Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 34:8

"The word that came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people that were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;" — Jeremiah 34:8 (ASV)

After King Zedekiah had made a covenant... —The remainder of the chapter presents an historical episode of considerable interest. The Law of Moses did not allow, in the case of a free-born Hebrew, more than a temporary bondage of seven years (Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12–18). This was extended (though in the form of serfdom rather than slavery) in the later regulations of Leviticus 25:39-40 to the time that might pass between the date of purchase and the beginning of the next year of jubilee.

In 2 Kings 4:1, we have an instance of the working of the law, which brought even the sons of a prophet into this modified slavery. Only if the man preferred his state as a slave to the risks of freedom could his master retain him after the appointed limit (Exodus 21:5–6). The law had apparently fallen into disuse, and the nobles of Judah, like those of Athens before Solon and Rome before the institution of the Tribunate, had used the law of debt to bring a large number of their fellow citizens into slavery, just as their successors did after the return from Babylon (Nehemiah 5:5).

Under the pressure of danger from the Chaldean invasion, and so that he might have the ready service of freemen instead of the forced work of slaves, Zedekiah was led to promise freedom. This decision was perhaps also a consequence of the revival of the law that followed its discovery—probably in the form of the Book of Deuteronomy—in the days of Josiah (2 Kings 22:8). He promised this freedom to all the slave population of this class who were within the walls of Jerusalem. The promise was made either as a celebration of a Sabbatical year or jubilee, or, irrespective of any such observance, as a reparation for past neglect. The step was probably not without its influence in giving fresh energy to the defenders of the city.

The Chaldeans, threatened by the approach of an Egyptian army (Jeremiah 37:5), raised the siege (Jeremiah 34:21).

When the danger had passed, however, the princes who had agreed to the emancipation returned to their old policy of oppression (Jeremiah 34:11). Those who had been liberated were consequently brought under a bondage all the more bitter for their temporary taste of freedom.

Against this perfidious tyranny the prophet, stirred by “the word of the Lord,” voiced his protests. His sympathies, like those of true prophets at all times, were with the poor and the oppressed.

The phrase proclaim liberty was closely connected with the year of jubilee, as in Leviticus 25:10 and Isaiah 61:1.