Towards the end of Zedekiah's reign, Jeremiah pleaded with him, telling him to willingly serve Babylon. A period of 70 years servitude to Babylon was already in place and Jeremiah told the king that if he was not prepared to serve Babylon, the city of Jerusalem would be needlessly destroyed and his life would needlessly be taken. But if Zedekiah surrendered, not only would his life be spared, but the city would not be burned down.
(Jeremiah 38:17 – 18, NIV): “Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, ‘This is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from their hands.’ ” (see also verses 19 to 23)
Rather than quote the above passage, the WTS misrepresents Jeremiah’s words with a misleading paraphrase of Jeremiah's words:
“King Zedekiah, either you yourself as king surrender Jerusalem to the Chaldeans or else Jehovah will take it upon himself to surrender it to be burned down by the Chaldeans.” (Watchtower February 1 1980 page 25 par. 9, “Serve the ‘King of the Nations’ and Survive”)
All Zedekiah had to do was be prepared to “serve Babylon” for the decreed 70 years that had already been running for 20 years, and the city need not have been destroyed. But Zedekiah would not listen, so the city was quite needlessly destroyed.
The WTS totally misrepresents this passage of Scripture, trying to make it say the opposite of what it quite plainly says. Jeremiah makes it plain that the 70 years could have continued without any need for Jerusalem’s destruction.
The WTS twists Jeremiah 38:17 18
by Doug Mason 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Doug Mason
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AnnOMaly
Jeremiah makes it plain that the 70 years could have continued without any need for Jerusalem’s destruction.
I'm with ya. This small but very important point often goes over JW's heads (well, the ones I've spoken to anyhoo). Jerusalem's destruction was not a foregone conclusion. And I believe it was a test of Zedekiah's faith in God. Had he complied with God's instructions to 'serve Babylon,' paid his tax to Neb and stopped digging his heals in and causing trouble, Jerusalem would have been left alone (Jer. 27:12-17).
I don't see how the WT twisted the meaning of Jer 38 in this case. It's a paraphrase, yes, but hasn't changed the sense of the biblical passage.
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Doug Mason
I cannot agree with your claim that the paraphrase of Jeremiah 38:17-18 in the Watchtower, February1, 1980 twists what Jeremiah said for it is simply the csae that a choice was put to Zedekiah that by his actions, Jerusalem's fate could be determined. In fact, you muddy the waters by yopur claiming that the 70 years of servitude had already commenced at that time of Jeremiah's prophecy. The Bible clearly indicates that the seventy years only began with the destruction of Jerusalem in 607 BCE when Nebuchadnezzer finally deported the population to exile at Babylon leaving a desolated land of Judah. The period of seventy years does not enter anywhere into the context of Jeremiah 38 and all that you are doing is introducing the 70 years as a 'red herring'.
scholar JW
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AnnOMaly
Jerermiah does not make it plain that the 70 years could have run without the destruction of Jerusalem because Jeremiah makes it very plain that the seventy years was not only a period of servitude to Babylon but included exile and desolation of the land. At that late hour of Zedekiah's reign he could have chosen to what extent Jerusalem would be destroyed and that such a surrender would not have resulted in preventing the period of the seventy years for that prophetic judgement had to run its course. At that time Judah was already in servitude to Babylon so this proves that the final outcome had to eventuate and that final outcome would be simply the fact of complete deportation of the people from Judah to Babylon and a land desolate for a period of seventy years.
scholar JW
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Doug Mason
G’day Scholar,
At its ultimate, the prophesied “desolation” of Judah described its future end as a nation and removal from its land. The destruction of Israel served as the example to Judah, and the warnings of Isaiah and Jeremiah continually reminded the people of that fate.
A prophecy served as a warning to its recipients, should the people not heed the message. The outcome of a prophecy lay in the people’s hands. Heed the warning and the dire consequences would be laid aside. Jonah provides an example of this. Promises are likewise conditional.
Being a Jew meant the privilege of being born into the LORD’s chosen family. But with that privilege came responsibility. Being in the LORD’s chosen family did not mean they could do whatever they wished. Being in the LORD’s chosen family did not mean they could not be cast aside.
The ongoing evil ways of Judah’s kings such as Manasseh, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah sealed Judah’s fate, so the prophesied warning came to pass. The promised desolation happened because the people of Judah were determined to remain depraved.
These people were foul, vile, wicked, depraved, evil. They worshiped false gods, even within God’s sanctuary. They sacrificed their own children to these gods.
“They set up their abominable idols in the house that bears my Name and defiled it. They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech, though I never commanded, nor did it enter my mind, that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.” (Jer 32:34-35)
The final test came when Zedekiah was told to willingly serve Babylon. This servitude had been decreed through Jeremiah some 20 years earlier. Should Zedekiah comply with the decreed 70 years of servitude, the prophesied desolation would not occur.
The parallelism at Jeremiah 38: 17-18 makes obvious the message to Zedekiah:
* "If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon:
- your life will be spared and
- this city will not be burned down;
- you and your family will live.* But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon,
- this city will be handed over to the Babylonians
- and they will burn it down;
- you yourself will not escape from their hands.”Zedekiah was clearly being told: “surrender and you will save the city from destruction”. In its paraphrase of Jeremiah’s words, the WTS fails to make it crystal clear that the destruction of Jerusalem could have been prevented:
The WTS paraphrases thus: “King Zedekiah, either you yourself as king surrender Jerusalem to the Chaldeans or else Jehovah will take it upon himself to surrender it to be burned down by the Chaldeans.” (Watchtower February 1 1980 page 25 par. 9, “Serve the ‘King of the Nations’ and Survive”)
If the WTS did not misrepresent (my word: “twist”) Jeremiah’s words, they would have written their paraphrase something like this:
“King Zedekiah, surrender Jerusalem to the Chaldeans [Babylonians] so that the city need not be burned down, otherwise Jehovah will have it burned down by them.”
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Before Jerusalem was unnecessarily destroyed, Judah had already ceased functioning as a viable nation. Its leading people had long been removed and its systems were in total disarray.
Thus before Nebuchadnezzar struck the final blow against Jerusalem, the people were already declaring that the city had been destroyed and the land was already “without man or beast”. The following statements were made before the final and successful blows against Jerusalem.
“This land of which you say, ‘It is a desolate waste, without men or animals, for it has been handed over to the Babylonians.’” (Jer 32:43)
“This is what the LORD says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without men or animals.” ’.” (Jer 33:10. See also verse 12.)
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(a) I would be interested to know of any full direct quote by the WTS of Jeremiah 38:17-18.
(b) I would also like to know if the WTS fully explains the two options placed before Zedekiah.
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The WTS muddies the waters. It confuses God’s warnings to these evil kings of Judah with the decreed 70 years of servitude to Babylon by the nations. The Bible makes the distinction crystal clear. The 70 years of servitude could have been completed without Judah being totally desolated. The decreed servitude served as the final test of the people’s resolve, but they failed the test.
The WTS muddies the waters by mixing two streams:
1. The long-standing warnings to Judah of the dire consequences of their evil ways.
2. The “70 years” of Babylonian dominance and servitude to it by the nations.
The distinction between these streams is shown at Jer 25:11:
* “This whole country will become a desolate wasteland”, and
* “These nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
The outcome of the first warning lay in the hands of the people of Judah. The 70 years of servitude was a separate decree and it had started some 20 years before the unnecessary destruction of Jerusalem and the land of Judah.
Doug
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Doug Mason
Post 438
I simply cannot agree with your claim that the Society has paraphrased Jeremiah 38: 17, 18 incorrectly or has twisted a very obvious and plain reading of the text. It appears that you are trying to superimpose a meaning of the text by somehow dividing up the seventy years as a period of servitude alone rather than the simple fact that the seventy years was a period of servitude-exile-desolation as described by Jeremiah 25:11.
The events of chapter 38 pertain to the seige of Jerusalem prior to her Fall and Destruction in 607 BCE for at that time Judah was already in servitude to Babylon but the foretold seventy years had not then commenced because Jerusalem and Judah were inhabited. Zedekiah simply faced a choice and could have minimized the effects of the seige but foretols seventy years would still have to run its course as Jeremiah foretold.
scholar JW
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Doug Mason
G'day Scholar,
I leave it to others to read these verses and decide for themselves.
Obviously you are unable to provide a direct quotation of these verses in full from a WT publication (other than their NWT, of course). Maybe they have not commented on these verses.
Regards,
Doug