A Release to the Sword Text: Jeremiah 34:8-22
Introduction: The Religion of Convenience
We live in an age of convenient Christianity. It is a faith of low stakes and high comforts, where repentance is often little more than a crisis-management strategy. When the economy tanks, or the doctor’s report is grim, or the enemy is at the gates, men suddenly find their praying knees. They make promises to God with great sincerity, their tears are hot and their vows are loud. But when the immediate threat recedes, when the danger passes, their piety evaporates like the morning dew. Their promises are forgotten, and their vows are treated like expired coupons.
This is what we might call foxhole religion. It is a faith born of fear, not of faithfulness. It uses God as a cosmic vending machine for deliverance, but it has no interest in the long, slow, and sometimes costly work of obedience. The modern church is riddled with this kind of thinking. We want the blessings of the covenant without the obligations of the covenant. We want a God who is a contractual partner only when it suits us, but who will look the other way when we decide to breach the terms.
The passage before us in Jeremiah is a divine rebuke to all such shallow and cynical religion. It is a terrifying case study in the anatomy of a false revival. The people of Judah, with their king, make a solemn vow before God. They perform a public act of obedience that is long overdue. It looks, for a moment, like the real thing. But their hearts are not in it, and the moment the pressure is off, they reveal their true character. And in response, God shows them the terrible weight and gravity of a covenant made in His name. He shows them that He is not a God to be trifled with, and that a broken oath has consequences that are as real and as sharp as a sword.
This is a hard word, but it is a necessary one. It teaches us that God takes our promises seriously, even when we do not. It teaches us that obedience must be a matter of principle, not of panic. And it teaches us that a God who is faithful to His own covenant promises will also be faithful to execute the curses of that same covenant upon those who trample it underfoot.
The Text
The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after King Zedekiah had cut a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim release to them: that each man should let his male slave go free and each man his female slave, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, so that no one should enslave them, each being a Jew, his brother. And all the officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each man should let his male slave go free and each man his female slave, so that no one should enslave them any longer; they obeyed and let them go free. But afterwards they turned around and returned to themselves the male slaves and the female slaves, whom they had let go as free, and subdued them to be male slaves and female slaves. Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘I cut a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, saying, “At the end of seven years each of you shall let his Hebrew brother go who has been sold to you and has served you six years, and you shall let him go to be free from you; but your fathers did not obey Me or incline their ear to Me. Although recently you had turned and done what is right in My sight, each man proclaiming release to his neighbor, and you had cut a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. Yet you turned and profaned My name, and each man returned to themselves his male slave and each man his female slave whom you had let go as free according to their desire, and you subdued them to be your male slaves and female slaves.” ’ “Therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. And I will give the men who have trespassed against My covenant, who have not established the words of the covenant which they cut before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts, the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf, And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. And as for Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life and into the hand of the military force of the king of Babylon which has gone away from you. Behold, I am going to command,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will cause them to return to this city; and they will fight against it and capture it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’ ”
(Jeremiah 34:8-22 LSB)
A Foxhole Reformation (vv. 8-10)
We begin with a moment that looks like genuine revival.
"The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after King Zedekiah had cut a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim release to them: that each man should let his male slave go free... And all the officials and all the people obeyed..." (Jeremiah 34:8-10)
The historical situation is crucial. The Babylonian army is besieging Jerusalem. The end is near, and the people are terrified. In this moment of desperation, King Zedekiah leads the people in a public act of covenant renewal. And what is the substance of this covenant? It is to obey a law they had been ignoring for generations. The Mosaic Law was clear: a Hebrew who sold himself into servitude was to be set free in the seventh year (Deut. 15:12). This was a foundational principle of their society. They were a nation of freed slaves, and God had built into their legal code a constant reminder of that grace. They were not to treat their brothers the way Pharaoh had treated them.
But they had ignored this. Greed and hard-heartedness had led them to treat their kinsmen as chattel. Now, with the enemy at the gates, they suddenly get religion. They make a solemn covenant, a public promise, to do what God had commanded all along. And for a moment, they follow through. "They obeyed and let them go free." On the surface, this is commendable. It is an act of justice. It is an act of obedience. It looks like the beginning of a national turning back to God.
But we must always examine the motive for our obedience. Was this a reformation born of a true love for God and neighbor? Or was it a frantic attempt to appease an angry God, a last-ditch effort to bribe Him into calling off the Babylonians? The subsequent events make the answer painfully clear. This was not repentance; it was a bargain. It was a religious performance staged for a divine audience, driven by fear, not by faith.
The Great Reversal (v. 11)
The shallowness of their commitment is exposed as soon as the circumstances change.
"But afterwards they turned around and returned to themselves the male slaves and the female slaves, whom they had let go as free, and subdued them to be male slaves and female slaves." (Jeremiah 34:11 LSB)
What happened in the "afterwards"? The historical record tells us that the Babylonian army temporarily lifted the siege to deal with an approaching Egyptian force (Jer. 37:5). The immediate pressure was off. The skies cleared. And the people of Jerusalem breathed a sigh of relief. And what was their first act with this newfound breathing room? It was to go back on their solemn oath. They "turned around." This is the language of apostasy.
Notice the brutality of the language. They didn't just let the old arrangement slide back into place. They actively "returned" their freed brothers and sisters to themselves. They "subdued" them. This was a deliberate, high-handed act of treachery. It was a cynical and calculated sin. They had used the language of covenant and worship to get what they wanted from God, and as soon as they thought they had it, they threw the covenant in the trash. This reveals a heart that is utterly contemptuous of God. They saw God not as a Lord to be obeyed but as a tool to be manipulated.
The Covenant Keeper's Indictment (vv. 12-16)
God does not remain silent. He sends Jeremiah with a blistering indictment.
"Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘I cut a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery... Yet you turned and profaned My name...’" (Jeremiah 34:13, 16 LSB)
God begins by reminding them of who they are, and who He is. He is the God who brought them out of the "house of slavery." Their entire national identity was predicated on this act of redemptive liberation. For them to turn around and create their own "house of slavery" for their fellow Hebrews was the height of hypocrisy. It was a grotesque parody of their own salvation history. They were acting like Pharaoh.
God acknowledges their recent, short-lived obedience: "you had turned and done what is right in My sight." But then comes the hammer blow: "Yet you turned and profaned My name." This is the heart of the matter. A covenant made before God in His house is a sacred thing. To break that covenant is to treat His name as if it were nothing. It is to commit perjury against the Almighty. It is a public declaration that you do not fear Him, and that His presence as a witness to your oath is meaningless. This is a direct violation of the third commandment. They did not just sin against their neighbors; they profaned the very name of their God.
A Release Unto Judgment (vv. 17-22)
The punishment that God announces is a masterpiece of divine, ironic justice.
"Therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release... Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine...’" (Jeremiah 34:17 LSB)
This is the lex talionis, the eye-for-an-eye principle of justice. God takes their own word, "release," and turns it back on them as a word of judgment. You promised release to your brothers but did not give it. So I will give you a release. I will release you from My protection. I will release you from My covenant blessings. I will release you to the full and terrible consequences of your sin: the sword, disease, and starvation.
And God is not finished. He then invokes the very ceremony they used to ratify their treacherous covenant. "I will give the men who have trespassed against My covenant... who passed between the parts of the calf..." (v. 18). This refers to an ancient ritual, seen most clearly in Genesis 15. An animal was cut in two, and the parties of the covenant would walk between the pieces. This was a self-maledictory oath. It was a way of saying, "If I break this covenant, may I become like this animal, cut in two and left for the scavengers."
God's response is chilling. He says, in effect, "Amen. As you have sworn, so let it be done to you." He is going to enforce the penalty clause that they themselves signed in blood. He lists all the guilty parties, the officials, the priests, the people, and declares that He will give them into the hands of their enemies. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the beasts. And just in case they thought the temporary retreat of the Babylonians was a sign of deliverance, God makes it clear: "Behold, I am going to command... and I will cause them to return" (v. 22). There is no escape. The judgment is not a possibility; it is a certainty, orchestrated by the very God they have scorned.
The Better Covenant in Christ
The story of Zedekiah's failed covenant is a picture of the failure of the entire Old Covenant. It demonstrates that laws, even good and righteous laws, cannot change a heart of stone. Man, left to himself, is a natural-born covenant-breaker. Our promises are flimsy, our resolutions are weak, and our repentance is too often the shallow religion of convenience.
This is precisely why we need a better covenant, a New Covenant. And this is what we have in Jesus Christ. The story of Jeremiah 34 drives us to the cross.
Think of that terrible ceremony of the divided calf. Who walked between the parts for us? Who took the curse of the covenant upon Himself? Jesus Christ did. On the cross, He was the one who was torn apart. He was the one who bore the sword of God's wrath that we, the covenant-breakers, deserved. He fulfilled the self-maledictory oath in our place. He took the curse so that we might receive the blessing.
Because of His faithfulness, we are not just given another chance to do better. We are given a new heart. Under the New Covenant, God does not simply hand us a list of rules; He writes His law on our hearts and puts His Spirit within us (Jer. 31:33). He gives us both the desire and the ability to obey. Our obedience is not a desperate attempt to bribe God, but a grateful response to the grace we have already received.
Therefore, let the lesson of Zedekiah be a sober warning to us. Do not trifle with God. Do not make vows you do not intend to keep. Let your baptism, your profession of faith, your marriage vows, be made in the fear of God. But do not trust in your own ability to keep them. Flee from the hypocrisy of convenient religion and run to the cross of Christ, the only true Covenant Keeper. Cling to Him, for He is the one who secures our release, not a release to the sword of judgment, but a true and lasting release from the house of slavery to sin and death, and into the glorious freedom of the children of God.