Jeremiah 44

ment to Ebed-Melech (39:15–18)—that he would be delivered when the city was taken and that God would spare his life.

“Hide nothing from me” (vv. 14–28). As far as the record is concerned, this was the fourth and last contact King Zedekiah had with Jeremiah before the city fell to the Babylonians. His request presented Jeremiah with a dilemma: If Jeremiah told him the truth, the king might kill him, and he wouldn’t obey the word of God anyway! God gave the king one last chance to repent, but he only made excuses. If he surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar, he might be accused and abused by the Jews who had gone over to the enemy, and what would happen to his family left in the city? Perhaps the men who wanted to kill Jeremiah would kill them.

Jeremiah assured the king that if he obeyed the word of the Lord, God would protect him and the city. But if he disobeyed, even the women in the palace would taunt him before the Babylonians (38:21–23). We can appreciate the king’s concern for his wives and children, but the best way to protect them was to obey the will of God.

Still afraid of his own officers, the king told Jeremiah to keep their conversation confidential. There’s no suggestion that Jeremiah lied to the officers who questioned him. To begin with, we may not have a transcript of the complete conversation between Jeremiah and Zedekiah, and Jeremiah may have asked not to be returned to the house of Jonathan. Certainly in their second conversation, Jeremiah had made such a request (37:17–21). He was under no obligation to report everything to the officers, and he didn’t have to lie in order to keep the conversation confidential.

Sometimes God judges a sinful nation by sending them weak leaders who are hesitant and vacillating and whose leadership (or lack of it) plunges the nation only deeper into trouble. “I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them” (Isa. 3: nkjv). The late John F. Kennedy put it this way: “We, the people, are the boss, and we get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.” But Judah wasn’t a democracy; the people didn’t vote on their king. It was God who gave them what they deserved.

God’s Word Fulfilled (39; 52) These two chapters, along with 2 Kings 25 and 2 Chronicles 36, describe the tragic fall of Jerusalem, its plunder, and its destruction, as well as the captivity and deportation of thousands of Jewish people. None of these things would have happened if only one of the kings had sincerely repented, trusted the Lord, and surrendered to the Babylonians.

God’s judgment on Zedekiah (39:1–7; 52:1–11). The siege had begun on January 15, 588 (Jer. 52:4); and two and a half years later, on July 18, 586, the Babylonian army penetrated the city walls. The princes of Babylon set up their thrones in the Middle Gate and began to take over the reins of government. The “times of the Gentiles” had begun on God’s prophetic calendar (Luke 21:24). When that period ends, the Messiah will return to rescue His people and fulfill the promises made by the prophets.

Zedekiah, his family, and his staff tried to escape (see Jer. 34:3; Ezek. 12:1–12), but the Babylonians caught up with them and delivered them to Nebuchadnezzar at his headquarters at Riblah, some two hundred miles north of Jerusalem. There he passed judgment on all of them, and the Babylonians were not known for their tenderness. He slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons and then put out Zedekiah’s eyes. Thus, the king’s last visual memories would haunt him. Ezekiel had prophesied that Zedekiah would not see the land of Babylon (Ezek. 12:13), and his prophecy proved true. The king was bound and taken captive to Babylon, where he died.

God’s judgment on the city (39:8–10; 52:12–34). “For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day; so I will remove it from before My face” (Jer. 32: nkjv). Throughout his ministry, Jeremiah had warned the people that Jerusalem would be captured and destroyed (6:6; 19:8–9, 11–12, 15; 21:10; 26:6, 11; 27:17).

At the same time, the Babylonians pillaged the city and took the precious things out of the temple and carried them to Babylon. The soldiers rounded up the best of the people and took them to Babylon. There had been a previous deportation in 597 BC (52:28), and there would be a third deportation in 582 (52:30). The poorer, unskilled people were left to till the land. After all, somebody had to feed the soldiers who were left behind.

God’s care for His servant (39:11–14). Since the Lord had promised that Jeremiah would survive all the opposition and persecution against him (1:17–19; 15:20–21), He moved upon Nebuchadnezzar to release the prophet and treat him kindly. He was committed to Gedaliah, who later was named governor of the land (40:7). (This Gedaliah was not the one who wanted to kill Jeremiah, 38:1.)

I close with a solemn word from G. Campbell Morgan: “We in our security need to be reminded that for us also there may come the eleventh year, and the fourth month, and the tenth day of the month, when God will hurl us from our place of privilege, as He surely will, unless we are true to Him.”

ILife only demands from you the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible— not to have run away. Dag Hammarskjold t’s been said by more than one scholar that the one thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history. This was certainly true of the destitute Jewish remnant in Judah after the fall of Jerusalem. Instead of seeking the Lord and making a new beginning, the remnant repeated the very sins that had led to the collapse of the nation and the destruction of the city: They wouldn’t listen to the Word; they turned to Egypt for help; and they worshipped idols.

The sinful behavior of the people must have broken Jeremiah’s heart, but he stayed with them and tried to get them to obey the Word of the Lord. God had punished the nation, but even this severe punishment didn’t change their hearts. They were still bent on doing evil.

The drama was a tragic one with a cast of characters that is seen in every age. The script of history may change a bit from time to time, but the characters are still the same.

This is Jeremiah’s last recorded message to his people, given in Egypt probably in the year 580. If he was called by God in 626, the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign (1:2), then he had been ministering forty-six years. You can’t help admiring Jeremiah for his faithfulness in spite of all the discouragements that had come to his life.

A scathing indictment (vv. 1–14). No sooner did the Jewish remnant arrive in Egypt than they began to worship the local gods and goddesses, of which there were many. Jeremiah reminded them of what they had seen in the Lord’s judgment on Judah (44:2–3). It was because of their idolatry that He had destroyed their land, the city of Jerusalem, and the temple. Then he reminded them of what they had heard—the messages of the prophets God had sent to rebuke them time after time (vv. 4–6).

But they hadn’t learned their lesson, and now they were jeopardizing their future and inviting the wrath of God by repeating in Egypt the sins they’d committed in Judah. Had they forgotten the past? Were they unconcerned about their future? Didn’t they realize that God could judge them in Egypt as easily as He had judged them in their own land? No wonder God called the Jews in the land “bad figs that nobody could eat.” The future would rest with the exiles in Babylon who would one day return to their land and carry on the work God had given them to do.

A senseless argument (vv. 15–19). The men and women listening to Jeremiah tried to defend their sins by appealing to experience. They used the pragmatic argument: “If it works, it must be right.” When they lived in Judah and secretly worshipped the Queen of Heaven (Astarte or Ishtar, goddess of fertility), everything went well with them. They had plenty of food and enjoyed comfortable circumstances. But when King Josiah made the people give up their idols, things began to get worse for them. Conclusion: They were better off when they disobeyed God and worshipped idols!

It seems that the women led the way in practicing idolatry, and their husbands cooperated with them. The women made vows to worship Astarte, and their husbands approved of what they did (vv. 24–26). According to Jewish law, if the husband approved his wife’s vow, it was valid (Num. 30). Consequently, the wives blamed their husbands, and the husbands told Jeremiah that they didn’t care what he said! They were going to worship Astarte just as they had done in Judah and in that way be sure things would go right for them.

A terrible pronouncement (vv. 20–30). How tragic that twice in a few short years the Lord had to pronounce judgment on His people for the same sins! Jeremiah told them, “Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows! But hear the Word of the Lord” (Jer. 44:25–26 niv). The Jews in Egypt would perish, and only a remnant of the remnant would ever return to their own land.

Jeremiah gave them a sign: Pharaoh Hopbra, whom they were trusting to care for them, would be handed over to his enemies just as King Zedekiah was handed over to Nebuchadnezzar. Keep in mind that it was Pharaoh Hopbra who agreed to help Zedekiah against the Babylonians, and his help proved worthless. Historians tell us that a part of the Egyptian army revolted against Hopbra, and the general who stopped the rebellion was proclaimed king. He reigned along with Hopbra, but three years later Hopbra was executed. Nebuchadnezzar then appeared on the scene, and Jeremiah’s other prophecy was fulfilled.

It’s likely that Jeremiah was dead when all this happened, but did the Jews in Egypt remember his words and take them to heart? Did they realize that he had faithfully declared God’s Word and that what he had said was true? Did they repent and seek to obey?