In the fourth month, on the ninth of the month, the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
This verse puts a date on a disaster. The siege of Jerusalem had emptied the city of food. Behind that dated line lie two questions. Why did God let His own city come to this? And was the collapse an accident of war, or the exact keeping of a word spoken long before?
Jeremiah 52 tells the same story as the end of 2 Kings. One writer set the two accounts side by side.
So far the account agrees exactly with 2 Kings 25:1-7, dates and all. Jeremiah 52 only gives a little more detail. It also credits the king of Babylon himself with what the history in Kings gives to his servants acting under his orders.
The same writer accounts for the small differences in figures elsewhere in the chapter without treating them as errors:
The last chapter appears to be an inspired appendix to the prophecy of Jeremiah rather than his own composition. It is substantially similar to the last chapter of 2 Kings, but with some remarkable points of difference in dates and numbers, owing, I presume, to a difference in the way of looking at the facts.
So why did God let this happen to His own city? One writer points to the nation's evil, and to a rebellion that struck higher than the king knew.
Their evil above all had hindered the blessing of all the nations of the earth as independent powers. It had also thrown 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. That was really a rebellion against the sentence of the Lord, who was in this way, as it were, morally compelled to cast out the Jews from His presence.
The starvation was not a chance outcome of a long siege. Jeremiah had described it in advance, in terms far worse than an empty bread basket. The writer below gives his own rendering of Jeremiah 19:9.
Nebuchadnezzar builds ramparts all around Jerusalem and begins a siege that lasts about eight months. Famine grows worse in the city, according to the word of Jeremiah: "And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters... in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies press them" (Jer. 19:9).
after_note: DELETE
Nothing dramatic marked Jeremiah's words as true at the time he spoke them, and that delay is part of the point.
At the moment God did not step in with startling or miraculous acts to publicly justify the words of Jeremiah. Yet the exact fulfilment of his words, delayed as it seemed, was all the more striking afterwards. There was nothing immediate or sudden. Jeremiah spoke the word of the Lord and suffered for it. God in patient mercy waited on the people, patiently looking for their repentance. That did not take place... Then the hearts of the people, the princes, the priests, the prophets and the pastors hardened completely. And the fulfilments of Jeremiah's words came swiftly.
Jeremiah's Lamentations supply what this verse leaves as a bare statement. The writer below is giving his own rendering of Lamentations 4:4-5, where the ESV reads that the infants "ask for bread, but no one gives to them."
"The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to its palate for thirst; infants ask bread — no one breaks it for them." Such was the pitiful state of children from their earliest days upward. Was it any better with their elders? "Those who fed on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up on scarlet embrace rubbish heaps." Parents and other adults were starving and dying of hunger. They died gladly, as it were, on the rubbish heap, instead of on the splendid couches where they used to recline when they grew weary of pleasure itself.
The same shortage appears in the prophet's own story. One writer notes what Jeremiah received while the city starved.
Zedekiah, however, answers Jeremiah's plea. He does not send him back to the vaults, but puts him in the court of the guard: "and they gave him daily a loaf of bread... until all the bread in the city was spent."
Israel later kept this date as a fast. God announced what He would do with it.
A further word from the Lord now comes, and verse 19 mentions four fasts. Two of them appear in the previous chapter. Now we have the one in the fourth month. In that month famine prevailed and Jerusalem was broken up, as Jeremiah 52:6 records... It is now revealed that the day would come when these four fasts would be turned into feasts of rejoicing. Therefore they were to love truth and peace.
- Rebellion — Zedekiah's revolt against Babylon was really a revolt against God's own sentence.
- Word — The famine came "according to the word of Jeremiah." He spoke it long before, while God waited for repentance.
- Hunger — Lamentations fills in the detail. Infants ask bread and no one breaks it. Those raised in luxury die in the streets.
- Bread — Jeremiah received a daily loaf until the city's bread ran out. He ate while the city starved.
- Feast — Israel kept this day as a fast. God promised that the fast would become a feast of rejoicing.
And the city was broken into and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden (now the Chaldeans were near the city round about); and they went the way toward the plain.
This is the moment the siege of Jerusalem ended: the wall gave way, and the city's soldiers slipped out in the dark, with the Babylonian army all around. Two questions press on the reader — why did God let the enemy break open His own city, and what did the fleeing men hope to save?
This closing chapter is an added summary of the fall of Jerusalem. One writer explains its purpose — and the most favoured nation in view is Israel:
The Holy Spirit of God has a special reason for giving us such a full summary in this added ending. It is to picture for us the complete failure of man when he is tested on his own responsibility. And it shows that failure in the most favoured nation of all — the nation God gave special privileges, and a special place of nearness to Himself.
The wall did not fall by accident. Zedekiah had rebelled against Babylon, and one writer reads that rebellion as an act against God's own verdict:
So Zedekiah should have been a model of submission, owning the just judgment of God. Their evil above all had kept all the nations of the earth from blessing as independent powers. It had also 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 rebellion against the sentence of the Lord, so the Lord was, as it were, morally compelled to cast out the Jews from His presence.
The gate near the king's garden was a back way out. But the verse also says where the enemy was, and that makes the escape look hopeless:
Their food had run out, and at that time the enemy broke into the city. But instead of surrendering to the king of Babylon, all the men of war and Zedekiah tried to escape at night through a gate between two walls. How did they expect to escape when the army of the Chaldeans surrounded the city?
There had been a way out, and it was not this gate. Jeremiah had told the king that surrender meant life for himself, his household, and the city:
That spirit had given in to man's thoughts against God's word. It is solemn to see how little it remembers, in the moment of greatest need, what might even then have saved city and people and prince. Had not the prophet assured Zedekiah that if he went out to the king of Babylon's princes, he and his house would live, and the city would not be burned with fire? Sadly, this is one of the effects of the evil heart that departs from the living God. It always seems to forget the word when it is most wanted. It feels the force of that word only after it has once again taken up some new plan of its own, as disappointing as all the ones before it.
The flight and capture also settled something that looked like a contradiction in Scripture. Jeremiah had said Zedekiah would look the king of Babylon in the eyes; Ezekiel had said he would be brought to Babylon and yet not see it:
Both prophets implied that he would be taken, even if he tried to escape. Both said he must go to Babylon. But Ezekiel foretold, "Yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there" — the land of the Chaldeans. Jeremiah foretold, "Your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth."... The Chaldeans chased the fleeing king and caught him before he crossed the Jordan. At Riblah the king of Babylon had Zedekiah's sons killed in front of their guilty father, then put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with chains and carried him to Babylon. So he did not see Babylon, though he went there. Yet he did see the angry conqueror's eyes, and that conqueror spoke with him mouth to mouth. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
(ESV renders Jeremiah 34:3 "speak with you face to face"; older versions read "mouth to mouth.")
The collapse is not just ancient history. One writer sets this failure beside the failure of Christendom, the professing Christian world:
This tells us of the failure of Christendom when it was tested on its responsibility; Jeremiah 52 tells us of the failure of Judaism. May we learn the lesson and cling to the Lord Himself, abiding in Christ so that our joy may be full despite the failure, and so that we may be to God's glory in these "difficult times."
- Breach — The wall did not fail by accident. Zedekiah rebelled against the rule God had given to Babylon, so he rebelled against God's own sentence.
- Flight — The enemy ringed the city. The night escape through the garden gate had no chance, and nowhere to lead them.
- Forgotten word — The one real escape was offered and refused: go out and live. A heart that turns from God forgets His word just when it is needed most.
- Fulfilment — Two prophecies that looked contradictory both came true down to the detail. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
- Failure — The chapter shows man's complete failure where he was most favoured. Cling to Christ, not to any place of privilege.
And the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
Zedekiah ran from a broken city by night, heading for the Jordan, and this verse records how fast that flight ended. The commentators ask a sharper question: why did a king who already knew what would happen still try to run?
One writer weighs a king's forgetfulness at the worst possible moment:
It is solemn to see this. A spirit that has given in to man's thoughts against God's word forgets, at the moment of greatest need, what might even then have helped city, people, and prince. Had the prophet not promised him that going out to the king of Babylon's princes meant life for him and his house, and that the city would not burn? This is one effect of the evil heart that turns away from the living God: it always seems to forget the word at the very moment it needs the word most. It only feels the force of that word after it has taken up some new plan of its own, as disappointing as every plan before it.
Another writer puts the obvious question to the men who tried this escape:
Zedekiah and all the men of war did not surrender to the king of Babylon. Instead they tried to escape at night through a gate between two walls. How did they expect to escape when the army of the Chaldeans surrounded the city? At least Zedekiah and his sons were caught, though others of his men were scattered from him.
Some did the opposite of running, and lived:
Only a small remnant kept their lives. They were the ones who had received the Lord's message and handed themselves over to the Chaldeans.
Two prophets had spoken about this king, and their words looked as if they clashed. The capture near Jericho is the hinge on which both came true:
quote now carries the two prophecies itself; splits two very-hard sentences; passive removed Zedekiah's sons killed before their guilty father's eyes, then put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with chains and carried him to Babylon. So he did not see Babylon, though he went there; yet he did see the angry conqueror's eyes, who spoke with him face to face. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
Behind the chase lay a broken oath:
"Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon." He had no real faith in Jehovah, Israel's covenant-keeping God, and so he thought nothing of breaking his covenant with Nebuchadnezzar. But how dearly he paid for this violation of his oath!
Judgment fell, but it was not all that God had to say about this king:
God told this king, "You shall not die by the sword. You shall die in peace." He would have a funeral suited to his dignity as a king. Why? Because God, even in His judgment, carefully remembers whatever good there may have been. The Lord says, as it were, I will repay; and He never fails. Zedekiah had acted wickedly. Still, his heart was towards the prophet, and he would have gladly spared him. Others more wicked than himself pushed him on. So when the decisive moment came, God extended mercy towards him.
One writer reads this whole chapter as a picture of something wider than one king's fall:
This summary of the chapter is meant to picture for us the complete failure of man on the ground of responsibility. That failure is shown in the most favoured nation of all — the nation to which God gave special privileges and a special place of nearness to Himself. This matters, because it shows clearly that man cannot be trusted with national direction. If the most favoured nation fails, we can expect nothing better from the others — rather worse.
- Word ignored. Zedekiah had a promise of life if he surrendered, and forgot it at the one moment it could have saved him.
- Word tested. Running with an army did not help. The troops scattered, and the Chaldeans caught the king before he reached the Jordan.
- Word fulfilled. Two predictions looked opposite: he would see the king of Babylon, yet never see Babylon. His capture and blinding made both true.
- Word remembered. Even in judgment God kept His promise that this king would die in peace, repaying the little good in him.
- Word for us. This chapter records the failure of the most privileged nation. If they failed, man cannot be trusted with national direction.
And they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon, unto Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment upon him.
reason: "200 miles" is an invented fact; passive, hard opening
Zedekiah had a way out. One commentator notes how far God's word slipped from the king's mind at the one hour it could have saved him.
It is solemn to see how little a spirit remembers in the moment of great need, once it has given in to man's thoughts against God's word. It forgets what might even then have helped city, people and prince alike. Had the prophet not assured Zedekiah of this? If he went out to the king of Babylon's princes, he and his house would live, and the city would not be burned with fire. Sadly, this is one effect of the evil heart that turns away from the living God. It always seems to forget the word when the word is most needed. It only feels the force of that word after it has taken up some new plan of its own — a plan as disappointing as all the ones before it.
Another writer follows what happened between the escape and the sentence.
But their flight did not go unnoticed. Their pursuers caught them in the plains of Jericho. The soldiers scattered in various directions. But they captured the king himself and his household. They carried them to the headquarters at Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar himself was at the time. Here Zedekiah stood a formal trial, and sentence was passed against him.
The king of Babylon passed the verdict. But one writer asks who Zedekiah's rebellion was really against.
Zedekiah should therefore have been a pattern of submission, owning the just judgment of God. Their evil above all had blocked the blessing of all the nations of the earth as independent powers. It had also plunged them, and all others 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 Jehovah. So Jehovah was, as it were, morally compelled to cast the Jews out from His presence.
The severity of what followed at Riblah traces back to an oath sworn in God's name.
Nebuchadnezzar took terrible vengeance on his helpless captive. The cause was perhaps not so much the rebellion of a vassal king. It was the guilt, the enormity, of breaking the oath he had taken in the name of Jehovah to obey Nebuchadnezzar. This sin filled up his cup. He made a covenant with the king of Babylon. He took an oath in the name of Jehovah to obey him — so much so that Jehovah called it "my oath" and "my covenant." Afterwards he rebelled against the king whom Jehovah had set over him, and sent to Egypt for horses and men. He despised the covenant and the oath he had taken so solemnly. So he made the name of the Holy One of Israel count for nothing in front of the heathen king.
Two predictions about Zedekiah looked like they contradicted each other. Standing before Nebuchadnezzar in person made both of them true.
Jeremiah warned Zedekiah many times against his course and advised him to submit to Babylon. For this the princes of Judah persecuted Jeremiah. Two prophecies about him are remarkable: one that he would speak with the king of Babylon, and "his eyes shall see his eyes" (Jer. 32:4); and the other that "he shall be brought to Babylon, yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there" (Ezek. 12:13). And so it happened. They carried him before Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. There his sons were killed in front of him, his eyes were put out, and he was taken to Babylon.
The sentence at Riblah was not only personal. It closed a throne that God called His own.
The downfall of Judah suspended the Creator's gracious purpose for all nations for ages… While David's throne stood, it was still "the throne of Jehovah" — however feeble and contemptible its occupants might be. The last king, Zedekiah, brought on the ruin by his treachery… Ever since that day David's throne has lain in the dust, and the crown of rule over the nations has been taken away.
- Oath — Zedekiah swore loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar in Jehovah's name, then broke it. Commentators see that broken oath, more than the revolt, as what filled up his cup.
- Flight — The prophet told him he would live if he surrendered. He ran instead. A heart turned from God's word forgets it just when it is needed most.
- Sentence — A foreign king passed the verdict. But the rebellion was really against the sentence of Jehovah, who had handed world rule to Babylon.
- Word — Two predictions sounded contradictory. Both came true at Riblah: he saw the king of Babylon's eyes, yet never saw Babylon.
- Throne — David's throne, once called Jehovah's throne, has lain in the dust ever since. That fall suspended God's gracious purpose for all nations for ages.
And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; and he slaughtered also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
At Riblah the last king of Judah watched his sons die. That moment closed the long history of David's throne in Jerusalem, and it raises a hard question: how could such a ruin stand beside God's promises to David's line?
Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon. Commentators see more in that act than politics.
Zedekiah ought to have been a pattern of submission, owning the just judgment of God... And now Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon. That was really a rebellion against the sentence of the Lord. So the Lord was, as it were, morally compelled to cast the Jews out from His presence.
For years the threatened judgment did not come.
God had long delayed His judgments on the guilty nation and its rulers. But in the end He made a short and speedy end of the wickedness. That wickedness had for so long despised His patience and ignored His pleadings and solemn warnings by His prophets.
Two prophets seemed to say opposite things about what Zedekiah's eyes would see.
Both prophets said he would be taken even if he tried to escape, and that he must go to Babylon. But Ezekiel predicted that he would not see Babylon, though he would die there. Jeremiah predicted that his eyes would see the eyes of the king of Babylon, who would speak with him face to face. To a shallow reader this might seem hard to reconcile, if not a contradiction. But such a thought would be only ignorance, not to speak of irreverence. Each of them gave out from God beforehand what the events then fulfilled. The king fled, but his pursuers caught him before he crossed the Jordan. At Riblah the king of Babylon judged the matter. He had Zedekiah's sons killed before their guilty father's eyes, then put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with chains and carried him to Babylon. So he did not see Babylon, though he went there; yet he did see the eyes of the angry conqueror who spoke with him face to face. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
With his sons killed, David's royal line lost its throne. Yet the word spoken over that ruin left a door open. The words quoted below come from an older translation.
While David's throne stood, however feeble and contemptible its occupants might be, it was still "the throne of the Lord." The last king, Zedekiah, brought on the ruin by his treachery... Now note the words of the Lord to him: "Remove the diadem, and take off the crown... I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is, and I will give it Him." Ever since that day David's throne has lain in the dust, and the crown of rule over the nations has been removed.
Writers see in the blinded king a picture of the whole nation.
How solemn a judgment for a king of Judah! But it is typical of Israel's eyes being blinded at the present time because of unbelief (Rom. 11:7-8), a spiritual blindness that has continued through history from the time of their dispersal among the nations.
The same picture points to a remedy. The two things Zedekiah lost — sight and freedom — are the two things the coming One restores.
Israel is blind, and darkness covers the people. They must await the coming again of the One who opens the eyes of the blind. He also opens the prison doors for those who, like Zedekiah, are bound in chains. They must now learn to hope in the Lord, who will yet be exalted in their coming salvation.
Writers also read the blinding as a warning for believers who drift into the world.
The first thing the enemy — the devil — tries to do, when he has captured one of the Lord's people and brought him to Babylon, is to put out his eyes. Samson found this. He had gone down to the world, and there his enemies captured him and put out his eyes. He had to "grind in the prison house of Gaza." One who would have been mighty in the power of the Spirit of God is only seen as a poor blind prisoner, making sport for the Philistines. And what a sad picture we also have in Zedekiah, a prisoner in Babylon, and blind.
- Sight ignored. Zedekiah despised God's patience and ignored His warnings for years. Delayed judgment is not cancelled judgment.
- Sight confirmed. Jeremiah said he would see the king of Babylon's eyes. Ezekiel said he would never see Babylon. This verse fulfils both, for no word of the Lord falls to the ground.
- Sight lost. The king watched his sons die, and then lost his own sight. His treachery ended in chains and darkness.
- Sight in the nation. The blinded king pictures Israel's blindness. David's throne stays overturned "until He come whose right it is."
- Sight restored. The enemy's first aim is to blind his captive. The answer is the One who opens blind eyes and prison doors.
And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with chains of brass; and the king of Babylon carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
The king of Babylon made the last king of Judah watch his sons die. Then he blinded him, put him in chains, and left him in prison in Babylon until he died. Two questions rise out of this scene. Why did God let it end this way for the man on David's throne? And what becomes of His promise that David's line would rule?
God had put world rule into Babylon's hands as judgment on His people. So Zedekiah's revolt was not just politics.
Zedekiah ought to have been a pattern of subjection therefore, in owning the just judgment of God. Their evil above all had blocked the blessing of all the nations of the earth as independent powers. It had also 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 a rebellion against the sentence of Jehovah, who was then, so to speak, morally compelled to cast the Jews out of His presence.
His name itself pointed to what overtook him.
Zedekiah refused "the words of the LORD" (Jeremiah 36:2). His two sons were killed before his eyes, his own eyes were put out, and he was carried away to Babylon. His name means "The justice of Jehovah". That justice fell on him because he refused the word spoken by the prophet.
Two earlier prophecies about Zedekiah look like they clash.
Both prophets implied that he would be taken, even if he tried to escape. Both affirmed that he must go to Babylon. But Ezekiel predicted "yet he shall not see it (Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans), though he shall die there"; Jeremiah predicted "your eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you face to face." To a shallow reader this might seem hard to reconcile, if not a contradiction… But the king of Babylon put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with chains and carried him to Babylon. So he did not see Babylon, though he went there; yet he did see the angry conqueror's eyes, who spoke with him face to face. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
Zedekiah had shown the prophet Jeremiah some kindness, and God did not forget it.
There were worse kings than he, and he showed some willingness to listen to the prophet. Still, Zedekiah brought on the crisis of judgment for Jerusalem and his people. It is not the most daring man who does the worst deed. Weakness may be guilty where there is no looking to God for strength… But the Lord showed him mercy. I think it was because of what he had done to His servant Jeremiah. "You shall not die by the sword, but you shall die in peace." How gracious is Jehovah! The kindly act is not forgotten by God.
God had also said He would deal with him "until I visit him." That sits oddly beside a sentence that ran to his death. One writer reads the visit as inward.
At Babylon he was thrown into prison "till the day of his death" (Jer. 52:11). "Until I visit him" (Jer. 32:5) might imply that he was finally set free, but "till the day of his death" rules out any such reading. It is better to take the expression to mean this. God in mercy would visit him with repentance and a true knowledge of Himself, as He did with Manasseh before him… So his soul would be set free, though his body stayed in prison.
With a blind king in a Babylonian cell, David's dynasty looked finished.
Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, and God allowed it in the way He governs the world. Zedekiah was the last of David's house to sit on his throne, and he was blinded. It appeared as if the lamp of David had been put out for good.
But God still had someone in mind for that throne.
God has One in His mind, once born in grace of David's royal line. World-wide rule is purposed for Him. Upheaval must follow upheaval until He appears… David's Heir — He who suffered for our salvation — will yet take up the crown that many have wanted but could not get.
One writer turns the blind captive into a warning for us.
When the enemy — the devil — has captured one of the Lord's people and brought him to Babylon, the first thing he seeks to do is to put out his eyes… Someone who would have been mighty in the power of the Spirit of God is seen only as a poor blind prisoner. And what a sad picture we have also in Zedekiah, a prisoner in Babylon, and blind.
- Cause: Zedekiah's revolt went against the sentence God had already passed. His name means "The justice of Jehovah", and that justice fell on him for refusing the prophet's word.
- Precision: The blinding made both prophecies come true. He saw the conqueror's face. He never saw Babylon. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
- Mercy: God remembered the king's kindness to Jeremiah and spared him the sword. One writer reads "until I visit him" not as release, but as repentance given in prison.
- Reach: David's lamp only looked put out. The throne waits for the Heir who suffered for our salvation and will yet take the crown.
- Warning: Babylon's first work on a captive is to take away his sight — and Zedekiah stayed blind to the day of his death.
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.