---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Jeremiah 37"
description: "CHAPTER 37   :-. HISTORICAL
SECTIONS, THIRTY-SEVENTH
THROUGH FORTY-FOURTH
CHAPTERS. THE
CHALDEANS RAISE
THE SIEGE TO GO
AND MEET
PHARAOH-HOPHRA. ZEDEKIAH"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/jeremiah/37"
---

CHAPTER 37

. HISTORICAL
SECTIONS, THIRTY-SEVENTH
THROUGH FORTY-FOURTH
CHAPTERS. THE
CHALDEANS RAISE
THE SIEGE TO GO
AND MEET
PHARAOH-HOPHRA. ZEDEKIAH
SENDS TO JEREMIAH
TO PRAY TO GOD
IN BEHALF OF THE
JEWS: IN VAIN,
JEREMIAH TRIES
TO ESCAPE TO HIS
NATIVE PLACE,
BUT IS ARRESTED.
ZEDEKIAH ABATES
THE RIGOR OF HIS
IMPRISONMENT.

**1. Coniah**—curtailed from
Jeconiah by way of reproach.
**whom**—referring to
Zedekiah, not to Coniah ().

**2.** Amazing stupidity, that they
were not admonished by the punishment of Jeconiah [CALVIN],
([2 Chronicles 36:12](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/36/12); [2 Chronicles 36:14](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/36/14))!

**3. Zedekiah . . . sent**—fearing
lest, in the event of the Chaldeans overcoming Pharaoh-hophra, they
should return to besiege Jerusalem. See on ; that chapter chronologically comes in between the
thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth chapter. The message of the king to
Jeremiah here in the thirty-seventh chapter is, however, somewhat
earlier than that in the twenty-first chapter; here it is while the
issue between the Chaldeans and Pharaoh was undecided; there it is
when, after the repulse of Pharaoh, the Chaldeans were again
advancing against Jerusalem; hence, while Zephaniah is named in both
embassies, *Jehucal* accompanies him here, *Pashur* there.
But, as Pashur and Jehucal are both mentioned in [Jeremiah 38:1](../../../kjv/jeremiah/38/1);
[Jeremiah 38:2](../../../kjv/jeremiah/38/2), as hearing Jeremiah's
reply, which is identical with that in [Jeremiah 38:2](../../../kjv/jeremiah/38/2), it is probable the two messages followed one another at a
short interval; that in this [Jeremiah 38:2](../../../kjv/jeremiah/38/2), and the answer, [Jeremiah 38:2](../../../kjv/jeremiah/38/2), being the earlier of the two.
**Zephaniah**—an abettor of
rebellion against God ([Jeremiah 29:25](../../../kjv/jeremiah/29/25)),
though less virulent than many ([Jeremiah 29:25](../../../kjv/jeremiah/29/25)), punished accordingly ([Jeremiah 29:25](../../../kjv/jeremiah/29/25)).

**4. Jeremiah . . . not put . . . into
prison**—He was no longer in the prison court, as he had been
([Jeremiah 32:2](../../../kjv/jeremiah/32/2); [Jeremiah 33:1](../../../kjv/jeremiah/33/1)),
which passages refer to the beginning of the siege, not to the time
when the Chaldeans renewed the siege, after having withdrawn for a
time to meet Pharaoh.

**5.** After this temporary
diversion, caused by Pharaoh in favor of Jerusalem, the Egyptians
returned no more to its help (). Judea had the misfortune to lie between the two great
contending powers, Babylon and Egypt, and so was exposed to the
alternate inroads of the one or the other. Josiah, taking side with
Assyria, fell in battle with Pharaoh-necho at Megiddo (). Zedekiah, seeking the Egyptian alliance in violation of
his oath, was now about to be taken by Nebuchadnezzar ([2 Chronicles 36:13](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/36/13);
[Ezekiel 17:15](../../../kjv/ezekiel/17/15); [Ezekiel 17:17](../../../kjv/ezekiel/17/17)).

**7. shall return**—without
accomplishing any deliverance for you.

**8.** ().

**9. yourselves**—*Hebrew,*
"souls."

**10. yet . . . they**—Even a few
wounded men would suffice for your destruction.

**11. broken up**—"gone up."

**12. Benjamin**—to his own town,
Anathoth.
**to separate himself**—*Margin*
translates, "to slip away," from a *Hebrew* root, "to
be smooth," so, to slip away as a slippery thing that cannot be
held. But it is not likely the prophet of God would flee in a
dishonorable way; and "in the midst of the people" rather
implies open departure along with others, than clandestine slipping
away by mixing with the crowd of departing people. Rather, it means,
*to separate himself,* or *to divide his place of residence,*
so as to live partly here, partly there, without fixed habitation,
going to and fro among the people [LUDOVICUS
DE DIEU].
MAURER translates, "to
take his portion thence," to realize the produce of his property
in Anathoth [HENDERSON],
or to take possession of the land which he bought from Hanameel
[MAURER].

**13. ward**—that is, the "guard,"
or "watch."
**Hananiah**—whose death
Jeremiah predicted ([Jeremiah 28:16](../../../kjv/jeremiah/28/16)).
The grandson in revenge takes Jeremiah into custody on the charge of
*deserting* ("thou fallest away," [Jeremiah 38:19](../../../kjv/jeremiah/38/19);
[Jeremiah 52:15](../../../kjv/jeremiah/52/15); [1 Samuel 29:3](../../../kjv/1-samuel/29/3))
to the enemy. His prophecies gave color to the charge ([Jeremiah 21:9](../../../kjv/jeremiah/21/9);
[Jeremiah 38:4](../../../kjv/jeremiah/38/4)).

**15. scribe**—one of the court
secretaries; often in the East part of the private house of a public
officer serves as a prison.

**16. dungeon . . . cabins**—The
prison consisted of a *pit* (the "dungeon") with
*vaulted cells* round the sides of it. The "cabins,"
from a root, "to bend one's self."

**17. secretly**—Zedekiah was
ashamed to be seen by his courtiers consulting Jeremiah ([John 12:43](../../../kjv/john/12/43);
[John 5:44](../../../kjv/john/5/44); [John 19:38](../../../kjv/john/19/38)).
**thou shalt be delivered**—Had
Jeremiah consulted his earthly interests, he would have answered very
differently. Contrast [Jeremiah 6:14](../../../kjv/jeremiah/6/14);
[Isaiah 30:10](../../../kjv/isaiah/30/10); [Ezekiel 13:10](../../../kjv/ezekiel/13/10).

**18. What**—In what respect have
I offended?

**19. Where are now your prophets**—The
event has showed them to be liars; and, as surely as the king of
Babylon has come already, notwithstanding their prophecy, so surely
shall he return.

**20. be accepted**—rather, "Let
my supplication *be humbly presented*" (see on ), [HENDERSON].
**lest I die there**—in the
subterranean dungeon ([Jeremiah 37:16](../../../kjv/jeremiah/37/16)),
from want of proper sustenance ([Jeremiah 37:16](../../../kjv/jeremiah/37/16)). The prophet *naturally* shrank from death, which
makes his *spiritual* firmness the more remarkable; he was ready
to die rather than swerve from his duty [CALVIN].

**21. court of the prison**—
([Jeremiah 32:2](../../../kjv/jeremiah/32/2); [Jeremiah 38:13](../../../kjv/jeremiah/38/13);
[Jeremiah 38:28](../../../kjv/jeremiah/38/28)).
**bakers' street**—Persons
in the same business in cities in the East commonly reside in the
same street.
**all the bread . . .
spent**—Jeremiah had bread supplied to him until he was thrown
into the dungeon of Malchiah, at which time the bread in the city was
spent. Compare this verse with [Jeremiah 38:28](../../../kjv/jeremiah/38/28); that time must have been very shortly before the capture of
the city ([Jeremiah 52:6](../../../kjv/jeremiah/52/6)). God saith
of His children, "In the days of famine they shall be satisfied"
([Psalms 37:19](../../../kjv/psalms/37/19); [Isaiah 33:16](../../../kjv/isaiah/33/16)).
Honest reproof ([Jeremiah 37:17](../../../kjv/jeremiah/37/17)), in
the end often gains more favor than flattery ([Jeremiah 37:17](../../../kjv/jeremiah/37/17)).

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