Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament · Jeremiah Chapter 37

When he was entering the gate of Benjamin, where Jeriah the son of Shelemiah kept watch, the latter seized him, saying, "Thou desirest to go over to the Chaldeans" ( נפל אל־ , see on Jeremiah 21:9). The gate of Benjamin (Jeremiah 38:7; Jeremiah 14:10) was the north gate of the city, through which ran the road to Benjamin and Ephraim; hence it was also called the gate of Ephraim, 2 Kings 14:13; Nehemiah 8:16. בּעל , "holder of the oversight," he who kept the watch, or commander of the watch at the gate. "The accusation was founded on the well-known views and opinions of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 21:9); but it was mere sophistry, for the simple reason that the Chaldeans were no longer lying before the city" (Hitzig).

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