Jeremiah 21:8 - Meaning and Application

By the message the king sent to Jeremiah, it seems that both the king and the people had begun to respect him. Jeremiah could have used that for his own advantage, if he had chosen. But the answer God made him give was enough to tear down that new respect and make them even angrier with him. The words in the earlier verses were upsetting, and so were the instructions here.

First, Jeremiah tells the people to give up and go over to the Chaldeans, that is, the Babylonians, if they want to save their lives (Jeremiah 21:8-10). This advice would have been very unwelcome to those who had been encouraged by false prophets to make a hopeless stand. They were trusting their city walls, their soldiers, and help from outside to break the siege. Jeremiah says plainly that the city will be handed over to the king of Babylon, who will not only take it but burn it with fire, because God himself has turned against the city for harm and not for good.

In vain had Rabshakeh, the Assyrian commander, urged the Jews to surrender when God was still with them (Isaiah 36:16). Now that God was against them, surrender was the best course left. Long ago, the law and the prophets had set before them life and death in a better sense, life if they obeyed God, death if they kept rebelling (Deuteronomy 30:19). But they had rejected that true life. So Jeremiah uses the same kind of wording here, but now it is a sad choice between two evils. If they stay in the city and trust it to protect them, they will die by sword, famine, or disease. If they go out and surrender to the Chaldeans, their life will be saved, though only as a prey is snatched from a stronger hand.

He shall escape only with difficulty, like one saved from fire, or with the kind of joy that belongs to people who divide spoil after victory. They had hoped to make a prey of the Chaldeans, as their fathers had once done to the Assyrians (Isaiah 33:23). Instead, they must be satisfied if they can keep their own lives. One would think a message from a prophet, spoken in God’s name, would have been enough to win them over. Yet it seems that few, if any, listened. Their hearts were hardened to their own ruin.

Second, Jeremiah advises the king and his officials to reform and do the duties of their office. Since the king had sent the message, the answer includes a special word for the royal house, not as flattery, but as needed correction (Jeremiah 21:11-12). They are told to “execute justice in the morning,” meaning they should carry out their duties promptly and carefully. Leaders who want to do their work well must rise early, act quickly, and not keep poor people waiting while they waste time in comfort and ease.

They should not sleep away the morning after the sins of the night before, or spend it indulging themselves. Instead, they should use their power to defend those who come to them for help. If they want God to deliver them from the hands of their enemies, they must first do right by the people under their care. Otherwise, God’s wrath will break out against them like fire because of their evil deeds. Those who think they will escape most easily may fare the worst.

This shows that their failure in duty had helped bring the ruin on the nation. Their evil conduct had kindled God’s anger. Jeremiah speaks this plainly even to the king’s house, because those who want the blessing of a prophet’s prayers must also accept a prophet’s rebuke. It also shows the right path for national reform. The leaders must begin, and their example will call the people to change. They must use their authority to punish wrong and protect the weak. Jeremiah reminds them that they are the house of David, so they should follow David’s example of doing justice for the people.

He also gives them some hope that their peace might yet be prolonged if they will repent and act rightly (Daniel 4:27). If anything can keep their nation from falling completely, this can. But he then shows the emptiness of all their hopes as long as they remain unreformed (Jeremiah 21:13-14). Jerusalem sat in a valley, with mountains around it, which gave it natural defenses. It was like a rock in the plain, hard for enemies to attack or undermine. They trusted those advantages more than God’s power and promise, and so they treated God’s judgments lightly.

They said in effect, “Who can come down against us? Who can enter our houses?” Their confidence had some support from human judgment, since their neighbors also thought Jerusalem could not be forced (Lamentations 4:12). But those who feel safest are often the least safe. God quickly answers their challenge, “I am against you.” They had driven God from the city by their wickedness when he wanted to stay as a friend. Yet no walls could keep him out when he came against them as an enemy.

If God is for us, who can be against us? But if he is against us, who can be for us, or help us in any real way? He comes against them not like an enemy who might lawfully be resisted with some hope of success, but like a judge who cannot be resisted. He says in Jeremiah 21:14, “I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,” that is, according to what their sins truly deserve and where those sins naturally lead.

God will bring on them what sin itself produces. He will come not only with the anger of an enemy and the justice of a judge, but also with the force of a consuming fire. Fire has no pity, and it does not spare anything that can burn and stands in its path. Jerusalem has become like a forest, and God will light a fire in it that will consume everything before it, for our God is a consuming fire, and who can stand before him when he is angry?