Game changer! I decided to make my last two posts into one because I just don’t like to blog about only one chapter so why not just go ahead and write about the last three chapters! Chapters 50 and 51 are still the words of Jeremiah sent from the LORD while chapter 52 is kind of like a recap of what was happening during Jeremiah’s life, similar to the style of 1 Kings and 2 Kings. I don’t know who wrote chapter 52 or how it came about, but at the end of chapter 51 it clearly says, “Thus far are the words of Jeremiah,” so clearly there is a cut off of Jeremiah’s words.
Chapters 50 and 51 are a lot of detail about the judgment and “the utter destruction” (as my Bible labels this chapter) of Babylon! Not surprisingly, Babylon will face utter destruction! A country from the North will conquer Babylon (think Persia) and bring down this nation that has caused destruction to Israel and Judah, even if God allowed them to do so as a form of punishment and wrath. Israel and Judah will come together when this judgment on Babylon occurs and God uses the popular concept of His people being (lost) sheep.
“’My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, “We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their habitation of righteousness, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.”’” Jeremiah 50:6.
God was and will always watch after His people, and it is evident later on in chapter 50 when He tells of the redeemer that is to come and give rest to His people and unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon (the unrighteous/unfaithful). I love when there is prophecy of Jesus and what is to come because it is amazing to see how full of truth God is!
Chapter 51 goes into detail of the destruction of Babylon, and how He has not forsaken His people. There is great detail of Babylon’s idolatry and their evil that was port toward Zion. I love this analogy that God uses when telling of Babylon’s destruction:
“’They shall roar together like lions, they shall growl like lions’ cubs. While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk, that they may become merry, then sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, declares the LORD. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and male goats.’” Jeremiah 51:38-40
Babylon will face such a harsh destruction for they think that they are living the live full of happiness and then while they are at rest, not even putting up a fight, they will be brought down. They are utterly helpless! At the end of chapter 51 and the words of Jeremiah it tells of how Jeremiah gives all of his words that were sent from God to Seraiah and to have him read the words to the Judeans when they are exiled in Babylon, and how Babylon will “sink, to rise no more.” And these are the last words of Jeremiah.
Chapter 52 is like a study summary of what happened with the fall of Jerusalem and such because the book goes into detail but not as thorough details for it is more of a book of prophecy. So to recount the fall of Jerusalem (I have blogged about this before in my last few posts of 2 Kings), Zedekiah was unrighteous in the eyes of the LORD and he eventually rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. When Jerusalem was besieged the city eventually reached such a terrible famine that they all had to flee. Zedekiah was then captured in the fields of Jericho and he was taken to Babylon where he was tortured and watched his entire family die. Zedekiah died in a prison in Babylon, and was of course not laid to rest with the rest of the kings. In the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar, after the fall of Jerusalem, the temple aka the house of the LORD was burnt down and all of the treasures of the temple were taken. All the hard work done by Solomon were ruined along with the wall of Jerusalem taken down. Seraiah and the other priests and officials that were taken to Babylon were put to death and the rest of the Judeans were exiled, other than the weak and the poor that were left behind as mentioned in a previous post. A total of approximately 4,600 Judeans were exiled to Babylon. To end, Jehoiachin, the heir to Judah who was unrighteous, was released from prison after many decades and was treated with honor in the court of Babylon, which is not ironic at all. OF COURSE an unrighteous supposed leader was to align himself with the evil idolaters of Babylon!
I hope you all have enjoyed the book of Jeremiah as much as I have and I am excited for the next book from the Old Testament that I will be covering (all in 1 post!) The next book is the book of Joel! All three chapters of the book will be covered in one post but it is still full of such great information!
nys time 