37:1 Zedekiah son of Josiah succeeded Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim as king. He was elevated to the throne of the land of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
Eighteen years had passed since chapter 36 and 37. King Nebuchadnezzar placed King Zedekiah on the throne of Jerusalem as a vassal king. King Zedekiah would become the last king of Judah until the Messiah arrives to establish His Millennial Kingdom.
37:2 Neither he nor the officials who served him nor the people of Judah paid any attention to what the Lord said through the prophet Jeremiah.
The kings, officials, priests, and people did not listen to the prophecies of Jeremiah.
37:3 King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah. He told them to say, “Please pray to the Lord our God on our behalf.”
King Zedekiah sent messengers to Jeremiah. Zedekiah wanted Jeremiah to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. However, Judah has requested this prayer too late. She had passed the point of no return. Plus, Judah was not repenting of her sin. She was asking for deliverance from Babylon.
37:4 (Now Jeremiah had not yet been put in prison. So he was still free to come and go among the people as he pleased.
Jeremiah had not yet been imprisoned by King Zedekiah.
37:5 At that time the Babylonian forces had temporarily given up their siege against Jerusalem. They had had it under siege, but withdrew when they heard that the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt.)
Egypt attacked Babylon, so the Babylonian army abandoned her siege of Jerusalem in order to encounter this Egyptian threat of Pharaoh Hophra.
37:6 The Lord gave the prophet Jeremiah a message for them. He told him to tell them,
Jehovah had a message for King Zedekiah. Kings usually did not like messages from prophets of Jehovah. Prophets were used by God to keep kings from abusing their power Prophets were God's check and balance system.
37:7 “The Lord God of Israel says, ‘Give a message to the king of Judah who sent you to ask me to help him. Tell him, “The army of Pharaoh that was on its way to help you will go back home to Egypt.
The Egyptian army promised to help Judah, but these were empty words. Egypt would not help Judah. Their armies would return home to Egypt. They would not give Judah any aid at all.
37:8 Then the Babylonian forces will return. They will attack the city and will capture it and burn it down.
After the Egyptian army retreated home, then the Babylonian army would return to attack Jerusalem. They would capture Jerusalem and burn her to the ground.
37:9 Moreover, I, the Lord, warn you not to deceive yourselves into thinking that the Babylonian forces will go away and leave you alone. For they will not go away.
King Zedekiah was not to deceive himself by listening to false prophets. Jeremiah was a true prophet of God. The Babylonian army would return to Jerusalem.
37:10 For even if you were to defeat all the Babylonian forces fighting against you so badly that only wounded men were left lying in their tents, they would get up and burn this city down.” ’ ”
Even if the army of Judah killed and wounded all of the Babylonian soldiers, all of the wounded Babylonian soldiers would rise out of their tents and burn Jerusalem to the ground. This was not a message that King Zedekiah wanted to hear. This message was treason to his human viewpoint ears.
37:11 The following events also occurred while the Babylonian forces had temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem because the army of Pharaoh was coming.
After Babylon lifted the siege to meet the Egyptian threat, then Jerusalem was infiltrated with false prophets who predicted that Babylon would not be back.
37:12 Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin. He wanted to make sure he got his share of the property that was being divided up among his family there.
Anathoth was a city in Benjamin. It was also the hometown of Jeremiah. Jeremiah planned to travel to the territory of Benjamin to take care of some property business. This was not the same situation in chapter 32, because Jeremiah had already been arrested and confined to the courtyard of the guard. The Book of Jeremiah was not written in chronological order. The events of chapter 37 took place before the events of chapter 32.
It is very possible that Jeremiah may have thought that his prophetic ministry in Jerusalem was finished, so he wanted to return to his hometown to await the end of the war. He did not want to be in Jerusalem when people would die of the sword, famine, and starvation. He did not want to see Jerusalem burned to the ground. He did not want to see his people taken captive to Babylon.
37:13 But he only got as far as the Benjamin Gate. There an officer in charge of the guards named Irijah, who was the son of Shelemiah and the grandson of Hananiah, stopped him. He seized Jeremiah and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”
The Benjamin Gate was north of Jerusalem. It was also known as the Gate of Ephraim. It was the exit out of Jerusalem and the entrance to the road which led to the territory of Benjamin and Ephraim. One of the military officers accused Jeremiah of deserting to the Babylonians. This was an accusation of treason. Jeremiah had asked the city to surrender to the Babylonians, so this may have been seen as an act of treason.
37:14 Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah put Jeremiah under arrest and took him to the officials.
Jeremiah denied the charge, but he was arrested anyway. He was not a traitor. He was loyal to his city and to his people. He only gave the message which God commanded him to give. He did not want to give out this negative message, but he chose to follow the will of God.
37:15 The officials were very angry at Jeremiah. They had him flogged and put in prison in the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary, which they had converted into a place for confining prisoners.
Jeremiah was flogged and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary. This house had been converted to a wartime prison for political enemies of the state. The prophecies of Jeremiah had made him a political enemy of King Zedekiah.
When a man of God teaches the Word of God, then political leaders of the satanic world system will attempt to silence him. They will ridicule him, persecute him, imprison him, kill him, or take away his family and property. When Jesus offered Israel the Millennial Kingdom, they rejected Him, ridiculed Him, persecuted Him, and crucified Him. All of those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ in proclaiming his coming kingdom will receive similar treatment from the political leaders of the satanic world system.
37:16 So Jeremiah was put in prison in a cell in the dungeon in Jonathan’s house. He was kept there for a long time.
Jeremiah was imprisoned for a long time. King Zedekiah possibly did not want Jeremiah running around free and destroying the morale of his soldiers.
37:17 Then King Zedekiah had him brought to the palace. There he questioned him privately and asked him, “Is there any message from the Lord?” Jeremiah answered, “Yes, there is.” Then he announced, “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.”
King Zedekiah brought Jeremiah into his palace for a private hearing. Zedekiah was hoping that Jeremiah’s prison stay may have changed his attitude and his message. Jeremiah was not a seeker-friendly pastor. He once again told the king that he would be defeated and handed over to King Nebuchadnezzar as a political prisoner. This was not what the king wanted to hear.
37:18 Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you, or the officials who serve you, or the people of Judah? What have I done to make you people throw me into prison?
Jeremiah asked the king to identify his crimes. Jeremiah wanted to know why he was being placed in prison. What crimes did he commit?
37:19 Where now are the prophets who prophesied to you that the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land?
After forty years of abuse, Jeremiah asked the king for the location of the false prophets. They had not been sentenced to prison by the king. They were walking around free in Jerusalem, falsely telling everyone that the Babylonian army would not continue its attack upon Jerusalem.
37:20 But now please listen, your royal Majesty, and grant my plea for mercy. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary. If you do, I will die there.”
Jeremiah was over sixty years old. He asked the king not to send him back to the princes. The princes wanted Jeremiah dead. He would not survive in the dark dungeons of the Jerusalem prison. The prisons were dark, damp, and there were no bathroom facilities.
37:21 Then King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be committed to the courtyard of the guardhouse. He also ordered that a loaf of bread be given to him every day from the baker’s street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah was kept in the courtyard of the guardhouse.
Zedekiah ordered Jeremiah to be placed into the courthouse of the guard. He was also to receive one loaf of bread per day until the grain of the city was gone. During this time period, the events of chapters 32-33 would occur. Jeremiah would purchase the fields of Anathoth from his cousin.