Jeremiah 22 Study Notes

22:1-2 Jeremiah was to go down from the temple or Mount Zion to the king’s house, the palace, which was south of the temple (26:10; 36:12).

22:3 The sins mentioned here fit the reigns of all the Judean kings of this period, but they were especially fitting for Jehoiakim’s time (2Kg 23:35). These themes appear frequently in the law, especially Ex 22:21-24; Dt 10:18-19; 24:17-22 and 27:19.

22:4 The conditional prospect of blessing and prosperity was once again offered to the king with the words if you conscientiously carry out this word. The Davidic dynasty would be continued and the people would live securely in the land as God had promised David (2Sm 7).

22:5 To underline the solemnity of this message, the Lord declared, I swear by myself, giving the strongest possible authentication to Jeremiah’s words.

22:6-9 These verses refer not to the Davidic line, but to the royal palace. The regions of Gilead and Lebanon were noted for trees such as cedars (1Kg 5:6,8-10; 7:2-5; 10:27). However, the lofty and startling cedar columns of the palace would be burned up in the fall of Jerusalem.

22:9 The phrase they abandoned the covenant of the Lord occurs only here and at Dt 29:25. It refers to the Sinaitic covenant, not God’s covenant with David (2Sm 7).

22:10-12 Instead of weeping for the dead King Josiah, who was killed at the battle of Megiddo in 609 BC (2Kg 23:29-35; 2Ch 35:24-25), Jeremiah told the people to reserve their tears for Josiah’s son, King Shallum. This king was also known as Jehoahaz. After a short reign of three months, Jehoahaz would be exiled to Egypt, where he would die (2Kg 23:34). In that sense, Josiah would be better off than his son. Jehoahaz would be the first Judean king to die in exile.

22:13-16 Jeremiah denounced King Jehoiakim, who reigned 609-598 BC, more severely than he denounced any other king. In a manic building campaign that was typical of Near Eastern kings, Jehoiakim violated Mosaic law (Lv 19:13; Dt 24:14-15) by forcing Judean laborers to build and remodel his palace without paying them any wages. Meanwhile, he continued paying enormous sums as tribute to Pharaoh Neco of Egypt. By his love of luxury and his tyranny over Judah, he imitated King Manasseh (2Kg 24:3-4). History had taught Jehoiakim very little.

22:15 Jehoiakim thought that luxurious buildings made a man a king, but Jeremiah asked sarcastically, Are you a king because you excel in cedar?

22:16 Concern for the poor and needy demonstrates what it means to know the Lord. More than head knowledge is required. What is needed is a personal relationship with the Lord that results in justice and righteousness for all. To know God in this manner is to do his will.

22:17 Not only was Jehoiakim tyrannical, covetous, and oppressive; he was also guilty of shedding innocent blood. For example, because the prophet Uriah had prophesied against him, the king brought Uriah back from Egypt and had him executed (26:20-23).

22:18-19 A humiliating death awaited evil King Jehoiakim. His own family (brother . . . sister) and friends would not mourn his death, but he would be buried like a donkey, dragged off and thrown outside Jerusalem’s gates. This meant no burial at all, which was considered a curse (Dt 28:26). Some have questioned the fulfillment of this prophecy because 2Kg 24:6 says that Jehoiakim “rested with his fathers.” But “resting” with one’s fathers is not the same thing as being buried (see 2Kg 15:38; 16:20). The fact that Scripture does not describe the later fulfillment of this prophecy in no way indicates that it did not happen. Second Kg 24:6 does not contradict this prophecy because 1Kg 21:19; 22:30-38,40 use the same wording for King Ahab’s similarly disgraceful death.

22:18 This call to mourning may have come on the eve of Nebuchadnezzar’s 597 BC attack on Jerusalem.

22:20 The people are told to pick a mountain in the north, Lebanon, for example, or Bashan in northern Transjordan, or Abarim, the mountains of Moab, east of the Dead Sea. From these heights they could broadcast their lament over what was about to happen. The words your lovers refer to the faithful patriots in Judah, the leaders of the nation, or perhaps Egypt and those countries to whom King Jehoiakim had looked for help against Babylon.

22:21 The word rendered secure can also mean “complacent.”

22:22-23 There is a play on words in the expression the wind will take charge of [or “will shepherd”] all your shepherds. The coming doom is also likened to childbirth. The people will groan when pains come on you, agony like a woman in labor.

22:24-30 In these verses Jehoiachin (son of Jehoiakim) is condemned. He reigned for only three months. Jehoiachin was also called Coniah (vv. 24,28), which is an abbreviated form of Jeconiah, the alternate of the throne name Jehoiachin. See textual footnote at 37:1.

22:24 A signet ring contains the king’s official seal, which he used to stamp official documents. Such documents bore the sign of royal authority (Hg 2:23). Because of Jehoiachin’s sins, God says in figurative language that, were the King a signet ring on his right hand, he would rip that privilege away from him. Jehoiachin was exiled to Babylon in 597 BC (2Kg 24:8-17; 25:27-30).

22:26 Jehoiachin’s mother was Nehushta (2Kg 24:8).

22:29 The repetition of earth gives a strong and solemn emphasis to the message God was about to deliver.

22:30 The words record this man as childless are startling since Jehoiachin had seven sons (1Ch 3:17). This is an allusion to the fact that none of his descendants would ascend to the throne. Is 39:7 predicted that some of Hezekiah’s descendants (Jehoiachin and his sons fell into this category) would “be taken away” to become “eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” The Weidner Tablets verify that Jehoiachin and his sons received a daily ration of oil while captive in Babylon. Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, reigned after him, but he died before Jehoiachin died in Babylon. Thus Jehoiachin was the last living Judean king in the line of David.