Arrested at the Gate of Benjamin
1 Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. 2 But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to Yahweh’s words, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah. 3 Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Pray now to Yahweh our God for us.” 4 Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, for they had not put him into prison. 5 Pharaoh’s army had come out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they withdrew from Jerusalem. 6 Then Yahweh’s word came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 7 “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘You shall tell the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, will return to Egypt into their own land. 8 The Chaldeans will come again, and fight against this city. They will take it and burn it with fire.”’ 9 “Yahweh says, ‘Don’t deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely depart from us;” for they will not depart. 10 For though you had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and only wounded men remained among them, they would each rise up in his tent and burn this city with fire.’” 11 When the army of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, 12 then Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to receive his portion there, in the middle of the people. 13 When he was in Benjamin’s gate, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans!” 14 Then Jeremiah said, “That is false! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans.” But he didn’t listen to him; so Irijah seized Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes. 15 The princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison. 16 When Jeremiah had come into the dungeon house and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days, 17 then Zedekiah the king sent and had him brought out. The king asked him secretly in his house, “Is there any word from Yahweh?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” He also said, “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” 18 Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison? 19 Now where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land’? 20 Now please hear, my lord the king: please let my supplication be presented before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.” 21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. They gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
A lifted siege convinces the city that the danger has passed, and the prophet who says otherwise is arrested at the gate on his way to claim a field.
Zedekiah's request opens the chapter and its shape is familiar: Pray now to Yahweh our God for us, from a king whose own summary is that neither he nor his servants nor the people listened to a word. What made the request seem promising was that an Egyptian army had marched, and the Babylonians had lifted the siege to meet it. For a few weeks Jerusalem was free. Its farmers were back on the roads, and every prophet who had predicted deliverance appeared to be right.
The word given is one of the flattest in the book. Pharaoh's army will go home; the Chaldeans will come back and burn the city; don't deceive yourselves. And then a sentence pushed to the point of absurdity, to close off the last hope. Even if the whole besieging army were struck down and only wounded men were left in the tents, those men would get up and burn the city. The outcome is not a matter of the military balance, and the passage says so in the most extreme terms it can find.
During the lull Jeremiah leaves by the gate of Benjamin to go north and take possession of his portion among his people — the errand of a man who had bought a field in exactly that district Jeremiah 32:9. He is seized by an officer with the charge You are defecting to the Chaldeans! The charge is not stupid. He had been telling the whole city that surrender was the way to live Jeremiah 21:9. His denial is two words long and is not believed. He is beaten, put into the vaulted cells of a house that had been converted into a prison, and left there many days.
The king then has him brought out secretly and asks the question the whole book has been about: Is there any word from Yahweh? The answer comes back in two syllables — There is — followed by the same sentence Zedekiah has been imprisoning men for repeating. Nothing is softened for a private audience with the man who controls his release. Then Jeremiah asks his own question, and it is a fair one: where are your prophets who told you the king of Babylon would not come? And he makes the single personal request recorded of him in the book. It is not for freedom. It is not to be sent back to that house, lest I die there. It is granted. He is moved to the court of the guard and given a loaf of bread a day from the bakers' street, until there was no bread left in the city.
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