19 And King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, I am troubled on account of the Jews who have gone over to the Chaldaeans, for fear that they may give me up to them and they will put me to shame.
However, a number even of the rulers had belief in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not say so openly for fear that they might be shut out from the Synagogue:
I, even I, am your comforter: are you so poor in heart as to be in fear of man who will come to an end, and of the son of man who will be like grass? And you have given no thought to the Lord your Maker, by whom the heavens were stretched out, and the earth placed on its base; and you went all day in fear of the wrath of the cruel one, when he was making ready for your destruction. And where is the wrath of the cruel one?
See, all the rest of the women in the house of the king of Judah will be taken out to the king of Babylon's captains, and these women will say, Your nearest friends have been false to you and have got the better of you: they have made your feet go deep into the wet earth, and they are turned away back from you.
Hearing this, Pilate had a desire to let him go free, but the Jews said in a loud voice, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend: everyone who makes himself a king goes against Caesar. So when these words came to Pilate's ear, he took Jesus out, seating himself in the judge's seat in a place named in Hebrew, Gabbatha, or the Stone Floor.
Now when their hearts were full of joy, they said, Send for Samson to make sport for us. And they sent for Samson out of the prison-house, and he made sport before them; and they put him between the pillars.
And Saul said to Samuel, Great is my sin: for I have gone against the orders of the Lord and against your words: because, fearing the people, I did what they said.
Then Saul said to the servant who had the care of his arms, Take out your sword and put it through me, before these men without circumcision come and make sport of me. But his servant, full of fear, would not do so. Then Saul took out his sword, and falling on it, put an end to himself.
For fear of the great body of people, or for fear that families might make sport of me, so that I kept quiet, and did not go out of my door;
The fear of man is a cause of danger: but whoever puts his faith in the Lord will have a safe place on high.
Cursed is he who has an argument with his Maker, the pot which has an argument with the Potter! Will the wet earth say to him who is working with it, What are you doing, that your work has nothing by which it may be gripped? Cursed is he who says to a father, To what are you giving life? or to a woman, What are you in birth-pains with?
Then Zedekiah the king said, See, he is in your hands: for the king was not able to do anything against them.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 38
Commentary on Jeremiah 38 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 38
In this chapter, just as in the former, we have Jeremiah greatly debased under the frowns of the princes, and yet greatly honoured by the favour of the king. They used him as a criminal; he used him as a privy-counsellor. Here,
Jer 38:1-13
Here,
Jer 38:14-28
In the foregoing chapter we had the king in close conference with Jeremiah, and here again, though (v. 5) he had given him up into the hands of his enemies; such a struggle there was in the breast of this unhappy prince between his convictions and his corruptions. Observe,