The Exile

The Exile

The prophet Jeremiah lived during a time of great change for God’s people. The kingdom of Judah was in the middle of a struggle between old and new empires fighting to gain power over the region. Jeremiah began to serve as God’s prophet in 627 B.C. when he was possibly less than 20 years old, and continued until the fall of Jerusalem in 582 B.C. While Jeremiah was a prophet he warned kings, priests, and people of Judah of their coming doom. The reason for their doom was that the people sinned by worshiping other gods.

The leaders trusted their own military strength and the power of foreign countries rather than depending on the Lord to protect their nation. So Jeremiah had 2 main messages for Judah. First, he warned that Judah would be defeated and its holy city Jerusalem would be destroyed. Second, because God continued to love the people, he would make a new agreement with the people after their punishment was over.

Josiah, who was considered a good king of Judah, wanted to resurrect the nation of Israel like it was in the days of David and Solomon. Egyptians later killed him during the battle at Megiddo in 609 B.C. Josiah’s son Jehoahaz took over the throne, but only ruled 3 months when he was overthrown and the Egyptians put Jehoiakim on the throne of Judah. King Jehoiakim brought back the worship of foreign gods, which Josiah had banished from Judah. He also burned Jeremiah’s message written on a scroll, which warned that God would use the new rising power, Babylon, to punish sinful Judah. Jehoiakim also refused to listen when Jeremiah encouraged him to pay bribe money to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in order to keep Judah from being attacked by the powerful Babylonian army.

In 598 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah. Once he was there he discovered that Jehoiakim had died and his son had been in power for three months. Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin into captivity along with many other leaders of Judah and took them back to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar then placed Zedekiah on the throne as a puppet king. Judah was also forced to pay high taxes to its Babylonian overlords.

The next several years were very bad in Judah. Even though Zedekiah had sworn to follow the will of the Babylonian empire he was preparing for a rebellion to break free from Babylon. Jeremiah tried to warn Zedekiah not to rebel, reminding him that the Lord brought the Babylonian invasion because of the sins of the Israelites. Zedekiah was really powerless and without many resources. Anything of value and every educated or capable person had been taken to Babylon. Still he plotted his rebellion against the large Babylonian army.

In 587 B.C., Zedekiah’s ninth year as king, he severed ties with Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar was furious and personally led his army into Jerusalem. As the confrontation escaladed, Jeremiah continuously repeated the Lord’s word saying that resistance would result in disaster, but if Zedekiah would surrender, all lives would be saved. He maintained his stubborn rebellion. Nebuchadnezzar’s seize lasted three summers. When the end was near and food sources were gone, Zedekiah gathered his army, opened the city gate and made a night time escape. When he was captured, he was tried for treason and had a harsh sentence. His sons and best friends were killed right in front of him, and then his eyes were gouged out. Zedekiah was taken back to Babylon to die of old age in prison, therefore unwillingly fulfilling the prophecy that he would go to Babylon and die there, but never see it.

In 582 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar again stopped a rebellion in Judah for the third time. He decided that it would be the last. Nebuchadnezzar instructed his army to tear down the