Jeremiah 38:19, commentary and pictures

The verse records Zedekiah admitting he was afraid of the Jews who had surrendered to the Chaldeans, fearing they would hand him over, mock and ridicule him, and fearing for his life. It marks his rejection at the last hour of God's long-suffering mercy and way of escape, though he was convicted that Jeremiah spoke the truth. Jeremiah urged him with tears to obey God's counsel to surrender to Babylon, promising he would not be handed over and that he and his soul would live. Obedience even then would have spared the lives of the people and saved Zedekiah himself, his possessions, and the city from ruin by burning.

He refused to retrace his wrong course because fear of man had taken possession of his soul, he thought he had gone too far to retract, and he felt it too humiliating to tell the people he accepted the word of the Lord through Jeremiah and would not venture war against the enemy despite all the warnings. He yielded his manhood to become a cringing slave to public opinion, following the counsel of false prophets and men he despised who ridiculed his weakness. Though he sought Jeremiah's counsel only privately, he remained too weak to let his princes, courtiers and people know he had conferred with him or to act openly on God's message.

He had no fixed purpose of evil but had no resolution to stand boldly for the right and no moral stamina to obey, so fear of people and concern for public opinion kept him from obeying and he advanced steadily in the wrong direction, rejecting what he knew was right. Though clearly warned through Jeremiah how to escape the coming calamity by obeying God, his fear of the people and refusal to change course and place himself under God's protection ended in the foretold disaster of being blinded and taken captive to Babylon. His fate warns those who resist reproof and refuse repentance that they bring ruin upon themselves.