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4. Jeremiah Our Goal T o read the book of Jeremiah, is to take a journey, a spiritual journey that goes back and forth from the lowest depths of human depravity to the heights and grandeur and majesty of the Lord— the Lord who, from those heights, cries out to all of us: Mi-yittan that such a heart would be in you!

5. Jeremiah Contents 1 The Prophetic Calling of Jeremiah 2 The Crisis Within and Without 3 The Last Five Kings of Judah 4 Rebuke and Retribution 5 More Woes for the Prophet 6 Symbolic Acts 7 The Crisis Continues 8 Josiah’s Reform 9 Jeremiah’s Yoke 10 The Destruction of Jerusalem 11 The Covenant 12 Back to Egypt 13 Lessons From Jeremiah

6. Jeremiah Lesson 10, December 5 Jeremiah Lesson 10, December 5 The Destruction of Jerusalem

7. Key Text Jeremiah 29:7 NIV “ ‘ A lso, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

8. The Destruction of Jerusalem Quick Look 1. Judean Kingdom Ended (Jeremiah 37:7, 8) 2. City of Jerusalem Fell (Jeremiah 52:4, 12, 13) 3. Seventy Years Captivity (Jeremiah 29:10-13)

9. The Destruction of Jerusalem Initial Words S everer... c hastisements were to be inflicted...until at last...the kingdom of Judah was to fall, never again to occupy its former position among the nations of earth.” —Prophets and Kings 422, 423. None of this came upon them without plenty of warnings and pleadings by the prophets, especially Jeremiah. Their refusal to obey brought only ruin.

10. The Destruction of Jerusalem 1. Judean Kingdom Ended Jeremiah 37:7, 8 NKJV “ T hus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Thus you shall say to the king of Judah...: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt.... And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire.” ’ ”

11. 1. Judean Kingdom Ended Weeping for Tammuz “ W eeping for Tammuz” was a lamen- tation ritual for a Mesopotamian god. “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” (2 Chron. 36:14).

12. 1. Judean Kingdom Ended King Zedekiah’s Reign Zedekiah was the last king on the throne of Judah before its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 B. C. At first he seemed to have been willing to obey the words of Jeremiah and submit to the Babylonians. However, this attitude did not last.

13. 1. Judean Kingdom Ended King Zedekiah’s Reign Under pressure from his subjects, most likely the nobility, Zedekiah ignored the warnings of Jeremiah and made a military alliance with the Egyptians instead, in hopes of staving off the Babylonian threat. As he had been duly warned, salvation didn’t come from the Egyptians after all.

14. 1. Judean Kingdom Ends King Zedekiah’s Reign “So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon...in the court of the prison.... And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire” (Jeremiah 38:6). However difficult the pit was, how much harder it was for Jeremiah to hear the charge that he was seeking the hurt of his own people.

15. The Destruction of Jerusalem 2. City of Jerusalem Fell Jeremiah 52:4, 12, 13 NKJV “ I n the ninth year of his reign... Nebuchanezzar king of Babylon... came against Jerusalem and encamped against it.... Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard... burned the house of the Lord,... the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem.”

16. 2. City of Jerusalem Fell The Lord’s Punishment T he siege of Jerusalem began in earnest in January, 588 b.c., and lasted until the late summer of 586 b.c. Jerusalem had been able to hold out for more than two years before Jeremiah’s prophetic words were fulfilled, and the Babylonian troops broke through the wall and destroyed the city.

17. 2. City of Jerusalem Fell The Lord’s Punishment Starvation was so bad inside the walls that the defenders lost all strength and couldn’t resist any longer. King Zedekiah fled with his family, but in vain. He was captured and taken to Nebuchadnezzar, who had his sons executed before his eyes.

18. 2. City of Jerusalem Fell The Lord’s Punishment “Nebuzaradan...said to him: ‘The Lord your God has pronounced this doom...and has done just what He said. Because you people has sinned against the Lord.... If it seems good...come...to Babylon... I will look after you. But if it seems wrong...remain here. All the land is before you....” (Jeremiah 40:1-4).

19. 2. City of Jerusalem Falls The Lord’s Punishment This pagan commander understood the situation so much better. The Babylonians knew something about Jeremiah and his work, and they were treating him differently. It’s a startling testimony to how, even amid such unnecessary calamity, the Lord had revealed something about Himself to the pagans.

20. The Destruction of Jerusalem 3. Seventy Years Captivity Jeremiah 29:10-13 NKJV “ ‘ A fter seventy years...I will... perform My good word...and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,...thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. And you will seek...and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.’ ”

21. 3. Seventy Years Captivity God Continues to Listen T he Lord Knows the beginning from the end. The Lord was using Jeremiah to speak to the future, to those who were already in Babylon and to those who would eventually be there. Here was a true message of grace. They had to accept that this was their fate, at least for now; if they repented, they would be restored to the land.

22. 3. Seventy Years Captivity God Continues to Listen If they had taken in the concepts of faith and submission, it would have given the captives great hope and assurance of the Lord’s complete sovereignty. Despite appearances, despite the terrible calamity that befell them they could know that all was not lost, and the Lord had not left them.

23. The Destruction of Jerusalem Final Words “ T he change we need is a change of heart, and can only be obtained by seeking God individually for His blessing, by pleading with Him for His power, by fervently praying that His grace may come upon us, and that our characters may be transformed. This is the change we need today....” —Selected Messages 1:187, 188.