The Unflinching Word in a Floundering Kingdom
Introduction: The Collision of Two Kingdoms
We come now to a passage that lays bare the fundamental conflict that runs through all of human history. It is the conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man, between the unshakeable Word of the Lord and the frantic, self-preserving machinations of godless rulers. Here we see Jeremiah, the faithful prophet, caught in the gears of a collapsing state. And in his predicament, we see a vivid illustration of what it means to stand for the truth when the truth is treasonous to a lie.
The historical backdrop is crucial. Jerusalem is under siege by the most formidable military power on earth, the Babylonians. This is not a random geopolitical event; it is the covenanted curse of God falling upon His rebellious people, a judgment Jeremiah has been proclaiming for decades. But then, a glimmer of false hope appears. The Egyptian army makes a move, causing the Babylonians to lift the siege temporarily. For the court prophets, the professional optimists with their ears to the ground and their fingers in the wind, this is vindication. "See," they say, "Jeremiah was wrong. God has delivered us." The city breathes a collective sigh of relief. But it is the sigh of a man who has just been told his terminal diagnosis was a mistake, when in fact the doctor has only stepped out of the room for a moment.
It is in this brief, deceptive lull that our text unfolds. And what we find is that a state in rebellion against God cannot tolerate a man who speaks for God. A government built on lies will always perceive the truth as a threat. When the civil magistrate abandons his post as a minister of God for justice, he inevitably becomes a minister of injustice, and the first to feel his wrath will be the righteous. This is not just ancient history. This is a perennial pattern. When the state claims to be the final arbiter of truth, it will always end up at war with the One who is the Truth.
The Text
Now it happened when the military force of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of the military force of Pharaoh, that Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin in order to obtain his portion of some property there among the people. Now it happened that while he was at the Gate of Benjamin, the master of the guard whose name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah the son of Hananiah was there; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are going over to the Chaldeans!” But Jeremiah said, “A lie! I am not going over to the Chaldeans”; yet he would not listen to him. So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. Then the officials were angry at Jeremiah and struck him, and they put him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe because they had made that house into the prison. For Jeremiah had come into the pit, that is, the vaulted cell; and Jeremiah stayed there many days.
Then King Zedekiah sent and took him out; and in his palace the king secretly asked him and said, “Is there a word from Yahweh?” And Jeremiah said, “There is!” Then he said, “You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon!” Moreover, Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “In what way have I sinned against you or against your servants or against this people, that you have put me in prison? Where then are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’? But now, please listen, O my lord the king; please let my supplication come before you, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I may not die there.” Then King Zedekiah gave commandment, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard and gave him a loaf of bread daily from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city had come to an end. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
(Jeremiah 37:11-21 LSB)
Convenient Accusations and State Tyranny (vv. 11-16)
We begin with the prophet's arrest.
"Now it happened when the military force of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem... Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin in order to obtain his portion of some property there... while he was at the Gate of Benjamin... he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 'You are going over to the Chaldeans!'" (Jeremiah 37:11-13)
Jeremiah, taking advantage of the temporary lifting of the siege, attends to some personal business in his hometown. This is a perfectly normal and legitimate activity. But for a regime steeped in paranoia and rebellion, every action of a righteous man is suspect. The guard at the gate, Irijah, doesn't see a prophet attending to his inheritance; he sees a traitor defecting to the enemy. The charge is baseless, but it is convenient. Jeremiah's message has been that God is giving Judah to the Chaldeans, so in their twisted logic, he must be on their side.
This is how godless states operate. They cannot engage with the content of the truth, so they attack the character of the messenger. They project their own treachery onto the faithful. The state was in rebellion against God, making them the true traitors. Jeremiah was loyal to God, the true King. Therefore, in a world turned upside down, loyalty to God is branded as treason against the state. They accuse him of being "pro-Babylonian," when in reality he was simply "pro-God."
"But Jeremiah said, 'A lie! I am not going over to the Chaldeans'; yet he would not listen to him. So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. Then the officials were angry at Jeremiah and struck him, and they put him in jail..." (Jeremiah 37:14-15)
Jeremiah's defense is simple and direct: "A lie!" But notice, his innocence is irrelevant. Irijah "would not listen to him." The officials don't conduct an investigation; they are simply "angry." Why? Because they hate his message. The accusation is just a pretext to silence the man whose words convict them. They strike him and throw him into a makeshift prison, the house of Jonathan the scribe. This is not a judicial proceeding; it is raw, tyrannical power. When a government is at war with God, it dispenses with trifles like due process. The truth is an inconvenience, and the prophet is a nuisance to be disposed of.
He is thrown into "the pit," a vaulted cell, and left there for "many days." This is the world's answer to the Word of God: beat it, bind it, and bury it in a dungeon. But as we will see, you cannot imprison a word that comes from Yahweh.
The Secret Seeker and the Unchanging Word (vv. 17-19)
Now the scene shifts from the public injustice of the officials to the private torment of the king.
"Then King Zedekiah sent and took him out; and in his palace the king secretly asked him and said, 'Is there a word from Yahweh?' And Jeremiah said, 'There is!' Then he said, 'You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon!'" (Jeremiah 37:17)
Here we have the portrait of a thoroughly compromised man. Zedekiah is a weak, vacillating king, caught between his fear of the Babylonians, his fear of his own officials, and a nagging, terrified suspicion that Jeremiah might actually be right. He is spiritually schizophrenic. Publicly, he allows Jeremiah to be imprisoned. Privately, he seeks him out. He wants a word from God, but he wants it "secretly." He wants the comfort of the truth without the cost of obedience. He is like a man who wants the cure for his cancer but is unwilling to be seen entering the hospital.
And what is Jeremiah's response? He has just been beaten and left to rot in a dungeon at this king's pleasure. Does he soften the message? Does he try to curry favor? Not in the least. Zedekiah asks, "Is there a word from Yahweh?" and Jeremiah's answer is a thunderclap: "There is! ... You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon!" The word of the Lord does not change based on the prophet's circumstances or the listener's preferences. It is not tailored to the audience. It is absolute. Jeremiah knows that his job is not to manage the king's feelings but to deliver the King's mail, unopened.
Jeremiah then presses his own case, not on the basis of mercy, but of justice.
"Moreover, Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, 'In what way have I sinned against you or against your servants or against this people, that you have put me in prison? Where then are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, "The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land"?'" (Jeremiah 37:18-19)
This is a devastating cross-examination. First, he demands to know the crime. "What have I done?" The answer, of course, is nothing. His only "sin" was telling the truth. Second, he puts the false prophets in the dock. "Where are your prophets now?" The ones who promised peace, the ones who told you what you wanted to hear, where are they? The Chaldeans were at the gates. The Egyptian "rescue" was already proving to be a fleeting mirage. The false prophets had been proven to be frauds by the simple, brutal march of events. Jeremiah's prophetic ministry was being vindicated by reality itself, and he calls the king to account for listening to the soothing lies instead of the hard truth.
A Small Mercy and a Sovereign God (vv. 20-21)
Having spoken the hard truth, Jeremiah then makes a personal appeal.
"But now, please listen, O my lord the king; please let my supplication come before you, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I may not die there." (Jeremiah 37:20)
This is not a sign of weakness. It is the plea of a man who, while utterly committed to God's truth, is not a Stoic. He does not want to die in a filthy cistern. He is bold in the pulpit but humble in his supplication. He has delivered God's message without fear, and now he entrusts his own life to God's providence, working even through a cowardly king.
And Zedekiah, to his credit, grants a small measure of relief. He doesn't release Jeremiah. That would be too politically costly. He doesn't repent. That would be too personally costly. But he does move him to a better prison and arranges for him to get a daily ration of bread.
"Then King Zedekiah gave commandment, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard and gave him a loaf of bread daily from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city had come to an end. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard." (Jeremiah 37:21)
This is a picture of God's meticulous, sovereign care for His servant in the midst of judgment. The king thinks he is making a political calculation. God is feeding His prophet. The provision is limited, "until all the bread in the city had come to an end", but it is sufficient for the day. God did not deliver Jeremiah from prison, but He sustained him in it. He did not remove the trial, but He provided the bread. This is a profound comfort. God's faithfulness to us is not measured by the absence of hardship, but by His presence and provision in the midst of it.
Conclusion: The Secret and the Street
This passage leaves us with two starkly contrasting figures: Zedekiah and Jeremiah. Zedekiah is the man of the secret place. He wants a word from God, but only in private. He is intrigued by the truth but terrified of its public demands. He wants the benefits of God's counsel without the burden of God's commands. And because of this, he is paralyzed, weak, and ultimately destroyed. His kingdom is a house of cards because his heart is divided.
Jeremiah is the man of the street. He speaks God's word publicly, whether at the temple gate or in the king's court. He lives out his convictions openly, even when it leads him to the prison pit. And what is the result? He is sustained. He receives his bread, not from a secret stash in the palace, but from the "bakers' street," out in the open, where everyone can see it. God provides for His faithful servant in the public square.
The application for us is direct. We live in an age that, like Zedekiah's, is increasingly hostile to the unflinching Word of God. Our culture wants a secret Jesus, a private faith that makes no public demands. It is fine for you to have your "word from Yahweh" as long as you keep it to yourself. But the moment you bring that word out to the gate, the moment you declare it on the street, you will be accused. You will be called a traitor to the prevailing orthodoxies. You will be told you are on the wrong side of history.
The question before us is simple: will we be like Zedekiah or Jeremiah? Will we seek a secret, compromised faith, hoping to avoid trouble but ultimately losing our souls? Or will we be people of the street, who declare the whole counsel of God without apology, trusting Him to provide our daily bread even when the city is starving? The Word of the Lord has not changed. The world's opposition to it has not changed. And God's promise to sustain His faithful people has not changed. Therefore, let us not be afraid. Let us speak the truth, come what may, and trust our sovereign God to provide the bread.