Andrew Bramhill - Class 3: The Days of Zedekiah

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   And in 2 Kings 24, something possesses Jehoiakim to rebel against Babylon. Verse 1, in the days Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up, Jehoiakim became his servant three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. We're not given information as to why that might be, but it would be easy to conclude that someone like Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was saying, why don't you join forces with me and we'll see if we can't defeat the Babylonians.

2. 0:32

   Let's rebel here and see if we can't free ourselves from this threat from the north. And the coalition that comes against Judah as a consequence in verse 2 is extremely broad, isn't it? The Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, bands of the Syrians, bands of the Moabites, bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord.

3. 0:56

   Quite a powerful picture here of Babylon reigning supreme and holding sway over many nations and gathering all these nations together to Jerusalem for some final destruction. It's a lovely picture, actually, isn't it? It's a frightening picture, but maybe we ought to be paying attention to these passages to see what might befall us in these last days.

4. 1:21

   For here is this mighty evil power of Babylon coming against the nation of Judah. And as we read on, we get little bits of information about Jehoiakim. And if you look at verse 4, again, another indication that this practice of child sacrifice had been reintroduced by this man. And such was the evil nature of his behavior.

5. 1:49

   So as a consequence, Jehoiakim is destroyed. The temple and his son Jehoiachin, verse 8, is placed on the throne. And the 11-year reign of Jehoiakim comes to an end. He's called Jehoiachin here in 2 Kings 24, verse 8. He goes by other names. He's called Jeconiah elsewhere. Coniah in the book of Jeremiah.

6. 2:22

   And we read in 2 Kings, verse 8, the following, 24, verse 8. Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he began to reign. He reigned in Jerusalem three months, and his mother's name was Nehushtah, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

7. 2:42

   So, like father, like son. Or perhaps, like mother, like son. At the time, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. And Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon.

8. 3:03

   He, 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. That's not the eighth year of Jehoiachin's reign. He only reigns three months. That's the eighth year of the king of Babylon's reign, 597 BC. It's interesting, isn't it, that in this little section, we're introduced to Jehoiachin's mother, Nehushta.

9. 3:32

   We haven't come across her before, but then presumably she was wife of Jehoiachin, or one of Jehoiachin's wives. Her name means brass, great symbol of sin throughout scripture, which indicates that she had an evil influence, possibly on her husband Jehoiachin, possibly on her son Jehoiachin, whatever. We know that these were both evil men, and as a consequence, Nebuchadnezzar invades, and they are to be taken into captivity.

10. 4:03

    We might be coming back to 2 Kings, so perhaps a bookmark there, please, but let's go over now to Jeremiah chapter 22, where Jeremiah the prophet is reflecting on this particular period of history. I know I said Jeremiah 22, and we are going to Jeremiah 22. Let's just dip in at Jeremiah 13, please, on our way there.

11. 4:33

    Sorry about that. Because it could be here that in Jeremiah 13, we have a prophecy by Jeremiah against this new king, this 18-year-old king and his mother. Verse 15 of Jeremiah 13. Hear ye and give ear, be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death and make it gross darkness.

12. 5:17

    But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride, mine eye shall weep sore and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive. Say unto the king and to the queen, revised version queen mother, humble yourselves, sit down, for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory.

13. 5:42

    And this could be a prophecy by Jeremiah. This applies to Jehoiachin and the queen mother, which could be Nehushtah, knowing how these little descriptions of relations work in the Old Testament. And it could be here that Jeremiah has these two individuals in mind, who were carried away as part of this great captivity that occurred in 2 Kings 24, when mighty men and 10,000 were taken away into captivity.

14. 6:14

    On then to chapter 22, where Jeremiah expands on this. He prophesies that they will be cast out, and he's going to lament on the life of this very brief life of Jehoiachin. Jehoiachin, so if you look at verse 24 of Jeremiah 22, As I live, saith the Lord, Though Coniah, the son of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence.

15. 6:52

    This is how abhorrent Jehoiachin was to the Almighty. And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bear thee, into another country where they were not born, and there shall ye die.

16. 7:18

    So it's a very clear statement here. You are abhorrent Jehoiachin to the Almighty. Even if you were the signet ring on his right hand, he would still pluck you off and remove you, along with your mother, into the hand of the one who you fear, Eved Nebuchadnezzar. And we can read, and we have indeed read, in chapter 24 of Kings, 2 Kings, how this took place, and they went off to Babylon.

17. 7:48

    And then from verse 28 and 29 and 30, there's a little lament. If you have a newer version on your knees, you'll see that that's one of those little sections in Jeremiah that's set out as poetry. And there are many pages of poetry here in the book of Jeremiah. And in verse 30, Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days.

18. 8:18

    Well, actually, that wasn't a literal prophecy, because Jehoiachin was to have children, but not a child to sit upon the throne. His children are listed for us in Chronicles, but he was not to have a king upon the throne. And you remember how he went into captivity, and he was in captivity for 37 years, and Jeremiah 52 tells us right at the end, doesn't it, when Jeremiah gives us that little history recollection right at the end of his book.

19. 8:50

    He says that Jehoiachin was treated faithfully and well towards the end of his captivity, and his head was lifted up. We generally think that Ezekiel was taken captive at this time as well. He goes off into captivity in 597 BC. So Coniah's reign was rather inauspicious, and comes to an end very quickly in 597.

20. 9:21

    I'll just put this little chart on the screen there for us to make sure we're following these different kings of Judah. It's worth just making sure we've got it. Josiah was this mighty reforming king who was on the throne for 31 years, and Jeremiah started work in his 13th year. Jehoah has on the left-hand side of the screen there, he was only on the throne for three months.

21. 9:45

    He doesn't have a lot to play in this particular history. But Jehoiachin, in the center of the slide there, he was on the throne for 11 years, and he was the evil man. Jehoiachin, his son, reigns but for three months, as we've seen, and goes off to Babylon, and therefore the throne then reverts to Zedekiah.

22. 10:06

    And Zedekiah is going to be the final king of Judah, this third son of Josiah, and he is going to reign for 11 years, until 586 BC, when Jerusalem is finally taken and burnt down and the temple destroyed in a very aggressive way. If you still have a bookmark in 2 Kings 24, let's just have a look at Zedekiah coming to the throne, please.

23. 10:36

    Because there's just an interesting little insight into what's going on in Babylon at this time. Remember we mentioned yesterday that as Jehoiachin was refusing to accept the word, and he was cutting it up, burning it, and not responding to the word of God. So at the same time, through Daniel, God was beginning to reveal his word to this Babylonian king.

24. 11:03

    And we can track our way, can't we, through those early chapters of Daniel, chapters 2, 3, and 4, when these visions occur. And gradually, by the end of chapter 4, we have the impression that Babylon is ruled by a converted king, heavily influenced by Daniel. And here, if you look in 2 Kings 24, and at verse 17, we don't think much about it as we read it, but in verse 17 it says, And the king of Babylon made Mataniah, his father's brother, king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

25. 11:39

    Now that wasn't unusual for kings to change names. It happened to Daniel and his friends when he was taken into captivity. But here, Nebuchadnezzar is putting a man on the throne and changing his name to Zedekiah, which means, Yah is righteous. Now isn't that odd, that a Babylonian, Gentile king is putting a man on the throne and saying, Yah is righteous.

26. 12:04

    And that's just one of those little clues in Scripture that we get, that Daniel's influence in the land of captivity is working its way through the empire of Babylon. And here is a Babylonian king being influenced. And when you step back and you think of the evils of Babylon, and yet compared to the evils of Judah, it's an evil Babylonian king who's having to demonstrate that Yah is righteous to the people of Judah.

27. 12:36

    It's quite ironic, really, isn't it? Okay, then, into Jeremiah 24, please, where we've come across these good figs and these very naughty figs. My son's always smiled at the very naughty figs. It always seems very quaint, doesn't it, now in our 21st century. But there's a lovely little parable that's building up here between these two figs, which are worth reflecting on.

28. 13:03

    We've read them here. If you look in the first three verses of... Sorry, in the first verse of chapter 24, we're introduced to these two baskets of figs. And, of course, one relates to those that are carried away captive, and the naughty figs are the ones that remain in Jerusalem. So two baskets of figs, one good, one bad.

29. 13:27

    Those that have gone into captivity, they're in verse 6. The Lord has a comment about them. I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land, and will build them and not pull them down. I will plant them and not pluck them up. And here is the Lord saying that they are going into captivity, but there is hope here.

30. 13:49

    Verse 7, I will give them and hearts to know me that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. So these individuals have been taken away from the land of Judah unto a land of captivity, and the Lord is saying, I have in mind to do good to you people.

31. 14:12

    But then when you cast your eye down from verse 8 to verse 10 about the evil figs who remain in Jerusalem, well, just destruction. He's going to destroy and remove, and suffering will be their lot. Now, at this point, of course, it's rather difficult to see it like this, isn't it? Imagine if you were amongst the good figs, you'd be thinking, why am I being punished by being taken away captive?

32. 14:43

    Why are you bringing this upon me? You would feel like you were the one who was getting the punishment. And of course, if you escaped punishment and weren't taken into captivity and left in Jerusalem, you'd be thinking, I must be doing all right here because I've not been punished, I've not been taken off into captivity.

33. 15:03

    And that's exactly the mentality that started to feed through amongst these people. Those who'd gone away into captivity were feeling downright cross that despite their efforts, they were being punished. And those who were in Jerusalem seemed to have got away with it. Have you not seen how bad they are, Lord? Why aren't you dealing with them?

34. 15:22

    Why have you brought us away? And of course, we all fall into that frame of mind sometimes, don't we? Questioning what the Lord is doing with our lives. Why is this happening to me? The three words that you really have to have in mind, brothers and sisters, come at the end of verse 5.

35. 15:40

    And if you didn't spot them in the reading, then just pay attention to them now because this was being done for their good. They might not have spotted it at the time. They might not have recognized it. It's going to become very apparent in future years. But at this time, just accept, please, that I am doing this for your good.

36. 16:00

    I have something better in store for you. So let's just go with this, says the prophet Jeremiah. And it's a very valuable lesson, isn't it? We all ought to be aware of that. There are no doubt times in our lives when something happens or we get pushed in a direction where we might not have chosen to go or we might have decided it wasn't right for us.

37. 16:21

    And yet, the Lord is guiding us and directing us. We ought to just be saying, okay, this will be for our good. We might not be able to see it at this stage. But let's be content with it. You'll see this when we turn over to chapter 29, please. Because these individuals who have gone into captivity, and the captivity wasn't a cruel thing.

38. 16:48

    It was a relocation, but it wasn't a cruel thing. They weren't being treated and abused in a bad way. But they have been removed from the land. And when you get into chapter 29, you get the impression that some of those who have gone into captivity are starting to say, well, I wonder if we should go back home.

39. 17:12

    I wonder if really the Lord's made a bit of a mistake in bringing us here, and perhaps actually he really wants us to be back in Jerusalem doing the work that needs to be done. So here as we get into chapter 29, that's exactly the thought process of these individuals who have now gone into captivity.

40. 17:32

    And Jeremiah has something to say to them in verse 1, these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders, which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.

41. 17:52

    So Jeremiah is writing to these people, verse 3, he's sending it by the hand of Elasa, the son of Shaphan, Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, king of Judah, sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar the king, saying, and Jeremiah is now, his letter is now recorded for us in Scripture. And the letter is quite a simple one to understand, isn't it?

42. 18:16

    I have caused you to be carried away. I want you to be in a land of captivity. Build houses, plant vineyards, settle, take wives, this is going to be your home. Do not listen to men who say, now is the time to return. Verse 8, For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, let not your prophets and your diviners that be in the midst of you deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed, for they prophesy falsely unto you in my name.

43. 18:52

    I have not sent them, saith the Lord. So don't listen to their message. And the language of verse 8 is quite interesting, isn't it? Don't listen to them, they will deceive you. Don't listen to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. There's plenty of sentiment in society today about follow your heart, follow your dreams, do what seems good.

44. 19:18

    Well, here is a real verse against it saying, whatever you do, don't do that. We know that the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked. Above all things, do not follow your heart, see what the Almighty has to say, get his word open. So here is Jeremiah who's exhorting these people not to listen to these false prophets.

45. 19:38

    There is a message of hope from Jeremiah to these good figs in captivity. Verse 11, For I know the thoughts that you think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end or to give you hope in your latter end. Then shall you call upon me and you shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you and you shall seek me and find me and you shall search for me with all your heart and I will be found of you, saith the Lord and I will turn away your captivity and gather you from all nations.

46. 20:15

    So here is a picture of great hope and it had an immediate fulfilment of course. We look to a latter day fulfilment of this kind of prophecy of course. But here, for these people, this would really mean something, wouldn't it? Jeremiah saying, build houses, take wives, plant vineyards, settle, because this is what the Lord has in mind for you.

47. 20:38

    And it must have been extremely, extremely comforting to them. And it's interesting that there is a 12, Jeremiah saying, pray to the Lord and when they were actually away from the heaven, away from the Israel. That was the place of prayer. That was the house of prayer. And then go up to Jerusalem to make their prayers.

48. 20:59

    And Jeremiah saying, you can do this in Babylon. And of course, one of the great themes, one of the great arguments that comes out of Scripture, right down even to Stephen's great address. The place doesn't matter. You can still worship God from afar. The prophets who were speaking falsely in captivity, if you look down at verse 21, so amongst these captives, there are those who are saying, we ought to get back to Jerusalem, we ought to be going back home, don't suffer what the Lord has brought upon us.

49. 21:33

    when they get to hear Jeremiah's message, and they get to read Jeremiah's letter, they're sending back to Jerusalem. They want those back into Jerusalem to silence Jeremiah. He's spreading mischief amongst the captives as far as they were concerned. So in verse 21, these prophets start to contact Jerusalem and persuade those in Jerusalem, those in authority in Jerusalem, to silence Jeremiah.

50. 22:05

    At verse 25, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah, the son of Maasai, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, The Lord hath made thee priest instead of Jehoiada. Verse 27, Now therefore, why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you?

51. 22:34

    So away in Babylon, those in captivity, the false prophets in captivity, were saying, Can you not get hold of Jeremiah? Can you not silence what he's doing? Do you not realize what mischief is being done? And chapter 29 finishes verses 30 to 32 with Jeremiah's response where he condemns these false prophets prophets like Shemaiah, the Nehelamite.

52. 23:03

    So there's still pressure on Jeremiah. These people have gone away. He's left in Jerusalem amongst the evil figs, people who were of little worth, and a king who was of little worth. And a lot of the good men are now amongst the 10,000 who have gone into captivity. Turn back with me to chapter 27, please, would you?

53. 23:33

    This is the chapter which our scriptures say Jehoiakim in verse 1, but if you have a margin note against that, you'll see it say Zedekiah, and indeed, your margin might also point you in the direction of verses here, like verses 3 and 12 and 20 and the opening verse of chapter 28. Which confirm this is a conversation between Jeremiah and Zedekiah.

54. 23:58

    So this is taking place in the first year of Zedekiah. And in verse 2, the Lord has said to Jeremiah, Make thee bonds and yokes and put them upon thy neck and send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of Ammonites, to the king of Tyrus, to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah, king of Judah.

55. 24:27

    So we're familiar with Jeremiah's yoke. Here he's making his own. He's making a yoke which he is going to wear and he's making yokes for all these other nations. And by these messengers, these ambassadors who've come up to Jerusalem, to Zedekiah, he is saying, Take these back to your nation because you will soon be in bondage to this king of Babylon.

56. 24:50

    So Jeremiah, who we saw in chapter 1, was to become a prophet to the nations. He's doing exactly that here in this chapter. I don't get the impression that he visits these nations. I think he's just sending by these ambassadors back to these nations the warning that Babylon is coming. And it could be, brothers and sisters, that the collection of prophecies against the nations that we get at the end of Jeremiah's prophecy, it could be that they were distributed at this time.

57. 25:20

    So as these ambassadors go back to their nations, they take the particular prophecies which are collected at the back of the book for us. So they're going back with similar yokes all to these neighboring countries and they're going with a message from Jeremiah which was one of submission. This invasion is coming and you need to submit.

58. 25:42

    Verse 6, for example, And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. So you need to, you just need to fall in line with this. This is the almighty's plan. I'm declaring it to you. This is what will happen. You need to fall in line with it.

59. 26:02

    And then in verse 12, he addresses Zedekiah directly. I speak also to Zedekiah, king of Judah, according to all these words, saying, bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live. And there's just a little hint of hope there, isn't there? You can still survive this, Zedekiah.

60. 26:34

    You need to follow the will of the almighty. But there is a way in which you can live here. So this is Jeremiah's conversation with Zedekiah as he encourages him to submit to Babylon. And then into chapter 28, this message continues.

61. 27:00

    This is a difficult chapter, isn't it? Because false prophets are trying to decry Jeremiah. just as Jeremiah speaking to Zedekiah and saying, you need to fall in line here. Nebuchadnezzar's coming. Babylon will rule this land. Other prophets were giving the more palatable message, weren't they? Other false prophets were standing there and were saying to Zedekiah and the people, no, no, no, this isn't going to happen.

62. 27:28

    Let me tell you what's really going to happen. At the most, two years, at the most. So says Hananiah, for example. And of course, that's going to be a much more palatable message, isn't it? It's there in verse 3. This is what the false prophet Hananiah is saying. Within two full years, I will bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took away, and your king.

63. 27:53

    I'm going to restore him back to Jerusalem. That was what the people wanted to hear. It's only a short-lived thing. All these captives will be back. And it must have been very difficult for Jeremiah. To counter this, especially when the false prophet in verse 2 is standing up and saying, actually, this is the word of the Lord.

64. 28:14

    This is what the Lord says. I wonder if you've ever encountered that, where you're faced with two things which seem to be God's instruction. Which does the Lord want me to do here? Which one's right? Which one is truth? And of course, one can only think that on a time such as this, they would have Deuteronomy 18 in mind.

65. 28:36

    If it comes to pass, if what the prophet says comes to pass, then he is speaking truth. If it doesn't come to pass, then he is not speaking truth. And Jeremiah, in verse 6, once he's listened to Hananiah and his message, he says, even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen, the Lord do so.

66. 28:57

    The Lord perform thy words which thou hast prophesied to bring again the vessels of the Lord's house. Now that's not Jeremiah suddenly falling in line with Hananiah and changing his message. That's Jeremiah saying, Well, it would be great if that was so. I'd love it if it was like that. I'd be over the moon if it was just two years and everyone was back and it was all sorted out.

67. 29:18

    That's what Jeremiah says. But that's not what the word of the Lord is about. That's not what the word of the Lord is saying to us. So Jeremiah makes it absolutely clear that the people, sorry, that this captivity would come and will be lasting and the people should judge by what happens. If Hananiah's prophecy comes true, then so be it.

68. 29:43

    If Jeremiah's prophecy comes true, then they would know he was speaking the word of the Lord. And that's what he lays before them in verse 9, this choice. The prophet which prophesieth of peace when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known that the Lord has truly sent him.

69. 30:02

    So Jeremiah is laying before these people. Deuteronomy chapter 18, we've already said how influential the book of Deuteronomy was in the prophecy of Jeremiah. Here he's laying it before them. Well, if he's speaking peace and peace comes to pass, then you know he's speaking truth. You might remember the drama of the moment.

70. 30:21

    Hananiah then comes along and he breaks this yoke off Jeremiah's neck, this self-imposed yoke where Jeremiah was saying we're going to be in bondage. Well, Hananiah removes it and breaks it and says, there you are, you see, this captivity will be broken. So Jeremiah replaces them with iron wands and saying, well, if you think you can break the wooden wands, this is how secure it's going to be.

71. 30:44

    And of course, by the end of the chapter, verse 17, Hananiah the prophet died in the same year in the seventh month. And of course, we're introduced to him in the fifth month in verse 1. So over a two-month period, Hananiah doesn't even get to see his two-year cycle, his two-year prophecy out.

72. 31:05

    He is taken and he is destroyed. So this is the kind of thing that Jeremiah was up against. Men who were speaking falsely but were speaking a populist message and the crowd would be really swayed towards the popular message and it would be difficult for Jeremiah to hold on to the word of truth and speak the word of truth when it just wasn't very palatable.

73. 31:33

    And perhaps we can all relate to that. The great message out of Jeremiah 28 is do not change the message. This is the word of the Lord. This is what he's revealed. This is what we must communicate. And Jeremiah, blessing me, stuck with that task through thick and thin and he's a great example for us.

74. 31:54

    We then get into the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign. Seemingly, there's a quiet period now from these early days of Zedekiah's reign onto the ninth year. Maybe those eight or nine years were a period of opportunity for Zedekiah to think and to change and to repent.

75. 32:21

    Maybe eight or nine years, which is actually quite a long time when you're going through it. Maybe it's a time for people to start saying, well, perhaps this invasion isn't coming after all. Perhaps God didn't really mean it. And we can get a little bit relaxed and a little bit soft and a little bit easy and a little bit more comfortable.

76. 32:41

    Maybe that's what was happening in the days of Jeremiah when these people could not see any evidence of another invasion coming. Maybe it got a bit worse than that. Maybe it led to people thinking, well, perhaps we don't have to worry about Babylon. Perhaps, actually, if we just gathered our resources and organized ourselves, we could rebel.

77. 33:05

    And we could repel any particular invasion that came from Babylon. And indeed, in the latter year there was rebellion. People saying, no, no, we don't want to fall in with Babylon. We don't want to be a vassal state for Babylon. We can do this on our own. Independence. We are very familiar with independence in the UK at the moment.

78. 33:30

    That was the sentiment going on here. We'll vote to break away from Babylon. Is this a jexit? I don't know, but here we are. And here they are then. They're not going to have anything to do with Babylon. So, eventually, Nebuchadnezzar, he loses his patience and he starts to come against the land.

79. 33:58

    And if we go back to chapter 21, please, Zedekiah is now rather alarmed that Babylon is coming against Jerusalem. And he goes to seek Jeremiah's opinion, doesn't he? In private. Jeremiah 21. The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent unto him Pasha, the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maasai, the priest, saying, inquire, I pray, thee of the Lord for us.

80. 34:32

    For Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, maketh war against us. If so be, that the Lord will deal with us according to all his wondrous works that he may go up from us. So, having rebelled and Nebuchadnezzar is now making a move towards Jerusalem, Zedekiah sends to Jeremiah saying, will the Lord save us? Maybe he was looking for or hoping for some kind of Hezekiah moment where the city is surrounded and the Lord intervenes.

81. 35:03

    Maybe he was looking for something like that. And Jeremiah has this message which he shares with him which is very uncompromising, isn't it? We're not going to read it all now, but you'll probably be familiar from verse 4 onwards. Jeremiah's saying, fight with you? No way. He's fighting against you. He's actually with the Babylonians in this particular invasion.

82. 35:27

    He is coming against you, Zedekiah. There is no hope. This is all going to work its way through. And the message to the people, if you were to read through verses 8 and verse 9 and verse 10 and read about the sword and the pestilence and the falling away, very much language of Deuteronomy that's been employed here.

83. 35:48

    So Jeremiah is saying to Zedekiah, this is not going to end until Jerusalem is taken captive. Come with me to chapter 34 then please, would you?

84. 36:09

    This is quite a lovely little section of scripture actually, as we get to this dark point in Judah's history where Jerusalem is besieged, all nations gathered together against Jerusalem. that's familiar language to us isn't it? That verse 1, 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.

85. 36:45

    So this great amassing of nations against Jerusalem. This is a real low point. And of course, Jeremiah, this faithful man has the words of salvation. He knows what needs to be done in order that individuals can be saved. Jeremiah repeats his message from verses 2 to 4. He says exactly what's going to happen.

86. 37:11

    He has the answer, if only men will listen to it. And all cities are surrounded and taken in Judah apart from Jerusalem, which is besieged, besieged. And then in verse 7, you can see also that Lachish and Azekar, these were also defensed cities that remained untaken. So at this stage, Jerusalem, Lachish, Azekar are the only three cities that have not yet been taken, all besieged, all surrounded by a Babylonian army and the army of all these other nations that have swept through the land and have taken control.

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    people. And it's a real panic stations moment now, isn't it? What are they going to do? What can the people of Jerusalem do now they are surrounded by this army? And it's at this point that they have been brought to their knees where they decide they will convert. Why don't we become godly people?

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    Why don't we do God's laws? Why don't we walk in his way? And then maybe, maybe, even at this eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute, there might be some intervention to save us. And that's exactly what they do. And it's a sentiment that we're all familiar with. It's well known, isn't it, that even the staunchest atheist on a plane that's heading for disaster will be on his knees in prayer like everybody else.

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    It's the kind of thing that we've got here, isn't it? These people saying, we're about to be taken here, we're about to die, why don't we become religious? Why don't we turn to God? And that's exactly what they do, isn't it? And we can work our way through this chapter, and we notice in verse eight that what they decide to do is that they make a covenant to proclaim liberty, liberty, end of verse eight, unto all their slaves.

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    Verse nine, that every man should let his man servant, and every man his maid servant, being in Hebrew or Hebrewess, go free. So all of a sudden they seem to be implementing the year of release. I'm not quite sure whether this was a year of release, or whether they just frantically turned through their Bibles and found Deuteronomy 15 and thought, oh yes, let's do this.

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    Let's try and be good, we'll just put this into practice. So they do, but they do it in a super religious way. If you look down, is it verse 18, where they're making this very devout covenant, verse 18, I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me.

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    When they cut the calf in twain and pass between the parts thereof, applying the law here, taking the animal, sacrificing the animal, dividing it in part, walking through the middle of it, you know how all this works. They're being very devout, yes, we're going to release all these slaves, and that's exactly what they do.

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    And do you know what happens next, brothers and sisters, when they've put on this show, for it is only a show of being religious, what happens next? The answer is, the siege is lifted. The siege is lifted. Chapter 37,

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    verse 3, And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shalamiah and Zephaniah the son of Measaiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah saying, pray now for us unto the Lord our God, for Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, for they had not put him in prison. Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans that beseeched Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.

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    So Egypt, which has always been angling to get in on some of the Babylonian empire and try and stop Babylon expanding its borders, they come up, they attack, and the siege of Jerusalem is temporarily lifted. And these people in Jerusalem, then, who've converted overnight, found some law, put it into practice, released slaves, done it in a very super religious way, all of a sudden, the armies have gone.

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    Now what feeling is running through Jerusalem? These people thinking, hey, this is wonderful, but they've got two choices now. Either they can say, this seems to work, I ought to pay more attention to the word of God, I ought to pay more attention to what he's teaching me, I ought to be trying to put his law into practice in my own life, or they could say, ha, that's sorted that out, I can now go back to being the kind of person I was before.

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    And that's exactly what they do. So if you go back to chapter 34, as soon as the siege had been lifted, verse 13, thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of Bonman, saying, at the end of seven years, let ye go every man his brother and Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee.

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    And when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee. But your fathers hearken not unto me, neither inclined their ear. And ye were now turned, and had done that which is right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty, every man to his neighbor. And ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name.

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    But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty, at their pleasure to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids. So all these servants who had been released under this law, which was pleasing to the Almighty, as soon as the problem has disappeared and Nebuchadnezzar is no longer at the door, well that's it, that's fine.

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     We'll go round and we'll round up all our slaves and we'll put them back into bondage, and we'll just carry on as we were. And Jeremiah's message, of course, do you think the Almighty is pleased with that? You think the Almighty is comfortable with that kind of religious show? And of course he is not.

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     And there is a, there has to be some kind of lesson for us, brothers and sisters, because you will know of occasions where you have responded to some difficulty in quite a religious way, and when that difficulty goes away, it's not easy to retain that level of religious intensity. And we slip back to being the kind of people we were before.

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     Maybe what the Lord is looking for actually is for all of us, day by day, steadily, to grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, so that we might improve marginally, gradually, almost imperceptibly, as we become men and women of faith. We can't be people who turn on our faith and turn it off again when it suits us.

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     We have to be individuals who are moved by his word and changed by his word. Now, it's just coming up 5-2. The next section is where we move into Jeremiah being in prison. So I'm going to suggest that we break a minute or two early there, and we'll reflect on what's being said, and we'll resume again tomorrow.

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     Thank you, Brother Derek. Thank you, Brother Derek.