Jeremiah 52:12-23 – Trifling with sin brings huge consequences.

Jeremiah 52:12-23, just like 2 Kings 25:8-17, describes the demolition and looting of the intricate temple articles of Jerusalem by the Babylonians led Nebuzaradan. These delicate temple articles were made during Solomon’s reign. what we learn is that sin has huge consequences. These verses reveal that Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon carried out the assignment. The destruction took place in the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.

Nebuzaradan came to the holy city and razed it to the ground. Verse 9 said that he set fire to the house of the Lord - the temple, the house of the king - the palace, all the houses of Jerusalem, both great and small, and burned and destroyed them all. The army of Babylon led by Nebuzaradan broke the walls around Jerusalem, poured into the city, and took the people into captivity. Everyone left in the city, plus those who had deflected to the side of the king of Babylon, he took with him to Babylon. But the poorest and insignificant people especially those tillers of the ground and those who took care of the vineyard he left behind.

Not only was the temple razed but everything within it was also looted. Just like 2 Kings 25:13-17, Jeremiah 52:17-23 also describes how the intricate works of Solomon’s temple which were wrought together with the help of skillful workmen of Hiram king of Tyre were destroyed. The army led by Nebuzaradan dismantled the bronze pillars, the sea, and its stands and took the bronze to Babylon. They also took away practically all the articles in the temple that were used for service to Babylon. The glorious structure of the temple the vessels and even the last vestige that represented Solomon’s glory were all wiped out.

Eugene Peterson paraphrased Jeremiah 52:17-23 and described these verses this way:  “The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the bronze washstands, and the huge bronze basin (the Sea) that were in the Temple of God, and hauled the bronze off to Babylon. They also took the various bronze-crafted liturgical accessories, as well as the gold and silver censers and sprinkling bowls, used in the services of Temple worship. The king’s deputy didn’t miss a thing. He took every scrap of precious metal he could find.

The amount of bronze they got from the two pillars, the Sea, the twelve bronze bulls that supported the Sea, and the ten washstands that Solomon had made for the Temple of God was enormous. They couldn’t weigh it all! Each pillar stood twenty-seven feet high with a circumference of eighteen feet. The pillars were hollow, the bronze a little less than an inch thick. Each pillar was topped with an ornate capital of bronze pomegranates and filigree, which added another seven and a half feet to its height. There were ninety-six pomegranates evenly spaced—in all, a hundred pomegranates worked into the filigree.”

It is difficult to estimate the colossal loss of the devastating effect the Sin. Conscious of it or not, sin will make us pay more than what we can afford or are willing to pay. Just a little sin can bring about a huge consequence. No sin can be hidden from 0ur all-seeing God. Deal with sin immediately or it will bring catastrophic damages we can ill afford. Don’t trifle with sin, no matter how small it may seem!