Chapter 21
This begins message 8. The opening phrase is: "This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord..." Third person.
We get a fixed point in time for this chapter. Zedekiah is King, and sends Pashhur (seems to be a different Pashhur than the one in 20, as a different father is named) to ask Jeremiah to inquire of God whether they can expect Nebuchadnezzar to withdraw from making war on them. (Is he kidding? Has he been living under a rock???)
vss 3-10 contain God's answer. An expected answer if you've read to this point. It seems that at this time, the Chaldean's were besieging Jerusalem itself, had it surrounded, and were demanding surrender. A few compelling verses:
4 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. And I will bring them together into the midst of this city. [Jer 21:4 ESV]
A good one to look up. Is this how it came about?
6 And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. [Jer 21:6 ESV] This makes it seem as if some disease ran rampant in the city even before the besieging army broke in. Starvation, poor sanitation, cannibalism perhaps, and just infectious disease from the close quarters for so long a time may have been the primary cause of death, even before the sword was used. God making clear that the fall of Jerusalem is from Him perhaps. Note how this next verse begins:
7 Afterward, declares the LORD, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. He shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.' [Jer 21:7 ESV] So first this pestilence is going to waste the inhabitants, and only after that has run its course do the invaders get in.
8 "And to this people you shall say: 'Thus says the LORD: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war. [Jer 21:8-9 ESV]
The language is compelling. Choose. The way of life or the way of death? Even in the face of the foretold destruction on the horizon, God still gives them an out. Not a good out, but at least a way to save their own lives. your "life as a prize of war". Jeremiah's prophecy ends this way:
10 For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.' [Jer 21:10 ESV] Because God has determined that His wrath is going to play all the way out here, and there will be no relenting, no salvation for the people of Jerusalem, the choices that they have at this point are few and not very good. Here, they can flee the city, give themselves up as captives of the invading army, becoming slaves to them and giving up all that was ever theirs - homes and possessions - and being the poorest of the poor and serving people who's language they don't even understand, or they can stay in the city and face the horrors of pestilence, disease, sword, cannibalism, and ultimately death by the sword. This is an avoidance/avoidance conflict if ever there was one.
This concludes message 8