John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 38

Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur. Of these two persons we nowhere else read. Some think that Pashur, whose son Gedaliah was, is the same as is mentioned (Jeremiah 20:1–18); which is not likely, since he was a priest, and this son a prince: and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah; these had been sent by the king to Jeremiah, to inquire of the Lord, and to pray for him and his people, (Jeremiah 21:1) (37:3); all four were princes, prime ministers of state, of great power and authority, and to whom the king could deny nothing, or withstand, (Jeremiah 38:4Jeremiah 38:5);

these heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people; that is, to as many of them as came to the court of the prison to visit him; some out of good will, and some out of ill will; and others out of curiosity; being desirous to know by the prophet how things would go with them; and by which means what he said was spread all over the city, and came to the ears of the above princes; and no doubt there were persons enough officious enough to carry these things to them:

saying; as follows:

Thus says the Lord, he that remains in this city Of Jerusalem; that does not go out of it, and surrender himself to the Chaldeans; but continues in it fighting against them: shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence ; that is, by one or other of these:

but he that goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live : that goes out of the city, throws down his arms, delivers up himself to the Chaldean army, and submits to their mercy, shall have quarters given him, and his life shall be spared: for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live ; or, "his soul, and it shall live" ^F14 ; comfortably and in safety; he shall escape with his life, and that shall be preserved from the sword, famine, and pestilence; and whereas it was, as it were, lost, it shall be recovered out of the jaws of death, out of the above calamities it was exposed to; and so be like a prey taken out of the hands of the mighty, and be quite safe.

FOOTNOTES:

• F14:
  F14 (yxw llvl wvpn wl htyhw) "et erit illi anima ejus in praedam et vivet", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt.

Thus says the Lord, this city shall surely be given into the
hand of the king of Babylon's army
When those found in it should be put to the sword, or carried captive: this the prophet declares with the greatest certainty; and what he has often affirmed for twenty years past, and now stands to it, having had fresh assurances from the Lord that so it would be; and which he faithfully published; though he had received some favours from the court, had his liberty enlarged, and was now eating the king's bread, he was not to be bribed by these things to hold his peace; but the nearer the ruin of the city was, the more confident was he of its destruction.

which shall take it ;
or, "that it may take it" ^F15 ; being delivered into its hands by the Lord, without whose permission the Chaldean army could never have taken it: or "and he shall take it" ^F16 ; that is, the king of Babylon.

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: (hdklw) "ut capiat eam", Schmidt.
• F16: "Et capiet illam", Cocceius; "et capiet eam", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus.

Therefore the princes said to the king

The four princes mentioned in (Jeremiah 38:1), having heard what Jeremiah said to the people, laid the case before the king, and addressed him upon it in the following manner:

we beseech you, let this man be put to death; or, "let this man now be put to death," as the Targum.

They speak very disrespectfully of the prophet, calling him "this man"; and with great authority to the king, and not in a submissive supplicating way, as we render it; the king, being in distress, was in their hands; he stood in fear of them, and could do nothing against their will and pleasure; and they urge that he might die instantly; they were for taking away his life at once.

The reason they give follows:

for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them;

This means he dispirited the soldiers who were set for the defence of the city, such of them as were left, who were not taken off by the sword, famine, or pestilence; since, if what Jeremiah said was true, all attempts to defend it must be in vain; and the people be without any hope of being delivered out of the hands of the enemy:

for this man seeks not the welfare of this people, but the hurt;

than which nothing was more false; for the prophet foreseeing that their lives were in danger, through the sword, famine, or pestilence, by continuing in the city, advised them to go out of it, and surrender to the Chaldeans, whereby they would be preserved.

Then Zedekiah the king said, behold, he [is] in your hand In your power, to do with him as you please. This is either a grant of the king, allowing them to do as they thought fit; or a declaration of their power, supposing them to be the princes of the sanhedrim, as Grotius thinks, to judge of a false prophet, and condemn him; but that they were such does not appear; nor does their charge of the prophet, or their procedure against him, confirm it. The former sense seems best:

for the king [is] not [he that] can do [any] thing against you; which is said either in a flattering way, that such was their interest in him, and so great his regard for them, that he could not deny them any thing. So it is in the old translations, "for the king may deny you nothing"; and, "the king can deny you nothing": or else in a complaining way, suggesting that, he was a king, and no king; that he had no power to oppose them; they would do as they pleased; and therefore it signified nothing applying to him; he should not say any thing against it; he would have no concern in it; they might do as they pleased, since he knew they would.