Chapter 38

This chapter appears to be an historical account of events during/around the time of the siege of Jerusalem.  There are no prophecies here.  Continuing w/ events before Judah's fall.  Jeremiah continues to tell the people that if they surrender to the siege, they will live.  (((FB possibly, though needs more work.  We build walls to insulate us from the will of God, because we prefer our own will.  We rebel against any sort of submission.  But like Jerusalem in Jeremiah's day, submitting to the will of God was the only way to survive.)))  Some of the kings officials, and his son, petition the king to have Jeremiah killed.  You can see why.  Jeremiah was undermining the authority of the King, he was circumventing the King's authority to tell people whether or not to resist the enemy, whether to hold out or not.  Those who were defending the city - those on the walls if you will - were hearing Jeremiah say to abandon their posts and surrender without a fight.  Surely this was a difficult situation, for Jeremiah, for the King, and for the people.  Who to believe?  What to do?  How would we deal with such a situation?  We have a political party that seems to be the worst enemy there is...and yet the Bible says submit to the King.  If the Dems win, what will we do? 

2023 - Here it is yet again:

2 "Thus says the LORD: He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. [Jer 38:2 ESV]

In Jeremiah's case, the King gives those seeking Jeremiah's life leave to do as they will, so Jeremiah is lowered into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son.  There was no water in it, only mud.  The miry clay...

An Ethiopian, Ebed-Melech, petitions the King that this is an evil thing they've done.  So the king sends Ebed-Melech w/ 30 men to pull Jeremiah out.  They do, yet Jeremiah stays in the court of the guard.

The King sends for Jeremiah and asks for truth, promising not to kill Jeremiah no matter what the truth is.  Jeremiah tells Zedekiah to surrender, and then he will live, his family will live, and the city will not be burned.  It does not say that the invaders will go away.  It does not say that Zedekiah will continue as ruler in Jerusalem.  What sticks out to me is that Jeremiah keeps repeating the phrase "and your house".  It should have been clear to Zedekiah that his family was going to be directly subject to his decisions.  Zedekiah is afraid of what powerful people in the city will do to him in captivity if he complies with this.  He is a coward, fearing man more than God.  He puts his own wives and children up for grabs - even after Jeremiah tells him the vision he saw of his family going out to the Babylonians.

Zedekiah keeps his promise.  Zedekiah and Jeremiah keep their secret.  Jeremiah stays in the court of the guard until Jerusalem falls.