Jeremiah 51:64 states, “Thus far are the words of Jeremiah” to formally conclude his prophetic words against Babylon, signaling the finality and completeness of the prophet’s message. This phrase distinguishes the preceding prophetic material from the last chapter. Chapter 52 is mostly repeated material from 2 Kings 24:18-25:30 which serves as a recap of events.
“According to a Jewish tradition, Nebuchadnezzar, after his conquest of Egypt, transported Jeremiah and Baruch to Babylon, where Jeremiah died peacefully.” [1]
“Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, till He finally cast them out from His presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.” Jeremiah 52:1-3
“Zedekiah... did evil in the sight of the Lord.” “Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.” Zedekiah was blessed to have one of the most prolific writers of the Bible speak to him, but to no avail, because he let the words of others be louder in his ears than God’s Word.
How about us? We have access to all God’s words in the Bible. Are God’s words larger in our lives than the words of others?
In 1979, when I first read the books of Kings completely through, God showed to me that the kings who brought their kingdoms into alignment with His Word were approved by Him. I made a choice after these readings to purge things from my life that did not line up with God’s Word. I wanted the “kingdom” of my heart liberated from idols. I wanted to be a man after His heart. Looking back, I have no regrets. The Lord satisfies my soul with His love, joy, peace and grace.
King Zedekiah’s life story and Jerusalem’s story would have been so much better if they had loved God. They made very bad choices. God’s helps people to make good choices.
“Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.” Jeremiah 52:4-6
The siege of Jerusalem lasted 30 months (2.5 years) according to the time frame given above. Can you imagine being in a walled city surrounded by the mightiest army on earth? You could hear the noise of battle from time to time. You could see wounded and dead soldiers being transported from the wall. At first, food supplies would be enough, but certain types of foods would be unavailable. But at the end of two and half years, there was no food. Apart from a miracle you would not survive.
“Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the plain. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him. Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.” Jeremiah 52:7-11
In John 10:12, Jesus said, “A hireling, who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.” The king, his generals and his sons enjoyed the perks of their positions but not the responsibility to protect the sheep. They fled from the Babylonian wolves under the cover of darkness but were soon captured. They were brought before King Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah's sons and officials were executed before his eyes. Then, his eyes were removed. The Babylonians bound him with bronze chains and imprisoned until the day he died.
What a tragedy! King Zedekiah should have listened to the Lord. Proverbs 29:25 says, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” Zedekiah feared to stand with God so he stood with those who opposed God. Now, both they and his sons were no more. Zedekiah would now spend the rest of his earthly life in a prison without eyes to see.
“Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poor people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.” Jeremiah 52:12-16
The temple, the palace and the mansions of the “great” people are burning. The air is hot and difficult to breath due to the smoke. There’s the sound of the city’s walls being demolished. Babylonian soldiers are organizing some poor people and skilled workers for transfer to Babylon while preparing others to be transferred to vineyards and farms to work the fields.
“The excavations along the Kidron Valley confirm that the Babylonians systematically tore down the walls of Jerusalem. This was in fulfillment of Jeremiah’s calling to uproot and tear down nations and kingdoms.” “This, too, [the burning of Jerusalem] is in the archaeological record, for Babylonian arrowheads have been found among the ashes of Jeremiah’s Jerusalem.” [2]
“The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the carts and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all their bronze to Babylon. They also took away the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the bowls, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. The basins, the firepans, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the spoons, and the cups, whatever was solid gold and whatever was solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. The two pillars, one sea, the twelve bronze bulls which were under it, and the carts, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. Now concerning the pillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, a measuring line of twelve cubits could measure its circumference, and its thickness was four fingers; it was hollow. A capital of bronze was on it. The height of one capital was five cubits, with a network and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze. The second pillar, with pomegranates, was the same. There were 96 pomegranates on the sides. All the pomegranates, all around on the network, were 100.” Jeremiah 52:17-23
Babylon confiscated the treasures of Jerusalem. World conquering empires tend to treat their prey this way. I tried to find an estimate of the value of the items that were stolen by Babylon. I studied what the Bible and others said about it. Below is a brief summary of what I uncovered:
The original temple that Solomon built involved 3,750 tons of gold and 37,500 tons of silver worth about US$56 billion in today’s currency. [3]
Some of these precious metals were removed and replaced multiple times...
In 1 Chronicles 12:1-12, about 925 BC, the King of Egypt raided Jerusalem and “took away treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house.”
1 Kings 15:18-19, King Asa sent “all” that was left of the silver and gold in the temple to Benhadad, king of Syria, to buy his help against Baasha king of Israel.
In 2 Kings 14:14, King Jehoash of Israel carried off to Samaria “all” the gold and silver in the temple and the palace. Some of the gold and silver had likely been replaced since the last steal.
In 2 Kings 16:10-17, King Ahaz gave the brazen altar, precious ornaments, and the oxen from under the bronze sea to secure the aid of the king of Assyria against the King of Israel.
In 2 Kings 18:13-16, Hezekiah gave to the king of Assyria “all” the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord.
Finally, in Jeremiah 52:17-23, Babylon took the two 27 foot tall bronze pillars, the bronze carts and the bronze sea that was 7.5 feet high and 15 feet across. They took away bronze pots, shovels, trimmers, bowls, spoons, and all the bronze utensils. They took away basins, firepans, bowls, pots, lampstands, spoons, and cups of gold and silver. I could not find an estimate of the value of these items, but the amount of bronze that Babylon took away could have exceeded 100 tons. In Ezra 1:5-10, at the end of the 70-year captivity in Babylon, the returning Jews were allowed to carry back at least some of temple gold and silver objects to Jerusalem. The list of returned items included 1,000 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 30 bowls of gold, 2,410 bowls of silver, and other vessels of gold and silver totaling 5,469 in number. It was tremendous amount of treasure.
One of the outcomes of being conquered by another nation is having your national treasures stripped away. God’s prophets were trying to thwart this future from coming to pass, but no one would listen to them.
“The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. He also took out of the city an officer who had charge of the men of war, seven men of the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the principal scribe of the army who mustered the people of the land, and 60 men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus, Judah was carried away captive from its own land.” Jeremiah 52:24-27
“Brain drain” was another huge loss for Judea. The Babylonians executed many of the highly educated and skillful leaders of Judah. Others, like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they took away to serve their purposes in Babylon.
“These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; 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 Jews 745 persons. All the persons were 4,600.” Jeremiah 52:28-30
The good side of this “brain drain” was that some of these captives received world-class educations. They got to mingle with some of the best and brightest minds of the world. They also learned how to communicate in other languages. This was a great opportunity to be witnesses for the Lord to ends of the earth.
In Daniel 3:29, after Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego survived King Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, he made a decree that no one should speak against their God. “Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”
In Daniel 4:34, after Daniel interpreted one of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams and that dream came to pass just as he predicted, Nebuchadnezzar praised the Lord. He said, “At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High. I honored and glorified Him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion. His kingdom endures from generation to generation.” Sadly, this change in Nebuchadnezzar’s heart towards God did not change the heart and soul of his empire.
“Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelve month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life.” Jeremiah 52:31-34
Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king of Judah. He rebelled against Babylon’s rule. So, after reigning three short months, Babylon dethroned and imprisoned him.
Thirty-seven years into the Babylonian captivity, a little over halfway before it ended, Evil-Merodach king of Babylon set King Jehoiachin of Judah free from prison. He spoke kindly to him. He gave him a seat of honor above other kings.
Thus, Jeremiah’s book ends on a note of God’s grace. God’s grace moved a Babylonian king to treat a Judean king kindly. This blessing of grace reminds me of the last verse of the Bible, which is Revelation 22:21, it says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.”
It is by the grace of God that anyone enters the heavenly Promised Land. In Acts 10:43, Peter preached, “All the prophets testify about Him [Jesus Christ] that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name.” In Ephesians 2:8, Paul preached, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” God’s grace levels the playing field. Everyone must enter by faith in Jesus Christ. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.”
[1] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, page 368. See also “Seder Olam Rabba 26.”
[2] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 724
[3] https://www.templemount.org/TMTRS.html. See also 1 Kings 6-7, 8:4; 1 Chronicles 28:1-19, 1 Chronicles 29; 2 Chronicles 2-4
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