Jeremiah 34 explained: A Broken Promise to Free Slaves

The city will fall (vv. 1-3)

Babylon's huge army, drawn from many conquered nations, is attacking Jerusalem, and Jeremiah tells King Zedekiah the city will be burned and he himself captured. He will face the Babylonian king in person and be taken to Babylon.

A gentler word for Zedekiah (vv. 4-5)

Zedekiah is promised he will not be killed in battle and will be mourned with the honors of earlier kings, likely the burning of fragrant spices at a royal funeral. Later chapters say he was blinded and died a prisoner, so interpreters differ on what dying in peace means here, perhaps that he would not be executed and would still be honored at death.

Only two towns hold out (vv. 6-7)

Jeremiah delivers this unwelcome message while Lachish and Azekah are the only walled towns of Judah still standing. It shows how close the kingdom was to total collapse.

Slaves released, then reclaimed (vv. 8-11)

Israelites who fell into debt could be bound to serve a fellow Israelite, but the law said they must be released after six years. Under siege, the king and people swore to release them, but when the Babylonian army briefly pulled back, apparently to face an Egyptian force, the owners forced them back into service.

The old law recalled (vv. 12-16)

God roots the release law in Israel's own escape from slavery in Egypt and notes that earlier generations had ignored it. Releasing the slaves is called right, but swearing a solemn oath in the temple and then breaking it is called dishonoring God's name.

A grim release and the army's return (vv. 17-22)

In a bitter play on words, those who would not release others will themselves be released, but only to sword, disease and hunger, and the leaders who sealed their oath by walking between the halves of a cut calf, meaning 'may I be cut apart if I break this,' will die unburied. The Babylonian army will return, take the city and burn it, which the book later reports happened.

Key verse: Jeremiah 34:17

Something to think about

Why do promises made under pressure so often fade once the pressure lifts, and what does that say about why they were made?