The events of the twenty or so years that followed Josiah’s reign saw the fruits of Judah’s disobedience brought to maturity. Judah was caught in the power struggle between Egypt and Babylonia. Jehoahaz succeeded his father and reigned three months. Then he was taken to Egypt, and his half brother who was given the throne name of Jehoiakim ruled as an Egyptian vassal. He exacted heavy taxes from his people for Egypt.
Babylon defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish in 605 B.C. Judah became a vassal of the new conquerors. Jehoaikim paid tribute to Babylon for three years before unsuccessfully attempting to free his people. The rebellious king was killed, and many of his people were exiled to Babylon. The king’s wickedness had accelerated the deterioration of the people of Judah. He was succeeded by his young son Jehoiachin, who continued to resist the Babylonians but was defeated within three months.
The Babylonians deported many of the educated, skilled, and religious to weaken the leadership capability of Judah. Jehoiachin was likewise exiled, and his uncle, who took the throne name Zedekiah, ruled in his stead. He pledged loyalty as a vassal king but in time found resistance among the people. A spirit of nationalism rose against the weight of foreign servitude. Revolt in Babylon caused the withdrawal of the caretaker forces from Judah, and a growing patriotic feeling among the people brought Zedekiah to seek the support of Egypt in rebellion against the power of the north.
With matters quieted at home, the Babylonians returned with swift vengeance against Judah. Jerusalem was besieged and other fortresses in the land of Judah were attacked and reduced to rubble. The siege against Jerusalem continued after the rest of the nation had fallen. The conditions during this time were almost beyond imagination.
An eyewitness recorded the following description:
“How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them. They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.” ( Lamentations 4:1–5 .)
“They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.” ( Lamentations 4:9–10 .)
Bible historian Harry Thomas Frank wrote of the demise of this people and their city:
“In July of 587 Zedekiah sought to surrender the city and end the suffering. Once before, ten years ago, the Babylonians had treated Jerusalem with what was for those days extraordinary mercy. Not now. This time they meant to be done with the center of intrigue. Food ran out. So did the king. In the evening of the day Babylonian soldiers poured into the city, Zedekiah and some of his men fled, making for the Jordan and hoping to escape to safety in the desert. They got as far as Jericho before they were captured. Nebuchadnezzar was in Syria at his headquarters. There the Judahite and his sons were taken. No more Hebrew kings were to live in luxurious exile as Jehoiachin had done. With despatch Zedekiah was brought into the presence of the great king of Babylon, his sons were slain in his presence, and then he was blinded and dragged off northward in chains.
“Jerusalem had meanwhile passed into Babylonian hands. What the Babylonians found in the city, and what they did to what they found does not require a very fertile imagination. At the same time, somewhat surprisingly, there seems not to have been any prior decision as to what should be done with the city when it fell. For a month further horrors and indignities were visited upon the sorely tried people, who must have believed that they were indeed abandoned by God himself. Then Nebuzaradan, chief of Nebuchadnezzar’s bodyguard and thus a person of considerable importance, arrived in Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan was not a herald of good news. Upon his orders high officials of the state, and with them certain leading persons in various professions, were taken to Riblah, the Syrian headquarters, where they were executed. Others were herded together to be taken into exile in Babylonia. Jeremiah 52:29 mentions the number 832. But this doubtless refers only to adult males and likely only to inhabitants of Jerusalem. The number of deportees was much larger. Finally the walls of Jerusalem were leveled, and what remained after a year and a half of siege, and a month of occupation and terror brought by Nebuzaradan, was put to the torch.
“Not for the last time smoke hung heavy over the Judean hills and blew gently across the Mount of Olives and toward the wilderness near the Jordan. But on that day, in the heat of the summer of 587, it rose from Judah’s funeral pyre.” ( Discovering the Biblical World, p. 130. See Maps, “The First Exile and Return of Judah,” for a detailed layout of this period of history.)
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Jeremiah 1–19
As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap
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(23-1) Introduction
It was Jeremiah’s privilege (or burden) to predict and then live through the fall of Judah to Babylon. One of the first things the Lord told Jeremiah was, “I will hasten my word to perform it” ( Jeremiah 1:12 ). Jeremiah, like Mormon, was called to labor among a people for whom there was no hope because they refused to repent, and “the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually” ( Mormon 2:15 ). Mormon, after witnessing the destruction of the Nephite nation, cried out for his people (see Mormon 6:17–19 ). Here was a righteous man, one of the best, lamenting over his people who were so blind, so foolish, so spiritually dead. Jeremiah, too, mourned his people’s wickedness. You may think of Jeremiah as a harsh man as you read his scorching denunciations of the Jewish people and the lives they were living, but he was not. His motivation, like Mormon’s, was love.
A prophet does not select where and when he serves. God chooses when and to whom a prophet is sent. One may be an Enoch and build Zion, or a David O. McKay and preside over the Church in times of peace and prosperity. Another may be a Mormon or a Jeremiah and try in vain to save a rebellious and backsliding people. Each has his calling. Each has his time. Each has his lesson for you to learn. Look for Jeremiah’s lesson as you study this great prophet.
Instructions to Students
1. Use Notes and Commentary below to help you as you read and study Jeremiah 1–19 .
2. Complete Points to Ponder as directed by your teacher. (Individual-study students should complete all of this section.)
NOTES AND COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH 1–19
(23-2) Jeremiah 1:1–3 . The Setting
Jeremiah, a Levite, came from Anathoth, a town of the priests that lay a few miles northeast of Jerusalem in the tribal territory of Benjamin. He labored in his prophetic calling during the reign of at least four kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. He began his labors as a youth in approximately 627 B.C. and was the leading prophet in Jerusalem, serving with Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Lehi, and others (see 1 Nephi 1:4 ). Since Lehi and Nephi refer to Jeremiah’s prophecies, it is safe to assume that some of them were recorded on the brass plates (see 1 Nephi 5:14 ).
“With the exception of Josiah, all of the kings of Judah during Jeremiah’s ministry were unworthy men under whom the country suffered severely. Even during the reign of an earlier king, the wicked Manasseh, the Baal cult was restored among the Jews, and there was introduced the worship of the heavenly planets in accordance with the dictates of the Assyro-Babylonian religion. Jeremiah therefore found idolatry, hill-worship, and heathen religious practices rampant among his people. Heathen idols stood in the temple [ Jeremiah 32:34 ], children were sacrificed to Baal-Moloch ( 7:31 ; 19:5 ; 32:35 ), and Baal was especially invoked as the usual heathen deity. The worship of the ‘queen of Heaven’ ought also to be mentioned. ( 7:18 ; 44:19 ) The corruption of the nation’s religious worship was, of course, accompanied by all manner of immorality and unrighteousness, against which the prophet had continually to testify. The poor were forgotten. Jeremiah was surrounded on all sides by almost total apostasy. But professional prophets there were aplenty. Says Dr. H. L. Willett:
“‘He was surrounded by plenty of prophets, but they were the smooth, easy-going, popular, professional preachers whose words awakened no conscience, and who assured the people that the nation was safe in the protecting care of God. This was a true message in Isaiah’s day, but that time was long since past, and Jerusalem was destined for captivity. Thus Jeremiah was doomed to preach an unwelcome message, while the false prophets persuaded the people that he was unpatriotic, uninspired, and pessimistic. ( 14:13, 14 ).’” (Sidney B. Sperry, The Voice of Israel’s Prophets, p. 153.)
(23-3) Jeremiah 1:4–5 . The Call of Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1:4–5 is a powerful proof of our premortal existence as individuals. The Lord certified to Jeremiah that his calling to a mission as a prophet unto the nations antedated his birth. The phrase “I knew thee” ( Jeremiah 1:5 ) means more than a casual acquaintance. The Hebrew word yada, which is translated knew, connotes a very personal, intimate relationship. (See J. A. Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, p. 145.) Indeed, Jeremiah’s premortal appointment consisted of being foreordained, sanctified, and sent forth (compare Abraham 3:23 ).