Rick and Linda Reed

Jeremiah 51 ends with the postscript, “The words of Jeremiah end here.”  Chapter 52 is a is closely modeled after 2 Kings 25.  So it would seem that another author added an adapted version of 2 Kings 25 to conclude the book of Jeremiah with a focus on Israel (not Babylon) and to emphasize how Jeremiah’s prophetic pronouncement had been fulfilled. Chapter 52 covers the same ground as chapter 39 but adds considerable detail regarding the tragic fall of Jerusalem and its aftermath.

The chapter begins with the start of Zedekiah’s eleven-year reign.  Zedekiah, who was a relative of Josiah, was twenty-one when he took the throne.  Verses 2-3 give a summary of his life and reign similar to that found for the kings in the book of Chronicles:  we are told his mother’s name (Hamutal) and God’s assessment of his reign (“he did evil in the eyes of the Lord”).

Once again we see the close juxtaposition of divine decisions and human choices as leading to the same consequences.  Verse 3 states that the destruction of the country and exile of the population was due to the Lord’s anger.  Verse 4 simply states:  “Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.”  From the purely human perspective, Jerusalem’s fall was the result of Zedekiah’s rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar.  However, the deeper reality is that the city and nation fell due to their continued rebellion against God.  Chapter 52 emphasizes the true causational order by mentioning their rebellion against God first.

The narrative of Jerusalem’s capture and destruction focuses on the reason for the fall (1-3), timetable for the fall (4-5, 12), the capture and punishment of the king and officials (6-11; 24-27), the destruction of the city, temple and wall (13-23) and the disbursement of the survivors (27-30).

The horrific events in this chapter are told somewhat dispassionately.  All the pillaging, killing, burning and executions are recorded in a straightforward, matter-of-fact way.  Here is another indicator that Jeremiah was not the author of this chapter.  His response to the carnage and destruction was a five-chapter lament—the book of Lamentations.  Jeremiah’s Lamentation gave voice to the human anguish caused by the Babylonian armies.

Chapter 52 serves to confirm the Lord’s word through Jeremiah; the predictions he had announced came true with agonizing accuracy.  He had announced (contra the false prophets) that the city and the temple would be destroyed by fire (38:17).  He had also told Zedekiah that if he did not surrender, he would be captured and handed over to the Babylonians (21:7).  Jeremiah had comforted him with the promise that, though he would see the Babylonian king face to face, he would not be put to the sword but would die a natural death (34:1-6).  Jeremiah had also predicted that some of the city inhabitants who survived the famine and siege would be carried off into exile (24:1-7).

All these prophetic predictions came true in horrific detail.  The city—including the temple and “every important building”—was burned to the ground (52:13).  The king, who tried to escape with some of his military officers, was captured by the Babylonian military (52:9).  Zedekiah did see king Nebuchadnezzar face to face.  He was spared being executed by the Babylonian king.  However, he watched his officers and sons be killed and then had his eyes put out (52:10-11).  As Jeremiah had announced, a small remnant of the people of Jerusalem who lived through the destruction of the city were exiled to Babylon (52:28-29).  These tragic events confirmed the validity of Jeremiah as a prophet who spoke for the Lord Almighty.  Much of the carnage could have been prevented if the king would have obeyed Jeremiah’s counsel to surrender (38:17-18).  The entire disaster could have been averted if the king, officials, and people had not broken covenant with the Lord but had obeyed His word.  All of this was preventable.

Two curious features come at its end of the chapter: the considerable detail related to the twin, bronze pillars (17-23) and the kindness shown to Jehoiachin by the new Babylonian king (31-34).

While the destruction of the temple and city are told in one verse (13), a lengthy section is given to the dismantling and the removal of the twin bronze pillars and the other bronze articles in the temple.  We are reminded of the exact size of the pillars (27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference, four fingers thick) and the ornate designs on them. (One interesting side note is that Jeremiah 52 gives specific detail about the decorative pomegranates on the capitals of the pillars; this information is not found in 2 Kings 25).  Why the extensive discussion on the bronze pillars?  Perhaps the dismantling of the twin pillars (think of the Twin Towers in NYC) was an apt picture of the dismantling of Israel and Judah.  What had once been impressively sturdy and beautiful was now broken and carried into exile.

The final paragraph in the chapter (both in 2 Kings 25 and in Jeremiah 52) contains a fascinating, but seemingly insignificant, note about the fate of the exiled king Jehoiachin.  We’re told that in the 37^th year of his exile (roughly 26 years after the fall of the city), the current Babylonian king (Evil-Merodach—a play on the name Awel-Marduk) released him from prison, “spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honour higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon” (32).  For the rest of his life, Jehoiachin is given a regular allowance and allowed to dine “regularly at the king’s table” (33).

Readers are forced to ask why this historical footnote in included as the last word in the book (both of 2 Kings and Jeremiah).  My sense is that this turn of events in Babylon is included to give a glimmer of hope for the future of the nation of Israel.  Like Jehoiachin, the nation had done evil in the eyes of the Lord and suffered as a result.  However, because of His unfailing love, God was not finished with His people.  He would move an “evil”, pagan king to have mercy upon them after the years of their captivity.  They would be released from prison and once again enter a time of favour.  As it was with Jehoiachin, so it would be with Israel.  So the book of Jeremiah, which is filled with so much sadness and suffering, ends on a note of grace and hope.  God is merciful to His miserable people.  God’s promises allow hope to have the final word in the story of His people.

(I hope you’ve found this survey of the book of Jeremiah instructive.  I was powerfully impacted by the book as I studied it and wrote these chapter summaries.  In the future, I may post something similar from my studies in the book of Ezekiel).

The message of judgment upon Babylon continues from chapter 50 to 51.  Not only do these two chapters make the message to Babylon the longest, single oracle in the book, but the 64 verses in chapter 51 make it the longest chapter.  In other words, God has more than just a few words for the nation of Babylon.  As they have been the human instruments of destruction for Judah and the surrounding nations, so their fall is described in an extensive, epic way.

Throughout the chapter, the Lord claims responsibility for the downfall and destruction of Babylon. He is the one who plans her downfall (12, 29).  He is the One who “stirs up” the Medes and its allies to destroy the destroyer “of the whole earth” (1, 28).  He is the One who is taking vengeance on Babylon.

The theme of vengeance and vindication run through both chapters.  The Lord takes vengeance on Babylon to repay them (50:15, 28; 51:6, 11, 24, 56); the Lord restores His people to their homeland to vindicate them (52:10, 36).  Those who want to downplay the image of God taking retribution in a fierce, lethal way should steer clear of chapter 51:  “For the Lord is a God of retribution; he will repay in full” (56).

At the same time, this chapter highlights God’s faithfulness to vindicate His covenant people, Israel.  While it certainly appeared that God had forsaken Israel and Judah, bringing judgment and devastation on them, in reality, He had not abandoned them in spite of their sins against Him:  “For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the Lord Almighty, though their land is full of guilty before the Holy One of Israel” (5).  After the seventy years of exile, He fulfills His promise to give them a future and hope (29:11) by punishing Babylon and allowing them to return to their own land: “The Lord has vindicated us; come, let us tell in Zion what the Lord our God has done” (10).

The reasons given for God’s vengeance upon Babylon are two-fold.  First, Babylon sinned against the Lord in its treatment of Israel.  While the Lord had used Babylon as His servant to punish His people and other nations (20), Babylon had still sinned (6) by slaying the “inhabitants of Zion” (24, 35, 49) and desecrating God’s temple (11).  Second, Babylon sinned against the Lord by relying on idols (17, 47).  The boasted in Bel (44) rather than acknowledging the Lord as the “Maker of all things” (19) and the true “King whose name is the LORD Almighty” (57).

Here is evidence that God uses sinful nations and peoples to accomplish His divine plans.  At the same time, He holds those same nations and people accountable for their actions when they sin—even while carrying out His purposes.  Babylon had been a “gold cup in the Lord’s hand” (7).  It had been God’s “war club” to “shatter nations” (20).  Now God would “repay in full” the sins Babylon committed while carrying out the Lord’s purposes (56).

Theologically, this helps us understand more about God’s ways in the world.  He moves individuals and nations to fulfill His plans without violating their own decision-making powers in the process.  He had moved Babylon to attack Judah in a way that allowed the actions to be fully owned by the Babylonians.  Nebuchadnezzar was God’s “servant” who carried out God’s purposes; at the same time, Nebuchadnezzar was a proud, sinful king who acted in his own interests.  The armies of Babylon were the Lord’s “war club”, used by God to “shatter” nations, armies, leaders and citizens of all ages (20-23).  At the same time, they were culpable for their war crimes.  So immediately after referring to the Babylonians as His “war club”, the Lord declares He “will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion” (24).  Because the Babylonians were doing their will as they carried out God’s will, they are held accountable for their sinful actions.

The downfall of Babylon is predicted to come in a way that catches the king and his armies off guard.  The Medes who attack are said to “prepare an ambush” (12).  The Babylonians are taken down while feasting and getting drunk; at one moment they “shout with laughter” and then they “sleep forever” (39).  Their king of Babylon has courier after courier come to report the city is being overrun (31).

This prophetic prediction, delivered in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign (59), gives an accurate picture of how events would unfold over 80 years later. Belshazzar is partying with his officials, drinking wine out of the “goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem” (see Daniel 5:3) when he sees the writing on the wall.  Daniel deciphers the cryptic message (“mene, mene, tekel, parsin”) which announces  God’s impending judgment on the nation (5:25).  That very night, the invading Medes ambushed the Babylonians and captured the city.  Babylon fell quickly and was eventually reduced to rubble, a city “desolate forever” (26, 43).

This extended, 100-verse oracle against Babylon is not simply a message about the fall of a powerful nation, it is much more than that—it is a declaration of the greatness of God.  In chapters 50-51 we are given a grand vision of the LORD Almighty.  We learn four reasons why He is to be feared, obeyed and trusted.

1. The Lord alone is God. Jeremiah’s message is a polemic against the false gods of the Babylonians. Bel, Marduk and the other Babylonian idols are a “fraud” (17).  “He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things” (19).

2. The Lord controls the nations. Babylon’s rise to power and dominance over other nations was the result of God’s plan (7, 20-23).  Its demise was also determined by God (25, 47-48).
3. The Lord is the just judge. The Lord repays Babylon for their sinful deeds (6).  He holds kings, armies, and nations accountable for their actions.  While judgment doesn’t always come as quickly as some would like, it does come (46-47).
4. The Lord is faithful to His unfaithful people. In spite of their sins, God remains faithful to His unfaithful people:  “Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God” (5).