March 24, Jeremiah 52
For because of the anger of the LORD things came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence. - Jeremiah 52:3
Some of the events and developments that Jeremiah prophesied must have seemed unimaginable when God's faithful prophet first announced them. But they all came true. God did what he had warned his unrepentant people and their evil kings he would do. Jeremiah 52 is a historical appendix to some of the prophecies of Jeremiah, documenting how the events foretold came to pass. Baruch or some unknown person added these historical details after Jeremiah's last words. Deuteronomy is another example of how someone, presumably Joshua, wrote about what happened after the death of Moses and before Israel went into Canaan.
God carried out the threats and warnings that Jeremiah and others had been delivering for centuries. When time and God's patience ran out, Jerusalem fell into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans. After nine years of subjection to Babylon, King Zedekiah rebelled and Nebuchadnezzar's forces laid siege to Judah's capital city. Eighteen months passed, and finally there was no food left inside the city. In desperation, Zedekiah and some of his men tried to escape. But the Chaldeans caught them and took Zedekiah to Nebuchadnezzar's base camp at Riblah. Nebuchadnezzar forced Zedekiah to watch as he slaughtered Zedekiah's top officials and the king's own sons. The king of Babylon then put out the eyes of the king of Judah, and Zedekiah was taken away to prison where he died.
Meanwhile back in Jerusalem, the Babylonians looted and dismantled the temple. They took all the vessels used in the temple service, salvaged all the precious metals and bronze and burned the temple. Remember when Hezekiah foolishly showed envoys from Babylon all his wealth? Now all the treasures in it were taken away, just as Isaiah had prophesied many years before.
The people of Judah were deported to Babylon in three waves. The 4,600 reported here may have been heads of household or some other way of counting the captives, because many thousands more went to Babylon. Ten times that 4,600 returned to the land seventy years later, and many thousands more stayed in Babylon after they were freed to go home.
Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah to be the king after he took away Jehoiachin, the last king of the Davidic dynasty. Jehoiachin was imprisoned in Babylon for 39 years before he was released from prison. Although he was still in Babylonian custody under house arrest, the king of Babylon honored Jehoiachin by giving him a seat above all the other captive kings in the king's dining hall. Do you think the defeated kings' thrones were a professional courtesy from one king to another? Or were they more likely a sort of trophy case to remind the Babylonian king of his great victories?
God used both evil and good people, both cruelty to punish and kindness to bless his own disobedient people. Sovereign God accomplished his purpose and will through faithful, godly men like Jeremiah and wicked unbelievers like the last of Judah's kings and enemies like Nebuchadnezzar. The kingdom of Israel was no more, but God still had plans for the descendants of Abraham. The failure of the kingdom in no way hindered God from keeping his purpose to send Messiah into the world through Abraham’s descendants.
Let's take three big lessons away from this book. Let's trust that God is always in control and will always accomplish his purposes. Let's imitate the faith and courage of Jeremiah who remained true to his calling despite hardships and hatred from people who did not want to hear God's truth. And let's remember that we are destroying ourselves when we disregard and disobey God's commands for our lives.
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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