John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 34

The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord

This prophecy came to Jeremiah, and was delivered by him, when he was at liberty, and before his imprisonment, and was the occasion of it, as appears from (Jeremiah 32:2–5); compared with (Jeremiah 34:2Jeremiah 34:3); the prophecies not standing in the proper order in which they were given out; for the prophecy, in this first part of the chapter at least, was delivered out before that in the thirty second chapter: when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem;

and against all the cities thereof;

saying;

Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel Who, though the covenant God of Israel, yet provoked by their sins, sends the following message to their king: go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him : alone; and tell it to no other but him, at least at present; the message being more peculiar to him, and must, had it been told to the people, been very disheartening to them:

behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon , and he shall burn it with fire ; see (Jeremiah 32:3) ; which was exactly accomplished, (Jeremiah 52:13) .

And thou shalt not escape out of his hand
Though he would, and did attempt to do it, (Jeremiah 52:8Jeremiah 52:9) ; but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand ;
he was taken on the plains of Jericho, and delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon at Riblah; as may be seen in the place just referred to: and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon ;
and that was all; for they were quickly put out by him: and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to
Babylon ;
see (Jeremiah 32:3) (Jeremiah 52:9Jeremiah 52:11) .

Yet listen to the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah Which, though a king, he ought to listen to; and, besides, what follows was for comfort, being a mitigation of his sentence, and containing in it mercy, as well as judgment: thus says the Lord of you, you shall not die by the sword: of the king of Babylon; or a violent death; and therefore fear not to deliver up yourself and city into his hands; which he might be unwilling to do, fearing he would put him to death immediately.

[But] you shall die in peace
Upon his bed, a natural death, and in good friendship with the king of Babylon; and, it may be, in peace with God; for before his death, some time in his captivity, he might be brought to true repentance for his sins.

and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings which were
before you: so shall they burn [odours] for you .
The sense is, that he should have an honourable burial; and that sweet odours and spices should be burned for him, as were for the kings of Judah his predecessors, particularly Asa, (2 Chronicles 16:14) . Josephus says ^F2 , that Nebuchadnezzar buried him in a royal manner; though this seems to refer to what the people of the Jews in Babylon would do in honour of him, by burning for him.

The Rabbins say, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech observe, that they burned their beds and ministering vessels, or household goods ^F3 , as was usual on such occasions. The Talmudist ^F4 a say, all this honour was done him for that single act of ordering Jeremiah to be taken out of the dungeon; for this was done honour to persons: so, when Gamaliel the elder died, Onkelos the proselyte burned for him seventy Tyrian pounds ^F5 ; not such a quantity of money, but goods that were worth so much; and this was a custom with the Heathens, who used to burn the bodies of the dead, to burn their garments with them, and their armour, and whatever were valuable and esteemed of by them life; and particularly odoriferous things, as frankincense, saffron, myrrh, spikenard, cassia, and cinnamon ^F6 ; and which seem to be meant here, by comparing the passage with the case of Asa before mentioned; for though the word "odours" is not in the text, it seems rightly enough supplied by us, as it is by other interpreters ^F7 . The Vulgate Latin version very wrongly translates it, "and shall burn you"; for it was not the manner of the Jews to burn the bodies of the dead, but to inter them in the earth; and so Tacitus ^F8 observes, it was the custom of the Jews not to burn, but after the manner of the Egyptians to bury in the earth nor does it appear to have been the custom of the Babylonians or Chaldeans, as should seem from the account that is given of the death and burial of the Babylonian monarch in (Isaiah 14:4–11) ;

and they will lament, [saying], Ah lord !
alas! our lord the king is dead. The form of lamentation said over him, as the Jews record ^F9 , was, ``alas! King Zedekiah, who is dead, drank the dregs of all ages;'' was punished for the sins of men in all generations past:

for I have pronounced the word, saith the Lord ;
both that which respects his captivity, and that which refers to his death; the manner of it, and his honourable interment, which shall be accomplished.

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: Antiqu. Jud. l. 10. c. 8. sect. 7.
• F3: Vid. T. Avoda Zara, fol. 11. 1.
• F4: T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 28. 2.
• F5: T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 11. 1.
• F6: Vid. Kirehman. de Fuuer. Roman. l. 3. c. 5.
• F7: "Sub. myropolae", Munster; "aromata odorata, sive res odoriferas", Vatablus; "ustiones odorum", Junius & Tremellius.
• F8: Histor. l. 5. c. 5.
• F9: Seder Olam Rabba, c. 28. p. 81.