(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)
The previous chapter concluded the words of Jeremiah. Now we have a historical summary.
Much of the history in Jeremiah 52 overlaps with the history provided by II Kings 25, the last chapter of the scroll of Kings.
Jeremiah 52:1-3a, Zedekiah also evil
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done.
It was because of the LORD's anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence.
The scroll of Jeremiah will end with a recounting of the sack of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 52:3b-9, Walls broken through
Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. So in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. They camped outside the city and built siege works all around it. The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king's garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah, but the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, and he was captured.
He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him.
Nebuchadnezzar moves quickly to put down Zedekiah's revolt. He advanced on the city from the southwest, via the fortified town of Lachish. From this period, archaeologists have recovered, in Lachish, a large collection of texts, sometimes called the Lachish Letters.
After months of siege, the city is in dire straits. The king and his army attempt to break out of the siege but are captured. We are given an exact date of the conquest, unusual for this book. This precise dating occurs in the next paragraph also.
Verses 3b-9 here are almost identical with 2 Kings 25:1-6.
Jeremiah 52:10-15, Punishment for Zedekiah
There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah. Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death.
The king is brutally punished for his rebellion: his sons are murdered before his eyes (thus there will be no dynasty) and then his eyes are put out.
This account is also covered in 2 Kings 25:7.
Jeremiah 52:12-16, A city destroyed
On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.
The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen and those who had gone over to the king of Babylon.But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
Nebuzaradan sets fire to Jerusalem, breaks down the walls and transports out most of the populace. Only the unimportant poor are left.
Verses 12-16 are almost identical with 2 Kings 25:8-12. (The passage in 2 Kings replaces the tenth day of the month with the seventh day.)
Jeremiah 52:17-23, Treasures carried off to Babylon
The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the LORD and they carried all the bronze to Babylon. They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. The commander of the imperial guard took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes and bowls used for drink offerings--all that were made of pure gold or silver. The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the LORD, was more than could be weighed.
Each of the pillars was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference; each was four fingers thick, and hollow. The bronze capital on top of the one pillar was five cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar. There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of pomegranates above the surrounding network was a hundred.
Solomon's beautiful temple is looted. The items in it, including its large Sea, are taken away to Babylon. The First Temple period, initiated by the reigns of David and Solomon, is over.
Compare this destruction with the statements of YHWH at the dedication of Solomon's temple in II Chronicles 7: 19-22. The curses there, due to rejection of YHWH, have come to fruition.
Verses 17-23 are almost identical with 2 Kings 25:13-17, with the exception that this text includes an addition sentence about 95 and 100 pomegranates.
Jeremiah 52:24-27, Priests executed
The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and seven royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of his men who were found in the city.
Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.
The leaders, including the priests and doorkeepers to the temple, are taken away and executed. In summary, "Judah went into captivity." This event has been remembered with a deep feeling of loss for over two thousand years.
This section is identical with 2 Kings 25:18-21.
Jeremiah 52:28-34, Carried into exile
This is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile:
in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
in Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year,
832 people from Jerusalem;
in his twenty-third year,
745 Jews taken into exile by Nebuzaradan
the commander of the imperial guard.
There were 4,600 people in all.
In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king's table. Day by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived, till the day of his death.
The previous king, Jehoiachin, having been captured and taken to Babylon earlier, is released from prison and allowed to eat at the king's table. This occurs on the death of Nebuchadnezzar.
Verses 31-34, beginning with "In the thirty-seventh year..." are almost identical to 2 Kings 25:27-30, except here we have added the phrase, "till the day of his death."
The scroll of Jeremiah ends like the scroll of Kings, with the sack of Jerusalem and the exile to Babylon. The only good news is that YHWH has promised to remember His people and bring them backl
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