Jeremiah 46-52
Stand Your Post (Series On Jeremiah)
God will use Babylon to judge the nations around Israel. (46-49: Egypt, Jerusalem, Philistia, Edom, Amon, Damascus, Hazor)
Jeremiah 46:1-2
This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations: 2 Concerning Egypt: This is the message against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:
God’s coming judgement on Babylon. (50-51)
Jeremiah 50:1-3
This is the word the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians: 2 “Announce and proclaim among the nations, lift up a banner and proclaim it; keep nothing back, but say, ‘Babylon will be captured; Bel will be put to shame, Marduk filled with terror. Her images will be put to shame and her idols filled with terror.’ 3 A nation from the north will attack her and lay waste her land. No one will live in it; both people and animals will flee away..’
Even though God used Babylon to bring justice to Judah, He doesn’t support their violence and idolatry.
Babylon will also be judged by God’s justice. (51:12)
Jeremiah 52 ends with a story from 2 Kings 25 about Babylon’s final attack on Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 52:1-2
Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.
They destroyed the city walls, burned down the Temple, and forced the people into exile.
Jeremiah’s warnings of God’s judgement from chapters 1-24 were fulfilled.
Jeremiah 52:31-32
In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison. 32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.
The book ends with a short story about Jehoiachin, the captive Israelite king. He is the heir to the line of David. The king of Babylon releases him from prison and invites him to eat at the royal table for life.
This is a small glimmer of hope, going back to the promises of hope from Jeremiah 30-33.
God hasn’t abandoned His people or His promise of a future coming King from the line of David.
Jesus is our hope and our future.