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22. Judgment Against Evil Kings

¹ This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there: ² ‘Hear the word of the LORD to you, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you, your officials and your people who come through these gates. ³ This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴ For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. ⁵ But if you do not obey these commands, declares the LORD, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.’”

⁶ For this is what the LORD says about the palace of the king of Judah:

   “Though you are like Gilead to me,
   like the summit of Lebanon,
I will surely make you like a wasteland,
   like towns not inhabited.
⁷ I will send destroyers against you,
   each man with his weapons,
and they will cut up your fine cedar beams
   and throw them into the fire.

⁸ “People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’ ⁹ And the answer will be: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’”

    ¹⁰ Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss;
   rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled,
because he will never return
   nor see his native land again.

¹¹ For this is what the LORD says about Shallum Also called Jehoahaz son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but has gone from this place: “He will never return. ¹² He will die in the place where they have led him captive; he will not see this land again.”

    ¹³ “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,
   his upper rooms by injustice,
making his own people work for nothing,
   not paying them for their labor.
¹⁴ He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace
   with spacious upper rooms.’
So he makes large windows in it,
   panels it with cedar
   and decorates it in red.

    ¹⁵ “Does it make you a king
   to have more and more cedar?
Did not your father have food and drink?
   He did what was right and just,
   so all went well with him.
¹⁶ He defended the cause of the poor and needy,
   and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know me?”
   declares the LORD.
¹⁷ “But your eyes and your heart
   are set only on dishonest gain,
on shedding innocent blood
   and on oppression and extortion.”

¹⁸ Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

   “They will not mourn for him:
   ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’
They will not mourn for him:
   ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’
¹⁹ He will have the burial of a donkey—
   dragged away and thrown
   outside the gates of Jerusalem.”

    ²⁰ “Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
   let your voice be heard in Bashan,
cry out from Abarim,
   for all your allies are crushed.
²¹ I warned you when you felt secure,
   but you said, ‘I will not listen!’
This has been your way from your youth;
   you have not obeyed me.
²² The wind will drive all your shepherds away,
   and your allies will go into exile.
Then you will be ashamed and disgraced
   because of all your wickedness.
²³ You who live in ‘Lebanon, That is, the palace in Jerusalem (see 1 Kings 7:2)’
   who are nestled in cedar buildings,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you,
   pain like that of a woman in labor!

²⁴ “As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Jehoiachin Hebrew Koniah, a variant of Jehoiachin; also in verse 28 son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off. ²⁵ I will deliver you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear—Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Babylonians. Or Chaldeans ²⁶ I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die. ²⁷ You will never come back to the land you long to return to.”

    ²⁸ Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken pot,
   an object no one wants?
Why will he and his children be hurled out,
   cast into a land they do not know?
²⁹ O land, land, land,
   hear the word of the LORD!
³⁰ This is what the LORD says:
“Record this man as if childless,
   a man who will not prosper in his lifetime,
for none of his offspring will prosper,
   none will sit on the throne of David
   or rule anymore in Judah.”

The Prophet is again bidden to reprove the king and his counsellors; but the exhortation is at the same time extended to the whole people. It was necessary to begin with the head, that the common people might know that it was not a matter to be trifled with, as God would not spare, no, not even the king himself, and his courtiers; for a greater terror seized the lower orders, when they saw the highest laid prostrate. That what is here taught might then penetrate more effectually into the hearts of all, the Prophet is bid to address the king himself and his courtiers: he is afterwards bidden to include also the whole body of the people. And hence it appears, that there was some hope of favor yet remaining, provided the king and the whole people received the admonitions of the Prophet; provided their repentance and conversion were sincere, God was still ready to forgive them.

We must at the same time observe, as I have already said, that they could not escape the calamity that was at hand; but exile would have been much milder, and also their return would have been more certain, and they would have found in various ways that they had not been rejected by God, though for a time chastised. As then we now say, that a hope of pardon was set before them, this is not to be so understood as that they could avert the destruction of the city; for it had once for all been determined by God to drive the people into a temporary exile, and also to put all end for a time to their sacrifices; for this dreadful desolation was to be a proof that the people had been extremely ungrateful to God, and especially that their obstinacy could not be endured in having so long despised the Prophets and the commands of God. However the hope of mitigation as to their punishment was given them, provided they were touched by a right feeling, so as to endeavor to return into favor with God. But as Jeremiah effected nothing by so many admonitions, they were rendered more inexcusable.

We now see the design of what is here said, even that the Jews, having been so often proved guilty, might cease to complain that they suffered anything undeservedly; for they had been often admonished, yea, almost in numberless instances, and God had offered mercy, provided they were reclaimable. I come now to the words —

Thus saith Jehovah, Go down ³²³² Or “descend;” it appears that Jeremiah was in the Temple when he had this commission. And it would be better to render the first words, “Thus said Jehovah,” as it is a narrative of what had taken place. In Jeremiah 18:1, it is said the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, and then he was commanded to go down to the potter’s house; which intimates that he was at the time in the Temple, officiating probably in his course as a priest. — Ed. to the house of the king We see that the Prophet was endued with so great a courage that the dignity of the king’s name did not daunt him, so as to prevent him to perform what was commanded him. We have seen elsewhere similar instances; but whenever such cases occur, they deserve to be noticed. First, the servants of God ought boldly to discharge their office, and not to flatter the great and the rich, nor remit anything of their own authority when they meet with dignity and greatness. Secondly, let those who seem to be more eminent than others learn, that whatever eminence they may possess cannot avail them, but that they ought to submit to prophetic instruction. We have before seen that the Prophet was sent to reprove and rebuke even the highest, and to shew no respect of persons. (Jeremiah 1:10.) So now, here he shews that he had, as it were, the whole world under his feet, for in executing his office, he reproved the king himself and all his princes.

But he speaks of the king as sitting on the throne of David; but not, as I have already said, for the sake of honor, but for the purpose of enhancing his guilt; for he occupied a sacred throne, of which he was wholly unworthy. For though God is said to sit in the midst of the gods, because by him kings rule, we yet know that the throne of David was more eminent than any other; for it was a priestly kingdom and a type of that celestial kingdom which was afterwards fully revealed in Christ. As, then, the kings of Judah, the descendants of David, were types of Christ, less tolerable was their impiety, when, unmindful of their vocation, they had departed from the piety of their father David and became wholly degenerated. So the Prophet, by mentioning the house of Israel and the house of Jacob, no doubt condemned the Jews, because they had become unlike the holy patriarch. We now, then, understand the object of the Prophet when he says, “Hear the word of Jehovah, thou king of Judah, who sittest on the throne of David.”

But that his reproof might have its just weight, the Prophet carefully shews that he brought nothing but what had been committed to him from above; this is the reason why he repeats, thou shalt say, “Thus saith Jehovah, Go down, speak, and say.” From the king he comes to the courtiers, and from them to the whole people. Thou, he says, and thy servants; by the king’s servants the Scripture means, all those ministers who were his counsellors, who were appointed to administer justice and who exercised authority. But we must notice, that at last he addresses the whole people. We hence see that what he taught belonged in common to all, though he began with the king and his counsellors, that the common people might not think that they would be unpunished if they despised the doctrine to which even kings were to submit.