Jeremiah 37:11 - Meaning and Application

We have here more of Jeremiah’s story. He tells more about his own life than any other prophet does, and that has helped the church as much as his preaching and writings have. The lives and sufferings of God’s servants teach us too.

Jeremiah had a chance to leave Jerusalem and go into the country (Jeremiah 37:11, Jeremiah 37:12). When the Chaldeans, that is, the Babylonians, pulled back because Pharaoh’s army was coming, Jeremiah decided to go out. The margin of the text suggests that he was trying to slip away from the city while the people were moving in and out to tend to their business. He tried to blend into the crowd.

Though he was a man of great standing, Jeremiah was willing to live quietly and out of sight. He could be content to be hidden away in a small place, even in a cottage. We do not know whether he meant to go to Anathoth, his hometown, though that may have been on his mind. His neighbors there may have been unfriendly toward him, unless they had changed since Jeremiah 11:21. He may have wanted to find some place where no one knew him, like the lonely lodging he wished for in the wilderness (Jeremiah 9:2). He had found no good in Jerusalem, where his work seemed useless, and so he planned to leave. Sometimes wise and good people should retire to privacy and go into their rooms and shut the door behind them (Isaiah 26:20).

But as he reached the gate of Benjamin, he was seized as if he were deserting to the enemy and was put in prison (Jeremiah 37:13-15). A captain of the guard, likely the officer in charge of that gate, discovered him and arrested him. This man was the grandson of Hananiah, whom the Jews say was Hananiah the false prophet who opposed Jeremiah (Jeremiah 28:10), and they think this captain may have hated Jeremiah because of that. He needed some charge to make the arrest, so he accused Jeremiah of falling away to the Chaldeans. That was a weak claim, because the Chaldeans had already withdrawn and Jeremiah could not even reach them. Even if he could, who would defect to an army that had just been driven off?

Jeremiah answered calmly and honestly, “That is false. I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. I am going about my own business.” It is nothing new for the best friends of the church to be treated as though they were on the side of her worst enemies. The purest and finest people have often been given the worst names. In a sinful world, innocence and even true goodness do not protect a person from slander. When we are falsely accused, we can do as Jeremiah did, deny the charge plainly and leave our case with the one who judges fairly.

Jeremiah’s clear protest did not matter, even though he was a prophet, a man of God, and a man of honor. It did not matter that he was also a priest, and could speak, as it were, on the word of a priest. The officials did not even examine him or the evidence against him. They were angry at the captain’s charge and took offense without reason. What justice could come from people who would not listen while angry? They beat Jeremiah, had no respect for his person or office, and then threw him into prison.

He was put in the worst prison they had, in the house of Jonathan the scribe, that is, the official writer or secretary. Either it had once been Jonathan’s house and was now used as a prison, or it was still his house and he made it harsh for prisoners. Jeremiah was put into the dungeon, the darkest, coldest, dampest, and dirtiest part of it. There he had to stay in the cells, which were all miserable places to live. He remained there many days, and it seems that no one visited him or asked after him.

This shows what kind of world this is. The wicked princes, who were rebelling against God, lived in comfort in their palaces, while godly Jeremiah, who served God, lay in pain in a filthy dungeon. It is a good thing that there is a world to come.

At last Zedekiah, the king of Judah, sent for Jeremiah and showed him some kindness, though probably not until the Babylonian army had returned and begun the siege again. When their empty hopes had collapsed, the same hopes by which they had even re-enslaved their servants (Jeremiah 34:11), they were more confused and afraid than before. Then Zedekiah said, in effect, “Quick, send for the prophet. I want to speak with him.”

When the Babylonians had first withdrawn, the king only asked Jeremiah to pray for him. Now that the city was under siege again, he wanted to consult him. That is how willing people become to seek God when trouble presses them hard. The king asked for a private audience, as though Jeremiah were an envoy from God. He asked secretly in his house, ashamed to be seen with him, “Is there any word from the Lord?” (Jeremiah 37:17) He meant, “Is there any word of comfort? Can you give us any hope that the Babylonians will leave again?”

Those who will not listen to God’s warnings in good times are often eager for his comfort in hard times. Then they want his ministers to speak peace to them. But how can they expect that? What do they have to do with peace? Jeremiah’s life and comfort were in Zedekiah’s hands, and he had reason to ask for the king’s favor. Yet he still told him plainly that there was a word from the Lord, but no comfort for him or his people. He would be handed over to the king of Babylon.

If Jeremiah had followed human wisdom, he could have given a smoother answer. He might not have lied, but he could have avoided saying the worst just then. After all, he had already said it many times. But Jeremiah had received mercy from the Lord to be faithful, and he would not become unfaithful to God in order to win favor from man or the king. So he told the truth, the whole truth. Since there was no remedy, it was an act of kindness to tell the king his doom, so he would not be shocked by it later and could at least prepare himself as best he could.

Jeremiah also used this moment to rebuke the king and the people for trusting the false prophets, who told them that the king of Babylon would not come at all, or, after leaving, would never return against them (Jeremiah 37:19).

“Where are your prophets now, the ones who told you that you would have peace?” Those who fool themselves with empty hopes of mercy will rightly be shamed when events prove them wrong.

Jeremiah then used this chance to make a private appeal as a poor prisoner (Jeremiah 37:18, Jeremiah 37:20). He could not undo the sentence God had given Zedekiah, but Zedekiah could reverse the punishment the princes had put on Jeremiah. Since the king believed Jeremiah was worth hearing as a prophet, he should not have treated him like the worst criminal. Jeremiah humbly asked the king, “What have I done against you, your servants, or this people? What law have I broken, or what harm have I done to the public good, that you have put me in prison?” Many people who have been treated very unfairly could make the same kind of appeal and prove it true.

He also pleaded earnestly, and with real feeling, “Please send me back to the prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there” (Jeremiah 37:20). This was the cry of an innocent man who felt his suffering and wanted to live. He was not unwilling to die as God’s martyr, that is, as someone who dies faithful to God’s message. But since he had such a clear chance for relief, he did not want to miss it and die through neglect. When Jeremiah spoke for God, he spoke with great boldness and authority. When he asked for himself, he spoke with humility and respect: “Please listen, my lord the king.” He did not complain against the princes who had wrongly imprisoned him, and he did not threaten to sue them for false imprisonment. He simply made a modest appeal to the king. This teaches us that even when we act boldly for God, we should still behave with the humility and respect due to the authorities God has placed over us. A lion in God’s cause should be a lamb in his own case.

We also see that God gave Jeremiah favor in the king’s eyes. First, he granted Jeremiah’s request and made sure he would not die in the dungeon. Instead, Jeremiah was placed in the court of the guard, where he could walk in the open air and breathe more freely. Second, God gave him more than he asked for. He kept Jeremiah from dying of hunger, as many others did in the siege even though they were free, by ordering that he receive daily bread from the public supply, since the prison was close to the palace grounds, until the bread ran out.

Zedekiah should have freed Jeremiah and made him a trusted adviser, as Joseph was brought from prison to become second in the kingdom. But he lacked the courage to do that. Still, it was mercy that he did what he did. This shows the care God gives his suffering servants who remain faithful to him. He can turn even imprisonment into good for them. He can make the court of a prison like green pasture to them, and raise up friends who will feed them, so that even in times of famine they will be satisfied. “At destruction and famine you shall laugh.”