Jeremiah 52:24-34. Today we come to the end of the messages by the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was chosen by God to be a prophet “to the nations” and he was. He warned Judah and several nations of the consequences of disobedience and disrespect toward him. Yesterday we read a brief history of the invasion and destruction of Jerusalem. It is very similar to the history contained in 2 Kings and some Bible experts think that Jeremiah wrote most of 1 and 2 Kings (except for the last paragraph or so of 2 Kings). The history is contained at the end of Jeremiah probably to show the certainty of the earlier prophecies. God said it and it happened. As we read the rest of chapter 52 I think there is another reason for the history we read yesterday.
Verses 24-27 contain the last little bit of the history of the siege and destruction of Babylon. In these verses Nebuchadnezzar’s general (I know it calls him a captain but the word being translated actually means “many” or “great”, he was a leader in charge of many men) takes certain people from Jerusalem to his king in Riblah where they are executed. Some of the people in the list sort of make sense, religious and political and military leaders, but what about the sixty? Although the sixty could have been other leaders you would think we would have been told that, of course Jeremiah might not have know who all sixty were. They could have been average citizens though, chosen at random and used as an example of the absolute power of Nebuchadnezzar. Remember in the book of Daniel 4 that Nebuchadnezzar had a very big opinion of himself, demanding worship and honor, claiming that it was his power alone that built the Babylonian empire, and God disciplined him for that attitude. He also threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego into a raging furnace for not worshipping him. He also threatened to have certain advisors literally ripped apart if they could not tell him the content and meaning of a dream he had that bothered him. Nebuchadnezzar had a very large ego, that is for sure and he ruled with an iron hand.
IN verses 28-30 we are told how many captives were take during different attacks on Jerusalem. The first one would have been in 597 BC, the second in 586 BC when Jerusalem was destroyed and the third was in 581 BC probably after Gedaliah the governor was assassinated, the time when many Jews took Jeremiah and fled to Egypt. The number is different from numbers in 2 kings and may reflect the fact that sometimes only men old enough to fight were counted in theses sorts of lists and other times women and children would be included.
Verses 31-34 pick up the history many years later. If you remember in 598 BC Jehoiakim was king of Judah. Judah was a state of the Babylonian Empire and expected to send money to Nebuchadnezzar. Jehoaikim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and looked to Egypt for help. Jeremaih had warned him that God did not want him to rebel or to look to other nations for help. Jehoaikim died a few months before Nebuchadnezzar arrived and his 18 year old son Jehoiachin took the throne and faced the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar easily took control of the situation and took Jehoaichin and many others captive. Jehoiachin was placed in prison in Babylon. Verse 31 picks up the story 37 years later. Nebuchadnezzar had died and his son Amel-marduk (Jeremiah spells his name Evil-merodach, but remember he wouldn’t have used vowels, the consonants are very close). In the first year of his reign (probably the first full year 561 BC) we are told that Amel-marduk took Jehoiachin from prison and made him an advisor in his government. He also gave him a permanent allowance. Amel-marduk was only king for two years (562-560 BC) but edicts made by Babylonian kings were permanent so Jehoiachin’s allowance would have lasted until he died. Archaeologists excavated the ruins of Babylon and found records (stone tablets with writing inscribed on them) in one of the store houses in the wall of the city. One of these tablets actually contained the record of Amel-marduk releasing Jehoaichin from prison and taking care of him. This is real history not a fairy tale.
It may seem odd that Nebuchadnezzar’s son and successor would release a troubling little nobody king from prison give him a place in his government. After 37 years who even knew the guy was there, he was probably put in prison before Amel was even born. It is interesting that Jeremiah interrupts his history to include numbers of people taken captive right before this part of the story. Even more interesting is that the numbers here are smaller than the numbers in 2 Kings. Scholars think that the numbers here only include adult men while the numbers in 2 Kings include women and children. I have been married 32 years and have 5 children and 8 grand-children (so far), that makes 13 people beyond my generation that come from me (just looking at the man side of the equation here). If there were 4600 men and now it is 37 years later that would make around 60,000 descendants for those guys. And remember there would young boys in the larger number in 2 Kings who are now grown up with children too. Remember too that the Jewish people would have considered Jehoiachin there last real king. With such a large Jewish population in Babylon Abel may have needed someone to help him understand and rule these people. The Jewish people considered Jehoiachin their last real king. They may have petitioned the king to release him over the years, after all hadn’t he been a victim of his father’s actions? For whatever human reasons Amel released Jehoiach and cared for him. On the spiritual level it has been clear that it ia Yahweh who is in ultimate control. Although Jehoiachin never took the throne in Jerusalem again his release from prison would have been a sign of hope for all the Jews living in exile, they had not been abandoned. It would be another 22 years before their return to the land, they had a seventy year sentence to serve but God was faithful. In fact he would use the very person Isaiah had told them he would use, a guy named Cyrus. That prediction was given about 150 years before it happened. It would be like Abraham Lincoln adding to the Gettysburg Address that one day a guy named Barak Obama would be president of the United States.
God is astounding. God cares. God loves and acts but he is holy too and he will not let sin go unpunished (Jeremiah 30:11, 46:28; Exodus 34:7). Think about the contrast between Zedekiah and Jehoiachin. Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and against God (who had repeatedly told the kings of Judah not to fight Nebuchadnezzar). Zedekiah’s family was executed and he was blinded and banished to prison for the rest of his life. In 2 Kings 24:12 we are told that Jehoiachin went out to the King of Babylon with his family and advisors, it sounds like he surrendered. In 2 Kings 24:9 we are told that Jehoiachin was an evil king but in this act of surrender he was obedient and faithful to God. In the end we see the mercy of God in the life of Jehoaichin and I’m sure the Jews in Babylon saw a ray of hope in the release of their king. Maybe one day the kingdom would be restored. Of course it would, God had promised it to their ancestors and it will one day come about. But first hearts need to return to God, a people need to be gathered for that kingdom. By the mercy of God it won’t be just Jewish people though, the message of Jeremiah was for the nations and in the end there will be people from every tribe, language, nation , and people group with God in his forever kingdom fulfilling the plan he has had since the creation of the world, the universe, and mankind. BE a part of his kingdom by surrendering to God today. Let Jesus fix your broken relationship with God, let the Holy Spirit fill you and guide you, and live with God now and forever.
God thank you for loving me. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to help me live for you. Thank you for having a forever place for me with you. Help me surrender each day and honor you and not myself. You are astounding.