Jeremiah 34, 52. Prophecies Fulfilled, Jerusalem Destroyed

Chapter 34

Jeremiah prophesies the captivity of Zedekiah—The people of Judah will be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and ^aagainst all the cities thereof, saying,

2 Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of ^aBabylon, and he shall burn it with fire:

3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of ^aBabylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.

1 Nephi 1:4

4 For it came to pass in the commencement of the ^afirst year of the reign of ^bZedekiah, king of Judah, (my father, Lehi, having dwelt at ^cJerusalem in all his days); and in that same year there came many ^dprophets, prophesying unto the people that they must ^erepent, or the great city ^fJerusalem must be destroyed.

We find out at the beginning of the Book of Mormon that Lehi and his family left at the time of Zedekiah and Jeremiah. Nephi begins his record in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah. Nephi explains what was happening in Jerusalem at this time. There were many prophets amongst the people prophesying that they needed to repent or Jerusalem would be destroyed. Jeremiah was commanded to go to Zedekiah and tell him these words:

“Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of ^aBabylon, and he shall burn it with fire: And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of ^aBabylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.”

 Chapter 52

4 ¶And it came to pass in the ^aninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, 

that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem,

and pitched against it, and built ^bforts against it round about.

5 So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

6 And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the ^afamine was sore in the city,

so that there was no ^bbread for the people of the land.

7 Then the ^acity was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night

by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden;

(now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.

8 ¶But the army of the Chaldeans ^apursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho;

and all his army was scattered from him.

9 Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah

in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.

10 And the king of Babylon slew the ^asons of Zedekiah before his eyes:

he ^bslew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

11 Then he put out the ^aeyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains,

and ^bcarried him to ^cBabylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

12 ¶Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year

of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, 

which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,

13 And ^aburned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem,

and all the houses of the great men, ^bburned he with fire:

 In Chapter 52  of Jeremiah, we find out a little more about Zedekiah and learn of the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah to him. Zedekiah was put in as King after his brother and his nephew were killed because of their rebellion against the King of Babylon. He was 21 at the time he became king. He followed in the ways of those before him and sought ways to break free of the yoke of the King of Babylon even though Jeremiah the prophet was warning him not to rebel against Babylon. In the 9^th year of Zedekiah’s reign, the King of Babylon brought his army and surrounded Jerusalem. By the 11^th year, the famine was very great within the city. The city was in ruin. The men of the city along with the king fled out of the city through a gate in the wall. The armies pursued them and caught and killed them. They killed Zedekiah’s sons in front of him and they bound Zedekiah and took him to the king of Babylon. His eyes were put out, he was bound in chains and put in prison. Then Jerusalem was burned to the ground.

We learn in some of the other chapters how Zedekiah could have escaped this outcome by following the words of the prophet Jeremiah. 

Jeremiah 38:14–28  

King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah and this was their conversation:

Zedekiah: I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.

Jeremiah: If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me?

Zedekiah: As the Lord liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.

Jeremiah: Thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house: But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.

Zedekiah: I am afraid of the Jews that ^aare fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they ^bmock me.

Jeremiah: They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live. But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the Lord hath shewed me: And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say, Thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back. So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy ^achildren to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.

Zedekiah: Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die. But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what the king said unto thee: Then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die there.

All the princes came to Jeremiah and he told them what the King had commanded. The princes did not know what had been told the King. Jeremiah was left in the court of the prison and was there when Jerusalem was taken.

In Jeremiah 39: we learn more detail of the capture of Zedekiah and what happened to Jeremiah

  

3 And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle ^agate,

4 ¶And it came to pass, that when ^aZedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war,

then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden,

by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.

5 But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook ^aZedekiah in the ^bplains of Jericho:

 and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah

in the land of Hamath, where he ^cgave judgment upon him.

6 Then the king of Babylon ^aslew the ^bsons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes:

also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.

7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s ^aeyes, and bound ^bhim with chains, to carry him to Babylon.

11 ¶Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah

to Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard, saying,

 12 Take him, and ^alook well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee.

 14 Even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison,

and committed him unto ^aGedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan,

that he should carry him home: so he dwelt among the people.

Zedekiah caused the death of his sons and the destruction of his people and his city because of his fear and his refusal to listen to the prophet’s voice. Jerusalem was under siege at the time Zedekiah came to Jeremiah for advice. When Jeremiah counseled him to surrender, it was not the counsel the King wanted to hear. Jeremiah was viewed as a traitor. Zedekiah feared he would be killed if he surrendered. Because he was too afraid and untrusting to listen to Jeremiah the prophet, he suffered a far worse fate. He lived in miserable conditions with the regret of what he caused his family, his people, and his city.

This is a good lesson to all of us. Let us not let the fear of what men might do to us cause us to turn away from the words of the prophet. The prophet will always lead us in what will be in our best interest over the long run.

We can trust the words of the prophet and apostles to be the word of the Lord. I love how this video explains how the Spirit of the Lord works to bring these strong opinionated men into a unity of thought and how they will not act until they are all in complete agreement.