Jeremiah
LeRoy Eims
Jeremiah lived about 100
years after Isaiah. Isaiah had been used of God to save Jerusalem from Assyria.
For 40 years he prophesied in Jerusalem. He saw the city partially destroyed,
and then further devastated and finally sacked and burned.
During these 40 years of the
end of the monarchy, called the death agony of the nation, he was a pathetic,
lonely man. He was God's last messenger to the Holy City which had become
hopelessly and fanatically attached to idols. He ceased not to cry out that if
they would repent, God would save them from Babylon. Just as Assyria had been
the backdrop of Isaiah's ministry, so Babylon was the background of the
ministry of Jeremiah.
The internal situation of
the nation was this: the northern kingdom had fallen and much of Judah with it.
They had suffered reverse after reverse, until Jerusalem alone was left.
Unbelievable as it sounds, they still ignored the continued warnings of the
prophets, and grew harder and harder in their idolatry and wickedness. The hour
of doom was about to strike.
The international situation
at the time was interesting. There was a three‑way contest for the
rulership of the world between Assyria, Babylon and Egypt.
For 300 years Assyria in the
northern Euphrates valley with Nineveh as its capital, had ruled the world; but
now it was growing weak.
Babylon in the southern
Euphrates valley, was becoming powerful. Egypt, 300 miles to the southwest, in
the valley of the Nile, which 1,000 years before, had been a world power and
had declined, was once again becoming ambitious with dreams of grandeur and
conquest. Babylon won. It broke the power of Assyria and two years later
crushed Egypt and for 70 years ruled the world, the same 70 years as the Jewish
captivity.
From the outset, 20 years
before the issue was settled, Jeremiah prophesied that Babylon would be the
victor. All through his incessant and bitter complaints over Judah's wickedness
and sin these three ideas are stated time and time again: One, Judah is going
to be destroyed by victorious Babylon. Two, if Judah will turn from her sin,
somehow God will save her from destruction at the hands of Babylon. Three,
Babylon, destroyer of Judah, shall herself be destroyed, never to rise again.
Jeremiah unceasingly advised
Jerusalem to surrender to the King of Babylon, so much so that his enemies
accused him of being a traitor. Nebuchadnezzar rewarded him for this by sparing
his life and offering him any honor he would accept.
Through it all Jeremiah
continued to cry that Babylon was committing a terrible crime in destroying
God's people, and for that, Babylon in time would be desolate forever. The
Medes are named the conquerors. This was copied in a book and sent to Babylon
seven years before Nebuchadnezzar burned Jerusalem.
Daniel had been in Babylon
15 years and had already told Nebuchadnezzar of the fall of his kingdom. The
book was publicly read, and then in a solemn ceremony submerged in the
Euphrates river, with these words: "Thus shall Babylon sink and not
rise."
Here are a few excerpts from
the letter. "Babylon, hammer of the whole earth, a land of graven images,
mad over idols, shall be a wilderness, a dwelling place of dragons. It shall no
more be inhabited, wild beasts of the desert shall dwell there and Babylon
shall be desolate forever."
The prophecy came true. The
Word of God cannot be broken.
© Copyright
2002, LeRoy Eims