Jeremiah 22:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have instructions given to Jeremiah to go and preach before the king. In the previous chapter, Zedekiah sent messengers to the prophet. Here the prophet is told to go in person to the king’s house and call the king to hear the word of the King of kings (Jeremiah 22:2). Subjects must admit that where the king’s word is, there is authority over them. But kings must also admit that where the Lord’s word is, there is authority over them.

The king of Judah is addressed as the one who sits on David’s throne, after David, the man after God’s own heart. He holds his rank and power by the covenant God made with David, so he should follow David’s example and enjoy the promises attached to that covenant. The king’s servants are also addressed, because good government depends on good rulers and a good ministry, that is, faithful servants who carry out public duty well.

Jeremiah must first tell them what their duty is, what the Lord their God requires of them (Jeremiah 22:3). They must use the power they have to do as much good as they can. They must do justice for those who have been wronged, and rescue the robbed from the hands of their oppressors. This was part of their office (Psalm 82:3). In this way, they were to serve as God’s ministers for good.

They must also do no harm with their power, no wrong and no violence. The worst kind of wrong is done under the cover of law and justice, by those whose job it is to punish wrongdoing and protect people from it. They must not wrong the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, because God especially protects and cares for these people (Exodus 22:21-22).

Jeremiah must also assure them that faithful obedience would increase and protect their prosperity (Jeremiah 22:4). Then there would be a steady line of kings from David’s family, and they would live in peace, dignity, and honor, riding in chariots and on horses as before (Jeremiah 17:25). The safest way to preserve the honor of government is to do the work of government well.

But if they continued in the sins of their family, that sin would bring ruin on their family, even though it was a royal house (Jeremiah 22:5). If they would not listen or obey, this house would become a ruin. The palace of the kings of Judah would fare no better than the other houses in Jerusalem. Sin has often destroyed royal palaces, no matter how grand or strong they were. God confirms this sentence with an oath: I swear by myself, and God can swear by no one greater (Hebrews 6:13), that this house will be laid waste. Sin will ruin the houses of princes as surely as it ruins the houses of ordinary people.

Jeremiah must also show how deadly their wickedness would be for the kingdom itself, and especially for Jerusalem, the royal city (Jeremiah 22:6-9). Judah and Jerusalem had once been precious in God’s sight and highly valued in their own eyes: “You are like Gilead to me and like the top of Lebanon.” Their land was rich and pleasant like Gilead, and Zion was a stronghold, lofty and impressive like Lebanon. They trusted in these advantages as their protection.

But none of that would save them. The land that was now fruitful like Gilead would become a wilderness. The cities that were now strong like Lebanon would become uninhabited cities, and when the land was ruined, the cities would be emptied too. This shows how easily God’s judgments can bring a nation down, and how surely sin will do it.

When this work of destruction comes, there will be those who carry it out effectively (Jeremiah 22:7). God says, “I will prepare destroyers against you; I will set them apart for this task.” He appoints them for this service and uses them in it. When destruction is coming, destroyers are already being prepared, sometimes long before the blow falls. And who can stand against destroyers that God himself has prepared?

They will tear down cities as easily as men cut trees in a forest. They will cut down the best cedars, and once the trees are down, they will count them no better than thorns and briers. They will throw them into the fire, because the finest cedars have become rotten and fit for nothing else.

There will also be those who will be ready to justify God in doing this (Jeremiah 22:8-9). People from many nations, when they pass the ruins of this city, will ask why the Lord has done such a thing. How could such a strong city be overpowered, such a rich city be impoverished, such a crowded city be emptied, such a holy city be profaned, and such a city, once so dear to God, be abandoned by him?

The answer will be plain enough for everyone to repeat. Ask the next traveler you meet, and he will say that it happened because they changed their gods, something other nations did not do. They broke the covenant of the Lord their God, turned away from their duty to him, and worshiped and served other gods in contempt of him. For that reason, he handed them over to destruction. God never turns people away until they have first turned away from him. So the Lord tells the prophet, “Go and preach this to the royal family.”