The Fall Of Jerusalem

INTRO

Before we cover Jeremiah 39, our focus chapter today, we need to work quickly through Jeremiah 37—38. In Jeremiah 37 we’re back in the “current time,” or the events that were happening as Jeremiah was written. Even though King Zedekiah, his officers, and the people were not obeying the words of God (vv. 1–2), Zedekiah sent priests to ask Jeremiah to pray for them (v. 3) because “Pharaoh’s army had left Egypt,” which caused the Chaldeans to stop besieging Jerusalem (v. 5). When Jeremiah prayed, God told him to tell the priests that the Egyptians would turn back, and the Chaldeans would return to destroy Jerusalem (vv. 6–10). When Jeremiah left Jerusalem to claim his land in Benjamin, he was accused of deserting to the Chaldeans. The officials had Jeremiah beaten and thrown into jail (vv. 11–16). This was one of the five recorded imprisonments Jeremiah experienced. Later King Zedekiah brought Jeremiah to his house and asked if Jeremiah had a word from God. Jeremiah told Zedekiah he would be handed over to the king of Babylon (v. 17). Rather than sending Jeremiah back to his imprisonment in the house of Jonathan the scribe (v. 20), he kept Jeremiah in the guard’s courtyard (v. 21). So, this chapter includes one, if not two, of Jeremiah’s imprisonments.

In Jeremiah 38, Jeremiah said those who stayed in the city would die, but those who surrendered to the Chaldeans would live (vv. 1–3). The officials said Jeremiah should die for discouraging the people, so Zedekiah let them do what they wanted. They lowered Jeremiah into a cistern where he sank into the mud (vv. 4–6). Ebed-melech, a Cushite, went to Zedekiah and asked to bring Jeremiah out of the cistern before he died of starvation. With great care, Ebed-melech and 30 men lifted Jeremiah from the cistern, but Jeremiah stayed in the guard’s courtyard (vv. 7–13). Zedekiah once again asked Jeremiah for a word from God, promising he wouldn’t allow Jeremiah to be killed for speaking the truth. Again, Jeremiah said if they didn’t surrender to the Chaldeans they would be killed, and the city would be burned down (vv. 14–18). Zedekiah warned Jeremiah not to tell the officials about this conversation (vv. 24–25). Jeremiah followed Zedekiah’s instructions and remained in captivity until Jerusalem was captured (vv. 26–28).

John MacArthur did an interesting look at the trials of Jeremiah. There was: “a trial by death threats (Jeremiah 11), a trial by isolation (Jeremiah 15), a trial by stocks (Jeremiah 19), a trial by arrest (Jeremiah 26), a trial by challenge (Jeremiah 28), a trial by destruction (Jeremiah 36), a trial by violence and imprisonment (Jeremiah 37), a trial by starvation (Jeremiah 38), a trial by chains (Jeremiah 40), and a trial by rejection (Jeremiah 42).”¹ Jeremiah experienced nothing but negativity. Jeremiah was faithful to God’s plan all his life even though no one listened to him.

TEACHING

Jeremiah 39:1-3: This chapter covers the fall of Jerusalem from 588 to 586 BC. Nelson’s Commentary describes the fall of Jerusalem as “one of the most lamentable events in the history of the nation.”² For about 30 months, Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem (vv. 1–2). Warren Wiersbe suggests this time frame was from January 588 BC all the way to July 586 BC.³ Babylon cut off “all the entrances and exits, all food supplies, and as much water as possible, so that famine, thirst, and disease would weaken the beleaguered city.”⁴Nelson’s Commentary states, “The walls of Jerusalem were breached about the time food supplies were exhausted.”⁵ Babylon’s officials sat in the Middle Gate as a sign that the Babylonian army fully occupied the city.⁶ When Babylon took over Jerusalem, the “times of the Gentiles” had begun (Luke 21:24).⁷ There were two major falls of Jerusalem: this one in 586 BC and again in AD 70. The fall in 586 BC foreshadows the fall in AD 70 and yet to come (Daniel 9:27).

Jeremiah 39:4–10: Zedekiah and the soldiers fled the city, but the Chaldeans caught up with them in Jericho. They were arrested and taken before King Nebuchadnezzar in Riblah for sentencing. MacArthur notes that Nebuchadnezzar “dealt with the king as a common criminal.”⁸ Nebuchadnezzar killed Zedekiah’s sons and Judah’s nobles before blinding Zedekiah and putting him in bronze chains to be taken to Babylon. They burned down Zedekiah’s palace, the houses and then tore down the walls of Jerusalem. The people were deported to Babylon, leaving only the poor in Judah (vv. 4–10).

Everything Jeremiah had predicted actually happened (Jeremiah 32:4 and Ezekiel 12:13). Jeremiah 52:13 says Nebuchadnezzar also burned down the temple. Warren Wiersbe identified three times the Jews were deported to Babylon: in 597 BC, 586 BC (this event), and again in 582 BC.⁹ Yet the Babylonians left some of the poor Jews in Judah.

Jeremiah 39:11–18: King Nebuchadnezzar ordered Jeremiah to be released and instructed his commanders to do whatever Jeremiah said (vv. 11–12). So, Jeremiah was released, and he settled among his own people (v. 14). While he was a prisoner, Jeremiah bought land with 17 shekels. Now the Chaldeans set him free, and he settled on his land. Nebuchadnezzar made Gedaliah governor over the remnant left in the land (Jeremiah 40:5, 7). God also spared the life of Ebed-Melech the Cushite, who had brought Jeremiah out of the cistern (Jeremiah 38:7–9). The Word Biblical Commentary on Jeremiah compares the faithful and the faithless in Jeremiah 39:

“Jeremiah 39 presents a strong contrast between faithfulness and the lack of faith. Jeremiah and Ebed-melech represent those who are faithful to the Lord and to whom the Lord is faithful in return. Zedekiah represents faithlessness. In some respects, Zedekiah’s faithlessness is of the most troublesome sort among people of faith. His faithlessness is not rejection of the Lord but an inability to act in courage when pressures mount. Like the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:15 [which was also blind], Zedekiah was neither hot nor cold, and he paid a terrible price for his indecision.”¹⁰.

CLOSING

When you function in faith, you’re free. When you function without faith, you’re in bondage. Ebed-melech and Jeremiah functioned in faith and they were free.

10 Gerald L. Keown, Pamela J. Scalise, and Thomas G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52, Word Biblical Commentary Series (Dallas: Word Books, 1995), p. 231; quoted in Thomas Constable, Dr. Constable’s Expository Bible Notes: Jeremiah, p. 338, available at https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/jeremiah.pdf