CHAPTER 38

Je 38:1–28. Jeremiah Predicts the Capture of Jerusalem, for Which He Is Cast into a Dungeon, but Is Transferred to the Prison Court on the Intercession of Ebed-melech, and Has a Secret Interview with Zedekiah.

All this was subsequent to his imprisonment in Jonathan’s house, and his release on his interview with Zedekiah. The latter occurred before the return of the Chaldeans to the siege; the similar events in this chapter occurred after it.

1. Jucal—Jehucal (Je 37:3).

Pashur—(Je 21:1; compare Je 21:9 with Je 38:2). The deputation in Je 21:1, to whom Jeremiah gave this reply, if not identical with the hearers of Jeremiah (Je 38:1), must have been sent just before the latter “heard” him speaking the same words. Zephaniah is not mentioned here as in Je 21:1, but is so in Je 37:3. Jucal is mentioned here and in the previous deputation (Je 37:3), but not in Je 21:1. Shephatiah and Gedaliah here do not occur either in Je 21:1 or Je 37:3. The identity of his words in both cases is natural, when uttered, at a very short interval, and one of the hearers (Pashur) being present on both occasions.

unto all the people—They had free access to him in the court of the prison (Je 32:12).

2. life … a prey—He shall escape with his life; though losing all else in a shipwreck, he shall carry off his life as his gain, saved by his going over to the Chaldeans. (See on Je 21:9).

4. Had Jeremiah not had a divine commission, he might justly have been accused of treason; but having one, which made the result of the siege certain, he acted humanely as interpreter of God’s will under the theocracy, in advising surrender (compare Je 26:11).

5. the king is not he—Zedekiah was a weak prince, and now in his straits afraid to oppose his princes. He hides his dislike of their overweening power, which prevented him shielding Jeremiah as he would have wished, under complimentary speeches. “It is not right that the king should deny aught to such faithful and wise statesmen”; the king is not such a one as to deny you your wishes [Jerome].

6. dungeon—literally, the “cistern.” It was not a subterranean prison as that in Jonathan’s house (Je 37:15), but a pit or cistern, which had been full of water, but was emptied of it during the siege, so that only “mire” remained. Such empty cisterns were often used as prisons (Zec 9:11); the depth forbade hope of escape.

Hammelech—(Je 36:26). His son followed in the father’s steps, a ready tool for evil.

sunk in the mire—Jeremiah herein was a type of Messiah (Ps 69:2, 14). “I sink in deep mire,” &c.

7. Ebed-melech—The Hebrew designation given this Ethiopian, meaning “king’s servant.” Already, even at this early time, God wished to show what good reason there was for calling the Gentiles to salvation. An Ethiopian stranger saves the prophet whom his own countrymen, the Jews, tried to destroy. So the Gentiles believed in Christ whom the Jews crucified, and Ethiopians were among the earliest converts (Ac 2:10, 41; 8:27–39). Ebed-melech probably was keeper of the royal harem, and so had private access to the king. The eunuchs over harems in the present day are mostly from Nubia or Abyssinia.

8. went forth … and spake—not privately, but in public; a proof of fearless magnanimity.

9. die for hunger in the place where he is; for … no … bread in … city—(Compare Je 37:21). He had heretofore got a piece of bread supplied to him. “Seeing that there is the utmost want of bread in the city, so that even if he were at large, there could no more be regularly supplied to him, much less now in a place where none remember or pity him, so that he is likely to die for hunger.” “No more bread,” that is, no more left of the public store in the city (Je 37:21); or, all but no bread left anywhere [Maurer].

10. with thee—Hebrew, “in thine hand,” that is, at “thy disposal” (1 Sa 16:2). “From hence,” that is, from the gate of Benjamin where the king was sitting (Je 38:7).

thirty men—not merely to draw up Jeremiah, but to guard Ebed-melech against any opposition on the part of the princes (Je 38:1–4), in executing the king’s command. Ebed-melech was rewarded for his faith, love, and courage, exhibited at a time when he might well fear the wrath of the princes, to which even the king had to yield (Je 39:16–18).

11. cast clouts—“torn clothes” [Henderson].

rotten rags—“worn-out garments.” God can make the meanest things His instruments of goodness to His people (1 Co 1:27–29).

under … armholes—“under the joints of thine hands,” that is, where the fingers join the hand, the clothes being in order that the hands should not be cut by the cords [Maurer].

13. court of … prison—Ebed-melech prudently put him there to be out of the way of his enemies.

14. third entry—The Hebrews in determining the position of places faced the east, which they termed “that which is in front”; the south was thus called “that which is on the right hand”; the north, “that which is on the left hand”; the west, “that which is behind.” So beginning with the east they might term it the first or principal entry; the south the second entry; the north the “third entry” of the outer or inner court [Maurer]. The third gate of the temple facing the palace; for through it the entrance lay from the palace into the temple (1 Ki 10:5, 12). It was westward (1 Ch 26:16, 18; 2 Ch 9:11) [Grotius]. But in the future temple it is eastward (Ez 46:1, 2, 8).

15. wilt thou not hearken unto me—Zedekiah does not answer this last query; the former one he replies to in Je 38:16. Rather translate, “Thou wilt not hearken to me.” Jeremiah judges so from the past conduct of the king. Compare Je 38:17 with Je 38:19.

16. Lord … made us this soul—(Is 57:16). Implying, “may my life (soul) be forfeited if I deceive thee” [Calvin].

17. princes—(Je 39:3). He does not say “to the king himself,” for he was at Riblah, in Hamath (Je 39:5; 2 Ki 25:6). “If thou go forth” (namely, to surrender; 2 Ki 24:12; Is 36:16), God foreknows future conditional contingencies, and ordains not only the end, but also the means to the end.

19. afraid of the Jews—more than of God (Pr 29:25; Jn 9:22; 12:43).

mock me—treat me injuriously (1 Sa 31:4).

22. women—The very evil which Zedekiah wished to escape by disobeying the command to go forth shall befall him in its worst form thereby. Not merely the Jewish deserters shall “mock” him (Je 38:19), but the very “women” of his own palace and harem, to gratify their new lords, will taunt him. A noble king in sooth, to suffer thyself to be so imposed on!

Thy friends—Hebrew, “men of thy peace” (see Je 20:10; Ps 41:9, Margin). The king’s ministers and the false prophets who misled him.

sunk in … mire—proverbial for, Thou art involved by “thy friends’ ” counsels in inextricable difficulties. The phrase perhaps alludes to Je 38:6; a just retribution for the treatment of Jeremiah, who literally “sank in the mire.”

they are turned … back—Having involved thee in the calamity, they themselves shall provide for their own safety by deserting to the Chaldeans (Je 38:19).

23. children—(Je 39:6; 41:10). “wives … children … thou”; an ascending climax.

24. Let no man know—If thou wilt not tell this to the people, I will engage thy safety.

25. Kings are often such only in title; they are really under the power of their subjects.

26. presented—literally, “made my supplication to fall”; implying supplication with humble prostration (see on Je 36:7).

Jonathan’s house—(Je 37:15), different from Malchiah’s dungeon (Je 38:6). This statement was true, though not the whole truth; the princes had no right to the information; no sanction is given by Scripture here to Jeremiah’s representation of this being the cause of his having come to the king. Fear drove him to it. Compare Ge 20:2, 12; on the other hand, 1 Sa 16:2, 5.

left off speaking with—Hebrew, “were silent from him,” that is, withdrawing from him they left him quiet (1 Sa 7:8, Margin).

28. he was there when Jerusalem was taken—These words are made the beginning of the thirty-ninth chapter by many; but the accents and sense support English Version.