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.”