Jeremiah 34 Study Notes

34:1 The attack against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities is spoken of in hyperbolic, global terms—all the kingdoms of the lands or of the earth. It was as if the whole world was lined up against Judah.

34:2-3 The fate of Jerusalem and of King Zedekiah is foretold. Zedekiah would meet the Babylonian king eye to eye and speak face to face. There his eyes would be put out after he was forced to watch the execution of his sons (39:5-7; 52:8-11).

34:4-5 Zedekiah would not be killed. He would die in Babylon and have a burning ceremony just like the “funeral fire” at other royal funerals (2Ch 16:14; 21:19). This ceremony involved burning spices on the coffins, but it did not necessarily involve cremation.

34:6-7 Only Lachish and Azekah remained of all of Judah’s cities as the siege of Jerusalem continued. Lachish was a fortified city thirty miles southwest of Jerusalem. Azekah, likewise fortified, was northeast of Lachish. Discovered among the ruins of Lachish were letters written on pottery. One contained the words of a sentinel: “We are watching for the signals of Lachish . . . because we do not see Azekah.” Presumably, Azekah had already fallen when these words were written.

34:8-10 King Zedekiah’s covenant with all the people was not the same as the Lord’s covenant (v. 18) that all male and female Hebrew slaves should be set free. The motivation for issuing this proclamation of emancipation is not given. It seems to have come just before the temporary lifting of Nebuchadnezzar’s siege against Jerusalem in late spring or early summer of 588 BC due to a rumor about the approach of the Egyptian army. All the king’s officials and the people agreed to let their male and female slaves go free and to release them from their debts.

34:11 When the siege was lifted, the people abandoned their panic-inspired piety, with the result that slave owners repudiated their solemn oath to God in violation of the provisions in Ex 21:2-6 and Dt 15:12-18.

34:15-16 The king, his officials, and the people made a covenant before the Lord at the temple, only to change their minds, thus profaning God’s name.

34:17 With a devastating play on words and an irony of ironies, God would take Judah’s revoked proclamation of emancipation and make his own proclamation: Judah would experience freedom from his protection, thus falling to sword, to plague, and to famine.

34:18-20 In a covenant ceremony, a calf was cut (Hb karath, “to cut,” “to make a covenant”) in two in order that the parties to the covenant could pass between its pieces. This is similar to Gn 15:10,17, where only God walked between the pieces, figuratively vowing his own destruction if he failed to keep his word. Parties who passed between the pieces were in effect saying, “If I do not keep the terms of this covenant, may I die like this slaughtered animal.”

34:19-20 God would hand over to their enemies everyone who passed between the pieces.

34:21-22 Nebuchadnezzar’s army had withdrawn briefly, but God would give the command to bring them back to this city (Jerusalem). Archaeologists have not found a single town in Judah that was occupied from the time of this destruction up to the Hebrew return from exile.