This passage probably dates from the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 588-586 B.C. (vv. 2, 4; cf. 2 Kings 25). King Zedekiah sought advice from Jeremiah more than once (cf. 37:3-10, 17-21; 38:14-28). This passage consists of two oracles (vv. 1-7 and 8-10).
21:1 This is a message that Yahweh gave Jeremiah after King Zedekiah sent messengers to him with a question. The messengers were Pashhur (cf. 38:1-13; 1 Chron. 9:21; not the man in charge of preserving order in the temple courtyard mentioned in 20:1-6) and Zephaniah, a leading priest (cf. 29:25-26, 29; 37:3; 52:24; 2 Kings 25:18-21).
21:2 Zedekiah asked Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord whether He would give Judah deliverance from Nebuchadnezzar as He had delivered His people in the past.301Zedekiah may have been hoping for a miraculous deliverance such as Jehoshaphat experienced from the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites (2 Chron. 20). Hezekiah had also experienced supernatural deliverance when Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem (2 Kings 19; Isa. 37).
21:3-4 Jeremiah sent a message from the Lord back to the king through his messengers. The weapons of the defenders of Jerusalem would be ineffective. The Chaldean soldiers who were then besieging the city's walls would penetrate it and enter the center of Jerusalem.
The Babylonians (Chaldeans) were originally a seminomadic tribe living between northern Arabia and the Persian Gulf. In the tenth century B.C., the Assyrians gave the name Kalduto the area formerly known as the Sea-Land' [i.e., Mesopotamia]. . . Later, Chaldea' was used to include Babylonia as a whole (cf. Ezek 23:23; Dan 3:8)."302
21:5-6 The Lord promised that not only the Babylonians but He, too, would fight against the city. He would bring His strong arm against Jerusalem in anger and would strike down its inhabitants (cf. Deut. 4:34; et al.). Normally the Divine Warrior fought forHis people, but now He would fight againstthem. Humans and animals would die from the sword and from diseases, a curse for breaking covenant (cf. 14:12; 32:24; Exod. 5:3; 9:15; Num. 14:12).
21:7 Nebuchadnezzar would also slay King Zedekiah, his servants, and the people who survived the war and its accompanying famine and diseases. The Babylonian king would show no mercy or compassion. Zedekiah did indeed die in Babylon some time after the Babylonians killed his sons as he watched, and then Nebuchadnezzar blinded him (34:4; 52:11; 2 Kings 25:6-7; Ezek. 12:13).
Jeremiah directed this second oracle against the people of Jerusalem.
21:8 The prophet also received another message from the Lord. Yahweh was going to give the people the choice of living or dying (cf. Deut. 30:15, 19; Matt. 7:13-14).
21:9 If the residents of Jerusalem stayed in the city and resisted the enemy, they would die; but if they surrendered to the Babylonians, they would live.
21:10 The Lord's purpose for the city was firm: He would turn it over to the Babylonian army to destroy it by fire. This was something the people could not change by their actions or their prayers.
