March 11, Jeremiah 39
"For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me, declares the LORD." - Jeremiah 39:18
God was patient for many years. The prophets warned and called the rebels to repentance for many years. The vast majority of the Israelites ignored the warnings for many years. But God's patience finally wore out, and the prophecies of death and destruction came true.
The city of Jerusalem fell 18 months after Nebuchadnezzar's army laid siege to it. Thousands died as the sword, famine and pestilence Jeremiah mentioned so often took their toll. Many thousands more were taken away in captivity to Babylon as the prophesied dreadful consequences of the Israelites' stubborn disobedience came upon them.
Zedekiah fled, but was captured and taken with the other prisoners to Nebuchadnezzar's base camp at Riblah. Nebuchadnezzar stacked cruelty upon cruelty as he forced Zedekiah to watch as the Babylonian king killed his sons and then put out the captive king's eyes. The last thing poor Zedekiah could remember seeing was the slaughter of his own sons. The invaders tore down the walls, destroyed and burned the city of Jerusalem and killed many of the people who lived in the city.
But in the inferno of cruelty and mayhem that engulfed Jerusalem, God took care of some specific individuals. The examples in this chapter are Jeremiah himself and Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian who rescued Jeremiah from the miry pit. God prompted Nebuchadnezzar to free Jeremiah from the court of the guard where he had been imprisoned. Nebuchadnezzar ordered the captain of his guard to look after Jeremiah, do him no harm and do whatever the prophet asked of him. They entrusted him to Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had appointed governor over the people. Surely the hand of God was on the Babylonians who treated Jeremiah better than his own people had treated him throughout his ministry. God sent Jeremiah to Ebed-melech to tell him that the destruction he had promised would come, but Jeremiah’s Ethiopian helper would not be turned over to the Babylonians. God rewarded Ebed-melech for his trust in him by granting him his life.
Jeremiah 39 is one of four historical accounts of the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. Jeremiah also wrote about it in Chapter 52. The inspired writers of 2 Kings 25 and 2 Chronicles 36 also reported the fall and destruction of the city. The accounts are similar in some ways and different in others. Taken together, they give us the best picture of what happened in that awful time and why it happened.
Let's remember that the variations in the four accounts add details, but properly understood do not contradict each other. They are from different viewpoints. The four accounts are like the parallel passages in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Those different accounts of the same event give us a more complete picture with different details about Jesus' earthly life, death and resurrection. In these accounts of Jerusalem’s fall, the four accounts help us realize that God means exactly what he says.
When sinful people resist, rebel and refuse to repent, time runs out and the threatened consequences rain down on them. But we can be thankful for the assurance this chapter gives that God is going to take care of his faithful people. Remember Jeremiah and Ebed-melech, two who were spared when Jerusalem was destroyed. Trust that God who knows us completely knows who to save and how to save them out of the broken, doomed world around us.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—March 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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