11 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 12 “Say now to the rebellious house, Do you not know what these things mean? Tell them, behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took her king and her princes and brought them to him to Babylon. 13 And he took one of the royal offspringand made a covenant with him, putting him under oath (the chief men of the land he had taken away), 14 that the kingdom might be humble and not lift itself up, and keep his covenant that it might stand. 15 But he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give him horses and a large army. Will he thrive? Can one escape who does such things? Can he break the covenant and yet escape?
16 “As I live, declares the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant with him he broke, in Babylon he shall die. 17 Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in war, when mounds are cast up and siege walls built to cut off many lives. 18 He despised the oath in breaking the covenant, and behold, he gave his hand and did all these things; he shall not escape.19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely it is my oath that he despised, and my covenant that he broke. I will return it upon his head. 20 I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon and enter into judgement with him there for the treachery he has committed against me. 21 And all the pick of his troops shall fall by the sword, and the survivors shall be scattered to every wind, and you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken.”
The interesting point that arises here - and these verses make the interpretation very clear - is that life could have gone on in Jerusalem under Zedekiah, if only he had behaved himself, and observed and honoured the covenant (14). Significantly, this dependant relationship imposed by Nebuchadnezzar amounted to a solemn covenant which the vassal-king would break at his peril. And what the Lord is saying is this: 'You have broken covenant with Me'. How can God say this? The implication is that a covenant entered into by God's people with anybody else is as binding as if the covenant had been made with God Himself. A promise is a promise, to whomsoever it is made, even if it is made to the most ungodly of men, and to break that promise - and it is the promise itself that is the important thing - is to do so in the sight of God. This is how God looked upon the situation: Zedekiah had made light of the oath he had taken, he had sworn by the name of the Lord to Nebuchadrezzar, and had violated the covenant, therefore retribution would come upon him (20, 21). He broke faith with God in breaking faith with Nebuchadrezzar. We can take this right out of its context and see the principle involved: when we break faith with anybody, we are breaking faith with God. If we let somebody down, that we promised to help, we are letting God down. God regards it in this personal way. Solemn thought indeed!