This chapter tells us about the fall of Judah. We know the events well by now, at least, we should. So, most of it we know, and the only verses really to note here are Jeremiah 52:31-34, referring to Jehoiachin being released from a Babylonian prison. We will look at that in great detail later. Let’s just look at a few verses in this chapter.
This chapter is often referred to as a Historical Appendix. I guess this is for two reasons.
1. It is a history of Jeremiah’s prophecies that were fulfilled.
2. Jeremiah 51 ends with the words, ‘The words of Jeremiah end here’, so this is an appendix, a chapter entered into the book by someone other than Jeremiah.
Many scholars believe that this chapter is a copy of 2 Kings 24:18 to 2 Kings 25:30. It is pretty close, but not word-for-word. It may be that whoever added this chapter to Jeremiah’s words may have taken it from 2 Kings.
I’m not concerned about how this chapter came about. I do, however, believe that it was added by someone who wanted us to know that the marvellous prophecies of Jeremiah came true.
Some scholars believe that the section right at the end about King Jehoiachin being released was inserted for the Jews, as a good omen to God’s people that the captivity would end, and they would one day return to Judah.
A useful outline for this chapter is as follows.
1. Jerusalem eventually falls, and Zedekiah is taken prisoner, Jeremiah 52:1-16.
2. The Temple is ransacked and destroyed, Jeremiah 52:17-23.
3. Zedekiah’s officials were killed, Jeremiah 52:24-27.
4. Details of the three deportations, Jeremiah 52:28-30.
5. The kind treatment of Jehoiachin, Jeremiah 52:31-34.
You will notice that almost all of this section, Jeremiah 52:1-16, although not in its entirety, is found in Jeremiah 39:1-9. For the background to Jeremiah 52:1-3, please read 2 Kings 24:18-20.
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years, 2 Kings 24:18. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah, and she was from Libnah, Jeremiah 52:1.
Zedekiah lived after the wickedness of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah 52:2-3 / 2 Kings 24:19, who was one of the most wicked kings of Judah. The moral leadership of Judah at the end of its existence had so degenerated from the moral standards of God that the people had no example of morals before them to follow. When the leaders of any nation are morally degraded, the people of the nation follow.
For the background to these verses, please read 2 Kings 25:1-5. At the end of a thirty-month siege, the city of Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians on July 18, 586 B.C. Jeremiah 52:4-5.
The biblical records of this event are found in this text, the Kings and Chronicles, and Ezekiel. Secular records of the fall can be found in the Lachish Letters, the Babylonian Chronicle, and inscriptions in Egypt. The wicked leadership of the kings of Judah led to the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah 52:6-7, and the captivity of the people.
For the background to these verses, please read 2 Kings 6-7. The Babylonian army chased Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, Jeremiah 52:8 / 2 Kings 25:5. While his soldiers were scattered, he was captured, Jeremiah 52:9, and sentenced, Jeremiah 52:10.
The last thing Zedekiah saw was his sons being murdered, Jeremiah 52:10, and then the Babylonian king gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes, put shackles on him and took him to Babylon, where he was imprisoned, and eventually died, Jeremiah 52:11 / Jeremiah 39:7.
Zedekiah cowardly fled from the scene, realising that the prophecy of Jeremiah of his captivity was going to take place. His flight from the people manifested his character and attitude in reference to being a leader for the people.
He was a coward who thought only of himself. When morally degraded leaders assume to be leaders of a country, they often forget that their leadership role includes both moral leadership as well as leadership in government. The private life of good leaders is never something to themselves. Good leaders lead by the example of their lives.
For the background to these verses, please read 2 Kings 25:8-12. Since Jerusalem had been taken in earlier captivities and left standing, we would assume that the original plan of Nebuchadnezzar was not to destroy the city or the temple.
But because of the defiance of Zedekiah and those he led, in this final conquest of the city he commissioned Nebuzaradan to level the city as punishment to the Jewish nation, Jeremiah 52:12.
Nebuzaradan set fire to the temple, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down, Jeremiah 52:13. He also broke down the walls around Jerusalem, Jeremiah 52:14.
He carried the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, Jeremiah 52:15 / 2 Kings 25:11. However he left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields, Jeremiah 52:16 / Jeremiah 39:10.
It’s clear that God wanted Israel completely humbled. He wanted Israel as an independent nation to end. He wanted the centralisation of their faith and government through earthly kings to come to a close.
The same end of Israel would come in about five hundred years from this date. When Jesus came, God again wanted to signal the end of Israel through the destruction of Jerusalem, Matthew 24:1-35. When Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, God brought Israel to a final ending, never to restore the nation again as part of His work.
The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple, and they carried all the bronze to Babylon, Jeremiah 52:17 / Jeremiah 27:19. They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service, Jeremiah 52:18.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following concerning Jeremiah 52:18-23.
‘In reference to these verses, see the parallel texts in the margin, the various readings there, and the notes, Exodus 27:3 / 2 Kings 25:14-16 / 1 Kings 7:47 / 1 Kings 7:15 / 2 Chronicles 3:15 / 1 Kings 7:20.’
Nebuzaradan took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes, and bowls used for drink offerings, all that were made of pure gold or silver, Jeremiah 52:19.
We are told that the bronze items of the temple were ‘more than could be weighed,’ Jeremiah 52:20. There was so much of it, that they couldn’t weigh it all, Jeremiah 52:20-23.
In Jeremiah 27:16-22, Jeremiah says to the priests and all the people, Don’t listen to those who say that the temple articles already taken will be returned. God says that, in addition to these, the Babylonians will come and take all the others. Jeremiah specifically named some of these items in Jeremiah 27. This chapter just shows the fulfilment of that prophecy.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The significance of this paragraph is seen in the light of Jeremiah’s words in Jeremiah 27:16-22. In that passage, Jeremiah specifically named many of the things mentioned here, stating that they would all indeed be carried to Babylon. Practically everything in this chapter has the utility of listing the events that fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecies to the letter.’
This section deals with the execution of the priests and other officials, Jeremiah 52:24-27 / 2 Kings 20:9 / 2 Kings 23:4 / 2 Kings 25:18. These would be the false priests who put Zedekiah under pressure, leading to the rebellion against Babylon and who threatened Jeremiah’s life because they disagreed with his views. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land, Jeremiah 52:29.
I must admit to being confused by these figures. One of the things that confuses me is that 40,000 returned to Judah after the seventy years in captivity. I have read various commentaries, but can’t come up with an answer.
If only 4,600 people were taken into captivity during the three deportations and if, as Josephus says, many of them decided to remain in Babylon, how come there were so many descendants from so few Jews in captivity? One scholar suggests that only the heads of families were counted in this total of 4,600 in Jeremiah 52:28-30. That could possibly be the answer.
I am also concerned, no, perplexed, because 2 Kings 24:14 says the total number was 10,000. Was that 10,000 only the men, or only the heads of families where families were concerned?
Some scholars say that all arguments are settled if we agree that the ‘seventh’ year referred to in Jeremiah 52:28 is an error and should read ‘seventeenth.’ That only confuses me more. It is the number of people I am confused about, not in which years the three deportations took place.
Why does the book of Jeremiah end with this scene of Evil Merodach releasing Jehoiachin to serve him in his court? Jeremiah 52:31 / Genesis 40:13. Could it be a closing gesture to show that one day freedom would come for the Jews? If so, then this book ends on a happy note. One of anticipation for repentance and return to the promised land of God’s people.
We do get an idea here of the lifestyles of the kings of Babylon. It seems that they allowed the kings of the countries that they had conquered to be seated on thrones in the Babylonian king’s dining room, Jeremiah 52:32.
They were probably much smaller thrones so that the Babylonian king could show his superiority, although we are told here that Jehoiachin was given a seat of honour higher than the other kings, Jeremiah 52:32.
But Jehoiachin didn’t enjoy this status until he had been in captivity for thirty-seven years. So, he is released from prison, has had his status of royalty returned, and receives a higher throne than the other captured kings.
And this is believed to have occurred in the year 561 B.C. Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and, for the rest of his life, ate regularly at the king’s table, Jeremiah 52:33.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Jehoiachin changed his own garments, that he might be suited in that respect to the state of his elevation. Kings also, in token of favour, gave caftans or robes to those whom they wish to honour.’
Day by day, the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived, till the day of his death, Jeremiah 52:34 / 2 Kings 25:30. What I like about this chapter, this ‘historical appendix’, is the number of fulfillments that we find, of Jeremiah’s many prophecies. But one prophecy that hasn’t been fulfilled yet is the prophecy that the Jews would return to their homeland after seventy years in captivity.
We have to look at the Book of Daniel to see that God was answering Daniel’s prayer, even while Daniel was still praying, that this promise of seventy years would be fulfilled, and we have to read Ezra and Nehemiah to see how the people returned to their homeland, built houses, and repaired the wall to the temple. So, we know that even that prophecy of Jeremiah’s was fulfilled.
We don’t know when this section about Jehoiachin was added, but if he had been in captivity for thirty-seven years before he was honoured in this way, and as the year was 561 B.C., this event would have taken place approximately twenty-five years after the fall of Jerusalem, and Jeremiah, if he was still alive in Egypt, would have been another twenty years older! So, we can assume that Jeremiah has been dead for a long time. This also shows that it wasn’t Jeremiah who wrote this chapter and added it to his book.
We don’t know for sure where Jeremiah ended his days. The most probable place was Egypt. If that were the case, then how sad. This righteous man, who loved his people and his land so passionately, didn’t finally rest in his own land. Jeremiah was a tremendous prophet. God’s power really shone through this weak man.
In many respects, the message spoken today is much the same as his was. The message is one of a bad end for those who deny the Lord and do not hear His call, and many, like those in the days of Jeremiah, didn’t want to hear the message of hope. For those who hear Him today, there is the hope of the Messiah who is coming back.