Lord’s Day, Vol. 12 No. 46
Opening Jeremiah and Lamentations
The Book of Jeremiah and Lamentation is an enactment of the words the Apostle Paul in the Book of Hebrews for the nation of Judah that is representative of the remnant of Israel – Hebrews 12:5a-7 … My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Jeremiah 25:11-12 (KJV) And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
In Judah’s wilful departure from the LORD against the repeated warnings of His prophets, when His judgments finally came, God’s people were culpable! Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet because he pleaded with His people to come back to the LORD. He suffered much, pouring out his life in faithful service, in an effort to avert the destruction and captivity that will come upon his people by the Babylonians.
The prophet Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, of the priests in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin. He was commissioned to the prophetic ministry on the 13th year of Josiah, the son of Amon (Jer. 1:1-2). His ministry will span the last five kings of Judah – Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Coniah/Jehoiachin/Jecohiah, Zedekiah.
After the death of Josiah, Jehoahaz reigned for three months before he was taken prisoner by the Egyptian Pharaoh to Egypt – 2 Kings 23:28-34 (KJV) Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 29 In his days Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. 30 And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead. 31 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh-nechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.
Jehoiakim was a vessel king appointed by the the Pharoah of Egypt to rule the land after Jehoahaz was taken to Egypt.2 Kings 23:35-37 (KJV) And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaoh-nechoh.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.And his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
It was during the reign of Jehoiakim that God sent the Babylon to chastise the children of Judah –
2 Kings 24:1-7 (KJV) In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets. 3 Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did; 4 And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon. 5 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. 7 And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
During the time when the Assyrian Empire was disintegrating in the 7th century BC, the Medes and Babylonians in 612 BC rebelled and took over Nineveh forcing the Assyrian to retreat to Haran. In 609 B.C. Pharaoh-nechoh of Egypt tried to save the Assyrians but was met by King Josiah at Megiddo who then died in battle (2 Kings 28:28-30, 2 Chron. 35:20-27). The Babylonians won the battle at Carchemish 605 BC and the land of Israel came under the rule of the Babylonians.
After Josiah’s death, his son Jehoahaz became king but lasted only three months. Pharaoh-nechoh on his return from the battle of Haran, deposed Jehoahaz and installed Jehoiakim his older brother as king.
Jehoiakim became a vassal of Egypt, was ruling when Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar expelled the Egyptians and brought Judah under Babylonian rule in 605 B.C. with the sworn allegiance of Jehoiakim to Babylon. As part of the surrender, Nebuchadnezzar took the sons of the nobles of Judah was hostages, to train them to serve him. Daniel and his 3 friends were part of this first deportation (Dan. 1:1-7).
Jehoiachin also known as Coniah (Jer. 22:24, 28), 37:1) and Jeconiah (1 Chron. 3:16-17, Esther 2:6, Jer. 24:1, 27:20, 28:4, 29:2) reigned after Jehoiakim was taken to Babylon in 597 BC in the 2nd deportation with 10,000 men included Ezekiel the prophet/priest after he was forced to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar – 2 Kings 24:8-16 (KJV) Jehoiachin waseighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother’s name wasNehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done. 10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. 12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. 13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. 14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. 15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
Jehoiachin, was the son of King Jehoiakim and king of Judah. He came to the throne at the age of 18 in the midst of the Chaldean invasion of Judah and reigned three months. A recap, he was forced to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC, along with 10,000 of his subjects including Ezekiel the prophet-priest. Nearly 40 years later after Nebuchadnezzar died, and his successor released Jehoiachin.
Jehoiachin was the last legitimate king of Judah – Jeremiah 52:31-34 (KJV) And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, thatEvil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison, 32 And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon, 33 And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life. 34 And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
The king of Babylon appointed Zedekiah, the brother of Jehoiakim to rule in Jerusalem. He did so for 11 years. Judah considered Jehoiachin the last legitimate son of David to rule on the throne in Jerusalem. After him, Nebuchadnezzar set Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah, a remaining son of Josiah, on the throne as a puppet king.
2 Kings 24:12-20 (KJV) And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. 13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. 14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. 15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. 17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father’s brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah. 18 Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 20 For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
Josiah –> Jehoahaz –> Jehoiakim –> Coniah/Jehoiachin/Jecohiah –> Zedekiah
Deported to Burned the Deported to Deported to
Egypt Scriptures Babylon Babylon
Reign: 3 months 11 years 3 months 11 years
The prophet Jeremiah gave the warnings from the LORD, before the fall of Jerusalem in Jeremiah 1-33, and the detailed description of the fall of Jerusalem from Jeremiah 34-45 and the aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem from Jeremiah 46-52.
The siege of Jerusalem which began on January 15, 588 BC continued until the city fell on August 14, 586 BC, more than two and one-half years later (2 Kings 25:1-17) with the final deportation of the rest of the Jews to Babylon. Jeremiah 1-25 was recorded 12 sermons of the prophet Jeremiah to Judah. He pointed out the willful sins of Judah (2:1-3:5), that judgment would come from the north if they will not repent (3:6-6:30), their hypocritical form of worship as an abomination before the LORD (7:1-10:25), Judah broke the covenant with the LORD and thus the curses in God’s Word will come upon them (11:1-12:17), the sign of the marred girdle and wine bottles was given in revived relationship with the LORD (13:1-27), the famine in Judah (14:1-15:21), Judah’s idolatry and Jeremiah’s unmarried state (16:1-17:27), sign of the potter and broken bottle (18:1-20:18), judgment against the kings of Judah – Zedekiah,
Shallum, Jehoiakim, Coniah contrast with the righteous king (22:1-23:8), against Judah’s false prophets (23:9-40), sign of the two baskets of figs (24:1-10), the 70 year captivity (25:1-38).
Jeremiah faced much incarceration because of his message of surrender for Judah to the Babylonians, also with false prophets who prophesied falsely their early return and his letters to the first exiles to Babylon in Jeremiah 26-29.
With impending judgment and deportation of Judah to Babylon, Jeremiah prophesized their future restoration in Jeremiah 30-33. The renewal of God’s covenant with His people.
The fall of Jerusalem was detailed in Jeremiah 34-45.
Jeremiah 34:1-7 (KJV) The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying, 2 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: 3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon. 4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword: 5 But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD. 6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 7 When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.
Jeremiah 36:1-7 (KJV) And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. 3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. 4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book. 5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I amshut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD: 6 Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’S house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. 7 It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.Jeremiah 36:22-32 (KJV) Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. 23 And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. 24 Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words. 25 Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them. 26 But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them. 27 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, 28 Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned. 29 And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? 30 Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to
the heat, and in the night to the frost. 31 And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not. 32 Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.
Jeremiah 39:1-10 (KJV) In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. 2 And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. 3 And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon. 4 And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain. 5 But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him. 6 Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. 7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon. 8 And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem. 9 Then Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to him, with the rest of the people that remained. 10 But Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
Jeremiah 52:12-17 (KJV) Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem, 13 And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire: 14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. 15 Then Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. 16 But Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen. 17 Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
The Book of Lamentations provides a description of the destruction of Jerusalem and the message of hope of the remnant of God’s people who follow him. It is written in the form of Hebrew acrostic poetry with chapter 1, 2, 4, 5 with 22 verses with each verse beginning with the 22 Hebrew alphabets describing the desolation of Jerusalem (Lam. 1), the wrath of the LORD (Lam. 2), the siege (Lam. 4), the restoration (Lam. 5). In chapter 3, the middle section there are 66 verses, with 3 verses of each alphabet, a prayer to God for mercy.
The climax is the expression of hope in Israel’s faithful God amidst the calamity all around – Lamentations 3:22-25 (KJV) It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
There is hope for the people of God with walk with Him even amidst great falling away around him. The encouragement to be steadfast, trusting the LORD still walking in His ways when others don’t. Amen.
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee