jeremiah 37 and 38

Read Jeremiah 37 and 38 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Jer 37:1-5 {p} King Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah as the Chaldeans were besieging Jerusalem, but they drew away
Jer 37:6-8 {p} Pharaoh’s army will return to Egypt + the Chaldeans shall return to take Jerusalem
Jer 37:9-11 {s} Do not deceive yourselves into thinking the Chaldeans shall leave off, they will return
Jer 37:12-38:2 {s} Jeremiah imprisoned on false charges/his enemies heard the word he prophesied from YHVH
Jer 38:3-6 {s} His enemies cast him into a miry pit/ King Zedekiah did not withstand them
Jer 38:7-13 {s} One of the king’s slaves petitioned him for Jeremiah, thus he delivered him from the miry pit
Jer 38:14-16 {s} Zedekiah had Jeremiah brought to him at the LORD’s house, and swore to him not to do him harm
Jer 39:17a {s} Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah
Jer 38:17b-18 {s} If you surrender you shall live + Jerusalem spared, if not you shall not escape + Jerusalem burned
Jer 38:19-23 {s} Fear not, but obey the word of YHVH/ if not, your wives, children, city shall be taken by Babylon
Jer 38:24-26 {p} Zedekiah: tell no one, but if asked, say merely that you presented your case to the king
Jer 38:27-28a {s} The princes asked him, he replied as the king wished/ he remained in prison until Jerusalem taken
Jer 38:28b-39:14 {s} …

The chiastic structure:

introduction) Jer 37:1-2, Zedekiah made king by Nebuchadnezzar, but he did not heed the word of YHVH;

1a) Jer 37:3-13 Jeremiah consigned to prison for the word of YHVH that Babylon would take the city;

1a) Jer 37:3-38:3, Jeremiah consigned to the court of the prison;

1a) Jer 37:3-5 {p} King Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah for the fate of the city/ Jeremiah free among the people;
1b) Jer 37:6-11 {p+s} The word of YHVH: This city shall be taken by the Chaldeans, who will burn it with fire;

1a) Jer 37:6-7, The word of YHVH: Pharaoh’s army which has come to help you shall return to their own land;
1b) Jer 37:8 {p} The Chaldeans shall come back + fight against this city + take it and burn it with fire;
central axis) Jer 37:9a, Thus says YHVH: ‘Do not deceive yourselves that the Chaldeans have departed from you;
2b) Jer 37:9b-10, For they will not depart; they will rise up and burn this city with fire;
2a) Jer 37:11 {s} When the Chaldean army left the siege of Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army;

1c) Jer 37:12-14, Jeremiah departed the city, but was accused of defecting to the Chaldeans because of YHVH’s word;
1d) Jer 37:15-16, The princes were angry + consigned Jeremiah to the prison dungeon;
1e) Jer 37:17a, King Zedekiah sent + took him out/ his petition to Jeremiah for the word of YHVH;
1f) Jer 37:17b, YHVH’s word: “You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon;”
central axis) Jer 37:18, “Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, ‘What offense have I committed against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?’”
2f) Jer 37:19, Where are your prophets who prophesied to you: the king of Babylon would not come against you;
2e) Jer 37:20, Jeremiah’s petition to King Zedekiah for redress from his prison confinement;
2d) Jer 37:21, King Zedekiah commanded Jeremiah kept in the court of the prison (rather than the dungeon);
2c) Jer 38:1-2 {s} The men heard the word Jeremiah had spoken, that he who defected shall ransom his life;
2b) Jer 38:3, That the city shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it;
2a) Jer 38:4-6 {s} The princes sent to Zedekiah for the fate of Jeremiah/ Jeremiah cast into a miry pit;

1b) Jer 38:4-6 {s} The princes petitioned for Jeremiah’s death/ the king’s reply/ Jeremiah cast into the pit;

1) Jer 38:4, The princes petitioned the king for Jeremiah’s death;
2) Jer 38:5, The king washed his hands of Jeremiah + submitted to their demand;
3) Jer 38:6 {s} The princes cast Jeremiah into a miry pit by means of ropes;

central axis) Jer 38:7a, “Now Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon;”

2b) Jer 38:7b-13a, Ebed-Melech petitioned for Jeremiah’s release/ the king’s reply/ Jeremiah delivered from the pit;

1) Jer 38:7b-9, Ebed-Melech petitioned the king on Jeremiah’s behalf;
2) Jer 38:10, The king granted Ebed-Melech’s request and commanded Jeremiah’s deliverance;
3) Jer 38:11-13a, Ebed-Melech lifeds Jeremiah up from the pit by means of ropes;

2a) Jer 38:13b {s} And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison;

1b) Jer 38:4-13 {s+s} The princes involve themselves in Jeremiah’s fate/ Jeremiah delivered;

1c) Jer 38:14-16 {s} Zedekiah had Jeremiah brought to YHVH’s house, and swore not to do him harm;

1d) Jer 38:17a {s} Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah;

1e) Jer 38:17b-18 {s} If you surrender you shall live + Jerusalem spared, if not you shall not escape + Jerusalem burned;

central axis) Jer 38:19, “And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, ‘I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they abuse me;’

2e) Jer 38:20-23 {s} Fear not but obey the word of YHVH/ if not, your wives, children, city shall be taken by Babylon;

2d) Jer 38:24a, Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah;

2c) Jer 38:24b, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die;”

2b) Jer 38:25-27 {p} The princes involve themselves in Jeremiah’s fate;

1a) Jer 38:25, Zedekiah: If the princes ask you about this, and promise not to put you to death;
central axis) Jer 38:26 {p} Tell them you merely presented your request of false imprisonment before the king;
2a) Jer 38:27, The princes came to Jeremiah + asked; he told them as he had been instructed by the king;

2a) Jer 38:28a {s} Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

This was a complex structure with some of its elements shared to make the smaller and larger structures of which it was composed. But I have been meditating on the unusual central axis, Zedekiah’s admission that he feared the people delivering him into the hand of the king of Babylon. Why would this be the central axis of the whole account of the siege of Jerusalem?

I think it must be, that Jeremiah had presented the word of YHVH to Zedekiah, and urged him to obey it; but Zedekiah made his decisions based on his fears rather than in faith. He seems to have been bullied about by the princes and kept his conversations with Jeremiah secret from them, so that shows a fear of man. And he feared the Jews betraying him, another indication of the fear of man. In other words, he did not obey YHVH, because he feared man rather than God – and this is the definition of unbelief.