To proclaim liberty unto them, &c.— By the law of Moses, Exodus 21:2. Deuteronomy 15:12 the Israelites were not allowed to detain their brethren of the Hebrew race in perpetual bondage, but were required to let them go free after having served fix years. This law had, it seems, fallen into disuse; but king Zedekiah, upon the approach of the Chaldean army, whether from religious motives, or a political view to employ the men who were set free in the service of the war, engaged the people in a covenant to act conformably to the law; and they released their brethren accordingly. But no sooner were their fears abated by the retreat of the Chaldeans, than, in defiance of every principle of religion, justice, and humanity, they imposed the yoke of servitude anew upon those unhappy persons. Archbishop Usher computes the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign to have been the sabbatical year, and supposes that on this account the covenant of general release was entered into at the beginning of that year. But the sabbatical year, which was every seventh year from that in which the Israelites entered into possession of the land of Canaan, had nothing at all to do with the release of servants. In the year of sabbath they were only restrained from sowing their ground, and pruning their vineyard. But every seventh year from the beginning of their service the Hebrew bond-slaves were to be discharged. Six years they were to serve, and in the seventh they were to go out free. Only the fiftieth year, or year of Jubilee, was also to be a time of general release; Leviticus 25:39-41. That the sabbatical year was so, I see not the least reason to conclude, but quite the contrary.
Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 34:8
Jeremiah 34:8
8 This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;