Study notes

Jeremiah 38

Introducing JeremiahWho wrote it, when, why, and what to look for as you read

34:1–45:5 Section

These chapters are a collection of stories from Jeremiah’s life. They include events from Jehoiakim’s rule through the time after Jerusalem was destroyed.

These stories show something about the people and leaders of the southern kingdom. They didn’t pay any attention to what the Lord had said through Jeremiah. This was true before the Babylonian government took control of the southern kingdom and after.

The story about Rekab’s family line gave an example of faithfully obeying. Rekab’s family line faithfully obeyed the instructions of Rekab’s son Jehonadab. God used their ability to obey as an example. Compared to Rekab’s family, it was clear that God’s people refused to obey him.

Another example of this was what King Jehoiakim did after hearing God’s messages. Baruch was a secretary. He wrote down on scrolls the messages that Jeremiah had spoken for many years. Jehoiakim burnt the scrolls and tried to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch. Baruch wrote them down again with even more messages.

Later, other officials arrested Jeremiah. Some tried to kill him so that he would stop speaking God’s messages. King Zedekiah asked Jeremiah for advice. He asked Jeremiah to pray for him. Jeremiah gave him instructions about being humble and serving the king of Babylon. But Zedekiah and his officials didn’t follow those instructions. Nor did they obey the instructions in the Law of Moses about slaves and servants. They had promised to free their slaves but then changed their mind.

Because of these things, God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to fully destroy Jerusalem. The Babylonians treated Jeremiah well and set him free. Gedaliah was a leader who paid attention to God’s messages. He understood that the southern kingdom was supposed to serve Babylon. As governor of Judah that is what he led the people to do. But an officer from David’s family line killed Gedaliah. Then a large group of those left in the southern kingdom ran away to Egypt. They thought that they would be safe from Babylon’s armies there.

Jeremiah warned them not to do this. But this group forced Jeremiah and Baruch to go with them to Egypt. In Egypt this group of Jews worshipped a false god called the Queen of Heaven. They believed that Jerusalem had been destroyed because for a time they had stopped worshipping her. This showed that they hadn’t listened to Jeremiah or understood God’s messages at all. God had promised that Baruch wouldn’t be killed when trouble came to Jerusalem. It isn’t known what happened to Jeremiah and Baruch in Egypt.

37:1–38:28

The focus now returns to Zedekiah, who became king of Judah after his nephew Jehoiachin. These chapters describe meetings between Zedekiah and Jeremiah, highlighting Zedekiah’s struggle to fully commit to God's word (compare Deuteronomy 10:12–13). Zedekiah is a classic example of a person with divided loyalty (James 1:6–8).

38:1

  • The Gedaliah mentioned here had a different father than the Gedaliah in Jeremiah 40:6.

  • The first Pashhur might have been the man in Jeremiah 20:1. The second Pashhur had a different father.

38:1–13

Jeremiah could talk to people while in the prison courtyard. He shared the Lord's judgments, which angered some government officials. Zedekiah showed cowardice by allowing these men to put Jeremiah in a muddy cistern. However, the king showed courage when he let a palace servant rescue Jeremiah and bring him back to the palace prison.

38:4

The officials thought Jeremiah's prophecies would lower the soldiers' morale against the Babylonian army. So, they put him on trial for treason.

38:5

The officials angrily confronted King Zedekiah and made their demands. He was weak and afraid.

38:6

In front of everyone in the palace courtyard, they threw Jeremiah into an empty cistern. A thick layer of mud at the bottom slowly covered his body.

38:7–8

The Ethiopian (compare Luke 17:18; Acts 28:28): Jeremiah’s rescuer was not from Judah. He was a foreigner who bravely opposed the other officials. He ran to the Benjamin Gate, where they first arrested Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:11–13), and entered the king’s presence without ceremony.

38:10

The rescue party included thirty men, perhaps showing that Zedekiah wanted to prevent his officials from attacking it.

38:11–12

Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian rescuer (Jeremiah 38:7), was a compassionate person who wanted to protect Jeremiah's frail body as much as possible.

38:14

The location of the third entrance to the Lord's Temple is unknown. The Temple gates had small rooms nearby, so the private meeting likely occurred in one of these rooms.

38:14–16

Zedekiah desperately wanted a miracle to save his kingdom from the Babylonian armies. He arranged a secret meeting with Jeremiah.

38:17–18

Jeremiah explained the Lord's command. Zedekiah could save the city by surrendering, or he could see it destroyed by the invaders.

38:19

Zedekiah feared his fellow countrymen who had defected more than he feared the Lord or the Babylonians. Therefore, he ignored Jeremiah's advice. This was Jeremiah's final message to the king.

38:20–22

Jeremiah told Zedekiah that things would be fine if he obeyed the Lord. If he did not, even his friends would leave him.

38:24–28

  • When Zedekiah feared his officials again, he demanded that Jeremiah keep secret what he had told him.

  • The officials might have suspected that Zedekiah planned to surrender to the enemy. Jeremiah obeyed the king's order to stay silent, and he spent the final days of the siege in the palace prison under the king's protection.

Verse notes: Adapted by Mission Mutual (Aquifer Open Study Notes) from Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. CC BY-SA 4.0. Section notes: Biblica Study Notes © 2023 Biblica, Inc. CC BY-SA 4.0, via BibleAquifer. About the sources