Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 21:8

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Jeremiah 21:8. Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. — Meaning escape or destruction in the present instance. This is explained in the next verse.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

21:1-25:38 WARNINGS TO KINGS AND FALSE PROPHETS

A message for Zedekiah (21:1-10)

This message was given late in the reign of Judah’s last king, Zedekiah. Jerusalem was under its last great siege, which resulted in its fall and destruction in 587 BC. The king sent to Jeremiah and asked that he would pray to God to save Jerusalem from the Babylonians (21:1-2). Jeremiah replies that God will not save Jerusalem but will fight for the Babylonians (Chaldeans) against Jerusalem. Many of the people within the city will die, and those who survive will be taken captive to Babylon (3-7). Since this is God’s judgment, the people of Jerusalem have no chance of success against the invaders. Jeremiah tells them they would do better to surrender and so save their lives (8-10).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

GOD’S MESSAGE TO THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM

“And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He that abideth in the city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth out and passeth over to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him a prey. For I have set my face upon this city for evil, and not for good, saith Jehovah: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.”

God had decreed the inevitable destruction of Jerusalem because of the total apostasy and gross wickedness of the people; and the terrible destruction impending was nothing but what the people themselves had ordered by their rejection of God’s will and their utter reprobacy. It was very appropriate that the words in these three verses should be taken almost verbatim from Deuteronomy 30:15-20. Countless warnings the people had received, but they would not hear. Some terrible inability to respond to God’s warnings seems to have taken hold of the hearts of the people. Like a bird charmed by a snake, they simply sat still until the blow fell.

Even when such inability in the face of certain death is witnessed in the natural creation around us, it is sad indeed, but in no manner as sad as when it is seen among human beings whom God has endowed with the gift of intelligence.

It is said that sometimes in the late fall of the year in the Cornwall area of England, the migratory waterfowl are trapped by an early freeze, resulting in the death of large numbers of them. They are tempted to feast a little too long on the apples that lie rotting on the ground.

HEAR THE SUMMONS FROM ON HIGH!

“Beneath the Cornwall apple trees,
The migratory fowl delay
Their flight from Winter’s chilling breeze
And feast their day of grace away.
Spread ripe and rotting on the ground,
The banquet seems to have no end.
The warning trumpet does not sound
Within, or, sounding, fails to send
Their strong wings on the Southward path.
The noble fowl remains too long,
All heedless of the Winter’s wrath,
Unmindful of the even-song...
Until they’re trapped beneath the trees
In misty sheets of freezing rain.
Feet locked to earth by bitter freeze;
The call to rise and fly is vain.
Also, for me, Life’s banquet calls;
Its pleasures drown all doubts and fears.
The soul’s high purpose dims, and falls
Unrealized despite the tears.
At last, the summons from On High
Strikes through the heart. Shall I
Too find that hope has passed me by?
Or shall I rise, in time and fly?”
- James Burton Coffman

The dreadful alternative of life or death was here presented in the words of Deuteronomy; but there was a significant difference. When Moses thus addressed the people, “The choice was between a life lived under the blessing and favor of God, and a life of sin and death; but here it is the miserable alternative of a life saved by desertion to the enemy with its resulting captivity, and certain death sure to come to all who remained in the city by sword, by pestilence, or by famine.”Scribner’s Bible Commentary (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1898), p. 434.

Jeremiah was indeed a type of Jesus Christ in some particulars; and one of them is evident here. Both Jeremiah and Christ commanded the true followers of God to abandon the city of Jerusalem. Christ did so in Matthew 24:16 at the time of the Roman siege in A.D. 70. In that instance, however, the Christians would be fleeing to a place of safety at Pella.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Compare the marginal reference; but here the alternative is a life saved by desertion to the enemy, or a death by famine, pestilence, and the sword within the walls.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

God here declares that he proposed to the people the way of life and the way of death, in order that they might surely know that all who remained in the city would soon meet with death, and that those who willingly surrendered to their enemies would have their life spared. Moses says in another sense that he set before them the way of life and the way of death; he spoke of the Law, which contains promises of God’s favor, and threatenings to transgressors. But the Prophet means here another thing, that is, that there was no hope of safety except the Jews submitted their neck to the yoke, and surrendered of themselves to their enemies; for if they pertinaciously defended themselves, God would be their enemy, for he had led the Chaldeans to assail them, and directed their counsels and their forces. He indeed confirms what he had said before, but at the same time he more particularly describes what was to be, that the Jews might lay aside their perverseness, and acknowledge that they could not escape the correction which they deserved.

The import of what is said is, that as the Chaldeans fought under the authority of God, they would be victorious; it was then in vain for the Jews to resist, as they could not escape, unless they overcame God himself, which was impossible. He leaves then but one hope to them, that is, humbly to acknowledge God’s just judgment by submitting of themselves to a temporal punishment, and by enduring exile with a resigned mind. This then is the meaning, and it is not different discourse, but the Prophet confirms what he had said before, and at the same time applies God’s threatenings to the state of the people, so that they might humble themselves, and not think it of any use to resist God in their obstinacy, as they would at length be constrained to succumb.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Jeremiah chapter 21.

Now the book of Jeremiah is not written in a consecutive kind of an order. This particular prophecy Jeremiah dates. They're just the prophecies of Jeremiah at particular times in particular situations, but they don't necessarily follow in a sequential order or in a chronological order. So this particular prophecy in chapter 21 to king Zedekiah actually takes place about six years after the prophecy of chapter 24. So you see, they're not in a chronological order. They are just his prophecies at the various times and they're just thrown in, not in a chronological order, but just thrown in. Now I don't know what the order is, or if there is any, or if there's any reason for their not being in a chronological order. But he is careful to date for us the particular times of the prophecies. So he dates chapter 21, this particular prophecy to Zedekiah.

The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying, Inquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us ( Jeremiah 21:1-2 );

Now Pashur last week was the priest that when Jeremiah was prophesying put him in stocks. Arrested him and put him in stocks and all. And, of course, it brought great discouragement to Jeremiah, for he decided to quit his prophetic ministry until God's word like a fire burned in him and he could not hold back from speaking forth God's truth. And this same Pashur now is sent by king Zedekiah to find out what's going to happen because Babylon is marching. The armies of Nebuchadnezzar are there. What's going to happen to us? And so they're sending to Jeremiah now to find the word of the Lord concerning their present dilemma. "Inquire, I pray thee, to the Lord for us."

for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon is making war against us; see if will so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all of his wondrous works, that he [Nebuchadnezzar] may go up from us ( Jeremiah 21:2 ).

And so he is asking Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord concerning what is going to be happening. Will the Lord turn back Nebuchadnezzar according to God's marvelous works? and so forth. Jeremiah does not have a good message for Zedekiah.

Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah: Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls ( Jeremiah 21:3-4 ),

They're already outside besieging them.

I will assemble them into the midst of this city ( Jeremiah 21:4 ).

They're outside of the walls now, but they're going to be assembling right in the middle of town.

And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: and they shall die of a great pestilence. And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; and he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy ( Jeremiah 21:5-7 ).

So the message that he has for Zedekiah is not at all a comforting message. Not only is God going to allow the Babylonian troops to assemble right here in the middle of the city, but God Himself is going to turn His hand against Israel, against Zedekiah, and against the armies, and God is going to destroy them. And there will not be a sparing of them, pity nor mercy.

And unto this people ( Jeremiah 21:8 )

Now that was the message to Zedekiah. Now to the people Jeremiah declares,

Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death ( Jeremiah 21:8 ).

Isn't this true always? That God sets before man the way of life and the way of death. When God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, God set before him the way of life and the way of death. There were two special trees in the garden. There was the tree of life; there was also the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil, which also was the tree of death. For God said, "Thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" ( Genesis 2:17 ). So it was the tree of death. Now I always marvel to myself that Adam would have eaten of the tree of death before he ate of the tree of life. But after he had eaten of the tree of death and the Lord drove him from the garden, you remember that the Lord put an angel there to guard the way into the garden lest he would come back and eat of the tree of life and live forever in that degenerated spiritual state.

Now that always amazes and surprises me that God gives to man a way of life, a way of death, and man so foolishly oftentimes takes the way of death. Now it is true of every one of us tonight. God has laid before each of us tonight the way of life, the way of death. The Bible says the mind of the flesh is death. The mind of the Spirit is life and joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. You have your choice. You can live after your flesh, that's the way of death. You can live after the Spirit, that is the way of life. So don't blame Adam for making a foolish choice, because so many people today are making the same foolish choices because God has laid before each man the way of life and the way of death. This is the perpetual story of God. "I've laid before you the way of life, the way of death." And now you must exercise your own capacity of choice to choose either life or death. "He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" ( 1 John 5:12 ). "The wrath of God is abiding upon him" ( John 3:36 ). God has given you the way of life, the way of death.

So in this particular case, he said,

If you abide [or stay] in this city you will surely die by the sword, or the famine, or the pestilence: but if you'll go out, and surrender to the Chaldeans that are besieging you, you will live, and your life will be for him a prey ( Jeremiah 21:9 ).

So he is saying now, "Look, if you'll just go out and surrender they'll spare your life. If you stay in here, you're going to be slain in one of three ways-either by the pestilence that God will bring against it, the famine, or the sword of the Babylonians."

Now you can see how that this kind of a message would be interpreted as a treasonable statement. And so Jeremiah was accused of treason and thrown into the dungeon because of this particular prophecy, because he is encouraging them to capitulate, to surrender to the enemy. And so he's accused of being a traitor and placed into prison when this message was delivered to the people, because he's encouraging them to surrender. But it's God saying, "Hey, you have the way of life, the way of death. If you want to live, go out and surrender to them. If you want to die, just stay here in this city and you're going to die either by the sword, the pestilence or famine."

For the Lord said,

For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire ( Jeremiah 21:10 ).

This city's going to be destroyed, burned with fire.

And touching the house of the king of Judah, say ( Jeremiah 21:11 ),

And so this is a third part of the message. This is now to the house of Zedekiah.

Hear ye the word of the LORD; O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like a fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations? But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it ( Jeremiah 21:11-14 ).

And so the message to Zedekiah in response to his request to find out how things are going to go. Not so good, buddy. It's looking tough, you know. You're in bad shape.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Zedekiah’s request and Jeremiah’s response 21:1-10

This passage probably dates from the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 588-586 B.C. (Jeremiah 21:2; Jeremiah 21:4; cf. 2 Kings 25). King Zedekiah sought advice from Jeremiah more than once (cf. Jeremiah 37:3-10; Jeremiah 37:17-21; Jeremiah 38:14-28). This passage consists of two oracles (Jeremiah 21:1-10).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The prophet also received another message from the Lord. Yahweh was going to give the people the choice of living or dying (cf. Deuteronomy 30:15; Deuteronomy 30:19; Matthew 7:13-14).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And unto the people thou shalt say, thus saith the Lord,.... These are the words, not of the prophet to the messengers of the king, ordering or advising them what they each of them should say to the people; for the message by them is finished; but they are the words of the Lord to the prophet, directing him what he should say to the people at this critical juncture:

behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death; the way how to preserve their lives; and which, if they did not choose to take, would be inevitable death. The allusion seems to be to a phrase used by Moses, when he gave the law; obedience to which would issue in life, and disobedience in death, Deuteronomy 30:15.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      8 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.   9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.   10 For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.   11 And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;   12 O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.   13 Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?   14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.

      By the civil message which the king sent to Jeremiah it appeared that both he and the people began to have a respect for him, which it would have been Jeremiah's policy to make some advantage of for himself; but the reply which God obliges him to make is enough to crush the little respect they begin to have for him, and to exasperate them against him more than ever. Not only the predictions in the Jeremiah 21:1-7, but the prescriptions in these, were provoking; for here,

      I. He advises the people to surrender and desert to the Chaldeans, as the only means left them to save their lives, Jeremiah 21:8-10; Jeremiah 21:8-10. This counsel was very displeasing to those who were flattered by their false prophets into a desperate resolution to hold out to the last extremity, trusting to the strength of their walls and the courage of their soldiery to keep out the enemy, or to their foreign aids to raise the siege. The prophet assures them, "The city shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall not only plunder it, but burn it with fire, for God himself hath set his face against this city for evil and not for good, to lay it waste and not to protect it, for evil which shall have no good mixed with it, no mitigation or merciful allay; and therefore, if you would make the best of bad, you must beg quarter of the Chaldeans, and surrender prisoners of war." In vain did Rabshakeh persuade the Jews to do this while they had God for them (Isaiah 36:16), but it was the best course they could take now that God was against them. Both the law and the prophets had often set before them life and death in another sense--life if they obey the voice of God, death if they persist in disobedience, Deuteronomy 30:19. But they had slighted that life which would have made them truly happy, to upbraid them with which the prophet here uses the same expression (Jeremiah 21:8; Jeremiah 21:8): Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death, which denotes not, as that, a fair proposal, but a melancholy dilemma, advising them of two evils to choose the less; and that less evil, a shameful and wretched captivity, is all the life now left for them to propose to themselves. He that abides in the city, and trusts to that to secure him, shall certainly die either by the sword without the walls or famine or pestilence within. But he that can so far bring down his spirit, and quit his vain hopes, as to go out, and fall to the Chaldeans, his life shall be given him for a prey; he shall save his life, but with much difficulty and hazard, as a prey is taken from the mighty. It is an expression like that, He shall be saved, yet so as by fire. He shall escape but very narrowly, or he shall have such surprising joy and satisfaction in escaping with his life from such a universal destruction as shall equal theirs that divide the spoil. They thought to make a prey of the camp of the Chaldeans, as their ancestors did that of the Assyrians (Isaiah 33:23), but they will be sadly disappointed; if by yielding at discretion they can but save their lives, that is all the prey they must promise themselves. Now one would think this advice from a prophet, in God's name, should have gained some credit with them and been universally followed; but, for aught that appears, there were few or none that took it; so wretchedly were their hearts hardened, to their destruction.

      II. He advises the king and princes to reform, and make conscience of the duty of their place. Because it was the king that sent the message to him, in the reply there shall be a particular word for the house of the king, not to compliment or court them (that was no part of the prophet's business, no, not when they did him the honour to send to him), but to give them wholesome counsel (Jeremiah 21:11; Jeremiah 21:12): "Execute judgment in the morning; do it carefully and diligently. Those magistrates that would fill up their place with duty had need rise betimes. Do it quickly, and do not delay to do justice upon appeals made to you, and tire out poor petitioners as you have done. Do not lie in your beds in a morning to sleep away the debauch of the night before, nor spend the morning in pampering the body (as those princes, Ecclesiastes 10:16), but spend it in the despatch of business. You would be delivered out of the hand of those that distress you, and expect that therein God should do you justice; see then that you do justice to those that apply to you, and deliver them out of the hand of their oppressors, lest my fury go out like fire against you in a particular manner, and you fare worst who think to escape best, because of the evil of your doings." Now, 1. This intimates that it was their neglect to do their duty that brought all this desolation upon the people. It was the evil of their doings that kindled the fire of God's wrath. Thus plainly does he deal even with the house of the king; for those that would have the benefit of a prophet's prayers must thankfully take a prophet's reproofs. 2. This directs them to take the right method for a national reformation. The princes must begin, and set a good example, and then the people will be invited to reform. They must use their power for the punishment of wrong, and then the people will be obliged to reform. He reminds them that they are the house of David, and therefore should tread in his steps, who executed judgment and justice to his people. 3. This gives them some encouragement to hope that there may yet be a lengthening of their tranquillity, Daniel 4:27. If any thing will recover their state from the brink of ruin, this will.

      III. He shows them the vanity of all their hopes so long as they continued unreformed, Jeremiah 21:13; Jeremiah 21:14. Jerusalem is an inhabitant of the valley, guarded with mountains on all sides, which were their natural fortifications, making it difficult for an army to approach them. It is a rock of the plain, which made it difficult for an enemy to undermine them. These advantages of their situation they trusted to more than to the power and promise of God; and, thinking their city by these means to be impregnable, they set the judgments of God at defiance, saying, "Who shall come down against us? None of our neighbours dare make a descent upon us, or, if they do, who shall enter into our habitations?" They had some colour for this confidence; for it appears to have been the sense of all their neighbours that no enemy could force his way into Jerusalem, Lamentations 4:12. But those are least safe that are most secure. God soon shows the vanity of that challenge, Who shall come down against us? when he says (Jeremiah 21:13; Jeremiah 21:13), Behold, I am against thee. They had indeed by the wickedness driven God out of their city when he would have tarried with them as a friend; but they could not by their bulwarks keep them out of their city when he came against them as an enemy. If God be for us, who can be against us? But, if he be against us, who can be for us, to stand us in any stead? Nay, he comes against them not as an enemy that may lawfully and with some hope of success be resisted, but as a judge that cannot be resisted; for he says (Jeremiah 21:14; Jeremiah 21:14), I will punish you, by due course of law, according to the fruit of your doings, that is, according to the merit of them and the direct tendency of them. That shall be brought upon you which is the natural product of sin. Nay, he will not only come with the anger of an enemy and the justice of a judge, but with the force of a consuming fire, which has no compassion, as a judge sometimes has, nor spares any thing combustible that comes in its way. Jerusalem has become a forest, in which God will kindle a fire that shall consume all before it; for our God is himself a consuming fire; and who is able to stand in his sight when once he is angry?