Lamentations, Habakkuk, Obadiah

Jeremiah lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem, by Rembrandt 1630. Public domain.

2 Kings 23:39-25:30 History recap/outline

--On the death of king Josiah, his 23 yr old son Jehoahaz is made king
	After 3 mos Pharaoh-nechoh took him captive to Egypt, made Jerusalem tributary
--Pharaoh makes 25 yr old Jehoiakim, brother of Jehoahaz king in Jerusalem
	11 yr reign;  Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes him tributary
   After 3 years he rebels, Chaldees/Syrians/Moabites/Ammonites sent vs Judah
--at the death of Jehoiakim, his 18 yr old son Jehoiachin made king
	(Babylon has taken all Egypt’s holdings from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates)
	Reigned 3 mos, Nebuchadnezzar’s servants  besiege Jerusalem
	8th year of Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiakim, the elites, the Temple & king’s treasures, & craftsmen: 
  10K carried away to Babylon.
  https://biblehub.com/2_kings/24-12.htm 
--21 yr old Zedekiah (Jehoiachin’s uncle) is made king by Nebuchadnezzar
	11 yr reign; rebels vs Nebuchadnezzar, 9th yr Jerusalem besieged by Babylonians
	11th year no bread/famine, city broken up, Chaldees are surrounding the city
	Zedekiah & soldiers flee, but he is captured, his army scattered
	Zedekiah’s sons killed in front of him, then his eyes are put out; he is taken to Babylon
--The Temple, the king’s house, and all the great houses in Jerusalem are burned, the walls broken
	The rest of the people in Jerusalem, and the fugitives that joined the Babylonians are carried 
   to Babylon.  The poor are left to work the vineyards.  Gedaliah is made governor.
   A conspiracy kills Gedaliah, the people flee in fear to Egypt.
--37th year of captivity, Jehoiachin is released from prison & lives on the king of Babylon’s allowance
	the rest of his life.

2 Chron 36 History recap/outline (there are a few differences to that above)
--the people make 23 yr old Jehoahaz king after Josiah’s death
	Reigned 3 mos, king of Egypt takes him captive to Egypt; makes Jerusalem tributary
--king of Egypt makes Jehoahaz’ 25 yr old brother Jehoiakim king of Judah/Jerusalem
	Reigned 11 yrs; Nebuchadnezzar carries him & the Temple treasures to Babylon
--8 yr old Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, reigns 3 mos; carried captive to Babylon
--Nebuchadnezzar makes 21 yr old Zedekiah (Jehoiachin’s brother) king of Judah/Jerusalem
	Reigned 11 years, wouldn’t humble himself before Jeremiah, speaking for the Lord
	Rebelled vs his oath & vs Nebuchadnezzar

14 ¶ Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.
15 And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

	Temple & king’s treasures, the king & princes taken captive to Babylon
	The Temple & palaces in Jerusalem are burned, the walls broken down
--Those who weren’t killed were taken captive to Babylon & served there until Persia arose
	Jeremiah’s prophecies fulfilled, the land enjoyed sabbaths, for 70 years
--1st year of Cyrus, king of Persia Jeremiah’s prophecies accomplished:
	The Lord inspired Cyrus to proclaim that God had given him the kingdoms of the earth
	And charged him to build God’s house in Jerusalem.  Whoever of the Jews wish to, can go.
	(it is most probable that someone presented Cyrus with God’s word/Jeremiah’s prophecies).

Lamentations, 5 chapters mourning the suffering of Judah & Jerusalem in the Babylonian conquest

Lam 1  The kingdom of Judah, Jerusalem as the capital, is likened to a bereft woman
1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!
2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers [allies and idols] she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.

4 The ways [streets/roads] of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. [Priests & virgins would be employed in celebrations/holy days.]
5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.
6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts [deer] that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

   In such a way the Lamentations continue, personifying Judah/Jerusalem as a woman remembering what life was like for her before her desolation, which the Lord allowed to come upon her for her wickedness.  “The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things . . .”, that is, her enemies have grabbed/looted all her treasures.  “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.”

17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.  [There was just about nothing that was considered as disgusting to the ancients as a menstruous woman or her clothing.]
18 ¶ The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
19 I called for my lovers [allies & idols], but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.  [They died in the famine associated with siege warfare.]

     Judah/Jerusalem is put to shame and laments that there is no one to comfort her.  All her enemies laugh at her troubles, and are glad for them.  She retorts that they will be just like her, punished for their sins/transgressions.

Lam 2  The Lord has finally had enough, and brings the curses He promised via Moses in The Law
“How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool [Jerusalem] in the day of his anger!”
     In grief/mourning the elders have put dust on their heads and dressed in sackcloth.  Their innards are full of grief.  Children cry for hunger in their mothers’ embrace.  Instead of teaching the people to repent and avoid calamity, the prophets pretended to vain and foolish visions, that would cause the people to be banished from their homeland.  
     “The Lord hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn  [that calls people to battle] of thine adversaries.”  Each night was divided into “watches” (shifts) for the soldiers—and now they are full of prayers/petitions/pleadings with the Lord for the sake of starving children in the streets.  Starving women become willing to eat their own infants (the unit of measure called a “span” is the widest that a hand can stretch out from tip of thumb to pinky, perhaps about 9”).

Lam 3 Lamenting all the Lord has done in consequence of wickedness, the prophet remembers that God is merciful and compassionate.
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 ¶ It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

    A man will put his face in the dust (in prayer), with the hope of God’s mercy.  He puts up with physical abuse from those who accuse him, trusting that “the Lord will not cast [him] off for ever . . .”

32 But though he [God] cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

    Like a good parent, God doesn’t delight in punishing the bad deeds of His children, yet He knows He must hold them  accountable, for their own sakes.
    Jeremiah asks rhetorically of God’s all-powerfulness.  Whatever He says, good or bad, will happen.  And why should a man complain at being punished for his own sins.  In suffering, God’s people ought to do some soul-searching and turn to the Lord, praying for His mercy/pardon/forgiveness.  Jeremiah recalls his experience in prison, and how he called on the Lord for help.  God listened to him then, so he calls on Him again to recompense his enemies.

Lam 4  A lament for the horrors of a besieged city.
    “The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!” Gold lasts, pottery is temporary. Gold is precious, pottery is not.
    Even mother whales give milk to their babies, yet women of God’s people have become as careless of their young as ostriches.  Young children go hungry and thirsty in the besieged city.  Those who used to eat all sorts of delicacies are now desolate.  Those who used to dress so fine sit in poop.  Sinful Sodom didn’t suffer this much, because it was destroyed quickly.  The people of Jerusalem, who used to have every sign of health are now skin and bones.  Those that were killed by the sword were better off than those dying of hunger, and women cook their own children to eat. No one would have believed that Jerusalem would be overrun so by its enemies.
     The prophets and priests (who should be the epitome of Justice) shed the blood of just/good/righteous people.  Thus the Lord caused that the conquering army gave the prophets and priests no special treatment (as they would be used to).   People waited for help from another nation (Egypt) in vain.  The conquerors hunt out and pursue those that flee to the mountains or wilderness, including the king (the Lord’s anointed), whom they thought would still be over them even in captivity.  
     Speaking ironically, Jeremiah invites Edom to be glad at Jerusalem’s destruction, because Edom will drink from the same cup and offer all she has to the conquerors.  There will at last come an end to Zion’s punishment, and it will be Edom’s turn to be punished for her sins.

Lam 5  Jeremiah lists the things his people have suffered, and his belief in God, but ends on a sad note
   Jeremiah tells the things his people have suffered, asking “Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach . . .”  Strangers have taken their inheritances, the people are orphaned/fatherless (left without protectors/providers), their mothers widowed.  Instead of gathering wood and bringing water from the well, they have to pay for both.  They no longer have the benefits employees would, rather, they work like slaves.  They’ve paid the Egyptians & Assyrians for help with the money that could have bought them food.  
     The people of Judah suffer for the wickedness of their fathers.  Instead of being governed by people with the right to rule, they are ruled over by servants (of Nebuchadnezzar).  No one is delivering them from their fate.  They’ve suffered terrible famine.  Their women, even young women, were raped.  Princes were hanged by their hands.  The elders/elderly were given no respect.  Young men and children were set to work grinding grains and gathering wood (chores they would have thought beneath them).  The elders no longer sit at the gates of the city (a sign of wealth/leisure and honor/importance), and the young men no longer party or dance to the music.  All joy is ceased and turned to mourning.  Instead of living like kings, they are full of woes, suffering because of their sins.  Their hearts are faint, their eyes dim (vs bright with hope/energy/anticipation . . .)  Their precious Zion is become a wilderness where foxes live.  Jeremiah pleads,

19 Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.
20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
21 Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

    But then he laments, “thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth [angry] against us.”
Thus ends this set of Jeremiah's writing. It doesn't mean that it's the last he thought or wrote.


The Book of Habakkuk
     “He spoke often of an imminent Babylonian invasion (Habakkuk 1:6; 2:1; 3:16), an event that occurred on a smaller scale in 605 BC before the total destruction of Judah’s capital city, Jerusalem, in 586 BC. The way Habakkuk described Judah indicates a low time in its history. If the dating is to remain close to the Babylonian invasion, Habakkuk likely prophesied in the first five years of Jehoiakim’s reign (609–598 BC) to a king who led his people into evil.”  https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-minor-prophets/habakkuk 
     The book of Habakkuk has only 3 chapters.  He bemoans the wickedness of his time, “Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.”  He speaks of the rise of the Chaldeans (Babylonians).  While their king thinks his god has given him his power, Habakkuk says that God is using him as a form of correction for His people.  He uses fishing metaphors to capture the attention of his hearers/readers.  As far as God’s character/nature, he says, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?”  In other words, though God is too pure to countenance evil, yet He postpones judgment/punishment (until the time is right).  Habakkuk describes himself as a watchman on the tower.  God tells him to write his vision, and when it is time, it’s truth will be revealed.  The conqueror is greedy to expand his empire, but “Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!”
    Highlights:  “the just shall live by his faith,” and “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
     The third chapter is a prayer/psalm, which some have thought indicates he could have been a Temple priest.  (see reference cited above).  In his psalm of praise Habakkuk refers to God’s hand in Israel’s history, especially in the Exodus.  No matter what disasters occur, Habakkuk says, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.”

The Book of Obadiah
    The book of Obadiah is the shortest in the Old Testament, only 1 chapter.  “The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom . . .”  The time is unreferenced, except that the Edomites thought to profit by the calamities befallen the Jewish nation.  The Lord through Obadiah promises that Zion/the House of Jacob will one day be delivered and re-possess their lands, and the kingdom of Esau/Edom will be destroyed.  The rule of the enemies of the Jews will be overturned.  Holiness will return to the Jewish nation.

Jeremiah part 3–history chapters, roughly Jer 26-46 (comp 2 Kings 24-25, 2 Chron 36)

The prophet Jeremiah prophesies the fall of Jerusalem to King Zedekiah by the Belgian artist Joseph Stallaert (1825-1903), in the public domain; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Stallaert_-_Der_Prophet_Jeremias_weissagt_dem_K%C3%B6nig_Zedekia_den_Untergang_Jerusalem.jpg

2 Kings 24 & 2 Chron 36:5-13 background

     Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, had been made a tributary king of Judah by the Egyptian Pharaoh (2 Kings 23:31-37).   Then Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, makes Jehoiakim his tributary.  After 3 years Jehoiakim rebels.  A consortium of the Chaldees, Syrians, Moabites, and the people of Ammon come against the kingdom of Judah (probably under orders from Nebuchadnezzar).  Jehoiakim is succeeded by his 18 yr old son Jehoiachin.   (2 Chron 36:9 says Jehoiachin was only 8 years old)

     Babylon has conquered Egypt, now Nebuchadnezzar lays siege to Jerusalem.  In the 8th year of Jehoiachin’s reign the Babylonians take him, his household, princes, and officers to Babylon, along with the treasures pillaged from the king’s house and the Temple.  Ten thousand captives, including the best of the army and the craftsmen, are carried away leaving only the poorest people.  The king of Babylon makes Zedekiah king of Judah at age 21.

     After some years, Zedekiah rebels, and near the end of his 10th year as king Nebuchadnezzar comes and lays another siege against Jerusalem, as described in 2 Kings 25 & 2 Chron 36:17-20.

     From the days of Jehoiakim on, Jeremiah is in and out of prison, accused of treason.



Note:  I have tried to put the following chapters in some sort of chronological order, but have managed, no doubt, very imperfectly.



Jer 26 Jeremiah is tried & acquitted under the reign of Jehoiakim 

     “In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the Lord . . .”  The Lord tells Jeremiah  to stand in the court of the Temple, and if the people will listen and repent, He will change his intended punishments for their sins.  If not, the Temple will be destroyed just as Shiloh was (the site of the Tabernacle before the Temple was built).  The Lord reminds them He has continually sent prophets, but they refused to listen.  

     The priests, prophets, and everyone has heard Jeremiah preaching in the Temple.  They all threaten him with death.  The princes come from the king’s house to inquire what’s happening.  The priests and prophets say, “This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.”  

     Jeremiah defends himself by saying that the Lord has sent him, “Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.  As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.   But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.”

     The princes and the people tell the priests & prophets that Jeremiah isn’t worthy of death, because he has spoken in the Lord’s name.  The elders bring up the example of the prophet Micah in the reign of Hezekiah that had prophesied  Zion/Jerusalem would be plowed like a field, tossed up in heaps—that is, destroyed.  Did Hezekiah and the people put him to death?  No, Hezekiah took Micah’s words to heart and went to the Lord to plead for the nation.  The Lord was willing to change what would occur.  If we kill Jeremiah we might jeopardize our souls. 

     Another prophet, Urijah, also prophesies against Jerusalem and the nation, just as Jeremiah had done.  When Jehoiakim and his princes and powerful men hear him, Jehoiakim looks for an opportunity to have him put to death.  Urijah flees to Egypt, but Jehoiakim sends men to Egypt and they bring him back to be killed.  They toss his body into a common grave.

     One guy, Ahikam, saves Jeremiah from that fate. 



Jer 35 in the days of Jehoiakim (son of king Josiah) Jeremiah contrasts the obedience of one lineage (possibly of priests) vs the disobedience of the nation of Judah

     “The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah . . .”

     The following is such a good summary of this chapter, I have nothing further to add.  May we be as faithful as the Rechabites.  

https://bibleask.org/who-were-the-rechabites-in-the-bible/  

https://www.gotquestions.org/Rechabites.html 

     In the last verse of this chapter the Lord promises that because of the faithfulness of the Rechabites there will never lack a man of the descendants of Jonadab “to stand before” the Lord forever.  I take that phrase to mean serving in the office of a priest.



Jer 45  The Lord’s promise to Baruch, 4th year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah

     Baruch was feeling low, “Woe is me now! for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.”  The Lord sends Jeremiah to tell Baruch, I will destroy this land that I built & planted.  Do you want great things for yourself [such as land and its wealth]?  Don’t seek those things, because the land will be destroyed.  But I will save your life, no matter where you go.  (Later Baruch would be taken, along with Jeremiah, by the leaders of the remnant of the Jews, to Egypt).



Jer 46  in the 4th yr of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah prophesies the eventual conquest of Egypt

     Pharaoh-necho of Egypt is at the river Euphrates, feeling pretty full of himself.  “Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.”  Amongst his army are Ethiopians and Libyans (skilled in hand-to-hand battle), and Lydians (skilled archers).  Jeremiah prophesies their defeat, which will cause a lasting Egyptian military weakness.  Pharoah is beaten by , king of Babylon.  Jeremiah goes on to prophesy that eventually Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, will come even to Egypt and conquer it.



25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:

26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord. [After being conquered, Egypt will once again rise as a nation.]



     But the Lord promises the Children of Israel that they will one day be gathered again to live in the land of Israel.



27 ¶ But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.



Jer 36 Baruch writes for Jeremiah in Jehoiakim’s 4th yr as king; Jeremiah is in prison at the time

     “And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord . . .”  Jeremiah is to write the words of the Lord on a scroll in the possibility that the house of Judah (either the kingly lineage or the nation of Judah) will hear all the prophecies of trouble ahead, and will choose to repent and be forgiven.  Jeremiah calls on Baruch to act as his scribe, since Jeremiah is in prison.  Baruch writes for him, and Jeremiah sends him to read it in the Temple on an official day of fasting that had been called for all the people of the cities of Judah to come.  Perhaps this has given rise to the hope that the people might be willing to listen.  Baruch is faithful to the task (though it must have been a dangerous thing to do).  This is evidence that God has given men free will to choose their own path, but must live with the consequences. People always have the possibility to choose good, and the Lord gives them the benefit of that possibility as He warns them of the consequences and holds out the opportunity to be forgiven if they repent/change their ways & come to Him in truth.

     One of the Temple officials goes to the king’s house to tell the princes all Baruch has read in the Temple.  They call for Baruch to bring the scroll to them.  He does so, perhaps with great hopes.  They tell him to read the scroll to them, which he does.  They are filled with fear, and tell Baruch to take Jeremiah and hide.  They then hide the scroll, but tell the king all it said.  The king sends for the scroll and has it read to him and all the princes.  The king cuts up the scroll and tosses it in the fire (it was winter and there was a fire going in the hearth).  Only three have the courage to protest, but the king doesn’t listen.  The scriptures specifically mention that no one tore their clothes in anguish at the blasphemy of burning God’s word.  The king sends officers to take Jeremiah and Baruch, “but the Lord hid them.” 

     The Lord tells Jeremiah to rewrite the words of the scroll.  He is to tell king Jehoiakim that because he burnt the warning words of the Lord (that the king of Babylon would come and destroy the land of Judah), the king will not have an heir to sit on the throne, and his own dead body will be tossed out into the elements.  The king and his posterity, and his servants, will be punished for their iniquities.  All the trouble prophesied against the kingdom will be fulfilled.   So Jeremiah and Baruch do as the Lord has told them, and even more prophetic words are added by the Lord to the 2nd scroll.



Jer 27 Jeremiah tells both Jehoiakim and Zedekiah that they must accept Babylonian rule or be  destroyed

     “In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord . . .”  Jeremiah is to put on yokes (used for carrying burdens, or for animals used in plowing) and fetters.  He is to send them to the kings of Edom, Moab, Tyre, Zidon, and the Ammonites via the messengers they have sent to Zedekiah in Jerusalem, along with a message from God:  I am the Creator of the earth and all the people and beasts upon it, and I give control of it to whomever I want.  I have given all your lands and animals to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.  All nations will serve him, and his son, and his grandson.  When their time is up, other nations and kings will conquer Babylon.  Any nation that refuses to serve Babylon will be killed by the sword (war), famine, and pestilence/disease.  So don’t listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers, enchanters, and sorcerers who say it won’t be so.  They are prophesying lies to you.  But those nations willing to be tributary to Babylon will be able to remain in their own lands.

     Likewise, Jeremiah tells Zedekiah the same thing when he is made king.  He tells the priests and people not to listen to prophets who are pretending to be sent by the Lord, that the treasures of the Temple will shortly be brought back from Babylon (maybe they have some emissaries working toward/negotiating for that end?).  If they really ae prophets of the Lord, let them intercede with the Him that whatever treasures are left in the Temple and the king’s house should not be taken as well to Babylon (as they were under Jehoiakim’s son, along with the captives).  And yet, they will be carried away to Babylon, and remain there until the Lord brings them back again (when Babylon’s ascendancy it broken).



Jer 29 Jeremiah sends a letter to those carried away into Babylon under Jehoiachin

     After Nebuchadnezzar carried away the “best” of the kingdom of Judah (in the reign of Jehoiachin) as captives into Babylon, Jeremiah sends a letter to their elders.  He tells them to settle for the long run:  build houses, plant gardens, take wives and have families (so your population can continue to grow) where you are.  Seek the peace of the city where you are—in other words, don’t foment rebellion.  In the peace of that city you will find peace.  Don’t listen to any who pretend to be prophets that say anything different, for “I have not sent them, saith the Lord.”



10 ¶ For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.



     The Lord tells them not to look to the king (Zedekiah) and the remnant still in Jerusalem and the land around it, because they will yet be destroyed by sword (war), famine, and pestilence (disease).  They will also be conquered and carried away captive, because they have not listened to the prophets I have sent to them.  They have committed villany, adultery, lied in God’s name.  Don’t listen to the false prophets who prophesy lies in the name of God.  Zedekiah and the false prophet of his time, named Ahab (remember wicked king Ahab at the time of Elijah!), will be killed before your eyes, and roasted with fire.  

     Shemaiah sends a letter from Babylon to the people left in Jerusalem attacking Jeremiah for sending his letter to the captives in Babylon telling them to settle down for a long captivity.  He says Jeremiah ought to be arrested and put in prison.

     Shemaiah’s letter is read to Jeremiah.  “Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:  Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the Lord; because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord.”


Jer 20 Jeremiah is arrested by a Temple authority

     Pashur, a governor of the Temple, hears of Jeremiah’s prophesies.  He whacks Jeremiah and locks him up  next to the Temple (in the high gate of Benjamin, Jeremiah’s tribe(.  Next day he brings him out, presumably for “questioning”, and Jeremiah says his name is not Pashur, but an all-around terror, “For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it . . .”

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/20-1.htm explanation of who Pashur was

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/20-2.htm Pashur arrests Jeremiah, explanation

https://biblehub.com/topical/m/magor-missabib.htm Magor-missabib



“ . . . and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.

5 Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.

6 And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.



     Jeremiah pours out his heart to God.  He feels like he’s been ill-used by the Lord, because people make fun of him constantly.  He has spoken God’s word, but it’s got him nothing but trouble.  So he thought he’d just quit speaking in God’s name, but His word was like a fire in him, until he couldn’t hold back from speaking.  Even his old friends conspire to report on him if he says (or if they can entrap him into saying) anything they don’t want people to hear, in order to destroy him.  

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/20-10.htm 

     But then Jeremiah takes heart, remembering that the Lord is behind him.  All his persecutors will stumble into shame (or, be found out for what they are), which won’t ever be forgotten.  “But, O Lord of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.”  That is, Jeremiah has laid his case before God.  He knows that the Lord tests the righteous to prove what’s in their heart and what they are made of.  “Sing unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.”

     And yet Jeremiah struggles.  He alternates between praising God and cursing the day he was born.



Jer 21 Zedekiah sends to Jeremiah for a message of hope, and Jeremiah prophesies destruction

     King Zedekiah sends the priests Pashur (see Jer 20) and Zephaniah to Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord (or, to try to get him to intercede on behalf of the nation).  Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, has his armies and his allies the Chaldeans besieging Jerusalem, capital of the kingdom of Judah.  But Jeremiah only has bad news to send back—that the city will be taken, and that those who survive the siege, the fighting, the famine, the pestilence will be killed by the conquerors.  The Lord will hand them over to their enemies, who will have no pity nor mercy on them.

     Jeremiah tells them, “Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.”  The way of life is to leave the city and surrender.  Those that remain in the city will die.  As for the king, if he doesn’t execute justice against the oppressor, he will find God’s justice executed on him for his ill deeds.  This seems in reference to Jeremiah’s own case of unjust treatment by his enemies.



(Jer 22-25 to be covered in Jeremiah part 4 to come; Jer 26 & 27 above)



Jer 28 the false prophet Hananiah speaks in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah

     Hananiah, son of Azur the prophet, speaks to Jeremiah in the Temple, in front of the priests and people.  Hananiah says, “I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.  Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon:  And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the Lord: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.” [Perhaps Hananiah has spies or allies in Babylon that pass on the rumors there?]

     Jeremiah responds in front of everyone basically, that plenty of prophets in the past have likewise made such claims against other countries and kingdoms.  Whose words come to pass, those are the ones who were in truth sent by God.

     Hananiah takes the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and breaks it.  (ref Jer 27)  He says in such a way the Lord will break the yoke of Babylon from all the nations he’s conquered within 2 years.  Jeremiah leaves.

     The Lord sends Jeremiah to confront Hananiah and tell him, “Thus saith the Lord; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron.  For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.”  Jeremiah says to Hananiah, as well, “Hear now, Hananiah; The Lord hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord.”  

     Hananiah dies the same year.



Jer 37 Jeremiah imprisoned in a dungeon, then the court of prison early in Zedekiah’s reign 
    Following Nebuchadrezzer/Nebuchadnezzer’s carrying away Jehoiakim & all to Babylon (but the nation of Judah still wouldn’t listen to Jeremiah), Pharoah’s army from Egypt comes to help Jerusalem vs the Chaldeans (who leave).   Zedekiah sends Jeremiah to pray for his people.  But the Lord tells Jeremiah to tell the king that the Pharaoh’s army will leave and the Chaldeans will return, take Jerusalem, and burn it with fire.  Don’t kid yourselves, thinking the Chaldean’s will leave.  They won’t.  And even if you could beat the Chaldeans so that only their wounded were left, they would come and burn the city.
    When the Chaldeans leave the siege of Jerusalem at the coming of Pharaoh’s army, Jeremiah leaves Jerusalem to go back to his people, the tribe of Benjamin.  But just as he is at the gate of his hometown, he is taken back to Jerusalem under a charge of treason, accused of being an ally of the Chaldeans, because of what he prophesied.  Jeremiah denies the accusation, but he is imprisoned in a dungeon nevertheless.
     After Jeremiah has been imprisoned a long time, Zedekiah brings him secretly to his own house and asks if there’s any word from the Lord.  Jeremiah says, Yes, you will be delivered into the hand of Babylon’s king.  Then Jeremiah asks the king, What’s my crime, for which I’ve been put in prison?  Where are those “prophets” who told you the king of Babylon wouldn’t come against you?  (essentially, I told you the truth, so why have you put me in prison?)  Jeremiah petitions the king not to send him back to prison, lest he die there.  Zedekiah makes Jeremiah’s imprisonment less harsh, has him put in less austere confinement, and orders that he be given bread from the bakers until it is all gone.  And that’s where Jeremiah stays. One would think that after all these warnings that the king would follow Jeremiah's (the Lord's) counsel. But it seems evident to me that Zedekiah was weak and intimidated by the princes/elders of the people.

(Jer 29 above; 30-31 to be covered in part 4, ch 32 below; Jer 35-36 in the days of Jehoiakim above; 37 early in Zedekiah’s reign)




Jer 32 Jeremiah imprisoned in the 10th year of Zedekiah, while Jerusalem is under siege; destruction is  reiterated, but then a return to the Land of Promise in the future—a beautiful chapter

     “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.  For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house.”

     Jeremiah has been prophesying impolitic predictions that Jerusalem will be conquered by Babylon and King Zedekiah will be taken to Babylon.  

     The Lord tells Jeremiah that his cousin will come to him in prison and offer to sell him some of his land inheritance in Anathoth (in the land of the tribe of Benjamin), as is his right by the laws of inheritance.  (Remember from the Law of Moses and the Book of Ruth that the nearest of kin had first right to buy an inheritance for sale).  When this happens, Jeremiah knows he wasn’t just dreaming it up himself.  He has the means to buy it, and does (17 silver shekels, apparently a small sum; see commentary linked below)  The transaction is lawfully witnessed by Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe/ally/friend.  Jeremiah tells Baruch to put these evidences in a earthenware pot/jar and bury it for long term safe keeping, because God has promised that His people will one day return to possess the land.

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/32-9.htm 

     Jeremiah then prays and praises God as the powerful Creator of all, and “there is nothing too hard for thee:  Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them . . . Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings . . .”

     There is a seeming inconsistency in these words, that God recompenses the iniquities of the fathers on their posterity, but He gives everyone according to his own behavior.  We see this in our society/culture:  children and even generations suffer the consequences of their parents’ poor choices, such as alcoholism, law breaking, abuse.  The opposite is true as well, children and posterity benefit from the wise choices and good lives of their parents.  And yet in our court/Justice system people are tried for their own crimes, not for their parents’ or any others’.   It’s a difficult reconciliation of this life.  We trust, however, that all will be made right in the end—Judgment Day.  Otherwise, it would be too difficult to live, it has seemed to me.

     Jeremiah continues, referencing God bringing the Children of Israel out of Egypt, “with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror; And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey . . .”  And yet the people didn’t obey God’s voice (through the prophets), nor the Law of Moses (the Law of God).  Thus, God has brought the consequences down on the people.  God had promised them that if they would honor their parents (implying that they would honor their parents’ teachings:  the parents were enjoined/obligated to teach the Law of Moses to their children), they would live long on the land.  Such is the natural rise and fall of every nation/culture/civilization, when they live faithfully by just laws they prosper over time, and when they are corrupt they eventually weaken themselves and fall.

     Jeremiah puts it to the Lord that he knows his nation is to be destroyed, how can it rise again (the buried evidence of the sale of the land contract testifies)?  The Lord replies, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?”  

     The Lord reiterates the destructions that will come upon the city, including the burning of it by the Chaldeans in recompense for the inhabitants burning incense & making offerings to Baal on their rooftops.  They have provoked Him, turned their backs on Him, despite that “I taught them [via the prophets], rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.”  They have defiled the Temple with their false gods, they have sacrificed their children by fire unto Baal/Molech.  The city will be given to the sword, famine, and pestilence.  

     And yet, He promises to gather them again from the lands they have been scattered, and brought back to live in safety in the Land of Promise.   The desolate land will be inhabited, as God has promised.  Lands will once again be bought and sold, and life return to normal.



38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:

39 And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:

40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.

41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.



Jer 33  while Jeremiah was still in prison the Lord calls for repentance, offering forgiveness—He seems to be speaking of the future when the people return from the Babylonian captivity

     “Moreover the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison . . .”  The lord says “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not . . . Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.  And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.  And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.”

     

9 ¶ And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.

10 Thus saith the Lord; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,

11 The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the Lord.

12 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.



     The Lord promises that as sure as day and night continue, so will His promises be fulfilled.

15 ¶ In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.

16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.

17 ¶ For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;

18 Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.



Jer 34 Jerusalem is yet under siege by Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah calls for  a proclamation of liberty

    The Lord sends Jeremiah with dire warnings of destruction, but holds out hope for a reprieve, if only Zedekiah will Proclaim Liberty to those in servitude.  So Zedekiah, the princes, and the people make a covenant to set their Jewish servants free (proclaiming a Jubilee, as in the Law of Moses).  And they do so!  But then they have second thoughts, and press them back into service.  

     The Lord sends Jeremiah to rebuke the people, reminding them that in the Law of Moses, after 6 years of service, Hebrew servants were to be freed in the 7th year.  But their ancestors failed to live the Law, and they have also broken their Temple covenant to live that law.  So will the Lord return them to the sword, and famine, and pestilence, and scattering among all the kingdoms of the earth.  They will be given into the hands of their enemies, and become carrion for the scavenging birds and beasts.

     It appears that Nebuchadnezzar had drawn back from the siege, and perhaps that is when Zedekiah and the wealthy went back on their word and repressed their servants.



(see above for Jer 35-36 in the days of Jehoiakim; 37 early in Zedekiah’s reign)



Jer 38 Jeremiah, in the muck & mire, is rescued by an Ethiopian Eunuch; counsel to Zedekiah

     A group of princes, hearing Jeremiah’s prophecies that all who remain in the city Jerusalem will die by the sword, famine, and pestilence (but those that join the Chaldeans will survive), petition the king to put Jeremiah to death, because he is weakening the will of the defenders of the city.  Zedekiah gives them leave to do as they like.  It is clear that Zedekiah feels intimidated by the princes of the people, who may be his seniors in age and power.  So they take Jeremiah from the less austere part of the prison he has been kept in, and toss him in the dungeon:  “and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.”

     An Ethiopian Eunuch of the king’s household (who was not just a nobody servant) goes to the king and speaks up for Jeremiah:  he will die there, as there is no bread left in the city.  The king gives the man permission to take 30 soldiers and rescue Jeremiah.   They take a bunch of old yucky rags and a cord to pull Jeremiah up from the pit.  They lower the cord and toss in the rags, telling Jeremiah to put the rags in his armpits so the cords won’t cut into him while they pull him up.  Jeremiah does so, and they pull him up.  He then stays in the less austere confinement of the court of the prison.  

     Zedekiah, still only in his 30s or so, sends again for Jeremiah, this time to the inner chambers of the Temple.  He says, I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to tell me the truth, not hiding anything from me.  Jeremiah says, If I tell you, you’ll surely put me to death, and you won’t follow any counsel I give anyway.  The king swears (secretly) that he won’t have Jeremiah put to death, nor put into the hands of his enemies.  So Jeremiah tells the king, If you put yourself in the hands of the Babylonians you will live and the city won’t be burned.  But if you don’t, they will take the city and you will not escape them.  Zedekiah replies, But what about the Jews that have already gone over to the Chaldeans?  They will take me before the Chaldeans and ridicule me (implying that they will encourage the king’s demise).  But Jeremiah promises him that if the king does what he says, he will be ok.  If the king doesn’t follow his counsel, Jeremiah tells him that all the women and children left of his household, as well as himself, will be taken to Babylon and he, the king, will have caused Jerusalem to be burned.  

     Zedekiah says, Don’t let anyone know what you’ve told me, and you won’t die.  If the princes hear about your coming and talking to me and try to get you to tell them all (promising they won’t kill you if you do), tell them you presented your petition not to be returned to prison.  As the king predicted, the princes send for Jeremiah, and Jeremiah tells them what the king had advised.  They don’t press him any further, and Jeremiah is left to live in the court of the prison until Jerusalem is taken.



Jer 39, 52 Jerusalem is captured, the nobles & heirs are killed, Jeremiah & the Ethiopian are spared

1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it.

2 And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. [about a year and a half of siege; life became desperate for the besieged]



     Jerusalem is captured by the Babylonian army.  Zedekiah and his army flee by night, but the Chaldeans catch up with them in the plains of Jericho.  They take Zedekiah and entourage to the Babylonian king who has Zedekiah’s sons/heirs and all the nobles killed right in front of him.  Then he has Zedekiah’s eyes put out and takes him in chains to Babylon.  The Chaldeans burn the city and break down the walls of Jerusalem.   All but the poorest people of Judah are carried away captive to Babylon.  Those poor are given fields and vineyard in the land.

     Nebuchadrezzar, the Babylonian king, orders that Jeremiah be set free from his prison and taken to his home.  While he was in prison, the Lord had told Jeremiah to tell his Ethiopian friend/protector that despite the destruction of Jerusalem, the Lord would deliver him from his enemies “For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord.”

     Jeremiah 52 just gives more details of the destruction of Jerusalem.  It also mentions that Jehoiachin was taken from prison in Babylon and the Babylonian king elevated him among other captured kings there, feeding and clothing him with honor the rest of his life.  This was no doubt meant to be another slap in the face for Zedekiah.  It’s a clue as to the relative wealth of the rulers of these kingdoms and empires, the number of people they fed, clothed, and housed; not only their personal household (numerous wives, concubines, children) and attendants, as well as princes and bureaucracies, but the rivals and foreigners they wanted to keep tabs on.



Jer 40 Jeremiah is freed, Gedaliah made governor over remnant in Judah

     “Nebuzar-adan the [Babylonian] captain of the guard [while at] Ramah, when he had taken [Jeremiah] being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto Babylon . . .  took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The Lord thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place . . . I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee: whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go . . . So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go.”

     Gedaliah had been made governor over those left in Judah.  Jeremiah goes to live among those people.  The Jews left in Judah are augmented by Jews that had been living in the countries of Moab, Edom, among the Ammonites and other countries, who came back to Judah to live under Gedaliah.  They were able to gather a good harvest from the land.  A plot to kill the governor is alleged, but he doesn’t put any stock in it.



Jer 41 Governor Gedaliah is assassinated, but the conspiracy is overpowered

     It turns out that the conspiracy to assassinate Governor Gedaliah was real.  He and his guard (both Jewish & Chaldean) are killed on the sly.  When 80 men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria come to make an offering to the Lord at Mizpah where Gedaliah’s court was, the assassins come out to meet them and bring them into the city, where they kill them also—except 10 who offer a bribe.  The leader of the assassins, named Ishmael, takes the court and people of Mizpah captive and heads over to the Ammonites.  A man named Johanan leads a force after them, and the captives manage to join him.  Ishmael and 8 of his followers escape to the Ammonites.    Johanan leads the captives he’s freed to a place near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt for fear of reprisals for Ishmael’s killing of Chaldeans.



Jer 42  The Jews that are left consult Jeremiah and ask for his blessing in fleeing to Egypt

     Johanan and his followers come to Jeremiah and ask for his blessing.  They promise that whatever the Lord says to do, whether to stay or to go into exile in Egypt.  Jeremiah promises to tell them whatever the Lord says to do.  

     After 10 days Jeremiah returns to them with the Lord’s answer:  they should stay in the land of Judah, and the Lord will bless them.  He will deliver them from the hand of the king of Babylon, that is, cause him to have mercy on them, so they can remain in peace.  But if they refuse the voice of the Lord and go to Egypt anyway (thinking they will be spared from war and hunger), they will find the war, famine, and pestilence they were trying to flee.  They will die, never to see their homeland again.  The Lord has seen the deception of their hearts in promising to do whatever the Lord counsels.  



Jer 43  The leaders of the remnant of Judah go to Egypt, taking Jeremiah & Baruch with them

     After having promised Jeremiah that they would do whatever the Lord said, whether to stay in the land of Judah or to go to Egypt, the leaders accuse Jeremiah of lying, and being influenced by the scribe Baruch (who had previously written for Jeremiah, see Jer 36) in order to turn them in to the Chaldeans.  They take Jeremiah and Baruch along with all the remnant of Judah and move to Egypt.  

     The Lord tells Jeremiah to hide large stones in the clay of a brickkiln (or pavement) by the entry of one of) Pharoah’s houses (that in Tahpanhes), in front of the men of Judah, and to prophesy that Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, will come, conquer, and burn Egypt and her gods with fire.

https://bibleatlas.org/full/tahpanhes.htm Tahpanhes:  city in the Nile delta of Egypt, on the caravan route



Jer 44  Jeremiah vs the Jews in Egypt:  they worship the gods of Egypt, despite Jeremiah’s warnings

     “The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying . . .” You’ve seen all that Judah & Jerusalem have suffered because of their wickedness, though I sent prophets from early in the day to plead with them not to turn to abominations, but they wouldn’t listen.  So why are you committing the same evil?  You burn incense to the gods of Egypt; have you forgotten the wickedness of the women/wives in Judah, and what it cost you?  The destruction of your nation and land.  “They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.”  



12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.

13 For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:

14 So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.



     But in this large gathering the men, who knew their wives had been burning incense to other gods, and the women themselves, tell Jeremiah, As for what you have to say to us in the name of the Lord, we’ll do whatever we want, “to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.  But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.”

     In a classic case of people seeing the same facts and coming to different (even opposite) conclusions, Jeremiah sees the worship of false gods as the cause of the destruction of Judah, while the women (with their men’s backing) see all their troubles brought on by failing to worship gods other than God.   This points to the importance of educating women in the truth, and the influence women have on not only their children but their men.  

     Jeremiah then prophesies that because of their idolatrous worship He will see they are punished for their unfaithfulness to Him, “Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.  Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.”  [Possibly Jeremiah & Baruch were among those that made it back to Judah, where Jeremiah had a pot buried with a land deed in it?  Jeremiah was known by the Babylonians as counselling Judah and the other nations to submit to Babylonian rule. He had been saved from captivity in Babylon before, so it would be consistent for him to be saved again.]



29 ¶ And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:

30 Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.



(see above for Jeremiah 45 & 46, under the reign of Jehoiakim)

Isaiah–part 2, chapters 11-35

Though this lovely image is the popular remembrance of Isaiah’s prophecy of a Messianic Age, it’s not quite accurate to the text. Still, I think it portrays well enough the message of peace prophesied to come. https://static.wixstatic.com/media/515f93_24c3a265927b4a91b8b2f1397540dcb3~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_720%2Ch_357%2Cal_c%2Cq_80/file.jpg

Isa 11—a Savior descendant of Jesse (King David’s father) & a Messianic age
     A branch will shoot forth from the trunk of Jesse (the idea is restated as a poetic device). 
2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

     A Messianic age of peace will be ushered in.  (Poetic parallelisms paint an ideal of peace).
Wolf dwells with lamb
Leopard lies down with kid (goat)
Fatted calf & young lion
A child will lead them
Cow & bear feed together, lion will eat grains like an ox (note zoo & pet foods are plant based)
A nursing infant will play on the hole of the asp
A toddler will put his hand on the home of a cockatrice (fabled serpent)
And yet none of these will be hurt in God’s country, for the whole earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, like the oceans cover most of the earth.

     The Messiah will stand like a banner, and the people of the world will seek him, and in him find glorious rest (respite from violence).  In that era the Lord will recover the remnant of his people from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros (upper Egypt), Cush (south of Egypt), Elam (Iran), Shinar (Babylon/Southern Mesopotamia), Hamath (a Syrian city), and the islands of the [Mediterranean=in the midst of the lands] sea . . . from every corner of the earth (note the description of the earth as having 4 corners is meant as a language device, not a literal belief about the shape of the earth—the ancients were just as capable as we, perhaps even moreso, of metaphoric thinking. We still reference the cardinal directions of earth as north, south, east, and west:  4).  The adversarial relationship between the kingdoms led by the tribes of Ephraim & Judah will be allayed, and they will work together against their enemies.  It appears that Egypt will be wiped out and the Nile delta will be dried up.  The Children of Israel will make a highway from Assyria back to their land, as they made when they arrived from Egypt in the Exodus.

Isa 12—Israel will praise God for saving the nation from annihilation
1 And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
5 Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

Isa 13-14—a prophetic burden, bad news for Babylon
     With what powerful poetic language the Lord through Isaiah paints a picture!  The Lord calls His holy & mighty ones against Babylon with a banner & a voice from a far country, and they are as a multitude upon the mountains.  All will be faint with fear, the sky will be darkened (probably from the smoke of burning cities).  So many men will be killed those left will be a precious “commodity”.    Everyone will flee to their own lands (no doubt people from many lands served in the seat of Babylon as soldiers, courtiers, and bureaucrats).  Men, women, and children will die horrible deaths.  Babylon will be overthrown as completely as Sodom & Gomorrah, and left uninhabited from one generation to the next, except for wild beasts and nomads who will camp there.  
About the Medes:
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/medes-and-media 
A message for us as well as them:
“And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”

“For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to [embrace]  the house of Jacob.”

In the year King Ahaz of Judah died came this prophecy:
     The allies of the Jews will bring them back to their land, and the captors of the Jews will become their captives, “and they shall rule over their oppressors.  And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve”.
     A proverb vs Babylon:  How hath the oppressor ceased (been stopped)!  The wealthy city is gone!  The Lord has broken the rule of the oppressor who thrashed/clobbered and ruled the nations in anger (harshness).  Now the whole earth is at peace and quiet, and sings in relief.  Isaiah uses the metaphor of trees glad that the clearer of forests is gone and none is come to replace him.  He uses the picture of Hell being disturbed, making way for Babylon among all the kings there.  They taunt him that he is no better than they:  you thought you were so great, like a god.  Is this the guy who made other nations tremble with fear, destroyed them and made them all like wilderness? They ask in derision.  Other kings have been buried honorably, but you will be disrespected, your heirs killed.  
     Verse 25 suddenly inserts Assyria instead of Babylon.  This could be a parallelism, likening the two to each other, or a combining of the two as nations of Mesopotamia, or a different “chapter”.  The siege of the Assyrian army is the one that departed from Jerusalem, and Assyrian warfare was even more brutal than that of Babylon.  Note in verse 24 that what the Lord intends or proposes to do He will accomplish.
     But the Lord warns the nations of Palestine not to get too cocky, because evil/bad news is yet to come:  famine and the sword (warfare).  The poor will have food and safety because they are the only ones left after the people considered more important (the wealthy & skilled) are taken captive, only the poor are left.  The smoke coming from the north refers to the aggression of conquerors from the north (who would, no doubt, burn city after city, causing smoke).  When the corrupt leaders of the Jews (or any nation) are gone, the poor of God’s people will be able to trust in the Zion that the Lord has founded.

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north [the most honored seating]:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High [God].
More info about these verses at https://biblehub.com/isaiah/14-12.htm 

Isa 15 & 16—dire prophecies about Moab
Isa 17—fateful prophecy for Damascus (Syria), & a few comments toward the posterity of Jacob/Israel
Isa 18—prophecy of woe for a land beyond Ethiopia, as well as Jerusalem
Isa 19 & 20—prophecy of bad news for Egypt, followed by conversion to the Lord
Isa 21—Elam & Media vs Babylon, which will fall (a prophet is described as a watchman)
Isa 22—Isaiah mourns for Jerusalem (famous quote:  let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die)
	And a particular prophecy of the fall of one man (the treasurer) and the rise of his successor
Isa 23—vs Tyre & Zidon (they may flee to Tarshish/Spain or Chittim/perhaps Cyprus).  Tyre & Sidon were Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast, wealthy from shipping and trade, establishing trading colonies all around the Mediterranean.  For more info, see https://phoenician.org/phoenician_history/  click links
Isa 24—it seems to Isaiah that the Lord has laid waste to the whole earth (prophetic tense, as if the future has already happened), “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.”  “The pit” would be a place for prisoners.

Isa 25—Isaiah praises God so beautifully (read the chapter!), foretells good for Jerusalem
6 ¶ And in this mountain [Zion] shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations . . .
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.
9 ¶ And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Isa 26—A song to be sung in the future:  God brings Justice for the poor & the upright  
     Trust in the Lord, Isaiah pleads.  He will bring down the proud and the oppressors.  (Comp. Mary's faith in and praise for God in Luke 1:50-55)  The poor & needy will walk over the high & mighty.  “Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”  Even when the wicked are shone favors, they still continue in their ways, and don’t learn any better.  Isaiah continues the theme of a woman in childbirth, the pain that must be endured before the joy.

Isa 27—The Lord will save Israel from her enemies, and one day Israel will worship the Lord again
     The Lord will punish the sea serpent Leviathan.  See https://biblehub.com/isaiah/27-1.htm
     The Lord will care for & tend Israel like a cherished vineyard.  The briars & thorny brush are nothing to the Lord, who will burn them.
      Has the Lord been as hard on Israel as upon her enemies? (A rhetorical question).  The bad part of the Lord’s “vineyard” will be purged by the rough metaphorical (prob hot, dry) windstorms from the east.  By that foreign invasion will the altars, groves, and idolatrous images be destroyed.  The cities will be destroyed such that cattle will feed in them.  The Lord will not show mercy on those ignorant/foolish worshippers of idols.  The Lord will yet call the Children of Israel from Assyria and from Egypt, and they will worship the Lord on the Temple mount in Jerusalem.

Isa 28—woe to Ephraim, and the drunken partiers of both the northern & southern kingdoms
   Quotable verse:  “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little . . . But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little;” in the context of the people refusing to believe what is in store for them:  “Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge [invading armies] shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves”.  The Lord through Isaiah makes a promise:  “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste [be on the run].”    Isaiah uses the metaphors of building, a small bed, and farming for God’s Judgment/Justice and Wisdom.

Isa 29—woe to Ariel, the city of David (Jerusalem)
     Quotable verse:  “And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust” foretelling the destruction of God’s people, and all that’s left is their voice from the grave  (the books left behind).  
     Interesting for readers of the Book of Mormon is the prophecy “Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire” which was written about the destructions in America at the time of Christ’s death.  And the verses following about a sealed book that the educated could not read, and the uneducated felt inadequate to read.  The verses about the hypocrisy of the religious and a marvelous work to come forth is oft quoted regarding the foundation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as those about the conspirators who work in the shadows to try to destroy God’s work.  One day the spiritually deaf and blind will be enlightened, the poor & meek will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel .
     Those who fight against God’s people will one day be like a dream that passes away, yet leaves one hungering.  “It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.”  The ferocious will become nothing, those who scorn God will be destroyed, those that watch for opportunities to aggrandize themselves at the expense of others will be cut down.  Those who try to entrap warning voices by twisting their words against them, as well as corrupting Justice for something worthless is so reminiscent of Jesus’ experience, as well as the prophets before Him, and pretty well the warning voices of any age.  But the time will come when the God who saved Abraham will take away the shame and fear that has been thrust upon the posterity of Jacob/Israel.  Those who recognize God’s hand in it will hold Him in holy awe.  “They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.”
     
Isa 30-31—woe to those who rely on Egypt as an ally, without consulting the Lord
     Woe to those who think they can get away with their sins by allying themselves with Egypt (vs the Assyrians & later the Babylonians), rather than repenting.  Egypt sees no profit in helping them out, and will be ashamed of attempts to do so.  
     Isaiah’s prophecies are to be written in books so that those from the future can witness the truth of his words and warnings.  The children of Israel are like rebellious, lying children.  “Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: [get out of the way and stop talking about God].”  Because you despise God’s word, and trust in oppressing others and depend on your own perversity, you’ll be destroyed like a besieged city whose walls are breached, or a pot burst in the fire and broken into such small pieces that it is useless.  You could be saved by returning to God, but you refuse.  You figure you can get out of town quick, and so you will have to, and all that will be left of you will be your empty ineffective call to arms (metaphorically a flag or beacon).
     But the Lord will wait patiently and will have mercy “for the Lord is a God of [righteous] judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.”  Those who dwell in Jerusalem will weep no more.  When you cry to Him, He will hear and answer.  Though now your lives are filled with adversity and affliction, at long last those that teach righteousness and the way to walk therein will no more be relegated to a corner.  You will cast off idolatries like a menstruous cloth (In the days before women’s products, they had to more or less diaper themselves.  These cloths would be extremely detested.)   And then the Lord will send rain for your crops, and bless your grounds.  Your animals used in agriculture will be well fed.  Your mountains and hills will be well watered with rivers and streams (when once the conquerors are done).  The lights in the sky will seem brighter when the Lord heals the breaches in your walls and the wounds you carry.  The Lord will take retribution on Assyria, and you will again sing and pipe with the gladness of a holy feast.
     The Egyptians are mere mortals, and their horses (military might) are as well.  The Lord is all powerful.  He is like a lion against shepherds, fearless in fighting for Jerusalem.  He is as invulnerable to capture as birds that fly away, and He will deliver Jerusalem from captivity.  Turn back to God, from whom you have revolted, and when you throw away your idols He will cause the downfall of Assyria.

Isa 32—A Righteous King to come and warnings of destruction to careless women before then
1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.
2 And a man [the Messiah] shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest [troubles]; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
3 And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.
4 The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal [generous], nor the churl said to be bountiful [generous].
6 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right . . .
15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places . . .”

Isa 33—A prophecy of faith and hope, despite difficulties
     Prophecies of good alternate with prophecies of war in this chapter.  I’ll collect the bad & the good separate.
     Woe to those who treat others cruelly when they have not been treated that way.  As silkworms (caterpillars) are gathered, the best of the booty will be plucked & carried off.  The plundering will be like locusts attacking, mowing down the crops.  The toughest & bravest soldiers will cry out in fear/pain, the ambassadors seeking peace will weep bitterly for the impossibility of success.  The highways will be empty, with no travel for trade or pleasure.  The covenant between God and Israel is broken, and He despises their cities and pays no attention to their calls for help.  
     Lebanon, known for its timber, will be ashamed of its baldness.  Sharon, known for fruitfulness will be like a wilderness.  Bashan & Carmel, hill country known for their vineyards (I think) will be left without their vines.  Like chaff and the stubble left after harvest, like lime in the making of cement, and thorny brush, the wicked will be burned.  Listen, far and wide, to what the Lord has done, and acknowledge his power.  Sinners are suddenly afraid, and hypocrites surprised:  who will survive the burning? . . .
     The wicked will be terrified.  His accountants (scribes) & receivers of goods, and storage towers are gone.
     “O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble . . .  And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.”  Once the old is destroyed, people will once again look up to the Lord.  
     Who will survive the metaphoric (and real wartime) burning of the wicked?  Only those who walk and speak (conduct their lives) uprightly:  those who despise oppressing others for gain, that wave away bribes, that refuse to listen to plans for prospering through killing, and close their eyes to the temptations of ill-gotten gains (reminds one of mafia tactics).  Those are the ones who will find protection and defense from God (rocks would be used as ammunition, bread and water essential staples in wartime and siege).  These are the ones who will see that future king coming in beauty, and the peaceful land over which he reigns.  They won’t see those fierce, conquering warriors of foreign speech they can’t understand.  
     Look at Zion/Jerusalem, and see a peaceful place to live and worship, that will not be destroyed by war.  The Lord will make His people like a place with broad rivers and streams, where no war ships (which were powered by oars in those days) come.  The tackling of the metaphorical or real war ships is made ineffectual, and they don’t capture their prey.  “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.”  Though His people seem lame, they will win the war.  They will no longer feel sick (weak, despondent), the inhabitants of God’s country will be forgiven their iniquities.

Isa 34—The Lord’s warning to all nations
     Bozrah is the name of an Edomite city, as well as a city of Moab (descendants of Lot).  Idumea was also an area controlled by Edom (descendants of Esau).  See https://bibleatlas.org/idumea.htm 
     For info about unicorns mentioned in the Bible, see https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-unicorn.html  Cormorants are various species of aquatic birds.  All these refer to the lands of Israel’s enemies becoming wilderness (similar to a wildlife reserve in our day).  While satyrs in Roman mythology were half man half goat, Isaiah was probably referring to a rough haired wild goat.  See https://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/satyr.html 
     Although these verses refer specifically to Edom, they may be considered a cautionary tale to all who fight against Zion, the Lord’s people.

Isa 35—Good things are promised to God’s country & people
     The desert will blossom as a rose.  (Regarding Lebanon, Carmel, & Sharon, see Isa 33 above).
     Weak hands and feeble knees will be strengthened (metaphorically, physically)
     The fearful of heart can be strong, unfearing.  Know that God will save you.
     The eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped (those who couldn’t see or hear God’s Truth will come to understand).
     The lame will leap like a deer, those unable to speak will sing.
     The wilderness, the desert will be well-watered.
     An holy highway will be built, and those who travel it, even if fools, will not err.
     No predators will haunt that holy highway, the redeemed of Israel will walk it safely.
     “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Hezekiah–king of Judah

Hezekiah spreads the Assyrian letter before the Lord, illustration from The story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The story of Hezekiah is told in
2 Kings 18-20
2 Chron 29-32
Isa 36-39

Hosea 1:1 served God as prophet during the reigns of Uzziah/Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, & Hezekiah
Isaiah 1:1 served God as prophet during the reigns of Uzziah/Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, & Hezekiah
Micah 1:1 served God as prophet during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, & Hezekiah

2 Kings 18—Hezekiah becomes king of Judah
1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. [That is, he was faithful to God, didn’t fall for or bow to other gods.]
4 ¶ He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.  [1 Chron 31:1 says the people cut down the groves etc; it may be that they did so under the direction of Hezekiah, for surely he didn’t personally do it all.]
5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.
6 For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.
7 And the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.
8 He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

2 Chron 29—right away Hezekiah begins to turn his people back to God
     Hezekiah began in the 1st year of his reign to repair the Temple and to reinstitute Temple worship, the consecration & duties of the Temple priests and Levites, and to get his people back on track following the Law of Moses. He organized the priesthood as set up by King David (see 2 Chron 31).  Remember that the Assyrian Empire is threatening to conquer the entire Middle East.  Hezekiah’s own father, as well as the Israelite king, had invited Assyria’s meddling in their disputes.

2 Chron 29:11 Hezekiah to the priests & Levites 
“My sons, be not now negligent: for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him . . .”

2 Kings 18:9-12—Shalmaneser king of Assyria conquers & takes Israel captive
     In the 4th year of Hezekiah’s reign, the 7th year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria comes and besieges Samaria, and after 3 years conquers it.  He carries the 10 Tribes of Israel from the northern kingdom of Israel away captive.  

2 Chron 30--Hezekiah sends out an invitation to all the Israelites that are left to come celebrate Passover in Jerusalem
6 So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
7 And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
8 Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.
9 For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.

     Many of the Israelites just laugh at Hezekiah, but then many others come from among Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun.  “Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord.  And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation.  And they arose and took away the altars [to other gods] that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense [for other gods] took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron.”
     Many of the Israelites were not ritually clean for the Passover, “But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon every one [that] prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the Lord [a God of Mercy] hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.  And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord.”  Hezekiah praises the Levites for teaching “the good knowledge of the Lord.”
     This Passover celebration comes at no small cost to king Hezekiah and his princes:  Hezekiah donates 1000 bulls & 7000 sheep, and his princes donate 1000 bulls & 10,000 sheep.  It’s such a great event that the people keep the feast for another 7 days “with gladness.” “So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.”  The priests pronounce a blessing on the people, “and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.”

2 Chron 31—the people are turned to God, Hezekiah is blessed
     The people are so inspired by this amazing Passover, and probably with the encouragement of Hezekiah, that “all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.”  The people abundantly support the priests with their offerings, as set forth in the Law of Moses.  The priestly genealogies are updated and they sanctify themselves.  

20 ¶ And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God.
21 And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

2 Kings 18, 2 Chron 32, Isaiah 36—Sennacherib King of Assyria attacks Judah, even to the walls of Jerusalem

2 Kings 18—14th year of Hezekiah Sennacherib king of Assyria conquers much of Judah (Isa 36:1)
13 ¶ Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.
14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house.
16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

2 Chron 32—Hezekiah decides, with his princes & mighty men, to put up a defense vs Assyria
(see also 2 Kings 18 and Isaiah 36)
     Sennacherib has camped against the fenced cities of Judah, “and thought to win them for himself.”  Apparently he is successful.  But when Hezekiah sees he proposes to take Jerusalem as well, Hezekiah consults with his princes and military, and they decide to put up a fight.  The princes & military throw their support behind Hezekiah as he stops the fountains/brooks outside the city so that the opposing army would have no water (mention of bringing the water into the city via a conduit 2 Kings 20:20).  He repairs and strengthens the city walls and towers.  He builds up his arsenal of darts and shields.  He gathers the people inside the city walls and organizes them under captains.  He encourages his people:

7 Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:
8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

     The Assyrian king is busy fighting against Lachish, and sends two top military leaders with a huge army against Jerusalem.  An ambassage come out to meet the Assyrian leaders.  The Assyrians say, What does Hezekiah think he’s doing, to rebel against Assyria?  Does he think he can rely on an alliance with Egypt?  Egypt is like a broken reed.  Does he try to convince you to trust in your God?  He’s destroyed all the places of worship but in Jerusalem (obviously the Assyrians don’t recognize any difference between the idolatrous gods and the God of Israel).  Have any of the other nations’ gods saved them?  

 “Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews’ language in the ears of the people that are on the wall”  2 Kings 18:26.  But that's exactly the Assyrian plan, “they cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ speech unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to affright them, and to trouble them; that they might take the city”  2 Chron 32:18.  And the Assyrians continue  insulting God and telling the people not to trust that Hezekiah can deliver them from defeat, nor the depths of starvation, being reduce to eating their own dung and drinking their own piss.  They offer the people a deal:  if they’ll agree to Assyrian terms they can go to their own properties, eat their own grapes & figs, drink from their own cisterns of water—that is, until they are carried away captive to another land, not unlike their own, with plenty of bread and wine, olives and honey.  The people make no answer to the Assyrians, as Hezekiah has commanded, but the ambassage comes back to report to Hezekiah, their clothes rent/torn with extremely troubled hearts.

2 Kings 19:1 & Isa 37:1 “And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.”

     Hezekiah sends his ambassage in sackcloth & ashes to the prophet Isaiah.  Maybe God will hear the reproaches of the Assyrian king and come to our aid, he hopes.  

2 Chron 32:20 “And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.”

2 Kings 19 (Isa 37:6-7)
6 ¶ And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

     With others wars going on, the Assyrian military or leaders go to help their ruler.  It seems like they return after that, and in a letter they reaffirm that no other gods have saved their people from Assyrian might.  Hezekiah spreads the letter before the Lord in the Temple, praying for help.  “O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only.”  Isaiah sends a reply from the Lord to Hezekiah, answering the king of Assyria, “The virgin the daughter of Zion [that is, the kingdom of Judah—under which, once again, all that’s left of the House of Israel are ruled] hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee . . . Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel . . . Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, [images of cattle and horses, subservient to others] and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.”
     A sign is given that the people would eat of volunteer crops 2 years, and the third they would plant and reap their own foods.  God makes a promise, “Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.  By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.”   That night God sends an angel to destroy the Assyrian army—185,000  die.  Sennacherib returns to Ninevah.  As he’s worshipping in the temple of his god, 2 of his sons kill him and flee, his other son inherits the Empire.  
     
2 Chron 32
22 Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.
23 And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth. [People love a winner, and it appears that Hezekiah has saved them all from Assyria's rule.]

2 Kings 20 (2 Chron 32:24, Isa 38:1-6)—Hezekiah’s sickness, promised 15 more years
     Assyria assails the kingdom of Judah in Hezekiah’s 14th year.  Hezekiah’s reign is 29 years.  So if he’s promised to live 15 more years, apparently this critical illness (a horrible boil) occurs during the Assyrian siege.

1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.
2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying,
3 I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord.
6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
7 And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

   Hezekiah’s mourning in his sickness is written in Isa 38:9-20.
   Hezekiah asks for a sign, and Isaiah asks, Do you want the shadow of the sun to go forward 10 degrees, or backward?  Hezekiah chooses the latter, Isaiah prays that it be so, and it was so.  (Interesting note, it was shown on the sundial of the previous king, Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz).  The king of Babylon sends letters and a gift to Hezekiah, on hearing that he is returned to health (2 Kings 20:12, Isaiah 39:1), which will become a snare to him.

2 Chron 32 (2 Kings 20:12-19, Isaiah 39:1-8)—Hezekiah foolishly shows off
27 ¶ And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels;
28 Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks.
29 Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him substance very much.
30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. [Remember, he lived 15 years after his sickness, he's been plied with gifts from other nations, and possibly it was after the Assyrian war that he was victorious over Philistine cities, 2 Kings 18:8]

     Ambassadors from Babylon come to congratulate Hezekiah on his recovery, and he gets carried away with showing off all he has.  He shows them everything.  Isaiah asks Hezekiah who the men were and what they had to say.  Hezekiah answers him, to which Isaiah asks what he showed them.  Hezekiah says, Everything!  Isaiah rebukes him for his foolishness and tells him that as a consequence all he has, including what he has inherited from his fathers/ancestors, will be carried away to Babylon.  His heirs will be taken away to serve as eunuchs in the palace of Babylon, cutting off his lineage as successors to his crown.  Since he can’t do anything about it now, Hezekiah seems to take the pronouncement rather philosophically.  “Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.”  Isa 39:8

2 Chron 32:32-33, Kings 20:20-21—death of Hezekiah 
     (2 Kings 20:20 mentions the conduit & pool to bring water into the city)
32 ¶ Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
33 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.