Truth and Consequences: A study in the prophecy of Jeremiah
Chapter 39
By Bob Mendelsohn
Given 16 September 2022
Lesson Thirty-eight: None so blind
INTRODUCTION
Patty and I went with a couple in NYC on a date night to see a movie. The year was around 1985 and the movie had several stars whom we appreciated. The trailers on the television were riveting and we decided to spend our Saturday night together, the four of us, and after a Chinese dinner, to go see this movie. During the opening scenes, a serious series of violent actions were shown, they were scary, and immediately I remembered why I didn’t ever go see horror movies. By the time the werewolf in London began eating the flesh of the lead actor, and my head was turned more often away from the screen than it was watching it, we all at once decided to walk out. We had been there 7 minutes. What a waste of the price of admission. What a waste of time for us. I couldn’t watch. I still don’t understand why people put themselves through that trauma and disgust.
When I read this portion of the Bible again last week, two things popped into my head about the overarching theme of this chapter, Chapter 39 of Jeremiah. One, turning away from horror is a reasonable thing to do when the sights and at times the sounds of the horror, the evil, the ugliness of it all, are brought to my attention. The second also has to do with our eyes, and that’s why I title this chapter, “None so blind.”
If you haven’t yet read the text, you on YouTube, please pause your playback, read Jeremiah 39, and then rejoin us, thanks.
Welcome back. There is none so blind as he who will not see. So says the saying, attributed to John Heywood in the 16th century in the UK, and Jonathan Swift used it in one of his writings entitled “Polite Conversations” in 1738. Even country music singer and songwriter Ray Stevens, used this phrase in a song from 1970 entitled “Everything is Beautiful.” But remember, Jeremiah had already given us this idea back in chapter 5. He wrote, ‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not.’ (5.21)
I couldn’t get away from this idea and the idea of a horror movie as I read this chapter. Maybe you have similar thoughts. Let’s dig in.
Verses 1 to 2 contain the opening with the siege beginning in Judah. Now we are in the final stages of the reign of Zedekiah and we are coming up to the final moments of the judgment on the Jewish people. The capture of Jerusalem will take place in about 18 months, but here the siege has begun. The date is fixed. The walls are breached. The horror of the loss of our homeland is about to take place. That’s how the story goes, but it’s not how to story starts, and may I say, that’s not how the story will end. But it’s a major moment and one that the prophet has been telling the Jewish people, and every king for 40 years. The “your day will come” is almost on us.
And in verses 3 and 4, the Babylonian leadership has a meeting, and they realize the end is near. They make their plans. Zedekiah, the weak king, decides to turn and make a run for it. It’s at night. He and they escape and make their way through the maze of the palace and towards the south of the Jordan valley, that is, the Arabah, the area south of the Dead Sea, as if the Jordan continued in a southerly flow.
Verse 5, the king is captured after an undetermined amount of time, brought him to the king of Babylon, who conducted a type of trial. Zedekiah was the puppet king, established by Nebucchadnezzar, who should have remained loyal to him, but even that was a mark of failure of Zedekiah. The Chaldean king pronounced the sentence. Death. Blindness.
Verse 6, we see horror. If we look. Nebuchadnezzar killed each of the sons of Zedekiah, while Zedekiah had to watch.
לְעֵינָ֑יו
Towards his eyes. For his eyes. Right in front of his eyes.
The horror would have made my wife and me walk out of that theatre. What evil in the madman Nebuchadnezzar who not only killed a man’s children, but made the man watch.
All the nobles, the entourage of Zedekiah were all killed at that time also. I’m guessing it was not via a little pill. It would have been with swords and in a shout of an army, violent, ruthless, without mercy. All in front of Zedekiah. He had been the cause. What is going through his mind just then? Pain and suffering. Embarrassment. Shaking his head. “Why didn’t I listen to Jeremiah?” Why had he not gone along with the plan to surrender? Most would say he was too proud. He believed the wrong prophets.
Verse 7 amplifies this wickedness. Zedekiah is blinded. And put in chains. He is marched to Babylon. 2700 km! You think Sunday’s marathon of 42 km is long? This march is 65 times longer! And while he is blind. And embarrassed. And full of regret for his wrong choices. He will have plenty of time to live in regret and to repent for his wrong choices. Don’t you feel like that at times?
Verse 8, the Chaldeans demolished the walls of Jerusalem and burned down the palace and much of the city residences. You know that the inner city was where the elite lived, and their houses went to flame first.
You know, every week here in Sydney, it seems a house goes to ash. Some fire starts due to a space heater or to arson or to something, and we see the video on the news that day or the next. Some houses have smoke that lasts longer due to the investigations of the arson squad, trying to determine if there was accelerant or if it really was without suspicion. Whose houses do we see more often? It’s the wealthy, the lower North Shore fires, not the little bungalow out in the western suburbs, with people who are immigrants. The television news is ruthless in showcasing the elite, the rich, the powerful. That’s for discussion another time.
Here in Jeremiah, we see that the nobles are getting theirs and they are getting burned down early in the piece.
Verse 9 and following we see the others, the less-than-noble, some of whom submitted to Jeremiah’s prophecy, who surrendered to the Babylonians, הַנֹּֽפְלִים֙
They are labelled ‘deserters’ but in Hebrew Noflim, Fallen ones.
It’s not the same voweling, and thus a different word to Genesis 6, but very similar. “4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”
The ones who admitted their error, who surrendered and fell to Babylon survived, as Jeremiah had predicted.
In fact, in verses 9 and 10, we see the captain of the Babylonian army, Nebuzaradan, having compassion on the poor, and both taking in some to Babylon, and leaving many original folks in the land of Judah to work the vineyards and fields. Why not? Someone had to maintain the agriculture; Babylon might as well have had cheap slave labour and gained the benefit of the poor people.
Nebuzaradan had nothing to worry about from those folks. They wouldn’t mount an army. They would not challenge the Babylonians. They were poor and would oblige the demands of the conquerors.
And when you think about it, they were the loyal ones to the Lord in a way. God had promised the land to Israel, and here the poor and the meek would inherit it.
In verse 11, we get back to our hero, Jeremiah. The captain of the guard finds and captures Jeremiah and is given free access, deliverance, freedom, of sorts. Look at the Hebrew
וְעֵינֶ֙יךָ֙ שִׂ֣ים עָלָ֔יו
in verse 11, “Look after him” is literally “set your eyes on him.” There we see another use of the eyes. At one stage in our study today we are looking away in shock and horror. In another a seeing man is blinded. But none is so blind as he who will not see. Jeremiah evidences those who choose to see; who will see; who will live in the reality of what they see.
As a result, he is being given great care by Nebuchadnezzar through Nebuzaradan. He is ‘looked after’ and those army generals who met back in verse 3, now hand deliver Jeremiah to Gedaliah and he is able to remain in Jerusalem. He will no longer be held in custody.
But wait, there’s more. Remember Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian from last week’s study? He is also promised to be spared in the fires and the destruction, the exile and the pain of loss.
I think this may be something we should not miss. Although God has promised the Jewish people that they will go into captivity due to the three sins of idolatry, adultery and murder, even so, God can and does spare individuals who trust in him. Look at verse 18.
כִּ֤י מַלֵּט֙ אֲמַלֶּטְךָ֔ וּבַחֶ֖רֶב לֹ֣א תִפֹּ֑ל
God tells Ebed-Melech that he will certainly rescue him, with the double use of the verb Malait. Rescuing you I will rescue you. Sounds like God is personally involved, doesn’t it? And thank God, he is!
Friends, as we approach the 10 Days starting on Sunday the 25th, with Rosh Hashanah and the Day of Atonement close at hand, as we ponder what God is saying to Jewish people, to Sydneysiders, to all people, at this time of history, we can be confident. Why? Not because we are caught up in the powerful people of our day. We are not needing to be with the winning team in the Grand Final of story or religion.
We can be in the plan and the eyes of the Lord in the same way that this Ethiopian was… by faith. What does the Word say? “Because you have trusted in me” says the Lord. God’s plan always involved this unique method of right standing.
Some of you on this call have yet to make Yeshua Lord of your life. I’m glad you are still with us, learning, trying to get this right. There is one way, and only one way to be right with God. By faith. Abraham believed God in Genesis 15, and THAT was reckoned to him as right standing. (Gen 15.6) Entire chapters of the Bible are dedicated to this notion, most notably the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews which lists hero after hero, little guys, rich guys, poor people, everyday folks, whose one method of getting right with God was not in a Vidduy prayer or any such penitential ceremonies. They got right with God by faith.
You can also.
Look at the other words God tells Ebed-Melech. “You will not fall”
וּבַחֶ֖רֶב לֹ֣א תִפֹּ֑ל
By the sword you will not fall. You will not be like those fallen ones. You will not be deserting the plan and purpose of God. You will be a risen one. You will carry on. You will be rescued and preserved. You will survive.
How does that work? By faith. “Because you trusted in Me, God says.”
There’s no need to look away from this. This is not a horror movie. There is none so blind as he who will not see. Open your eyes and see the beauty and the plan of God in saving his people. Open your eyes, here on YouTube and here in the zoom room… God is hoping to share his life with you. Amen?
CONCLUSION
God is calling each of us to know him and to walk with him, today and throughout our days. Have you received Yeshua as your messiah and Lord? He is risen from the dead! Have you renounced your sin, your idolatry, your forsaking God and given him First Place in your life? If not, please, do so now, just now, as we pray together. Use your own words, if you want, but yield, surrender, to the Lord of life.
PRAYER
Then please write us (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) to tell us what you have just done, and we will send you literature and encourage you. You are part of our family; we love and appreciate you. And we want you to enjoy the presence of the Lord who calls, who knows, who blesses and builds us up.
We hope to see you again next week as we study chapter 40. Until then, Shabbat shalom!
>> Nebu (Nabu) is one of the more important minor deities of the Babylonian–Assyrian pantheon. The god Nebo (Akkadian Nabû, "the called") appears in the Code of Hammurabi in the early 2nd millennium b.c. as son of the national god Marduk and tutelary deity of the city Borsippa (to the south of the city of Babylon) and of its temple Ezida. In later documents he is characterized as the divine scribe, writer, and bearer of the "tablets of destiny" that enshrine the decrees of the gods. In accordance with this role, he was considered patron of the scribal art and of human learning.
>>
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert, Commentary on the Old Testament. (Published by many, from 1880 on)
Henry, Matthew, Commentary.
Keown, Gerald, Scalise, Pamela, Smothers, Thomas, Word Biblical Commentary. Book of Jeremiah (Part 2). 1995.
McConnville, Gordon, Jeremiah, New Bible Commentary.
Wright, Christopher, The Message of Jeremiah, The Bible Speaks Today. Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2014.
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ACTUAL TEXT
Jerusalem Captured
Jer. 39:1 1Now when Jerusalem was captured 2ain the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it; 2 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the city wall was abreached. 3 Then all the aofficials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the bMiddle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the 1Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the 2Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. 4 When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they afled and went out of the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate bbetween the two walls; and he went out toward the 1Arabah. 5 But the army of the aChaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the bplains of Jericho; and they seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at cRiblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. 6 Then the aking of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah bbefore his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also slew all the cnobles of Judah. 7 He then ablinded Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in bfetters of bronze to bring him to cBabylon. 8 The Chaldeans also aburned with fire the king’s palace and the houses of the people, and they bbroke down the walls of Jerusalem. 9 As for the rest of the people who were left in the city, the 1adeserters who had gone over to him and bthe rest of the people who remained, cNebuzaradan the dcaptain of the bodyguard carried them into exile in Babylon. 10 But some of the apoorest people who had nothing, aNebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard left behind in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields 1at that time.
Jeremiah Spared
Jer. 39:11 Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave orders about aJeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, saying, 12 “Take him and 1look after him, and ado nothing harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he tells you.” 13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard sent word, along with Nebushazban the 1Rab-saris, and Nergal-sar-ezer the 2Rab-mag, and all the leading officers of the king of Babylon; 14 they even sent and atook Jeremiah out of the court of the guardhouse and entrusted him to bGedaliah, the son of cAhikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he stayed among the people.
Jer. 39:15 Now the word of the LORD had come to Jeremiah while he was aconfined in the court of the guardhouse, saying, 16 “Go and speak to aEbed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to bring My words on this city bfor disaster and not for 1prosperity; and they will ctake place before you on that day. 17 “But I will adeliver you on that day,” declares the LORD, “and you will not be given into the hand of the men whom you dread. 18 “For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own alife as booty, because you have btrusted in Me,” declares the LORD.’”
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