Jeremiah 52:3b-11 – Being obedient to God is living life without regret

Jeremiah 52:3b like 2 Kings 24:20 made clear that what Judah and Jerusalem were going through was the LORD expressing His anger against them. And He was going to cast them out of His presence.  The straw that broke the camel's back was when Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. So in verse 4, we are told that on the 10^th day of the 10^th month in the 9^th year of Zedekiah’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with his army and besieged Jerusalem. They laid siege on the city till the 11^th year of Zedekiah’s reign.

During the siege, Nebuchadnezzar’s army came to the city, camped around it, and built siege ramps all around the wall. They kept pounding at the gates with the aim of bringing about their collapse. For more than a year they kept at it. On the 9^th day of the 4^th month of the 1o^th year of Zedekiah’s reign, the people inside the city were facing a famine. Verse 6 says that “… the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.” At the same time, the walls began to crack. So verse 7 says that “…all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah.”   

Zedekiah was said to have fled along with the people but was pursued by the army of the Chaldean. He was overtaken and arrested at the plain of Jericho and his army was scattered. They brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah where his sons and officials were slaughtered before his eyes, before they had his eyes gouged out. Then they bound him with fetters and brought him to Babylon and imprisoned him till he died. 

The reason for Zedekiah’s plight was his unwillingness to listen to good counsel. Earlier in Jeremiah 38 was a record of a conversation he had with the prophet in which he was counseled to obey the LORD. In Jeremiah 38:20, the prophet literally pled with him to listen to the LORD. He urged the king to yield to God and surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah said to him, “Obey now the voice of the LORD in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared.” Obeying God and aligning with His will and purpose are essential elements, even if what He requires us to do will bring personal discomfort. Being obedient is a choice. It is deciding between our limited knowledge and God's infinite wisdom and power. It will be less painful than living with the regrets and consequences of not obeying God.