he agony of appearing
to be a traitor to his country and of preaching the doom of a people whom
he loves with all his soul.

The case of John Knox affords a parallel to that of the Hebrew prophet. He
told the garrison and citizens of St. Andrews, when besieged by the
French, that "their corrupt life could not escape punishment of God and
that was his continued advertisement from the time he was called to
preach" among them. "When they triumphed of their victory (the first
twenty days they had many prosperous chances) he lamented and ever said
'They saw not what he saw!' When they bragged of the force and thickness
of their walls, he said, 'They should be but egg-shells!' When they
vaunted 'England will rescue us!' he said, 'Ye shall not see them, but ye
shall be delivered into your enemies' hands and shall be carried to a
strange country!' " that is France. All of which came to pass, as with
Jeremiah's main predictions.(580)

The second of Jeremiah's pronouncements given above is followed by the
story of the besieged's despicable treatment of their slaves, XXXIV. 8-22;
based on a memoir by Baruch, but expanded. Both the Hebrew and the shorter
Greek offer in parts an uncertain text, and add this problem that their
story begins with a covenant to _proclaim a Liberty_(581) for the Hebrew
slaves in general, while the words which they attribute to Jeremiah limit
it to the emancipation, in terms of a particular law, of those slaves who
had completed six years of service (verse 14).(582) But neither this nor
the other and smaller uncertainties touch the substance of the story.(583)
As the siege began the king and other masters of slaves in Jerusalem
entered into solemn covenant to free their Hebrew slaves, obviously in
order to propitiate their God, and also some would assert (though
unsupported by the text) in order to increase their fighting ranks; but
when the siege was raised they forced their freedmen back to bondage: "a
deathbed repentance with the usual sequel on recovery."(584) This is the
barest exposure among many we have of the character of the people with
whom Jeremiah had to deal, and justifies the hardest he has said of their
shamelessness.

XXXIV. 17. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ye have not obeyed Me by
proclaiming a Liberty each for his countryman. Behold I am about
to proclaim for you a Liberty--to the sword, to the famine and to
the pestilence, and I will set you a consternation to all