the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 3 of 5
Jeremiah 52:1-16
This ch. 52 is not part of "the words of Jeremiah" (Jeremiah 51:64). Just as in Jeremiah 39:1-18, it reveals the events which put paid to the kingdom of Judah, and it closely follows 2 Kings 25:1-30.
The judgment hour has arrived; it strikes both Jerusalem and her temple (vv. 17-23), both her king and her inhabitants. The city is captured. Zedekiah and his army try and flee to escape the net which is closing in on them. But it is God they are dealing with and not the Chaldeans. Having been brought before Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, the wretched king of Judah has his eyes put out, a punishment reserved for low-class criminals, and bound by a brass chain he is led off into exile. Right to the end of his miserable life, the atrocious spectacle of his sons being butchered will remain with him as the last thing he saw. One month later the captain of the guard returns to Jerusalem to burn and systematically dismantle the rebel city and sort out the population. V. 15 mentions some of the deserters. Some however had listened to Jeremiah.
These things are written (and repeated) not for their historical interest; rather for the instruction of our souls, to serve as a warning to us (1 Corinthians 10:11). "Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware . . ." (2 Peter 3:17-18).
