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Jeremiah Chapter 52
- Jeremiah 52:1 Zedekiah was one and twenty
years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in
Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah
of Libnah.
- 2 And he did that which was evil
in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
When we discover later in this chapter of
the awful fate of Zedekiah, we see here that he did evil in the eyes
of the Lord. Later when Jeremiah warned him of the coming judgment
of God, Zedekiah preferred to believe the false prophets and the
prophets who prophesied good things but they were lies.
Even when the Babylon armies were
coming, Jeremiah told him how to escape and that was by remaining in
the land and not fleeing to Egypt. At no time did Zedekiah listen to
Jeremiah and he lived to see his sons slain before his eyes and then
his eyes put out. What a horrible fate. Yet God allowed his life to
be spared.
- Jeremiah 52:3 For through the anger of the
LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them
out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of
Babylon.
- 4 And it came to pass in the
ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the
month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his
army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts
against it round about.
- 5 So the city was besieged unto
the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
- 6 And in the fourth month, in the
ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that
there was no bread for the people of the land.
- 7 Then the city was broken up,
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 by the city round about:) and
they went by the way of the plain.
- 8 But 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.
- 9 Then they took the king, and
carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of
Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.
- 10 And the king of Babylon slew
the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes
of Judah in Riblah.
- 11 Then he put out the eyes of
Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried
him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
- 12 Now in the fifth month, in the
tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the
guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
- 13 And burned the house of the
LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all
the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:
- 14 And all the army of the
Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all
the walls of Jerusalem round about.
- 15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain
of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people,
and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those
that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of
the multitude.
- 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of
the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and
for husbandmen.
God remembered the poor and left himself a
remnant to remain in the land of Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 52:17 Also the pillars of brass
that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen
sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and
carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
The temple was the place of worship. To
break the spirit of the captives, it was broken up and the treasures
were stolen from the house of worship. Had Judah been worshipping
God in truth, this would never have been allowed to happen. God
would have protected His sanctuary. Unfortunately, the sanctuary of
the Lord became only an outward form of worship. The hearts of the
people had long since stopped serving God.
- Jeremiah
52:18 The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and
the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass
wherewith they ministered, took they away.
- 19 And the basons,
and the firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the
candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups that which was of
gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the
captain of the guard away.
- 20 The two
pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that were under the
bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the
brass of all these vessels was without weight.
- 21 And concerning the pillars, the height of one
pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did
compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it
was hollow.
- 22 And a chapiter
of brass was upon it; and the height of one chapiter was five
cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the chapiters round
about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the
pomegranates were like unto these.
- 23 And there were
ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates
upon the network were an hundred round about.
- 24 And the
captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and
Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:
- 25 He took also
out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of
war; and seven men of them that were near the king's person,
which were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the
host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of
the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the
city.
- 26 So Nebuzaradan
the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king
of Babylon to Riblah.
- 27 And the king
of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the
land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his
own land.
- 28 This is the
people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh
year three thousand Jews and three and twenty:
- 29 In the
eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from
Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons:
- 30 In the three
and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of
the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty
and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six
hundred.
- 31 And it came to
pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and
twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in
the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin
king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison,
Jehoiachin was the king of Judah before
Zedekiah and was placed in prison by Nebuchadnezzar. For some reason
King Nebuchadnezzar's son had compassion on Jehoiachin and brought
him out of prison.
- Jeremiah
52:32 And spake kindly unto him, and set his
throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in
Babylon,
- 33 And changed
his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him
all the days of his life.
- 34 And for his
diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of
Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the
days of his life.
I'm assuming from this that God saw
Jehoiachin's suffering in prison and caused the heart of the king to
have mercy on him. Perhaps Jehoiachin repented and sought God in
prison. This would be my guess.
The word repentance, turns many off for
some reason. The old flesh just hates to admit wrongdoing and
repent. Yet, repentance is the very thing that opens the door to the
mercy of God. Repent means to change one's mind or to turn around
and be different. It includes being sorry for sin but mostly it
means to turn from sin and turn instead to God.
The little act has so much power and
opens the door to everlasting life. It opens the way for peace and
favor with God. The very thing the flesh resists is the thing that
changes our lives. Repent and believe the gospel is what brings in
eternal life and makes us a new creature in Christ Jesus. It is like
life from the dead.
As we see what befell the Jewish nation
throughout the Old Testament, it is heart breaking. We know from
reading scripture both in the Old Testament and in the New that God
has not given up on the Jewish people.
Every Christian who tells a Jew about
Jesus Christ is showing love to that Jewish person. If we tell
someone that Jesus dies for their sins and that faith in Him would
bring them eternal life, that is a message of love, not hate. Hate
would be to keep silent like many want us to do and let them die in
their sins and go to hell.
I'm writing these articles because I
want to see people saved and inherit eternal life. I truly believe
that the only way of salvation is faith in Jesus Christ. If I let
someone intimidate me into keeping silent, then I would not truly
love my fellow man. As long as I believe that Jesus is the only way
to be saved, I would be committing sin to keep quiet about it. Jesus
said to go into all the world and preach the gospel.
A true
Christian cannot help but obey that commandment. Yet we are accused
of hate and bigotry because we warn of sin and try to get people
saved. We try to get people to believe in and embrace the message of eternal life and we are
accused of hate. Hate would be to keep silent and believe what we
believe and not care about anyone else. It seems as if that is what
the world wants.
The spirit that spurred Jeremiah is in
many today that warn against sin. I pray we don't be as those that
ignored him and suffered the loss of their homeland and some where
killed. The judgment didn't come from the preacher, Jeremiah. The
judgment came from almighty God.
If we can't believe the gospel of Jesus Christ because
of being afraid it might not be true
then we can just seek God and ask Him to show us the truth admitting
that we want to believe. If we sincerely ask Him to reveal to the
truth, God sees our motives and sincerity, I believe He will answer
that kind of sincere prayer.
We can just ask Him point blank if Jesus is the Messiah or not. He
will answer if you truly mean that prayer. However, if you pray and
have no intention of believing it, you probably will not get an
answer. God knows whether you are sincere or not.
Remember also that those who called
themselves Christians in the past that persecuted Jewish people,
were not Christians in truth just as Jewish people who persecute
Christians are not really true Jews. A true Jew will believe the
word of God. Read your own bible and you will find Jesus Christ. You
don't even have to pick up the New Testament. Just read Isaiah and
the writings of Moses. You will find out who the Messiah is. Read
Isaiah 53. It describes Jesus there. There is no other explanation.
Some of those that hate God or those
that claim not to believe in God or don't want anything to do with
God are deceiving people into thinking that they care about liberty.
Don't believe it. They want the liberty to sin. Period. God declares
in both Old and New Testaments. Sin is evil and will steal, kill and
destroy us. It is very wrong. That is why many hate the bible
because it uncovers the deeds of evil and those that hate it
do not want to turn from sin.
- John 3:19 And this is the
condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
- 20 For every one
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved.
- 21 But he that
doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made
manifest, that they are wrought in God.
This is why the world around us attacks
all who represent God. They hate the light and desire to walk in
darkness.
- John 3:16 For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
- 17 For God sent not
his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world
through him might be saved.
- 18 He that
believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of
the only begotten Son of God.
The message is the same today, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. When you come to
Jesus and really believe on Him you will repent of sin because the
two do not mix. Jesus came to save from sin and when you receive
Jesus you are saved from sin. DC
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