Jeremiah 34:1-22. Yesterday we finished a section in the middle of Jeremiah that focused more on hope that on predictions of destruction and disaster. That post was kind of long. The issue of the predictions to Levi and David is kind of complicated. Bible experts don’t totally agree on how it will all work out. We can be sure though that it will all work out because God’s predictions are 100% so far. One interesting idea that I did not include yesterday is that the Levites represent some other group and that God used them because of what their group implies. Remember Levites were priests, guys who got to go talk to God directly. In the New Testament we learn that believers in Jesus are a “royal priesthood” and a “holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9). Some experts think that the predictions we read yesterday apply to “spiritual descendants” of Israel. Prophecy can have more than one fulfillment as we have discussed. It would not surprise me if there was some kind of “spiritual” fulfillment of this prediction but I also think the language pushes us to see a real fulfillment in the lives of the “house of Judah” and the “house of Israel” first.
Today’s reading returns to the where we left off before the “Book of Consolation” (chapters 30-33). The events of chapters 27-29 occurred in the earlier parts of Zedekiah’s reign. In 588 BC, Zedekiah King of Judah, gave in to the people and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had made this third son of Josiah (the king of Judah at the beginning of Jeremiah’s work as a prophet) about 11 years earlier. In response to the rebellion Nebuchadnezzar marched to the area in 588 BC. and besieged Jerusalem. The siege began in 588 BC and Jerusalem fell in 586 BC, 18 months later. At some point in the middle of the siege Hophra, Pharaoh (king) of Egypt launched an offensive in the area. Nebuchadnezzar pulled back from Jerusalem to deal with the Egyptians. It was during this break in the siege that Jeremiah redeemed the land of his relative (Jeremiah 32) and gave the other messages in the “book of consolation” (chapters 30-33) while he was captive in the courtyard of the palace. The people of Jerusalem thought the war was over as we will see in today’s reading and began to get quite comfortable again.
In verse 1 we see Jeremiah getting a message from God, we also see that Nebuchadnezzar is back. Not only did he bring his army, but he had troops from all of the kingdoms he had conquered. It was the responsibility of conquered kingdoms to give money to the king who now controlled them and they also had to provide troops. We are also told that not only is Jerusalem under siege but so are other cities in Judah. In verses 2-3 Jeremiah remains true to the message God has given him, a message that has been consistent through out. Jeremiah is told to go to Zedekiah and tell him Jerusalem will fall and Zedekiah will face Nebuchadnezzar personally (see Jeremiah 32:4 where Jeremiah uses the exact same language). Zedekiah is then to be told that he will not die by the sword but will be taken captive to Babylon where he will “die in peace” (v. 5). In verse 6 we are told that Jeremiah delivered the message to Zedekiah. In verse 2 we were told that Jerusalem and “all it’s cities” were under attack by Nebuchadnezzar. By the time Jeremiah delivered the message to Zedekiah only two other cities remained, Lachish (25-30 miles southwest of Jerusalem) and Azekah (13-15 miles southwest of Jerusalem). Letters that were written during the Babylonian invasion were uncovered in the early 1900’s in Lachish. The letters talk about the appearant fall of Azekah to the Babylonians. It would not be long before Lachish and Jerusalem were destroyed too.
According to Jeremiah 52:11 Zedekiah was in prison in Babylon until the day of his death. In verse 5 we are also told that spices would be burned for him upon his death just like spices had been burned for the kings who were before him. In 2 Chronicles 16:14 we see a funeral for one of the previous kings, Asa, all kinds of spices were put in the tomb with the body and a ceremonial fire was lit to honor him. The Israelite people did not generally cremate bodies so that is not what the fire was about. In 2 Chronicles 21:19 we see the death of another king, Jehoram, for whom the honorary fire was withheld. Asa had been a faithful king to God, while Jehoram was hated by the people (2 Chronicles 21:20). The practice was not put into place by God and seems to have been more a reflection of the attitude of the people. Even though he had been put into power by Nebuchadnezzar, the Israelites in Babylon may still have considered Zedekiah the last of their legitimate kings. According to 1 Chronicles 3 Zedekiah was a direct descendant of David. Remember the people of Judah were looking for God to fulfill his promise to David. Even Jeremiah was predicting that David would have a king on the throne; that was part of the hope given in the last three chapters.
Zedekiah would have been constantly on the minds and in the hearts of the exiles, his death, even in prison, would have been a big deal. It is very likely that they would want to honor him at his death. Some Bible experts doubt that the exiles in Babylon would allow such a show of national pride and connections with a rebellious king like Zedekiah. From the Bible and other historical records we know that the Jewish people lived as a group in Babylon on their own land and had a fairly free life. Also we don’t know when Zedekiah died. We also don’t know how big the celebration that God told Jeremiah about was. It seems possible that the people in exile could have performed the funeral ceremony described in 2 Chronicles 16 and here in verse 5. Also Zedekiah was 21 when Nebuchadnezzar made him king in 597 BC. In 539 BC the Babylonian Empire was conquered by Cyrus king of the Persians. Zedekiah may have died some years after the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar and his funeral may not have been very important to the Babylonian king by that time.
Verses 8-11 describe events that show us the true nature of the people of Judah. In verse 8 Jeremiah is going to get another message from Yahweh (LORD). In verses 8-11 we are told why. Zedekiah commanded the people to release all of their slaves. Slavery was widespread in the ancient world. Generally slaves were thought of as property and completely at the mercy of their masters. The Law of Moses, however, had very strict rules about how slaves were to be treated (Leviticus 25, Exodus 21 and Deuteronomy 15 contain some of these rules). One rule required that slaves be released after six years of service. In the Law of Moses there was a requirement that all debt be forgiven every seven years. This was based on a fixed calendar and occurred on specific years. There is some question whether the release of a slave was based on this calendar or on when they started work. The law of release also mentions giving the slave provisions in the seventh year. In the nation, under the law, no one was to work on the seventh year. Also all debts were to be forgiven on the seventh year. Many slaves were slaves because they sold themselves for a price; it was sort of a debt; they were borrowing money for their service.
It seems more likely to me that the release of slaves was on the fixed calendar; as part of the “Sabbath” (seventh) year. During the initial part of the siege it may be that Zedekiah hoped to divert the wrath of God, as seen in the invasion by the Babylonians (Jeremiah 25:9) by declaring a Sabbath year. It may have also been a way to motivate the slaves to work at reinforcing the walls of the city. Some experts believe that the slave owners would have been relieves since they would not have to care for their slaves during a time of famine (due to the war). The people evidenty went along with the idea and released their slaves, for whatever reasons. In fact they made a big deal out of it with a ceremony in the Temple during which the people made a covenant (or promise to God) to let their slaves go free.
When the siege was lifted (Nebuchadnezzar was off fighting Hophra) the people evidently thought it was all over so they went back to “business as usual” and they backed out of their promise to God and forced their former slaves back to work for them.
In verses 12-16 Jeremiah receives the specific message from God about the situation. In these verses God reminds them of where they all came from; their forefathers had been a bunch of slaves in Egypt that God rescued. He also reminds them that when he created the laws that the Israelites stood before Moses who read all of them and promised to follow them; they would be God’s people and he would be their God. This was an official contract, agreement, or covenant between the Israelites and God. Of course one of theses laws was the law of release after seven years. God then reminds the people that their forefathers never obeyed the law. In fact they didn’t even really listen to it (instead of turning (inclining) their ear to listen they turned it away). In verse 15 we learn that the inhabitants of Jerusalem had started to obey this rule of God (because of Zedekiah’s encouragement to do so) but in verse 16 we learn that they backed out; broke their contract, promise, or covenant with God.
In verses 17-22 God then tells the people that because of their broken promise that he is going to release them, to the sword and disease and famine, he is going to bring Nebuchadnezzar back to finish what he had started; conquering and destroying Jerusalem. In verse 17 we see an all important part of why God is going to bring the disaster on them; people were watching.
In verse 18 we get a little look at part of the ceremony that the people had performed. In the ancient world contracts or covenants were serious business and various ceremonies or other rituals were performed to show that the people making the contract were serious. Sometimes the people would have a mean together and both lick a piece of salt (Numbers 18:19) other times a piece of clothing would be given as a pledge (like collateral but under the law it needed to be returned and was only symbolic), sometimes blood would be sprinkled around (like the Passover celebration), and sometimes an animal would be cut into pieces and the people making the contract would walk between the pieces (probably as a serious way of indicating that this should be their fate if they broke the contract). The people of Judah had made a promise to God to release the slaves like he had commanded and had sealed their contract with the cut up animal ceremony. It was all very public, now they were breaking the contract. The invasion was God’s way of applying the consequence that they agreed to for breaking the deal. The world needs to know that God is serious about disobedience, disrespect, and rebellion toward him. Failure to see the consequences of sin here and now can lead to an eternity excluded from God’s forever kingdom. As bad as the exile was for those in Babylon being exiled from the forever kingdom is infinitely worse. In Revelation 20:11-15 we see that those banished from the kingdom go to Hell. Hell is described as eternal fire, the place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:44, Isaiah 6624), and the outer darkness where there is crying and grinding of teeth (Matthew 22:13). We also know from Revelation 20 that Hell was originally created as the place of banishment for the angles who chose not to be a part of God kingdom. The reality of an existence without God is: there is nothing good about it, that is why Hell is what it is.
We see in verse 19-20 that the people who “walked between the parts of the animal” would die in the siege and their bodies wouldn’t even get a burial. In the Jewish world that was perhaps the worst thing that could happen. In verses 21-22 we see that the king and the officials would be delivered to Nebuchadnezzar to do with what he would. Evidently at the time of this message Nebuchadnezzar was still away dealing with Hophra but God assured them he would bring Nebuchadnezzar back to finish the invasion. God confirmed that he was going to destroy Judah, for a while it would have no inhabitants.
It is important to see how serious God is about honoring him with our lives. Sometimes people like to think rebellion and disobedience toward God (sin) doesn’t hurt anyone. In fact sometimes people think we need to disobey him to keep people from getting hurt. The reality is our sin does hurt, it misleads those around us and it makes us think God doesn’t really care all that much. But he does care that much. God is pure and our impurity needs to be dealt with if we are going to be with God. It is so serious that God the Son took on human flesh so he could die in our place. Some people like to joke about Hell, “Hey I want to be there because all of my friends will be there!” Don’t kid yourself, without God existence is miserable. God made and maintains all that is good in the universe without him it is just bad. If you want a little taste of Hell just look at the misery in the world around you; the trouble that we have brought into our existence. Multiply that by forever and all the time and you might get a little idea. We need to seriously take God up on his offer to fix our relationship and honor and please him with our lives as appreciation for what Jesus has done for us.
God thank you for saving me. Help me not make promises I can’t or won’t keep. Help me honor you with all that I do. Thank you for a way to miss out on Hell. Help me show other the way to you. Let me be serious about our relationship.