King Zedekiah’s request, God’s reply
21
📚This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when King Zedekiah sent Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to him saying, 21:1 Zedekiah refused to obey the Word of God spoken through Jeremiah. The Pashhur in this verse is not the one in Jer 20:1 and the Zephaniah here is not the prophet of that name. The event described here took place when the Babylonian armies had already besieged Jerusalem.⚜
2 📚“Please consult the LORD for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us in accordance with all his wonderful deeds, so that he may depart from us”.
21:2 King Zedekiah wanted information from the Lord through Jeremiah, but he did not want instruction in righteousness or messages of repentance. Though he did not have the good character and faith of King Hezekiah he was hoping for a miraculous deliverance such as the one that took place in the time of Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:32-36).⚜
3 Then Jeremiah said to them, “This is what you shall say to Zedekiah: 4 📚‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: See, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls, and I will gather them in the middle of this city.
21:4 Chaldea made up the southern part of the land of Babylon.⚜
5 📚And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath.
21:5 God says that not only the Babylonians but He Himself would be against them. Many times He had fought for Israel; now He would fight against them (Jer 6:12; Lev 26:17, 23-25, 27, 28. Compare Rev 2:16). The Babylonian armies would be a weapon in His hand to bring them down. Notes on God’s anger at Num 25:3; Ps 90:7-11.⚜
6 📚And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They will die from a great plague. 7 📚And afterwards, says the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people and those who are left in this city from the plague, from the sword and from the famine, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of those who seek their life. And he will strike them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them, or have pity, or have mercy.’
21:3-7 Jeremiah was no man-pleaser, no king-pleaser, nor should we be (Gal 1:10). He, being a true prophet, spoke God’s message just as it came to him (see also 1 Kings 22:13-14).⚜
21:7 Nebuchadnezzar was the most famous and powerful ruler of the Babylonian empire. He reigned 605-562 BC. He showed no pity to the inhabitants of Jerusalem or to King Zedekiah (see Jer 52:8-16, 24-27).⚜
8 📚“And you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the LORD: See, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. 9 📚He who stays in this city will die by the sword and by the famine and by the plague, but he who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who are besieging you, will live, and will be to him like plunder. 10 📚For I have set my face against this city for disaster and not for good, says the LORD. It will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.’
11 📚“And concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD. 12 📚O house of David, thus says the LORD:
“‘Administer justice every morning,
and rescue the one who is plundered
out of the hands of the oppressor,
so that my fury does not go out
like fire and burn so that no one
can quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds.
21:11-12 Zedekiah had not asked for a word on repentance and righteousness, but that is what he most needed and what God sent him. To us also God sends what we need, not necessarily the things for which we ask.⚜
13 📚See, I am against you,
O inhabitant of the valley and
rocky plain, says the LORD,
you who say, “Who will come down
against us?
Or who will enter our dwelling places?”
14 📚But I will punish you according
to the results of your deeds,
says the LORD;
and I will kindle a fire in its forest,
and it will devour everything around it.’ ”
21:13-14 Lam 4:12. On three sides of Jerusalem there were valleys, and the city was easy to defend. So the inhabitants thought they were safe. But there can be no safety if God arises in anger.⚜