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Home , Jeremiah 51, Libnah, Riblah

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10/6/02 1) He would take vengeance and dry up her water sources. Vs. 36 51:34-52:34 2) He would make her desolate and the place for jackals and mocking. Vs. 37 We didn’t finish chapter fifty-one last time so we will be picking up at verse thirty-four and 51: 38-40 God would set them up by their continuing on to chapter fifty-two, coming to the pride. close of our study of the . 1) They are pictured as roar like lions and growling like lions' whelps. Vs. 38 We began 11/25/01, so it’s been about ten months 2) They would be partying with wine rather and have looked at about twenty-seven messages that being afraid of the , being set on Sunday morning. up as lambs to the slaughter. Vs. 39 -40 * This is exactly what took place as This is the fifth division and regards the appendix Beshazzar defiled the vessels of the and conclusion of the book. Jer. 52 temple in his drunken feast, as God * Possibly recorded by Ezra and some other person wrote on the wall, “And this is the after the return? inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. “This 51:34-44 The defenselessness of . is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your 51:34-35 The people of God complaint against kingdom, and finished it; “TEKEL: Babylon’s ill treatment of them. You have been weighed in the 1) Nebuchadnezzar is portrayed as some balances, and found wanting;” monster of uncompassionate ruler for his “PERES: Your kingdom has been enjoyment. Vs.34 divided, and given to the Medes and 2) The petition of is that it be Persians.”. . 5:25-28 done to him in like manner, saying “And my blood be upon the inhabitants of 51:41-44 The taking of Babylon. !” Vs. 35 nations, Sheshach is another cryptogram referring to Babylon! Vs. 41 51:36-37 God would plead their case. 3 4

2) Babylon was covered with the multitude ruled only a few months until of its waves. Vs. 42 replaced by Nabonidus, 556-539 B.C. 3) Babylon is uninhabited. Vs. 43 4) would punish Bel in Babylon, 51:49-53 The sure fall of Babylon and Jews spoil her of all her goods and stop going to Jerusalem. nations from coming to her, making her 1) Babylon would reap in kind, the law of defenseless without walls. Vs. 44 lex talionis, i.e., law of retaliation.. Vs. * Three-hundred feet high, eighteen feet 49 thick and thirty-five feet deep into the 2. The captives were to not hesitate but ground! think of Jerusalem. Vs. 50 3) Shame had covered the face of the Jews, 51:45-58 The flight of and the fear of as strangers had come into the Babylon. sanctuaries of the LORD’S house, it was never to be forgotten. Vs. 51 51:45-48 Israel is to flee Babylon. 4) The days would bring judgment on her 1) God’s people were to deliver themselves carved images, And throughout all her from the fierce anger of the LORD, land the wounded shall groan. Vs. 52 fleeing as from Sodom and Gamorrah. 5) Nothing could prevent the destruction of Vs. 45 Babylon. Vs. 53 2) The precaution was that they not be caught in the destruction. Vs. 46 51:54-58 The complete destruction of 3) The days would be judgment on the Babylon repeated. carved images of Babylon; and all her 1) The horrible cries from Babylon, were the slain shall fall in her midst. Vs. 47 doing of the LORD, the God of 4) Heaven and earth would rejoiced in that recompense, righteous justice. Vs. 54 day and sing for the plunder from the 2) The Lord by plundering Babylon, silence north. Vs. 48 her Voice of pride. Vs. 5 * Nebuchadnezzar’s successor, Amel- 3) The mighty men are taken, their bows Marduk, was assassinated in 560 b his broken for Yahweh would surely repay. brother-in-law Neriglisser, 560-556 Vs. 54-56 B.C. His successor, Labashi-Marduk, 5 6

4) This without any doubt another reference accommodations and comfort of the to the feast of Belshazzar, as the Lord of king of in Babylon, who hosts writes their doom. Vs. 57, Dan. 5 happened to be the brother of Baruch, 5) The end is inevitable the broad walls who was Jeremiah’s secretary. Vs. 59; would be utterly broken, the high gates 32:12; 45:1 shall be burned with fire; not people or nations, will be able to stop it. Vs. 58 51:60-62 The nature of the mission. 1) Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that 51:59-64 The mission of Seraiah. would come upon Babylon, all the words that are written against Babylon. Vs. 60 51:59 The time of the mission. Vs. 59 a) He collected all words of judgment 1) Jeremiah the commanded Seraiah against Babylon and compiled them in the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. this scroll. Vs. 59a-b b) He was in affect warning her to * This was as much a Divine message as repent. the others to Jeremiah. 2) Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you 2) The occasion was when he went with arrive in Babylon and see it, and read all Zedekiah the king of to Babylon. these words”. Vs. 61 Vs. 59c a) The reading of the prophecy was no * Though no reason is given, it is easy matter but one as courageous as beloved it was to clear himself of the Jeremiah’s mission. accusation of rebellion by making an b) The words could be interpreted as alliance with . Jer. 27:2-11 arrogant and rebellious by the 3) The exact year is given to us. Vs. 59c Babylonians. * In the fourth year of his reign, 594-93 4) Jeremiah then makes the mission even B.C. more difficult telling Saraiah to confirm 4) The identity of Saraiah is also given. Vs. the message before all who heard it 59d saying, “Then you shall say, `O LORD, * Seraiah was the quartermaster, or “staff You have spoken against this place to cut officer, the one responsible to go it off, so that none shall remain in it, ahead and look after the 7 8

neither man nor beast, but it shall be being judged by God, sinking to desolate forever Vs. 62 never rise again. 3) Jeremiah ends his words. Vs. 64d 51:63-64 The illustration and application of the * Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. mission. 1) Jeremiah gave to Saraiah a final 52:1-11 The reign of Zedekiah. instruction to illustrate his message, 1) The chapter is a supplement to the book “Now it shall be, when you have finished of Jeremiah, written by someone else reading this book, that you shall tie a than Jeremiah. stone to it and throw it out into the 2) It is to vindicate the prophet in contrast to . Vs. 63 the false . 2) Jeremiah then made application to the 3) The chapter is almost identical to Second message, “Then you shall say, `Thus kings, with minor differences. Babylon shall sink and not rise from the catastrophe that I will bring upon her. 52:1-3 The ascension and rebellion. And they shall be weary.” Vs. 64a-c 2Kings24:18-20 a) This was a sign message, so as to not 1) Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when misunderstand it, being imprinted in he became king, and he reigned eleven the minds of the hearers. years in Jerusalem, from 597-586 B.C. b) This was to give hope to the captives Vs. 1a-b at the same time and assurance of a) Zedekiah was one of the three sons of Yahweh’s faithfulness. , Jehoiahaz and was c) Notice that at the same time Jeremiah his brothers. was prophesying to Judah to b) Zedekiah was placed on the throne by surrender, he sends the prophecy of Nebuchadnezzar when his nephew Babylon’s destruction! Jehoiachin was deported, after only * The book began with Babylon as the three months. 2Kings 24:15-17 “boiling pot” to be used by God as 2) Zedekiah’s mother’s name was Hamutal His instrument of judgment for the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. Vs. Judah and ends with Babylon 1c 9 10

a) The spelling is confirmed but also 1) The rebellion of Zedekiah caused recorded differently. 2Kings 23:31; Nebuchadnezzar all of his army and to 24:18 besiege Jerusalem in the ninth year of his b) Not Jeremiah the prophet but another. reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of Jer. 35:3 the month, January 588 B.C. Vs. 4a-d c) Libnah was an important city of a) Ezekiel was told by Yahweh to record Sephelah of Judah. the date, confirming the date. Ezk. 3) Zedekiah also did evil in the sight of the 24:1-2 LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim b) The date was memorialized by the had done. Vs. 2 Jews and a fast was instituted. Zech. a) Jehoiakim reigned for 8:19 b) Zedekiah did not learn from history, 2) The siege was all around the wall of for Zedekiah king of Judah had shut Jerusalem. Vs. 4e Jeremiah up, saying, “Why do you 3) This siege lasted till the eleventh year of prophesy and say, `Thus says the King Zedekiah, 586 B.C. Vs. 5 LORD: “Behold, I will give this city a) The city was under siege for eighteen into the hand of the king of Babylon, months. and he shall take it”. Jer 32:3 b) So important a date that it is recorded c) Jeremiah had warned him against four times. 2Kings 25:2; 2Chron. rebellion in 589 B.C. Jer. 38:17-23 36:11-21; Jer. 39:1-14 4) Zedekiah’s sin brought Yahweh’s wrath. Vs. 3 52:6 The severe internal conditions of a) Yahweh cast the people out from His Jerusalem. 2Kings 25:3 presence. Vs. 3a-b 1) By the fourth month, on the ninth day of b) Zedekiah broke his word and rebelled the month, of the eleventh year of against the king of Babylon. Vs. 3c Zedekiah’s reign, eighteen months, the famine had become so severe in the city 52:4-11 The final fall of Jerusalem. that there was no food for the people of the land. Jer. 39:3 52:4-5 The siege of Jerusalem. 2Kings 25:1- 2 11 12

2) The Lamentation tells us they were eating a) They took the king and brought him their children. Lam. 2:12; 4:4, 9-10; Ezk. up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in 5 the land of Hamath. Vs. 9a b) They pronounced judgment on him. 52:7 The fall of Jerusalem. 2Kings 25:4-5 Vs. 9b 1) Then the city wall was broken through, 3) The last thing Zedekiah saw was his sons and all the men of war fled and went out being slain before his eyes and the of the city at night by way of the gate princes at Riblah. Vs. 10 between the two walls, which was by the * Jer 39:5-7 king's garden. Vs. 7a-c a) Nebuchadnezzar was not present at the a) Zedekiah, his family and elite army siege but at his headquarters in fled for safety. Riblah. About 150 miles north of b) Zedekiah was responsible for the Jerusalem. 2Kings 23:33; 25:6 attack. b) North of the Dead Sea that extended 2) The flight was even as the Chaldeans to the head of head of the gulf of were near the city all around. Vs. 7d Aqaba. 3) And they went by way of the plain, down b) Riblah was the ancient Syrian town on towards the Jordan Valley. Vs. 7e the Orontes River about ten miles a) The event has been mentioned. Jer south of Kadeh, at the crossing of the 32:4-5 highways between Egypt and Mesopotania, a very strategic location 52:8-11 Zedekiah’s fight and capture. 2Kings militarily as Nebuchadnezzar’s 25:6-7 headquarters. 1) The flight of Zedekiah was futile. Vs. 8 c) Riblah also had served as the a) The Chaldeans pursued the king, and headquarters of Necho in 609 they overtook Zedekiah in the plains in his campaign to assist of Jericho. Vs. 8a-b against Babylon. 2Kings 23:33 b) All his army abandoned him. Vs. 8c d) Hamah is the modern city of Hama in 2) Zedekiah was taken to the headquarters of . Nebuchadnezzar. Vs. 9 4) Nebuchadnezzar also put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound 13 14

him in bronze fetters, took him to 2)) He was the captain of the guard, Babylon, and put him in prison till the the bodyguard or literally “the day of his death. chief butcher”, the field marshal a) Ezekiel prophesied it in a sign sermon. who was the chief executioner. Ezk. 12:12-14 3)) He was responsible for rounding b) Jeremiah mentioned it more than once. up all who remained in the city to Jer. 1:7, 24:8 be carried off to Babylon. 2) The places of authority were burned to 52:12-27 The complete plunder of Jerusalem. the ground. Vs. 13 a) He burned the house of the LORD. 52:12-14 The demolishing of the of Jerusalem. b) He burned the king's house. 2Kings 25:8-12 c) He burned all the houses of Jerusalem, 1) The date is recorded. Vs. 12 that is, all the houses of the great men. a) A month after the wall was breached. 1)) Down around the spring of Gihon, Jer. 52:12 the old city of Ophel, you can see 1)) Now in the fifth month, on the the excavations by Professor tenth day of the month (which was in the middle 80’s and see the nineteenth year of King the ashes of the time of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon). Nebuchadezzar and the multitudes Vs. 12a-b of idols to the deities of sexuality. 2)) 2Kings 25:8 says the seventh day, 2)) They also found the seal of the difference could be the interval Gemariah the son of , the between the arrival of scribe in the time of Jeremiah. Jer. Nebuzaradan and the entry to the 36:10 city. 3) They broke down all the walls of b) The one in charge was Nebuzaradan, Jerusalem all around, being defenseless the captain of the guard, who served and conquered. Vs. 14 the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. Vs. 12c-f 52:15-16 The demoralizing of the people. 1)) His name means “he who has 2Kings 25:8-12 given seed”. 15 16

1) Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the transportation fulfilled it. Jer. 27:19- guard carried away captives. Vs. 15 22 a) Some of the poor people. Vs. 5a 2) They also took away all the artifacts and b) The rest of the people who remained implements, furnishings and decorations in the city. Vs. 15b of the temple and for of the temple and c) The defectors who had deserted to the it’s service, whatever was solid gold and king of Babylon. Vs. 15c whatever was solid silver, the captain of d) And the rest of the craftsmen. Vs. 15d the guard took away, which King 2) But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard Solomon had made for the house of the left some of the poor of the land as LORD--the bronze of all these articles vinedressers and farmers. Vs. 16 was beyond measure. Vs. 18-20 a) To leave the city unable to defend * Some articles had already been taken in itself. 597 B.C., when Jehoiachin and b) To humble the Jews. perhaps some were replaced with Zedekiah. 2Kings 24:13 52:17-23 The dismantling of the dedicated 3) The size of the pillars. Vs. 21 furnishing of the temple in Jerusalem. a) Now concerning the pillars: the height 2Kings 25:13-17 of one pillar was eighteen cubits, a 1) The bronze pillars, the carts and the measuring line of twelve cubits could bronze Sea that were in the house of the measure its circumference, and its LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, thickness was four fingers; it was and carried all their bronze to Babylon. hollow. Vs. 21 Vs. 17 b) These were twenty-seven feet high, a) The precious metals would be of great eighteen feet in circumference and value. four inches thick of bronze, named b) The First book of Kings describes all Jachin and Boaz. 1Kings 7:21; Jer. the furnishings. 1Kings 7:15-50 52:17 c) The prophecy seemed ludicrous when 4) The pillars had crowns. Vs. 22-23 Jeremiah made due to their size but by a) A capital of bronze was on it; and the cutting them into smaller pieces the height of one capital was five cubits, or seven and a half feet. Vs. 22a-b 17 18

* The discrepancies in Second Kings b) He took seven men of the king's close can be reconciled by close associates who were found in the city. observation of the descriptions! Vs. 25b b) With a network and pomegranates all c) He took the principal scribe of the around the capital, all of bronze. Vs. army who mustered the people of the 22c-d land, and sixty men of the people of c)) The second pillar, with pomegranates the land who were found in the midst was the same. Vs. 22e of the city. Vs. 25c-d d) There were ninety-six pomegranates 3) All these men were executed. Vs. 26-27 on the sides; all the pomegranates, all a) And Nebuzaradan the captain of the around on the network, were one guard took these and brought them to hundred. Vs. 23 the king of Babylon at Riblah, the * Symbol of fertility and were on the headquarters of Nebuchadnezzar. Vs. priest’s garments. Ex. 2l8:33-34; 26 39:24-26 b) Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the 52:24-27 The demise of the religious and civil land of Hamath. Vs. 27a leaders. 2Kings 25:18-21 c) Thus Judah was carried away captive 1) Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard from its own land. Vs. 27c took the priests. Vs. 24 a) He took Seraiah the chief priest, who 52:28-30 The captives taken from Jerusalem. was the grand-son of Josiah’s High 1) These are the people whom priest Hilkiah. Vs. 34a Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in * 1Chron. 6:13-15 the seventh year, three thousand and b) He took Zephaniah the second priest, twenty-three Jews, 596 B.C. Vs. 28 and the three doorkeepers.. Vs. 24b a) Second kings says 10,000 plus 8.000 2) Nebuzaradan also took the chief officers but this discrepancy may be due to the of Judah. Vs. 25 inclusion of women and children. a) He also took out of the city an officer 2Kings 24:12-16 who had charge of the men of war. Vs. 25a 19 20

b) The discrepancy of seventh and eighth were other minor deportation or is due to two different ways accession partial lists, etc. system. 4) The first captives was in the reign of 1)) The none accession year system Jehoiakim, the first year of starts counting the very years the Nebuchadnezzar, which was the first. kings ascends the throne. 2Kings 24:1-4; 2Chron. 36:5-7; Dan. 1;1- 2)) The other is the accession year 5 system, which counts an “accession year” before “the first 52:31-34 The restoration of Jehoiachin. year” 2Kings 25:27-30 2) In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem 1) Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh eight hundred and thirty-two persons. Vs. year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king 29 of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the a) This corresponds with the fall of twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil- Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Merodach king of Babylon, in the first b) The number of men is small and may year of his reign, lifted up the head of only be a partial list. Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought 3) In the twenty-third year of him out of prison. Vs. 31 Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the a) Cuneiform tablets found in Babylon captain of the guard carried away captive confirm this event. of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five b) There is a twenty-six year gap persons. All the persons were four between verse thirty and thirty-one thousand six hundred. Vs. 30 c) Evil Merodach reigned only for two a) That would be 581 B.C. years, 562-560 B.C. b) Some think this is the deportation d) He was put in prison by his father from Egypt, in retaliation of Nebuchadnezzar after he regained his ’s murder. Jer. 39:9 sanity for being glad over his father’s c) The corresponding numbers don’t condition as he replaced him. always fit, probably because their 21 22

e) They say during his imprisonment that her plunder and humiliation, writing he might of struck up this friendship his lamentations! with Jehoiachin in prison. c) The weeping prophet a precursor of f) He was assassinated by his brother-in- the Messiah, as He wept over law , who succeeded him, Jerusalem. Matt. 23:37-39 560-556 B.C. 2) And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. Vs. 32 a) Kings would often be like trophies at the kings table. b) others were kept in prison. 3) So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. Vs. 33 * He received the mercy of God in his imprisonment! 4) And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life. Vs. 34 a) God was in control and giving hope to the people! b) Tradition tells us of a cave that is across the city of Jerusalem across from Solomon’s quarries called “Jeremiah’s Grotto” where the prophet sat and wept over the city for