Jeremiah 39 Footnotes

39:2 Jerusalem did not fall because the Lord was not strong enough to protect it. As long as the people honored God, he promised to bless them and allow them to stay in the land (Nm 20:12 ; Dt 4:1; 20:4; 30:20; 32:47; Ps 37:3). Jeremiah had told the people that they could not depend on the Lord defending them simply because his temple was in the city; they needed to show, by their actions, that they trusted in God (Jr 7:3-8). Their actions showed the opposite, however (17:24). Ezekiel saw in his visions that the glory of God had departed from the temple and was no longer protecting the city (12:7; Ezk 10:18-19; 11:23). When God left Jerusalem, Babylon conquered Judah.

39:15 This account of the prophecy to Ebed-melech is given out of sequence; it belongs after 38:13. This is not a textual corruption; a compiler sometimes rearranged the order of material for effect. Here the editor may have wanted to show that God could allow the enemy to destroy Jerusalem and torture the king because of Judah’s disobedience, yet he could spare Jeremiah and Ebed-melech because of their trust in him.

39:16 How could Jeremiah “go” when he was confined in the guard’s courtyard? The answer lies in the meaning of the Hebrew word translated “go”: It functions to strengthen the command. It could be translated, “Go tell Ebed-melech . . .”