The following dialogue in Jeremiah 38:14-20 gives you a further glimpse into the hearts and minds of King Zedekiah and Jeremiah:
Then Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the house of the LORD. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”
Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”
So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the LORD lives, who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you surely surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. But if you do not surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.’”
And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they abuse me.”
But Jeremiah said, “They shall not deliver you. Please, obey the voice of the LORD which I speak to you. So it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live.
Zedekiah wants to know God’s Word. There is a part of him that knows it’s true, that wants to believe. But fear (and pride) hold him back from obeying it. Notice that Jeremiah says to him, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.” In the next verse, Zedekiah assures Jeremiah that he won’t have him killed but he can’t guarantee Jeremiah that he will listen. And indeed, in the end, he does not listen.
Jeremiah practically begs Zedekiah to follow God’s Word. “Please obey the voice of the LORD which I speak to you. So it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live.” Jeremiah has no vindictive spirit. He is not happy to see God’s judgment fall. He desires the best for Zedekiah and for his nation. He pleads with Zedekiah to surrender to the Babylonians, for the good of the nation and for the good of himself. But Zedekiah can’t do it. He fears his own princes. He fears the abuse of the Jews already captured by the Babylonians. And I believe, perhaps most of all, he fears looking weak or cowardly to others. “I’m king. I must fight. I must resist. I must appear strong and in control.”
It’s ironic that the strongest, wisest thing that Zedekiah could do in this situation was to surrender, to admit that God was in control and to follow His plan even if it didn’t look good to others. But he just couldn’t do it. And in chapter 39 we’ll find out just how much it cost him.
Surrender to God’s will is tough for us. Something in our heart says, “I’m king. I must fight. I must resist. I must appear strong to others.” So we find ourselves running to and fro trying to meet the expectations of others and trying to maintain our tenuous hold on our own perceived kingdom. However, in the end, we find that there is a paradoxical truism in God’s universe that is “when we try to appear strong we become weak but when we realize are weakness we become strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). It is in letting go of our grip–our tight grip on our own agenda, our own pride, our own way–that we fall into the hands of God.
Personalities always intrigue me in Scripture. Jeremiah 36 and 37 give us a glimpse into the personalities of two kings–Jehoiakim and Zedekiah. Of course, Jeremiah can be a little hard to follow at times because chronologically it jumps around and it is hard to keep track of who is who when it comes to kings. Here is a brief chronology that may help:
Josiah–a good king and friend of Jeremiah rules from 640 until 609 when he dies in a war with Egypt
Jehoahaz–Josiah’s son reigns for three months before being deposed by the king of Egypt
Jehoiakim–another of Josiah’s sons becomes king from 609-598 until Nebuchadnezzar deposes him and presumably executes him
Jehoiachin–Jehoiakim’s son rules next for three months before also being carted off by Nebuchadnezzar
Zedekiah–another of Josiah’s sons takes over and rules from 597-586 before he too is captured by Nebuchadnezzar.
Jeremiah lives through all five kings. Two of them–Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin–are more like footnotes since they barely take the throne before they are deposed. The other three really show us three main types of personalities in men.
Josiah is fully dedicated to God. He is responsive to God’s Word. When he hears the words of the Lord, he obeys and brings spiritual change to the nation. There is no doubt where he stands.
Jehoiakim is fully opposed to God. When he hears the word of God from Jeremiah, he slowly cuts it up and throws it in the fire (Jeremiah 36:20-26). He has no fear of God, no regard for God’s Word, and no love for God’s prophet, Jeremiah. In fact, he would have killed Jeremiah if he could have found him.
Zedekiah is the half-hearted king. He vacillates. One minute he is seeking the Lord, the next he is totally disregarding Him. Jeremiah 37 paints him well. Zedekiah pays no attention to God’s Word (37:2) but he does ask Jeremiah to pray to God for him (37:3). He simply can’t make up his mind. Something in his heart tells him to seek God but his fear, uncertainty, pride hold him back.
Part of me sympathizes with Zedekiah. He is in a no-win situation as king. He takes over a nation that is already bent toward disobedience and rebellion and at the same time under the thumb of Nebuchadnezzar. To surrender to Nebuchadnezzar would invite the wrath of his own people; to fight Nebuchadnezzar would be disaster. So Zedekiah basically does nothing. In his mind he probably thought he was playing it safe by playing both sides of the fence. But in the end it cost him. His indecision led the nation to destruction and his own life into darkened bondage.
It reminded me that at times you have to take a stand. You have to know what you believe and stick by it no matter what way the wind is blowing in society. You stake your claim for God, you chart your course, and you move out in faith.
Jeremiah did this. Under Josiah’s reign, following God was a blessing. Under Jehoiakim’s, it almost cost him his life. And under Zedekiah’s, it was just plain frustrating. One minute his counsel was sought; the next he found himself in prison. But Jeremiah made his decision for God and stuck to it…even when it wasn’t convenient or popular. Zedekiah, on the other hand, never knew what to do and thus, in the end, never knew God.
Lord, be the anchor of my soul. Establish my heart in You. Give me the faith and boldness to follow You no matter which way the wind may blow in our society.
12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 13 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I said, 14 ‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has sold himself to you. After he has served you six years, you must let him go free.’ Your fathers, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me. 15 Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to his countrymen. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name. 16 But now you have turned around and profaned my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again. (Jeremiah 34:12-16)
Jeremiah 34 gives a good perspective on God’s view of slavery.
Slavery in the Hebrew culture was used primarily to pay off debts. If I owed you money (through reckless living or even through robbery) and had no resources from which to pay you back, then I sold myself to you as a slave. I gave you the only possession I had left–myself and my labor. Though I was a slave, I was not to be mistreated, harmed, or overworked. I was to have a day off on the Sabbath just as the whole Jewish community did. And in the seventh year of my labor (regardless of the extent of my debt) I was to be set free unless I voluntarily chose to remain as your slave (see Exodus 21:1-6).
It is a system so foreign to our own culture that it is hard to understand. But there was no “chapter 13″ in the Hebrew culture. If you owed a debt, you were obligated to pay it back even if it meant selling yourself into the service of another. I imagine that, in most cases, the six years of hard labor had a way of teaching people how to better handle their lives, their time, and their resources. It was a good balance of responsibility (pay your debts) and grace (you are free in the 7th year).
Unfortunately, over time, the grace part was left out and people became slaves for life as their owners refused to release them and forgive their debt. That is the context of Jeremiah 34. Israel is under attack. Nebuchadnezzar is about to totally wipe out their city and suddenly the king announces an “emancipation proclamation.” All the slaves are to be set free. The implication is that these are slaves that should have been released a long time ago but haven’t. Now, in a time of difficulty with Nebuchadnezzar breathing down their necks, the king and the people “repent” and release their slaves hoping to avert God’s judgment on the city.
But history says that in the midst of Nebuchadnezzar’s seige of Jerusalem, he suddenly had to leave to take care of an advancing Egyptian army. For a short time, his grip on Jerusalem was released. It was at this time, when things started looking more rosy, that the people decided, “Hey, the work around here is not getting done anymore. Where’s my slave?” And they forced the slaves they released back into labor.
God is angry with their half-hearted repentance and disregard for their brothers and proclaims, “You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold I proclaim liberty to you…to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine!” (34:17) And indeed, after quickly taking care of the Egyptian army, Nebuchadnezzar returns to Jerusalem and destroys it.
It reminded this morning of man’s fickleness (my fickleness). When the pressure is on, we are quick to “repent.” But when the pressure is gone, we quickly go back to our former ways. We want to follow God long enough to get Him off our back and then live the way we want to live. That is the essence of religion. Do my duty, make God happy, and then live the way I want to live. But God demands more. He demands our whole heart, our whole life. And He demands that we treat our brother in a way that honors Him, balancing responsibility and grace. When we forget this, we suffer the consequences. That is the message of Jeremiah 34.
But there is another message in the background. God wants His people to treat slaves in the right way because it is a picture of how He deals with us. We owe God a debt we cannot pay. We have no resources to meet our obligations to Him. God in His holiness holds us responsible for our debt but, in His grace, He freely offers to pay that debt Himself. Jesus on the cross proclaimed, “It is finished!” or perhaps better, “Paid in full.” The debt is paid. God is free to offer us liberty…if we are willing to accept it.
The Hebrews offended God because they forgot mercy. They were the person in Jesus’ parable who was forgiven an enormous, unpayable, billion dollar debt by his master and then went out and choked his brother demanding the $5 he owed him. James warns us, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy” (2:13).
Lord, forgive me for mistreating my brother by demanding from him that which I cannot even pay myself. Give me a heart that does justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly before You.