Jeremiah 34: 1 – 22
You changed your mind?
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem and all its cities, saying, 2 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 3 And you shall not escape from his hand, but shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand; your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, he shall speak with you face to face, and you shall go to Babylon.”? 4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus, says the LORD concerning you: ‘You shall not die by the sword. 5 You shall die in peace; as in the ceremonies of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they shall burn incense for you and lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!” For I have pronounced the word, says the LORD.’” 6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 7 when the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and Azekah; for only these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah. 8 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them: 9 that every man should set free his male and female slave—a Hebrew man or woman—that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage. 10 Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that everyone should set free his male and female slaves, that no one should keep them in bondage anymore, they obeyed and let them go. 11 But afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return, whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves. 12 Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 13 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, 14 “At the end of seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you.” But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear. 15 Then you recently turned and did what was right in My sight—every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. 16 Then you turned around and profaned My name, and every one of you brought back his male and female slaves, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, and brought them back into subjection, to be your male and female slaves.’ 17 “Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the LORD— ‘to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth. 18 And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it— 19 the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— 20 I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth. 21 And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army which has gone back from you. 22 Behold, I will command,’ says the LORD, ‘and cause them to return to this city. 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.’”
You promised to do something in most cases for someone, but you backed out of doing it. What do you say to the person who you made the promise to? Here are a few statements that you can use;
#1 – I changed my mind.
This is the simplest way to say that in the past, you had one opinion, choice, plan, or decision, but later you changed it. For example, “I was going to buy a car, but then I changed my mind and bought a motorcycle instead.”
#2 – I’ve had a change of heart.
A “change of heart” is different from “changing your mind.” A “change of heart” refers to changing your feelings, attitudes, or behavior – usually to be more positive. For example, “The boss told us we would have to work on the holiday, but then he had a change of heart and gave us the day off.”
#3 – Hang on a minute / a second.
Use these phrases to tell the other person to wait. They are often used when you are debating a decision, and you need a little more time to think.
#4 – On second thought…
Use this phrase to introduce your final opinion or decision, which you believe is better:
“Let’s go to the mall this afternoon.”
“OK.”
“On second thought… it’s probably going to be really crowded because it’s Friday. How about we go the movies instead?”
#5 – On/upon reflection…
Use this phrase to say that you have given special thought/consideration to the decision before changing it. For example, “I was thinking of becoming an engineer, but upon reflection, I decided that teaching would be a better career choice for me.”
#6 – After further consideration…
This is a more formal phrase used to say that you have considered the situation and changed your opinion or plan. It can be used in business English: “We appreciate your taking the time to prepare the proposal, but after further consideration, we’ve decided not to continue this project.”
#7 – He convinced/persuaded me to…
Use this phrase when another person influenced your decision. For example, “I was planning on traveling to Mexico, but Dan convinced me to go to Costa Rica instead.”
#8 – I’m not sure what I was thinking when I…
Use this phrase to say that your previous decision/opinion was not logical. For example, “I’m sorry, I really don’t have the time to help organize the event. I don’t know what I was thinking when I said yes.”
#9 – I did a 180.
The expression “do a 180” means to completely change your opinion or feelings – to the opposite position. For example, “I used to make fun of people who don’t eat meat, but after learning more about the subject, I did a 180 and I’m now a vegetarian myself.”
In today’s studies our Holy Father God Yahweh gave the Israelites an opportunity to delay the inevitable doom of the Babylonian army. He challenged them that if they would free their fellow brothers and sisters from being slaves our Merciful God would hold off the destruction about to happen. At first, they all agreed and proclaimed this fact throughout the land. But as today’s topic states they changed their minds and kept their fellow brethren as slaves. We will find out that this type of reasoning does not go over well with our Holy and Kind God.
The promise of future restoration having been laid out Jeremiah now returns to the current situation with Jerusalem under threat. He demonstrates the different ways in which YHWH has been rejected and treated with contempt by
1). a hypocritical pretense of obedience to the covenant, which is reneged on
2). a treating of YHWH’s Fatherhood with contempt by the people, something which is in stark contrast with the obedience and reverence shown by the Rechabites to their father
3). a burning of YHWH’s very word in a brazier
4). a continuing misuse of YHWH’s prophet. All this but confirms YHWH’s prophecies of judgment against Jerusalem,
Jerusalem was in dire straits. Surrounded by the Babylonians and by armies from ‘all the kingdoms of the earth which were under his dominion’ it knew that only two other cities of Judah were still holding out, the fortified cities of Lachish and Azekah. Otherwise the whole of Judah was being ravaged and was in Nebuchadnezzar’s hands. But it still thought that it had one hope. It was depending on Pharaoh Hophra to arrive with an Egyptian army and drive off the Babylonians. Jeremiah, however, warns them against such a vain hope. Let them be in no doubt. Jerusalem would be taken and burned with fire and Zedekiah its king would be carried off to Babylon never again to participate in political intrigue and there he would meet Nebuchadnezzar face to face to receive his punishment. That was on the word of YHWH. It is noteworthy that there is no reference at this stage to his being blinded, confirmation that this is a prophecy before the event.
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem and all its cities, saying,
The impossible position of Jerusalem is underlined. They were surrounded by the armies of ‘all the kingdoms of the world’ which were under Nebuchadnezzar’s control. The idea is that there really was no hope. Of course, as vassals of Nebuchadnezzar the other kingdoms had little choice in the matter. It was part of their commitment as vassals to provide Nebuchadnezzar with regiments to bolster up his army.
2 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
YHWH here underlines their lack of hope. As ‘YHWH, the God of Israel’ He calls on Jeremiah to go to Zedekiah the king of Judah and tell him that YHWH Himself intends to deliver Jerusalem into the hand of the king of Babylon. This reveals Israel’s hopelessness in that if Israel’s own God was not supporting them, what possible hope could they have? Furthermore, He declares that the city will be burned with fire, something which was the regular treatment for a rebellious and obstinate city.
3 And you shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand; your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, he shall speak with you face to face, and you shall go to Babylon.’?
Nor should Zedekiah think that somehow, he himself might escape from Nebuchadnezzar’s hand. He was to recognise that he would certainly be taken and handed over to Nebuchadnezzar, and would have to see him face to face, and speak to him mouth to mouth (he would of course do it grovelling before him with his face to the ground), for ‘he would go to Babylon’ whether he liked it or not.
4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus, says the LORD concerning you: ‘You shall not die by the sword.
Furthermore, he would not die nobly by the sword, neither in actively fighting for his country, nor by execution. His only future lay in prison.
5 You shall die in peace; as in the ceremonies of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they shall burn incense for you and lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!” For I have pronounced the word, says the LORD.’”
He would die ‘in peace’ (languishing in prison) and would have a normal royal funeral, with the burning of perfumes and spices and the lamentations of his nobles. That at least would be permitted to him and was all that he had to look forward to. The emphasis is more on the fact that his usefulness was at an end and that he would not accomplish anything more in his life, rather than being intended as being an indication that he would have a pleasant life. He would, in fact, probably die in prison.
6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 7 when the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and Azekah; for only these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.
It is then emphasized that these words were spoken when Judah was on its last legs, with only two other fortified cities, apart from Jerusalem still holding out. Lachish and Azekah were in the low foothills of Judah and were two strong cities. Lachish was 23 miles south west of Jerusalem. Azekah was seemingly almost as strong and held out bravely, although succumbing to the Babylonians some time earlier than Lachish. It was about 18 miles south west of Jerusalem.
In the face of the Babylonian threat King Zedekiah managed to persuade the people of Jerusalem that it was in their interests to ‘proclaim freedom’ to their Hebrew slaves, in accordance with the requirements of the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 21.2). The idea of ‘proclaiming freedom’ en masse is usually connected with the year of Jubilee where both Israelite bondmen and property were freed (Leviticus 25.10; Isaiah 61.1). This may thus have been a year of Jubilee, or it may have had the aim of fulfilling such a year which had previously been ignored. This proclamation of ‘freedom’ may have had several purposes in Zedekiah’s eyes:
1). To impress YHWH with their obedience to His covenant in the hope that He would then unbend towards them (this would explain the importance of the covenant into which they entered before YHWH).
2). To give the ex-slaves a greater reason to defend Jerusalem as freemen.
3). To enable the ex-slaves to fend for themselves in the siege, rather than their being the responsibility of their owners who would have problems enough fending for themselves.
The seriousness of the covenant into which they entered, which was by ‘cutting’ a covenant, that is by binding themselves through the slaughter of a sacrifice and stepping between the divided parts (compare Genesis 15.9-17), suggests that an appeal for YHWH’s clemency was very much in mind. It suggests that it was He Who had to be impressed with their genuineness.
The fact that Jeremiah speaks of ‘Hebrews’ only here and nowhere else, and clearly relates it to Deuteronomy 15.12-18, suggests that these distinctions between different classes of bondmen had been to some extent maintained. A certain class called ‘Hebrews’ (landless persons) was still recognized, which as a result of land takeovers, and the ignoring of the redemption at the year of Yubile, had become quite large. They had seemingly lost all rights. If the year of Yubile had ceased to apply to debtors, they also would be seen as ‘Hebrews’ as they would then have had no family land.
8 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them: 9 that every man should set free his male and female slave—a Hebrew man or woman—that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage.
With the Babylonians at the gates Zedekiah sought to win YHWH’s favor by calling on the people to ‘declare freedom’ for all their bondpersons who would, if the Law had not been observed, at this stage all have been ‘Hebrews’. The people had seemingly agreed, partly because it would relieve them of the responsibility of feeding the bondspersons, partly because it would mean that there were more free persons available to defend the city, and partly because they did hope that it might sway YHWH in their favour.
10 Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that everyone should set free his male and female slaves, that no one should keep them in bondage anymore, they obeyed and let them go.
So all the princes and all the people entered into solemn covenant to release their bondspersons, both men and women, and let them go permanently. They did it by means of the ancient custom of dividing an animal and stepping between its parts, probably as an indication that if they went back on their covenant they were to be treated like the slaughtered animal (Genesis 15.9-17). And having made the covenant they had done precisely what they had agreed and had let their bondpersons go. So far, so good.
11 But afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return, whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves.
However, when the Babylonians withdrew from outside the city wall because of the approach of Pharaoh Hophra’s Egyptian army they changed their minds, presumably because they felt that it was no longer necessary. With the siege lifted they felt that they could carry on as before. They had got their way and so obedience was no longer necessary. And so they once again enslaved their bondmen and bondwomen, totally disregarding their covenant.
12 Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Not surprisingly YHWH was not pleased at this, and He sent His word to Jeremiah to make clear His thoughts.
13 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, 14 “At the end of seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you.” But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear.
Through Jeremiah He pointed out the law that He had previously made at Sinai about freeing Hebrew bondspersons at the end of seven years, once they had served for six years, and had had a year’s sabbatical, which was to be in the light of the fact that He had delivered His people as a whole from slavery in Egypt. He then pointed out that their fathers had not listened or taken notice, and thus had not observed the law.
15 Then you recently turned and did what was right in My sight—every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name.
However, He had noted with pleasure that they themselves had changed their minds and had done what was right in YHWH’s eyes. They had ‘proclaimed freedom’ and had freed their bondspersons without obligation, and they had done it by a solemn covenant made before YHWH in the House that was called by His Name. It was the beginning of an attempt to return to observation of the full covenant. And YHWH had taken them seriously!
16 Then you turned around and profaned My name, and every one of you brought back his male and female slaves, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, and brought them back into subjection, to be your male and female slaves.’
But now they had treated His Name lightly by assuming that they could just ignore what they had covenanted. Having released those of their bondservants who had desired freedom, they had once again brought those bondservants into bondage, so that they would have to serve them as bondservants once again. By this they were indicating to YHWH that they had not taken seriously the promises that they had made to Him. They were assuming that they could just ignore the significance of the covenant that they had made simply because circumstances had altered.
How easy it is for us also to make promises to God when we face times of difficulty, only to renege on them when the difficulty is passed. Do we think that we will escape similar condemnation?
17 “Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the LORD— ‘to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth.
As a result their disobedience was even greater than that of their fathers. For they had pretended to ‘declare freedom’ every man to his brother under the most solemn oath but had in fact prevented that freedom from taking effect. In effect they had insulted YHWH by treating Him in the most casual fashion.
Let them therefore take note that in response YHWH was going to ‘declare freedom’ for them. But this would be the freedom to suffer under the sword, and pestilence and famine, and the freedom to be tossed about among the nations. And ironically this was because He had ‘set them free’ so that they were no longer His servants and under His protection.
18 And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it— 19 the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— 20 I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth.
We learn here for the first time the depths of their iniquity and folly. Their iniquity because they had made such a solemn oath and had broken it, and their folly because they had ignored the fact that by doing so they had called for retribution on themselves. By their actions they had called on YHWH to slaughter them. Well, He would grant them their request. They would be given into the hands of their enemies and into the hands of those who sought their lives. And they would suffer the further ignominy of having their bodies left unburied to be available to the scavengers who gathered around dead bodies, both birds and beasts. In those days that was seen as the most ignominious of ways to die.
This type of covenant in which an animal was slain and the parties to the covenant passed between the parts, was a common one practised throughout history. We have an example of it as early as Genesis 15.9-17. It was a most solemn covenant ceremony and was probably declaring them as worthy of death if they broke it, in the same way as the animal had died to seal the covenant. In other circumstances it may also have included the thought that both parties to a covenant were being united by joint-participation in the released life of the victim, which they would lose in death if they broke it.
21 And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army which has gone back from you.
And disaster was also to happen to King Zedekiah and his princes. They would be given into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who sought their lives, namely into the hands of the King of Babylon’s army whom they had thought that they had seen the backs of. It was true that those armies had gone away to face the Egyptian threat, but they would return. The foolish people of Jerusalem had acted too precipitately.
22 Behold, I will command,’ says the LORD, ‘and cause them to return to this city. 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.’”
For YHWH Himself would command their army to return (this was the sure word of YHWH), and they would fight against the city and burn it and make all the cities of Judah desolate and without inhabitant. (And could anyone deny in view of what had happened here, that they deserved it? They would actually be receiving what they had called down on themselves).
