Jer 52.1-34 tells us about the siege of Jerusalem and eventual destruction and the cause, which was the wicked reign of King Zedekiah, and his fate is discussed. It also mentions the liberation of Yehoiachin from imprisonment.
v 1…Zedekiah (whose name was Mattaniah and was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar in place of his brother’s son Yehoiachin) was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hamutal (shadow of his heart) the daughter of Jeremiah of LIbnah (in Judah, the mother of the king was queen, and she was called the “Givorah” or great lady).
v 2…He did evil in the sight of the Lord like all that Yehoiakim had done (his older brother who reigned after Josiah and before Yehoiachin).
v 3…For through the anger of the Lord this came about in Jerusalem and Judah until he cast them out from his presence (the land, the Temple, Jerusalem, the people, etc). And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon (because of Judah’s sins, God allowed Zedekaih to rebel against Nebuchadnezar so that Babylon would come against Judah. Zedekiah believed the false prophets and sided with Egypt against Babylon).
v 4…Now it came about in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month (Tevet 10), that Nebeuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it, and built a siege wall against it (ten is the number of judgment).
v 5…So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah (about 18 months, from the tenth day of the tenth month to the ninth day of the fourth month in his eleventh year).
v 6…On the ninth day of the fourth month (Tammuz) the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land (the common people-the famine was before this time, but now worse-Jer 38.9).
7…Then the city was broken into (by a breach), and all the men of war fled and went forth from the city by night (Ezek 12.12) by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah (Jordan Valley-the False Messiah will try to get away from Jerusalem in this direction when Yeshua comes to the city).
v 8…But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him (Jer 39.1-7-this will be the fate of the False Messiah).
v 9…Then they captured the king (Rev 19.20) and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah (where Nebuchadnezzar had his headquarters, believed to be on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon, on a main trade route from Egypt to Mesopotamia through Israel) in the land of Hamath (Num 34.1-12); and he passed sentence on him (legal terms-the False Messiah will be taken on Yom Kippur, a Yom ha Din or day of judgment, and he will be sentenced).
v 10…The king of Babylon (a type of Yehovah and Yeshua here) slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the princes of Judah in Riblah (because they agreed to and supported Zedekiah’s rebellion; this will also happen to those who support the False Messiah-Rev 19.21).
v 11…Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah (the killing of his sons was the last thing he ever saw, very humiliating); and the king of Babylon (Yehovah/Yeshua) bound him (False Messiah and Satan will be bound (Rev 20.2; 1 Enoch 2) with bronze (metal of judgment) fetters and brought him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death (a type of the lake of fire).
v 12…Now on the tenth day of the fifth month (Av) which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan (Nebu has given seed) the captain of the guard, who was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
v 13…And he burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned (he came on the seventh day of Av-2 Kings 25.8-and they defiled the Temple, and on the ninth day they set fire to the Temple and it burned all day).
v 14…So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem (to ground level).
v 15…Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon (in obedience to the word of Jeremiah), and the rest of the artisans.
v 16…But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen (to keep the land from being overgrown).
v 17…Now the bronze pillars (1 Kings 7.21-Jachin and Boaz) which belonged to the house of the Lord and the stands and the bronze sea (1 Kings 7.23) which were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces (so they could transport them) and carried all their bronze to Babylon (to fulfill the prophecy of Jeremiah in Jer 27.19-22).
v 18…And they also took away the pots, the shovels (used to remove the ashes from the altar), the snuffers, the basins, the fire-pans, and all the bronze vessels which were used in the Temple service.
v 19…The captain of the guard also took away the bowls, the fire-pans, the basins, the pots, the lampstands, the pans and the libation bowls what was fine gold and what was fine silver.
v 20…The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the sea, the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord-the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight (to be calculated).
v 21…As for the pillars, the height of each pillar was eighteen cubits (royal cubit was 20.2 inches) and it was twelve cubits in circumference and four fingers in thickness, and hollow.
v 22…Now a capital of bronze was on it and the height of each capital was five cubits with network and pomegranates upon the capital all around, all bronze. And the second pillar was like these, including pomegranates.
v 23…And there were ninety-six exposed pomegranates; all the pomegranates a hundred on the network all around (all of this was listed to vindicate Jeremiah’s word in 28.3).
v 24…Then the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest (not the one in 51.59) and Zephaniah the second priest (the deputy high priest called the “sagan”), with the three officers of the Temple (keepers of the threshhold).
v 25…He also took from the city one official who was the overseer of the men of war, and seven of the king’s advisers who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.
v 26…And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah (now there were three times that Babylon came and deported people. Nebuchadnezzar was captain of the army and his father died, he returns home. This was when Daniel was taken. Then he comes again and takes Jehoiachin, some of the vessels of the Temple were taken. The third time is here with the destruction of the city, the Temple and the people (exiled).
v 27…Then the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath (for their part in the rebellion). So Judah was led away into exile from its land.
v 28…These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile: in the seventh year (the first deportation) 3,023 Jews;
v 29…in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar 832 persons from Jerusalem (of Judah only, those from other tribes not listed);
v 30…in the twenty-third year Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile 745 Jewish people, there were 4600 persons in all (this was in response to the murder of Gedaliah).
v 31…Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Yehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month (Adar), on the twenty-fifth of the month, that Evil (“awil” or man)-merodach (of Marduk) king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison,
v 32…Then he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
v 33…So Yehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and had his meals in the king’s presence regularly all the days of his life.
v 34…And for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, a daily portion all the days of his life until the day of his death (Yehovah humbles and he can exult those who repent. This was seen as an encouragement to the people. Yehovah brought judgment, but restoration was coming).
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