remnant
2009-07-11 12:48:16 UTC
Carried Captive Into Babylon
In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem," to besiege the city. 2 Kings
25:1. The outlook for Judah was hopeless. "Behold, I am against thee," the
Lord Himself declared through Ezekiel. "I the Lord have drawn forth My sword
out of his sheath" it shall not return any more. . . . Every heart shall
melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all
knees shall be weak as water." "I will pour out Mine indignation upon thee,
I will blow against thee in the fire of My wrath, and deliver thee into the
hand of brutish men, and skillful to destroy." Ezekiel 21:3, 5-7, 31. {PK
452.1}
The Egyptians endeavored to come to the rescue of the beleaguered city;
and the Chaldeans, in order to keep them back, abandoned for a time their
siege of the Judean capital. Hope sprang up in the heart of Zedekiah, and he
sent a
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messenger to Jeremiah, asking him to pray to God in behalf of the Hebrew
nation. {PK 452.2}
The prophet's fearful answer was that the Chaldeans would return and
destroy the city. The fiat had gone forth; no longer could the impenitent
nation avert the divine judgments. "Deceive not yourselves," the Lord warned
His people. "The Chaldeans . . . shall not depart. For though ye had smitten
the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained
but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent,
and burn this city with fire." Jeremiah 37:9, 10. The remnant of Judah were
to go into captivity, to learn through adversity the lessons they had
refused to learn under circumstances more favorable. From this decree of the
holy Watcher there could be no appeal. {PK 453.1}
Among the righteous still in Jerusalem, to whom had been made plain the
divine purpose, were some who determined to place beyond the reach of
ruthless hands the sacred ark containing the tables of stone on which had
been traced the precepts of the Decalogue. This they did. With mourning and
sadness they secreted the ark in a cave, where it was to be hidden from the
people of Israel and Judah because of their sins, and was to be no more
restored to them. That sacred ark is yet hidden. It has never been disturbed
since it was secreted. {PK 453.2}
For many years Jeremiah had stood before the people as a faithful
witness for God; and now, as the fated city was about to pass into the hands
of the heathen, he considered his work done and attempted to leave, but was
prevented by a son of one of the false prophets, who reported
454
that Jeremiah was about to join the Babylonians, to whom he had repeatedly
urged the men of Judah to submit. The prophet denied the lying charge, but
nevertheless "the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put
him in prison." Verse 15. {PK 453.3}
The hopes that had sprung up in the hearts of princes and people when
the armies of Nebuchadnezzar turned south to meet the Egyptians, were soon
dashed to the ground. The word of the Lord had been, "Behold, I am against
thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt." The might of Egypt was but a broken reed. "All
the inhabitants of Egypt," Inspiration had declared, "shall know that I am
the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel." "I
will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh
shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall put My
sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon
the land of Egypt." Ezekiel 29:3, 6; 30:25. {PK 454.1}
While the princes of Judah were still vainly looking toward Egypt for
help, King Zedekiah with anxious foreboding was thinking of the prophet of
God that had been thrust into prison. After many days the king sent for him
and asked him secretly, "Is there any word from the Lord?" Jeremiah
answered, "There is: for, said He, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of
the king of Babylon. {PK 454.2}
"Moreover Jeremiah said unto King Zedekiah, What have I offended
against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have
put me in prison? Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you,
saying,
455
The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?
Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I
pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the
house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there." Jeremiah 37:17-20. {PK
454.3}
At this Zedekiah commanded that they "commit Jeremiah into the court of
the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the
bakers' street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah
remained in the court of the prison." Verse 21. {PK 455.1}
The king dared not openly manifest any faith in Jeremiah. Though his
fear drove him to seek information of him privately, yet he was too weak to
brave the disapprobation of his princes and of the people by submitting to
the will of God as declared by the prophet. {PK 455.2}
From the court of the prison Jeremiah continued to advise submission to
the Babylonian rule. To offer resistance would be to invite sure death. The
message of the Lord to Judah was: "He that remaineth in this city shall die
by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth
to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and
shall live." Plain and positive were the words spoken. In the name of the
Lord the prophet boldly declared, "This city shall surely be given into the
hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it." Jeremiah 38:2, 3.
{PK 455.3}
At last the princes, enraged over the repeated counsels of Jeremiah,
which were contrary to their set policy of resistance, made a vigorous
protest before the king, urging
456
that the prophet was an enemy to the nation, and that his words had weakened
the hands of the people and brought misfortune upon them; therefore he
should be put to death. {PK 455.4}
The cowardly king knew that the charges were false; but in order to
propitiate those who occupied high and influential positions in the nation,
he feigned to believe their falsehoods and gave Jeremiah into their hands to
do with him as they pleased. The prophet was cast "into the dungeon of
Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they
let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but
mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire." Verse 6. But God raised up friends for
him, who besought the king in his behalf, and had him again removed to the
court of the prison. {PK 456.1}
Once more the king sent privately for Jeremiah, and bade him faithfully
relate the purpose of God toward Jerusalem. In response, Jeremiah inquired,
"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?" The king entered into a
secret compact with the prophet. "As the Lord liveth, that made us this
soul," Zedekiah promised, "I will not put thee to death, neither will I give
thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life." Verses 15, 16. {PK
456.2}
There was still opportunity for the king to reveal a willingness to
heed the warnings of Jehovah, and thus to temper with mercy the judgments
even now falling on city and nation. "If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto
the king of Babylon's princes," was the message given the king, "then thy
soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with
457
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." {PK 456.3}
"I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans," the king
replied, "lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me." But the
prophet promised, "They shall not deliver thee." And he added the earnest
entreaty, "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." Verses 17-20.
{PK 457.1}
Thus even to the last hour, God made plain His willingness to show
mercy to those who would choose to submit to His just requirements. Had the
king chosen to obey, the lives of the people might have been spared, and the
city saved from conflagration; but he thought he had gone too far to retrace
his steps. He was afraid of the Jews, afraid of ridicule, afraid for his
life. After years of rebellion against God, Zedekiah thought it too
humiliating to say to his people, I accept the word of the Lord, as spoken
through the prophet Jeremiah; I dare not venture to war against the enemy in
the face of all these warnings. {PK 457.2}
With tears Jeremiah entreated Zedekiah to save himself and his people.
With anguish of spirit he assured him that unless he should heed the counsel
of God, he could not escape with his life, and all his possessions would
fall to the Babylonians. But the king had started on the wrong course, and
he would not retrace his steps. He decided to
458
follow the counsel of the false prophets, and of the men whom he really
despised, and who ridiculed his weakness in yielding so readily to their
wishes. He sacrificed the noble freedom of his manhood and became a cringing
slave to public opinion. With no fixed purpose to do evil, he was also
without resolution to stand boldly for the right. Convicted though he was of
the value of the counsel given by Jeremiah, he had not the moral stamina to
obey; and as a consequence he advanced steadily in the wrong direction. {PK
457.3}
The king was even too weak to be willing that his courtiers and people
should know that he had held a conference with Jeremiah, so fully had the
fear of man taken possession of his soul. If Zedekiah had stood up bravely
and declared that he believed the words of the prophet, already half
fulfilled, what desolation might have been averted! He should have said, I
will obey the Lord, and save the city from utter ruin. I dare not disregard
the commands of God because of the fear or favor of man. I love the truth, I
hate sin, and I will follow the counsel of the Mighty One of Israel. {PK
458.1}
Then the people would have respected his courageous spirit, and those
who were wavering between faith and unbelief would have taken a firm stand
for the right. The very fearlessness and justice of this course would have
inspired his subjects with admiration and loyalty. He would have had ample
support, and Judah would have been spared the untold woe of carnage and
famine and fire. {PK 458.2}
The weakness of Zedekiah was a sin for which he paid a fearful penalty.
The enemy swept down like a resistless avalanche and devastated the city.
The Hebrew armies
459
were beaten back in confusion. The nation was conquered. Zedekiah was taken
prisoner, and his sons were slain before his eyes. The king was led away
from Jerusalem a captive, his eyes were put out, and after arriving in
Babylon he perished miserably. The beautiful temple that for more than four
centuries had crowned the summit of Mount Zion was not spared by the
Chaldeans. "They burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of
Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all
the goodly vessels thereof." 2 Chronicles 36:19. {PK 458.3}
At the time of the final overthrow of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, many
had escaped the horrors of the long siege, only to perish by the sword. Of
those who still remained, some, notably the chief of the priests and
officers
460
and the princes of the realm, were taken to Babylon and there executed as
traitors. Others were carried captive, to live in servitude to
Nebuchadnezzar and to his sons "until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: to
fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah." Verses 20, 21. {PK
459.1}
Of Jeremiah himself it is recorded: "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuchadnezzar-adan the captain of the
guard, saying, Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do
unto him even as he shall say unto thee." Jeremiah 39:11, 12. {PK 460.1}
Released from prison by the Babylonian officers, the prophet chose to
cast in his lot with the feeble remnant, certain "poor of the land" left by
the Chaldeans to be "vinedressers and husbandmen." Over these the
Babylonians set Gedaliah as governor. Only a few months passed before the
newly appointed governor was treacherously slain. The poor people, after
passing through many trials, were finally persuaded by their leaders to take
refuge in the land of Egypt. Against this move, Jeremiah lifted his voice in
protest. "Go ye not into Egypt," he pleaded. But the inspired counsel was
not heeded, and "all the remnant of Judah, . . . even men, and women, and
children," took flight into Egypt. "They obeyed not the voice of the Lord:
thus came they even to Tahpanhes." Jeremiah 43:5-7. {PK 460.2}
The prophecies of doom pronounced by Jeremiah upon the remnant that had
rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar by fleeing to Egypt were mingled with
promises of pardon to those who should repent of their folly and stand ready
to return. While the Lord would not spare those who turned
461
from His counsel to the seductive influences of Egyptian idolatry, yet He
would show mercy to those who should prove loyal and true. "A small number
that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of
Judah," He declared; "and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the
land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, Mine, or
theirs." Jeremiah 44:28. {PK 460.3}
The sorrow of the prophet over the utter perversity of those who would
have been the spiritual light of the world, his sorrow over the fate of Zion
and of the people carried captive to Babylon, is revealed in the
lamentations he has left on record as a memorial of the folly of turning
from the counsels of Jehovah to human wisdom. Amid the ruin wrought,
Jeremiah could still declare, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not
consumed;" and his constant prayer was, "Let us search and try our ways, and
turn again to the Lord." Lamentations 3:22, 40. While Judah was still a
kingdom among the nations, he had inquired of his God, "Hast Thou utterly
rejected Judah? hath Thy soul loathed Zion?" and he had made bold to plead,
"Do not abhor us, for Thy name's sake." Jeremiah 14:19, 21. The prophet's
absolute faith in God's eternal purpose to bring order out of confusion, and
to demonstrate to the nations of earth and to the entire universe His
attributes of justice and love, now led him to plead confidently in behalf
of those who might turn from evil to righteousness. {PK 461.1}
But now Zion was utterly destroyed; the people of God were in their
captivity. Overwhelmed with grief, the
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prophet exclaimed: "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!
how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and
princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! She weepeth sore
in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath
none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they
are become her enemies. {PK 461.2}
"Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of
great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all
her persecutors overtook her between the straits. The ways of Zion do mourn,
because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her
priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. Her
adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the Lord hath afflicted
her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into
captivity before the enemy." {PK 462.1}
"How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His
anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and
remembered not His footstool in the day of His anger! The Lord hath
swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: He hath
thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He hath
brought them down to the ground: He hath polluted the kingdom and the
princes thereof. He hath cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel:
He hath drawn back His right hand from before the enemy, and He burned
against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about. He hath bent
His bow like an enemy: He stood with His right hand as an adversary, and
slew all
463
that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: He
poured out His fury like fire." {PK 462.2}
"What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken
to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may
comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the
sea: who can heal thee?" {PK 463.1}
"Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our
reproach. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. We
are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. . . . Our fathers
have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. Servants have
ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. . . .
For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim." {PK 463.2}
"Thou, O Lord, remainest forever; Thy throne from generation to
generation. Wherefore dost Thou forget us forever, and forsake us so long
time? Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days
as of old." Lamentations 1:1-5; 2:1-4, 13; 5:1-3, 7, 8, 17, 19-21. {PK
463.3}
In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem," to besiege the city. 2 Kings
25:1. The outlook for Judah was hopeless. "Behold, I am against thee," the
Lord Himself declared through Ezekiel. "I the Lord have drawn forth My sword
out of his sheath" it shall not return any more. . . . Every heart shall
melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all
knees shall be weak as water." "I will pour out Mine indignation upon thee,
I will blow against thee in the fire of My wrath, and deliver thee into the
hand of brutish men, and skillful to destroy." Ezekiel 21:3, 5-7, 31. {PK
452.1}
The Egyptians endeavored to come to the rescue of the beleaguered city;
and the Chaldeans, in order to keep them back, abandoned for a time their
siege of the Judean capital. Hope sprang up in the heart of Zedekiah, and he
sent a
453
messenger to Jeremiah, asking him to pray to God in behalf of the Hebrew
nation. {PK 452.2}
The prophet's fearful answer was that the Chaldeans would return and
destroy the city. The fiat had gone forth; no longer could the impenitent
nation avert the divine judgments. "Deceive not yourselves," the Lord warned
His people. "The Chaldeans . . . shall not depart. For though ye had smitten
the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained
but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent,
and burn this city with fire." Jeremiah 37:9, 10. The remnant of Judah were
to go into captivity, to learn through adversity the lessons they had
refused to learn under circumstances more favorable. From this decree of the
holy Watcher there could be no appeal. {PK 453.1}
Among the righteous still in Jerusalem, to whom had been made plain the
divine purpose, were some who determined to place beyond the reach of
ruthless hands the sacred ark containing the tables of stone on which had
been traced the precepts of the Decalogue. This they did. With mourning and
sadness they secreted the ark in a cave, where it was to be hidden from the
people of Israel and Judah because of their sins, and was to be no more
restored to them. That sacred ark is yet hidden. It has never been disturbed
since it was secreted. {PK 453.2}
For many years Jeremiah had stood before the people as a faithful
witness for God; and now, as the fated city was about to pass into the hands
of the heathen, he considered his work done and attempted to leave, but was
prevented by a son of one of the false prophets, who reported
454
that Jeremiah was about to join the Babylonians, to whom he had repeatedly
urged the men of Judah to submit. The prophet denied the lying charge, but
nevertheless "the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put
him in prison." Verse 15. {PK 453.3}
The hopes that had sprung up in the hearts of princes and people when
the armies of Nebuchadnezzar turned south to meet the Egyptians, were soon
dashed to the ground. The word of the Lord had been, "Behold, I am against
thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt." The might of Egypt was but a broken reed. "All
the inhabitants of Egypt," Inspiration had declared, "shall know that I am
the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel." "I
will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh
shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall put My
sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon
the land of Egypt." Ezekiel 29:3, 6; 30:25. {PK 454.1}
While the princes of Judah were still vainly looking toward Egypt for
help, King Zedekiah with anxious foreboding was thinking of the prophet of
God that had been thrust into prison. After many days the king sent for him
and asked him secretly, "Is there any word from the Lord?" Jeremiah
answered, "There is: for, said He, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of
the king of Babylon. {PK 454.2}
"Moreover Jeremiah said unto King Zedekiah, What have I offended
against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have
put me in prison? Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you,
saying,
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The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?
Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I
pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the
house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there." Jeremiah 37:17-20. {PK
454.3}
At this Zedekiah commanded that they "commit Jeremiah into the court of
the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the
bakers' street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah
remained in the court of the prison." Verse 21. {PK 455.1}
The king dared not openly manifest any faith in Jeremiah. Though his
fear drove him to seek information of him privately, yet he was too weak to
brave the disapprobation of his princes and of the people by submitting to
the will of God as declared by the prophet. {PK 455.2}
From the court of the prison Jeremiah continued to advise submission to
the Babylonian rule. To offer resistance would be to invite sure death. The
message of the Lord to Judah was: "He that remaineth in this city shall die
by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth
to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and
shall live." Plain and positive were the words spoken. In the name of the
Lord the prophet boldly declared, "This city shall surely be given into the
hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it." Jeremiah 38:2, 3.
{PK 455.3}
At last the princes, enraged over the repeated counsels of Jeremiah,
which were contrary to their set policy of resistance, made a vigorous
protest before the king, urging
456
that the prophet was an enemy to the nation, and that his words had weakened
the hands of the people and brought misfortune upon them; therefore he
should be put to death. {PK 455.4}
The cowardly king knew that the charges were false; but in order to
propitiate those who occupied high and influential positions in the nation,
he feigned to believe their falsehoods and gave Jeremiah into their hands to
do with him as they pleased. The prophet was cast "into the dungeon of
Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they
let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but
mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire." Verse 6. But God raised up friends for
him, who besought the king in his behalf, and had him again removed to the
court of the prison. {PK 456.1}
Once more the king sent privately for Jeremiah, and bade him faithfully
relate the purpose of God toward Jerusalem. In response, Jeremiah inquired,
"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?" The king entered into a
secret compact with the prophet. "As the Lord liveth, that made us this
soul," Zedekiah promised, "I will not put thee to death, neither will I give
thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life." Verses 15, 16. {PK
456.2}
There was still opportunity for the king to reveal a willingness to
heed the warnings of Jehovah, and thus to temper with mercy the judgments
even now falling on city and nation. "If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto
the king of Babylon's princes," was the message given the king, "then thy
soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with
457
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." {PK 456.3}
"I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans," the king
replied, "lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me." But the
prophet promised, "They shall not deliver thee." And he added the earnest
entreaty, "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." Verses 17-20.
{PK 457.1}
Thus even to the last hour, God made plain His willingness to show
mercy to those who would choose to submit to His just requirements. Had the
king chosen to obey, the lives of the people might have been spared, and the
city saved from conflagration; but he thought he had gone too far to retrace
his steps. He was afraid of the Jews, afraid of ridicule, afraid for his
life. After years of rebellion against God, Zedekiah thought it too
humiliating to say to his people, I accept the word of the Lord, as spoken
through the prophet Jeremiah; I dare not venture to war against the enemy in
the face of all these warnings. {PK 457.2}
With tears Jeremiah entreated Zedekiah to save himself and his people.
With anguish of spirit he assured him that unless he should heed the counsel
of God, he could not escape with his life, and all his possessions would
fall to the Babylonians. But the king had started on the wrong course, and
he would not retrace his steps. He decided to
458
follow the counsel of the false prophets, and of the men whom he really
despised, and who ridiculed his weakness in yielding so readily to their
wishes. He sacrificed the noble freedom of his manhood and became a cringing
slave to public opinion. With no fixed purpose to do evil, he was also
without resolution to stand boldly for the right. Convicted though he was of
the value of the counsel given by Jeremiah, he had not the moral stamina to
obey; and as a consequence he advanced steadily in the wrong direction. {PK
457.3}
The king was even too weak to be willing that his courtiers and people
should know that he had held a conference with Jeremiah, so fully had the
fear of man taken possession of his soul. If Zedekiah had stood up bravely
and declared that he believed the words of the prophet, already half
fulfilled, what desolation might have been averted! He should have said, I
will obey the Lord, and save the city from utter ruin. I dare not disregard
the commands of God because of the fear or favor of man. I love the truth, I
hate sin, and I will follow the counsel of the Mighty One of Israel. {PK
458.1}
Then the people would have respected his courageous spirit, and those
who were wavering between faith and unbelief would have taken a firm stand
for the right. The very fearlessness and justice of this course would have
inspired his subjects with admiration and loyalty. He would have had ample
support, and Judah would have been spared the untold woe of carnage and
famine and fire. {PK 458.2}
The weakness of Zedekiah was a sin for which he paid a fearful penalty.
The enemy swept down like a resistless avalanche and devastated the city.
The Hebrew armies
459
were beaten back in confusion. The nation was conquered. Zedekiah was taken
prisoner, and his sons were slain before his eyes. The king was led away
from Jerusalem a captive, his eyes were put out, and after arriving in
Babylon he perished miserably. The beautiful temple that for more than four
centuries had crowned the summit of Mount Zion was not spared by the
Chaldeans. "They burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of
Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all
the goodly vessels thereof." 2 Chronicles 36:19. {PK 458.3}
At the time of the final overthrow of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, many
had escaped the horrors of the long siege, only to perish by the sword. Of
those who still remained, some, notably the chief of the priests and
officers
460
and the princes of the realm, were taken to Babylon and there executed as
traitors. Others were carried captive, to live in servitude to
Nebuchadnezzar and to his sons "until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: to
fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah." Verses 20, 21. {PK
459.1}
Of Jeremiah himself it is recorded: "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuchadnezzar-adan the captain of the
guard, saying, Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do
unto him even as he shall say unto thee." Jeremiah 39:11, 12. {PK 460.1}
Released from prison by the Babylonian officers, the prophet chose to
cast in his lot with the feeble remnant, certain "poor of the land" left by
the Chaldeans to be "vinedressers and husbandmen." Over these the
Babylonians set Gedaliah as governor. Only a few months passed before the
newly appointed governor was treacherously slain. The poor people, after
passing through many trials, were finally persuaded by their leaders to take
refuge in the land of Egypt. Against this move, Jeremiah lifted his voice in
protest. "Go ye not into Egypt," he pleaded. But the inspired counsel was
not heeded, and "all the remnant of Judah, . . . even men, and women, and
children," took flight into Egypt. "They obeyed not the voice of the Lord:
thus came they even to Tahpanhes." Jeremiah 43:5-7. {PK 460.2}
The prophecies of doom pronounced by Jeremiah upon the remnant that had
rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar by fleeing to Egypt were mingled with
promises of pardon to those who should repent of their folly and stand ready
to return. While the Lord would not spare those who turned
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from His counsel to the seductive influences of Egyptian idolatry, yet He
would show mercy to those who should prove loyal and true. "A small number
that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of
Judah," He declared; "and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the
land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, Mine, or
theirs." Jeremiah 44:28. {PK 460.3}
The sorrow of the prophet over the utter perversity of those who would
have been the spiritual light of the world, his sorrow over the fate of Zion
and of the people carried captive to Babylon, is revealed in the
lamentations he has left on record as a memorial of the folly of turning
from the counsels of Jehovah to human wisdom. Amid the ruin wrought,
Jeremiah could still declare, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not
consumed;" and his constant prayer was, "Let us search and try our ways, and
turn again to the Lord." Lamentations 3:22, 40. While Judah was still a
kingdom among the nations, he had inquired of his God, "Hast Thou utterly
rejected Judah? hath Thy soul loathed Zion?" and he had made bold to plead,
"Do not abhor us, for Thy name's sake." Jeremiah 14:19, 21. The prophet's
absolute faith in God's eternal purpose to bring order out of confusion, and
to demonstrate to the nations of earth and to the entire universe His
attributes of justice and love, now led him to plead confidently in behalf
of those who might turn from evil to righteousness. {PK 461.1}
But now Zion was utterly destroyed; the people of God were in their
captivity. Overwhelmed with grief, the
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prophet exclaimed: "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!
how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and
princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! She weepeth sore
in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath
none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they
are become her enemies. {PK 461.2}
"Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of
great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all
her persecutors overtook her between the straits. The ways of Zion do mourn,
because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her
priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. Her
adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the Lord hath afflicted
her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into
captivity before the enemy." {PK 462.1}
"How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His
anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and
remembered not His footstool in the day of His anger! The Lord hath
swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: He hath
thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He hath
brought them down to the ground: He hath polluted the kingdom and the
princes thereof. He hath cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel:
He hath drawn back His right hand from before the enemy, and He burned
against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about. He hath bent
His bow like an enemy: He stood with His right hand as an adversary, and
slew all
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that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: He
poured out His fury like fire." {PK 462.2}
"What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken
to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may
comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the
sea: who can heal thee?" {PK 463.1}
"Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our
reproach. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. We
are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. . . . Our fathers
have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. Servants have
ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. . . .
For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim." {PK 463.2}
"Thou, O Lord, remainest forever; Thy throne from generation to
generation. Wherefore dost Thou forget us forever, and forsake us so long
time? Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days
as of old." Lamentations 1:1-5; 2:1-4, 13; 5:1-3, 7, 8, 17, 19-21. {PK
463.3}