translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JER

label: NET study note

text: Zedekiah was the last king of Judah. He ruled from 597 b.c. when he was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar ( 2 Kgs 24:17 ) until the fall of Jerusalem in 587/6 b.c . He acquiesced to some of his anti-Babylonian counselors, rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, and sought help from the Egyptians ( Ezek 17:12-15 ). This brought Nebuchadnezzar against the city in 588 b.c . This is the first of two delegations to Jeremiah. The later one was sent after Nebuchadnezzar withdrew to take care of the Egyptian threat (cf. Jer 37:1-9 ).


text: The Pashhur son of Malkijah referred to here is not the same as the Pashhur referred to in 20:1-6 who was the son of Immer. This Pashhur is referred to later in 38:1 . The Zephaniah referred to here was the chief of security referred to later in Jer 29:25-26 . He appears to have been favorably disposed toward Jeremiah.


text: The Babylonians ( Heb “the Chaldeans”). The Chaldeans were a group of people in the country south of Babylon from which Nebuchadnezzar came. The Chaldean dynasty his father established became the name by which the Babylonians are regularly referred to in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s contemporary Ezekiel uses both terms.


text: The kings of Israel and Judah were responsible for justice. See Pss 122:5 . The king himself was the final court of appeals judging from the incident of David with the wise woman of Tekoa (), Solomon and the two prostitutes ( 1 Kgs 3:16-28 ), and Absalom’s attempts to win the hearts of the people of Israel by interfering with due process ( 2 Sam 15:2-4 ). How the system was designed to operate may be seen from 2 Chr 19:4-11 .