Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 34

When Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ... —The prophecy that follows is probably a fuller statement of that in Jeremiah 32:3-4, and delivered shortly before it, being referred to there as the cause of his imprisonment. In the form of the name Nebuchadnezzar (n instead of r, as in Jeremiah 24:1; Jeremiah 25:1), we may probably trace the hand of a later transcriber. The same hand is, perhaps, traceable in the accumulation of substantives after the manner of Daniel 3:7; Daniel 5:19.

Go and speak to Zedekiah ... —See Notes on Jeremiah 32:3-4.

Thou shalt not die by the sword. —The tone is one of comparative mildness, the motive apparently being the wish to persuade the king to abandon his useless resistance, and to court the favor of the conqueror. His going to Babylon would not necessarily shut him out from a life of comparative ease and an honorable burial. Jeconiah, it is true, had been thrown into prison (Jeremiah 51:31), and remained there during the whole reign of Nebuchadnezzar, but that was the result of his obstinate resistance, and Zedekiah might avert that doom by a timely submission.

And with the burnings of your fathers ... — Spices and perfumes were burnt as a mark of honour at the burial of kings and persons of high rank, and this is the burning here referred to (2 Chronicles 16:14; 2 Chronicles 21:19). The Hebrews never adopted the practice of burial by cremation, and for the most part embalmed their dead after the manner of Egypt (John 19:39–40).

They will lament you, saying, Ah lord! ... — The words derive their full effect from their contrast with the prediction which the prophet had uttered (Jeremiah 22:18) as to the burial of Jehoiakim without any of the usual honours of the funeral dirges of the mourners. Here he comforts Zedekiah with the thought that no such shameful end was in store for him, leaving the place where he was to die uncertain.

Against Lachish, and against Azekah ... —The two cities are named in this book for the first time. Lachish was one of the strongest towns of the Amorites in the time of Joshua (Joshua 10:3; Joshua 10:5), and was situated in the Shephelah, or lowland district (Joshua 15:39). It was restored or fortified by Rehoboam, as a defence against the northern kingdom (2 Chronicles 11:9). Amaziah took refuge there on his flight from the conspiracy at Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 14:19; 2 Chronicles 25:27). It was taken by Sennacherib on his way from Assyria to Egypt, and made the monarch’s headquarters (2 Chronicles 32:9; 2 Kings 18:17). A slab at Kouyunjik (Layard’s Nineveh and Babylon, 149-152; Monuments of Nineveh, 2nd Series, Plates xxi, 24) represents the siege of Lakhisha by the armies of Sennacherib, and gives something like a ground-plan of the city.

Its site has not been identified with certainty, but ruins still known as Um-lakis are found between Gaza and Eleutheropolis. It is mentioned here as being, next to Jerusalem, one of the strongest fortresses of the kingdom of Judah, which thus far had resisted the attack of Nebuchadnezzar’s armies.

Azekah, less conspicuous in history, was also in the Shephelah region, and is named with other cities in Joshua 10:10-11; Joshua 15:35. The Philistines were encamped between it and Shochoh in the days of Saul (1 Samuel 17:1). It also was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:9). Its site has not been ascertained, but Eusebius and Jerome speak of it as lying between Eleutheropolis and Jerusalem.