Jeremiah 34:8 - Meaning and Application

Here we have another prophecy given on a special occasion, and we need the history to understand it. Jerusalem was under heavy siege by the Chaldean army, and the princes and people agreed to reform one thing in particular, their treatment of servants.

God had clearly said that men and women of Israelite descent should not be kept as slaves for more than seven years. After serving that long, they were to be released and set free. This rule applied even if they had sold themselves to pay debts, or if judges had sold them as punishment for their crimes. A different rule applied to foreigners taken in war or bought with money, who could be kept as slaves for life, along with their children. But their own brothers and sisters were to serve no longer than seven years. God called this the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt (Jeremiah 34:13, 14). It was also part of the first civil law he gave them (Exodus 21:2).

There was a good reason for this law. First, God had given this nation honor, and he wanted them to keep that honor clear in their own way of life. Second, he had rescued them from slavery in Egypt, and he wanted them to show thankfulness by releasing those who lived in their houses as servants. Egypt had once been a house of bondage to their fathers. So their deliverance from Egypt is mentioned here as the basis for the law (Jeremiah 34:13). God’s mercy toward us should move us to mercy toward others. We should release as we have been released, forgive as we have been forgiven, and give help as we have received help. This law is also called a covenant, because our obedience is tied to the continuing good things God has given us.

But they had broken this law, and so had their fathers. Their own profit mattered more to them than God’s command. When servants had been with them seven years, they knew the work well and were useful, so the masters would not let them go, even though God had made them free. God says, “Your fathers did not listen to me in this matter” (Jeremiah 34:14). So this sin had been going on for generations. They thought they could keep doing it because their fathers had done it too, but no custom or long practice can excuse open disobedience to God’s clear law. For this sin, God now brought them into slavery himself, and rightly so.

When the Chaldean army had surrounded Jerusalem and the people were trapped, they were told of their wrong and immediately changed course. They released all the servants who were entitled to freedom under God’s law and made a covenant to do it. The prophets faithfully warned them about their sin. From the prophets they heard that they should let their Hebrew servants go free (Jeremiah 34:10). They could have read this in the law of God, but they had not used it as they should, so the prophets had to remind them. This shows how necessary preaching is, since many people do not use the written word as they ought unless it is brought home to them.

All ranks of people joined in this reform. The king, the princes, and all the people agreed to release their servants, whatever loss it might cost them. When the king and the leaders set the example in a good work, the people could hardly refuse. The influence of those in power can do much to remove long-standing evil.

They also confirmed this by a solemn oath and covenant, binding themselves to God and to one another. What God requires by his command, it is good for us to bind ourselves to by promise. The covenant was made in a holy place, before God, in the house that bore his name (Jeremiah 34:15). That should have filled them with reverence and made them sincere. It was also sealed by a striking sign. They cut a calf in two and passed between the parts (Jeremiah 34:18, 19), as if saying, “May we be cut apart in the same way if we do not keep this promise.” The calf was likely offered in sacrifice to God, making him a witness to the covenant. When God made covenant with Abraham, a smoking fire pot and a burning torch passed between the pieces of the sacrifice, using the same kind of covenant sign (Genesis 15:17).

This kind of sign can help us feel more deeply the terror of God’s wrath and curse if we despise our duty. That wrath will cut sinners apart (Matthew 24:51). Visible signs can make such warnings more lasting in our minds.

They did, for a time, obey God and carry out their covenant. They freed their servants, even though, with the city under siege, they could ill spare them. In God’s sight, they did what was right (Jeremiah 34:15). Though trouble pushed them into it, God was pleased with the act. If they had kept showing mercy to the poor, especially to their poor servants, it might have lengthened their peace (Daniel 4:27).

But then, when there was some hope that the siege had been lifted and the danger was over, they took back the good they had done. They repented of their repentance and forced the released servants back into slavery. The king of Babylon’s army had gone away from Jerusalem for the time being (Jeremiah 34:21). Pharaoh was bringing an Egyptian army to fight against Babylon, and when the Chaldeans heard of it, they withdrew from the siege for a while (Jeremiah 37:5). This shows how ready God is to ease his judgments at the first sign of change, since he is slow to anger and quick to show mercy. As soon as they let their servants go free, God let the besieging army go away.

But when they felt safe again, they brought their servants back under their control (Jeremiah 34:11, 16). This was a cruel wrong to the servants, who would feel slavery more sharply after tasting liberty. It was also a shame to the masters themselves, who could not stay faithful to a good decision once danger had passed.

But this was especially an insult to God. By doing this, they polluted his name (Jeremiah 34:16). They treated his command as if it had no real force, as if they could keep it or break it whenever they chose. They also showed contempt for the covenant they had made with him, and for the curse they had called down on themselves if they broke it.

It was like mocking God Almighty, as if he could be fooled by false promises. They acted as if, once they got what they wanted, they were no longer bound by their word. It was lying to God with their mouths and flattering him with their tongues. It was also a contempt for God’s judgments, as if they could challenge them.

When judgment is paused for a time, that is not the same as pardon. If sinners use that pause as a reason to keep sinning, they only prepare themselves for heavier punishment. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Those who think they can trick God with shallow repentance, a false covenant, or a partial and temporary change will end up deceiving only themselves. The Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Here God threatens them with clear anger. Since they had not given their servants freedom, God would give his judgments freedom to move against them without restraint (Jeremiah 34:17). He says, “You did not proclaim liberty to your servants.” They had done it for a moment (Jeremiah 34:10), but they took it back, so in God’s sight it was as if they had not done it at all. What does not last is not really done. The righteousness that is abandoned and turned away from will be forgotten, as if it had never existed (Ezekiel 18:24).

So God says, “I will proclaim liberty for you.” That means he will release them from his service and remove them from his protection, which is what happens to those who break away from their duty to him. They will have a choice of judgments, sword, famine, or plague. That is the kind of choice David faced, which put him in great distress (2 Samuel 24:14). Those who will not live under God’s law place themselves under God’s wrath and curse. So-called freedom to sin is really only freedom to fall under the worst judgments.

Since they had forced their servants back into their houses, God would send them out into all the kingdoms of the earth. There they would live as servants, and as foreigners they would not have the rights of native-born citizens. Since they had broken the covenant they sealed with a solemn curse, God would bring on them the very evil they had called down on themselves if they broke it. He would judge them by their own words, and their sentence would be just. Some understand Jeremiah 34:18 this way, “I will make the men who broke my covenant like the calf they cut in two, dividing them as they divided it.”

Since they would not free their servants, God would hand them over to those who hated them, including the princes and nobles of Judah and Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people (Jeremiah 34:19). They had all acted treacherously against God, so all would share in the same ruin without exception. Their enemies would seek their lives, and they would get what they sought. Even then, they would not be satisfied. Their dead bodies would be left unburied, a disgusting sight to all people and easy food for birds and wild animals. In this way, a lasting mark of shame would be fixed on them (Jeremiah 34:20).

Since they had become bold enough to return to their sin after the Chaldean army withdrew, God would bring that army back again. “They have gone up from you, and for now your fear is gone,” he says, “but I will command them to turn back. They will return to this city, capture it, and burn it” (Jeremiah 34:22). Trust in God is a hopeful sign that deliverance is near, but security in sin is a sad sign that destruction is near. When judgments are removed before they have finished their work, and people remain unrepentant and unchanged, those judgments are only being delayed, not ended. They are like enemies pulling back so they can attack again with greater force, because when God judges, he will prevail.

It is only right for God to disappoint the hopes of mercy that his providence once seemed to give, when we have broken the hopes of duty that our promises and claims gave him. If we turn back from the good we meant to do, God may turn back from the good he meant for us. “With the crooked, you show yourself crooked.”