Read Jeremiah
38-39 & Hebrews
2:1-9
To discover:
As you read consider why
the detail of Jerusalem ’s fall is
being recorded.
To ponder:
The story
continues as some prominent men hear Jeremiah’s message that those who stay in
the city will die, those who go over to the Babylonians will live, and the city
will be handed over to he enemy. They tell the king Jeremiah must die for
discouraging the soldiers and people left in the city and so bringing about
their ruin by encouraging surrender (38v1-4). Patterning Pilate, the king
weekly gives Jeremiah into their hands saying he cannot oppose them. So they
kept Jeremiah in the courtyard of the guard, but imprisoned him in a cistern
there, with him sinking into the mud at the bottom. However, Ebed-Melech interceded
with the king, stating these men acted wickedly and would cause Jeremiah to
starve. So the king told Ebed-Melech to take 30 men and free Jeremiah. He did
so with a detail included that showed his concern for the prophet (38v5-13).
The event shows how those who speak God’s word divide God’s people,
demonstrating the realities of their hearts by whether they stand against him
or for him, just as was the case with Christ.
King Zedekiah then brought Jeremiah
to the temple and asked him to honestly answer a question he would ask. But
Jeremiah stated that the king would not listen, and would even kill him if he
responded as requested. The king then swore by the LORD who gives breath that
he would not kill Jeremiah or hand him over to those who sought to. The vow
implies he was saying that God should remove his own breath if he broke his
word. Jeremiah then stated again that if the king surrendered he and his family
would be spared and the city not burned, but if he did not surrender the city
would be burned and he would not escape. Zedekiah responded that he was afraid
if he surrendered that the Babylonians would hand him over to the Jews that had
already surrendered to them, and that they would ill treat him – no doubt,
because he had them. Jeremiah reassured him this would not happen and urged him
to obey the LORD as Jeremiah had instructed, adding that if he didn’t, the
women remaining in the palace would be brought to the enemy officials, and
declare how his friends had misled and deserted him so his feet were stuck in
the mud as Jeremiah’s had been – a prophetic act. Moreover, his wives and
children would be brought out to the Babylonians too. Zedekiah told Jeremiah
that if he told anyone about their conversation he might die, presumably
because they would not want him to influence the king. He even said that if
officials told Jeremiah to reveal what he said or be killed, then he should say
he was pleading with Zedekiah not to be sent back to his previous prison.
Exactly this happened, and so no-one found out, and Jeremiah remained in the
courtyard until Jerusalem was
finally captured (38v14-28). This whole event highlights how strongly people,
and especially those of power, can be influenced against obeying God’s word
because of fear of opinion. Here Jeremiah’s courage contrasts the king’s
timidity.
Chapter 39 recounts how Jerusalem
was taken. In 588BC Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem
with his “whole” army. A year and a half later the city wall was penetrated,
and Babylonian officials took seats in the middle gate signifying their
conquest. Zedekiah and his soldiers fled at night through his garden, but were
pursued, with the king being captured and taken to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah in Syria .
There he was sentenced, with his nobles killed, and his sons also killed before
his eyes. Moreover, his own eyes were put out and he was taken to Babylon
in bronze shackles. The Babylonians then burnt the palace and houses in
Jerusalem and broke down its walls, with the people from the city and area,
together with those who had gone over to the enemy, all carried into exile in
Babylon itself. However, they left the poor behind., giving them vineyards and
fields (39v1-10). This is all recorded to show how God’s word came true. The
note about the poor may also be to show how he governed things in such a way as
to right some of the injustices within Judah
as the meek inherit what the mighty lost. This patterns the meek inheriting the
earth through their faith in Christ.
As for Jeremiah? Nebuchadnezzar
ordered his commander to look after him and do whatever he asks, so with a
chief officer, official and all the officers, he had him taken from his
confinement in the courtyard of the guard, given into the care of Gedaliah who
seems to have been made governor in Judah, so that he could be returned to his
home where he remained amongst the people who were left in the land. The
chapter ends telling us that whilst confined, God’s word came to Jeremiah,
telling him to tell Ebed-Melech that he was about to see God fulfil his words against
the city, but to reassure him too, that God would rescue him because he trusted
in God (39v15-18, see 39v1-13). It’s an important note that when God’s people
refuse to listen to him, the few who go against the flow and keep trusting,
will be saved from the final judgement that will fall on the rest.
Praying it
home:
Praise God that he
remembers those who trust and obey him. Pray that you would do so no matter
what pressure you may face not to.
Thinking
further:
None
today.
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