Jeremiah Envoi: Jeremiah 52 (1)

Pray Psalm 79.10-13.
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let there be known among the nations in our sight
The avenging of the blood of Your servants which has been shed.
Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You;
According to the greatness of Your power
Preserve those who are appointed to die;
And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom
Their reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord.
So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture,
Will give You thanks forever;
We will show forth Your praise to all generations.

Sing Psalm 79.10-13.
(Passion Chorale: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded)
Why should the nations mock and say, “Where now is their God?”
Let there be known among them harsh vengeance for our blood!
Hear, Lord, our groans and sighing; preserve us by Your pow’r.
For we are fairly dying each day and hour by hour.

Reproach those who reproach us with judgment sevenfold!
Let thanks and praise to You by Your precious flock be told.
We are Your sheep, O Savior, we thank You all our days.
Look on us with Your favor as we declare Your praise.

Read and meditate on Jeremiah 52.1-4.

Prepare.
1. How did Nebuchadnezzar lay siege to Jerusalem?

2. How long did the siege last?

Meditate.
The last chapter of Jeremiah’s book recaps situations we’ve already seen, offering more details in order to put a final period to the prophet’s work. We are reminded of the first carrying away of captives under King Jehoiakim (vv. 2, 3). This was done as punishment for the evil Jehoiakim did. It should have convinced Zedekiah to do otherwise.

But it did not. When Zedekiah became king, he was a vassal of Babylon, subject to Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chron. 36.10). But he rebelled against the King of Babylon, and this brought Nebuchadnezzar and the armies of Babylon back to Jerusalem yet again (v. 4).

Zedekiah reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. In the ninth year of his reign, the Babylonians arrived and set up camp around Jerusalem. They “built a siege wall against it all around” (v. 4), and this ensured two things. First, the Babylonians were there to stay. A siege wall would have allowed them to set up battering rams and siege towers around and above the wall, to break the wall down and shoot into the city. It also ensured that no one was going to leave and nothing was going to come into Jerusalem, for as long as it took to bring the city to heel. The people inside the walls of Jerusalem were looking at starvation and certain destruction, and they must have known this was the case.

Can you imagine the fear that gripped the people of that city as they endured this for nearly two years? All the while, Jeremiah was in prison. But, as we have seen, he continued to call the king and his people to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar and save their lives. Yet his pleading and preaching were all to no avail.

Conditions can never get so bad that those who have been entrusted with the Word of God should not proclaim it boldly and confidently. Jesus proclaimed the Word of God even from the cross. Jeremiah did so from prison. We must be faithful in our day, regardless of the circumstances we must endure, to live and preach the Word of God in all we do.

Reflect.
1. What should Zedekiah have learned from what happened to Jehoiakim? What should we learn?

2. Can conditions ever get so bad that we need no longer obey or proclaim the Word of God? Explain.

3. What can we do to make sure we remain faithful, like Jeremiah, in proclaiming God’s Word?

What think you of Nebuchadnezzar? Have you not heard from Scripture that he was bloodthirsty, fierce, with the disposition of a lion? Have you not heard that he disinterred the kings? Have you not heard that he brought the people away into captivity? Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386), Catechetical Lectures 2.17-19

Today, Lord, I face relentless spiritual warfare. Help me to prepare well, so that I…

Pray Psalm 79.1-9.
Pray for God’s people over all the world, that He would deliver us from scorn, derision, and persecution; forgive our sins; and show us His tender mercies once again.

Sing Psalm 79.1-9.
Psalm 79.1-9 (Passion Chorale: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded)
O God the nations all Your inheritance have spoiled!
Your City have they ruined, Your temple they have soiled!
Your servants’ bodies all to the birds of heav’n are thrown;
the flesh of all Your faithful the jaws of beasts now own.

The blood of faithful servants like water flows around;
and none are there Your saints to commit into the ground.
Our neighbors mock and scorn us: How long, O Lord, how long?
How long will You be angry and scorn our mournful song?

Pour out, O Lord, Your wrath on all who deny Your Name;
who trust You not nor seek You, bring down to deepest shame!
For they have with great rancor Your precious saints devoured;
lay waste their habitation at this late dreadful hour.

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).