John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 38:19

"And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me." — Jeremiah 38:19 (ASV)

Zedekiah seems here to have had a good reason why he should not immediately obey the Prophet. Often, the best of the faithful openly express their anxieties, and we have seen that even the Prophet, when any apprehension of danger arose, sometimes mentioned it. It was not, therefore, a blameworthy thing that Zedekiah frankly confessed he was hindered by the fear of those who had defected to the Chaldeans.

For we know that subjects, once they have cast off the yoke and violated their pledged faith, behave insolently, because they know that those to whom they have not performed their duty would be unforgiving towards them. Zedekiah, then, was justly anxious, and his candor in explaining his fear to the Prophet seemed excusable, as he appeared to show some sign of obedience.

But the event eventually will show us that he was so bound by fear that he refused the counsel of God and the Prophet.

It often happens, as I have just said, that the faithful also fear, and thus waver or hesitate when God commands them to do anything hard or difficult. They would willingly withdraw from the struggle, but they eventually obey God, surrender their own thoughts, and submit in obedience to God. But Zedekiah was so fearful that he could not partake of God’s goodness promised to him.

From this, we see what the faithful have in common with the reprobate, and also how they differ from one another.

Initially, the faithful fear just as the unbelieving do; they are anxious, they waver, and make known their perplexities. The unbelieving, meanwhile, indulge themselves and become hardened in their perverse purposes. But the faithful struggle with themselves, submit their thoughts to the will of God, and thus overcome fear by faith; they also crucify the flesh and give themselves up completely to God.

We have seen the same thing before in the Prophet. But we shall now see the obstinacy of King Zedekiah, to which we have referred. Zedekiah feared that the Jews who had defected to the Chaldeans would treat him insolently. The Prophet then answered him.