free. The time of this prophecy is observed, ver. 1,
6, 7. the taking and burning of the city, ver. e. the
carrying captive the king, who yet should not die a
violent death, but in peace, and should have an ho-
hourable funeral, ver. 3, 4, 5. the covenant tim king,
princes, and people entered into, to let their servants go
free, according to the law of God, which was at first
observed, and afterwards retracted, ver. 8, 9, 10, 11.
which conduct is taken notice of and resented, ver.
13, 14, 15, 1G. and they are threatened with the sore
judgtnents of God, sword, famine, pestilence, and
captivity, the king, princes, priests, and people; and
with the destruction, not on of Jerusalem, but of the
rest of the cities ofJudah, ver. 17--22.
Ver. 1. The word which came unto Jeremiah from the
Lord, &c.] This prophecy came to Jeremiah, and
was delivered by him, when he was at liberty, and
before his imprisonment, and was the occasion of it, as
appears from oh. xxxii. 2, 3, ,t. 5. compared with ver.
'2, 3, ofthis chapter; the prophecies not standing in
the proper order in which they were given out; for the
prophecy, in this first part of the chapter at least, was
delivered out before that in el;. xxxii.: when Nebuchad-
nezzar king of Bab!!lon, a,d all his army, a,d all the
kingdoms   of the earth of his dominion, and all the people,
fought against .]erusalem; when this mighty monarch
appeared before Jerusalem with a numerous army, con-
sisting of Chaldeans, the natives of his own kingdom,
and with the auxiliary troops of the several kiugdoms
he had subdued. and made tributary to him, even
people of almost every nation under the heavens;
and invested it, and laid siege to it, and lay against
it: and ag'ainst all the cities thereof; the rest of
the cities of Judah, which were as daughters of Jeru-
salem, the metropolis or mother-city: saying; as
follows:
Vet. 2. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, &c.]
Who, though the covenant-God of Israel, yet provoked
by their sins, sends the fo11owing message to their
k ing: .e'o and speak to Zedelciah king o. fJudah, and tell
him: alone; and tell it to no other but him, at least
at present; the message being more peculiar to him,
and must, had it been told to the people, been very
disheartening to them: behold, I will give this city into
the haod of the king of Bab!/lon, and he shall burn it
with fire; see ch. xxxii. 3. which was exactly accom-
plished, ch. lii. 13.
Ver. & And thou shalt not escape out of his hand,
&c.'] Though he would, and did attempt to do it,
ch. lii. 8, 9: but shall surely be taken, and delivered into
his hand; he was taken on the plains of Jericho, and
delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon at
Riblah; as may be seen in the place jujst referred to:
and thine e!tes shall behold the eyes of the Icing of Baby-
lon; and that was all; for they were quickly put out
by him: and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth,
and thou shalt go to Babylon; see ch. xxxii. 3. and lii.
9, 11.
Vet. 4. Yet hear the word of the .Lord, 0 Zedelciah
king ofJudah, &c.] Which, though a king, he ought
to hearken to; and, besides, what follows was for
comfort, b. eing a mitigation of his sentence, and con-
taining in it mercy, as well as .judgment: thus saith
the Lord of thee, thou shalt not die by the sword: of the
king of Babylon; or a violent death; and therefore
fear not to deliver up thyself and city into his hands;
which he might be 1oth to do, fearing he would put
him to death immediately.
Ver. 5. But thou shall die in peace, &c.] Upon his
bed, a natural death, and in good friendship with the
king' of Babylon; and, it may be, in peace with God;
tbr before his death, some time in his captivity, he
might be brought to true repentance for his sins: and
with the burnings of thy.fathers, the formcr kings which
were before thee: so shall they burn odours for thee.
The sense is, that he should have an honourable burial;
and that sweet odours and spices should be burned tbr
him, as were for the kings of Judah his predecessors,
particularly Ass, 2 Chron. xvi. 14. Josephus says{b},
that Nebuchadnezzar buried him in a royal manner;
though this seems to refer to what the people of the
Jews in Babylon would do in honour of him, by burn-
ing for him. The Rabbins say, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and
Ben Moloch observe, that they burned their beds and
ministeri ng vessels, or household goods {c}, as was usual on
such occasions. The Talmudists a say, all this honour
was done him for that single act of ordering Jeremiah
to be taken out of the dungeon; for this was done
honour to persons: so, when Gamaliel the elder died,
Onkelos the proselyte burned for him seventy Tyrian
pounds {e}; not such a quantity of money, but goods
that were worth so much; and this was a custom with
the Heathens, who used to burn the bodies of the dead,
to burn their garments with them, and their armour,
and whatever were valuable and esteemed of by thorn
!n life; and particularly odoriferous things, as frank-
incense, saffron, myrrh, spikenard, cassia, and cinna-
mon {f}; and which seem to be meant here, by comparing
the passage with the case of Asa before mentioned; for
though the word odours is not in the text, it seems
rightly enough supplied by us, as it is by other inter-
pretersg. The Vulgate Latin version very wrongly
translates it, and sheall burn thee; for it was not the
manner of the Jews to burn the bodies of the dead,
but to .inter them in the earth; and so Tacitus hob-
serves, it was the custom of the Jews not to burn, but
after the manner of the Egyptians to bury in the earth
nor does it appear to have been the custom of the
bylonians or Chaldeans, as should seem from the ac-
count that is given of the death and burial of the
BabylonSan monarch in Isa. xiv: and they will lament,
saying, Ah lord ! alas ! our lord the king is dead. The
form of lamentation said over him, as the Jews record1,
was, "alas ! King Zedekiah, who is dead, drank the
"dregs of all ages ;" was punished for the sins of men
in all generations past: .for I have pronounced the word,
saith the I,ord; both that which respects his capti-
vity, and that which refers to his death; the manner

{b} Antiqu. Jud. 1. 10. c. 8 sect. 7.
{c} Vid. T. Avoda Zara, fol. 11.1.
{d} T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 28. 2.
{e} T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 11.1.
{f} Vial. Kirehman. de Fuuer. Roman. 1.3. c. 5.
{g} Sub. myropolae, Munster; aromata odorata, sive res odoriferas
Vatablus; ustiones odorum, Junius & Tremellius.
{h} Histor. 1.5. c. 5.
{i} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 28. p. 81.