GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (33) Jeremiah & Jesus, part V: prophetic vindication & divine destruction

 

“King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, “Take him, look after him well and do him no harm, but deal with him as he may ask you.” So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon sent and took Jeremiah from the court of the guard. They entrusted him to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan to be brought home. So he stayed with his own people.” (Jer. 39.11-14)

 

“As I watched,
thrones were set in place,
    and an Ancient One took his throne,
his clothing was white as snow,
    and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames,
    and its wheels were burning fire…
The court sat in judgment,
    and the books were opened.

…And as I watched, the beast was put to death, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. 

As I watched in the night visions,

I saw one like a human being
    coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One
    and was presented before him.
To him was given dominion
    and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
    should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
    that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
    that shall never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7.9-14)

     Finally, in 587, after an 18-month siege, the Babylonians broke through.  Zedekiah and his family fled the city, but were overtaken in the wilderness of Jericho and taken to Nebuchadrezzar’s headquarters in Riblah.  The verdict was cruel and effective – Zedekiah’s sons were killed as he watched (ensuring that no one would claim the throne of Judah^[1]); the deposed king was then blinded, bound and brought to Babylon (Jer. 39.1-7; cf. 2 Kings 25).  The Babylonians proceeded to sack Jerusalem, destroy the Temple and tear down the walls.  However, Nebuchadrezzar gave orders to spare Jeremiah, and he was set free (39.8-14).  Jeremiah had lived to see the fulfillment of his prophecies; in the end, the enemies of the people of God had more respect for him than the rulers of Jerusalem.  As he watched the columns of exiles led away from the ruins of Zion, Jeremiah began to lament the fate of the city where Yahweh had chosen to “put his name” forever (cf. 1 Kings 9.3; Jer. 7.10-14; cf. also Ezekiel 24.1-2, 33.21-22).

     Jeremiah’s reputation had made its way to Nebuchadrezzar himself, who gave Nabuzaradan, the captain of his bodyguard, special orders concerning Jeremiah’s well-being while stationed at his headquarters in Riblah (Jer. 39.11-12).  Perhaps Jeremiah’s correspondence with those who were exiled in 598 (cf. Jer. 29 & 51.59-64) caused the Babylonian king to be aware of what he was preaching in Jerusalem.  In any case, when Nabuzaradan found Jeremiah, he was in chains and ready for the long march east with the other captives.  Upon setting him free, Nabuzaradan gave Jeremiah the choice to either go to Babylon (with a promise of being well taken care of), or to remain in Judah with Gedaliah, the newly appointed governor.^[2]  Jeremiah chose to stay and made his way to Gedaliah’s headquarters in Mizpah (Jer. 40.1-6).  This was a natural choice, since Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam, who had earlier protected Jeremiah from the mob who wanted to lynch him in the Temple courts (cf. Jer. 26.24).  Gedaliah had the same policy as Jeremiah vis-à-vis the Babylonians – submission (40.9).  Gedaliah organized the harvest of the summer fruits and urged the poor of the land who had been left behind in Jerusalem to make oil and wine (40.10-12).  Alas, this brief respite from the chaos was not to last.

     A certain Ishmael son of Nethaniah, a member of the extended royal family, in league with the king of Ammon, assassinated Gedaliah^[3], his guards and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah.  He then proceeded to massacre a group of pilgrims from the territory of Israel, before deporting the population of the town to Ammon (41.1-10).  After a rescue operation carried out by Johanan son of Kareah and some Judahite army officers who had come out of hiding, the inhabitants of Mizpah determined to go to Egypt in order to avoid Babylonian retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah (41.11-18)^[4].  The survivors of Judah consulted Jeremiah and asked him to give them a word from Yahweh and promised to obey it (42.1-6).  Jeremiah told them that if they remained in the land of Judah, God would have mercy on them and “plant” them there; even Nebuchadrezzar would have mercy on them!  Jeremiah warned them stridently against seeking safety in Egypt, predicting that Babylonian military campaigns would catch up with them even there (42.7-22).  Predictably perhaps, Johanan and his people were not pleased with this message and accused Jeremiah of lying under the influence of Baruch.  They rounded everyone up and undertook the journey to Egypt, taking Jeremiah and Baruch with them (43.1-7).

     As far as we can conjecture, Jeremiah died in Egypt around the year 570 B.C.  Perhaps he got caught up in the coup against Pharaoh Hophra.^[5]  Jeremiah’s prophecy that the exile in Babylon would last 70 years (Jer. 25.11-12; 29.10) was taken up by many during the post-exilic period as copious attempts were made to calculate both the end of the period during which the Jews were being oppressed by pagan empires and the arrival of the Messiah (cf. Dn. 9.1-27, chapters 2 & 7; cf. also 2 Chr 36.21; Zech 1.12).

 

     Somewhat unlike Jeremiah, Jesus did not “live” to see the fulfillment of his

prophecies against Jerusalem^[6]; indeed, Jesus died as a sign of that judgment that would materialize within “one generation”.  Pilate’s tenure as governor of Judaea came to an end in AD 37, as a result of having been suspended from office.^[7]  His successors were not much more effective than he had been.  Gessius Florus, governor from 64-66, was hopelessly corrupt and provoked the Jews to revolt in the hope that a quick military victory would regain him favour with the Roman legate of Syria and thus ensure his retention of his post as governor.  When war broke out, the Jews quickly captured the Antonia Fortress next to the Temple and massacred the garrison after they had surrendered their weapons.  Once word spread that the revolt was on, the Roman garrison at Masada was also slaughtered.^[8]

     Once Jerusalem was secured by the rebels, the High Priests took command of the plans for the future of the conflict, dispatching three representatives to manage the campaign against Rome in Galilee.  One of these priests who was sent North was a 30-year-old named Josephus, who would eventually become a Roman collaborator and protégé of the imperial family and historian of The Jewish War.  In the spring of 67, Nero entrusted the Judaean campaign to Titus Flavius Vespasian, a 57-year-old veteran of the conquest of Britain.  He assembled an army of 60,000 men and marched on Galilee.  Vespasian eventually defeated Josephus’ force following a siege of the city of Yodefat.  Upon surrendering, Josephus predicted that Vespasian would soon become emperor of Rome.  His life was spared, though he was kept in custody until the Galilean campaign was completed.^[9]

     In his The Jewish War, Josephus uses language that echoes that of Jeremiah: “I cannot help but think that it was because God had doomed this city to destruction, as a polluted city, and was resolved to purge his sanctuary by fire…”  In AD 68, Nero died, and Rome descended into chaos as three emperors came and went within a year.  In 69, Vespasian’s troops acclaimed him as emperor, and he made for Rome, leaving his son Titus in charge of the siege of Jerusalem.  Jospehus’ fortunes rose along with Vespasian’s.  He was freed, invested with Roman civil rights, and given the name Flavius.  Josephus accompanied the three Roman legions tasked with the conquest of the Jewish capital.  During the siege, Josephus would serve as translator and emissary in vain attempts to convince the defenders to surrender and thus avoid annihilation.  The Tenth Legion set up camp on the Mount of Olives, and were immediately engaged by a sortie of Jewish rebels from within the city.  The Jews would constantly harass the Roman attackers during the first months of the siege.^[10]

     Though the Temple liturgy had continued throughout the five months of the siege, after the wall of the Antonia fortress collapsed, allowing the Romans to enter the Temple area, the supply of sacrificial lambs ran out and Temple worship ground to a halt.  Once the fighting reached the Temple courts, the fire that would consume the Temple was (inadvertently) set – says Josephus – on August 30, the same day that Solomon’s Temple had been razed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C.  The systematic destruction of Jerusalem would continue until September 26.^[11]  Like Jeremiah before him, Jesus had been proved, albeit tragically, to have been right.  Yahweh had, for a third time since the conquest of the Land under Joshua, allowed his sanctuary – the place where he had chosen to put his name – to be destroyed (cf. 1 Sm. 4-5; 2 Kgs 25).

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[1] None of the sons of Josiah seem to have died “in peace”; besides the ambiguous nature of Jehoiakim’s end, Jehoahaz and Zedekiah both died in exile, in Egypt and Babylon, respectively.  Josiah’s grandsons were killed in the “theatre of military operations”, with the exception of Jehoiachin and his five sons, who died in exile in Babylon.  Thus ended the Davidic line of kings.

[2] Cp. Nabuzaradan’s language with that of Abraham in Gn. 13.9.

[3] In spite of Gedaliah having been warned about Ishmael’s intentions: 40.13-16.  It is uncertain whether this occurred in 587 or 583: cf. Brown, Michael L. “Jeremiah” in Longman & Garland, eds. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary 7: Jeremiah-Ezekiel, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010, pp. 462-68, 570.

[4] Indeed, the Babylonians returned in 582 and deported yet more Judahites: Merrill C. Tenney, ed. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible 3, Grand Rapids: Regency, 1976, p. 726.

[5] Fourth king of the 26^th Egyptian dynasty.  Nebuchadrezzar did indeed march into Egypt in 568/7, but it seems that he came to an agreement with King Amasis, who had displaced Hophra (Hophra may have died c. 570 during the coup): Merrill C. Tenney, ed. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible 2, Grand Rapids: Regency, 1976, p. 246; cf. Ibid., 3, p. 201.  Ezekiel is also said to have died around this time.

[6] According to the interpretation that I adopt, the events of AD 70 were the sign that the Son of Man, i.e., Jesus, had indeed been exalted to the right hand of the Ancient of Days (cf. Dn. 7.13-14, Mk. 13.26 & pars.).  Jesus was certainly “alive” in the interim, as Saul of Tarsus (among others) could testify!  Cf. Ac. 9.

[7] Byfield, Ted, ed.  The Christians: Their First Two Thousand Years, First Volume: The Veil is Torn, AD 30 – AD 70, Christian History Project, Edmonton: Canada, 2003, p. 15.

[8] Ibid., pp. 242-47.  Masada would not be recaptured until AD 73, when the 960 defenders committed mass suicide rather than surrender to Titus’ legionaries.

[9] Ibid, pp. 248-52.

[10] Ibid., pp. 254-58.

[11] Ibid., pp. 271-74.