seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Jeremiah 37:1 Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachin[a] son of Jehoiakim. 2 Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.
3 King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”
4 Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. 5 Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt, and when the Babylonians[b] who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me, ‘Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt. 8 Then the Babylonians will return and attack this city; they will capture it and burn it down.’
9 “This is what the Lord says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, ‘The Babylonians will surely leave us.’ They will not! 10 Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian[c] army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn this city down.”
11 After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, 12 Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there. 13 But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”
14 “That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15 They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.
16 Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time. 17 Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there any word from the Lord?”
“Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.”
18 Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison? 19 Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? 20 But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.”
21 King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
a. Jeremiah 37:1 Hebrew Koniah, a variant of Jehoiachin
b. Jeremiah 37:5 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 8, 9, 13 and 14
c. Jeremiah 37:10 Or Chaldean; also in verse 1
Well.... if the Babylonians are about to lay siege to the city and burn it to the ground.... I guess one of the safest places to be is in the courtyard of the guard..... but I've never been in that situation. I think I'd rather be there, tho, than in a dungeon with only one way to escape and that would require help.
This is from Bible-studys.org.
Zedekiah and his men also mistakenly believed that assistance from the Egyptian army would relieve Babylonian pressure on Jerusalem. They had reversed the great confession (of Psalm 20:7), by putting their trust in “chariots” and “horses” rather than “in the name of the Lord”. Isaiah had warned in a previous generation that alliances with Egypt were futile (Isa. 30:1-3; 31:1-3).
Babylon, which temporarily ended the siege to deal with an Egyptian advance, would return and destroy Jerusalem.
Zedekiah’s lack of courage allowed his military officers to beat and imprison Jeremiah, but then he sought Jeremiah’s advice and counsel.
Jeremiah is speaking this to Zedekiah. The word "lord" is not capitalized, which means an earthly lord. "Supplication" in this particular instance, means graciousness, or entreaty. Jeremiah is explaining that he is just speaking the Words that God puts into his mouth. That is his duty as a prophet. He has committed no crime and should not be imprisoned in the dungeon again. This is such a terrible place, that Jeremiah felt he might die there.
Jeremiah was still imprisoned but it was minimum security. He would even receive a piece of bread each day to keep him from starving. Probably this was more than what we would call a slice. It was possibly a small loaf. Bread was short because there was a famine, as well as a siege against the city. The court was a little like being under house arrest. He was detained but had some freedom of movement.
It seems to me that it was odd that Zedekiah would talk to Jeremiah after having him jailed. But he did... out of the blue....he pulled Jeremiah out of the dungeon to ask him "what's the word?"..... Jeremiah explained that he just couldn't make up some story to please the king.I think I found the answer to the oddity in the easy English site commentary.
Zedekiah was afraid of his own officials. So he arranged a secret interview with Jeremiah. He was hoping for a different message about the fate of himself and of the city. But Jeremiah's answer to his question was brief. There was a message. Zedekiah would become a prisoner of the Babylonians. Jeremiah showed courage. He refused to change his message, even in his dangerous situation.
The Babylonians are still on the way.... they just took a little detour to do away with the Egyptians who were nagging them. At least Jeremiah is out of that dungeon. He's still under arrest.... but at least he can walk around. I always think of the prisoner in the comic strip "the wizard of id" when I read these verses. 