Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Parallel Translations
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Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
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Zedekiah was one and twenty 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.
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Zedekiah was one and twenty 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.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 52:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Joshua 10:29 Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, to Libnah, and fought against Libnah.
- 2 Kings 24:18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
- 2 Chronicles 36:11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
- Joshua 15:42 Libnah, Ether, Ashan,
- 2 Kings 8:22 So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 52:1 Zedekiah [was] one and twenty years old…
Jer 52:1 Zedekiah [was] one and twenty 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.
Ver. 1. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old, &c.] For the exposition of this whole chapter, see the notes on 2Ki 24:17-20; 2Ki 25:1-30 2Ch 36:11-21 Jer 39:1-3, &c. It is altogether historic, and set here fitly by Ezra, or some other prophet, as an appendix to the foregoing prophecy, and as a preface to the Book of the Lamentations, which is nothing else but Jeremiah’s elegy over their doleful captivity - not over King Josiah’s death, as Jerome would have it; nor yet is it that book that Jehoiakim cut, and afterwards cast into the fire, {Jer 36:22-23} as some of the Jewish doctors have noted. The Septuagint have set this title upon it: And it came to pass after that Israel was carried captive, and Jerusalem laid waste, the prophet Jeremiah sat weeping, and wailing, and bitterly lamenting the case of his people. Thus they knit together this chapter and the ensuing Lamentations, which the Jews also are still said to read together in their synagogues on the ninth day of the month Ab, which answereth to our July, because that on that day the city was taken and destroyed by the Chaldeans. {Jer 52:7} {a}
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{a} A Lapide Proleg. in Thren. ex Petro a Figneiro.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain This narrative begins no higher than the beginning of…
This narrative begins no higher than the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, though there were two captivities before, one in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the other in the first of Jeconiah; but probably it was drawn up by some of those that were carried away with Zedekiah, as a reproach to themselves for imagining that they should not go into captivity after their brethren, with which hopes they had long flattered themselves. We have here, 1. God's just displeasure against Judah and Jerusalem for their sin, Jer 52:3. His anger was against them to such a degree that he determined to cast them out from his presence, his favourable gracious presence, as a father, when he is extremely angry with an undutiful son, bids him get out of his presence, he expelled them from that good land that had such tokens of his presence in providential bounty and that holy city and temple that had such tokens of his presence in covenant-grace and love. Note, Those that are banished from God's ordinances have reason to complain that they are in some degree cast out of his presence; yet none are cast out from God's gracious presence but those that by sin have first thrown themselves out of it. This fruit of sin we should therefore deprecate above any thing, as David (Psa 51:11), Cast me not away from thy presence. 2. Zedekiah's bad conduct and management, to which God left him, in displeasure against the people, and for which God punished him, in displeasure against him. Zedekiah had arrived at years of discretion when he came to the throne; he was twenty-one years old (Jer 52:1); he was none of the worst of the kings (we never read of his idolatries), yet his character is that he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, for he did not do the good he should have done. But that evil deed of his which did in a special manner hasten this destruction was his rebelling against the king of Babylon, which was both his sin and his folly, and brought ruin upon his people, not only meritoriously, but efficiently. God was greatly displeased with him for his perfidious dealing with the king of Babylon (as we find, Eze 17:15, etc.); and, because he was angry at Judah and Jerusalem, he put him into the hand of his own counsels, to do that foolish thing which proved fatal to him and his kingdom. 3. The possession which the Chaldeans at length gained of Jerusalem, after eighteen months' siege. They sat down before it, and blocked it up, in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, in the tenth month (Jer 52:4), and made themselves masters of it in the eleventh year in the fourth month, Jer 52:6. In remembrance of these two steps towards their ruin, while they were in captivity, they kept a fast in the fourth month, and a fast in the tenth (Zac 8:19): that in the fifth month was in remembrance of the burning of the temple, and that in the seventh of the murder of Gedaliah. We may easily imagine, or rather cannot imagine, what a sad time it was with Jerusalem, during this year and half that it was besieged, when all provisions were cut off from coming to them and they were ever and anon alarmed by the attacks of the enemy, and, being obstinately resolved to hold out to the last extremity, nothing remained but a certain fearful looking for of judgment. That which disabled them to hold out, and yet could not prevail with them to capitulate, was the famine in the city (Jer 52:6); there was no bread for the people of the land, so that the soldiers could not make good their posts, but were rendered wholly unserviceable; and then no wonder that the city was broken up, Jer 52:7. Walls, in such a case, will not hold out long without men, any more than men without walls; nor will both together stand people in any stead without God and his protection. 4. The inglorious retreat of the king and his mighty men. They got out of the city by night (Jer 52:7) and made the best of their way, I know not whither, nor perhaps they themselves; but the king was overtaken by the pursuers in the plains of Jericho, his guards were dispersed, and all his army was scattered from him, Jer 52:8. His fright was not causeless, for there is no escaping the judgments of God; they will come upon the sinner, and will overtake him, let him flee where he will (Deu 28:15), and these judgments particularly that are here executed were there threatened, Jer 51:52, Jer 51:53, etc. 5. The sad doom passed upon Zedekiah by the king of Babylon, and immediately put in execution. he treated him as a rebel, gave judgment upon him, Jer 51:9. One cannot think of it without the utmost vexation and regret that a king, a king of Judah, a king of the house of David, should be arraigned as a criminal at the bar of this heathen king. But he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet; therefore God thus humbled him. Pursuant to the sentence passed upon him by the haughty conqueror, his sons were slain before his eyes, and all the princes of Judah (Jer 52:10); then his eyes were put out, and he was bound in chains, carried in triumph to Babylon; perhaps they made sport with him, as they did with Samson when his eyes were put out; however, he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, wearing out the remainder of his life (I cannot say his days, for he saw day no more) in darkness and misery. He was kept in prison till the day of his death, but had some honour done him at his funeral, Jer 34:5. Jeremiah had often told him what it would come to, but he would not take warning when he might have prevented it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he…
Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign,.... Whose name was Mattaniah; and who was set on the throne by the king of Babylon, in the room of his brother's son Jehoiachin, Kg2 24:17;
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; so that he was thirty two years of age when he was taken and carried captive into Babylon:
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and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah; see Kg2 24:18.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A repetition of the reign of Zedekiah: of the…
A repetition of the reign of Zedekiah: of the siege, taking, and destruction of Jerusalem, with the causes thereof, and what farther happened there, ver. 1-30. Evil-merodach advances Jehoiakim, ver. 31-34.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain This chapter was added after Jeremiah's time probably by…
CHAPTER LII
This chapter was added after Jeremiah's time probably by Ezra,
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after the return from the captivity, of which it gives a short
account, nearly the same as in Jer 52:2; Jer 24:18-20; Jer 25:1-30.
It is very properly subjoined to the preceding prophecies, in
order to show how exactly they were fulfilled. It likewise
forms a proper introduction to the following Lamentations, as
it gives an account of the mournful events which gave rise to
them. Zedekiah's evil reign and rebellion against
Nebuchadnezzar, 1-3.
Jerusalem is taken by the Chaldeans after a siege of eighteen
months, 4-7.
Zedekiah pursued and taken in the plains of Jericho, and his
whole army dispersed, 8, 9.
The king's sons and all the princes of Judah slain in Riblah,
10.
Zedekiah has his eyes put out by order of the Chaldean monarch;
and is afterward bound in chains, carried to Babylon, and
imprisoned for life, 11.
Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard, burns and spoils the
city and temple, 12-19.
The two pillars of the temple, with their dimensions and
ornaments, 20-23.
The officers of the temple, and several others, carried away
captives into Babylon, and then slain by order of
Nebuchadnezzar, 24-27.
The number of Jews that Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive in
the seventh year of his reign, 28;
in his eighteenth year, 29;
and in his twenty-third year, 30.
Evil-merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, in the year of his
accession to the throne of Babylon, (which was in the
thirty-seventh year of the captivity, and the one hundred and
ninety-first from the building of Rome, according to the
computation of Varro,) orders Jehoiachin to be taken out of
prison, and treats him kindly for the remainder of his life,
31-34.
NOTES ON CHAP. LII
Verse 1. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old] See 2Kg 24:18.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 52:1-11. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old…
Jer 52:1-11. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old — The first three verses of this chapter are word for word the same with 2Ki 24:18-20, where see the notes; and for the six following verses, see those on 2Ki 25:1-6. Where he gave judgment upon him — Namely, for rebelling against him when he had taken an oath of allegiance to him. Of Nebuchadnezzar’s slaying the sons of Zedekiah, putting out his eyes, binding him with chains, &c., see note on 2Ki 25:7.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Jer. 52 is an historical appendix to the Book…
Jer. 52 is an historical appendix to the Book of Jeremiah, giving details of the capture of Babylon additional to those contained in Jer. 39: The last words of the foregoing chapter affirm that Jeremiah was not the author, and the view adopted by most commentators is, that this chapter is taken from the 2nd Book of Kings, but that the person who added it here had access to other valuable documents, and made several modifications in it, the principal being the substituation of the account of those led captive by Nebuchadnezzar Jer 52:28-30, for the narrative given in 2Ki 25:22-26, where see the notes.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Sedecias. This is purely historical, taken from 4 Kings…
Sedecias. This is purely historical, taken from 4 Kings xxiv. 18., &c. Many doubt with reason the Jeremias inserted it, as he could not well be alive at the time when Joakim was honoured, ver. 31. If he had written both this and the Book of Kings, the variations which we here discover would not be seen. It seems, therefore, that Esdras or some other has inserted it, to explain the fall of Jerusalem and the lamentations; as a similar addition has been made to Isaias, chap. xxxvi., &c. See Grotius. (Calmet) --- The history occurs more at large, Paralipomenon ultra.[last chapter?] (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain 1. The capture of the city, together with the…
1. The capture of the city, together with the circumstances immediately previous and subsequent thereto
Jer_52:1-11
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1Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter 2of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, 3according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For1 through the anger of the Lord [For so] it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah [that Jehovah was angry] till he had cast them out from his presence, that [And] Zedekiah rebelled against the king 4of Babylon. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month,2 in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts [a rampart]3 5against it round about. So the city was besieged4 unto the eleventh year of king 6Zedekiah. And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land [the 7common people]. Then the city was broken up [through], and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city 8round about;) and they went5 by the way of [to] the plain. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho;9and all his army was scattered from him. Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave 10judgment upon him. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before 11his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riolah. Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains [a double chain], and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Jer_52:1-3. Zedekiah … king of Babylon. These three verses are of the same purport with 2Ki_24:18-20, with only two unessential differences. In the latter passage, Jer_52:20, we find וּבִיהוּרָה for וִיהוּדָה, and עַד־הִשְׁלִיכוֹ for עַד־הִשְלִיכוֹ, in both cases an easier and more correct reading, of which it is more natural to suppose that it arose out of the other, than the reverse. The present passage then has the presumption of originality in its favor. Comp., moreover, 2Ch_36:11-13.—For through the anger, etc. The reason for Jehovah’s anger is punishment, in Jer_52:2, however, to which the for refers, it is sin, not punishment, which is spoken of. Accordingly the words are not to be taken as causal, but as was shown on Jer_32:31 (p. 287) עַל is used here as frequently elsewhere for אֵל or לְ, and עַל־אַף is the statement of the effect: it came to pass that Jehovah was angered—which may be said of what happened in Jerusalem, as well as against it.
Jer_52:4-5. And it came to pass … Zedekiah. These words are found almost exactly the same in 2Ki_25:1-2, and in an abridged extract in Jer_39:1. Compare also Eze_24:1. For the exposition of the parts reproduced in Jeremiah 39., see there the differences between our text and that of the Book of Kings. Comp. the Textual Notes.
Jer_52:6-7. And in the fourth month … the plain. These opening words, found also in Jer_39:2, are wanting in 2 Kings, although the statement of the day without that of the month, makes no sense, and also the words and went out of the city, though thus the sentence loses its predicate. Keil (on 2Ki_25:4) supposes that not only the predicate has fallen out after all the men of war, but also still more before these words, in 2 Ki. and Jeremiah 52., namely, the words found in Jer_39:3, “and it came to pass, when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them,” because the king (according to 2Ki_25:5; Jer_52:8; Jer_39:5) was among the fugitives, and because the words “and all the men of war,” have no proper connection with the previous context and could not form an adverbial sentence. But if Keil were right, the whole verse Jer_39:3 must have dropped out, since them refers to the persons mentioned in it. We have already shown on Jeremiah 39. that Jer_52:1-2; Jer_52:4-10 are only an abridged extract from Jeremiah 52. and that the words quoted above are only a connecting clause between the original and genuine Jer_52:3, and the following verses derived from Jeremiah 52. These words are therefore of later date than Jeremiah 52., and cannot have been omitted before “ and all the men,” etc. The previous mention of the king is not necessary, since he is included; the sentence moreover is not adverbial, but a narrative of a by no means unusual construction (comp. Ewald, §346, b).
Jer_52:8-11. But the army … of his death. The Book of Kings reads “ him ” instead of Zedekiah. It is plain that the former could be more easily derived from the latter than the reverse.—In the land of Hamath is wanting in 2Ki_25:6, while it is found ib. Jer_52:21 (comp. 2Ki_23:33).—He gave judgment.2Ki_25:6, has “they gave,” etc., on which comp. rems. on Jer_32:5.—The first half of Jer_52:10 agrees with Jer_39:6, even to the there added words, “in Riblah.” In 2Ki_25:7 it reads, “and they slew the sons,” etc., the Chaldeans of Jer_52:5 being still the subject. The second half of Jer_52:10 is entirely wanting in 2 Kings. The blinding and binding in chains of king Zedekiah is narrated in both places in the same way, but in 2 Ki. the singulars put out (עוִּרִ) and bound him (וַיֵאַסְרֵהוּ) are the more surprising, as the sentence is contained in the plural carried him (וַיַבַיְאֻהוּ). 2 Kings 25. is entirely silent on the confinement of Zedekiah in Babylon. Hitzig justly calls attention to the fact that בֵּית־הַפְּקֻדּת is not simply a prison, this being always otherwise expressed (comp., e.g., Jer_52:31). Jeremiah, who is not blinded, is put into prison; but Zedekiah, the more guilty, is blinded and put into the house of correction. Comp. Simson on Jdg_16:21. The LXX. also has ἐις οἰκίαν μυλῶνος. Yet it appears that towards the end his confinement was less rigorous, and that an honorable interment was granted him after his death, for this is the purport of the promise made to him through Jeremiah in Jer_34:1-5.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. “Docemur hoc capite, quod comminationes divinæ rum sint de pelvi fulgura, quodque Deus pro misericordia sua infinita calamitates a se immissas mitigare plerumque soleat, si seria interveniat pœnitentia.” Förster.
2. On Jer_52:1-3. “From this we see why God sometimes places ungodly rulers over a country, who cast it to destruction. It is done on account of the rulers’ and the people’s sins, that they may draw down the well merited punishment, as Sirach says. On account of violence, injustice and avarice, a kingdom passes from one nation to another (Jer_10:8). So also says king Solomon. Because of the sins of a nation occur many changes of rulers, but for the sake of the people who are intelligent and reasonable, the State is prolonged (Pro_28:2).” Wurtemb. Summarien.
3. On Jer_52:4. “God allows many slight and mild punishments to come as warnings, till at last comes the finishing stroke. This is a witness to the divine long-suffering (Rom_2:4).” Cramer.
4. On Jer_52:6. “The fact that in this siege compassionate women had to kill and eat their own children (Lam_4:10) is a reminder that by bodily hunger God would punish; 1. satiation and disgust towards His holy word and soul-food; 2. the terrible offering up of children to Moloch; 3. the loose discipline of children.” Cramer.
5. On Jer_52:7. “No fortress can protect the ungodly, even though they had their nest in the clouds.” Cramer.
6. On Jer_52:8. “An example of faithless, perjured men of war. But as Zedekiah broke his oath to the king at Babylon, he was paid back in the same coin.” Cramer. “His people forsook the poor king Zedekiah on his flight and he was captured, from which we see that great men cannot depend on their body-guard; these flee in time of need, and leave their masters in the lurch. The surest and best protection is when we have the holy angels for our guard … This angelic protection is, however, to be obtained and preserved by faith and godliness, but is lost by unbelief and ungodly conduct.” Wurtemb. Summ.
7. On Jer_52:9-11. The punishment of perjury. “Ubi monemur, quod fides hosti, etiam barbaro, qualis hodie Turca, a Christianis data, mimine violanda.” Förster.
8. On Jer_52:9. sqq. “God had shown Zedekiah by Jeremiah a way in which he could escape the calamity. But because he forsook the Lord and would not follow it, the others were only leaky cisterns (Jer_2:13). For woe to the rebellious who take counsel without the Lord (Isa_30:1). This is useful for an instance against the holy by works, who reject God’s way of escaping the Devil; when they devise other ways for themselves they are caught by the Chaldeans of hell.” Cramer.
9. On Jer_52:12 sqq. “Holy places, external ceremonies and opus operatum do not avail for hypocrites … If God punished His own institution so severely, how shall human institutions remain unpunished?” Cramer.
10. On Jer_52:12. “Quale fatum, ne et nostris obtingat templis … caveamus, ne profanemus templa ulterius tum externa vel materialia, tum interna vel spiritualia in cordibus nostris, de quibus 1Co_3:16 sqq.; Jer_6:19 sqq.” Förster.
11. On Jer_52:15. “It is another work of mercy that some of Judah were preserved. For God’s grace is always to be found in His punishments.” Cramer.
12. On Jer_52:15. “He who will not serve God and his neighbor at home and in quiet, must learn to do it in a strange land in affliction and distress.” Cramer.
13. On Jer_52:24 sqq. “As teachers are often to blame for their behaviour that sin gets the upper hand in a community, it is exceedingly just when God brings such for an example into great punitive judgment (1Sa_2:27-34).” Starke.
14. On Jer_52:24. “The priests are caught and slain; 1. because they could not believe the truth for themselves; 2. because they led others astray; 3. because they appealed to the temple of the Lord; 4. because they persecuted the true prophets; 5. because they troubled the whole church of God. But he who troubleth shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be (Gal_5:10).” Cramer.
15. On Jer_52:31 sqq. “Sane omnino verisimile videtur judicio Philippi Melanchthonis in Chron. part, I fol. 33 Evilmerodachum amplexum esse doctrinam Danielis de Vero Deo, quam et pater publico edic professus est, eamque ob causam clementiam exercuisse erga regem Jechoniam.” Förster.—“Narrant Hebræi hujusmodi fabulam: Evilmerodach, qui patre suo Nabuchodonosor vivente per septem annos inter bestias, ante regnaverat, postquam ille restitutus in regno est, usque ad mortem patris cum Joakim rege Judæ in vinculis fuit; quo mortuo, quum rursus in regnum succederet, et non susciperetur a principibus, qui metuebant, ne viveret qui dicebatur extinctus, ut fidem patris mortui faceret, aperuit sepulcrum et cadaver ejus unco et funibus traxit.” Jerome on Jer_14:18-19. Josephus speaks of it as follows: “Ἀβιλαμαρώδαχος εὐθὺς τὸν ‘Ιεχωνίαν τῶν δεσμῶν ἀφεὶς ἐν τοῖς ἀναγκαιοτάτοις φίλοις εἱχε … ‘Ο γὰρ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ τὴν πίστιν οὐκ ἐφύλαξε τῷ ’Ιεχωνία, παραδόντι μετὰ γυναικαῶν καὶ τέκνων καὶ τῆς συγγενείας ὅλης ἑκουσίως ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρἰδος, ὡς ἄν μὴ κατασκαφείη ληφθεῖσα τῇ πολιορκίᾳ.” (Antiqq., X. 11, 21.)
16. On Jer_52:31 sqq. “Ceterum potest hoc exemplo, quod Jechonias rex dignitati suæ in exilio Babylonico restitutus, refutari exceptio Judæorum contra vaticinium Jacobi (Gen_49:10) de Messia jamdudum exhibito, postquam per Romanos sceptrum de Juda ablatum, id quod τεκμήριον Messiæ jamjam nascituri esse debuit.” Förster.
17. On Jer_52:31 sqq. “No one should despair in misfortune, for the right hand of the Highest can change all (Psa_77:10) and Christ rules even in the midst of His enemies (Psa_110:2). For His are the praise, the glory and the power from everlasting to everlasting. Amen.” Cramer.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer_52:1-11. The truth of the word “What a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” exhibited in the example of the Jewish State under Zedekiah.1. The seed (Jer_52:2); 2. The crop (a) the siege, (b) the famine, (c) the capture of the city and flight of the king, (d) the punishment of the king and his princes, (e) the fate of the people (Jer_52:3).
2. On Jer_52:12-20. The rejection of Judah appears at first sight a contradiction. For Jerusalem is the holy city (Mat_4:5; Neh_11:1; Neh_11:18), the city of God (Psa_46:5; Psa_48:2; Psa_48:9; Psa_78:3); the temple is the house of Jehovah (Jer_7:2. etc.); God’s service rests on divine authority (Ex. chh. 25–27, 30, 31). But God cannot contradict Himself. We have, therefore, to show “the unity of the divine thoughts in the choice and rejection of Jerusalem.” 1. The rejection was a conditional one (Jer_7:3 sqq). Hence notwithstanding the election the rejection involved nothing contradictory, but was a necessary consequence of the unfulfilled condition.—2. The election remains (a) objectively notwithstanding the rejection; it is (b) subjectively brought to its realization by the rejection; the latter as a means of discipline operating to produce the disposition, from which alone thefulfillment of this condition can proceed. Comp. rems. on Jer_32:41, p. 288.
3. On Jer_52:24-27. “That great lords sometimes make an example of gross miscreants, promotes righteousness, only it must not be done on the innocent, or with such severity that there is no proportion between the crime and its punishment (Jos_7:25).” Starke.
4. On Jer_52:31-34. The deliverance of Jehoiachin. 1. It shows us that the Lord can help (a) out of great distress (grievous imprisonment of thirty-seven years), (b) in a glorious manner. 2. It admonishes us (a) to steadfast patience, (b) to believing hope, Psalms 13 [“It was a prelude and pledge of the liberation and exaltation of the Jewish Nation, when it had been humbled and purified by the discipline of suffering; and of its return to its own land; and a joyful pre-announcement of that far more glorious future restoration which the prophets in the Old Testament, and the Apostles in the New foretell—of Israel to God in Christ; to whom, with the Father and Holt Ghost, be ascribed all honor, glory, dominion, adoration and praise, now and forever. Amen.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.].
Footnotes:
[1]Jer_52:3.—הִשְׁלִיכוֹ, if there be no mistake in the writing, is an abnormal form of the infinitive. Comp. Olsh., § 191, b, f; Ewald, § 238, d. On the neuter meaning of the fem. verb הָֽיְתָה comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 60, 6, b; Isaiah 11:20; 2Ki_24:3.
[2]Jer_52:4.—The differences between the text here and in 2Ki_25:1-2 are as follows: 1. Instead of בַּשָׁנָה ו׳ here בִּשְׁנַת הַתְּשִׁעִית there. The latter mode of expression (anno noni, i.e., numeri, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 65, 2, c) is found in Jer. also in Jer_28:1, Chethibh; Jer_32:1. Chethibh; Jer_46:2; Jer_51:59. Besides also in Jer_52:28; Jer_29:30 2. 2 Kings has the Liter form in Heb., Nebuchadnezzar (comp. Jer_21:2-7; Jer_24:1; Jer_32:1; Jer_35:11; Jer_39:11; Jer_43:10; Jer_44:30; Jer_46:2; Jer_50:17 with Jer_27:6; Jer_27:20; Jer_28:3; Jer_39:5; Hitzig on Jer_24:1). 3. וַיִדַון 2 Kings, instead of וַיַדֽוְַנוּ, which is required by וַיִבְנוּ.
[3]Jer_52:4.—The word דָּיֵק occurs, besides here and in the parallel passages, only in Eze_4:2; Eze_17:17; Eze_21:27; Eze_26:8. It is thus a later word. The root דוק does not occur in Hebrew, but is very common in the Chaldee, Syriac and Samaritan, where it has the meaning, speculari, inspicere, circumspicere, דָיֵק is therefore specula; the watch-tower, from which the besieged city may be watched and assailed. With this agrees well Isa_23:13, where the בַּחוּנִים of the Chaldeans are spoken of. It is surprising that the word never occurs in the plural, as we should expect, if it designated only, the single towers. We may therefore suppose that it signifies the whole line of circumvallation, including the towers and is thus a potiori, a collective designation. As the chaldeans were celebrated for their skill in sieges (comp. Herzog, Real-Enc., IV., S. 394), the word may have passed from their language into the Hebrew. Comp. Keil on 2Ki_25:1; Haevernick on Eze_4:2, S. 49; Gesen., Thes., p. 330.
[4]Jer_52:5.—מָצוֹר is primarily coarctatio in general and then specially coarctatio by means of obsidio, hence it assumes the latter meaning in connections like עִיר מָצוֹר (Psa_31:22; Psa_60:11), בָּנָה מ׳ (Deu_20:20), נָתַן מ׳ עַל (Eze_4:2), בּוֹא בַּמּ׳ (2Ki_24:10; 2Ki_25:2), without involving a complete suppression of the radical signification. Comp. Jer_10:17; Jer_19:9.
[5]Jer_52:7.—Instead of וַיֵלְכִוּ we find in 2 Ki. the manifestly less correct form, וַיֵלֶךְ.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1-3. Zedekiah… king of Babylon — These three verses…
1-3. Zedekiah… king of Babylon — These three verses are of the same purport with 2Ki_24:18-20, with only two unessential differences. The word for is not to be taken as causal, but is simply the statement of the effect.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain Ch. Jer_52:1-11. Capture of the city
Ch. Jer_52:1-11. Capture of the city
1. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old] So 2Ch_36:11, but, if we compare 1Ch_3:15 and 2Ki_23:31 (= 2Ch_36:2), we find that, supposing the numbers which we now read there to be correct, Zedekiah should by this time have been thirty-four or thirty-five years of age. An error has somewhere crept in.
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his mother’s name was Hamutal] or Hamital, the other reading of MT. both here, and in 2 Kgs. Zedekiah was thus brother of Jehoahaz but half-brother of Jehoiakim (2Ki_23:31; 2Ki_23:36).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The contents of this chapter prove that it is…
The contents of this chapter prove that it is not an independent narrative, but the concluding part of a history of the kings of Judah. It agrees almost word for word with 2Ki_24:18-20; 2Ki_25:1-30, from which we are justified in inferring that it is taken from the historical work which the editor of the Books of Kings closely followed. It is most improbable that Jeremiah was the author. Would the prophet have contented himself with the meagre statement that Zedekiah "did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord" (ver. 2), or with such a summary description of the siege of Jerusalem? Apparently the editor who attached Jer 52 as an appendix to the Book of Jeremiah omitted the account of Gedaliah (preserved in 2Ki_25:22-26) because a fuller narrative had been already given in ch. 40-42. Apparently, too, either the same or some later editor inserted vers. 28-30 (not found in the Septuagint) from another source; the passage differs in several respects from 2Ki 24. The text of Jer 52 seems to be a nearer approach to the original document than that of 2Ki_24:18-20; 2Ki_25:1-30 (see Graf"s commentary). Compare Jer 39.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Ver. 1. Zedekiah.
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Cf. former homily, Jer_37:1. C.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Vers. 1-3. Zedekiah as king.
I THE POSITION OF A YOUNG MAN. He was twenty-one years old when he began to reign. Out of boyhood, looking round him at a time when he had become responsible for the conduct of his life. In England the age of twenty-one is full of significance to many young men, for then they become free from legal disabilities and restrictions. Any young man about the age of Zedekiah becomes thereby an object of special interest.
II AN UNEXPECTED POSITION. At least we may fairly assume this 2Ki_24:17. Zedekiah was not in the succession. Of course it is just possible there may have been aims and intrigues by which Zedekiah gained the crown. But that does not make less noticeable the fact that young men often do find themselves in unexpected positions. They have been making ready for one course, when all in a moment they are turned into a new course where they have to act without much time for consideration.
III A RESPONSIBLE POSITION. Responsible in any case as that of a young man; peculiarly responsible as being called to a throne. To be called to a position of peculiar responsibility may sober a man if he is inclined to be reckless, may rouse him if inclined to be easy going and self-indulgent. This point may be illustrated by the traditional belief in the change that came over Henry V on his accession to the throne, especially as this view is brought out in Shakespeare.
IV A POSITION UNUSUALLY DIFFICULT. A king appointed by a foreign conqueror would be regarded with dislike by many. In such circumstances the best of personal qualities were needed, decision of character combined with the utmost circumspection.
V A POSITION IN WHICH ZEDEKIAH HAD A COMPETENT ADVISER. Not any of his own courtiers, though there may have been men among them marked by prudence and insight. He has a prophet of Jehovah, a man with a keen sense of right and wrong, a man with revelations from on high, to help him. Moreover, it is on record that he actually sought Jeremiah out. Note the many references in the course of the book to the dealings between the king and the prophet. By the plain speaking of such a man many doubts might be cleared and many errors corrected. It is the censure on Zedekiah (2Ch_36:12) that "he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—This chapter forms a historical appendix…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—This chapter forms a historical appendix to the Book of Jeremiah. Its AUTHORSHIP is conjectural. They who think Jeremiah penned it urge that the closing words of chap. 51, “Thus far the words of Jeremiah,” really ended the original form of the book. Yet this chapter may have been a separate roll, penned earlier than chap. 51, and now added to the book as supplying additional details to those be gave in chap. 39; or, indeed, be may have written it, copying part of the Book of Kings (2Ki_24:18; 2Ki_25:21) as a historical preface to his Book of Lamentations. Others urge that the men of the Great Synagogue took the chapter from Kings and added it here. Others suggest Ezra. Probably some unknown hand appended the account from Kings, adding to that account other items which valuable documents in his possession supplied.
For Chronology of the Chapter and General Notes, vide chaps. 34, 39 in loc.
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The DATES given in Jer_52:28-30 differ from those in other Scripture accounts. The first deportation of Jews under Nebuchadnezzar is ascribed to “the seventh year” of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign; but the numeral here must be the seventeenth, the “ten” having dropped out of the text; for the earliest deportation was in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki_24:12), and the captives were far more numerous than those here reckoned. Most probably the deportations mentioned here are all connected with the final war with Zedekiah; and even then the dates are one year too early throughout. See in verses below.
SUBJECT OF THE CHAPTER: CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM
See for homiletic arrangements of events, “The Siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar,” pp. 599, 560, and chap. 39.
HOMILIES AND COMMENTS ON CHAPTER 52
Jer_52:1-11. Theme: THE CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH.
I. The immediate causes of the captivity (Jer_52:1-4).
1. Moral. “He did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
(1.) This is the divine summing up of Lam_1:6.
(2.) The history of every nation and of every individual proves that sin against God as surely brings ruin as that any physical cause produces its legitimate effect
(3.) This law in God’s moral universe is an all-sufficient answer to the materialist of any and every age. (a.) A universe without a moral cause could have no moral law. (b.) A class of beings without a moral nature could not be legitimate subjects of such a law. (c.) But the law exists, and mankind are subjects of it; therefore, &c. &c.
2. The political cause (Jer_52:3). “Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.”
(1.) The invasion of Nebuchadnezzar was politically just. (a.) Zedekiah accepted the throne of Judah from the hands of Nebuchadnezzar as his vassal. (b.) Every principle of good faith bound Zedekiah to be true to his Babylonian master. (c.) To this course he was advised by Jeremiah the prophet, nay, commanded by God (Jer_27:12-14). (d.) Zedekiah’s rebellion was no less perfidious, in view of his relation to Nebuchadnezzar, than was his disobedience to God.
II. The terrible sufferings which immediately preceded the captivity (Jer_52:5-11).
1. The city was besieged for the space of two years and a half.
(1.) This was a time of terrible suffering (Lam_4:4-10). (a.) The children perished with hunger and thirst. (b.) The dunghills were searched for scraps of offal. (c.) Mothers cooked and ate their own children. (d.) The complexion of men grew black with famine. (e.) What a type of the sufferings of all who reject God!
2. At the end of the siege, when the city was taken, the sufferings were still more terrible.
(1.) Zedekiah, who with his wives and sons, and men of war, fled from the captured city, was overtaken in the plain of Jericho, brought before Nebuchadnezzar, who ordered the sons of Zedekiah to be slain before their father’s eyes, and then Zedekiah’s own eyes to be “dug out;” and in this pitiable condition he was taken to Babylon, cast into prison, where in blindness and wretchedness he languished till the day of his death.
(2.) Thousands of the unfortunate people were carried away captive to Babylon, whose sufferings have never been written.
(3.) But over all this must be written for the confusion or conviction of men: “Righteous art Thou, O Jehovah, and upright are Thy judgments!” (Psa_119:137).
Practical Lessons—
1. Nowhere are found more striking illustrations of the hardness and blindness which impenitence produces than do the kings of Judah and Israel furnish.
2. Nowhere are found more striking illustrations of the mercy and forbearance of Almighty God.
3. Nowhere are found more striking illustrations of the divine truth, “He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Pro_29:1).—Rev. D. C. Hughes.
Jer_52:3. Theme: REBELLION AND VENGEANCE. “Through the anger of the Lord it came to pass … that Zedekiah rebelled.”
i. ANGER IN GOD’S HEART against His covenant, yet now apostate, people.
ii. GOD’S ANGER IN ACTION: “Till He had cast them out of His presence.” Comp. 2Ki_23:26-27.
iii. HUMAN AGENCIES OF PUNISHMENT. “It came to pass that Zedekiah rebelled,” i.e., against Nebuchadnezzar; and that was the moving cause of Jerusalem’s destruction. God exercised no restraint upon Zedekiah to prevent his rebelling and thus involving Judah’s overthrow.
iv. VENGEANCE THE REQUITAL OF A VIOLATED OATH. He “rebelled,” notwithstanding his sacred oath of fealty to Nebuchadnezzar, and notwithstanding all God’s commands. Comp. 2Ch_36:13.
Thus we see why God sometimes places ungodly rulers over a country—to punish it for its sins with degradation and destruction.
Jer_52:6. Theme: FAMINE. “The famine was sore in the city,” &c.
I. Bread is the gift of God.
1. In the first instance it was the product of His creative power, not as now, the result of growth. This is obvious. The first grain of wheat could not have proceeded from another grain: it was a direct creation.
2. Its very growth is the result of His laws. Let them be suspended: no rain, &c., and the sower might sow in vain.
II. Bread, God’s gift, withheld as a punishment of sins.
For judicial reasons, God sometimes breaks the whole staff of bread and sends famine into a city or throughout a land. This either by successive failures in the crops or by permitting an invading army to invest and besiege a city.
The famine in Egypt in Joseph’s time was occasioned by a seven years’ failure in the crops; so the famine in Canaan in Ahab’s reign resulted from a three years and six months’ drought.
The famine in Jerusalem was caused by a state of siege (Jer_52:4-5). So was the scarcity in Paris during the reign of Napoleon III., when William, king of Prussia, besieged the city five months.
Thus He who gives bread can take it away; and He does take it away when a land like Egypt becomes tyrannical and oppressive, and a city like Jerusalem or Paris forgets God, lives in defiance of His authority, and tramples under foot divine and human laws.
III. God visits guilty cities with sore distress.
When cities fall into moral guilt and depravity, their prosperity is desolated, their doom is sealed. With expressions of His anger He visited Jerusalem, with famine first, and then with ruin (Jer_52:7). Equally with proofs of displeasure He visited France: famine in the city, Paris desolated, the Emperor overturned, the valiants of the army slain. Thus events in A.D. 1870–71 reaffirm the meaning of events in Jerusalem’s overthrow nearly six hundred years before Christ.
Superficial observers may see in these events only the hand of man; but what saith God? See Isa_60:12; Jer_5:9, whether with war, or pestilence, or famine, God deals with nations and men after their sins.
IV. Famished cities on earth suggest thoughts, as a glad contrast, of the blessed city of God above, the heavenly Jerusalem. Of its inhabitants it is declared, “They shall hunger no more,” &c. Many of its residents did hunger when here on earth, e.g., Paul (2Co_11:27).
No more assaults of foes, nor penalties of sin, nor sufferings and deprivation, will be known in the Holy City, the Jerusalem above.—Arranged from “Walks with Jeremiah.”
Comments—
Jer_52:9-11. Nebuchadnezzar “GAVE JUDGMENT” upon Zedekiah. See on chap. Jer_39:14; also Jer_32:4; Jer_34:3.
Jer_52:12. “In the tenth day of the month.” Note in 2Ki_25:8 it is given as the seventh day. But the different preposition explains the difference of dates. “He came unto Jerusalem” on the seventh, and “into Jerusalem” on the tenth day; or he moved towards Jerusalem on the “seventh,” and entered on the “tenth” day.
Jer_52:17-23. Spoils of the Temple carried away, thus fulfilling the prediction of chap. Jer_27:19-22.
The minute enumeration of these articles and of their construction shows how precious was the remembrance of them to the godly Israelite. This heightened the bitterness of their loss.
Jer_52:24. CAPTURE OF THE PRIESTS.
“As teachers are often to blame for their behaviour that sin gets the upper hand in a community, it is exceedingly just when God brings such for an example into great punitive judgment (1Sa_2:27-34).”—Starke.
“The priests are caught and slain—
“1. Because they could not believe the truth for themselves.
“2. Because they led others astray.
“3. Because they appealed to the Temple of the Lord.
“4. Because they persecuted the true prophets.
“5. Because they troubled the whole Church of God.
“But he who troubleth shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be (Gal_5:10).”—Cramer, quoted in Lange.
Jer_52:27-30. DEPORTATION OF CAPTIVES.
“The present account of the deportation of captives by Nebuchadnezzar himself (not by Nebuzar-adan) is subordinate and supplemental to other narratives of those taken from Jerusalem at other times. Two of the deportations here mentioned are of the Jews; only one was from Jerusalem itself. That this is their true character is evident from the smallness of the number here specified. The total of these three deportations is only 4600, whereas in 2Ki_24:14-16 they who are carried captive with Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar, in the eighth year of his reign, were 18,000 souls. How many were carried away with Zedekiah by Nebuzar-adan when Jerusalem was burnt we are not told, but probably a still larger number.”—Wordsworth.
“According to this account, Nebuchadnezzar, in his seventeenth (usually called his eighteenth) year, while the siege of Jerusalem was going on, selected 3023 Jews for deportation to Babylon. In the next year, his eighteenth (i.e., nineteenth), upon the capture of Jerusalem, he selected 832 more, the smallness of the number evincing the desperate tenacity with which the Jews had defended themselves during the year and a half of the siege, and the havoc made in them by famine, pestilence, and the sword. We must bear in mind, however, that Nebuchadnezzar had not left more than 6000 or 7000 people in Jerusalem under Zedekiah, and must not exaggerate this fewness. Finally, five years afterwards, Nebuchadnezzar selected 745 more, not “from Jerusalem” (as is said expressly of the 832), but Jews simply, the occasion probably being war with the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites.
“Another point often noticed is the small number generally of the exiles carried away compared with the 42,360 men who returned with Ezra (Ezr_2:64-65), leaving a large Jewish population behind at Babylon. But if these were mere supplementary deportations, they show that a continual drain of people from Judea was going on, and thus help to solve the difficulty.”—Dr. Payne Smith.
Jer_52:31-34. Theme. MERCY TO A CAPTIVE KING.
These verses recount the deliverance of Jehoiachin.
I. It shows us that the Lord can help us—
1. Out of great distress: grievous imprisonment of thirty-seven years.
2. In a glorious manner.
II. It admonishes us—
1. To steadfast patience.
2. To believing hope (Psalms 13)—Naegelsbach.
Jer_52:31-34. Theme: RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVE. “The king of Babylon lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, brought him forth, spake kindly, set his throne,” &c.
The obscure portions of the Word of God are worthy of notice, like the filings of gold which the artist preserves. They often illustrate great principles.
I. The deliverance which the king of Babylon accomplished for Jehoiachin.
1. It is specially noticed, as an act, no doubt, acceptable to God. God is the Father of mercies, and He loves exercises so like His own. Many events are unrecorded, but this has a conspicuous place. It throws a lovely light over the dark events of this chapter.
2. It is every way complete.
Nothing is left undone that could relieve his sad captivity. Released from prison; spoken kindly to; a seat of honour given him among other princes; his prison garments changed; he constantly is a guest at the king’s table; a continual diet is given him; the kindness extends to the very close of life.
3. It is worthy of practical imitation.
“Pure religion and undefiled,” &c. (Isaiah 8.) “Inasmuch as ye did it unto me,” &c. “If thine enemy hunger,” &c. “Remember them in bonds.” See Isa_58:6-7.
II. The greater deliverance which Christ accomplishes. To rebels, to traitors.
1. He emancipates us from the power of sin.
Conversion is the opening of the prison. “To open their eyes,” &c. “He is made of God to us redemption.”
2. He speaks in accents of kindness and compassion. Margin reads, “Good things with Him.” “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, to preach good tidings to the weak,” &c.
3. He clothes us with the robe of mercy.
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,” &c. Changed his prison garments (Zec_3:3-4).
4. He feeds us with the bread of life.
“Man did eat angels food.” He thus nourishes us freely, daily, constantly, to the very end.
5. He exalts us to the throne of immortality.
On the career of Jechoniah, see Personal Allusions, p. 419, Jer_52:24, Coniah, son of Jehoiachin; also Theme, “Woe to Coniah,” pp. 430, 431.
Notes—
“No one should despair in misfortune, for the right hand of the Highest can change all (Psa_57:10), and Christ rules even in the midst of His enemies (Psa_110:2).—Cramer.
St. Jerome reports, from an ancient tradition of the Jews, that Evil-Merodach, having had the government of the Babylonish empire during the distraction of his father, used his power so ill, that as soon as the old king came to himself he put him in prison for it, where he contracted a peculiar acquaintance with Jehoiachin, his fellow-prisoner; and that this was the cause of the great kindness he expressed towards him. This elevation of the captive king was evidently an act of grace by Evil-Merodach on the occasion of his ascending the throne, 561 B.C.
Lange asks here: “May not the influence of Daniel and other highly esteemed Jews at the Babylonian court have operated in favour of the imprisoned king?”
Wordsworth reflects thus: “The change vouchsafed at Babylon by God’s mercy even to Jehoiachin, after the terrible maledictions denounced against him (Jer_22:24-30), and after a long exile of thirty-seven years, was like a message of mercy and comfort from God Himself, and was a prelude and a pledge of the liberation and exaltation of the Jewish nation when it had been humbled and purified by the discipline of suffering, and of its return to its own land. And it was like a joyful free announcement of that far more glorious future restoration, which the prophets in the Old and the apostles in the New Testament foretell—of Israel to GOD IN CHRIST.”
Jer_52:32. Theme: KIND WORDS. “He spake kindly unto him.”
After thirty-seven years of captivity, during which had passed away the youth and joyousness of King Jehoiachin, his prison doors were opened, his prison garments changed, and his throne exalted among the vanquished kings in Babylon; and yet we can well imagine that better far than the earthly distinction thus awarded him were the sunshine and comfort in his stricken heart when Evil-Merodach, king of Babylon, “spake kindly unto him.”
“A little word in kindness spoken,
A motion, or a tear,
Hath often healed the heart that’s broken,
And made a friend sincere.
“A word—a look—hath crushed to earth
Full many a budding flower,
Which, had a smile but owned its birth,
Would bless life’s darkest hour.
“Then deem it not an idle thing
A pleasant word to speak;
The face you wear, the thought you bring,
A heart may heal or break.”—Whittier.
I. Kindness should be a natural interchange between man and man.
The very word “kindness” comes from the cognate word kinned, i.e., or of the same kin or race, acknowledging or reminding us of the fact that all men are brethren, all of the same blood, and therefore all should act as brethren. All who are of the same kindred should be kind. The same analogy is found in the word humane, from human.
“ ’Tis the first sanction Nature gave to man,
Each other to assist in what they can.”
—Denham.
II. Small ministries of kindness may readily find occasion.
Life affords but few opportunities of doing great services for others, but there is scarcely an hour of the day that does not afford occasion of performing some little, it may be unnoticed, kindness.
“Scorn not the slightest word or deed,
Nor deem it void of power;
There’s fruit in the wind-wafted seed,
Waiting its natal hour.
“A whispered word may touch the heart,
And bring it back to life;
A look of love bid sin depart,
Or still unholy strife.”
III. Kindly words effect more than pompous speech.
Loud talking, blustering pledges, ostentatious promises, are less agreeable to a man than honest though gentle words of affection, and win his heart less.
“Good words do more than hard speeches, as the sunbeams without any noise will make the traveller cast off his cloak, which all the blustering winds could not do, but only make him bind it the closer to him.”—Leighton.
“You can give me kind words if you can do nothing else for me,” said a poor woman to her district visitor, “and they make my heart glad. You cannot think how I look for the day of your coming, that I may tell you all my trials. Ah!” she added, “if only people thought a little about the trials and troubles of the poor, and the comfort and encouragement of a few kind words, they would not let them be so scarce.”
IV. How touching the power of kind words on the suffering!
A compassionate visitor entered a prison hospital, and conversed with one of the most degraded and ignorant of men anywhere to be found. As he spoke kindly to him, the man drew the bed-clothes over his head and sobbed convulsively. As soon as he could speak he said to the visitor, “Sir, you are the first man that ever spoke a kind word to me since I was born, and I can’t stand it.”
“If a soul thou wouldst redeem,
And lead a lost one back to God,
Wouldst thou a guardian angel seem
To one who long in guilt hath trod?
Go kindly to him, take his hand,
With gentlest words, within thine own,
And by his side a brother stand,
Till all the demons thou dethrone.”
—Mrs. Sawyer.
Thus closes this plaintive Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, with a gleam of light on the gloom of exile, with a record of “mercy rejoicing against judgment,” of kindness shown to a long-suffering captive, of God’s pity for the degraded and dethroned king. So also may we in life’s deepest and most prolonged sufferings find gracious alleviation; in our dethronisation—which sin has wrought—recover exaltation to spiritual honour and privilege; and in our earthly life of exile from the “land very far off,” enjoy the favour of the glorious King, and be nourished with “a continued diet” of sacred grace “given us of the King, every day a portion until the day of our death.” Amen
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain Jer 52:8-11
Jer 52:8-11
Of the many truths which the passage before us teaches, the mysterious intervolution of the plans of God with the plans of men will seem to some minds the most impressive.
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I. The enclosure of the plans of men within the plans of God is such that commonly men appear to be left very much to themselves.
II. In leaving men to themselves in the forming and working of their own plans, Divine control does not prevent the occurrence of very shocking catastrophes.
III. Yet the plans of God envelop and use the plans of men with more than motherly tenderness for every man, every woman, every child.
IV. The interlacing of the plans of God with the plans of man goes far towards explaining the mystery of shocking and exceptional calamity. Suffering is God’s great remedial antithesis to sin.
V. The interworking of the plans of God with the plans of men suggests the only true method of happy as well as holy living. It is to make our plans one with God’s plans.
A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book, p. 215.
Reference: Jer 52:11.—J. Kennedy, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 140.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Jer 52:1 - Jer 52:11.
Jeremiah
‘AS SODOM’
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Jer 52:1 - Jer 52:11.
This account of the fall of Jerusalem is all but identical with that in 2Ki 25:1 - 2Ki 25:30 It was probably taken thence by some editor of Jeremiah’s prophecies, perhaps Baruch, who felt the appropriateness of appending to these the verification of them in that long-foretold and disbelieved judgment.
The absence of every expression of emotion is most striking. In one sentence the wrath of God is pointed to as the cause of all; and, for the rest, the tragic facts which wrung the writer’s heart are told in brief, passionless sentences, which sound liker the voice of the recording angel than that of a man who had lived through the misery which he recounts. The Book of Lamentations weeps and sobs with the grief of the devout Jew; but the historian smothers feeling while he tells of God’s righteous judgment.
Zedekiah owed his throne to ‘the king of Babylon,’ and, at first, was his obedient vassal, himself going to Babylon {Jer 51:59} and swearing allegiance {Eze 17:13}. But rebellion soon followed, and the perjured young king once more pursued the fatal, fascinating policy of alliance with Egypt. There could be but one end to that madness, and, of course, the Chaldean forces soon appeared to chastise this presumptuous little monarch, who dared to defy the master of the world. Our narrative curtails its account of Zedekiah’s reign, bringing into strong relief only the two facts of his following Jehoiakim’s evil ways, and his rebellion against Babylon. But behind the rash, ignorant young man, it sees God working, and traces all the insane bravado by which he was ruining his kingdom and himself to God’s ‘wrath,’ not thereby diminishing Zedekiah’s responsibility for his own acts, but declaring that his being ‘given over to a reprobate mind’ was the righteous divine punishment for past sin.
An eighteen months’ agony is condensed into three verses {Jer 52:4 - Jer 52:6}, in which the minute care to specify dates pathetically reveals the depth of the impression which the first appearance of the besieging army made, and the deeper wound caused by the city’s fall. The memory of these days has not faded yet, for both are still kept as fasts by the synagogue. We look with the narrator’s eye at the deliberate massing of the immense besieging force drawing its coils round the doomed city, like a net round a deer, and mark with him the piling of the mounds, and the erection on them of siege-towers. We hear of no active siege operations till the final assault. Famine was Nebuchadnezzar’s best general. ‘Sitting down they watched’ her ‘there,’ and grimly waited till hunger became unbearable. We can fill up much of the outline in this narrative from the rest of Jeremiah, which gives us a vivid and wretched picture of imbecility, divided counsels, and mad hatred of God’s messenger, blind refusal to see facts, and self-confidence which no disaster could abate. And, all the while, the monstrous serpent was slowly tightening its folds round the struggling, helpless rabbit. We have to imagine all the misery.
The narrative hurries on to its close. What widespread and long-drawn-out privation that one sentence covers: ‘The famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people’! Lamentations is full of the cries of famished children and mothers who eat the fruit of their own bodies. At last, on the memorable black day, the ninth of the fourth month {say July}, ‘a breach was made,’ and the Chaldean forces poured in through it. Jer 39:3 tells the names of the Babylonian officers who ‘sat in the middle gate’ of the Temple, polluting it with their presence. There seems to have been no resistance from the enfeebled, famished people; but apparently some of the priests were slain in the sanctuary, perhaps in the act of defending it from the entrance of the enemy. The Chaldeans would enter from the north, and, while they were establishing themselves in the Temple, Zedekiah ‘and all the men of war’ fled, stealing out of the city by a covered way between two walls, on the south side, and leaving the city to the conqueror, without striking a blow. They had talked large when danger was not near; but braggarts are cowards, and they thought now of nothing but their own worthless lives. Then, as always, the men who feared God feared nothing else, and the men who scoffed at the day of retribution, when it was far off, were unmanned with terror when it dawned.
The investment had not been complete on the southern side, and the fugitives got away across Kedron and on to the road to Jericho, their purpose, no doubt, being to put the Jordan between them and the enemy. One can picture that stampede down the rocky way, the anxious looks cast backwards, the confusion, the weariness, the despair when the rush of the pursuers overtook the famine-weakened mob. In sight of Jericho, which had witnessed the first onset of the irresistible desert-hardened host under Joshua, the last king of Israel, deserted by his army, was ‘taken in their pits,’ as hunters take a wild beast. The march to Riblah, in the far north, would be full of indignities arid of physical suffering. The soldiers of that ‘bitter and hasty’ nation would not spare him one insult or act of cruelty, and he had a tormentor within worse than they. ‘Why did I not listen to the prophet? What a fool I have been! If I had only my time to come over again, how differently I would do!’ The miserable self-reproaches, which shoot their arrows into our hearts when it is too late, would torture Zedekiah, as they will sooner or later do to all who did not listen to God’s message while there was yet time. The sinful, mad past kept him company on one hand; and, on the other, there attended him a dark, if doubtful, future. He knew that he was at the disposal of a fierce conqueror, whom he had deeply incensed, and who had little mercy. ‘What will become of me when I am face to face with Nebuchadnezzar? Would that I had kept subject to him!’ A past gone to ruin, a present honey-combed with gnawing remorse and dread, a future threatening, problematical, but sure to be penal- these were what this foolish young king had won by showing his spirit and despising Jeremiah’s warnings, It is always a mistake to fly in the face of God’s commands. All sin is folly, and every evildoer might say with poor Robert Burns:
‘I backward cast my e’e
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear.’
Nebuchadnezzar was in Riblah, away up in the north, waiting the issue of the campaign. Zedekiah was nothing to him but one of the many rebellious vassals of whom he had to make an example lest rebellion should spread, and who was especially guilty because he was Nebuchadnezzar’s own nominee, and had sworn allegiance. Policy and his own natural disposition reinforced by custom dictated his barbarous punishment meted to the unfortunate kinglet of the petty kingdom that had dared to perk itself up against his might. How little he knew that he was the executioner of God’s decrees! How little the fact that he was so, diminished his responsibility for his cruelty! The savage practice of blinding captive kings, so as to make them harmless and save all trouble with them, was very common. Zedekiah was carried to Babylon, and thus was fulfilled Ezekiel’s enigmatical prophecy, ‘I will bring him to Babylon, . . . yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there’ {Eze 12:13}.
The fall of Jerusalem should teach us that a nation is a moral whole, capable of doing evil and of receiving retribution, and not a mere aggregation of individuals. It should teach us that transgression does still, though not so directly or certainly as in the case of Israel, sap the strength of kingdoms; and that to-day, as truly as of old, ‘righteousness exalteth a nation.’ It should accustom us to look on history as not only the result of visible forces, but as having behind it, and reaching its end through the visible forces, the unseen hand of God. For Christians, the vision of the Apocalypse contains the ultimate word on ‘the philosophy of history.’ It is ‘the Lamb before the Throne,’ who opens the roll with the seven seals, and lets the powers of whom it speaks loose for their march through the world. It should teach us God’s long-suffering patience and loving efforts to escape the necessity of smiting, and also God’s rigid justice, which will not shrink from smiting when all these efforts have failed.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Historical Appendix (probably by the compiler of the book)
Historical Appendix (probably by the compiler of the book)
This chapter is substantially the same as Jeremiah 39 (see notes there), but adds particulars relating to the Temple vessels (Jer_52:17.), while omitting Nebuchadnezzar's charge as to Jeremiah's safety (Jer_39:11.). Both accounts are probably based on that of 2Ki_24:18 to 2Ki_25:30.
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1-11. Capture of the city.
12-27. Subsequent severities.
28-30. Nebuchadnezzar's deportations.
31-34. Concluding notice of Jehoiachin.
4. Nebuchadrezzar] see on Jer_21:2.
6. Famine] described in detail in the 'Lamentations.'
7. Then the city was broken up] RV 'Then a breach was made in the city.'
9. Riblah] see on Jer_39:5.
11. He put out the eyes] see on Jer_39:7.
17f. See prefatory remarks.
18. Caldrons] RV 'pots,' for carrying away ashes after sacrificing.
22. A chapiter] a capital.
24. Zephaniah] see on Jer_21:1.
25. The principal scribe of the host] RV 'the scribe of the captain of the host.'
28-30. This passage seems to have been taken by the compiler from a separate document. For seventh we should probably read 'seventeenth,' corresponding to Zedekiah's tenth year, while the siege was going on. Thus this captivity would consist chiefly of people from the country parts. The next, i.e. Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year, was that with which this chapter deals. Of the deportation of his three and twentieth year we have no other mention.
31. The seven and thirtieth year] 561 b.c. Evil-merodach] son of Nebuchadnezzar. Lifted up the head] released: cp. Gen_40:13, Gen_40:20.
32. The kings] captives kept at his court to commemorate his conquests.
33. He was admitted to the king's table.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Circumstances Attending the Capture of Jerusalem
Circumstances Attending the Capture of Jerusalem
v. 1. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, when Nebuchadnezzar made him a tributary ruler over Judah, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. Note that the entire account of the chapter is parallel and, in part, supplementary to the narrative of 2Ki 24:18 to 2Ki 25:7 and Jer 39:1-7.
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v. 2. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. Cf 2Ch 36:11-13.
v. 3. For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, His wrath over their idolatry causing Him to cast them from His presence and to permit the rebellion of Zedekiah, which resulted in the final overthrow of the southern kingdom, till He had cast them out from His presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
v. 4. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem and pitched against it, establishing the camp of the besieging army, and built forts against it round about, very likely towers of wood used for purposes of observation and as foundations for casting missiles into the city.
v. 5. So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
v. 6. And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, reaching a height which made conditions very serious, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
v. 7. Then the city was broken up, the enemies penetrating through the outer line of defenses, and all the men of war fled and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden; (now, the Chaldeans were by the city round about;) and they went by the way of the plain, down toward the lowlands of the Jordan, near Jericho. Jer 39:4-7.
v. 8. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him, for in a panic, as they were, there was no thought of real resistance.
v. 9. Then they took the king and carried him up unto the king of Babylon, to Riblah, in the land of Harrath, where Nebuchadnezzar had meanwhile established his headquarters, leaving the taking of Jerusalem to one of his generals, Nebuzar-adan, where he gave judgment upon him, for perjury and rebellion.
v. 10. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah, because they had agreed to, and promoted, the rebellion of Zedekiah.
v. 11. Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, which meant the extremity of humiliation, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death, literally, "in the house of visitations," in penal servitude, which may have been a little less dishonorable than incarceration, for which reason he may also have had an honorable burial. Jer 34:1-5.
v. 12. Now, in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, one of the chief officers of the Chaldean king, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem, or, having started from Riblah on the seventh, he actually reached Jerusalem on the tenth, 2Ki 25:8,
v. 13. and burned the house of the Lord, the magnificent Temple of Solomon, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem and all the houses of the great men, all the prominent buildings of the city, burned he with fire;
v. 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, so that all its fortifications were demolished down to the very foundations.
v. 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. Jer 39:9. Thus the capture of the city was effected in exact agreement with the prophecy of the Lord against Jerusalem.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Because of the words "Jeremiah's words end here" in Jeremiah 51:64 and because the words here appear in other books of the Bible, many scholars believe that this chapter was written by someone other than Jeremiah and attached to the scroll that Jeremiah and Baruch wrote.
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Hamutal
This is the name of a woman. (See: How to Translate Names)
Libnah
This is the name of a place. (See: How to Translate Names)
Jeremiah
This refers to another man named Jeremiah, not the prophet Jeremiah who wrote this book. (See: How to Translate Names)
what was evil in the sight of Yahweh
The sight of Yahweh represents Yahweh's judgment or evaluation. AT: "what was evil in Yahweh's judgment" or "what Yahweh considers to be evil" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Zedekiah
reign
Jerusalem
name
evil
Yahweh
Jehoiakim
anger
kingdom of Judah
rebel
king
Babylon
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 52:1-34 This chapter repeats the narrative of 2 Kgs…
52:1-34 This chapter repeats the narrative of 2 Kgs 24:18–25:30, which recounts the final month of Jerusalem’s existence, with a few added details and changes. The repetition of this passage emphasizes Jeremiah’s integrity as a true prophet of Almighty God. Everything Jeremiah had predicted about the destruction of the holy city and the end of the kingdom of Judah came true. Likewise, everything that he predicted about the Exile, the sufferings of the exiled survivors in Babylon, and their return from exile, came true.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.