Jeremiah 40: Jeremiah is set free and decided to stay in Jerusalem

 In Jeremiah 40, Jeremiah is set free from Nebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard of Babylon.


2 The captain of the guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, “Yahweh your Elohim threatened to bring this disaster on this place. 3 He has carried out his threat. Yahweh did as he promised because you Israelites have sinned against him and refused to obey him. That is why this has happened to you. 4 Today I’m removing the chains from your hands. If you would like to come with me to Babylon, come, and I’ll look after you. But if you don’t want to come with me to Babylon, don’t come. The whole land is yours. Go wherever you want.

If a Babylonian captain knows about Jeremiah and the prophecies, we conclude that Jeremiah was very famous in his days. After some 20 years preaching, Jeremiah certainly delivered the Lord's message to whomever wanted to listen.


5 “If you wish to remain, then go back to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed to govern the cities of Judah. Live among the people with him, or go anywhere you want.” The captain of the guard gave Jeremiah some food and a present and let him go. 6 Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

The captain told Jeremiah to go to Gedaliah who was apointed by Babylon to govern the cities of Judah. It seems that Gedaliah is Jew but not from David line.

Gedaliah wanted a peaceful govern:

9 Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men. He said, “Don’t be afraid to serve the Babylonians. Live in this country, serve the king of Babylon, and you will prosper. 10 I’m going to live in Mizpah and represent you when the Babylonians come to us. Gather grapes, summer fruit, and olive oil, and put them in storage jars. Live in the cities you have taken over.”

A peaceful environment is basic to production:

11 Now, all the Jews who were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and in all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a few survivors in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to govern them. 12 So all the Jews returned from all the places where they had been scattered. They came to Judah and to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They gathered a large harvest of grapes and summer fruit.

The Jews accepted Gedaliah as governor, however, the Ammonites has sent Ishmael to kill Gedaliah. Johanan knew about that and wanted to defend Gedaliah:

15 Then Johanan, Kareah’s son, secretly asked Gedaliah at Mizpah, “Let me kill Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son. No one will know about it. Why should he kill you? All the Jews who have gathered around you would scatter. What is left of Judah would disappear.”

But Gedaliah didn't believe in him,

16 Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, told Johanan, Kareah’s son, “Don’t do that! What you are saying about Ishmael is a lie.”

Jeremiah 39: end of the Davidic dinasty

 Jeremiah 39: end of the Davidic dinasty

The first year of Zedekiay was 597B (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zedekiah) , so the 9 years (v39) is 597-9 = 588 BC or 587 BC, due to 10 months. The Babylonian army broke through the walls of Jerusalem:

8-10 Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned down the royal palace, the Temple, and all the homes of the people. They leveled the walls of Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan, commander of the king’s bodyguard, rounded up everyone left in the city, along with those who had surrendered to him, and herded them off to exile in Babylon. He didn’t bother taking the few poor people who had nothing. He left them in the land of Judah to eke out a living as best they could in the vineyards and fields.

Zedekiah was the last king of Davidic dinasty. He didn't trust in Jeremiah's words, but he listened to him. He saved him but kept in prison. So, he seemed like a lot of people says things like: “No creo en brujas, pero que las hay, las hay”. It is very difficult to obey the Lord with this kind of thought.

4-7 When Zedekiah king of Judah and his remaining soldiers saw this, they ran for their lives. They slipped out at night on a path in the king’s garden through the gate between two walls and headed for the wilderness, toward the Jordan Valley. The Babylonian army chased them and caught Zedekiah in the wilderness of Jericho. They seized him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the country of Hamath. Nebuchadnezzar decided his fate. The king of Babylon killed all the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah right before his eyes and then killed all the nobles of Judah. After Zedekiah had seen the slaughter, Nebuchadnezzar blinded him, chained him up, and then took him off to Babylon.

Jeremiah is released from prison and put under the care of Gedaliah - the new assigned governor for the region but with no royal (David) blood.

11-12 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave Nebuzaradan captain of the king’s bodyguard special orders regarding Jeremiah: “Look out for him. Make sure nothing bad happens to him. Give him anything he wants.”

13-14 So Nebuzaradan, chief of the king’s bodyguard, along with Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon, sent for Jeremiah, taking him from the courtyard of the royal guards and putting him under the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be taken home. And so he was able to live with the people.

Ebed-melek, the Ethiopian, is rewarded:

15-18 Earlier, while Jeremiah was still in custody in the courtyard of the royal guards, God’s Message came to him: “Go and speak with Ebed-melek the Ethiopian. Tell him, ‘God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, Listen carefully: I will do exactly what I said I would do to this city—bad news, not good news. When it happens, you will be there to see it. But I’ll deliver you on that doomsday. You won’t be handed over to those men whom you have good reason to fear. Yes, I’ll most certainly save you. You won’t be killed. You’ll walk out of there safe and sound because you trusted me.’” God’s Decree.

Jeremiah 38: can a gentile be more reliable than an Jew official?

In Jeremiah 38:

1 Shaphatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashur son of Malkijah (...)
8 ... took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malkijah the king’s son that was in the courtyard of the palace guard. They lowered him down with ropes. There wasn’t any water in the cistern, only mud. Jeremiah sank into the mud.

These Jews were afraid that Jeremiah would weak the soldiers morale, so they threw him in a cistern to let him die there. However:

7-9 Ebed-melek the Ethiopian, a court official assigned to the royal palace, heard that they had thrown Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was holding court in the Benjamin Gate, Ebed-melek went immediately from the palace to the king and said, “My master, O king—these men are committing a great crime in what they’re doing, throwing Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern and leaving him there to starve. He’s as good as dead. There isn’t a scrap of bread left in the city.”

Ebed-melek, the Ethiopian, decided to save Jeremiah; so he asked the king to intercede for him.

10 So the king ordered Ebed-melek the Ethiopian, “Get three men and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

11-12 Ebed-melek got three men and went to the palace wardrobe and got some scraps of old clothing, which they tied together and lowered down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. Ebed-melek the Ethiopian called down to Jeremiah, “Put these scraps of old clothing under your armpits and around the ropes.” Jeremiah did what he said.

13 And so they pulled Jeremiah up out of the cistern by the ropes. But he was still confined in the courtyard of the palace guard.
Ebed-melek saved Jeremiah's life. The king had some interest in Jeremiah's prophecies. He went to Jeremiah

The king was interested in Jeremiah's prophecies and meet him in secret. Jeremiah told the king to surrender, but the king replied:

19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “But I’m afraid of the Judeans who have already deserted to the Chaldeans. If they get hold of me, they’ll rough me up good.”

It seems that Zedekiah had enemies that were pro Babylon, but he was also afraid of the Jews who put Jeremiah in the cistern (and were against Babylon):

24-26 Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t let anyone know of this conversation, if you know what’s good for you. If the government officials get wind that I’ve been talking with you, they may come and say, ‘Tell us what went on between you and the king, what you said and what he said. Hold nothing back and we won’t kill you.’ If this happens, tell them, ‘I presented my case to the king so that he wouldn’t send me back to the dungeon of Jonathan to die there.’”

27 And sure enough, all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him. He responded as the king had instructed. So they quit asking. No one had overheard the conversation.

28 Jeremiah lived in the courtyard of the palace guards until the day that Jerusalem was captured.

Jeremiah 37: Jeremiah is arrested for treason

 Jeremiah 37: Jeremiah is arrested for treason

The Lord speaks through Jeremiah, but, did it make Jeremiah more rich or powerful? In this chapter, Jeremiah is arrested for treason. King Zedekiah ( a puppet king set on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ) is the last king before the Babylonian captivity and Jeremiah has been preaching for two decades to repent and even to surrender to the Babylonian army while false prophets (more nationalistic) were preaching that the Lord would protect his temple, Jerusalem, his people, etc. In this chapter, it was very clear that Jeremiah was right because the Babylonian army is surrounding  Jerusalem. However:

4-5 ... Pharaoh’s army was marching up from Egypt. The Chaldeans fighting against Jerusalem heard that the Egyptians were coming and pulled back.

Although Zedekiah was set by Nebuchadnezzar, he must made some agreement with pharaoh, so pharaoh's army is now marching to Jerusalem. King Zedekiah asks to Jeremiah to pray:

3 However, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Pray for us—pray hard!—to the Master, our God.”

Zedekiah wants to stay in throne, free from the Babylonians; and he wants the blessing of the Lord. Jeremiah replies:

6-10 Then Jeremiah the prophet received this Message from God: “I, the God of Israel, want you to give this Message to the king of Judah, who has just sent you to me to find out what he should do. Tell him, ‘Get this: Pharaoh’s army, which is on its way to help you, isn’t going to stick it out. No sooner will they get here than they’ll leave and go home to Egypt. And then the Babylonians will come back and resume their attack, capture this city and burn it to the ground. I, God, am telling you: Don’t kid yourselves, reassuring one another, “The Babylonians will leave in a few days.” I tell you, they aren’t leaving. Why, even if you defeated the entire attacking Chaldean army and all that was left were a few wounded soldiers in their tents, the wounded would still do the job and burn this city to the ground.’”

During this absence of the Babylonian army surrounding Jerusalem, Jeremiah decided to leave the city:

11-13 When the Chaldean army pulled back from Jerusalem, Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go over to the territory of Benjamin to take care of some personal business. When he got to the Benjamin Gate, the officer on guard there, Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, grabbed Jeremiah the prophet, accusing him, “You’re deserting to the Chaldeans!”

In fact, Jeremiah's preaching seems in favor of the Babylonians. So, he was arrested when leaving Jerusalem.

14-16 “That’s a lie,” protested Jeremiah. “I wouldn’t think of deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah wouldn’t listen to him. He arrested him and took him to the police. The police were furious with Jeremiah. They beat him up and threw him into jail in the house of Jonathan the secretary of state. (They were using the house for a prison cell.) So Jeremiah entered an underground cell in a cistern turned into a dungeon. He stayed there a long time.

When I was very little and mommy was not converted yet, she told me that good things happens to good people and bad things happens to bad people. The Bible is full of stories that goes against it; in fact, Jesus told in Matthew 5:

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jeremiah 36: the Lord is insistent.

 In Jeremiah 36 we see how the Lord is like a father that wants repentance so that he doesn't punish his children. In particular, he deals with the stubborn king Jehoiakim. We read:

1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, Jeremiah received this Message from God:
2 “Get a scroll and write down everything I’ve told you regarding Israel and Judah and all the other nations from the time I first started speaking to you in Josiah’s reign right up to the present day.
3 “Maybe the community of Judah will finally get it, finally understand the catastrophe that I’m planning for them, turn back from their bad lives, and let me forgive their perversity and sin.”

The message was spoken, but now it was to be written in a scroll. It was a long message that began in king Josiah's time.


4 So Jeremiah called in Baruch son of Neriah. Jeremiah dictated and Baruch wrote down on a scroll everything that God had said to him.
5-6 Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I’m blacklisted. I can’t go into God’s Temple, so you’ll have to go in my place. Go into the Temple and read everything you’ve written at my dictation. Wait for a day of fasting when everyone is there to hear you. And make sure that all the people who come from the Judean villages hear you.

The scroll was to be read by Baruch in the day of fasting when many Jews were gathered in the temple.

7 “Maybe, just maybe, they’ll start praying and God will hear their prayers. Maybe they’ll turn back from their bad lives. This is no light matter. God has certainly let them know how angry he is!”

Jeremiah knew that it was difficult the repentance, but maybe the reading of Lord's words would lead them to repentance. This is very similar to announcing the gospel, maybe they will listen. Baruch did it some months after, in the day of fasting. Some Jewish leaders clearly understood that this was a very important message.

11-12 The moment Micaiah the son of Gemariah heard what was being read from the scroll—God’s Message!—he went straight to the palace and to the chambers of the secretary of state where all the government officials were holding a meeting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other government officials. 13 Micaiah reported everything he had heard Baruch read from the scroll as the officials listened.

Baruch reads the scroll again to an audience of leaders.
These leaders understood the importance of the message: it was to be addressed to the king, but the king would become furious:

19 The government officials told Baruch, “You need to get out of here. Go into hiding, you and Jeremiah. Don’t let anyone know where you are!”
20-21 The officials went to the court of the palace to report to the king, having put the scroll for safekeeping in the office of Elishama the secretary of state. The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He brought it from the office of Elishama the secretary. Jehudi then read it to the king and the officials who were in the king’s service.

In fact, the king Jehoiakim became furious:

22-23 It was December. The king was sitting in his winter quarters in front of a charcoal fire. After Jehudi would read three or four columns, the king would cut them off the scroll with his pocketknife and throw them in the fire. He continued in this way until the entire scroll had been burned up in the fire.

But the Lord is insistent with the king:

27-28 After the king had burned the scroll that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, Jeremiah received this Message from God: “Get another blank scroll and do it all over again. Write out everything that was in that first scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up.
29 “And send this personal message to Jehoiakim king of Judah: ‘God says, You had the gall to burn this scroll and then the nerve to say, “What kind of nonsense is this written here—that the king of Babylon will come and destroy this land and kill everything in it?”
30-31 “‘Well, do you want to know what God says about Jehoiakim king of Judah? This: No descendant of his will ever rule from David’s throne. His corpse will be thrown in the street and left unburied, exposed to the hot sun and the freezing night. I will punish him and his children and the officials in his government for their blatant sin. I’ll let loose on them and everyone in Jerusalem the doomsday disaster of which I warned them but they spit at.’”
32 So Jeremiah went and got another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, his secretary. At Jeremiah’s dictation he again wrote down everything that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. There were also generous additions, but of the same kind of thing.

My Lord is very insistent with me and his people. Praise to the Lord.

Jeremiah 35: it is possible to obey a human being. Why is it so difficult to obey the Lord?

 In Jeremiah 35, the Lord uses the Rechabites’ community as an example of obedience. They were not supposed to drink wine. Would they still not be drinking wine?

3-4 So I (Jeremiah, I suppose) went and got Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah (instead of "my son"?), son of Habazziniah, along with all his brothers and sons—the whole community of the Recabites as it turned out—and brought them to God’s Temple and to the meeting room of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God. It was next to the meeting room of the Temple officials and just over the apartment of Maaseiah son of Shallum, who was in charge of Temple affairs.

5 Then I set out chalices and pitchers of wine for the Recabites and said, “A toast! Drink up!”

6-7 But they wouldn’t do it. “We don’t drink wine,” they said. “Our ancestor Jonadab son of Recab commanded us, ‘You are not to drink wine, you or your children, ever. Neither shall you build houses or settle down, planting fields and gardens and vineyards. Don’t own property. Live in tents as nomads so that you will live well and prosper in a wandering life.’

They didn´t drink wine in obedience to Jonadab (who lived in Jehu's time). The Lord didn´t ask to his whole people not to drink wine; but this community embraced it as commandment. Did the Lord approve it? Yes:

12-15 Then Jeremiah received this Message from God: “God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, wants you to go tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem that I say, ‘Why won’t you learn your lesson and do what I tell you?’ God’s Decree. ‘The commands of Jonadab son of Recab to his sons have been carried out to the letter. He told them not to drink wine, and they haven’t touched a drop to this very day. They honored and obeyed their ancestor’s command. But look at you! I have gone to a lot of trouble to get your attention, and you’ve ignored me. I sent prophet after prophet to you, all of them my servants, to tell you from early morning to late at night to change your life, make a clean break with your evil past and do what is right, to not take up with every Tom, Dick, and Harry of a god that comes down the pike, but settle down and be faithful in this country I gave your ancestors.

The Lord is almost jeleous that this commnity obeyed their ancestor's command while his people don't obey Him. It is a big contrast: if humans can obey another human, why this difficult to obey the Lord?

In face of this:

17 “So here’s what is going to happen. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘I will bring calamity down on the heads of the people of Judah and Jerusalem—the very calamity I warned you was coming—because you turned a deaf ear when I spoke, turned your backs when I called.’”

but the Lord will honor that community:

18-19 Then, turning to the Recabite community, Jeremiah said, “And this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says to you: ‘Because you have done what Jonadab your ancestor told you, obeyed his commands and followed through on his instructions, receive this Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: There will always be a descendant of Jonadab son of Recab at my service! Always!’”

Jeremiah 34: Judah obeys the Lord under pressure, but not in normal conditions.

 In Jeremiah 34, Judah obeys the Lord under pressure, but not in normal conditions. According to the law, Hebrew slaves should set free after 6 years of work; however, as they were not obeying the law:


8 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, to proclaim [c]release to them: 9 that each person was to set his male servant free and each his female servant, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, so that no one would keep them, his Jewish brother or sister, in bondage.

It seems that the army of Babylon was near Jerusalem (v22).

10 And all the officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each person was to set his male servant free and each his female servant, so that no one would keep them in bondage any longer; they obeyed, and set them free.

This covenant was established in odd way. They cut a calf in two. The people passed through the two halves of the calf saying that they will fulfill it; otherwise, they will pay with their lives. However, they didn't fulfill:

18 I will give the people who have violated My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts— 19 the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the high officials and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf—

Why did they violate this covenant? Because they feared more the army of Babylon than the Lord:

22 Behold, I am going to give a command,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring them back to this city, and they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’”

They abandoned the covenant as soon as the army of Babylon withdraw.

Thus, the Lord says:

20 I will hand them over to their enemies and to those who seek their lives. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth. 21 Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will also hand over to their enemies and to those who seek their lives, and to the army of the king of Babylon which has withdrawn from you.