And in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, which was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzar-adan, captain of the body-guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came unto Jerusalem;
The verse fixes a date: in the fifth month of Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year, the captain of his bodyguard walked into the fallen city. The temple burns in the verses that follow, so this quiet note of a day and a name marks the turning point of Judah's history.
The number in this verse does not match the parallel account in 2 Kings 25:8, which gives the seventh day. One commentator traces the difference to the wording of the original text.
Verse 12 is the first place where this account seems to clash with 2 Kings 25. Verse 8 there seems at first glance to set Nebuzaradan's arrival on the seventh day of the fifth month. The prophecy connects it with the tenth. But there is a real difference in the original wording... In fact the first passage has no preposition at all. So the natural reading is that the servant of the king of Babylon had only come as far as Jerusalem on the seventh day, not that he entered it then. The prophecy, on the other hand, tells us he was in Jerusalem on the tenth day of the month, and the particle states this plainly.
The chapter has already explained how the siege started. Zedekiah broke with Babylon, and that was not just a political move.
Zedekiah should have been a model of submission, owning the just judgment of God. Above all, it was their evil that blocked the blessing of all the nations of the earth as independent powers. It also threw them, and all the other nations with them, under the empire of the golden head, the king of Babylon. And now Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon. That was really rebellion against the sentence of the LORD. So the LORD was, as it were, morally compelled to cast the Jews out of His presence.
The verse calls Nebuzaradan a servant of the king of Babylon. The book has already given that king a title of his own.
The book mentions Nebuchadnezzar, whom the LORD calls "My Servant," about forty times. God raises him up to carry out His judgment on Israel, and on other nations too. The LORD says, "I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant... and all the nations shall serve him." God gives him dominion; He takes it away from Israel.
The next verse lists what he burned: the house of the LORD, the palace and the great houses. One writer sees a purpose behind the choice, and then turns it on the church today.
Nebuchadnezzar seems to have had no more hope that Judah would be subject to him. So he sent his servant Nebuzaradan to Jerusalem to burn the house of the LORD, the king's house and all the houses of the officials. He realised the Jews must have no centre of gathering. So the temple, built with such splendour in Solomon's day, went up in flames. What is there in Christendom that would answer to this? God's true Centre in the Church is Christ Himself. But is this realised today in the professing church?
The loss went further than a building. Enemies had carried Israel off before, but one writer marks this fall as a break of a different kind.
When Israel was carried away captive, it was Lo-ruhamah, but there was not yet an absolute cutting off as a people. When Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem, the people become Lo-ammi. God rejects Israel. He no longer owns His people. He watches over them still for their final restoration to their land, but "the times of the Gentiles" begin.
Lo-ammi means "not my people." Lo-ruhamah means "not pitied."
Long after the city fell, people were still keeping this month as a fast. Men later came with a question about it, and God answered with a question of His own.
The question these men raised concerned a fast in the fifth month that people had kept for many years. Jeremiah 52:12 tells us that in this month the Babylonian army burned Solomon's magnificent temple and wrecked Jerusalem. Now the house of the LORD was going up once more, if not entirely finished. So was it right to keep the fast still? A very natural question! As far as we can tell, God gave no direct answer. Instead He raised another question with them. Did they have the LORD before their minds in what they did, or only themselves? Did they really fast, He asked, "to Me, even to Me?"
- Cause. Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon. Underneath, he was rebelling against the sentence God had already passed.
- Instrument. The man who lit the fire served Nebuchadnezzar. God calls Nebuchadnezzar "My Servant."
- Target. Fire took the temple to leave the people with no centre of gathering. The church's true centre is Christ Himself — but is that realised today?
- Result. With Jerusalem taken, Israel becomes Lo-ammi, "not my people," and the times of the Gentiles begin.
- Memory. People kept this month as a fast for generations. Then God asked whether the mourning had ever been for Him.
and he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; and every great [man's] house he burned with fire.
Jeremiah's closing chapter records the unthinkable: Babylon's army burned the temple Solomon built, the king's palace, and every great house in Jerusalem. Why would God let His own house burn, and what did that fire settle for the nation, for the world, and for us?
The house of the LORD is named first, before the palace and before the homes. Commentators ask what its burning proved that the ruin of the city alone did not.
God calls His house at Jerusalem the place of His sanctuary, the sanctuary of Christ. He was and is always the God of the Jews. This is not a simple treading down of the people by God's permission, as punishment for their sins. For it to go that far, God lets the temple itself be thrown down, as He did at the time of the captivity in Babylon. It had to be so, in order that God might show He has completely handed His people over to the fruit of their ways. While He upholds His honour in that house, He must stand up to defend them, even while He disciplines them. But if that house is destroyed and their city laid flat, then He truly leaves them to the ripened fruit of their sins. Even then, He may still intend to bring them back.
Could God ever give up His own sanctuary? Jeremiah had already answered that with Shiloh.
Shiloh was the place where God's tent of worship first stood in the land. What was Shiloh now? God had profaned it. He would do exactly the same where the ark now stood, in the sanctuary at Jerusalem. It is impossible for God to bind Himself to maintain an empty form. The temple was a beautiful picture of His truth. He would sustain it no longer, for the state of the people and of the priests was the most offensive evil under the sun in His eyes. God had given the Jewish people and their priests great truth and blessing, or at least great privileges. The greater the gift, the greater the wickedness of their insults to His holiness in His own temple.
Babylon's soldiers lit the fire. One writer looks past them to the One who gave the order.
Their civil disgrace and ruin were dreadful, because their outward standing and blessings came from God in a way unique to Israel. But what was that next to His degrading His own dwelling on earth among them! … It was no use thinking about the Chaldeans. It was God who brought Zion and the temple, and their feasts and fasts and sacrifices, with king and priest, to nothing.
Chapter 52 is an added conclusion to the book. Why does it end with this list of ruin?
The Holy Spirit of God has a special reason for giving us such a complete summary in this added conclusion. It is to picture for us the total failure of man on the ground of responsibility. We see it in the most privileged nation of all — the nation God gave special privileges and a unique place of nearness to Himself. This matters, because it proves that man cannot be trusted to direct a nation. If the most privileged nation fails, we can expect nothing better from the others — only worse.
The fire did more than ruin a city. Its date marks a change that has not ended yet.
In 588 B.C. Jerusalem fell in complete ruin, along with the temple Solomon had built. God took power and authority out of the hands of His own people and put it into Gentile hands. Nebuchadnezzar was the first head of the line of Gentile kingdoms (Dan. 2:38). It is still the "times of the Gentiles," and these will last until the kingdom comes into the hands of Christ.
Why burn the temple at all? One writer gives the reason, then turns it on the church today.
Nebuchadnezzar realised the Jews must have no centre of gathering. So fire destroyed the temple that Solomon had built in such splendour. What is there in the Christian world that answers to this? God's true Centre in the Church is Christ Himself. But does the church that bears His name recognise this today? No — Satan has succeeded in blotting out the clear recognition of Christ as God's one Centre. The result is confusion, with many sects and denominations struggling against each other.
- Privilege — Judah held the greatest privileges God ever gave a nation. It used them to insult Him in His own house.
- Patience spent — God will not keep a building going as an empty form. What happened to Shiloh happened to Jerusalem.
- Handed over — the burning sanctuary was God's sign that He had stopped shielding His people. He left them to the fruit of their own ways.
- Power transferred — with the temple in ashes, rule over the earth passed to Gentile hands. It has not returned yet.
- Centre kept — fire took Israel's one gathering place. For believers today the Centre is Christ Himself, and no fire can touch Him.
And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the body-guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.
Verse 14 records the last stroke of the siege: the temple had burned, and now the whole Chaldean army pulled down every wall around Jerusalem. God had chosen this city as His dwelling place, and now it lay open ground — so who really did this, and why?
Zedekiah's rebellion was more than a political gamble. Commentators trace the ruin to a refusal to accept a sentence God had already passed.
Zedekiah should have been a pattern of submission, acknowledging the just judgment of God. Above all, it was their evil that had blocked the blessing of all the nations of the earth as independent powers. It had also thrown down not only themselves but all the others with them, under the empire of the golden head, the king of Babylon. And now Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon. That rebellion was really against the sentence of the Lord. So, in a sense, He was morally compelled to cast the Jews out of His presence.
Judah still had every outward advantage when the end came.
At that time Judah stood for the whole nation of Israel. It still had the city of government and a king of David's line on the throne. The House of the Lord still stood before them, and spoke to them of the preserving mercy of God. The chief priest and others still carried on the ministry. But they not only failed to do the good, they did what was downright evil in God's sight.
The verse names the Chaldean army. One commentator, writing on the book of Lamentations, looks past that visible cause.
Their loss of standing and their ruin were dreadful. Their outward place and blessings came from God in a way that belonged to Israel alone. But what was that next to His bringing down His own earthly dwelling among them! … It was no use thinking about the Chaldeans. It was God who brought it all to nothing: Zion and the temple, their feasts and fasts and sacrifices, with king and priest.
A wall does two things: it keeps danger out and it marks off what is inside. Breaking down all the walls destroyed both at once. One commentator reads that loss as a picture for God's people in any age.
Besides this, the army of the Chaldeans broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around, so the city would have no protection from raiders. So today, in the professing church, the wall of separation has been broken down, and unbelievers have easily come in to do damage.
Jeremiah's own words end at chapter 51; this chapter was added afterwards. Commentators ask why the same history found in 2 Kings needed repeating here.
Clearly, it was added to show how exactly the judgments and warnings God gave through Jeremiah came true. For a time the false prophets had their way; their lying messages, their words of delusion and false hope were listened to and believed. The prophet of God walked a lonely road; people rejected him and he suffered. But the time came when God vindicated him and His own Word, while the false prophets were found out to be liars and deceivers.
Another writer notes how complete the ruin was.
Jeremiah did not write chapter 52, yet it closes the book well. It links the Chaldean with the king, the capital, and the temple. The plundering of the city and sanctuary was complete, and so was the captivity of the people. God had not failed in anything He had predicted about Babylon's supremacy, nor about the value of submission to Babylon, the scourge of Judah's sin.
These same walls were rebuilt in Nehemiah's day, and Scripture looks on to a time when Jerusalem will need no stonework at all.
Walls will be unnecessary. The Lord Himself will be a wall of fire around the city, and He will also be "the glory in her midst." … Their walls, gates and bars will go (Ezek. 38:10-11): the Lord alone will defend them. This should be a clear, ringing testimony to the Church of God today. We have too often turned to people and to organizations for our protection, and for help in bearing witness for Christ before the world.
- Cause — A king rebelled against a sentence God had already passed. The army that broke the walls only carried out what that rebellion invited.
- Hand — Behind the army stood God Himself. He brought Zion, the temple, king and priest to nothing.
- Loss — A broken wall means two losses: defence and separation. What is left has no guard against what should have stayed outside.
- Vindication — The ruins proved the rejected prophet right, and the popular voices of false hope wrong.
- Hope — One day the Lord Himself will be the wall. He is where His people are meant to look for safety now.