeremiah the prophet; neither those which were spoken in the former nor in the latter part of his reign, concerning the destruction of the city by the Chaldeans. This short account is given to shew how just it was to give up such a prince and people to ruin. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 5, p. 611). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
dāqaris used six times in the Qal, once in the Niphal, and three times in the Pual—all three participial forms in the writings of Jeremiah (37:10; 51:4; Lam 4:9). Normally the piercing results in death. But in Jer 37:10 the term refers to men who are seriously wounded. The weapon associated with dāqar is usually the sword, though a spear is the instrument in Num 25:8.(Wolf, H. (1999). 449 דָּקַר. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (195). Chicago: Moody Press.)