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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
J E R E M I A H.
CHAP. XXXVIII.
In this chapter, just as in the former, we have Jeremiah greatly
debased under the frowns of the princes, and yet greatly honoured by
the favour of the king. They used him as a criminal; he used him as a
privy-counsellor. Here,
I. Jeremiah for his faithfulness is put into the dungeon by the princes,
II. At the intercession of Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, by special order
from the king, he is taken up out of the dungeon and confined only to
the court of the prison,
III. He has a private conference with the king upon the present
conjuncture of affairs,
IV. Care is taken to keep that conference private,
| Jeremiah Put into the Dungeon; Ebed-melech’s Care of Jeremiah. | B. C. 589. |
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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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
7 Now when Ebed-melech 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;
8 Ebed-melech went forth out of the king’s house, and spake to
the king, saying,
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.
10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying,
Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the
prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.
11 So Ebed-melech 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.
12 And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now
these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes
under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.
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.
Here,
1. Jeremiah persists in his plain preaching; what he had many a time
said, he still says
(v. 3):
This city shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon;
though it hold out long, it will taken at last. Nor would he have so
often repeated this unwelcome message but that he could put them in a
certain way, though not to save the city, yet to save themselves; so
that every man might have his own life given him for a prey if he would
be advised,
v. 2.
Let him not stay in the city, in hopes to defend that, for it will be
to no purpose, but let him go forth to the Chaldeans, and throw
himself upon their mercy, before things come to extremity, and then he
shall live; they will not put him to the sword, but give him
quarter (satis est prostrasse leoni–it suffices the lion to lay his
antagonist prostrate) and he shall escape the famine and
pestilence, which will be the death of multitudes within the city.
Note, Those do better for themselves who patiently submit to the rebukes
of Providence than those who contend with them. And, if we cannot have
our liberty, we must reckon it a mercy to have our lives, and not
foolishly throw them away upon a point of honour; they may be reserved
for better times.
2. The princes persist in their malice against Jeremiah. He was
faithful to his country and to his trust as a prophet, though he had
suffered many a time for his faithfulness; and, though at this time he
ate the king’s bread, yet that did not stop his mouth. But his
persecutors were still bitter against him, and complained that he
abused the liberty he had of walking in the court of the prison; for,
though he could not go to the temple to preach, yet he vented the same
things in private conversation to those that came to visit him, and
therefore
(v. 4)
they represented him to the king as a dangerous man, disaffected to his
country and to the government he lived under: He seeks not the
welfare of this people, but the hurt–an unjust insinuation, for no
man had laid out himself more for the good of Jerusalem than he had
done. They represent his preaching as having a bad tendency. The design
of it was plainly to bring men to repent and turn to God, which would
have been as much as any thing a strengthening to the hands both the
soldiery and of the burghers, and yet they represented it as
weakening their hands and discouraging them; and, if it did this,
it was their own fault. Note, It is common for wicked people to look
upon God’s faithful ministers as their enemies, only because they show
them what enemies they are to themselves while they continue
impenitent.
3. Jeremiah hereupon, by the king’s permission, is put into a dungeon,
with a view to his destruction there. Zedekiah, though he felt a
conviction that Jeremiah was a prophet, sent of God, had not courage to
own it, but yielded to the violence of his persecutors
(v. 5):
He is in your hand; and a worse sentence he could not have
passed upon him. We found in Jehoiakim’s reign that the princes were
better affected to the prophet than the king was
but now they were more violent against him, a sign that they were
ripening apace for ruin. Had it been in a cause that concerned his own
honour or profit, he would have let them know that the king is he who
can do what he pleases, whether they will or no; but in the cause of
God and his prophet, which he was very cool in, he basely sneaks, and
truckles to them: The king is not he that can do any thing against
you. Note, Those will have a great deal to answer for who, though
they have a secret kindness for good people, dare not own it in a time
of need, nor will do what they might do to prevent mischief designed
them. The princes, having this general warrant from the king,
immediately put poor Jeremiah into the dungeon of Malchiah, that was
in the court of the prison
(v. 6),
a deep dungeon, for they let him down into it with
cords, and a dirty one, for there was no water in it, but
mire; and he sunk in the mire, up to the neck, says
Josephus. Those that put him here doubtless designed that he should die
here, die for hunger, die for cold, and so die miserably, die
obscurely, fearing, if they should put him to death openly, the people
might be affected with what he would say and be incensed against them.
Many of God’s faithful witnesses have thus been privately made away,
and starved to death, in prisons, whose blood will be brought to
account in the day of discovery. We are not here told what Jeremiah did
in this distress, but he tells us himself
I called upon thy name, O Lord! out of the low dungeon, and thou
drewest near, saying, Fear not.
4. Application is made to the king by an honest courtier,
Ebed-melech, one of the gentlemen of the bed-chamber, in behalf
of the poor sufferer. Though the princes carried on the matter as
privately as they could, yet it came to the ear of this good man, who
probably sought opportunities to do good. It may be he came to the
knowledge of it by hearing Jeremiah’s moans out of the dungeon, for it
was in the king’s house,
v. 7.
Ebed-melech was an Ethiopian, a stranger to the commonwealth
of Israel, and yet had in him more humanity, and more divinity too,
than native Israelites had. Christ found more faith among Gentiles
than among Jews. Ebed-melech lived in a wicked court and in a very
corrupt degenerate age, and yet had a great sense both of equity and
piety. God has his remnant in all places, among all sorts. There were
saints even in Cæsar’s household. The king was now
sitting in the gate of Benjamin, to try causes and receive
appeals and petitions, or perhaps holding a council of war there.
Thither Ebed-melech went immediately to him, for the case would not
admit delay; the prophet might have perished if he had trifled or put
it off till he had an opportunity of speaking to the king in private.
Not time must be lost when life is in danger, especially so valuable a
life. He boldly asserts the Jeremiah had a great deal of wrong done
him, and is not afraid to tell the king so, though they were princes
that did it, though they were now present in court, and though they had
the king’s warrant for what they did. Whither should oppressed
innocency flee for protection but to the throne, especially when great
men are its oppressors? Ebed-melech appears truly brave in this matter.
He does not mince the matter; though he had a place at court, which he
would be in danger of losing for his plain dealing, yet he tells the
king faithfully, let him take it as he will, These men have done ill
in all that they have done to Jeremiah. They had dealt unjustly
with him, for he had not deserved any punishment at all; and they had
dealt barbarously with him, so as they used not to deal with the vilest
malefactors. And they needed not to have put him to this miserable
death; for, if they had let him alone where he was, he was likely to
die for hunger in the place where he was, in the court of the
prison to which he was confined, for there was not more bread in the
city: the stores out of which he was to have his allowance
were in a manner spent. See how God can raise up friends for his people
in distress where they little thought of them, and animate men for his
service even beyond expectation.
5. Orders are immediately given for his release, and Ebed-melech takes
care to see them executed. The king, who but now durst do nothing
against the princes, had his heart wonderfully changed on a sudden, and
will now have Jeremiah released in defiance of the princes, for
therefore he orders no less than thirty men, and those of the
lifeguard, to be employed in fetching him out of the dungeon, lest the
princes should raise a party to oppose it,
Let this encourage us to appear boldly for God–we may succeed better
that we could have thought, for the hearts of kings are in the hand
of God. Ebed-melech gained his point, and soon brought Jeremiah the
good news; and it is observable how particularly the manner of his
drawing him out of the dungeon is related (for God is not
unrighteous to forget any work or labour of love which is
shown to his people or ministers, no, nor any circumstance of it,
special notice is taken of his great tenderness in providing old soft
rags for Jeremiah to put under his arm-holes, to keep the cords
wherewith he was to be drawn up from hurting him, his arm-holes being
probably galled by the cords wherewith he was let down. Nor did he
throw the rags down to him, lest they should be lost in the mire, but
carefully let them down,
Note, Those that are in distress should not only be relieved, but
relieved with compassion and marks of respect, all which shall be
placed to account and abound to a good account in the day of
recompence. See what a good use even old rotten rags may be put to,
which therefore should not be made waste of, any more than broken meat:
even in the king’s house, and under the treasury too, these were
carefully preserved for the use of the poor or sick. Jeremiah is
brought up out of the dungeon, and is now where he was, in the court
of the prison,
v. 13.
Perhaps Ebed-melech could have made interest with the king to get him
his discharge thence also, now that he had the king’s ear; but he
though him safer and better provided for there than he would be any
where else. God can, when he pleases, make a prison to become a refuge
and hiding-place to his people in distress and danger.
| Zedekiah’s Conference with Jeremiah. | B. C. 589. |
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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.
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?
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
21 But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the
LORD hath shewed me:
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.
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.
24 Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these
words, and thou shalt not die.
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:
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.
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.
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.
In the foregoing chapter we had the king in close conference with
Jeremiah, and here again, though
(v. 5)
he had given him up into the hands of his enemies; such a struggle
there was in the breast of this unhappy prince between his convictions
and his corruptions. Observe,
I. The honour that Zedekiah did to the prophet. When he was newly
fetched out of the dungeon he sent for him to advise with him
privately. He met him in the third entry, or (as the margin
reads it) the principal entry, that is in, or leads
towards, or adjoins to, the house of the Lord,
v. 14.
In appointing this place of interview with the prophet perhaps he
intended to show a respect and reverence for the house of God,
which was proper enough now that he was desiring to hear the word of
God. Zedekiah would ask Jeremiah a thing; it should rather
be rendered, a word. “I am here asking thee for a word of
prediction, of counsel, of comfort, a word from the Lord,
ch. xxxvii. 17.
Whatever word thou has for me hide it not from me; let me know
the worst.” He had been told plainly what things would come to in the
foregoing chapter, but, like Balaam, he asks again, in hopes to get a
more pleasing answer, as if God, who is in one mind, were
altogether such a one as himself, who was in many minds.
II. The bargain that Jeremiah made with him before he would give him
his advice,
He would stipulate,
1. For his own safety. Zedekiah would have him deal faithfully with
him: “And if I do,” says Jeremiah, “wilt thou not put me to
death? I am afraid thou wilt” (so some take it); “what else
can I expect when thou art led blindfold by the princes?” Not that
Jeremiah was backward to seal the doctrine he preached with his blood,
when he was called to do so; but, in doing our duty, we ought to use
all lawful means for our own preservation; even the apostles of Christ
did so.
2. He would answer for the success of his advice, being no less
concerned for Zedekiah’s welfare than for his own. He is willing to
give him wholesome advice, and does not upbraid him with his unkindness
in suffering him to be put into the dungeon, nor bid him go and consult
with his princes, whose judgments he had such a value for. Ministers
must with meekness instruct even those that oppose themselves, and
render good for evil. He is desirous that he should hear counsel and
receive instruction: “Wilt thou not hearken unto me? Surely thou
wilt; I am in hopes to find thee pliable at last, and now in this
thy day willing to know the things that belong to thy
peace.” Note, Then, and then only, there is hope of sinners, when
they are willing to hearken to good counsel. Some read it as spoken
despairingly: “If I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto
me; I have reason to fear thou wilt not, and then I might as well
keep my counsel to myself.” Note, Ministers have little heart to speak
to those who have long and often turned a deaf ear to them. Now, as to
this latter concern of Jeremiah’s, Zedekiah makes him no answer, will
not promise to hearken to his advice: though he desires to know what is
the mind of God, yet he will reserve himself a liberty, when he does
know it, to do as he things fit; as if it were the prerogative of a
prince not to have his ruin prevented by good counsel. But, as to the
prophet’s safety, he promises him, upon the word of a king, and
confirms his promise with an oath, that, whatever he should say to him,
no advantage should be taken against him for it: I will neither put
thee to death nor deliver thee into the hands of those that will,
v. 16.
This, he thought, was a mighty favour, and yet Nebuchadnezzar and
Belshazzar, when Daniel read their doom, not only protected him, but
preferred and rewarded him,
Zedekiah’s oath on this occasion is solemn, and very observable: “As
the Lord liveth, who made us this soul, who gave me my life and
thee thine, I dare not take away thy life unjustly, knowing that then I
should forfeit my own to him that is the Lord of life.” Note, God is
the Father of spirits; souls are his workmanship, and they are more
fearfully and wonderfully made than bodies are. The soul both of
the greatest prince and of the poorest prisoner is of God’s making.
He fashioneth their hearts alike easily. In all our appeals to
God, and in all our dealings both with ourselves and others, we ought
to consider this, that the living God made us these souls.
III. The good advice that Jeremiah gave him, with good reasons why he
should take it, not from any prudence or politics of his own, but in
the name of the Lord, the God of hosts and God of Israel.
Not as a statesman, but as a prophet, he advises him by all means to
surrender himself and his city to the king of Babylon’s princes: “Go
forth to them, and make the best terms thou canst with them,”
This was the advice he had given to the people
(v. 2,
and before,
to submit to divine judgments, and not think of contending with them.
Note, In dealing with God, that which is good counsel to the meanest is
so to the greatest, for there is no respect of persons with him.
To persuade him to take this counsel, he sets before him good and evil,
life and death.
1. If he will tamely yield, he shall save his children from the sword
and Jerusalem from the flames. The white flag is yet hung out; if he
will be acknowledge God’s justice, he shall experience his mercy:
The city shall not be burnt, and thou shalt live and thy
house. But,
2. If he will obstinately stand it out, it will be the ruin both of his
house and Jerusalem
(v. 18);
for when God judges he will overcome. This is the case of sinners with
God; let them humbly submit to his grace and government and they shall
live; let them take hold on his strength, that they may make peace,
and they shall make peace; but, if they harden their hearts against
his proposals, it will certainly be to their destruction: they must
either bend or break.
IV. The objection which Zedekiah made against the prophet’s advice,
Jeremiah spoke to him by prophecy, in the name of God, and therefore if
he had had a due regard to the divine authority, wisdom, and goodness,
as soon as he understood what the mind of God was he would immediately
have acquiesced in it and resolved to observe it, without disputing;
but, as if it had been the dictate only of Jeremiah’s prudence, he
advances against it some prudential considerations of his own: but
human wisdom is folly when it contradicts the divine counsel. All he
suggests is, “I am afraid, not of the Chaldeans; their princes
are men of honour, but of the Jews, that have already gone over to the
Chaldeans; when they see me follow them, and who had so much
opposed their going, they will laugh at me, and say, Hast thou also
become weak as water?”
Now,
1. It was not at all likely that he should be thus exposed and
ridiculed, that the Chaldeans should so far gratify the Jews, or
trample upon him, as to deliver him into their hands; nor that the
Jews, who were themselves captives, should be in such a gay humour as
to make a jest of the misery of their prince. Note, We often frighten
ourselves from our duty by foolish, causeless, groundless, fears, that
are merely the creatures of our own fancy and imagination.
2. If he should be taunted at a little by the Jews, could he not
despise it and make light of it? What harm would it do him? Note,
Those have very weak and fretful spirits indeed that cannot bear to be
laughed at for that which is both their duty and their interest.
3. Though it had been really the greatest personal mischief that he
could imagine it to be, yet he ought to have ventured it, in obedience
to God, and for the preservation of his family and city. He thought it
would be looked upon as a piece of cowardice to surrender; whereas it
would be really an instance of true courage cheerfully to bear a less
evil, the mocking of the Jews, for the avoiding of a greater, the ruin
of his family and kingdom.
V. The pressing importunity with which Jeremiah followed the advice he
had given the king. He assures him that, if he would comply with the
will of God herein, the thing he feared should not come upon him
(v. 20):
They shall not deliver thee up, but treat thee as becomes thy
character. He begs of him, after all the foolish games he had played,
to manage wisely the last stake, and now at length to do well for
himself: Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, because it
is his voice, so it shall be well unto thee. But he tells him
what would be the consequence if he would not obey.
1. He himself would fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, as
implacable enemies, whom he might now make his friends by throwing
himself into their hands. If he must fall, he should contrive how to
fall easily: “Thou shalt not escape, as thou hopest to do,”
2. He would himself be chargeable with the destruction of Jerusalem,
which he pretended a concern for the preservation of: “Thou shalt
cause this city to be burnt with fire, for by a little submission
and self-denial thou mightest have prevented it.” Thus subjects often
suffer for the pride and wilfulness of their rulers, who should be
their protectors, but prove their destroyers.
3. Whereas he causelessly feared an unjust reproach for surrendering,
he should certainly fall under a just reproach for standing it out, and
that from women too,
The court ladies who were left when Jehoiakim and Jeconiah were carried
away will now at length fall into the hands of the enemy, and they
shall say, “The men of thy peace, whom thou didst consult with
and confide in, and who promised thee peace if thou wouldst be ruled by
them, have set thee on, have encouraged thee to be bold and
brace and hold out to the last extremity; and see what comes of it?
They, by prevailing upon thee, have prevailed against thee, and
thou findest those thy real enemies that would be thought thy only
friends. Now thy feet are sunk in the mire, thou art
embarrassed, and hast noway to help thyself; thy feet cannot get
forward, but are turned away back.” Thus will Zedekiah be
bantered by the women, when all his wives and children shall be made a
prey to the conquerors,
Note, What we seek to avoid by sin will be justly brought upon us by
the righteousness of God. And those that decline the way of duty for
fear of reproach will certainly meet with much greater reproach in the
way of disobedience. The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon
him,
Prov. x. 24.
VI. The care which Zedekiah took to keep this conference private
(v. 24):
Let no man know of these words. he does not at all incline to
take God’s counsel, nor so much as promise to consider of it; for so
obstinate has he been to the calls of God, and so wilful in the ways of
sin, that though he has good counsel given him he seems to be given up
to walk in his own counsels. He has nothing to object against
Jeremiah’s advice, and yet he will not follow it. Many hear God’s
words, but will not do them.
1. Jeremiah is charged to let no man know of what had passed between
the king and him. Zedekiah is concerned to keep it private, not so much
for Jeremiah’s safety (for he knew the princes could do him no hurt
without his permission), but for his own reputation. Note, Many have
really a better affection to good men and good things than they are
willing to own. God’s prophets are manifest in their consciences
(2 Cor. v. 11),
but they care not for manifesting that to the world; they would rather
do them a kindness than have it known that they do: such, it is to be
feared, love the praise of men more than the praise of God.
2. He is instructed what to say to the princes if they should examine
him about it. He must tell them that he was petitioning the king not to
remand him back to the house of Jonathan the scribe
(v. 25, 26),
and he did tell them so
(v. 27),
and no doubt it was true: he would not let slip so fair an opportunity
of engaging the king’s favour; so that this was no lie or equivocation,
but a part of the truth, which it was lawful for him to put them off
with when he was under no obligation at all to tell them the whole
truth. Note, Though we must be harmless as doves, so as never to tell a
wilful lie, yet we must be wise as serpents, so as not needlessly to
expose ourselves to danger by telling all we know.
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