ar who had make Zedekiah king, or rather viceroy; and
that this second siege, of which the book of Jeremiah treats, was in
consequence of the revolt of Zedekiah against Nebuchadnezzar. This
will in some measure account for the suspicion that affixes
itself to Jeremiah of being a traitor, and in the interest of
Nebuchadnezzar,--whom Jeremiah calls, xliii. 10, the servant of God.

Chapter xxxvii. 11-13, says, "And it came to pass, that, when the army
of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem, for fear of Pharaoh's
army, that Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem, to go (as this account
states) into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the
midst of the people; and when he was in the gate of Benjamin a captain
of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah... and he took Jeremiah the
prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans; then Jeremiah said,
It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans." Jeremiah being thus
stopt and accused, was, after being examined, committed to prison, on
suspicion of being a traitor, where he remained, as is stated in the
last verse of this chapter.

But the next chapter gives an account of the imprisonment of Jeremiah,
which has no connection with this account, but ascribes his imprisonment
to another circumstance, and for which we must go back to chapter
xxi. It is there stated, ver. 1, that Zedekiah sent Pashur the son of
Malchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, to Jeremiah,
to enquire of him concerning Nebuchadnezzar, whose army was then before
Jerusalem; and Jeremiah said to them, ver. 8, "Thus saith the Lord,
Behold I set before you the way of life, and the way of death; he that
abideth in this city shall die by the sword and by the famine, and by
the pestilence; but he that goeth out and falleth to the Chaldeans that
besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey."

This interview and conference breaks off abruptly at the end of the 10th
verse of chapter xxi.; and such is the disorder of this book that we
have to pass over sixteen chapters upon various subjects, in order to
come at the continuation and event of this conference; and this brings
us to the first verse of chapter xxxviii., as I have just mentioned. The
chapter opens with saying, "Then Shaphatiah, the son of Mattan, Gedaliah
the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of
Malchiah, (here are more persons mentioned than in chapter xxi.) hear