From 647 to 580 B.C. Jeremiah: the catastrophe is part of God's plan of salvation

About 150 years after Isaiah the great prophet Jeremiah did his work in Judah. From the way he describes the situation of Judah in the Bible-book that carries his name it becomes clear that in the course of the 150 years mentioned the people have deteriorated and decayed even more. The people have completely forgotten their covenant with JHWH and do no longer pay any attention to their God.

Idolatry was practiced on a large scale. Everywhere people offered sacrifices to Baal. And in many places people burned incense for the “queen of the heavens”. The “prophets” of those days did not tell the people what they had heard from JHWH, but they told the people stories which they had made up themselves. In addition everybody tried to get rich, if necessary by unfair means, through tricks and deceit (see in this context Jeremiah 5:26-31. Jeremiah 6:13. Jeremiah 22:17) In those days Judah was a country full of violence and on a large scale innocent blood was shed.

Worst of all: in the valley of Hinnom the Jews offered human sacrifices to idols. In the valley mentioned they burned their sons and daughters to make themselves agreeable in the eyes of their idols. (see Jeremiah 7:31). Other sins that were committed by masses of people: widows and orphans were oppressed, there was a lot of stealing, adultery and swearing falsely.

Jeremiah could not do more than forcefully condemning these crimes and tell the people what would happen if they would carry on that way: the complete downfall of the people through a siege by a hostile nation, succeeded by famine, pestilence and extreme violence. With the final result: the destruction of the town and the temple and exile for all those who would survive the siege.

The ordinary men and women and the people in power completely ignored Jeremiah’s preaching. Jeremiah was persecuted, treated with mockery and disdain, he was put in prison many times, and in the end the “priests and prophets” of Jerusalem wanted to kill him (see Jeremiah 26:11).

In these horrible circumstances Jeremiah received from JHWH the same kind of messages that Isaiah had received 150 years before. Everything seemed desperate and lost, but reality was different. The promised seed which would crush Satan in the head was still to be born, Israel would return from its exile and still become a great nation through which all the people of the earth would still be blessed. A Messiah would come who would for ever be seated on David’s throne in an everlasting kingdom which could guarantee its subjects a perfectly happy life.

Clear Messianic prophecies are to be found in the chapters 23 and 24. See in chapter 23:1-4 how in the future the false shepherds of Judah will be replaced by good shepherds. Read Jeremiah 23: 5 and 6. JHWH promises that He will beget a righteous sprout for David (sprout=seed=descendent) who will reign as king and will bring about righteousness and justice.

When Jerusalem fell in 607 B.C., when the town and the temple were destroyed and the inhabitants were carried away to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar left a small number of Jews behind in Judah under the governor Gedaliah. Jeremiah was among them. A few months later Gedaliah was murdered and the people who stayed behind panicked and wanted to fly to Egypt. Jeremiah was strongly opposed to this idea because he knew that Nebuchadnezzar would also invade Egypt and he realized that Egypt would be conquered by Babylonia. And then the Jews who had fled would still fall into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

Again nobody wanted to listen to him. The Jews who had been left behind in Judah fled to Egypt and took Jeremiah along with them (read for these historical events the chapters 40 up to and including 43).

When Jeremiah was still living in Jerusalem he wrote a letter to the Jews whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away as exiles to Babylonia. He advised them to prepare for a long period of exile and to make the best of their prolonged stay in the distant country (see chapter 29). He also told the people exactly how long the period of exile would be: 70 years. (see chapter 29 verse 10).

In the same letter Jeremiah also passed on the assurance which he had received from JHWH that the exiles would be allowed to return to Judah after 70 years. (see Jeremiah 29:10-14). Back in their country the Israelites would be completely restored and begin to prosper again (Isaiah 30:17-22).

For us in the 21st century who know that Jesus Christ has undone the old covenant between JHWH and the people of Israel and has established a new covenant from which all people can benefit, it is interesting to read that in his prophecies Jeremiah already pointed forward to this new covenant very clearly. More than six centuries before this new covenant was concluded. Read Jeremiah 31:31-34.

In verse 32 we again see the image of Israel as JHWH’s wife. Of great importance for our understanding of God’s words spoken by God to Satan, Adam and Eve: I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. (Genesis 3:15). But for the exiles especially the Messianic prophecies must have been comforting. Jeremiah repeated them, this time with more details, when the Jews had been carried away as exiles to Babylonia. Read chapter 33. And note the verses 14, 15, 16: I (JHWH) will bring forth a righteous sprout for David and He will exercise righteousness and justice in the country.

With great emphasis JHWH refers to the promise He made to David that he would be the ancestor of an eternal dynasty. See verse 17: JHWH will fulfill this promise, even now that the genealogical line of David has been cut off by Nebuchadnezzar.

In the verses 19 to 22 JHWH repeats this promise with even greater emphasis: the sprout of King David who will sit on David’s throne for ever….is sure to come. This is just as certain as the fact that every day is followed by a night and every night is followed by a day.

Jeremiah concludes the Bible book that he has written with the message that Babylonia will be punished for all the suffering it has caused for the Israelites. Babylonia will be destroyed in the same way as it has destroyed Israel. More than 40 years before these things really happened Jeremiah already knew who would be the destroyers of Babylonia: the kings of the Medes (see chapter 51 verse 11).

In 539 B.C. the Medes and the Persians captured Babylon and annihilated the third world-power of Biblical history: Babylonia. In that same year, 539 B.C., they themselves became the fourth world power. Two years later their king, the new world-ruler Cyrus, allowed the Jews to go back to the country where they came from.