Jeremiah 52:31-34 – True hope rest in our great God!

Jehoiachin was taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar and went into exile for some 36 years or so.  Then in the 37^th year, his fortune changed for the better. He found favor with Evil-Merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, who succeeded his father on the throne. He was released from prison by the new monarch who showed him kindness, and treated and spoke to him kindly. Evil-Merodach even gave him a higher position than kings of other nations whom his father had taken as captives alongside Jehoiachin. Jeremiah 52:29 tells us that Jehoiachin’s prison clothes were changed, and he was allotted a place to dine with Evil-Merodach regularly. The king even apportioned a daily allowance to Jehoiachin for each day of his life as long as he lived.

Why did Evil-Merodach show Jehoiachin such kindness? No reason was given for this change in attitude. A sanctified guess would be that he was showing amnesty to the captive kings to celebrate his inauguration as the new king of Babylon, in place of his father. This favor shown by this new monarch was God’s way of giving hope to the people in captivity. This was like a foretaste to the people concerning God’s promise of their release from captivity.

The lesson: Our surest hope is in God. No matter how trying our circumstances in life may be, God will come through for us. Psalm 30:5 assures us, "For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.” There is great hope in God. No matter how much tribulation we may be undergoing, in trusting God, we will have a positive outcome. So at the bidding of Hebrews 10:35-36. Let us “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when we have done the will of God, we may receive what was promised.” So let us learn to stay confident in our faithful God!

Jeremiah 52:24-30 – The importance of imparting godliness to our children

In the previous reflection, we saw how Jerusalem was plundered and looted. The temple, palace, and houses, both great and small were set on fire and destroyed. Solomon’s temple which was so magnificently built was dismantled. The Babylonians took away much bronze smelted from the temple's pillars, and the bronze stands of the sea were taken back to Babylon. On top of that, they also took with them all the ecclesiastical accessories of bronze, silver, and gold.  

Jeremiah 52:24-27 like 2 Kings 25:18-21 tells us that the captain of the guard Nebuchadnezzar’s army took with him chief priest Seraiah, the deputy priest Zephaniah, three temple officers, and some key officials of the city and brought them to King Nebuchadnezzar. Besides the priests and the three temple officers, Nebuzaradan also took some of Jerusalem’s key personnel of to the king of Babylon. Verse 25 said that he also “…took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and seven men of the king's council, who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city.” All these were brought to Nebuchadnezzar in Riblah who had them struck down and killed. Fulfilling the word foretold of the nation, verse 21 said that Judah was brought into exile.

In Jeremiah 52:23-30, additional information was given. Here the number of people taken to Jerusalem into captivity was enumerated.  These three verses expressly said “This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, 3,023 Judeans; in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons; in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Judeans 745 persons; all the persons were 4,600.”

All that had happened to Jerusalem was not without a cause or reason. God had warned in Deuteronomy that if his people should break the covenant with Him, all these would overtake them. This was clearly stipulated in Deuteronomy 4:27. His warning to them was: "The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you.” However, God did not do it for fun. He did it to straighten them. Their experience was to get them to repent. In their exile, if they returned to Him, He promised to restore them. Deuteronomy 4:29-31 reads, “But from there you will seek the LORD  your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD  your God and listen to His voice. For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.”    

What a glorious, merciful, and faithful God! The tragedy that had happened to Jerusalem was due to neglect. If every generation had made sure to pass down the warning faithfully, the problem they faced could have been avoided.  Somewhere along the line, the communication broke. And that led the subsequent generation to have a careless disregard for God. Had every generation played their part responsibly, the rot could have been averted. Herein is also a warning for us parents. If we fail to emphasize the importance of being faithful to God, the guilt and blood of our children will be on our hands. We need to teach our children to live responsibly and to cultivate a life of faithfulness toward God.  

 

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!

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. 

Jeremiah 52:1-3a - Do not test the patience of God

Jeremiah 52 essentially is a historical record. What we read in this chapter is exactly what was recorded in 2 Kings 24:18 – 25:30. All that  Jeremiah had written concluded in chapter 51 with  the last line of Jeremiah 51:64 that says, “Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.”  Hence Jeremiah 52 was believed to be added to what he had written. The name of the person who added it was not mentioned. However, Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe was thought to be the most likely person to have done it. Essentially Jeremiah 52 narrates events that led up to the fall of Jerusalem, the capture of Judah, and the Jews being brought into captivity.

The account began with Zedekiah, the youngest of the sons of King Josiah. His mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. Nebuchadnezzar had renamed him Zedekiah when he put him on the throne of Judah in place of his nephew Jehoiachin.  His original name was Mattaniah. Both his names were good names. Mattaniah means “gift of God” and Zedekiah means “Righteousness of God.” But His character fit neither meaning of the names.  He was far from being the person he was expected to be.  We are told that he ascended the throne at 21 years old and ruled as a Nebuchadnezzar’s vassal king for eleven years.  

As wonderful as the meanings of his names were, verse 2 tells us he did not live up to either of them. It says that “he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord….” He emulated his brother Jehoiakim’s wicked deeds and angered the Lord. The wickedness of all that Jerusalem and Judah had done reached an unbearable point even to the patient God. So verse 3 said, he had to cast both Jerusalem and Judah out of His presence.

The judgment of Judah did not besmirch the nature nor the patience of God. It merely goes to show how incorrigible the fallen nature of His people could take them. The issue in life has never been about  God’s goodness and patience. It has always been about the inability of fallen nature to live up to the billing that God desires. Thankfully our old nature is buried in Christ. But we cannot deny that it does seek to rear its ugly head every now and then. Even though we are redeemed, we need to live a God-dependent, Spirit-filled life. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we need to constantly put to death our flesh and leave no room for it to take a potshot at us. We must not test the patience of God. Never take His grace for granted.     

Jeremiah 51:59-64 – God has His people’s welfare at heart

Mattaniah was the uncle of King Jehoiachin. When Nebuchadnezzar deported the latter to Babylon, he placed the former on the throne in place of his nephew.  He also changed his name to Zedekiah, and he was on the throne for eleven years as his vassal king. Jeremiah 51:59 says that in the 4^th year of his reign, he went to Babylon. It was likely a trip to pay tribute to the king. On that occasion, he took Seraiah his quartermaster along with him. As a quartermaster, he was the one who took charge of Zedekiah’s gift to the king of Babylon. 

Jeremiah had the message of Babylon’s judgment, all the calamities that were detailed in chapters 50-51, transferred to a single scroll. Seraiah was to bring it along with him to Babylon and to read the message written aloud there. Though we are not told who he was to read the message to, we can safely conclude that it was read to selected witnesses in exile.  The aim was probably to encourage them and let them know that their oppressors would be judged and be eradicated.  How do we know? After making known the message, verse 62 says that Seraiah was also instructed to say, “You, O Lord, have promised concerning this place to cut it off so that there will be nothing dwelling in it, whether man or beast, but it will be a perpetual desolation.’ 

Following the reading of the message, Seriah was to do a symbolic act. He was to tie a stone to the scroll that he had read and cast it into the middle of the Euphrates. It was to convey the message of the demise of Babylon. God was about to annihilate her. And He wanted it to be known that He was wiping Babylon off history.  She would be sunk and never to rise again.  

The declaration of Babylon’s judgment described in Jeremiah 50-51 was given before her destruction took place. God made it known to His people long before what He was going to do took place. This tells us that at the heart of everything that will take place in the life of God’s people is His welfare for them. Events that happen are orchestrated to prepare us for what’s to come. We need to be discerning and seek to know His purpose through them. Stay confident in God. He is faithful, and He has a plan for us, for welfare and purpose. He works all things together for our good and for His glory!   

Jeremiah 51:54-58 – Be responsible in every action

By now we are left with no doubt of God’s intention to finish off  Babylon. She had committed far too many atrocities to be spared the judgment. So here in Jeremiah 51:54-58, we see the prophet making one final declaration of her fall.  

Jeremiah envisaged the cry for the commencement of the destruction of Babylon, the great land of the Chaldeans. God was about to silence her, and the city was about to be invaded by a mighty military force. An army would sweep through the country like a mighty wave with its tumultuous roar to devastate her. Babylon’s mighty men would be captured, and her military might be shattered and dismantled.  Being the God of recompense, the Lord required Babylon to pay in full for the atrocities that she had committed.

God would make all her leaders drink the cup of His wrath. They would be rendered helpless in their “drunken stupor.”  They would fall into a perpetual sleep and never wake up again. This is by way of saying that they would all be dead.  In verse 58, God’s declaration was Babylon’s colossal walls would collapse and her gates be razed. All their past conquest would be meaningless labor. It would all be an exercise in futility.     

Here again, we sense the call to be responsible for every action in life. There is nothing that we do that is outside of God’s notice. He is a God of recompense and will require us to give an account for every action we have committed. Thankfully, at Calvary, Christ took what was due for our sinful past. Now we are required to collaborate with God in our regenerated lives. Let us then work out our salvation with fear and trembling while God, through His Spirit , is working within to bring about His likeness in us.