Year 9, Day 92: Jeremiah 39

Theological Commentary: Click Here

This chapter of Jeremiah chronicles the fall of Jerusalem.  It is interesting to note that the Babylonians can to Jerusalem in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign.  They actually breached the wall in the eleventh year.  The Hebrew people spend about a year and a half under siege. 

It was a slow process.  No wonder there were great debates about whether the city would fall or not.  No wonder there was time to doubt Jeremiah’s procphecy.  No wonder the people would want to follow the false prophets and believe the walls would hold.  The Babylonians gave the Hebrew people a long time to sit and think about their circumstances.

This also goes to remind us of God’s timing.  God had been telling the people for years through Jeremiah that the city would fall.  He had been using other prophets for decades.  God took a while to fulfill His prophetic decree because he wanted to give the people time to repent and change their ways.  He wanted them to come to repentance on their own rather than have to go through exile to make it happen.  Obviously, the people were too stubborn for that plan to work.

God does not forget Jeremiah, though.  The city falls.  Zedekiah’s sons – and many of the city’s nobles are – are slaughtered.  Zedekiah’s eyes are put out so that the last thing he’ll ever see is the death of his sons.  After all of this, God has Jeremiah placed in protection.  Nebuchadnezzar deals favorably with Jeremiah, and for the time he is allowed to have as normal of a life as possible. All the days in prison, all of the times he was mocked, all of the prophesies that had been rejected had finally come to haunt the people.  Jeremiah is not only protected but vindicated!

Last but not least, notice that the poor in Jerusalem also get a boost.  They are given control over Jerusalem.  They are given the fields to plow and harvest.  These people who have nothing are elevated in stature.  The poor and oppressed are lifted up.  Sure, Nebuchadnezzar puts them in control because they have no connections and no training, therefore they are not likely to rebel against him.  But that doesn’t matter.  In the fall of Jerusalem, God proves his ability to care for His people and the oppressed.  God makes right all the things that had been wrong for so long.

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