Chapter Twenty-Two

1–9. Introduction and speeches addressed to the Judean kings. 10–12. Word concerning Jehoahaz-Shallum. 13–19. Concerning Jehoiakim. 20–30. Concerning Jeconiah.

Jer 22:1-9 The prophet addresses the king of Judah and his servants and all the people with an exhortation to administer justice righteously. If this is not done, the Lord will strictly punish both the king and all his subjects, who have especially incurred God’s wrath by their worship of foreign gods.

Jeremiah 22:1. Thus says the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak this word there, The royal palace stood apparently on the southern slope of the temple mount and therefore from the temple to the palace one did not ascend but descended. Jeremiah at this time was probably in the temple.

Jeremiah 22:2. and say: Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah sitting on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates. “Your people.” This is of course not all the Jews, but people who stood close to the king, and there were many of them.

Jeremiah 22:4. For if you will indeed obey this word, then through the gates of this house there shall enter kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. See Jer 17:25.

Jeremiah 22:5. But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, declares the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation. “House” means the royal palace.

Jeremiah 22:6. For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to Me, the peak of Lebanon; yet surely I will make you a desert, an uninhabited city. The royal palace, built from the finest cedar trees and oaks, the prophet calls “the peak of Lebanon,” where mighty cedars grew, and “Gilead”—a region whose hills were covered with strong oaks (compare 2 Sam 7:2; 1 Sam 7:2-5). —“I will make you...” Having mentioned Gilead, the prophet immediately recalls the desolation in which that once densely populated Amorite region was already found in his time. Even now in eastern Palestine the ruins of ancient cities are visible, but in Jeremiah’s time these ruins were even more abundant. Jer 22:10-12 King Shallum faces a wretched death in captivity, to which his enemies are taking him, and the prophet invites the Jews to shed tears for him.

Jeremiah 22:11. Do not weep for him who is dead, nor mourn for him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more to see the land of his birth. “The dead” refers to King Josiah, whom the Jews mourned greatly (2 Chr 35:25). —“He who goes away into captivity” is, as is clear from the following verse, Shallum, the son of Josiah. Who was this Shallum? On the basis of 2 Sam 23:30 and following, and 2 Chr 36:1-2, we can say with confidence that the prophet here meant Jehoahaz, the successor of Josiah. He bore the name Shallum, probably before his ascension to the throne. Jehoahaz-Shallum reigned for only three months and was led captive by the Pharaoh. He was replaced by Jehoiakim, appointed by the Egyptians, which of course must have greatly irritated the Babylonian king, for whom the Pharaoh and all of Pharaoh’s appointees were intensely hated. Thus, mourning the deportation of Jehoahaz into captivity, the Jews would at the same time mourn their own wretched fate, which the Babylonian king was preparing for them. Jer 22:13-19 King Jehoiakim, for his oppression of his subjects, for the avarice which drove him to the shedding of innocent blood, will be deprived of even an honorable burial.

Jeremiah 22:13. Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbor work for nothing and does not give him his wages, The financial position of Jehoiakim was very strained (2 Sam 23:35), yet he loved to undertake magnificent building projects: in particular he adorned the upper rooms, that is, the upper chambers of the palace, where kings usually spent all their daytime hours. In this he was clearly imitating the example of the Babylonian king (compare Hab 2:9 and following).

Jeremiah 22:14. who says, “I will build myself a great house with spacious upper rooms,” and cuts out windows for it, panels it with cedar, and paints it with vermilion. “Who cuts out windows,” that is, makes especially wide windows, which was not cheap, for the window grates were adorned with expensive carved work. —“Panels it with cedar.” For decoration the ceiling was paneled with cedar and painted with red paint—in imitation of the Egyptian fashion.

Jeremiah 22:15. Do you think you are a king because you enclose yourself in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. Jehoiakim thinks it necessary for the exaltation of royal power to undertake as many expensive buildings as possible. Yet the strength of royal power does not consist in this at all. But in any case it is better to limit one’s personal expenses as your father, Josiah, did, who was therefore beloved by his subjects.

Jeremiah 22:16. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this what it means to know Me? declares the Lord. The most necessary thing for a ruler of the Judean kingdom is to know God as the supreme King of the Jewish people. But that king truly knows God who cares solicitously for the poor and orphans.

Jeremiah 22:18. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They shall not lament for him, saying, ‘Alas, my brother!’ or ‘Alas, sister!’ They shall not lament for him, saying, ‘Alas, lord!’ or ‘Alas, his majesty!’ “Alas, brother! alas, sister!”—these are cries of sorrow at the death of ordinary citizens. “Alas, lord! alas, his majesty!”—these are laments for the death of a king.

Jeremiah 22:19. He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. Like a dead donkey, with no respect, they will drag the corpse of Jehoiakim when he dies. Although 2 Sam 24:6 says nothing of violent death or dishonorable burial of Jehoiakim, yet this passage does not exclude the possibility of it, because the same phrase used by the writer of 2 Kings concerning Jehoiakim’s death was used earlier concerning the burial of Ahab (1 Sam 22:40). Yet it is known about the latter that dogs licked the blood flowing from his wound (1 Sam 22:38). Therefore the remark in 2 Sam 24:6 cannot contradict the passage under consideration in the book of Jeremiah. Jehoiakim was indeed buried in a tomb of his fathers—on Zion—but during popular unrest his corpse could have been extracted by Jews who hated him and subjected to indignity. Jer 22:20-30 The Jewish people will soon have to mourn bitterly the destruction of all on whom they depended. First of all, the prophet points out that King Jeconiah of Judah has already been taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar and carried off to a foreign land, from which he will not return. From his offspring, no one will ever sit on the throne in Judah.

Jeremiah 22:20. Ascend to Lebanon and cry out, and lift up your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers are destroyed. The prophet addresses here the daughter of Zion, Judah who has been faithless to God (Jer 4:31), as is evident from the fact that the predicates are here in the feminine gender (in the Hebrew text). —Lebanon, the mountains of Bashan—in some places very high—and the mountains of Abarim, to which Mount Nebo belongs, where Moses died—are mentioned here as the most elevated points from which one could see all of Palestine and even neighboring lands. When Judah sees that “all her lovers,” that is, all who took part with Judah in conspiracy against the Babylonian king, have been defeated, Judah is left only to mourn bitterly its own inevitable sad fate.

Jeremiah 22:22. I will send shepherds, and they shall devour, and everyone of your lovers shall go into captivity; and then you will be put to shame and confounded for all your wickedness. Winds in Palestine sometimes are so strong that they lift people into the air. —“Shepherds” means rulers of the people.

Jeremiah 22:23. O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestling in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs come upon you, anguish as of a woman in labor! By building cedar palaces for themselves, the king and his courtiers considered themselves as safe as those living on the high mountains of Lebanon. —“O inhabitant”—more correctly, “O inhabitress.” The speech is about the daughter of Zion again.

Jeremiah 22:24. As I live, declares the Lord, though Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet ring on My right hand, yet I would tear you off. Kings and wealthy people never removed a signet ring from their finger, for it served as a sign of authority and power, and it also served as a seal by which they sealed important documents.

Jeremiah 22:25. I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans, Concerning the fulfillment of all the prophecy about Jeconiah, see 2 Sam 24:12; Jer 52:31 and following.

Jeremiah 22:28. “Is this man Jeconiah a despised, broken pot, a vessel no one desires? Why are he and his offspring cast out and hurled into a land that they do not know? Jeconiah has already been led into captivity. Can this really have happened?

Jeremiah 22:29. O land, land, land! Hear the word of the Lord. The threefold address to the land, that is, to the people, heightens the attention of the listeners.

Jeremiah 22:30. Thus says the Lord: Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for none of his offspring shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah. The prophet in response to the question of those asking in verse 28 states that Jeconiah has not only been led into captivity but is also permanently deprived of the possibility to register his children in the genealogies of the people. But Jeconiah had children—what then did the prophet mean in the verse under consideration? Those who could receive an inheritance portion in the land of promise were registered in the genealogies (Isa 4:3). Now for the descendants of Jeconiah, their inheritance portion is the throne of the Judean kingdom. But they will never occupy it. Therefore, Jeconiah can be registered in the genealogies as one without children-heirs: there will be nothing for them to inherit. Special remark. Verses 1–9 were said, most likely, at the very beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign, when this king had already shown his evil inclinations. Verses 10–19 clearly relate to the time of Jehoiakim, when the Jews still mourned Shallum-Jehoahaz and some could still hope for his return; verses 20–30 relate already to the time when Jeconiah had been led captive.