Jeremiah 39-41
Dear RTB’ers,
A long narrative today. Jerusalem falls to the Babylonians; Zedekiah meets a horrible end; Jeremiah is spared; and chaos follows in neighboring cities.
Yes, Jeremiah is spared. The Babylonian leaders knew of Jeremiah’s prophecies against Jerusalem and his encouragement to the people to surrender to Babylon, so he was brought out of prison and allowed to choose between going to Babylon or staying in neighboring cities. He chose to stay behind and lived in Mizpah with Gedaliah, who had been appointed by the Babylonians to oversee the people and the land. The rest of our reading today tells of the assassination of Gedaliah and more murders of innocent pilgrims, and the ensuing battle and the escape to Ammon of the conspirators.
Jerusalem is destroyed, Zedekiah is deported to Babylon, and Jeremiah is safe among the Jewish people who remain behind. And we still have eleven chapters and eight more days before we finish Jeremiah.
Blessings.
See also: August 4 (2023) / II Kings 25:4-21; Jeremiah 52:7-27; 39:1-10.