Ch. Jeremiah 21:1-14. Jeremiah’s warning as to the issue of the siege

We here commence a new division of the whole Book. The substance of the roll of ch. 36 has been given in the preceding chapters, while fragments of the same are doubtless included in this portion. We here pass suddenly from the time of Jehoiakim to that of Zedekiah the last king of Judah, and the occasion on which (Jeremiah 21:4) the city was attacked by the Chaldaeans (see Intr. p. xvii.). It may have been inserted here thus early merely because of the mention of a Pashhur in Jeremiah 21:1, though not the same person as in Jeremiah 20:1. The prophet in this and the three following chapters declares that the successive crimes of kings, prophets, and priests, which he speaks of in detail, have secured for Judah the unenviable fate now visibly at hand, while there appear however from time to time gleams of brighter things. Chs. 21, 22 describe the sins of the successive kings, Jeremiah 23:1-8 gives expression to Messianic hopes, Jeremiah 23:9-40 sharply rebukes prophets and priests, 24 shews under the similitude of baskets of figs the rottenness to which the State has now under Zedekiah been reduced.

A similar incident to that described in Jeremiah 21:1-7 is found in Jeremiah 37:3-10. Du. rejects both accounts as unhistorical. Others (e.g. Stade) make them refer to the same occasion. It is, however, much more probable (so Co. and Gi.) that Zedekiah appealed twice to the prophet for advice under circumstances somewhat similar, but at different stages in the siege. This was the earlier stage. In ch. 37 there had come a confident hope among the people that the raising of the siege by the Chaldaeans owing to the threatened arrival of the Egyptian army would prove permanent. Accordingly, while the general tone of Jeremiah’s answers is the same in both cases, its wording is adapted to the respective circumstances. The ch. naturally falls into four parts; (a) Jeremiah 21:1-7, the message, and the prophet’s reply; (b) Jeremiah 21:8-10 (perhaps not originally forming part of the reply, but at any rate dating from the same period), advice to the people as to their conduct under the impending fate of the city; (c) Jeremiah 21:11-12 (see notes there), advice to the house of David; (d) Jeremiah 21:13-14 (a detached fragment; see notes), disaster shall come to the inhabitress of the vale and rock of the plain. We may add that (a) and (b) are probably from the hand of Baruch, and that Jeremiah 21:3-10 are in a kind of poetic prose.

1. Pashhur the son of Malchijah] See on Jeremiah 20:1.

Zephaniah] (see also on Jeremiah 20:1) mentioned again Jeremiah 29:25, Jeremiah 37:3, Jeremiah 52:24. Both he and Pashhur doubtless belonged to the party who were for refusing to recognise and submit to Nebuchadnezzar’s overwhelming power, and thus were politically hostile to Jeremiah. For the general situation cp. 2 Kings 19:1 (Isaiah 37:1 ff.).

the priest] These words belong to Zephaniah not Maaseiah. Cp. Jeremiah 22:2.

2. Nebuchadrezzar] This is a nearer approach than Nebuchadnezzar to the correct spelling of the word and is always found in the MT. of this Book except in chs. 27–29 (where see introd. note). Nabukudurri-uzur (“O Nebo, defend the landmark”) presents perhaps the nearest sound in English writing.

his wondrous works] perhaps referring to the event recorded in 2 Kings 19:35.

go up] raise the siege. Cp. Jeremiah 34:21.

4. There is here a suspicious harshness of expression, and Co. on that account omits the v. The harshness is diminished, though not quite removed, if we omit (with LXX) “and I will gather them.” The Jews shall no longer be able, as at present, to make sallies on the besiegers.

5. with an outstretched … arm] a phrase of Deut. (Deuteronomy 4:34, Deuteronomy 5:15, Deuteronomy 26:8).

7. The Hebrew form of the v. is evidently an expansion. The LXX read “from the famine into the hand of those that seek, etc.,” omitting the intermediate words.

the pestilence] This would be a natural consequence of the overcrowding of the city on account of the siege.

with the edge of the sword] lit. according to the mouth of the sword, i.e. relentlessly, without quarter.

8. the way of life and the way of death] Somewhat similar expressions in Deut. (Deuteronomy 30:15; Deuteronomy 30:19, or, more probably, the words of Deuteronomy 11:26, though the language there is a less close parallel) may have suggested these words to Jeremiah. “Life,” however, here does not mean prosperity, as there, but the mere avoidance of death.

8–10. See introd. note to section. Owing to such advice Jeremiah was later charged with lack of patriotism, and in fact with treachery (Jeremiah 37:13 ff., Jeremiah 38:2 ff.).

9. for a prey] something snatched up hurriedly and borne away with him rather than his secure possession. For the phrase cp. Jeremiah 38:2, Jeremiah 39:18, Jeremiah 45:5.

10. I have set my face upon this city] Cp. Jeremiah 44:11; Amos 9:4. The phrase occurs in a good sense in Jeremiah 26:6.

11. And touching] rather, And to … Judah, adding thou shalt say, apparently fallen out in the Hebrew. Otherwise we should omit And and make “Touching …” a title to what follows. Cp. Jeremiah 23:9.

11, 12. See note introductory to section. These vv. are quite out of connexion with either the preceding or following. They are made up of Jeremiah 22:3 and Jeremiah 4:4, and seem to be a fragment of Jeremiah, but here misplaced. They refer to an earlier time, when reformation might still be looked for.

12. Execute judgement in the morning] An important part of the king’s duties was personally to hear and adjudicate upon cases in the open space at the city gate. Cp. 2 Samuel 15:2-4.

in the morning] probably, every morning; so Amos 4:4, and cp. Psalm 101:8. It was the ordinary time for business, while it was still cool.

13. inhabitant] lit. as mg. inhabitress, i.e. the feminine used collectively for the body of the inhabitants. See Jeremiah 4:31, Jeremiah 6:2, Jeremiah 7:29, Jeremiah 14:17.

habitations] lairs. The word suggests the haunts of wild beasts, in which they are secure. Cp. Psalm 104:22; Nahum 2:12 (“dens”).

13, 14. See introd. note to section. The fragment is a very obscure one. It may be connected with Jeremiah 22:8 f. It was evidently held by the compiler who placed it here to refer to Jerusalem. But that city is not in a “valley”, nor is it upon a “rock” rising out of a tableland “plain.” Neither can a foe be said to “come down” upon it. Dr. suggests that, as the word rendered “plain” is commonly used of the tableland upon which the principal cities of Moab lay (see Jeremiah 48:8; Jeremiah 48:21), it is possible that the v. was originally written with reference to some other city.

14. and I will kindle, etc.] Cp. on Jeremiah 17:27.

in her forest] i.e. Jerusalem, which is likened to a forest about to be wholly consumed by fire. For the same figure, representing in that case the people of Israel, cp. Isaiah 9:18. The expression does not mean literal trees, of which there was nothing like a forest in the neighbourhood of the city, but denotes either the houses clustering together like a forest, or, more generally, the beauty and grandeur of the place. Cp. for the general sense note on Gilead, etc. ch. Jeremiah 22:6; also Isaiah 10:34, where Sennacherib, king of Assyria, is likened to “the thickets of the forest,” and to “Lebanon.”