Jeremiah 37, Jeremiah Imprisoned

We can imagine the suffering of Jeremiah, a political prisoner, in the chamber of the dungeon in Jerusalem. It was dark, with no window to the world. It was smelly, as he likely had a pot or bucket for relieving himself that was maybe emptied daily or even less frequently. There was nothing to do except nurse the wounds or bruises he had received from the beating he was given. His health would be declining. God was with him. This was the only saving grace of this situation.

^37:1 Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. ² Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words Yahweh had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.

When king Josiah died, his son Jehoiakim came to the throne. He was not a follower of Yahweh and judgment came to Judah in his time from the Babylonians. He was possibly killed by his own people and his son Jehoiachin put in charge, but he too was not willing to listen to the words of Yahweh and three months in the Babylonians took him captive and placed his uncle Zedekiah on the throne, with a promise to submit to Babylon’s rule. Jeremiah’s prophecies of Babylon’s victory over Judah were coming true, but no one was listening.

³ King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: “Please pray to Yahweh our God for us.”

⁴ Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. ⁵ Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt, and when the Babylonians who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

⁶ Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet: ⁷ “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me, ‘Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt. ⁸ Then the Babylonians will return and attack this city; they will capture it and burn it down.’

⁹ “This is what Yahweh says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, ‘The Babylonians will surely leave us.’ They will not! ¹⁰ Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn this city down.”

Zedekiah sends to Jeremiah to get a word from Yahweh, because at this time the Babylonians had begun besieging Jerusalem due to Zedekiah’s defection to Egypt and the Babylonians had lifted the siege because of Egypt’s coming against them. Zedekiah thought Yahweh would change His mind and prophecy relief for Jerusalem. But Jeremiah did not change the message. Babylon would completely destroy Jerusalem.

¹¹ After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, ¹² Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there. ¹³ But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”

¹⁴ “That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. ¹⁵ They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.

¹⁶ Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time. ¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there any word from Yahweh?”

“Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.”

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison? ¹⁹ Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? ²⁰ But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.”

²¹ King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard. (Jeremiah 37)

While the siege is lifted Jeremiah leaves Jerusalem for his town of Anathoth, to settle land issues (see Jeremiah 32), but is seized by Irijah and accused of deserting to Babylon, which of course, has left Jerusalem, so he could not defect to them. Expositor’s commentary suggests that, “Perhaps revenge for Jeremiah’s prediction of the death of Irijah’s grandfather Hananiah (cf. 28:16) motivated the charge.” Zedekiah is willing to accept this fiction, and imprisons Jeremiah for a “long time.” Babylon returns to resume the siege, starving out the city. Finally, Zedekiah, somewhat repentant, sends for Jeremiah to hear what Yahweh says. The message has not changed. Babylon will be victorious and Zedekiah will be delivered into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand.

Jeremiah argues his case of innocence to Zedekiah. “Where are your prophets,” he asks, the ones who told Zedekiah that Babylon would be defeated and Judah’s captives returned? Why aren’t they in prison for false prophecy when Jeremiah’s prophecies have come true? Zedekiah releases him from prison, where he certain he would have died and places him in a much more comfortable confinement, with a daily ration of bread.

—

Discussion Questions:

1. Have you ever spent time in jail or known someone who has and gotten a sense of what confinement was like?
2. Why do you think God allowed Jeremiah to be imprisoned?
3. How tempting would it have been to change your message in hopes of getting out of jail?
4. Where do you need to stand up for the truth regardless of consequences?