Jeremiah 32:1,2 - The prophet was confined

32:1,2

Things were looking pretty desperate at this stage. Babylon was besieging the city of Jerusalem. This means that conditions within the city would be becoming increasingly awful, with food shortages, possibly disease spread. Jeremiah was confined within the courtyard of the royal palace. This may have been a place of relative comfort.

32:3-5

Zedekiah could not understand why Jeremiag kept prophesying that God would give the city into the hands of the king of Babylon. Surely a prophet should be speaking about victory? But a prophet of God is there to speak the word of God, not to comfort men. Jeremiah even said that Zedekiah would be taken to Babylon. Fighting against Babylon would be futile. The reason Zedekiah could not understand Jeremiah’s message was that he did not understand the nature and extent of the nation’s sin. Understanding sin is essential to understanding the gospel.