The Fall of Jerusalem: Jeremiah 39-42 (1)

Pray Psalm 53.6.
Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When God brings back the captivity of His people,
Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

Sing Psalm 53.5, 6.
(Leoni: The God of Abraham Praise)
The wicked flee in shame; their ways our God rejects.
Renew Your people in Your Name with great effects!
Let great rejoicing sound once we renewed have been,
and let salvation’s Word resound from us again!

Read and meditate on Jeremiah 39.1-10.

Prepare.
1. What happened to Zedekiah?

2. Why did this happen?

Meditate.
For forty years, Jeremiah had been prophesying the fall of Jerusalem into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. For the last few of those years, he had pleaded with King Zedekiah to give himself up to Nebuchadnezzar and thus spare his life and the lives of his family. But Zedekiah, fearing what the Jews might do to him if he surrendered, and desperately believing false promises of hope, refused the Word of God from Jeremiah.

Now all that Jeremiah had proclaimed came terribly true. The Babylonians broke through the walls of Jerusalem (vv. 1, 2), and the people, starving and helpless, simply gave up.

For Zedekiah, it was too late. He and the “men of war” that were with him try to escape by fleeing the city at night (v. 4). But the Babylonians saw and pursued them, and caught up to them on the plains of Jericho (v. 5). They captured them and brought them to Nebuchadnezzar, who had set up court in the city of Riblah; and Nebuchadnezzar pronounced judgment on him (v. 5). Zedekiah’s sons were slaughtered before his eyes, together with all the nobles of Jerusalem (v. 6). Then, Zedekiah was blinded, clapped in fetters, and carried off to Babylon (v. 7). Then the Babylonians returned to Jerusalem and burned the king’s house and all the city of Jerusalem (v. 8), before carrying away to captivity “the remnant of the people who remained in the city and those who defected to him, with the rest of the people who remained” (v. 9).

The only ones left in the city and in all Judah were “the poor people, who had nothing” (v. 10). Nebuchadnezzar’s captain, Nebuzaradan, “gave them vineyards and fields” to work, and the Babylonians departed.

All this was just as God had threatened by Jeremiah. Now here it was, and it was terrible. But many of those carried away captive to Babylon, seeing God’s Word come to pass before their eyes, would look ahead with faith to the promised return and restoration of the city, once their season of trial was through. God chastises His people, but He also gives them hope, that His salvation might flourish among them yet again.

Reflect.
1. Why was the judgment against Zedekiah so terrible?

2. How did God show grace to the poor of Judah and Jerusalem? What does this suggest about God’s attitude toward such people?

3. Does God still chasten His people today? What hope does He hold out to us in times of trial?

Jeremiah seems here indeed to undertake the office of an historian rather than that of a Prophet; but he seals his previous prophecies, and at the same time shews that he had brought forward nothing rashly or thoughtlessly. There is, then, here a proof of a]l his former doctrine; he brings before us the reality, and shews that whatever he had predicted was accomplished by God's hand, and in a manner almost incredible. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Jeremiah 39.1

Help me, Lord, to walk within Your Word today, especially as I…

Pray Psalm 53.1-5.
Is the Church today experiencing a time of chastening from the Lord? Seek the Lord for revival and restoration, that His Word may resound from us once again, as we bear witness to Jesus.

Sing Psalm 53.1-5.
Psalm 53.1-5 (Leoni: The God of Abraham Praise)
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God at all!”
Corrupt are they in whole and part, unjust and small.
Not one of them does good; God sees their wicked ways.
None understands the Word of God or gives Him praise.

Have all these wicked men no knowledge of God’s grace?
The Church they hate with passion and seek not God’s face.
Lord, strike their hearts with fear, where fear was not before.
And scatter all who camp so near Your holy door.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).