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796. Bible Study: Jeremiah 37 and 38 (Jeremiah put into a house Prison and then into a Cistern) · Faith by annm2705

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  Chapter 37 from the book of Jeremiah.
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  Dear God, please be with us as we read through the scripture.
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  Let the Holy Spirit open our eyes and ears.
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  We ask this in Jesus name, Amen. This is talking about Jeremiah
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  in prison. Now Zedekiah who was the king?
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  So Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by
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  Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He reigned in place of Jehoah
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  Chin, son of Jehoah Kim. Neither he nor his attendants
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  nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the
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  Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.
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  King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukau, son of Shimalaya with
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  the priest Zephaniah son of Messiah, to Jeremiah the prophet
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  with this message. Please pray to the Lord our God
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  for us. So that's interesting that all
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  of this King Zedekiah sent a message asking Jeremiah to pray
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  to the Lord for them. He didn't feel like he could
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  talk to God, which was interesting.
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  So going back to Scripture now, Jeremiah was free to come and go
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  among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison.
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  Pharaoh's army had marched out of Egypt, and when the
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  Babylonians who were besieging Jerusalem heard about, heard the
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  report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
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  Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet.
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  This is what the Lord the God of Israel says.
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  Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me.
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  Pharaoh's army, which has marched out to support you, will
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  go back to his own land, to Egypt.
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  Then the Babylonians will return and attack the city.
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  They will capture it and burn it down.
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  This is what the Lord says. Do not deceive yourselves
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  thinking the Babylonians will surely leave us.
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  They will not, even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian
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  army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in
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  their tents, they would come out and burn the city down.
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  This just shows us how when God says something, He means it.
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  And even if you know, no matter what people are thinking, if God
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  has proclaimed it through a prophet, and Jeremiah was one of
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  those people that he spoke through, it was going to come to
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  pass. And it was warning upon warning,
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  but people kept ignoring them and God keeps sending the
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  message back through Jeremiah to these people.
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  It had to be exhausting for Jeremiah.
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  Verse 11, After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from
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  Jerusalem because of Pharaoh's army, Jeremiah started to leave
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  the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of
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  the property among the people there.
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  But when he reached the Benjamin gate, the captain of the guard,
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  whose name was Irijah, son of Shilamiah, the son of Hananiah,
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  arrested him and said you are deserting to the Babylonians.
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  That's not true. Jeremiah said I'm not deserting
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  to the Babylonians. But Irijah would not listen to
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  him. Instead he arrested Jeremiah and
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  brought him to the officials. They were angry with Jeremiah
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  and had him beaten and imprisoned in the House of
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  Jonathan, the secretary, which they had made into a prison.
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  I thought that was kind of interesting too.
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  Back in in that time they made houses, prisons and we actually
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  saw a little bit of evidence of this during 2023, I guess
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  because many of the hostages were taken into homes in Gaza
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  that were used as prisons. So it we can even see like a
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  modern day happening of things that are written in the Bible.
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  So verse 16, Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon
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  where he remained a long time. Then King Zedekiah sent for him
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  and had him brought to the palace where he asked him
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  privately is there any word from the Lord?
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  Yes, Jeremiah replied, you will be delivered into the hands of
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  the king of Babylon. Then Jeremiah said to King
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  Zedekiah, what crime have I committed against you or your
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  attendants or this people that you have put me in prison?
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  Where are your prophets who prophesized to you?
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  The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land?
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  But now, my Lord the king, please listen.
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  Let me bring my petition before you.
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  Do not send me back to the House of Jonathan the secretary, or I
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  will die there. King Zedekiah then gave orders
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  for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given
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  a loaf of bread from the street of the Bakers each day until all
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  the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the
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  courtyard of the guard. And that's the end of chapter
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  37. I'll read the questions and
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  answers, and then we'll go into chapter 38.
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  So it says. Why would a wicked king want
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  prayer? He may have considered prayer
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  his last resort. As he saw trouble drawing
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  nearer. King Zedekiah probably panicked.
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  He may have felt it would be better to have Jeremiah, whom he
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  didn't like, praying for him than to have no one praying at
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  all. Zedekiah apparently became more
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  receptive to spiritual matters in the face of looming
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  judgement. It's a lot like us.
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  Sometimes when it's it gets the worst in our life is when we
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  actually turn to God. So why did Jeremiah want
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  prosperity in the territory or want property not prosperity?
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  Why did Jeremiah want property in the territory of Benjamin?
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  Jeremiah's hometown of Anathoth was located in the territory of
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  Benjamin. Israelites considered it
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  sacrilegious to let a title for land slip into the hands of a of
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  non family members. If someone was forced to sell
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  their land, relatives were given the first option.
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  Jeremiah may have felt obligated to island from a financially
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  strapped family member. More likely, though, Jeremiah
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  hoped to offer tangible proof that he believed Judah would one
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  day be restored to the land. Though not certain, this
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  incident may be linked to the events in Chapter 32.
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  What was a vaulted cell? After being held temporarily in
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  a house that had had been made into a prison, Jeremiah was put
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  in a dungeon, literally House of the cistern.
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  It may have been a large underground room that overlooked
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  that looked similar to a cistern, but had been prepared
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  especially to house prisoners. It had no windows, they were too
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  high, they were too high off the floor to be reached.
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  Jeremiah was later imprisoned in a literal cistern which was made
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  to hold water, not prisoners. Why was Jeremiah placed in the
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  courtyard of the guard? Shortly before Jerusalem's fall
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  in 586 BC? The city was in severe
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  difficulty because of the siege imposed by the Babylonians.
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  Everyone was restricted because of the dangerous circumstances.
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  Jeremiah was apparently kept under a type of house arrest
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  confined to an area policed by the guard.
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  In times of war, this kind of detainment was commonly used by
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  military powers. Now we'll go into chapter 38.
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  Jeremiah thrown into a cistern. Chef Ataya son of Matan.
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  Gadalia son of Pashur, Jehukalao Kao son of Shilamiya and Pasher
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  son of Malachiaja heard that what Jeremiah was telling all
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  the people when he said this is what the Lord says.
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  Whoever stays in the city will die by the sword, famine or
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  plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live.
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  They will escape with their lives.
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  They will live, and this is what the Lord says.
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  This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army
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  of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.
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  Then the official said to the king, This man should be put to
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  death. He is discouraging the soldiers
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  who are left in the city, as well as all the people, by the
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  things he's saying to them. This man is not seeking the good
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  of these people, but their rune. He is in your hands, King
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  Zedekiah answered. The king can do nothing to
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  oppose you. So they took Jeremiah and put
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  him into the cistern of Malkaja, the King's son, which was in the
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  courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes
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  into the cistern. It had no water in it, only mud,
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  and Jeremiah sank down in the mud.
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  But Ibid Milek, a Cushite unofficial in the royal palace,
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  heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern while the king
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  was sitting in the Benjamin Gate.
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  Ibid Milek went out of the palace and said to him, My Lord
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  the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done
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  to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a
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  cistern where he will starve to death when there is no longer
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  any bread in the city. Then the king commanded Ebid
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  Melik the Kushite. Take 30 men from here with you
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  and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he
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  dies. So right there God is rescuing
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  Jeremiah. So Ebid Melik took the man with
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  him and went to a room under the treasure under the treasury in
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  the palace. He took some old rags and worn
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  out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah
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  in the cistern. Ebid Milek the Kushite said to
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  Jeremiah, Put these old rags and worn out clothes under your arms
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  to pad the ropes. Jeremiah did so, and they pulled
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  him up with the ropes, and List lifted him out of the cistern,
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  and Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
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  Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him
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  brought to the third entrance to the temple of the Lord.
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  I am going to ask you something, the king said to Jeremiah.
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  Do not hide anything from me. Jeremiah said to Zedekiah.
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  If I give you an answer, will you not kill me?
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  Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.
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  But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah.
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  As surely as the Lord lives who has given us breath, I will
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  neither kill you nor hand you over to those who want to kill
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  you. Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah,
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  This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel,
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  says. If you surrender to the officers
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  of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared, and this
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  city will not be burned down. You and your family will live,
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  but if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of the
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  of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the
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  Babylonians, and they will burn it down.
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  You yourself will not escape from them.
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  King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have
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  gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me
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  over to them, and they will mistreat me.
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  They will not hand you over. Jeremiah replied, Obey the Lord
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  by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you,
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  and your life will be spared. But if you refuse to surrender,
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  this is what the Lord has revealed to me.
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  All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be
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  brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon.
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  Those women will say to you, They misled you and overcame
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  you. Those trusted friends of yours,
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  your feet are sunk in the mud. Your friends have deserted you.
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  All your wives and children will be brought out to the
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  Babylonians. You yourself will not escape
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  from their hands, but will be captured by the king of Babylon,
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  and this city will be burned down.
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  Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Do not let anyone know about
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  this conversation, or you may die.
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  If the officials hear that I talked with you and they come to
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  you and say, tell us what you said to the king and what the
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  king said to you, do not hide it from us or we will kill you.
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  Then tell them I was pleading with the king not to send me
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  back to Jonathan's house to die there.
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  All the officials did come to Jeremiah and questioned him, and
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  he told them everything the king had ordered him to say, so they
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  said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with
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  the king. And Jeremiah remained in the
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  courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.
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  So I'll read the questions and answers for chapter 38.
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  Also, how could Jeremiah preach while confined?
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  Jeremiah was probably free to wander throughout the courtyard.
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  Many others may have been in the courtyard.
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  Some, like Jeremiah, may have been there under detention.
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  Others would have been free to come and go as they please.
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  Jeremiah probably spoke to anyone who would listen to him,
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  although not as a pulpit preacher.
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  He simply told people what God was telling him, perhaps talking
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  to one person at a time. Why sound like a traitor?
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  Jeremiah saw correctly that God was using the Babylonians to
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  punish Judah for her spiritual rebellion.
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  If that was true, then simple logic said that anyone who
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  resisted the Babylonians was in reality fighting against God.
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  Jeremiah had to speak the truth regardless of the outcome.
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  Unfortunately, the king and his supporters, who were more
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  concerned about morale than truth, wouldn't listen.
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  Why surrender to a wicked nation?
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  Jeremiah saw the nation crisis. In simple terms, surrendered to
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  the Babylonians meant surrender to God and his method of
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  purifying the nation. Perplexing though it was, He
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  knew the choice was painful, but he also knew it was the best
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  option they had. To resist cruel and wicked
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  Babylon was to resist the holy God of Israel.
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  Jeremiah saw Nebuchadnezzar merely as God's tool to bring
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  about Israel's redemption. Who is in charge here?
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  Zedekiah may have been at least partially receptive to
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  Jeremiah's message. He had asked for Jeremiah's
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  prayers and has secretly consulted him.
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  But even though Zedekiah was king, his power depended on the
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  support of his close associates. Without them, he had no
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  political future. So he may have felt compelled to
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  maintain the party line. Another view is that Zedekiah
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  was frustrated with Jeremiah and was simply saying he didn't
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  think it really it really mattered what they might do, for
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  no one, not even the king, could get Jeremiah to change.
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  Why use a cistern as a prison? Cisterns, pear shaped caverns
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  with small openings that could be covered, were built in this
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  region to catch the winter rain waters in the general in
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  preparation for the dry summers. They were dug out of limestone
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  rock or were earthen with plastered walls.
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  There were large ones for public use and small ones in houses.
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  Cisterns were sometimes used as prisons because they were nearly
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  impossible to escape from. Putting Jeremiah in a cistern
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  probably means they intended to leave him there to die.
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  Why was a foreigner an official in Judah?
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  It was apparently a common practice to recruit foreign
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  advisers, perhaps because they reduced the likelihood of a
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  palace coup from the King's relatives.
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  The Hebrew word translated official can also mean eunuch.
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  Eunuchs often served in the palace because castrated males
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  with no family ambitions were less inclined to initiate
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  political insurrection. Later, the Hebrew word for
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  eunuch became less specific, taking on the meaning of a court
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  official. Why was a foreigner so concerned
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  about Jeremiah? Many who were not themselves
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  descendants of Jacob feared the God of Israel, for example, Ruth
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  the Moabite and Jehonadab the Rekabite.
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  The God of Israel was not Israel's exclusive property.
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  Ibid. Melek worshipped the Lord and
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  respected Jeremiah as a prophet of the Lord, unlike others who
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  were afraid to speak up in the face of adversity.
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  Ebidmelik's concern for justice prompted him to talk to the king
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  on behalf on Jeremiah's behalf. Why did it take 30 men to lift
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  out one man? We don't really know something.
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  A scribe may have added the sign for 10s by by mistake changing
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  the number from 3 to 30. Although some translations say
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  three, there is no textual evidence to support this.
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  Another explanation may be that Jeremiah had sunk deep into the
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  muck on the bottom of the cistern and was weighted down
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  with mud. Therefore, it required more
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  effort to remove Jeremiah than one would expect.
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  More likely, however, the large number of men was to ensure that
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  their efforts would not be thwarted by Jeremiah's
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  opponents. Why had some Jews joined the
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  Babylonians? It is likely that many Jews
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  surrendered to the Babylonians either because of Jeremiah's
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  message or because it was the sensible thing to do.
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  Surrendering offered the hope of eventually being freed.
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  Resisting Babylon was hopeless. As it turned out, the
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  descendants of some who later surrendered did return to Judah.
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  The king feared that those who had surrendered might try to
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  take out their anger on him. His policy of holding out
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  against the Babylonians had caused great suffering and
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  destruction. Was Jeremiah involved in a cover
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  up? It's likely that Jeremiah
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  answered truthfully without divulging everything.
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  He had no obligation to tell everything he discussed with the
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  king, so he told only enough to answer their questions.
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  And that's the end of chapter 38.
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  So we will end here and next time pick up chapter 39.