John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 37

And King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned The brother of Jehoiakim, whose untimely death, and want of burial, are prophesied of in the preceding chapter. The name of Zedekiah was Mattaniah before he was king; his name was changed by the king of Babylon, who made him king, (2 Kings 24:17) ; instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim : the same with Jehoiakim, or jeconiah, called Coniah by way of contempt; he reigned but three months, and so was not reckoned as a king, not being confirmed by the king of Babylon, but was carried captive by him, and his uncle placed in his stead: whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah ; to whom he became tributary, and swore homage and fealty, (2 Chronicles 36:13) .

But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, &c.] The king, his courtiers and subjects, the royal family, nobility, and common people; they were all degenerate and corrupt. Jarchi observes, that Jehoiakim was wicked, and his people righteous; and that Zedekiah was righteous, and his people wicked; but he seems to found his character on that single action of taking Jeremiah out of prison; whereas, according to this account, king and people were all wicked:

for neither one or other did hearken to the words of the Lord, which he spoke by Jeremiah the prophet; neither those which were spoken in the former nor in the latter part of his reign, concerning the destruction of the city by the Chaldeans. This short account is given to show how just it was to give up such a prince and people to ruin.

And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest. That is, Zephaniah the priest, as the accents show; though his father Maaseiah was doubtless a priest too; according to the Syriac version, both Jehucal, called Jucal, (Jeremiah 38:1); and Zephaniah, were priests; since it reads in the plural number, "priests": these the king sent as messengers to the Prophet Jeremiah, saying, pray now unto the Lord our God for us.

This message was sent either upon the rumour of the Chaldeans coming against Jerusalem, as some think; or rather when it had departed from the city, and was gone to meet the army of the king of Egypt; so that this petition to the prophet was to pray that the king of Egypt might get the victory over the Chaldean army, and that that might not return unto them.

Thus wicked men will desire the prayers of good men in times of distress, when their words, their cautions, admonitions, exhortations, and prayers too, are despised by them at another time.

Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people
Was at full liberty, and could go out of the city, and come in, when he pleased; or go into any part of it, and converse with the people, and prophesy to them; which he could not do in the latter part of Jehoiakim's reign, who sent persons after him and Baruch to take them, and they were obliged to hide themselves, yea, the Lord hid them, (Jeremiah 36:19Jeremiah 36:26) ; but now he was under no restraint, as least as yet: for they had not put him into prison ;
not yet; they afterwards did, (Jeremiah 37:15) .

Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt At the time the above message was sent to Jeremiah. Zedekiah, though he had took an oath of homage to the king of Babylon, rebelled against him, and entered into a league with the king of Egypt, to whom he sent for succours in his distress; and who, according to agreement, sent his army out of Egypt to break up the siege of Jerusalem; for though the king of Egypt came no more in person out of his land, after his defeat at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, (Jeremiah 46:2) (2 Kings 24:7) ; yet he sent his army to the relief of Jerusalem:

and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem ; which was in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign that they first besieged it, and is the time here referred to, (Jeremiah 39:1) ; heard tidings of them ; the Egyptian army, and of its coming out against them; the rumour of which might be spread by the Jews themselves, to intimidate them; or which might come to them by spies they had in all parts to give them intelligence of what was doing; and what they had was good and certain, and on which they acted: they departed from Jerusalem : not through fear, but to meet the Egyptian army, and give them battle, before they could be joined by any considerable force of the Jews.

It was at this time the covenant was broken about the manumission of servants, (Jeremiah 34:10) ; which conduct ill agrees with their desire of the prophet's prayer.