We just finished reading through Zephaniah. He is one of several prophets (Isaiah (who overlapped the dispersion of the Northern Kingdom), Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah) who spoke to the people of the Southern Kingdom, Judah (Read “The Old Testament Connection”), in the last century before that kingdom was conquered and taken into captivity by the Babylonian Empire (586 BC). Jeremiah was the last of these prophets before the exile of the Southern Kingdom.
The Northern Kingdom was conquered by the Assyrian Empire in 722 BC. The Assyrian king at the time of the conquest of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, was Sargon II. Sargon completed the conquest of Samaria and destroyed the Northern Kingdom (Israel) scattering her people throughout the Assyrian empire and bringing in people from other parts to intermarry with those who remained. Although attacked by the Assyrians on a number of occasions the Southern Kingdom was able to maintain its identity, though sometimes by paying tribute (honoring the other king and kingdom with money, think taxes or bribes) to the Assyrians.
Sargon was succeeded by his son, grandson, and then his great-grandson. All maintained control of the empire through the used of brutal force. In 2 Chronicles 33:11 the King of Judah (the Southern Kingdom) is taken captive to a leading city in the Assyrian empire (Babylon, later to become the capital of the empire which would defeat the Assyrians). In that verse we are told that that king, Manasseh, was bound in chains and led with hooks. The practice was to chain up a prisoner and then put a hook in their lip to lead them. . We know from other references in history that the Assyrians would tear off arms and legs, poke out eyes, shove a post through people and put them up like a sign, boil them in tar, and make pyramids of heads of their victims. Starting with Sargon’s great-grandson, Ashurbanipal (669-633 BC), though the empire began to weaken and in 612 BC Assyria was conquered by the new Babylonian empire.
About the time of the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom Hezekiah was king of Judah (728-686 BC). He was considered a faithful king by God and he worked to turn the people back to God. When he died the kingdom was taken over by his son, Manasseh. Manasseh reigned in Jerusalem over the Southern Kingdom from 697-642 BC (though part of this time he was a captive in Babylon). In 2 Kings 21:9 we are told that Manasseh was a worse influence on the Jewish people than the people who the nation of Israel had pushed out of the land centuries before. Manasseh did not honor God with his life but rather worshipped the local false gods, Baal and Asherah. And even sacrificed some of his children to the false god Molech. While in captivity in Babylon Manasseh turned back to God and was restored as king in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 33:12-13). Manasseh was succeeded by his son Amon, who was also wicked and only lasted 2 years as king. Amon was followed by his 8 year old son Josiah (640-609 BC) who was a good king who restored worship of Yahweh to Judah. During the reign of Josiah Assyria became very weak and a new power was rising in the East, the Neo-Babylonian Empire. A third power in the region was Egypt who was allied with Assyria.
In an attempt to prevent Egypt from assisting Assyrian in her struggles with Babylon, Josiah met the Egyptian Pharaoh (the word for king) in battle at the town of Megiddo. Pharaoh Necho II eventually defeated and killed Josiah, but not in time to assist Assyria. The last remaining Assyrian troops were defeated by the Babylonians in Haran (609 BC).
Josiah was followed by his three sons as king none of whom honored God. Upon his death the people chose Josiah’s middle son, Jehoahaz as the new king. After three months he was removed by Pharaoh Necho and his older brother Eliakim, whose name was changed to Jehoiakim, was put on the throne. Jehoiakim was an evil and wasteful ruler. He forced citizens of the kingdom to build him a new palace, heavily taxed the citizens to pay tribute to Necho, and when warned by Jeremiah about the trouble that was coming, destroyed Jeremiah’s scroll sent to him. Jehoiakim ruled from 609 BC to 597 BC. During this time the people constantly pushed him to throw off any foreign domination.
In 605 BC Egypt attacked the Babylonian Empire. n a decisive battle at Carchemish on the Euphrates River the tide turned in favor of the Babylonian king and he pushed the Egyptians back to the border of Egypt. At this time the new Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, passed through the land looking for talented young men from the region whom he took back to Babylon as advisers. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were among these first captives. This is the beginning of what is know as the Babylonian Captivity of the kingdom of Judah.
In 598 BC Jehoiakim finally caved in to political pressure and revolted against Nebuchadnezzar, aligning himself with Egypt. In December 598 BC Nebuchadnezzar personally set out for the region to stop the rebellion. That same month Jehoiakim died and his 18 year old son, Jehoiachin, was made king. In March 597 BC Nebuchadnezzar arrived. Egyptian help never arrived and Jerusalem was captured. At least 10,000 leading citizens were taken captive back to Babylon, including the king, his mother, and Ezekiel the prophet.
The kingdom was now completely in the control of the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar put Jehoiachin’s uncle, Josiah’s third son, Mattaniah, on the throne. He also changed Mattaniah’s name to Zedekiah. The people hated Zedekiah because he represented Babylonian domination of them. They constantly pushed him to revolt too. After nine years of reign Zedekiah caved in to the pressure and allied Judah once again with Egypt in 588 BC. Nebuchadnezzar once again marched on Jerusalem and besieged the city. This time Egypt came to the aid of Jerusalem and Nebuchadnezzar had to turn his attention toward them, but only briefly. The Egyptians were soon defeated and Nebuchadnezzar turned his attention once again toward Jerusalem. In July 586 BC the city fell and Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple. Zedekiah tried to escape but was captured near Jericho. His sons were killed while he watched and then Nebuchadnezzar had his eyes poked out. Zedekiah was then taken captive to Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar made Judah a province of his kingdom and placed a governor over the region, Gedaliah. Very few people remained, only the poorest were left to tend to the fields (2 Kings 25:12). Gedaliah was murdered by a member of the royal family, Ismael, who had some how remained in the land. Gedaliah had been warned by one of his military leaders, Johanan, of a plot to kill him but he had refused to listen. After killing the governor, Ismael fled and was pursued by Johanan. Johanan was successful in recovering some hostages that Ismael had taken but Ismael escaped. At this point, fearing another invasion because of the murder, the people sought advise from Jeremiah who counseled them to stay put and not to look to Egypt for help. Against his advise, they broke their promise to him to listen to him and a great number of people migrated to Tahpanhes in Egypt. Jeremiah went with them in hope of continuing to be God’s voice in their lives. It was here that Jeremiah eventually died never again to see the land of God’s promise.
It was in this crazy mixed up world of political intrigue and spiritual unfaithfulness that Jeremiah worked as the voice of God. Jeremiah was still young (probably less than 20) when God asked him to be his spokesperson among the people of Judah. His ministry started in the thirteenth year of Josiah (627 BC), one year into the spiritual reforms Josiah had started. As we have seen his ministry to the people continued until the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC and for some time thereafter in Egypt. Jeremiah’s ministry was consistently ignored by the people of Jerusalem but he remained faithful, continually warning them of the coming disaster. No doubt, early on, the people felt that they were being faithful to God, they were even starting to celebrate the Passover again. And wasn’t the Temple being fixed up? But the hearts of the people were far from God and they were trusting more in political solutions that in God’s promises. To be sure they would fall back on God’s promises whenever Jeremiah predicted trouble, “Surely Jerusalem will be ruled by a king from the house of David forever!” God’s promises are sure, that is the clear message of the prophets, remember Zephaniah predicted a remnant would survive, but there would be judgment too. God is merciful and faithful but he is holy and pure and will not leave the guilty unpunished (Nahum 1:3). There were consequences for their actions, consequences that did not nullify God’s promises, consequences, some of which could have been avoided had they listened to the voice of God. Other troubles would have to have been endured. As we explore Jeremiah let us listen to the words of the Prophet and learn how to walk the best possible path through our own treacherous world; a path that will best honor God.