Jeremiah 37:4

Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison. JEREMIAH ... THEY HAD NOT PUT HIM INTO PRISON. He was no longer in the prison court, as he had been (; ); which passages refer to the beginning of the siege, not to the time when the Chaldeans renewed the siege, after having withdrawn for a time to meet Pharaoh....

But Jeremiah tells us that he was then at liberty, coming in and going out _among the people _It may be that he had been in prison, but that after the rage of the king and of the people had cooled, he might have been set free. It is hence said that he was among the people, that is set at liberty, and at his own disposal, so that he could safely walk through the city; for to come and to go implies that he was free to follow his own business. He is said to come and to go who undertakes this or that concern as he pleases; for men, we know, are not engaged always in the same thing, but do various things as necessity requires. Such, then, was the condition of Jeremiah; he enjoyed common liberty. It is then added, that he _was not as yet cast into prison, _as it happened soon after. It is further said, that the _army of Pharaoh was come out from Egypt to _give aid to the Jews, and that thus th...

1-10 Numbers witness the fatal effects of other men's sins, yet heedlessly step into their places, and follow the same destructive course. When in distress, we ought to desire the prayers of ministers and Christian friends. And it is common for those to desire to be prayed for, who will not be advised; yet sinners are often hardened by a pause in judgments. But if God help us not, no creature can. Whatever instruments God has determined to use, they shall do the work, though they seem unlikely....

Verse Jeremiah 37:4. _NOW JEREMIAH CAME IN AND WENT OUT_] After the siege was raised, he had a measure of liberty; he was not _closely confined_, as he afterwards was. See Jeremiah 37:16....

EXPOSITION Nothing worthy of relation appears to have happened to Jeremiah till the latter period of the reign of Zedekiah. The first two verses of this chapter form the transition. The embassy to Jeremiah mentioned in verse 3 took place after the temporary withdrawal of the Chaldeans from Jerusalem. JEREMIAH 37:1 CONIAH; _i.e._ Jehoiachin (see on Jeremiah 22:24). WHOM NEBUCHADREZZAR … MADE KING. Zedekiah, not Jehoiachin, is referred to (see 2 Kings 24:17). JEREMIAH 37:3 AND ZEDEKIAH THE KING SENT. Th

NOW JEREMIAH CAME IN AND WENT OUT AMONG THE PEOPLE,.... Was at full liberty, and could go out of the city, and come in, when he pleased; or go into any part of it, and converse with the people, and prophesy to them; which he could not do in the latter part of Jehoiakim's reign, who sent persons after him and Baruch to take them, and they were obliged to hide themselves, yea, the Lord hid them, Jeremiah 36:19; but now he was under no restraint, as least as yet: FOR THEY HAD NOT PUT HIM INTO PRISON; not yet; they afterwards did, Jeremiah 37:15....

JEREMIAH AND ZEDEKIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM (37-39) CHAPTER 37 _ 1. Jeremiah's warning (Jeremiah 37:1) _ 2. Jeremiah's arrest (Jeremiah 37:11) Jeremiah 37:1. To understand more fully these Chapter s it must be remembered that the besieging army before the gates of Jerusalem was temporarily withdrawn, because an Egyptian army had appeared against it. This was no doubt an occasion for the false prophets to preach their false hope, so that the people were deceived. Once more Zedekiah sent to the prophet a deputation (Jeremiah 21:1) after Nebuchadnezzar had made him king. The occasion was on

JEREMIAH 37, 38. FORTUNES OF JEREMIAH DURING THE SIEGE (588- 586). JEREMIAH 37:1. Zedekiah, made vassal-king in place of his nephew, Jehoiachin (in 597) sends Jehucal (Jeremiah 38:1) and Zephaniah (Jeremiah 21:1, where a similar inquiry earlier in the siege is recorded) to ask for Jeremiah's intercession with Yahweh (_cf._ Isaiah 37:4), at a time when the siege has been raised through the Egyptian expedition of Pharaoh (Hophra, 589- 564; _cf._ Jeremiah 44:30). Jeremiah sends back to say that the Babylonians will return, and

_came in and went out_ WAS STILL COMING IN AND GOING OUT, was still free, had not suffered arrest. That was immediately to follow....

I. THE PROPHET CONSULTED Jeremiah 37:3-10 In 589 B.C. Zedekiah foolishly rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar his overlord. Jerusalem had to pay the inevitable consequences. In 588 B.C. the armies of Babylon besieged the city (Jeremiah 32:1-2). Things looked very bleak for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. As for Jeremiah, he had been arrested and confined during that first part of the siege (Jeremiah 32:1-5). In the summer of 588 B.C. things took a turn for the better. Pharaoh Hophra came marching northward with a relief expedition. The Chaldeans were forced temporarily to suspend siege conditions to deal with this new development. This withdrawal of Chaldean troops afforded Jerusalem a breathing spell of a