ink--his specification of the "ink" implies: I added nothing save the hand, pen, and ink.
19. Showing that they were not altogether without better feelings (compare [Jr 36:16], ).
20. chamber--There were chambers in the king's palace round the court or great hall, as in the temple ([Jr 36:10]). The roll was "laid up" there for safekeeping, with other public records.
21. sent Jehudi--Note how unbelievers flee from God, and yet seek Him through some kind of involuntary impulse [Calvin]. Jehudi seems to have been the king's ready tool for evil.
22. winter house--([Am 3:15]).
ninth month--namely, of the religious year, that is, November or December.
fire on ... hearth--rather, the stove was burning before him. In the East neither chimneys nor ovens are used, but, in cold weather, a brazen vessel containing burning charcoal; when the wood has burned to embers, a cover is placed over the pot to make it retain the heat.
23. three or four leaves--not distinct leaves as in a book, but the consecutive spaces on the long roll in the shape of doors (whence the Hebrew name is derived), into which the writing is divided: as the books of Moses in the synagogue in the present day are written in a long parchment rolled round a stick, the writing divided into columns, like pages.
pen-knife--the writer's knife with which the reed, used as a pen, was mended. "He" refers to the king ([Jr 36:22]). As often as Jehudi read three or four columns, the king cut asunder the part of the roll read; and so he treated the whole, until all the parts read consecutively were cut and burnt; [Jr 36:24], "all these words," implies that the whole volume was read through, not merely the first three or four columns ([1Ki 22:8]).
24. The king and his "servants" were more hardened than the "princes" and councillors (see on [Jr 36:12]; [Jr 36:14]; [Jr 36:16]). Contrast the humble fear exhibited by Josiah at the reading of the law ([2Ki 22:11]).
25. (See on [Jr 36:16]). The "nevertheless" aggravates the king's sin; though God would have drawn him back through their intercession, he persisted: judicial blindness and reprobation!
26. Hammelech--not as Margin, "of the king." Jehoiakim at this time (the fifth year of his reign) had no grown-up son: Jeconiah, his successor, was then a boy of eleven (compare [2Ki 23:36], with [2Ki 24:8]).
hid them--([Psa 31:20]; ; [Is 26:20]).
27. roll, and ... words--that is, the roll of words.
28. all the former words--It is in vain that the ungodly resist the power of Jehovah: not one of His words shall fall to the ground ([Mt 5:18]; [Ac 9:5]; ).
29. say to Jehoiakim--not in person, as Jeremiah was "hidden" ([Jr 36:26]), but by the written word of prophecy.
saying, Why--This is what the king had desired to be said to Jeremiah if he should be found; kings often dislike the truth to be told them.
30. He shall have none to sit upon the throne--fulfilled ([2Ki 24:8], &c.; [2Ki 25:1-30]). He had successors, but not directly of his posterity, except his son Jeconiah, whose three months' reign is counted as nothing. Zedekiah was not the son, but the uncle of Jeconiah, and was raised to the throne in contempt of him and his father Jehoiakim ([Jr 22:30]).
dead body ... cast out--([Jr 22:18], ).
day ... heat ... night ... frost--There are often these variations of temperature in the East between night and day ([Ge 31:40]).
32. added besides ... many like words--Sinners gain nothing but additional punishment by setting aside the word of Jehovah. The law was similarly rewritten after the first tables had been broken owing to Israel's idolatry ([Ex 32:19], ).
Chapter 37
Jr 37:1-21. Historical Sections, Thirty-seventh through Forty-fourth Chapters. The Chaldeans Raise the Siege to Go and Meet Pharaoh-hophra. Zedekiah Sends to Jeremiah to Pray to God in Behalf of the Jews: in Vain, Jeremiah Tries to Escape to His Native Place, but Is Arrested. Zedekiah Abates the Rigor of His Imprisonment
1. Coniah--curtailed from Jeconiah by way of reproach.
whom--referring to Zedekiah, not to Coniah ([2Ki 24:17]).
2. Amazing stupidity, that they were not admonished by the punishment of Jeconiah [Calvin], ([2Ch 36:12], )!
3. Zedekiah ... sent--fearing lest, in the event of the Chaldeans overcoming Pharaoh-hophra, they should return to besiege Jerusalem. See on [Jr 21:1]; that chapter chronologically comes in between the thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth chapter. The message of the king to Jeremiah here in the thirty-seventh chapter is, however, somewhat earlier than that in the twenty-first chapter; here it is while the issue between the Chaldeans and Pharaoh was undecided; there it is when, after the repulse of Pharaoh, the Chaldeans were again advancing against Jerusalem; hence, while Zephaniah is named in both embassies, Jehucal accompanies him here, Pashur there. But, as Pashur and Jehucal are both mentioned in [Jr 38:1], 2, as hearing Jeremiah's reply, which is identical with that in [Jr 21:9], it is probable the two messages followed one another at a short interval; that in this [Jr 37:3], and the answer, [Jr 37:7-10], being the earlier of the two.
Zephaniah--an abettor of rebellion against God ([Jr 29:25]), though less virulent than many ([Jr 29:29]), punished accordingly ([Jr 52:24-27]).
4. Jeremiah ... not put ... into prison--He was no longer in the prison court, as he had been ([Jr 32:2]; ), which passages refer to the beginning of the siege, not to the time when the Chaldeans renewed the siege, after having withdrawn for a time to meet Pharaoh.
5. After this temporary diversion, caused by Pharaoh in favor of Jerusalem, the Egyptians returned no more to its help ([2Ki 24:7]). Judea had the misfortune to lie between the two great contending powers, Babylon and Egypt, and so was exposed to the alternate inroads of the one or the other. Josiah, taking side with Assyria, fell in battle with Pharaoh-necho at Megiddo ([2Ki 23:29]). Zedekiah, seeking the Egyptian alliance in violation of his oath, was now about to be taken by Nebuchadnezzar ([2Ch 36:13]; [Eze 17:15], ).
7. shall return--without accomplishing any deliverance for you.
8. ([Jr 34:22]).
9. yourselves--Hebrew, "souls."
10. yet ... they--Even a few wounded men would suffice for your destruction.
11. broken up--"gone up."
12. Benjamin--to his own town, Anathoth.
to separate himself--Margin translates, "to slip away," from a Hebrew root, "to be smooth," so, to slip away as a slippery thing that cannot be held. But it is not likely the prophet of God would flee in a dishonorable way; and "in the midst of the people" rather implies open departure along with others, than clandestine slipping away by mixing with the crowd of departing people. Rather, it means, to separate himself, or to divide his place of residence, so as to live partly here, partly there, without fixed habitation, going to and fro among the people [Ludovicus De Dieu]. Maurer translates, "to take his portion thence," to realize the produce of his property in Anathoth [Henderson], or to take possession of the land which he bought from Hanameel [Maurer].
13. ward--that is, the "guard," or "watch."
Hananiah--whose death Jeremiah predicted ([Jr 28:16]). The grandson in revenge takes Jeremiah into custody on the charge of deserting ("thou fallest away," [Jr 38:19]; ; [1Sa 29:3]) to the enemy. His prophecies gave color to the charge ([Jr 21:9]; ).
15. scribe--one of the court secretaries; often in the East part of the private house of a public officer serves as a prison.
16. dungeon ... cabins--The prison consisted of a pit (the "dungeon") with vaulted cells round the sides of it. The "cabins," from a root, "to bend one's self."
17. secretly--Zedekiah was ashamed to be seen by his courtiers consulting Jeremiah ([Joh 12:43]; ; ).
thou shalt be delivered--Had Jeremiah consulted his earthly interests, he would have answered very differently. Contrast [Jr 6:14]; [Is 30:10]; [Eze 13:10].
18. What--In what respect have I offended?
19. Where are now your prophets--The event has showed them to be liars; and, as surely as the king of Babylon has come already, notwithstanding their prophecy, so surely shall he return.