Chapter 37
Starts with this verse. Catches us up on events since the end of 36:
1 Zedekiah the son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. [Jer 37:1 ESV]
Per MSB Zedekiah was Jeconiah's Uncle. Jeconiah was, I believe, the son of Jehoiakim - thus fulfilling God's prophecy that no son of Jehoiakim would sit on the thrown. Nebuchadnezzar has made Zedekiah a vassal King in contempt of Jehoiakim. (I am not sure how Jehoiachin fits in here. He is shown in the line between Jehoiakim and Zedekiah. Was Coniah the one who's name Neb changed from Jehoiachin to Jeconiah? Or the other way around? Jehoiachin was on the throne less than a year. Perhaps replaced by Neb out of contempt for Jehoiakim - who had revolted? So as to stop his kingly line.) Zedekiah is King from the first taking away until the fall of Jerusalem to Neb 11 years later. He was pretty useless to the people I imagine. The history is very complex through this time. Jumping around in time isn't helping much. Would be good to construct a timeline.
The point of the first chapter is that through all this, the people still do not turn to God.
Zedekiah asks Jeremiah to pray for them. This was before Jeremiah was imprisoned. I guess this means before he was kept in the court of the palace.
More events: Pharoah had left Egypt, and the siege against Jerusalem by the Chaldeans is broken off. We saw this "break" a few chapters ago. I thought they had gone to finish up with Lachish but perhaps it was more about this threat from the south.
God has Jeremiah tell Zedekiah not to take this withdrawal as a good sign. In fact, Egypt is going to go back home, and the Chaldeans will return to the siege. And they will burn Jerusalem to the ground. Even if the only remaining Chaldeans are wounded in their tents, they are going to rise up and overtake Jerusalem. Point being that it is God making this happen, and no earthly circumstance is going to prevent it.
During the lull, Jeremiah starts home to Benjamin to "receive his portion", that is, to claim that piece of land he'd bought. At the Benjamin gate, the guard accuses Jeremiah of deserting to the Chaldeans. Jeremiah says it's a lie, but this man turns the officials against Jeremiah, resulting in Jeremiah being thrown into prison in the house of Jonathan the secretary. This would have been in Jerusalem.
Zedekiah sends for Jeremiah after Jeremiah has been many days in that dungeon. Zedekiah asks Jeremiah in secret if he has any word from the Lord. Jeremiah says "Yes, you are going to be captured by the king of Babylon." So standing in front of the one man who could free him from prison, all Jeremiah had to do was give him some good news. Good news that would have been a lie. But Jeremiah does not do that. He is true to the word he has been given. He displays a complete lack of tact and subtlety here! Sometimes, the truth of God can be very blunt. But then Jeremiah goes on, and pleads with the King not to put him back in that dungeon, lest he die. Jeremiah points out that the prophets who told Zedekiah that Babylon would not invade - which turned out to be false prophecy and lies - are all still free and running around, but the one man that told the truth is shut up in prison. Jeremiah is getting up in years by this time and the dungeon cells at the house of Jonathan must be very dire indeed for Jeremiah to plead this way. Zedekiah "commutes" the prison sentence of the dungeon to captivity in the court of the guard. Jeremiah was given a loaf of bread every day until there was no more bread in Jerusalem.