WWUTT 2564 Zedekiah is Punished, Jeremiah is Spared (Jeremiah 39:1-40:16)

Judah was warned of the judgment that is to come, but they would not listen to the

Word of God that came through the prophet Jeremiah. And because they did not listen, they faced an even harsher punishment.

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Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Jeremiah, we come to chapter 39 today.

We'll actually cover chapters 39 and 40 as these are shorter chapters. We're in a very narrative section of Jeremiah.

If you'll remember early on in our study of this book, we read all kinds of prophecies about the destruction that was going to come upon Judah because of their rebellion against God.

So now in this portion of Jeremiah, we're seeing those prophecies play out in the narrative. Judah denies that the judgment of God will even come upon them.

Zedekiah refuses to listen to the Word of the Lord as it has come through Jeremiah.

As we read last time from chapter 38, Zedekiah had Jeremiah thrown in prison.

So now as we come into chapter 39, here's what's going to happen. Judgment is going to come upon Jerusalem.

You saw that coming, of course. And Zedekiah will be treated harshly, brutally the way that Nebuchadnezzar treats him here.

But Jeremiah will be spared. This is the providence of God caring for his faithful prophet, even in the midst of this judgment that comes upon this people.

So let me pick up in chapter 39, verse 1. I'll read through verse 10 to start things off.

Hear the Word of the Lord. In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah in the tenth month,

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it.

In the eleventh year of Zedekiah in the fourth month on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city.

Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate. Nergal Sar -Ezer of Samgar, Nebuchadnezzar the

Rabsarus, Nergal Sar -Ezer the Rabbag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon.

When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls.

And they went toward the Ereba, but the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook

Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.

The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon slaughtered all the nobles of Judah.

He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon.

The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the Rabsarus, the captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him and the people who remained.

Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

So let's stop there for a moment. So again, it had been said to Zedekiah and to Judah, if you will submit yourselves to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, if you will go into captivity with the

Chaldeans under the rule of the Chaldeans, then God will spare you your life. You will get to keep your life and you will live in prosperity even in Babylon.

But if they rebelled against God's word and therefore would not submit to Nebuchadnezzar, then the judgment would be quite harsh.

And you can see here exactly what it was that Zedekiah and all the nobles of Judah went through.

Zedekiah had his eyes put out, as Zedekiah had been blind anyway, like he would refuse to see what

God was saying to him through Jeremiah. He was spiritually blind.

This was as Jesus would say to the Pharisees, that they are the blind leading the blind.

And that's what Zedekiah was doing. He himself refused to see what God was saying through his prophet, refused with prudence to recognize what the

Lord was going to do. And so in his rebellion, closing his eyes to the obvious, the

Lord brings this judgment upon him in which he actually has his physical eyes gouged out.

Spiritually blind and now physically blind. And the people of Judah who would not follow

God, but they were following Zedekiah, well, the nobles would all be slaughtered right there before Zedekiah.

Zedekiah's own sons would all be slaughtered. And here ends the reign of the kings of Judah in Jerusalem.

Zedekiah would not have an heir that would sit on the throne. Now, this does not mean, though, that there was no longer a bloodline, because we know from the genealogy of Christ that's given to us in Matthew chapter one, that there were still those who were descendants of Josiah, where the bloodline from David down through this line of Judah would continue on until the birth of Jesus Christ.

He was a descendant of David. So it's not like all of the descendants of David now get cut off at Zedekiah, but his offspring is cut off so that he will not have a son sit upon the throne.

There's still descendants of Josiah, but none left of Zedekiah. So Zedekiah has his own son slaughtered right there before him.

And he's bound in chains, put in captivity and taken to Babylon. The king's house is burned.

Everything is demolished. There's nothing left of the capital city of Judah. Those poor that remained, well, they got to inherit vineyards.

But it's not as if they would become rich off of what it was that they were planting and harvesting, because there was nobody to trade to, nobody to sell anything to.

But at least they could live off the land and continue to thrive there in Judah. So let's continue on.

This is where the Lord delivers Jeremiah in the remainder of chapter 39. This is verse 11. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuchadnezzar the captain of the guard saying, take him, look after him well and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.

This is obviously God working through Nebuchadnezzar to protect Jeremiah. So Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard,

Nebuchadnezzar, the rabbi, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon sent and took

Jeremiah from the court of the guard. They entrusted him to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, that he should take him home.

So he lived among the people. Now by the way, these names you heard them mentioned in the first portion of chapter 39, and here they come up again.

You have Nergal, Sar -Ezzer, the rab mag, and the chief officers. So these are titles, and I remember looking this up at one point, but I don't have these notes in front of me, what the different prefixes mean and things like that.

Rab mag and the rab saris, these are roles that were played by these men who had been appointed to these positions by the king of Babylon.

So they were right -hand guys to the king, essentially, and that's what those titles mean.

So they are dealing very charitably with Jeremiah. Here you have these royal officials, along with Nebuchadnezzar, who had slaughtered all of the

Jewish officials and had gouged out the eyes of Zedekiah before taking him into captivity.

But Jeremiah, by these same men, treated very kindly.

Even whatever Jeremiah says should be done with him. That's what they're to do with him. So in verse 15, the word of the

Lord came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard. Go and say to Ebed -Melech the

Ethiopian, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and not for good.

And they shall be accomplished before you on that day. But I will deliver you on that day, declares the

Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war.

That was exactly what God said to the Jews. If they would go into captivity with the king of Babylon, they would have their lives as a prize.

So Ebed -Melech gets his life because, as verse 18 says, you have put your trust in me, declares the

Lord. So you see how even in the midst of this conquering of Jerusalem, how the

Lord showed favor to those who had been obedient to him. They did not get lost in the scuffle.

It wasn't like the Chaldeans just came in and just wiped everybody out. There were still those who God, by his providence, protected and were even treated generously by these people who had come and had conquered

Jerusalem. So Ebed -Melech, who had hidden Jeremiah and protected him because he listened to the

Lord, he will not be dealt with the way that the rest of the Jews are with these

Chaldeans that have come upon Jerusalem. So now let's go to chapter 40 and I'll begin reading here.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah when he took him bound in chains along with all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.

The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, the Lord your God pronounced this disaster against this place.

Imagine that. Like this is coming from the mouth of one of the enemies of Judah, the

Lord your God, Yahweh your God is exactly how that translates. He pronounced this disaster against this place.

We have come against this place and have succeeded because it was ordained by God for this to happen.

The Lord has brought it about and has done as he said, because you sinned against the

Lord and did not obey his voice. This thing has come upon you.

Now behold, I release you today from the chains on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come and I will look after you well.

But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, do not come. See, the whole land is before you.

Go wherever you think it good and right to go. If you remain, then return to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of the cities of Judah and dwell with him among the people or go wherever you think it right to go.

Jeremiah is not given a direct order here at all other than do what it is that you think is right.

The Lord is giving him the opportunity to do what he wants, and the

Babylonians will bless him for it. This man, this prophet who had prophesied the word of God to this people and said, go into captivity with the king of Babylon, but they rebelled and refused, and so judgment came upon them.

And here you have the captain of the guard of Nebuchadnezzar's court that is saying, your

God pronounced this disaster upon this place. And that's why we were able to do it. So the captain of the guard gave

Jeremiah an allowance of food and a present and let him go. Then verse six, Jeremiah went to get a lie of the son of Ahikam at Mizpah and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

Now picking up in verse seven, when all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed

Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land and had committed to him, men, women, and children, those of the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon.

They went to get a liar at Mizpah, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, Joannan, the son of Kereah, Sariah, the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephi, the

Netophathite, Jezaniah, the son of the Maokathite, they and their men.

Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men saying, do not be afraid to serve the

Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

As for me, I will dwell at Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who will come to us.

But as for you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil and store them in your vessels and dwell in your cities that you have taken.

Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed

Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over them, then all the

Judeans returned from all the places to which they had been driven and came to the land of Judah to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and they gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance.

So they store these things up. As I had mentioned, it wasn't that they could buy, sell and trade really because there wasn't anybody to do that with, but they could store up this harvest and this produce for their benefit and for their livelihood.

So verse 13, now Johanan, the son of Kereah, and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah and said to him,

Do you know that Baalos, the king of the

Ammonites, has sent Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, to take your life? But Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, would not believe them.

Then Johanan, the son of Kereah, spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, Please let me go and strike down Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it.

Why should he take your life so that all the Judeans who are gathered about you would be scattered and the remnant of Judah would perish?

But Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, said to Johanan, the son of Kereah, You shall not do this thing, for you are speaking falsely of Ishmael.

And that's where we will stop for this week, and then we will pick up the rest in chapter 41 later.

But let me make this point here as we kind of wrap this up. Remember that Judah has been told of the judgment that is to come because of their sin, and Judah refused to listen to it.

And because of that, judgment has come, very, very harsh judgment. And surely those people, as they are being either slaughtered or taken into exile, they have to have it cross their minds if only we had listened.

Because obviously the way that we wanted to go was not worked out for us. If only we had listened and obeyed the

Lord God and had gone into captivity with the Babylonians as he told us to do, then all of this disaster would not have come upon us in this way.

Surely there were some of those Jews who were thinking that way. And my friends, the

Bible tells us that there is judgment that will come upon us because of our sin. And there are some, even among professing

Christians, who don't believe that. They might even become like the scoffers who were talked about in 2

Peter 3. Where is the promise of his coming? Where is this judgment that was said was going to come upon us?

Maybe they don't exactly verbalize it that way, but in their spirits and in their hearts, it's the way they've reasoned in favor of their actions.

I can still continue to have this sin because God is not really going to see.

He's not really going to judge me for what it is that I've done, or perhaps they reason it this way.

God is a gracious God. He's just going to show me grace and he's going to forgive me for all of these things that I do.

Well, in the book of Galatians, it says, God will not be mocked. And what a man sows that will he also reap.

And so a person who persists in sin in this way and thinks that he will not face any judgment because of it, he will come to a startling awakening one day.

When the judgment of God does indeed come upon the man who would not repent, but had continued in unrighteousness, even deceiving himself in thinking that no judgment would come upon him.

As Revelation 3 .19 says, this is the word of Jesus in Revelation 3, those whom

I love, I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent.

Turn from your sin to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will forgive you of your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

First John 1 .9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But if we continue to hide this wickedness and persist in it, the judgment of God will come upon those, even those who profess the name of Jesus.

Do not think that the Lord does not see and will not punish those who continue to do evil.

And so if you are convicted, if you know there's sin that you continue in, that you have not given up to the

Lord, be convicted and turn from that sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and live. Walk in those sins no more.

As John says in 1 John 2 .1, so a couple of verses after 1 John 1 .9, my little children,

I have written these things to you that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the

Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. We are supposed to continue to walk before the

Lord, pursuing holiness. Now we don't do that perfectly. So when we stumble and fall, well,

Jesus is still there as our advocate speaking on our behalf before the

Father. But if we continue in sin without repenting, we actually demonstrate that we don't belong to God.

We are instead still slave to our sin and serving Satan.

So turn from your sin now that the righteous deeds of Christ may be done in you.

And you will not face judgment on that day, such as Judah did, such as Zedekiah did.

But we will be delivered into his imperishable, perfect kingdom where we will eat the fruit of the land.

Let's finish there. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read in the book of Jeremiah today.

And I pray that it would be convicting, that we would turn from our sin, that we would receive forgiveness from Christ and we would walk in righteousness and sin no more.

But Father, when we stumble, we thank you for being a good and loving Father who disciplines us and restores us back to the path of righteousness.

Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith and come into his kingdom with great joy, holy and sanctified by your spirit and your word.

It is in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. This has been When We Understand the

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