Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 37

And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah ... —The eight chapters that follow form a continuous narrative of the later work and fortunes of the prophet. They open with recording the accession of Zedekiah, following on the deposition of Coniah or Jeconiah. Here, as in Jeremiah 22:24, we have the shortened form of the name of the latter. The relative pronoun whom Nebuchadrezzar ... made king refers to Zedekiah.

But neither he, nor his servants ... —The verse gives a general survey of the character of Zedekiah’s reign in preparation for the actual history that follows, which occurs towards its end, probably in the seventh or eighth year of his reign. It should be noted that the “servants” here, as in Jeremiah 36:24, are the personal attendants of the king, his courtiers, as distinct from the “princes” of Judah and the “people of the land,” that is, the great body of unofficial laymen.

And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal ... — The time and, probably, the occasion of the mission is given in Jeremiah 37:5. The Chaldeans had raised the siege of Jerusalem on hearing of the approach of the Egyptian army under Pharaoh-Hophra, the Apries of Herodotus (Ezekiel 17:15; Ezekiel 29:1–16; Ezekiel 30-32), and the king seems to have thought that an opportunity presented itself for asserting his independence and wished to gain the sanction and the prayers of the prophet for this policy.

Of the two officers who are named here, Jehucal appears as accusing the prophets in Jeremiah 38:1, and Zephaniah in Jeremiah 21:1 and Jeremiah 29:25. They clearly belonged to the anti-Chaldean party and were therefore, for the most part, openly hostile to the prophet. Their appeal to him was either simply an official act in obedience to the king’s commands, or sprang from the hope, as before in Jeremiah 21:1, that they might, by a show of religious zeal for Jehovah, win him over to their cause. The stress they laid on his praying to the Lord our God indicates that the latter alternative is probable.

Jeremiah came in and went out among the people. —The statement is made in reference to the event narrated in Jeremiah 37:15. He was free when the king’s message came to him: it was his answer to that message that led to his imprisonment.

Then Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt. —The dispatch of the Egyptian army was the result of negotiations which Zedekiah had opened with Pharaoh-Hophra, with a view to resisting the power of Nebuchadnezzar (Ezekiel 17:15). Like the Egyptian armies in general, it was strong in chariots and horses (Ezekiel 17:15; Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 36:9), and able to carry out the operations of a siege (Ezekiel 17:17). In Jeremiah 44:30 we have the full name of the Egyptian king.