Bible Commentaries

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jeremiah 38

Clinging to a Counterfeit Cross
Introduction

1  Jeremiah, by a false suggestion, is put into the dungeon of Malchiah.
7  Edeb-melech, by suit, gets him some enlargement.
14  Upon secret conference, he counsels the king by yielding to save his life.
24  By the king's instructions he conceals the conference from the princes.
Verse 1

Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying,
Shephatiah
Ezra 2:3, Nehemiah 7:9
Jucal
37:4
Jehucal
Pashur.
21:1-10
Melchiah
1 Chronicles 9:12
Malchijah
Nehemiah 11:12
heard
Acts 4:1,2,6-10, 5:28
Verse 2

Thus saith the LORD, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.
He
17-23, 21:8,9, 24:8, 27:13, 29:18, 34:17, 42:17,22, 44:13, Ezekiel 5:12-17, 6:11, 7:15, 14:21, Matthew 24:7,8, Revelation 6:4-8
shall have
21:9, 39:18, 45:5
Verse 3

Thus saith the LORD, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it.
21:10, 32:3-5
Verse 4

Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
the princes
26:11,21-23, 36:12-16, 2 Chronicles 24:21, Ezekiel 22:27, Micah 3:1-3, Zephaniah 3:1-3
thus
Exodus 5:4, 1 Kings 18:17,18, 21:20, Ezra 4:12, Nehemiah 6:9, Amos 7:10, Luke 23:2, John 11:46-50, Acts 16:20, 17:6, 24:5, 28:22
welfare
Heb. peace.
29:7
Verse 5

Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.
for
1 Samuel 15:24, 29:9, 2 Samuel 3:39, 19:22, Proverbs 29:25, John 19:12-16
Verse 6

Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.
took
37:21, Psalms 109:5, Luke 3:19,20
into
37:16, Lamentations 3:55, Acts 16:24, 2 Corinthians 4:8,9, Hebrews 10:36
Hammelech
or, the king.
36:26
and they
11,12
And in
This dungeon, which seems to have belonged to one of Zedekiah's sons, appears to have been a most dreadful place; the horrors of which were probably augmented by the cruelty of the jailor. "The eastern people," observes Sir J. Chardin, "have not different prisons for the different classes of criminals; the judges do not trouble themselves about where the prisoners are confined, or how they are treated, considering it merely as a place of safety; and all that they require of the jailor is, that the prisoner be forthcoming when called for. As to the rest, he is master to do as he pleases; to treat him well or ill; to put him in irons or not; to shut him up close, or hold him in easier restraint; to admit people to him, or to suffer nobody to see him. If the jailor and his servants have large fees, let the person be the greatest rascal in the world, he shall be lodged in the jailor's own apartment, and the best part of it; and on the contrary, if those that have imprisoned a man give the jailor greater presents, or that he has a greater regard for them, he will treat the prisoner with the greatest inhumanity." This adds a double energy to those passages which speak of "the sighing of the prisoner," and to Jeremiah's supplicating that he might not be remanded to the dungeon of Jonathan. (ver. 26; ch. 37:20.)
22, Genesis 37:24, Psalms 40:2, 69:2,14,15, Lamentations 3:52-55, Zechariah 9:11
Verse 7

Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;
Ebed-melech
39:16-18
Ethiopian
13:23, Psalms 68:31, Matthew 8:11,12, 20:16, Luke 10:30-36, 13:29,30, Acts 8:27-39
eunuchs
29:2, 34:19, 2 Kings 24:15; *marg:
the king
37:13, Deuteronomy 21:19, Job 29:7-17, Amos 5:10
Verse 9

My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.
these
1-6, Esther 7:4-6, Job 31:34, Proverbs 24:11,12, 31:8,9
is like to die
Heb. will die. for there
37:21, 52:6
Verse 10

Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.
the king
Esther 5:2, 8:7, Psalms 75:10, Proverbs 21:1
with thee
Heb. in thine hand.
Verse 11

So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
let them
Verse 12

And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.
Put
Romans 12:10,15, Ephesians 4:32
Verse 13

So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
So
Jeremiah
28, 37:21, 39:14-18, 1 Kings 22:27, Acts 23:35, 24:23-26, 28:16,30
Verse 14

Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the LORD: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.
sent
21:1,2, 37:17
third
or, principal.
1 Kings 10:5, 2 Kings 16:18
I will
42:2-5,20, 1 Samuel 3:17,18, 1 Kings 22:16, 2 Chronicles 18:15
Verse 15

Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me?
Luke 22:67,68
Verse 16

So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.
sware
37:17, John 3:2
that made
Numbers 16:22, 27:16, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Isaiah 57:16, Zechariah 12:1, Hebrews 12:9
of these
1-6, 34:20
Verse 17

Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house:
the God of hosts
Psalms 80:7,14, Amos 5:27
the God of Israel
1 Chronicles 17:24, Ezra 9:4
If thou
2, 7:6,7, 21:8-10, 27:12,17, 39:3, Job 23:13
Verse 18

But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.
if thou
2 Kings 24:12, 25:27-30
then
3,23, 24:8-10, 32:3-5, 34:2,3,19-22, 39:3,5-7, 52:7-11, 2 Kings 25:4-10, Ezekiel 12:13, 17:20,21, 21:25-27
Verse 19

And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.
I
5, 1 Samuel 15:24, Job 31:34, Proverbs 29:25, Isaiah 51:12,13, 57:11, John 12:42, John 19:12,13
mock
22, Judges 9:54, 16:25, 1 Samuel 31:4, Isaiah 45:9,10
Verse 20

But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.
Obey
26:13, 2 Chronicles 20:20, Daniel 4:27, Acts 26:29, 2 Corinthians 5:11,20, 6:1, Philemon 1:8-10, James 1:22
and thy
Isaiah 55:3
Verse 21

But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the LORD hath shewed me:
if thou
5:3, Exodus 10:3,4, 16:28, Job 34:33, Proverbs 1:24-31, Isaiah 1:19,20, Hebrews 12:25
this is
15:19-21, 26:15, Numbers 23:19,20, 24:13, Job 23:13, Ezekiel 2:4,5,7, Ezekiel 3:17-19, Acts 18:6, 20:26,27
Verse 22

And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, Thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back.
all
41:10, 43:6, Lamentations 5:11
and those
Mr. Harmer would render, "and here (hennah, or reading hinneh, behold,) the women (wont to sing on public occasions) shall say," etc.; observing "that these bitter speeches much better suit the lips of women belonging to the conquering nation, singing before a captive prince, than of his own wives and concubines." This he illustrates by the following extract from Della Valle: When he was at Lar, in Persia, the king of Ormuz was brought thither in triumph; and "this poor unfortunate king entered Lar, with his people, in the morning, music playing, and girls and women singing and dancing before him, according to the custom of Persia, and the people flocking together with a prodigious concourse, and conducting him in a pompous and magnificent manner, particularly with colours displayed, like what the Messenians formerly did to Philopoemen, the general of the Athenians, their prisoner of war, according to the report of Justin."
Thy friends
Heb. The men of thy peace.
4-6, 20:10, Psalms 41:9; *marg:
have set
19, Lamentations 1:2, Micah 7:5
thy feet
6, Psalms 69:2,14
they are
46:5,21, Isaiah 42:17, Lamentations 1:13
Verse 23

So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.
they shall
18, 39:6, 41:10, 52:8-13, 2 Kings 25:7, 2 Chronicles 36:20,21
shalt cause, etc
Heb. shalt burn, etc.
27:12,13, Ezekiel 14:9, 43:3
Verse 25

But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what the king said unto thee:
4-6,27
Verse 26

Then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there.
37:15,20, 42:2, Esther 4:8
Verse 27

Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived.
and he told
1 Samuel 10:15,16, 16:2-5, 2 Kings 6:19, Acts 23:6
left off speaking with him
Heb. were silent from him.
Verse 28

So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.
13, 15:20,21, 37:21, 39:14, Psalms 23:4, 2 Timothy 3:11, 4:17,18

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