Call to Commitment

Babylonian cuneiform of Jerusalem conquest

                                  Chapter 39

         The Chaldean Conquest of Jerusalem

1.      In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it. 

     2.      In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was penetrated. 

  3.      Then all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal- Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sarezer, Rabmag, with the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon. 

 4.      So it was, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, that they fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the king's garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out by way of the plain. 

 5.      But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him. 

 6.      Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah; the king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah. 

 7.      Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon. 

 8.      And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. 

 9.      Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people who remained in the city and those who defected to him, with the rest of the people who remained. 

 10.  But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah the poor people, who had nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. 

As we begin the 39^th chapter of Jeremiah, we should be able to identify certain important dates in the book and have an idea of the timetable. We have already read of the 9^th year of Zedekiah and we understand that it is the time that Nebuchadnezzar began his ultimate siege against Jerusalem. Within two years, the Babylonian siege was successful and the army penetrated the city. That is the account given in verses one and two.

 We learned in chapter 32, that it was during the tenth year of Zedekiah that the Lord prompted Jeremiah to buy a field in his native city.  The following year, succumbing to the siege, the citizenry of Jerusalem was taken captive and sent to Babylon. Jeremiah’s purchase gave hope to the people that, after 70 years in Babylon, they would one day return to their native land and reclaim their lost properties. 

 

 The Babylonians claimed their victory over the capital city, thereby assuming the rulership over all of Judah, by setting their principal commanders at the middle gate of the city. Not all the commanders are named, but Adam Clarke shows that the names given in verse three, are actually names and titles of three of them. Albert Barnes thinks there were four. Heathen gods are identified within the names, rightly demonstrating that the Jews, who abandoned the God of Israel and committed idolatry with heathen gods, eventually were defeated by the chief perpetrators of these gods. What a contrast they are to the Hebrew rulers, who bore the name of Jehovah!

 King Zedekiah saw the enemy commanders in that place, yet refuses to submit to the Lord’s advice, given through Jeremiah, that he should surrender to Babylonia’s emperor. He and the men of war attempt an escape by night, down from the palace on Mount Zion, to the king’s garden below. He left the city through a gate between a double wall and out to the Jordan valley (4).

 The huge fire, prophesied by Jeremiah, consumed Jerusalem, including the palace and the homes of its citizens, and the enemy destroyed the city’s walls (8). Nebuzaradan was the general of the Chaldean army and he now conducts affairs after the conquest. He removes the important citizens, along with people, who had already defected to his army (9). He left the poor, common people to possess the land and to tend to the agriculture (10).

 

Nebuchadnezzar favors Jeremiah, who has a word for the Ethiopian eunuch

 11.  Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, 

 12.  "Take him and look after him, and do him no harm; but do to him just as he says to you." 

 13.  So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent Nebushasban, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon's chief officers; 

 14.  then they sent someone to take Jeremiah from the court of the prison, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people. 

 15.  Meanwhile the word of the LORD had come to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, 

 16.  "Go and speak to Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will bring My words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you. 

 17.  But I will deliver you in that day," says the LORD, "and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. 

 18.  For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Me," says the LORD.' " 

 Although, up to this point, our study related the almost universal rejection of Jeremiah’s ministry, we will learn divine wisdom, perfectly taught throughout the entire book. In this all-important sense, by teaching the ways of the Lord, the prophet has been totally successful.  We learn spiritual principles throughout his book, teaching the folly of ignoring or rejecting God’s word. We learn of the severe consequences and see that His wisdom is justified in every detail of Judah’s defeat. David wrote of divine principle after he sinned with Bathsheba, and recognized, “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done this evil in Your sight – that you be found just when You speak, and blameless when you judged” (Ps.51:4). Israel’s king dropped all personal defense and recognized the Lord’s perfect justice and sentence against his sin.

 In this chapter’s first ten verses, we have seen the same. God has justly fulfilled His word. He has exalted His name and that is the great purpose of Scripture. Now, we will see the results for those, who have kept His word and obeyed its commands. The lesson begins with the prophet himself in verse 11.

 There were individuals, perhaps a large number of them, who took his advice, which was directed by the Lord, and defected to the Babylonians. I suppose these are the immediate results, the kind for which every minister of the word desires. In this crowd, the prophet was greatly respected, and their praise of him, found its way up to the emperor. Nebuchadnezzar, not only saw Jeremiah as an ally, but as a person with great wisdom, giving his own people lifesaving counsel.

 Whether he realizes it or not at this time, Jeremiah’s wisdom comes from God, and the prophet is not the only one that he encounters, who possesses it. In fact, He has already had experience with four Hebrew youths in Babylon: “As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams… And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm” (Dn.1:17, 20).

 God is exposing the great emperor to servants of the all-wise Jehovah of Israel. As his biography continues, he will know the hand of God in his own personal life and reign. His pride will crumble, before the Lord of the universe, and even his sanity will be taken from him: “Until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses" (Dn.4:32). Great Nebuchadnezzar will become a believer: “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down” (Dn.4:37).

 The emperor gives instruction, concerning Jeremiah, to his most important general, Nebuzaradan. In Jerusalem’s saddest and most dangerous hour, the prophet of the Lord, not only receives protection from the mightiest ruler on earth, but also is given his own choice concerning the future: Do to him just as he says to you (v.12). Nebuzaradan and the most important commanders in the Chaldean army attend to the prophet (13).

 Up to this day, Jeremiah has been in the court of the prison and the officers command that he should be taken out and sent to the house of a good friend, Gedaliah. We have related some of this story earlier, but notice again, Gedaliah’s parentage. His father is Ahikam, who saved Jeremiah’s life during the reign of Jehoiakim (26:24). The grandfather is Shaphan, the godly scribe of King Josiah (2 K.22:9-14). Gedaliah was later proclaimed governor of Judah by the emperor. Jeremiah is not only free and well protected, but also in good company (14). He is among the poor people, given property and left to care for the land.

 The prophet’s ministry is not over, for God has a word to give to the Ethiopian eunuch, Ebed-Melech (15). You remember that, when no citizen of Jerusalem came to Jeremiah aid, this slave of the king, rescued him from a dungeon, where he would surely have died. The Lord has not forgotten that act of kindness. As the Lord over all armies, earthly and heavenly, and as the God, Who chose the offspring of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to become rulers along with their Messiah, during the Millennial reign, He speaks to a slave, as to one of His own.

 Let the reader know, that this is a case of salvation in the Old Testament! The person, who trusts the Lord, not only receives deliverance in this life, but eternal salvation. He is not only saved from Judah’s powerful enemies, but also from the prince of the power of the air, and from the fires of hell. He trusts and believes, but as Rahab hid Israel’s spies, his involvement in God’s concerns is proof of his faith (see James 2:25). The harlot of Jericho, received an honorable place in Israel, married into the line of the forefathers of David, consequently into that of his Son according to the flesh, and received eternal, New Testament recognition.

 The same kind of faith works in the Judgment of the Nations in Matthew 25:31-46. Those who were separated from the “spiritual goats’ and placed on the right hand of the Son of Man, were “spiritual sheep.”  As “sheep,” they fed the Lord’s brothers, who were hungry, gave drink to His thirsty, took in His strangers, clothed His naked, visited His sick and His prisoners.   

 While Israel’s highest-ranking men, along with their king, have been killed or taken captive to Babylon, this foreigner will be an eyewitness of the fulfillment of God’s word (16). The slave need not fear the fierce warriors from Babylon (17). He has the Lord’s sure promise of salvation. His life is valuable in His hand and he will be kept safe, because he has trusted in the Lord (18).