Truth and Consequences:
A study in the prophecy of Jeremiah
Chapter 52
By Bob Mendelsohn
Given 15 December 2022
Lesson Fifty-one: Wrap up
INTRODUCTION
Today we conclude a year-long study of the book of Jeremiah. But our time in this book is not complete. When COVID hit the planet in March 2020, we morphed our weekly Bible class which was held in the bookshop in Bondi Junction and began conducting it via Zoom. Many of you live too far from the shop to attend, and some of you had never heard of Jews for Jesus before that reboot. Since that morph, we have studied several books of the Bible. And some of you have been with us in each of those self-contained classes. We studied Romans and Hebrews, 1, 2, and 3 John, James, Joshua, and Numbers. That’s 8 books. And today we put on the shelf #9, the book of Jeremiah.
But I say our time is not complete. Here’s what I mean. I hope you don’t skip over Romans 8 or 11 when you think you should read those, saying to yourself, “I already studied that two years ago.” When someone mentions Melchizedek in chapter 7 of Hebrews, I hope you don’t dismiss a lookup, saying, “I remember we covered that 18 months ago.” Thus, and you will hear loads of references to the prophet Jeremiah throughout your days, may they last long on the earth, when you hear someone begin a sermon with “Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter…” please keep your finger in the book, and keep your ear attuned to what God may be saying to you THAT DAY.
Remember the Proverbs says this, “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding.” (Prov. 4.7) There are more layers of the onion to keep unpacking, more to learn, more to take on board, more to grow us as godly men and women. Please, we only conclude OUR study today, but God is not done with teaching you, amen?
And some of the information in chapter 52 was already discussed in light of the endings of this king or that one. So as you read it, you probably thought to yourself, “I heard this before.” Excellent, if so. That’s how we keep learning.
And we say we ‘conclude’ our study today, and that’s true for those of you on YouTube. But for those of us on the Zoom call, or in the bookshop in Bondi Junction, we have one more week to go. Yes, on Friday, 23 December, the 5th day of Hanukkah this year, we will meet one last time as a class studying Jeremiah. We will listen to each other read your ‘takeaways’ from the book of this prophecy. Many of you have already submitted your paragraphs. They are excellent. It’s not too late for any of you to send yours to me. Write to bob@jewsforjesus.org.au and I will be happy to let you read those thoughts. Unfortunately, if you don’t write them out and send them to me, you will not be able to read or even share your thoughts until everyone who did their assignment will have a chance to share theirs. That seems a fair way to go. That includes my own staff.
Please, write yourself a note and then read your note and write some thoughts to me so you can share. We will all be better if you do this. Thanks.
One more thing, we title today’s talk, “Wrapping up.”
Packaging often is not as it seems. Patty and I along with our one-year-old son moved to New York in 1980. Back in December 1981 in New York City, the garbage men called a strike. As a result, no rubbish was collected in Manhattan for weeks. Imagine the smells and the piles as the garbage bins grew to overflow. Individuals had no place to put their home trash.
One clever resident came up with a personal solution. They got some cardboard boxes from the local grocery store. Brought them home. Filled them with trash. But then wrapped the boxes in Christmas wrapping paper. And put them in their parked car with the windows rolled down. (No one leaves their car open!)
As you can imagine, thieves broke into the car, took the packages and went away. The garbage was gone for the moment.
I tell you that to remind you of the phrase, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” I wonder if you have personally looked at the length of this 33,000 word book, Jeremiah, and said to yourself, “Oh, that’s too long. I don’t know the story or the history. I might get to it another year, but not for now.” Hopefully this study has helped you overcome that one.
What about those folks, and I heard about two more of them this week alone, who say “The Old Testament was for the Jews, but not for us Christians. It’s not useful any longer.” (They are basically saying that it’s rubbish, aren’t they?)
I’m personally glad that even though those scoffers consider this book to be rubbish, that it is really good news about a great God who genuinely cares about Egypt and Israel and Judah and all the nations around them. And about all the people inside each territory. A God who warns and warns and then brings justice to people, even his own people. All the while, a God who wants to be known and loved, so he can share that love with his people. That’s not rubbish; it’s a love story.
With all that as intro today, please let’s dig into these
Verse one, we are reintroduced to Zedekiah, then 21 years old, at the beginning of his reign. He is the ultimate king of Judah, the southern section of what we today title “The Land of Israel.” We meet his mother Hamutal and her father’s name is listed. Zedekiah’s listing along with his yichus gives us historical placement. I like the Bible in that regard. People may at times pop into the scenes, but they are all historical and when archaeology brings those names and scenes into future generations, that science will only confirm what has already been written. Never fear science; it will, if used correctly, strengthen God’s word, never diminish it.
What else do we know about this king? He was the final king of Judah, who did evil (verse 2) in God’s sight. He was the king for 11 years. By ‘doing evil’ we are to understand that Zedekiah disregarded God’s word through Jeremiah and led the people into rebellion and thus punishment. We see that in verse 3, “rebelled against the king of Babylon.”
So in verse 4, Nebuchadnezzar brought his armies against Judah and aginst Zedekiah nine years into his reign. They built a siege wall and although it took 2 years, they subjugated Jerusalem, by famine, that is they starved the people inside. The drama of capturing Zedekiah unfolds in the subsequent verses ending as we described in a previous lesson (Chapter 39), with him watching as his sons are murdered one by one, and then he is blinded by the Nebuchadnezzar gang in Riblah. That village by the way, is located, they say, in modern Syria.
In verses 12 and following we see the moment when Jerusalem is razed and we date that to 586 BCE. The House of the Lord (and don’t you find that a suitable title? Not the Temple. Not the palace. Not the museum. The house. Shachan he said in Exodus 25. I want to dwell with you. Shekinah. Glory. Dwelling. But what else does ‘house’ imply? Family! Hence verse 13, house of the king. Houses of the city of Jerusalem. It’s the deepest, the most severe—personal space in family units. All those families were devastated. Some remained (verse 16) to tend the farms, but mostly the city and its inhabitants were ruined.
I mention this and to help us remember, to put this in our Jewish context, this is the worst day ever. God promised us in Abraham a land. (Genesis 12) and repeated it in the opening book of the Bible and the whole Torah with regularity. That we now, 1400 years after Abraham are being removed from this promised land, losing our royal house, losing the house of the Lord as well, you might as well chalk this up as ‘worst day ever.’
No wonder in the genealogy of Matthew 1, the three eras of Jewish life are Abraham to David (approximately 1000 years), David to this exile to Babylon (420 years), and then the final time stamp is the Exile to Messiah (600 years). There is no more major event that Matthew records. Did you notice that? (Matthew 1.11-12)
If I were to ask you about major events in your life, what would you include? Birth, bris, bar mitzvah, puberty, graduation from uni, first job, marriage, children, ok ok, I get it, almost all very positive moments. Significance is applied to victories and ‘wins’ as they might be titled. Ask the football players of Morocco or Croatia who lost to France and Argentina respectively this week, and you might hear another comment.
I follow the US sport of football, which here we call ‘gridiron.’ And every time my team loses, I listen to the coach, Mr Andy Reid, or the quarterback Mr Patrick Mahomes and they say something like this. “We will learn from this one.” Or “This is not who we want to be.” And I hope they learn, sure, but would the final summary of the team include those losses? Not a chance! SuperBowl victories in 1970, yes, in 2020, sure, but not the ones they lose.
That’s another reason I love the Bible. Losses are as significant as promises fulfilled. We own our errors. We don’t boast in them, please, I’m not saying that, but we recognize our failings and keep them as a record to remind us that without God, our lives are unmanageable and we desperately need something or really, Someone from outside to repair our brokenness.
Let me say this in one sentence. Jeremiah includes this final chapter not only for historical reference, but also for theological reflection. Sin has consequence, eventually.
Verse 17 and following showcases the actual stuff and the people who finally remained and their almost individual capture. Sometimes we see the crowds of the multitudes and forget that crowds are made up of people. Remember what Spielberg did with Schindler’s List and the use of the individual to highlight the pain of the Holocaust? How did he do it? The little girl in the red coat. Amidst the horrors of the 6 million, we suddenly cared about an unnamed little girl. We at Spielberg’s zoom focused on her. And only on her. For several scenes. Where is she? Will she survive?
That’s how I read the bronze pillars and the pans, the twelve bronze bulls that have history…everything mattered to Jeremiah and to us. And to God. And Nebuchadnezzar took it all. 96 of these, 100 of those, a capital of bronze which was 5 cubits high… All the details to show the immensity of the haul and the individual care that had made it such a spectacular house for God. And for his people.
Some of you will know that the Temple was raided years earlier in the first Deportation in 597 BCE. Chapter 27.16 shows the loot that was taken (2 King 24.13 also). So you might wonder what this booty was about. It is likely that some of the original vessels were either hidden or replaced before the larger deportation occurred 11 years later. Either way, the reality is that God comprehensively judged the Jewish people for our sins.
We’ve seen the history and we’ve seen the theology.
Two other realities are in focus for me in this final chapter. In chapter one, God tells Jeremiah that his role is to ‘tear down and uproot, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’ (1.10) And here the final summation is what we call an ‘inclusio.’ That’s the bracketing or frame around the entire book. So it could be a theological marker, but I see it as a literary one. We are gone; our story is over. Judah is no more. The inclusio is complete. Literary device accomplished.
Finally, I want to highlight, as we have done most every time we see a comprehensive judgment on a people, we look for a flicker of a light, a little bit of hope. Sometimes it’s very clear. Often it’s only a hint. Actually two hints.
The first is in verse 31. Nasa et-rosh.
נָשָׂ֡א... אֶת־רֹאשׁ֙
The king raised or carried the head of Jehoiakin. Our version translates that to “showed favour.” The word ‘nasa’ is not the same as ‘ram’ used in places like Psalm 3, the glory and the lifter of my head. But even so, the king who in the spirit of his father could have carried us off into Babylon and could have continued such a carry out, to carry out vengeance on the Judeans, did not. For whatever reason, and those of us who know the Lord expected this, he showed favour on our deposed king.
I find the word ‘tov’ meaning ‘good’ in verse 32 another hint. Not from heaven, but from the son of Nebuchadnezzar, named here Evil-Marodeck (Akkadian: Amel-Marduk).
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר אִתּ֖וֹ טֹב֑וֹת
And he spoke to him tovot. Our version translates this as ‘kindly.’ Good. Amel-Marduk brought Jehoiakin out of his prison and let him have clearance in being able to dine with the Babylonians and even the king. He was given a throne above the other thrones of, I would assume, other captured peoples. And Jeremiah calls that ‘good.’ And so do I. What could have been was what happened to Zedekiah. What could have been was a show of force by Amel-Marduk, but no, he chose to do good, and to speak good or kindly to our Jehoiakin. Could that be a hope for others?
You may think I’m grasping at straws here, but as I’ve seen and as we’ve discussed with regularity, any kindness shown to a judged or captured people is out-of-character in the ancient world. Think of Iran’s mistreatment of any dissidents in these days. Think of Boko Haram and Niger. Mistreatment is normal in those places. And times. And in the times of Nebuchadnezzar, and yet… there’s that phrase, ‘and yet’ God had other plans for Jehoiakin and for the people of Judah. It’s only a hint, to be sure, but it’s there.
Christopher Wright says this of that ending, “If grace could be shown to their exiled king, then God had not abandoned his people….The release of their captive king would doubtless have been grasped by the exiles as a sign from God of the eventual release of the rest of the exiles from captivity.”
It’s certainly true that the Judeans did not want to go to Babylon. Previous kings had sought to withstand that prophecy of Jeremiah and they all had failed. After so many years of Jeremiah’s words, of his urging, of his pleading with the people of God, did this final act represent a future and a hope? A hope that survived and thrived in the time of Daniel as he and the three men in the furnace brought testimony to Nebuchadnezzar. A hope that came when Persia and the Medes conquered the Babylonians only decades later. A hope that saw its ultimate fulfilment in Yeshua, the true Son of David, who gave his life for us.
Did Jeremiah see all that? I don’t know, but what I do know is that we can see all that. Today. And what we do with that will make all the difference for us, for our children, for our grandchildren, and those with whom we are not related.
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 50. Until then, Shabbat shalom!
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
The Fall of Jerusalem
Jer. 52:1 aZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was 1bHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of cLibnah. 2 He did aevil in the sight of the LORD like all that bJehoiakim had done. 3 For through the aanger of the LORD this came about in Jerusalem and Judah until He cast them out from His presence. And Zedekiah brebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 aNow it came about in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it and built a bsiege wall all around 1it. 5 aSo the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6 On the ninth day of the afourth month the bfamine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 7 Then the city was abroken into, and all the bmen of war fled and went forth from the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were 1call around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah. 8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and aovertook Zedekiah in the 1plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. 9 Then they captured the king and abrought him up to the king of Babylon at bRiblah in the land of cHamath, and he 1passed sentence on him. 10 The king of Babylon aslaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the 1princes of Judah in Riblah. 11 Then he ablinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.
Jer. 52:12 aNow on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the bnineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, cNebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, 1who was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 13 He aburned the house of the LORD, the bking’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned with fire. 14 So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard abroke down all the walls around Jerusalem. 15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard acarried away into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, the 1bdeserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the artisans. 16 But aNebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and 1plowmen.
Jer. 52:17 Now the bronze apillars which belonged to the house of the LORD and the bstands and the bronze csea, which were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all their bronze to Babylon. 18 They also took away the apots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the 1pans and all the bronze vessels which were used in temple service. 19 The captain of the guard also took away the abowls, the firepans, the basins, the pots, the lampstands, the 1pans and the drink offering bowls, what was fine gold and what was fine silver. 20 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under 1the sea, and the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD — the bronze of all these vessels was abeyond weight. 21 As for the pillars, the aheight of each pillar was eighteen 1cubits, and 2it was twelve cubits in acircumference and four fingers in thickness, and hollow. 22 Now a acapital of bronze was on it; and the height of each capital was five cubits, with network and bpomegranates upon the capital all around, all of bronze. And the second pillar was like these, including pomegranates. 23 There were ninety-six 1exposed pomegranates; all athe pomegranates numbered a hundred on the network all around.
Jer. 52:24 Then the captain of the guard took aSeraiah the chief priest and bZephaniah the second priest, with the three 1cofficers of the temple. 25 He also took from the city one official who was overseer of the men of war, and seven 1of the aking’s advisers who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. 26 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and abrought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 Then the king of Babylon astruck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was bled away into exile from its land.
Jer. 52:28 These are the people whom aNebuchadnezzar carried away into exile: in the 1seventh year 3,023 Jews; 29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar 832 persons from Jerusalem; 30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, aNebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile 745 Jewish people; there were 4,600 persons in all.
Jer. 52:31 aNow it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, that 1Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, 2bshowed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. 32 aThen he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So 1Jehoiachin achanged his prison clothes, and 2bhad his meals in 3the king’s presence regularly all the days of his life. 34 For his allowance, a aregular allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, a daily portion all the days of his life until the day of his death.
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