Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, 2 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. 3 Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you will indeed obey this word, then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation. 6 For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:
“‘You are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of Lebanon,
yet surely I will make you a desert,
an uninhabited city.
7 I will prepare destroyers against you,
each with his weapons,
and they shall cut down your choicest cedars
and cast them into the fire.
8 “‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, “Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” 9 And they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”’”
10 Weep not for him who is dead,
nor grieve for him,
but weep bitterly for him who goes away,
for he shall return no more
to see his native land.
Message to the Sons of Josiah
11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, 12 but in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”
13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
and his upper rooms by injustice,
who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing
and does not give him his wages,
14 who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
with spacious upper rooms,’
who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar
and painting it with vermilion.
15 Do you think you are a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
declares the Lord.
17 But you have eyes and heart
only for your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
“They shall not lament for him, saying,
‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’
19 With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried,
dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from Abarim,
for all your lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
This has been your way from your youth,
that you have not obeyed my voice.
22 The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
and your lovers shall go into captivity;
then you will be ashamed and confounded
because of all your evil.
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon,
nested among the cedars,
how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,
pain as of a woman in labor!”
24 “As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off 25 and give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. 27 But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return.”
28 Is this man Coniah a despised, broken pot,
a vessel no one cares for?
Why are he and his children hurled and cast
into a land that they do not know?
29 O land, land, land,
hear the word of the Lord!
30 Thus says the Lord:
“Write this man down as childless,
a man who shall not succeed in his days,
for none of his offspring shall succeed
in sitting on the throne of David
and ruling again in Judah.” Jeremiah 22 ESV
Jeremiah 22 The Neglected Things
…19because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. 20The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven 21and single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.…
…22Then the generation to come—your sons who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land—will see the plagues of the land and the sicknesses the LORD has inflicted on it. 23All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger. 24So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’… Deuteronomy 29: 19-24
1-9. Sits on the throne of David - This is an important reference to God's covenant relationship with David. He expected kings to be respectable, to carry out justice, not just for the rich or popular, for that is not justice at all. Men think much of the crown, but they don't understand it's weight; they like it because it's shiny, because it comes with comfort, power and prestige.
For if you will indeed obey this word - He gives the present king a chance to repent, but there is not much time, and though a life here may be wasted, yet if it is evening and you hear that voice, still repent. There will be no time for works, only trusting in the works of Christ, and this is all there ever was.
Gilead and Lebanon - The beautiful mountainous regions, where the famed cedars of Lebanon grew.
And many nations will pass by this city - God's holiness will be elevated because the giver of the law was not influenced by empty ritual. Many will not want a God like this, and multitudes will not acknowledge Him as Lord because He can't be bought, can't be made with their hands. There is no other God, and they forsook him for dead things, idols, but He held fast to His word. He is eternal, and His attributes remain eternally intact. He punished His own people, and in order to save a remnant He will have to meet the requirements of His own holiness, righteousness, and there is no one holy or righteous among Adam's seed, much less eternally so.
10. Weep not for him who is dead - This may be in reference to Josiah. Josiah was a king that honored God more than most, especially more than his son, so while his death may have seemed early or abrupt to this people, yet he should be envied as a saint. He is with God, at peace, to be absent from here is to be present with the Lord. We should feel concern for those who are going into the captivity, our prayers should be with those who will be tested by various trials.
…7For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So we aspire to please Him, whether we are here in this body or away from it.… 2 Corinthians 5: 7-9
…22But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what shall I choose? I do not know. 23 I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed. 24But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.… Philippians 1: 22-24
11-17. Concerning Shallum - Shallum means retribution, and oddly it sounds a lot like shalom which means peace, well being.
A son of king Josiah ( 1 Chronicles 3:15 ; Jeremiah 22:11 ), who was elected to succeed his father on the throne, although he was two years younger than his brother Eliakim. He assumed the crown under the name of Jehoahaz (q.v.). He did not imitate the example of his father ( 2 Kings 23:32 ), but was "a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men" ( Ezekiel 19:3 ). His policy was anti-Egyptian therefore. Necho, at that time at Riblah, sent an army against Jerusalem, which at once yielded, and Jehoahaz was carried captive to the Egyptian camp, Eliakim being appointed king in his stead. He remained a captive in Egypt till his death, and was the first king of Judah that died in exile. - B.S.T.
Who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing - A workman is worth his wage, but so many think their presence, title, to be such an honor that others need pay tribute.
Then it was well with him - He liked to compete in cedar, or look big and important, but he was unjust. His father ate and drank, but not by raising taxes on others, and he did not make others pay for his mismanagement. Josiah's son thinks being a king is just power and excesses, the fruit fell and then rolled far away from the tree, where it spoiled.
18-30. They shall not lament for him - Jehoiakim is next and all Israel lamented over their father Josiah, because he tried to reign justly, but his sons are not the same. The book of Lamentations laments Josiah, and was written by Jeremiah. Just leadership is an honor to a nation, but when the people are corrupt God gives them matching leaders. No one will be sorry to see him go, except maybe those that benefitted from his injustice.
I spoke to you in your prosperity - Men are so vain, as if they create the world, make it rain, ungrateful tenants that they are. Why do we forget God when things go well? Why do we pat ourselves on the back so much?
Though Coniah -
Though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off: Perhaps Judah and the leaders of the house of David believed they were too loved by God to be judged. God here promised that even if they were as valued as the signet on God’s right hand, so judgment could and would come. - E W
i. “Nothing can now prevent Jehoiachin’s exile, for in plucking off the signet God has rejected his leadership.” (Harrison)
Write this man down as childless - Though he had children, none would succeed to the throne.
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