Jeremiah -- Jeremiah was born approximately the same time as Josiah. Of all the prophets whose words are recorded in Scripture, we know the most about Jeremiah the man. Born in Anathoth, just north of Jerusalem, we can be certain he was of the family of Abiathar, dismissed from service by Solomon for conspiracy with Adonijah's revolt. He supported Josiah's reforms, of course, and this earned him the ire of his relatives. His prophetic writings seem to apply most to the period after Josiah's death in 609 BC.
His celibacy was quite rare among Jews (Jeremiah 16:1ff). He was regarded by the ascendant party in the Court as the leader of the opposition. His message warns that Judah should serve Babylon willingly, and trust in God to make that service light. He had several brushes with death, and spent much time in confinement. At one point the priests ordered him placed in stocks, beaten (20:1-6) and left to die in a filthy mud pit (38:6-13). His escapes, with that of his scribe, Baruch, were clearly the hand of God. It didn't help he had to contend with false prophecies from the professional prophets in the Temple.
We note several things about his unique character:
The book itself indicates it was the shared labor of Jeremiah and Baruch. The first 25 chapters were dictated by Jeremiah to Baruch, burned by the King, then dictated again without loss. They are in the first person and loaded with verse and poetic imagery. The rest is in the third person, and appears to be the records of Baruch appended to the prophet's original commission, written in simple prose. However, it would be a mistake to think of the book as being in any chronological order. One of his greatest contributions to Jewish religion down through the ages is a clear statement that Jehovah was sovereign, and there was no other god. The affairs of men and kingdoms worldwide were guided by the hand of the God of Israel.
The domination by Egypt after the death of Josiah at Megiddo was short lived. The primary objective was to maintain lines of communication between the Egyptian forces encamped at Carchemish and the homeland on the Nile. The army of Egypt remained in the field against Babylon for several years. As the dominant power on that long path, Judah received the bulk of Pharaoh's attention. The parallel passages are found in 2 Kings 23-25.
2 Chronicles 36:1-4 -- As soon as Josiah was buried, his son Jehoahaz was crowned. He was in the city as King three months, just long enough to attend to the essential ceremonial requirements and basic administrative tasks setting up his administration. As the first king serving under Neco's authority, he was required to go to his master in northern Syria. There, he was deposed and imprisoned by Neco. This most likely was to demonstrate his absolute mastery, and to strike fear in Judah. From the King's entourage, Neco selected a brother of Jehoahaz, Eliakim, to replace him. He renamed him Jehoiakim. The right of renaming was but another grating reminder who was boss. Jehoahaz was dispatched to Egypt, where he died in prison. The new King Jehoiakim returned with an edict to collect a huge tribute tax. The amount was crushing, and impoverished the whole nation of Judah, because the King took it from the people, while retaining his royal luxury.
36:5-8 -- Jehoiakim brought back many of Manasseh's sins, all the while preaching a complacency in God's protection of the Temple. A willing servant of Pharaoh, he joined in a coalition with his neighbors to support Egypt in resisting Nebuchadnezzar's advance into Syria. However, within a few years (605 BC) Neco lost in battle against Babylon. Jeremiah had warned this would happen, and that capitulating to Babylon was the Lord's will. This set the tone for a long-running battle of sorts in Jerusalem between Jeremiah and the Court, and seemingly between Jeremiah and the Lord. The long delay seemed to mock Jeremiah's proclamations of judgment. To his chagrin, Nebuchadnezzar failed to follow up his victory, delayed by his father's death back home in Babylon.
Still, the dark looming shadow of Babylon's approach never lifted. It was during this period the first scroll of Jeremiah's prophecy was burned. In 603 BC, Jehoiakim was forced to pledge allegiance to the new Emperor of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon was once again on the move, passing through Judah on the way to face Egypt at home, her only rival on the west. When the battle on the border of Egypt in 601 BC turned into a stalemate, Jehoiakim was foolish enough to believe it was a sign from God, despite Jeremiah's warnings, and made a bid for independence. Nebuchadnezzar's first response was to send raiding bands of his own Chaldean troops, along with Ammonites, Moabites and Syrians. They were told to seize all the spoil they could. Finally, in 597 BC, he brought his own troops back to Palestine and laid siege to Jerusalem. The text says Jehoiakim was hauled away in fetters, but tradition says he was already sick and dying during the siege, thus his son was crowned. Jehoiakim is believed to have died on the journey to Babylon, still a young man.
36:9-10 -- There is some confusion between 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles regarding the age of Jehoiachin at his coronation. The former says he was eighteen which is more probable, but the latter says eight. Either way, he was too young to be very independent. His court was still in the grip of the pro-Egypt party. It seems they tried to hold out and negotiate while Nebuchadnezzar's troops lounged outside the walls of Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar was still there three months later and prepared to renew efforts to breach the walls of Jerusalem. The royal household capitulated as a whole, which spared the life of this last in the line of David. He was taken away as hostage, along with the best noble warriors and artisans, to insure the good behavior of the Kingdom of Judah. Also taken were the treasures and furnishings of the Temple. By our reckoning, it was still 597 BC.
36:11-14 -- In place of Jehoiachin was his uncle, Mattaniah, renamed Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar. This youngest son of Josiah was very much a puppet of Babylon. Not that he was so actively evil, his reign was marked by weakness. The rightful king was still alive in Babylon, and the pro-Egypt party still had a large presence in the Court. Most of the noble houses were in exile, and there were few craftsmen left. Secretly, Zedekiah respected the prophet Jeremiah, if for no other reason than his prophecies came true about Babylon, but didn't always follow the prophet's advice. There was a major conflict between Jeremiah and the Court prophets about the length of time for the Exile. Jeremiah advised everyone in Babylon to get comfortable and wait about seventy years, while the false prophets insisted it was just a couple of years or so. When Neco in Egypt began building a new coalition to face Bablyon yet again -- drawing in Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon -- Jeremiah warned the man not to be suckered again, but to remain faithful to Babylon, and thus to God. This was the scene when the false prophet Hananiah tore the wooden yoke off Jeremiah, only to see it replaced by one of iron (Jeremiah 28:12-16). Hananiah died a short time later.
Meanwhile, the foolish Zedekiah cast his lot with Egypt, though not the abortive revolt in 593 BC. Records are scant, but there's no doubt the new Pharaoh was involved in encouraging Zedekiah to go along with his arrogant nobles. Judah managed to act in rebellion against her vow before Jehovah to serve Babylon. In due time, Nebuchadnezzar and his troops returned to Judah. The siege began in 588 BC. For two years, the king kept trying to convince the Lord to back his revolt, and the nobles waited in vain for another deliverance as with Hezekiah. Even during the siege, Jeremiah showed his confidence in God's promises by going to lay claim to the land he bought in Anathoth. He was arrested on his return as a traitor and it was here he was thrown in the pit. His rescue was hardly the end of his sorrows, and only the success of the siege brought him relief, in 586 BC.
36:15-21 -- Our text recounts the hideous brutality of the final battle as the direct punishment for treating God's prophets with despite, more prophets than Jeremiah alone. The parallel passage in Kings 25 describes how the wall was breached late one day. While the Babylonians waited until morning light to finish the job, the King and his soldiers slipped through the opening and escaped by night past the siege lines. They attempted to flee by taking the road past the Mount of Olives and down to the Jordan Valley. However, they were caught by pursuing Babylonians. The royal bodyguard was executed. Then Zedekiah and his family were hauled to Nebuchadnezzar's field office in Riblah, in Hamath. There, Zedekiah was forced to watch his sons killed, the last thing he saw, for his eyes were then put out. He was imprisoned in Babylon. We pick up the story in 2 Kings.
2 Kings 25:8-21 -- The destruction of Jerusalem was mostly a matter of taking down the city wall completely, then destroying everything on the Temple Mount: the Temple, Palace, Royal Residence, and of course any military buildings. In each, the wooden frame was burned so the stonework collapsed in a pile of rubble. With only the brass and bronze Temple furnishings left, the large pieces were broken down into fragments easily moved, and taken away to Babylon. The surviving Court officers in the city were taken to Riblah and executed. The city was de-populated, taken along with the surviving Jews throughout Judah. Only a few peasants were left to keep the farms and vineyards going. Everyone else was moved to Babylon. Jeremiah wrote Lamentations to describe the sense of loss. He was left alive by the conquering commanders, and stayed with the handful of nobles considered trustworthy enough to manage the harvest on behalf of the Empire. Judah was now nothing but an agricultural region dependent on Babylon.
25:22-26 -- Of course, there would always be a few who evaded capture. They hid out in the wilderness places. Meanwhile, Babylon appointed Gedaliah as governor of Judah. He met with these escaped nobles at Mizpah, the new seat of government. On behalf of Babylon, he promised them a peaceful life among the remnants in the land, and encouraged them to help rebuild enough of the ravaged land to keep it ready for the return of the nation someday. Between the breach of the city walls and the wicked assassination of Gedaliah was only two months. Fearing Babylon's response, the last few leaders of the nation still in the land took as many peasants as they could round up, along with Jeremiah, and fled to Egypt. Jeremiah died there in sorrow, but not before his scribe noted a very encouraging sign, taking a page from the official records.
25:27-29 -- In about 562 BC, Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by Evil-merodach ("Man of Marduk"), who changed the policy of the Jewish captives in Babylon. In his mid-50s now, Jehoiachin was released from prison, and given a prominent place in the Imperial Court. Here, roughly half-way through the Exile, the light of God's forgiveness began to shine, and there was hope.
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Ed Hurst
05 June 2005
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