EXPOSITION
This chapter is very confused as it stands. To restore order it is absolutely necessary to suppose that some passages (viz. Jeremiah 39:1, Jeremiah 39:2, and Jeremiah 39:4-13) have been inserted by after thoughts. It is important to notice that the latter of these passages is omitted in the Septuagint. We need not go so far as to excise them altogether, but we must at any rate enclose them in parentheses. The chapter then becomes a narrative of the solemn session held by the Babylonian officers in the "middle gate," and the charge which they gave to Gedaliah to take Jeremiah under his protection. Verses 1, 2 appear to be taken from 2 Kings 25:1-4 ( = Jeremiah 52:4-7); 2 Kings 25:4-10 to be shortened from 2 Kings 25:4-12 ( = Jeremiah 52:7-16). It is difficult to believe that Jeremiah himself made these insertions, not merely because they interrupt the sense, but because they involve several historical difficulties. According to Jeremiah 38:28, Jeremiah "abode in the court of the watch till the day that Jerusalem was taken;" but the prima facie meaning of our verses 13, 14 is that Nebuzar-adan sent to liberate Jeremiah, and yet, according to 2 Kings 25:8 ( = Jeremiah 52:12), this officer did not arrive at Jerusalem till a month after its capture. Another difficulty is that, according to 2 Kings 25:14, Jeremiah was set free by order of Nebuzar-adan, whereas Jeremiah 40:1-5 states distinctly that Jeremiah had been taken in fetters to Ramah, where he was liberated by Nebuzar-adan himself. Even if there should be some reasonable way of harmonizing these various statements (see especially below on verse 14), yet is it likely that Jeremiah himself used such inconsistent language? Still, the notice in verses 11, 12 is in itself not improbable, and the spelling "Nebuchad-rezzar" separates it from the rest of the passage (verses 4-13); it is possible, therefore, that, in spite of its omission in the Septuagint (which wrongly retains verses 1, 2), they are the work of Jeremiah.