Jeremiah 21:3

In chapter 21:1-7 he answers the two representatives of King Zedekiah. They were sent to him hoping that God would rescue Judah from the king of Babylon through the prophet's intervention. But the importance of the messengers does not impress Jeremiah. He can only confirm the judgment already announced.

The kingship was always the last channel of blessing in the history of Israel. If only the king had been right, however wrong the people and the prophets were, God would still send blessing to Israel. Everything depended upon the king, the descendant of David. God might have disciplined the prophets and priests and people, but He would have held on to them for the sake of His servant David. But not only did they go astray; the king himself led the way in evil. Then it was impossible to hold on to them. It fell to Jeremiah, with sorrow, to announce this decision from God.

The Lord's answer was final in the extreme. How else could He answer a king who honoured Him with his lips as a pretence while his heart was far from Him? All was hopeless for the king of Judah. He showed less regard for the oath he had taken than the foreign king who had made him swear it.

Zedekiah, whose name was Mattaniah, was a godless king. Nebuchadnezzar had made him king after carrying captives away from Jerusalem. Now he heard a message of judgment from Jeremiah. The Babylonian king's army stood in front of the city again, because Zedekiah had rebelled and broken his agreement with that king. How could Zedekiah even imagine that a righteous Lord had a message of peace for him? The Lord Himself will now fight against Jerusalem and its wicked king. The enemy will do the appointed work of judgment: "He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. He shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion."

Yet even then God has a word for the people (v. 8-10). He sets the way of life before them, as well as the way of death. "He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war."

He had already declared that the door was always open to repentance, and that blessing always followed a godly walk (Jer. 21:12; Jer. 22:1-5). Then judgment is pronounced again, and a sentence from God upon the different kings.

The prophecy plainly foretold that Zedekiah would be handed over to Nebuchadnezzar, with the city and the people (Jer. 21:3-7), and it came true. There was nothing unclear about it, though it was a very solemn truth.