And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, [that] Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem; and they encamped against it, and built turrets against it round about.
The last chapter of Jeremiah opens with a date and an army at the gates. Two questions follow: why did the siege come, and why does Scripture keep the day it began with such care?
Zedekiah's revolt was more than a political mistake. One writer shows who the king was really defying.
Zedekiah should have been a pattern of submission, owning the just judgment of God. It was their evil above all that had blocked the blessing of all the nations of the earth as independent powers. That same evil had thrown 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 was really to rebel against the sentence of Jehovah, who was then, as it were, morally bound to cast the Jews out of His presence.
The revolt carried a further weight. Zedekiah had sworn loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar in God's name, and the watching nations saw him break that oath.
"Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon." This act was infamous and sacrilegious in the eyes of the Lord, and this is why: Nebuchadnezzar "had made him take oath by God." So to all his other sins this king was adding the breaking of an oath made in the name of the Lord. He did it in front of the idol-worshipping nations, and so showed them that he had no regard for the God he pretended to belong to. Chronicles gives four reasons for the judgment of this king. He did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke to him on behalf of Jehovah; this was rebellion against the word of the Spirit of God. He revolted against Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against returning to Jehovah.
The same day appears in another prophet's book. God told Ezekiel to write it down as the siege began.
The prophet gives the exact date. It was the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year… How did Ezekiel know about all this? It was the Lord who gave him this information and led him to record the date. This is what the second verse says: "Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day."
The verse fixes the start; the verses that follow trace its long, grinding end. One writer sums up how long it lasted, and how it ended.
The crisis was now at hand. Jerusalem was going through its last siege. The king of Babylon had begun it before the ninth year of Zedekiah closed. He took the city early in the eleventh year, after besieging it some eighteen months — though not without a break.
This month later became one of Israel's four fast days. A later word from the Lord names it, and promises something better.
Besides the two fasts mentioned in the previous chapter, we now have the one in the fourth month. In that month famine took hold and Jerusalem was broken up, as Jeremiah 52:6 says. And it was in the tenth month that Nebuchadnezzar's army surrounded the city, as verse 4 of that same chapter records. It is now revealed that the day would come when these four fasts would be turned into feasts of rejoicing.
The final chapter reads as an added conclusion to the book. One writer asks why God gave it, and answers with something larger than one city's fall.
The Holy Spirit of God has a special reason for giving us such a full summary in this added conclusion. It is to picture for us the complete failure of man on the ground of responsibility. And it shows that failure in the most favoured nation of all — the nation to which God gave special privileges and a place of nearness to Himself unlike any other. This matters, because it shows plainly that man cannot be trusted to direct a nation. If the most favoured nation fails, nothing better can be expected from the others, but worse.
- One day, four turns. Follow this one day through Scripture. A rebellion becomes a siege, the siege becomes a national fast, and the fast becomes a feast.
- Rebellion. Zedekiah's revolt against Babylon was a revolt against the sentence God had already passed. He also broke an oath he had sworn in God's own name.
- Siege. The army camped and built its works, and the city held out some eighteen months before it fell.
- Record. Ezekiel did not learn the date later. God told him to write it down on the day itself.
- Reversal. The month the siege began became one of four fast days. God later promised those very days would turn into feasts of gladness.
And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
Nebuchadnezzar's army sat outside Jerusalem from Zedekiah's ninth year until his eleventh. Two questions press on it: why did God let the end come so slowly, and what was still on offer to the city while the walls held?
The book of Jeremiah closes with a chapter that repeats material already found in 2 Kings. One writer explains what the repeat is for:
Why is it added here once more? Clearly to show how literally the judgment predictions and divine warnings given through Jeremiah were fulfilled. For a time the false prophets had their way; people listened to their lying messages, their words of delusion and false hope, and believed them. The prophet of God had a lonely life; people rejected him and he suffered. But the time came when he stood vindicated, and God's Word with him, while the false prophets turned out to be liars and deceivers.
Zedekiah brought the siege on himself by rebelling against Babylon. His rebellion reached further than politics:
Zedekiah should therefore have been a pattern of submission, by owning the just judgment of God. Their evil above all had hindered the blessing of all the nations of the earth as independent powers. It had also plunged not only themselves but all others with them under the empire of the golden head, the king of Babylon. And now Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, which was really against the sentence of the Lord.
Another prophet, Ezekiel, wrote down the same date in his own book. He had no ordinary way of knowing it:
The prophet gives the exact date. It was the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year. How did Ezekiel know about all this? It was the Lord who gave him this information and led him to record the date. This is the statement of the second verse: "Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day."
God did not fall silent during those long months:
To have the complete history you must read the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. They give the inner history of the spirit of the people and of the king. They show the condition that drew down the judgment, and they show the patience of God. Even until the very taking of the city He kept sending them the most moving calls to repentance — alas, in vain. And the times of the Gentiles began.
The city did not have to burn. A real offer stood open to the king:
In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign Nebuchadnezzar came and besieged Jerusalem, building a wall around it. Jeremiah told Zedekiah, by the word of the Lord, that if he surrendered to the king of Babylon he would live and the city would not be burned with fire. If he would not surrender, the city would be burned and he would not escape (Jer. 38:17-18). But Zedekiah feared the Jews, and so he would not surrender.
Why does the book end with this long summary of the fall? One writer sees a test of what man can be trusted with, run on the best possible case:
The Holy Spirit of God has a special reason for giving us such a comprehensive summary in this added conclusion. It is to picture for us the complete failure of man when placed under responsibility. And it shows that failure in the most favoured nation of all — the nation to which God gave special privileges and a place of unique nearness to Himself. This matters because it shows plainly that man cannot be trusted with national direction. If the most favoured nation fails, we can expect nothing better from the others — rather worse.
- Warned — The chapter shows that the warnings God gave through Jeremiah came true to the letter. The false prophets turned out to be liars.
- Dated — The Lord gave Ezekiel the very day the siege began and led him to write it down.
- Deserved — Zedekiah's revolt against Babylon was really revolt against the sentence of the Lord. He should have submitted and owned God's judgment as just.
- Delayed — God kept sending moving calls to repentance right up to the taking of the city. The long siege measured out His patience.
- Declined — Zedekiah could have kept his life and his city by surrendering. He refused because he feared the people, and the most favoured nation of all failed completely.