NOTES for Иер 34:1-22
For some reason many Christians forget that our Lord is the Liberator. Of course, we all remember that He frees us from slavery to sin, but He also delivers us from earthly slavery. After all, one of His most important miracles is the deliverance of the people from Egyptian slavery. True, afterward the Lord condescended to the fact that, at the level of civilization then existing, it was impossible to renounce forced labor completely. But let us not forget that slavery was produced not only by the nature of the economy and technology, but also by a sinful view of another person as an object and an instrument. And among the Israelites the Lord restricted the conditions of slave labor with rules so gentle that no other people had anything like them.
And now, in the face of great trouble, He calls through the prophet for slaves to be freed, and this must become an inseparable part of repentance. Remarkably, this time many listened to the call coming from Jeremiah. Unfortunately, not for long: either people hoped that trouble would pass them by, or immediate profit once again outweighed all other considerations.
But the treacherous return to slavery called forth from the Lord the same angry condemnation as the many previous sins. The sinful people were given a chance to soften their tragic fate, but they never used it. Slaves of sin did not want to use freedom for good. This means that freedom will fall upon them: freedom to be given over to sword, pestilence, and famine; in short, freedom for the evil they themselves chose...
This is also a warning to us, who have squandered and are squandering the freedom of recent years and are not using the opened opportunities for good.