Jeremiah 34:4

Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword: THOU SHALT NOT DIE BY THE SWORD, BUT ... IN PEACE - mitigation of Zedekiah's punishment. THE BURNINGS OF THY FATHERS - thy funeral shall be honoured with the same burning of aromatic spices as there was at the funerals of thy fathers (; ). The honours here mentioned were denied to Jehoiakim (). AH LORD! The Hebrews in their chronology (seder 'owlam) mention the wailing used over him, 'Alas! King Zedekiah is dead, drinking the dregs (i:e., paying the penalty for the sins) of former ages.'...

Here Jeremiah adds some comfort, even that Zedekiah himself would not be slain by the sword, but that he would die in his bed, and, as they commonly say, yield to his fate. It was indeed some mitigation of punishment, that God extended his life and suffered him not to be immediately smitten with the sword. And yet if we consider all circumstances, it would have been a lighter evil at once to be put to death, than to prolong life on the condition of being doomed to pine away in constant misery. When the eyes are pulled out, we know that the principal part of life is lost. When, therefore, this punishment was inflicted on Zedekiah, was not death desirable? And then he was not only deprived of his royal dignity, but was bereaved also of all his offspring, and was afterwards bound with chains. We hence see that what remained to him was not so much an object of desire, he might have preferred...

1-7 Zedekiah is told that the city shall be taken, and that he shall die a captive, but he shall die a natural death. It is better to live and die penitent in a prison, than to live and die impenitent in a palace....

EXPOSITION This chapter must be taken in connection with Jeremiah 35:1. The whole section consists of three passages, introduced with a superscription in the same form, but otherwise unrelated. It serves to finish off the earlier prophetic portion of the book, Jeremiah 36:1. opening a series of narratives. The first passage (Jeremiah 34:1) is virtually a postscript to Jeremiah 32:1; Jeremiah 33:1.; it apparently contains the prophecy referred to in...

YET HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, O ZEDEKIAH KING OF JUDAH,.... Which, though a king, he ought to hearken to; and, besides, what follows was for comfort, being a mitigation of his sentence, and containing in it mercy, as well as judgment: THUS SAITH THE LORD OF THEE, THOU SHALT NOT DIE BY THE SWORD: of the king of Babylon; or a violent death; and therefore fear not to deliver up thyself and city into his hands; which he might be twelfth to do, fearing he would put him to death immediately....

CHAPTER 34:1-7 Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah The besieging army was before the walls of Jerusalem when the prophet is commanded to go to the king and tell him that the city will soon be burned. He announced also Zedekiah's fate. He could not escape, but would be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon. He would see Nebuchadnezzar eye to eye, speak with him mouth to mouth, and then be taken to Babylon. Ezekiel said he should not see Babylon Ezekiel 12:13. Both statements are true. He saw the king as a prisoner at Riblah and there his eyes were put out 2 Kings 25:6, and then he was taken away to Babylon. Yet he was not to die by the sword, but in peace. And Jeremiah discharged faithfully his message....

THE FATE OF JERUSALEM AND OF ZEDEKIAH. In the course of the siege (588- 6), Jeremiah is sent to Zedekiah to tell him that the city will be taken and destroyed, that he will be brought before Nebuchadrezzar and sent to Babylon, but will obtain the customary royal honours after a peaceful death. At this time, it is said, the only other uncaptured cities were Lachish (Tell-el-Hesy, 35 m. SW. of Jerusalem, see p. 28) and Azekah (Joshua 15:35, probably 15 m. SW. of Jerusalem). For the actual fate of the king, so different from that here promised, see Jeremiah 52:11, and _cf._ Ezekiel 12:13. The present prophecy must be explained as conditional on submission to Babylon, a condition not fulfilled....

Prophecy of the burning of the city and the captivity of Zedekiah....

I. AN INCIDENT DURING THE FINAL SIEGE OF JERUSALEM Jeremiah 34:1-22 Chapter 34 contains two messages delivered during the final siege of Jerusalem. The first of these messages is directed to king Zedekiah (Jeremiah 34:1-7). According to Jeremiah 34:7 the message was delivered after Nebuchadnezzar had conquered all the outlying cities of Judah except Lachish and Azekah and was about ready to begin the assault against Jerusalem. According to the calculations of Finegan the siege of Jerusalem began on January 15, 588 B.C. The first message of Jeremiah then was delivered a short time before this date. The second message in this chapter ...

JEREMIAH'S EIGHTEENTH PROPHECY (REIGN OF ZEDEKIAH). THE FATE OF ZEDEKIAH. THE TREATMENT OF HEBREW SLAVES Early in the campaign of Nebuchadnezzar, whose scheme of conquest included all the region as far as Egypt inclusive, the policy urged by Jeremiah was that Zedekiah should make the best terms he could. In this chapter we seem to have a sort of abbreviated memorandum of the conditional promise, which in that case the prophet was commissioned to announce to Zedekiah, viz. peace followed by kingly obsequies. The condition, here omitted, is expressed in Jeremiah 38:17. The laws as to the limitation of the length of servitude in the case of Hebrew slaves (Exodus 21:2; Leviticus 25:39) had apparently fallen