Jeremiah 37:8

And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. THE CHALDEANS SHALL COME AGAIN - ()....

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....

Jeremiah’s answer here is even more unfavorable than that which is given in Jeremiah 21:4. So hopeless is resistance that the disabled men among the Chaldaeans would alone suffice to capture the city and burn it to the ground....

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

AND THE CHALDEANS SHALL COME AGAIN,.... To Jerusalem, after they have defeated or drove back the Egyptian army: AND FIGHT AGAINST THIS CITY; with fresh rigour and resolution; being exasperated by the methods taken to oblige them to raise the siege: AND TAKE IT, AND BURN IT WITH FIRE; as they did, Jeremiah 39:8....

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more fully these Chapter s it must be remembered that the besieging army before the gates of Jerusalem was temporarily withdrawn, because an Egyptian army had appeared against it.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

B. Jeremiah's Response Jeremiah 37:6-10 TRANSLATION (6) Then the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the prophet, saying, (7) Thus says the LORD God of Israel: Thus shall you say unto the king of Judah who sent you unto me to inquire of me: Behold, the army of Pharaoh which has come out to help you shall return to its own land, to Egypt. (8) The Chaldeans shall return and fight against this city, and capture it, and burn it. (9) Thus says the LORD: Do not deceive yourselves by thinking that the Chaldeans are permanently withdrawing, for they are not leaving. (10) For if you smite the entire army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you and there remained among them only wounded men, each of them lying in his tent, they would arise and burn this city. COMMENTS Jeremiah rightly sensed that the king's request for prayer was in reality an inquiry as

1-5. The general position....

וְ שָׁ֨בוּ֙ הַ כַּשְׂדִּ֔ים וְ נִלְחֲמ֖וּ עַל ־הָ עִ֣יר הַ זֹּ֑את וּ לְכָדֻ֖הָ וּ...