34:1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah while King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the towns around it with a large army. This army consisted of troops from his own army and from the kingdoms and peoples of the lands under his dominion.
As King Nebuchadnezzar and his tribute nations were attacking Jerusalem, Jehovah spoke to Jeremiah.
34:2 The Lord God of Israel told Jeremiah to go and give King Zedekiah of Judah a message. He told Jeremiah to tell him, “The Lord says, ‘I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon and he will burn it down.
Jeremiah told King Zedekiah that he was going to lose the battle and the city. This was not a message that the king wanted to hear.
34:3 You yourself will not escape his clutches, but will certainly be captured and handed over to him. You must confront the king of Babylon face to face and answer to him personally. Then you must go to Babylon.
Jeremiah was not ticking the ears of his king. He told Zedekiah that he was going to be captured and handed over to Nebuchadnezzar for judgment. He would have to answer some questions directly to King Nebuchadnezzar. He would be taken to Babylon.
34:4 However, listen to what I, the Lord, promise you, King Zedekiah of Judah. I, the Lord, promise that you will not die in battle or be executed.
Jehovah promised Zedekiah that he would not die in the battle or be executed.
34:5 You will die a peaceful death. They will burn incense at your burial just as they did at the burial of your ancestors, the former kings who preceded you. They will mourn for you, saying, “Poor, poor master!” Indeed, you have my own word on this. I, the Lord, affirm it!’ ”
Zedekiah would die a peaceful death in Babylon. He would be given a king’s funeral.
34:6 The prophet Jeremiah told all this to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem.
Jeremiah did not tickle the ears of Zedekiah. Most kings would have killed any prophet who predicted his defeat, capture, and death.
34:7 He did this while the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the cities of Lachish and Azekah. He was attacking these cities because they were the only fortified cities of Judah which were still holding out.
God spoke to Jeremiah while Jerusalem, Lachish, and Azekah were being attacked. All of the other cities of Judah had already been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.
It is interesting to note that archaeologists dug up the city of Lachish in 1935. Some letters were found in the city, which referred to both the fortified cities of Lachish and Azekah (see appendix below). In letter 4, one of the soldiers wrote, “We are watching for the fire signals of Lachish according to all the signs which my Lord has given, because we cannot see Azekah.” Apparently, Azekah had already fallen. Lachish was still under siege. After Lachish fell, then Jerusalem was wide open for attack. There were no more fortified cities left to defend her.
34:8 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to grant their slaves their freedom.
According to the Mosaic Law, any Jewish citizen who could not pay a debt would be enslaved to the lender for seven years. After seven years, they would be released. However, the wealthy aristocrats were not allowing their slaves to go free after seven years of servitude. King Zedekiah (probably under the influence of Jeremiah) passed an “Emancipation Proclamation” to free these slaves. The aristocrats were not able to feed themselves during the famine, much less their slaves. Therefore, the aristocrats freed their slaves.
34:9 Everyone was supposed to free their male and female Hebrew slaves. No one was supposed to keep a fellow Judean enslaved.
King Zedekiah passed the law. If he and the other kings would have enforced the Mosaic Law, then he would not have needed to create this new emancipation proclamation.
34:10 All the people and their leaders had agreed to this. They had agreed to free their male and female slaves and not keep them enslaved any longer. They originally complied with the covenant and freed them.
The aristocrats agreed to this law. The slaves would not be working in the fields during a military invasion. The aristocrats could not feed the slaves during a severe famine.
34:11 But later they had changed their minds. They had taken back their male and female slaves that they had freed and forced them to be slaves again.
The reason that the aristocrats changed their mind was because the Babylonian army broke off their siege of Jerusalem to repel an attack from the Egyptians. The aristocrats needed their slaves back to rebuild and repair their buildings.
34:12 That was when the Lord spoke to Jeremiah,
Jehovah spoke to Jeremiah once again. God only speaks to people today through the written Word of God. Beware of pastors or others who claim that God “spoke” to them. They are lying in an attempt to deceive others who are not grounded in th entire counsel of the Word of God. Satan is real and he does place false teachers in modern local churches. These false teachers mix truth with error. Satan does not want one studying the written Word of God. He wants others listening to these false teachers in whom he has planted in churches.
34:13 “The Lord God of Israel has a message for you. ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves. It stipulated,
God has a message for the people of Jerusalem. God reminded them that He had made a covenant with their ancestors when they came out of Egypt. In Egypt, these ancestors had been slaves. God delivered Israel out of slavery. In return, this Israeli generation enslaved other Israelites. God did not free Israel so that they could enslave other Jewish countrymen.
It is important to note that Satan’s master plan is to enslave all people. He has done this in the past and present by evil monarchies and evil debt collectors. Satan is currently placing all of the nations under him by national debts, possibly so that these nations will exchange their national sovereignty for a one-world government.
34:14 “Every seven years each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you for six years, you shall set them free.” But your ancestors did not obey me or pay any attention to me.
This current generation of Judah was guilty of breaking the Mosaic Law. The penalty was that they would be temporarily removed out of their land.
34:15 Recently, however, you yourselves showed a change of heart and did what is pleasing to me. You granted your fellow countrymen their freedom and you made a covenant to that effect in my presence in the house that I have claimed for my own.
Recently under King Zedekiah’s “Emancipation Proclamation,” Israel decided to honor the Mosaic Law and free the slaves.
34:16 But then you turned right around and showed that you did not honor me. Each of you took back your male and female slaves whom you had freed as they desired, and you forced them to be your slaves again.
The Israeli aristocrats profaned the name and character of God when they rescinded on their promise. They had made this covenant before God in the temple.
34:17 So I, the Lord, say: “You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman. Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the Lord, affirm it! I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you.
Since these wealthy aristocrats did not keep their covenant with God, then God would issue his own emancipation proclamation. He would give these wealth aristocrats the freedom to die by the sword, starvation, or disease.
34:18 I will punish those people who have violated their covenant with me. I will make them like the calf they cut in two and passed between its pieces. I will do so because they did not keep the terms of the covenant they made in my presence.
When Israel made their covenant with God in the temple, they cut up calves and passed between the pieces. The symbolism of this ritual meant that if the people did not free their slaves, then they would be cut into pieces like these calves. When God made the Abrahamic Covenant with God, God placed a deep sleep upon Abraham. God passed through the calves pieces alone by Himself. He knew that Abraham could not keep his promise. He did not want Abraham to be cut into pieces, because he would be carrying the messianic seed.
34:19 I will punish the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the other people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf.
Since the aristocrats did not keep their part of the covenant, God was going to enforce the broken covenant conditions upon them.
34:20 I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.
Babylon would enforce this covenant violation for God. Babylon would cut the aristocrats into pieces with their swords. Some of these more unfortunate aristocrats would die slowly by the agony of starvation or disease. The birds and wild animals would eat their flesh. When Abraham was preparing this covenant ritual for the Abrahamic Covenant, then he had to chase the birds away. Abraham’s bird-chasing had been a glimpse into the future of the conditions of this broken covenant.
34:21 I will also hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who want to kill them. I will hand them over to the army of the king of Babylon, even though they have temporarily withdrawn from attacking you.
King Zedekiah and his officials were just as corrupt and evil as the aristocrats. Therefore, Jehovah would hand over King Zedekiah and his officials to Babylon. Babylon had temporarily left the attack, but Jehovah would call them back to finish the job.
34:22 For I, the Lord, affirm that I will soon give the order and bring them back to this city. They will fight against it and capture it and burn it down. I will also make the towns of Judah desolate so that there will be no one living in them.” ’ ”
When Jehovah calls Babylon back to attack, then Babylon would conquer the city of Jerusalem and burn it to the ground. All of the other cities of Judah would be desolate with no one living in them. The Promised Land of Israel would become a large and desolate graveyard.
It is interesting to note that famous archaeologist William Albright excavated many of these cities of Judah. He wrote, “Many towns were destroyed at the beginning of the sixth century B.C. and never again occupied. Others were destroyed at that time and partly occupied at some later date. Still others were destroyed and reoccupied after a long period of abandonment marked by a sharp change of stratum and by interval indications of use for new urban purposes. There is not a single known case where a town of Judah proper was continuously occupied through the exilic period.” (Archaeology of Palestine, 1960, p. 160)
Albright's archaeological research showed that this verse 22 prophecy was completely fulfilled.
Appendix
Letter Number 2
To my lord, Yaush, may YHWH cause my lord to hear tiding(s) of peace today, this very day! Who is your servant, a dog, that my lord remembered his [se]rvant? May YHWH make known(?) to my [lor]d a matter of which you do not know.[3]
Lachish 3 Transliteration.pdf
Letter Number 3
Your servant, Hoshayahu, sent to inform my lord, Yaush: May YHWH cause my lord to hear tidings of peace and tidings of good. And now, open the ear of your servant concerning the letter which you sent to your servant last evening because the heart of your servant is ill since your sending it to your servant. And inasmuch as my lord said “Don't you know how to read a letter?” As YHWH lives if anyone has ever tried to read me a letter! And as for every letter that comes to me, if I read it. And furthermore, I will grant it as nothing. And to your servant it has been reported saying: The commander of the army Konyahu son of Elnatan, has gone down to go to Egypt and he sent to commandeer Hodawyahu son of Ahiyahu and his men from here. And as for the letter of Tobiyahu, the servant of the king, which came to Sallum, the son of Yaddua, from the prophet, saying, “Be on guard!” your ser[va]nt is sending it to my lord.[4]
Notes: This ostracon is approximately fifteen centimeters tall by eleven centimeters wide and contains twenty-one lines of writing. The front side has lines one through sixteen; the back side has lines seventeen through twenty-one. This ostracon is particularly interesting because of its mentions of Konyahu, who has gone down to Egypt, and the prophet. For possible biblical connections according to Torczyner, reference Jeremiah 26:20-23.
Letter Number 4
May YHW[H] cause my [lord] to hear, this very day, tidings of good. And now, according to everything which my lord has sent, this has your servant done. I wrote on the sheet according to everything which [you] sent [t]o me. And inasmuch as my lord sent to me concerning the matter of Bet Harapid, there is no one there. And as for Semakyahu, Semayahu took him and brought him up to the city. And your servant is not sending him there any[more ---], but when morning comes round [---]. And may (my lord) be apprised that we are watching for the fire signals of Lachish according to all the signs which my lord has given, because we cannot see Azeqah.[5]
Letter Number 5
May YHWH cause my [lo]rd to hear tidings of pea[ce] and of good, [now today, now this very da]y! Who is your servant, a dog, that you [s]ent your servant the [letters? Like]wise has your servant returned the letters to my lord. May YHWH cause you to see the harvest successfully, this very day! Will Tobiyahu of the royal family c<o>me to your servant?[6]
Letter Number 6
To my lord, Yaush, may YHWH cause my lord to see peace at this time! Who is your servant, a dog, that my lord sent him the king's [lette]r [and] the letters of the officer[s, sayin]g, “Please read!” And behold, the words of the [officers] are not good; to weaken your hands [and to in]hibit the hands of the m[en]. [I(?)] know [them(?)]. My lord, will you not write to [them] sa[ying, “Wh]y are you behaving this way?” [ . . . ] well-being [ . . . ]. Does the king [ . . . ] And [ . . . ] As YHWH lives, since your servant read the letters, your servant has not had [peace(?)].[7]
Letter Number 9
May YHWH cause my lord to hear ti[dings] of peace and of [good. And n]ow, give 10 (loaves) of bread and 2 (jars) [of wi]ne. Send back word [to] your servant by means of Selemyahu as to what we must do tomorrow. [8]