Je 52
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Now into chapter 52 is just a page out of their history and it is just sort of a review of the final days under Zedekiah, the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, and the carrying away into captivity. It is also found in Jeremiah, chapter 39, and historically it is found in II Kings, chapter 25. So he's just sort of giving now and this is probably written not by Jeremiah. It doesn't say that it was Jeremiah, but just a page out of the history.
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem (Jer 52:1). And it gives his mother's name and so forth.
And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month (Jer 52:2-4),
So close to the end of the ninth year of his reign in Jerusalem.
that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, and all of his army, against Jerusalem, they pitched against it, and built forts round about it. So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah (Jer 52:4-5).
So fourteen months.
And in the fourth month [eighteenth month, so in a year and a-half], in the ninth day of the month, the famine was so bad in the city, there was no bread for the people of the land (Jer 52:6).
Actually, the method by which Babylon usually conquered was very cruel. That is, they would cut off all of the supplies to the city and they would just starve the people out. They would wait until they were too weak to fight or to defend. So it's really sort of a horrible way. You're in the city, there's no way you can get food and so you just sort of cannibalize, eat the stuff that is there until it is gone, and then you starve. And finally in your weakened conditions they move their machines up, break down the walls, and come in and slaughter people.
Nebuchadnezzar, of course, endeavored this type of a siege against Tyre, the port city. He was besieging Tyre for thirteen years before it fell. But being a seaport, they were able to bring things in by the sea for a long time. But it took him thirteen years to conquer Tyre because of their ability to replenish their supplies.
As we get in a few weeks into Ezekiel though, we're going to find an extremely fascinating prophecy that deals with the destruction of Tyre. And, again, showing how that the Word of God is so exciting and marvelous whenever it deals in the realms of prophecy, because it is so accurate.
So after eighteen months, "in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore, so that there was no bread." And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate that is between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city:) and they went by the way of the plain. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and he overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. Then they took the king, and carried him unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgment upon him. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes (Jer 52:7-10):
He had to watch his own sons being slain.
and also all the princes of Judah. Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death (Jer 52:10-11).
Now Zedekiah was told by Jeremiah, "Surrender, give up, and turn yourself over. Nebuchadnezzar will treat you well," and kept encouraging to do that. Zedekiah refused to do so. He said, "If you try to resist, you're going to be destroyed." And Zedekiah would not listen to the Word of God, and thus his horrible doom. Bound, carried to Babylon, his eyes gouged out, and died there in the prison in Babylon.
Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem. And he burned the house of the LORD, and the king's palace; and all of the houses of Jerusalem, and all of the houses of the great men, he burned them with fire: And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, he broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away the captives certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon (Jer 52:12-15),
Those that surrendered.
and the rest of the multitude. But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for farmers. Also the pillars of brass (Jer 52:15-17)
These great pillars of brass were in the house of the Lord. They were there in the temple of Solomon. and the bases (Jer 52:17),
And that brass bowl that the priest used to bathe in.
the Chaldeans broke it up, and carried the brass of them to Babylon. Also the caldrons, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away (Jer 52:17-18).
Earlier they had carried away the gold and silver vessels. And now they are taking away all of the brass from the temple unto Babylon.
The two pillars, [and this bowl] the sea, and twelve brass bulls that were (Jer 52:20)
Molded and were under this brass sea where the priests bathed, all of them were broken up and, of course, the weight of them was without measure.
Now concerning these pillars that were there, the height of the pillars was twenty-seven feet; they were eighteen feet in circumference (Jer 52:21);
So about six feet across, twenty-seven feet high but they were hollow. But the brass was four inches thick so you can imagine the weight of these pillars that were there in the temple that were broken up and carried away. Beg your pardon, rather than four inches, four fingers thick. So about that thick. And, of course, they had these filigreed works on them with the ornamentation, the pomegranates and all, and it goes on to describe these pomegranates, ninety-six of them on each side.
and all the pomegranates upon the network were an hundred round about. And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the keepers of the door: He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that were near the king's person, which were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; sixty men of the people, and they were found in the midst of the city. They brought them to Nebuchadnezzar there at Riblah. And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land. This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year [that is, of his reign] three thousand Jews and twenty-three (Jer 52:23-28):
Among those was Daniel.
In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive another eight hundred thirty and two persons (Jer 52:29):
And then in the final carrying away:
In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, they carried away of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five: all of the persons that were carried away four thousand and six hundred (Jer 52:30).
Really not very many compared to the total population, for most of them were destroyed or fled.
And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evilmerodach (Jer 52:31)
A merodach is a title given to their kings.
the king of Babylon, in his first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison, And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon (Jer 52:31-32),
And he ate at the king's table. So Jehoiachin the king ended his days more pleasantly than did Zedekiah.
So we come to the end of Jeremiah. We move now into Lamentations. The idea is that of weeping. Near... . Well, the place that they call Calvary or Golgotha is also called Jeremiah's Grotto. It is thought that it is in one of these caves that comprised... If you're looking at the cliff there and you're looking for the skull, one of the... The skull is formed by these caves or the appearance of the skull is formed by these caves which would be the sockets of the eyes of a skull. But they're actually caves. And one of them is called Jeremiah's Grotto, and it is thought that that is where Jeremiah sat as he looked from that position back over the city of Jerusalem and wept over its failure to serve God and over its impending doom. And Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet. And of course we get into these lamentations, the weeping of Jeremiah over the people and over the destruction that is to come upon them as we move into this book of Lamentations. And so this is the area that we'll cover next Sunday night, the book of Lamentations. That's your assignment to read.
And then we get into that fascinating book of Ezekiel. He is quite a prophet and did a lot of weird things, and some think that he saw flying saucers. And we'll be talking about Ezekiel's flying saucers and about flying saucers today in light of Ezekiel's revelations.
And now may the Lord be with you and bless you. And may the Word of God dwell in your hearts richly through faith and being rooted and grounded, may you come into a broader comprehension of the fullness of God's love for your life. May the Lord give you a beautiful week. May He watch over you and may He keep you with His arms of protection and love. In Jesus' name.