Commentary - Jeremiah 34:8-22

Bird's-eye view

In this passage, we are confronted with a textbook case of what we might call foxhole religion. The people of Judah, with King Zedekiah at their head, are under immense pressure. The Babylonian army is at the gates, and things are looking grim. So, in a fit of piety, they decide to finally obey a law they had been ignoring for centuries, the law concerning the release of Hebrew slaves in the seventh year. They make a great show of it, cutting a covenant before God in the temple itself. But the moment the pressure lets up, when the Babylonians temporarily withdraw, they go right back on their word and re-enslave the very people they had just set free. This passage is a stark illustration of false, circumstantial repentance. God, through Jeremiah, then pronounces a devastating and ironic judgment. Since they would not proclaim a release for their brothers, God would proclaim a "release" for them, a release to the sword, pestilence, and famine. Their treachery is laid bare, and the punishment is tailored to fit the crime.

The central issue here is the nature of a covenant with God. Covenants are not suggestions. They are not conditional promises based on how we are feeling or what our circumstances are. They are solemn, binding oaths. To break a covenant with God is to profane His name, to treat Him as a trifle. The people of Judah used the forms of true religion, the covenant ceremony, the proclamation in the house of the Lord, but their hearts were shot through with deceit. God's judgment reveals that He is not mocked. He holds His people to their word, and when they break it, the curses of the covenant are not far behind. This is a hard lesson, but a necessary one for all who would name the name of Christ.

Outline

Context In Jeremiah

This incident takes place during the final, desperate days of the kingdom of Judah. The siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar's army, prophesied by Jeremiah for decades, is now a reality. King Zedekiah is a weak and vacillating ruler, caught between the prophet's call for submission to Babylon as God's judgment and the false hopes peddled by the nationalist court prophets. The temporary lifting of the siege, mentioned in verse 21, was due to the Egyptian army making a move, which caused the Babylonians to redeploy for a time. This brief respite was seen by the people of Jerusalem not as a moment of grace to truly repent, but as a sign that the danger had passed. Their swift reversal on the slave issue shows the superficiality of their commitment to God. This entire episode serves as a final, damning piece of evidence in God's case against Judah, proving their incorrigible rebellion and justifying the utter destruction that is about to fall.

Key Issues

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 8-10 The word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after the fact, after King Zedekiah had initiated this covenant. The deal was to proclaim release, or liberty, to all the Hebrew slaves. The law was clear on this point, going all the way back to Exodus and Deuteronomy. A Hebrew was not to permanently enslave a fellow Hebrew. After six years of service, he was to be set free. This was a law that directly reflected God's own redemptive work, reminding them that they themselves had been slaves in Egypt. And for a moment, it looks like a revival is breaking out. The officials and all the people obey. They enter the covenant, they hear the terms, and they let their slaves go free. On the surface, it is a moment of national obedience.

v. 11 But the obedience was only skin deep. The word "afterwards" is telling. As soon as the external pressure was removed, as soon as the Babylonian army pulled back to deal with the Egyptians, they "turned around." This is the language of apostasy, of turning back from the way of righteousness. They reneged on their solemn oath. They went and rounded up the very men and women they had just released and forced them back into slavery. This was not just a sin against their fellow man; it was a direct, high-handed sin against the God before whom they had just made their covenant.

v. 12-14 Now the word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah again, and it is a word of judgment. God begins by reminding them of the foundation of their nationhood. He cut a covenant with their fathers when He brought them out of the "house of slavery." The irony is thick. God freed them from slavery, and a central part of their covenant law was that they were not to replicate that kind of permanent bondage among themselves. He reminds them of the specific statute: at the end of seven years, you shall release your Hebrew brother. But, God says, "your fathers did not obey Me." This recent treachery is not an isolated incident. It is part of a long, generational pattern of covenant-breaking.

v. 15-16 God acknowledges their recent, brief flirtation with obedience. "Recently you had turned and done what is right in My sight." He even notes the solemnity of their promise, that they had "cut a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name." They went through all the right motions. They used God's house for their ceremony. But then, the indictment: "Yet you turned and profaned My name." To make a promise in God's name and then break it is to treat His name as if it were common, as if it had no weight. They took back their slaves, whom they had set free "according to their desire," which is to say, they had granted them the liberty that was rightfully theirs. And they subdued them again. The sin is hypocrisy of the highest order.

v. 17 Therefore, the judgment comes. And notice the precise, biting irony. "You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release... Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you." You refused to grant freedom, so I will grant you a "freedom" of a different sort. It is a release to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine. This is covenant language. These are the curses for disobedience laid out in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. God is saying that He will release His covenantal judgments upon them. They will be made a "terror to all the kingdoms of the earth," an object lesson in what happens to a people who trifle with the living God.

v. 18-20 Here we get a glimpse into the ancient ceremony of cutting a covenant. They cut a calf in two and passed between the parts. This was a self-maledictory oath. The one passing between the pieces was essentially saying, "May I become like this animal, cut in two, if I fail to keep the terms of this covenant." God now takes them at their word. He says He will give the men who trespassed, who did not establish the words of the covenant, over to their enemies. He lists them all, the officials, the court officers, the priests, all the people who passed between the parts of the calf. Their dead bodies, like the carcass of the calf, will be food for the birds and the beasts. The symbol of their promise becomes the symbol of their destruction.

v. 21-22 God makes it personal, naming Zedekiah and his officials. They too will be given into the hand of their enemies. And lest they think the temporary withdrawal of the Babylonians was a sign of deliverance, God dispels that notion immediately. He says that the Babylonian army "has gone away from you," but "Behold, I am going to command... and I will cause them to return." God is sovereign over the armies of pagan kings. He is the one who sends them, and He is the one who will bring them back. They will return, they will fight, they will capture the city, and they will burn it with fire. The end will be total desolation. This is the price of profaning God's name. This is the consequence of breaking His covenant.

Application

The story of Zedekiah's broken covenant is not just a piece of ancient history. It is a perpetual warning against a religion of convenience. It is easy to make promises to God when we are in trouble. It is easy to adopt the forms of piety when the heat is on. But the true test of faith is perseverance. The true test is whether our obedience remains when the pressure is off. God is not interested in temporary resolutions made in a panic. He desires truth in the inward parts.

This passage also teaches us the profound seriousness of our words, especially our vows made to God. When we enter into the covenant of grace through baptism, when we take the vows of church membership, when we partake of the Lord's Supper, the cup of the new covenant, we are doing something weighty. We are binding ourselves to the living God. To then live as though those vows meant nothing is to profane the name of Christ. The curses of the new covenant are far more severe than the curses of the old, because the blessings are infinitely greater (Heb. 10:29).

Finally, we see here the absolute justice and sovereignty of God. His judgments are not arbitrary. They are tailored, often with a divine irony, to the sin itself. They would not release their brothers, so God released them to the sword. Their covenant ceremony became the blueprint for their own destruction. We must learn to fear this God. But in fearing Him, we also see our only hope. The only reason any of us are not consumed is because of a better covenant, established on better promises. Jesus Christ is the ultimate covenant-keeper. He passed through the curse for us, torn apart on the cross, so that we, the covenant-breakers, might be forgiven. Our only hope is to flee from our own treacherous hearts and take refuge in His faithfulness.