Year 3, Day 90: Jeremiah 37

Chronology Regained!

Jeremiah 37-39 bring us back to the chronology of Jeremiah 33-34.  Zedekiah is back on the throne.  Jerusalem is in the midst of its last breaths.  Jeremiah and Zedekiah – or should I say the Lord and Zedekiah – are having their last gasps of struggle.  Here we have confirmation of the time when Pharaoh came out of Egypt to challenge Babylon.  Remember when the Hebrew people gave up their slaves only to take them back?  This is now where Jeremiah 37 falls into place.

Zedekiah’s Appeal

Zedekiah sends out a delegation to ask Jeremiah to pray for him and the people of Jerusalem.  I laugh at moments like this in the Bible – or moments like this in life.  I find it highly ironic that people who will not humble themselves before God fall and ask prayer from those who do.  It is such a brash and bold move of utter arrogance and self-centeredness.  Here Zedekiah is saying, “I have no place to go, we’re at our end, I won’t turn and humble myself to God, and I certainly won’t change to live according to His ways; but if it pleases you, pray that this God with whom I don’t have any kind of relationship will be merciful and save us.”  Zedekiah is hoping that the prayers of a godly man will make up for his own lack of relationship with God.  For the record, they don’t.

As an aside, I do pray in those situations.  There is no reason not to pray.  I pray for God’s will to be done and I pray for God to come meaningfully into the life of the person who asks.  Much like Jeremiah does here.  Jeremiah does pray for the situation in Jerusalem.  Just because there is irony is no reason not to take the request seriously and honor the prayer.

Jeremiah also receives a righteous response from God.  God tells Jeremiah that Zedekiah will be judged.  The Babylonians (Chaldeans) will come back.  They will finish off what the Lord has called them to do.  Pharaoh will be chased back to Egypt and the Babylonians will complete the work that they began.

The Bleakness of the Response

In fact, look at what God says.  Even if the Babylonians should return and they should reach a point where every single soldier is wounded and recovering in their tents – even then, they will have enough strength to capture Jerusalem.  There is no hope for Jerusalem as long as they refuse to repent and turn back to God.  Their self-centered arrogance is the bed in which they will lay down and never get up again.  The generations who humble themselves after the fall will get up again, but this generation will not.

Jeremiah Imprisoned

It is now at this point that we understand why it is that Jeremiah finds himself in prison.  The details are surprising.  It is natural to assume that Jeremiah would be in prison because of his oracles against Jerusalem.  It is reasonable to think that Jeremiah is imprisoned because of the harsh critique he gives over the utter lack of faith among the people.  But no.  These are not the reasons for which Jeremiah finds himself imprisoned.  Jeremiah finds himself imprisoned because people think that he is deserting to go and help the Babylonians.  Jeremiah was heading to Anatoth to take care of some personal business.  For that of all things he finds himself imprisoned!

Zedekiah’s Interview with Jeremiah

Zedekiah sends for Jeremiah.  Zedekiah asks if there is a word from the Lord.  Remember, this is Zedekiah, who refuses to humble himself to God, who now has the gall to ask a prisoner if there is any word from the Lord.

Zedekiah gets what he deserves.  Jeremiah tells him that there is a word from the Lord.  The word is not favorable, but it is consistent.  Zedekiah will be delivered over to the hands of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.  I can imagine the satisfaction that it gave Jeremiah to say those words – especially as a man made prisoner in his own city.

Then Jeremiah argues against his imprisonment.  Jeremiah argues that if the Lord is right and the Chaldeans are coming back, he really has no place to go.  He’s a prisoner in Jerusalem – they all are.  So he argues to be kept in the courtyard rather than in a dark house that has been converted into a prison.  In a stroke of compassion, Zedekiah grants the request.

This passage makes me consider how we treat people who disagree with us.  Do we seek to lock them up?  Do we seek to have conversation?  Do we seek to get them back onto our side?  Do we seek to protect them if they are in the minority?  Or do we simply seek to banish them, get rid of them, and be done with their witness?

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