Chapter 38:14-28 (ESV) - King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the LORD. The king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me.” Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.” Then King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As the LORD lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver 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 will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.” Jeremiah said, “You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the LORD in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared. But if you refuse to surrender, this is the vision which the LORD has shown to me: Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying,
“‘Your trusted friends have deceived you
and prevailed against you;
now that your feet are sunk in the mud,
they turn away from you.’
All your wives and your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.”
Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,’ then you shall say to them, ‘I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.
Question to consider: Why does Zedekiah keep meeting Jeremiah in secret?
Today’s passage marked the third time in which king Zedekiah met with Jeremiah in secret to inquire of the LORD. Deep down he knew that his counselors were false, and Jeremiah was right, but he didn’t have the fortitude to stand up to the false prophets or the people of Jerusalem who refused to repent and believe the word given to them by the LORD through Jeremiah.
When Babylon first withdrew from Jerusalem to address Egypt, who had secretly made a covenant with Zedekiah against Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah asked Jeremiah to intercede for Jerusalem to the LORD and let this respite be their deliverance. The LORD’s response was that the only ones who would avoid this judgment would be those who surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar to go into exile.
The elders of the city saw this as sedition so when Jeremiah tried to go back home to Anathoth and get his affairs in order before the assault would continue, the guards accused him of deserting his people, and the guards and elders beat him and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the secretary. Zedekiah met with Jeremiah a second time in secret to inquire of the LORD, and Jeremiah reiterated that Jerusalem would fall to Babylon. He then asked Zedekiah why he was allowed to be beaten for faithfully presenting the word of the LORD. Zedekiah let him be moved to the court of the guard where at least he was fed, and the beatings stopped.
From the court, Jeremiah continued to publicly proclaim the coming judgment such that the elders desired to kill him for discouraging the soldiers and people who heard his preaching and zapping their will to fight. Zedekiah was afraid of them and so let them silence Jeremiah by casting him into an empty well where they could let him starve to death. The LORD saved Jeremiah from starvation through the intervention of a Gentile from Ethiopia who insisted that the king stand up to the elders and have Jeremiah removed from the well.
Now this third word from the LORD in the secret meeting with Zedekiah once again proclaimed the imminent judgment and called for him to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah now feared the people who had gone into exile ahead of him. It seemed that Zedekiah feared everyone but the one true God. It is sad because the only one who was being honest with Zedekiah was the LORD, and the only one with the power to judge or show mercy to him was the LORD.
Dear heavenly Father, help us to trust in You and fear You more than men, for You and You only are worthy of our worship and respect. You are the only one who speaks truth and in whom we can place our future. Amen.