Jeremiah 38:2

Thus saith the LORD, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live. HE THAT GOETH FORTH TO THE CHALDEANS ... SHALL HAVE HIS LIFE FOR A PREY - he shall escape with his life; though losing all else, as in a shipwreck, he shall carry off his life as his gain, saved by his going over to the Chaldeans (note, )....

We have seen elsewhere that the Prophet had before said the same; it was not, then, a new thing, for he had thirty years before that time dearly pronounced the same in the Temple, and it was then written as a prophecy and fixed to the doors of the Temple. It was, therefore, nothing new to hear all this from the mouth of Jeremiah. But as I have already said, the king and his couriers thought that he was so subdued by evils that he could hardly open his mouth. In short, they thought that the holy man had, in a manner, lost his tongue since he had been in prison. This, then, was the reason why they now accused him so gravely to the king, and declared him worthy of death. He had deserved death many years before, if he had now committed a capital offense. But as I have already stated, they regarded the Prophet as having designedly despised the king’s authority, and they were indignant because...

1-13 Jeremiah went on in his plain preaching. The princes went on in their malice. It is common for wicked people to look upon God's faithful ministers as enemies, because they show what enemies the wicked are to themselves while impenitent. Jeremiah was put into a dungeon. Many of God's faithful witnesses have been privately made away in prisons. Ebed-melech was an Ethiopian; yet he spoke to the king faithfully, These men have done ill in all they have done to Jeremiah. See how God can raise up friends for his people in distress. Orders were given for the prophet's release, and Ebed-melech saw him drawn up. Let this encourage us to appear boldly for God. Special notice is taken of his tenderness for Jeremiah. What do we behold in the different characters then, but the same we behold in the different characters now, that the Lord's children are conformed to his example, and the children...

CONTINUATION. EXPOSITION The object of the princes being frustrated (for in the "court of the guard" Jeremiah had perfect freedom and opportunity of speech), the princes resolve upon a more effectual means of stopping the prophet's mouth. He is thrown into a miry pit, with the object that he may die of starvation. JEREMIAH 38:1 Two Pashurs appear to be mentioned here: one probably the same who put Jeremiah in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:1, Jeremiah 20:2); the other a member of the first of Zedekiah's two embassies to the prophet (Jeremiah 21:1). On JUCAL

THUS SAITH THE LORD, HE THAT REMAINETH IN THIS CITY,.... Of Jerusalem; that does not go out of it, and surrender himself to the Chaldeans; but continues in it fighting against them: SHALL DIE BY THE SWORD, BY THE FAMINE, AND BY THE PESTILENCE; that is, by one or other of these: BUT HE THAT GOETH FORTH TO THE CHALDEANS SHALL LIVE: that goes out of the city, throws down his arms, delivers up himself to the Chaldean army, and submits to their mercy, shall have quarters given him, and his life shall be spared: FOR HE SHALL HAVE HIS LIFE FOR A PREY, AND SHALL LIVE; or, "his soul, and it shall live" n; comfortably and in safety; he shall escape with his life, and that shall be preserved from the sword, famine, and pestilence; and whereas it was, as it were, lost, it shall be recovered out of the jaws of death, out of the above calamities it was exposed to; and so be like a prey taken out of...

CHAPTER 38 _ 1. Jeremiah in the dungeon and his rescue (Jeremiah 38:1) _ 2. Jeremiah with Zedekiah: His last appeal (Jeremiah 38:14) Jeremiah 38:1. Jeremiah is next accused of high treason. The charge is based on his message, given to him by the Lord: “He that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live.” Like the conscientious objectors during the past war, they accused him of being unpatriotic. “This man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.” They demand his life. In the sixth verse we see him in a deep dungeon, into which he was put by means of ropes. And Jeremiah sank into the vile mire. This reminds us of Him, our blessed Lord, who was also accused by false witnesses

Four of the princes (Jeremiah 37:15) hear Jeremiah (confined in the guard-court, Jeremiah 37:21) foretelling the fall of the city and advising individual surrender (_cf._ Jeremiah 21:9 f.). They denounce him to the king as a source of weakness to the defence, and Zedekiah gives him over to them. They lower him into the mud of a waterless cistern in the guard-court, belonging to a royal prince (Jeremiah 36:26, note). This is reported to the king by a negro eunuch called Ebed-melech (Jeremiah 39:15), who points out that he will die on the

GOETH FORTH. Some codices add "and falleth". LIFE. soul....

_He that abideth, etc_.] The _v_. is substantially identical with Jeremiah 21:9, and Co. following Du. considers that it is a later insertion in this place, on the ground that while such advice under the earlier circumstances was permissible, now in the actual presence of the enemy it would have been treasonable....

HE SHALL HAVE HIS LIFE FOR A PREY— As a spoil gained from the enemy; snatched out of the flames, and saved from the carnage. The beginning of the next verse should be rendered, _For thus saith the Lord;_ which keeps up the connection....