1. Jeremiah 21:8 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is the “way of life and the way of death” that the Lord sets before the people for Judah?

Jeremiah 21:8 (ESV)

8 “And to this people you shall say: ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

The Lord now speaks to the people of Judah and presents them with a choice between the way of life and the way of death.

The people can stay in the city and try to resist the invasion, but the result will be death. Alternatively, they can surrender to the Chaldeans (Babylonians) and have their lives spared. Their lives will be the prize they win in defeat. The point of this offer is that judgment is inevitable, and the Lord is mercifully offering them the opportunity for judgment not to mean death. It seems that many did accept this offer (Jeremiah 38:19; Jeremiah 39:9; Jeremiah 52:15) and those who did not considered it to be an act of treason against the nation.1 Jeremiah, as the prophet who presented this offer of mercy to the people of Judah, was especially accused of treason (Jeremiah 26:1–24).

Much of the language used here reaches back to the Exodus and the subsequent covenant the Lord made with his people at Sinai. When, through Moses, the Lord renews the covenant with Israel just before they enter the land, he says to them: See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil (Deuteronomy 30:15). Also, the Hebrew word yasa, translated as goes out (Deuteronomy 21:9) is often used to describe Israel’s exit from Egypt (Exodus 11:8; Exodus 13:3; Exodus 20:2; Psalm 114:1). However, things have changed. The choice Israel now faces is not between life in the land or exile. Life in the land is no longer an option; their choice is between death or exile. This time going out will not lead to freedom from slavery, as it did with the Exodus, but to exile in Babylon.2

The final verse (Jeremiah 21:10) drives home the chilling reality that Judah faces. The Lord says,  I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good. The curses of the covenant are coming to Judah because the covenant has been broken by the people. The Lord is no longer for his people, but against them. He will use the king of Babylon to burn Jerusalem to the ground.