Books: Stories of the Prophets
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Isaac Landman >> Stories of the Prophets
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Then Jeremiah took another papyrus and began once more the laborious
task of dictating his discourses to Baruch.
Those were indeed days of pain and sorrow for Jeremiah and Baruch.
They were not troubled so much by Jehoiakim's designs upon their
lives--for Ebed-melech kept them well informed on the progress of the
search--as they were by the preparations for rebellion. They knew that
this was the beginning of the end.
At one time the faithful, old Ethiopian warned them that the search
party was near at hand. They were forced to hide in a cave for two
days. It was then that Jeremiah cried:
"Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of
strife and a man of contention to the whole earth."
This danger past, Jeremiah and Baruch continued their laborious task
of finishing the new scroll of prophecies. Then came Spring, and with
it Jehoiakim's rebellion.
Nebuchadrezzar had not yet fully established himself on his throne in
Babylon. He was too busy to deal with the rebellious Judean, himself.
So he ordered a guerrilla warfare to be carried on by detached troops
in all parts of Judah. It was only a question of time, however, when
Nebuchadrezzar would invade Judah with his entire army and crush
Jehoiakim like a snail under foot. No wonder that Jeremiah asked:
"Who will have pity on thee, O Jerusalem?
Or who will bemoan thee?
Or who will turn aside to ask for thy welfare!"
His grief was not alone for the great and glorious city and for its
people, but for himself as well, that he should have to witness what
he knew was inevitable:
"Oh, that I could comfort myself against sorrow!
My heart is faint within me.
The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved.
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt.
I mourn; dismay hath taken hold of me.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my
people recovered?
"Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter
of my people.
Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men;
That I might leave my people and go from them."
This despondency and hopelessness did not last long, however. As
Nebuchadrezzar's guerrillas continued their cruel and merciless
warfare, destroying crops and whole villages, Jeremiah determined that
he must once more return to Jerusalem. He was ready and willing to pay
for his efforts in behalf of his country with his life, if need be.
A comforting and encouraging message came to him from God, at
this time:
"I will make thee unto this people a fortified, brazen
wall; and they shall fight against thee, but they shall
not prevail against thee, for I am with thee to save thee
and to deliver thee.
"And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked,
and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible."
But Baruch and Ebed-melech counseled against undue risks. They had
heard that the Rechabites, that tribe of wandering nomads, which,
because of the vow their ancestor, Jonadab, son of Rechab, had taken
never to settle permanently in any definite place and never to follow
agricultural pursuits, had been driven south by the marauding
guerrillas and were making their way toward Jerusalem. Jeremiah and
Baruch fell in with them and came, unobserved, into the city.
Many strange stories had been told about these nomads and the whole
population turned out to gape and wonder at them. Jeremiah directed
them to the Temple, and hundreds of people followed them.
At the Temple, Jeremiah ordered bowls of wine and cups and invited the
Rechabites to refresh themselves with drink.
Jazaniah, their leader, arose in his place and, with a courteous bow
to Jeremiah, replied:
"We drink no wine. For, Jonadab, our father, commanded us:
'Ye shall never drink wine, neither ye nor your sons. And
we have obediently done just as Jonadab, our forefather,
commanded us.'"
This incident gave Jeremiah the opportunity once more to pen his
artillery against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
"Thus saith the Lord:
"'Will he not learn instruction as to how one should heed
my words? For, while the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab,
have performed the command of their forefather, this people
hath not hearkened unto me.'
"Therefore, thus saith the Lord: 'Behold I am about to
bring upon Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the
evil that I have pronounced against them.'"
Jeremiah thus revealed dramatically the meaning of all his preaching.
Just as the Rechabites had remained faithful to the ancient vow of
their ancestors, so must Judah remain faithful to the covenant between
them and their God, if the country was to be saved from the hands of
the Babylonians.
Yet, this proved to be but one more act in the hopeless part that
Jeremiah was playing in the drama of Judah. Hopeless, indeed, it was
now. As Jeremiah himself expressed it:
"Can the Ethiopian change his skin,
Or the leopard his spots?
Then may ye also do good
That are taught to do evil."
The very next year, the year 597, Nebuchadrezzar gathered his full
army at Riblah and prepared to march on Jerusalem.
CHAPTER XVII.
_The First Deportation._
Poor, miserable Jehoiakim! He was not even given an opportunity to
meet Nebuchadrezzar on the battlefield in a single engagement. The
Babylonian had hardly entered Judean territory when Jehoiakim died and
was buried with his ancestors.
Of course, Jeremiah's prophecy, at the moment of his anger, that
Jehoiakim's body would be thrown to the dogs, did not come true; but
the king's death did not in any way put off the calamity that was to
befall Jerusalem and its people. Upon hearing of Jehoiakim's death,
Nebuchadrezzar, at Riblah, hastened his preparations to besiege
Jerusalem.
An eighteen-year-old boy, Coniah, also known as Jehoiachin, succeeded
his incapable father to the throne.
Jeremiah's advice to the young king was to submit to Nebuchadrezzar
and remain in peace. The policy of Nebuchadrezzar, with regard to his
dependencies, was that of peace. As long as they did not rebel and
paid their tribute, he left them entirely undisturbed to work out
their own futures.
So Jeremiah hoped that if Jehoiachin would at once show his
willingness to be honest with Nebuchadrezzar, there would still be a
chance for the country. Therefore he sent this message to the king:
"Say to the king and to the queen mother, 'Sit ye down low,
For from the head hath fallen your fair crown.'"
Urged on by the queen mother and his father's counselors, however,
Jehoiachin proposed to hold out against the Babylonian siege.
Jeremiah, therefore, delivered the following oration in Jerusalem:
"As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah (Jehoiachin), the
son of Jehioakim, wore the signet ring upon my right hand,
I would pluck him thence. And I will give thee into the hand
of them that seek thy life, whom thou dreadest, into the
hands of the Chaldeans, and I will hurl thee forth, and thy
mother who bore thee, into a land where ye were not born,
and there ye shall die. But to the land for which they long
they shall not return.
"Is Coniah despised as a broken vessel and thrown forth into
a land which he knoweth not? O land, land, hear the word of
the Lord! Write down this man as childless! For no man of
his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David and
ruling any more in Judah."
But Jehoiachin continued his stubborn defense until, driven by the
horrors of famine, he
"together with his mother and his servants, his princes and
his chamberlains went to meet Nebuchadrezzar."
On this unconditional surrender, Nebuchadrezzar determined never again
to be troubled by stiff-necked, rebellious Judah. To that end he
thoroughly ransacked the treasuries of the Temple and of the royal
palace. He took away all the gold vessels that belonged to the worship
of the Temple and, in addition, carried away
"as captives, all Jerusalem and all the princes and all the
mighty warriors, even ten thousand, and all the craftsmen
and the smiths; none remained, except the poorest people of
the land.
"And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's
mother and the king's wives, and his chamberlains, and the
chief men of the land he carried into captivity from
Jerusalem to Babylon.
"And all the men of ability, even seven thousand, and the
craftsmen and the smiths, a thousand, all of them strong
and ready for war; these the king of Babylon took captive
to Babylon."
This was the first great deportation, in the year 597. The pride and
strength of the country were taken away and led captive to a strange
land.
Poor Jeremiah!
Now he did not glory in the fact that all that he had spoken had
finally come true.
He wept bitterly. He mourned as if every one of the exiles had been
his brothers and sisters. He could not be consoled.
But when his first grief had worn off and the Prophet had a chance to
study the conditions and to consider the future, God vouchsafed to him
a new message for his people--a message of hope and of promise.
CHAPTER XVIII.
_In Exile and in the Homeland._
Stripped of all its best people the country was in a sorry plight
when, in the year 596, Nebuchadrezzar, on departing for Babylon,
raised Zedekiah to the throne of Judah.
Zedekiah was an uncle of the ill-fated Jehoiachin. He was the third
son of Josiah, and, like his brothers, Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, he was
to see the fortunes of Judah ebb to their lowest point, and finally to
witness the destruction of the capital and the end of Judah.
The king had to surround himself with a vulgar, arrogant and uncouth
set of people. All of the princes and leading Judeans who were taken
to Babylon had been forced to sell their estates and properties at
whatever price they would bring. These were bought up by anyone that
came along and created a class of newly-rich that the country had
never had before.
The court was now, therefore, composed of these newly-rich, who knew
nothing about affairs of state, but who prided themselves on the fact
that because they were spared in Judah, they were the choice remnant
of God.
Zedekiah himself was feeble, slow to make up his mind and to come to a
decision. He went to everybody for suggestions and help, including
Jeremiah and the horde of false prophets that swarmed in Jerusalem.
Unfortunately, he always took the wrong advice.
Notwithstanding these unpromising conditions, Jeremiah was filled with
new hope for his land and people. He believed that now they would
understand his position regarding them and the meaning of his constant
preaching and teaching.
One day he was walking through a fig orchard near Anathoth. It was
harvest time and everywhere there were baskets laden with figs. Under
a particularly fine tree he noticed two baskets. One was filled with
very good figs; the other with very bad ones. Immediately he saw in
them a symbol for his people.
He compared Zedekiah, his upstart courtiers and the remnant in
Jerusalem to the basket of bad figs. The princes, elders, mechanics
and artisans, whom Nebuchadrezzar had carried away, he compared to the
basket of good figs. There was no message of hope in the "bad figs"
now ruling the country; there was hope, however, in the exiles.
Therefore Jeremiah sent the following letter to the Jews in Babylonia:
"Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens and
eat the fruit of them. Take ye wives and beget sons and
daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your
daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters;
and multiply ye there, and be not diminished.
"And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you
to be carried away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it;
for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
"For, thus saith the Lord: 'After seventy years are
accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my
good word toward you, in causing you to return to this
place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,'
saith the Lord, 'thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give
you hope in your latter end.
"'And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto
me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me and
find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
"'And I will be found of you,' saith the Lord, 'and I will
turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all
the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven
you,' saith the Lord; 'and I will bring you again unto the
place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.'"
Jerusalem, however, swarmed with false prophets who took themselves
seriously. They prophesied the immediate fall of Babylonia; they
promised the people that within two years the very Temple vessels that
Nebuchadrezzar had carried away would be restored and Judah
rejuvenated in its ancient glory.
Politicians, too, became active. Zedekiah, urged on by them, was
making alliances with the little countries about Judah, with Edom,
Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon, for the purpose of rebellion against
Babylon; and behind them all was Pharaoh Hophrah, who came to the
throne of Egypt in 589, and who immediately turned his eyes to
Babylon, hoping to accomplish what Pharaoh Necho had failed to do.
Jeremiah denounced both prophets and politicians most bitterly. When
ambassadors from the neighboring states came to Jerusalem, to consult
with Zedekiah and to receive a message from the Egyptian king that he
was ready to send an army to assist them against Babylon, Jeremiah
appeared in the Market Place with thongs and yokes around his neck and
on his arms. He sent a yoke to each of the foreign ambassadors, with a
message to all of them advising that they permit the yoke of Babylon
to remain around their necks, resting assured that the rebellion was
doomed to failure.
In the Market Place Jeremiah was met by Hananiah, one of the false
prophets. Hananiah tore the yoke from Jeremiah's neck, broke it over
his knee and exclaimed:
"Thus saith the Lord:
"'So will I break the yoke of the king of Babylon from the
neck of all the nations.'"
Jeremiah answered:
"Thus saith the Lord:
"'Thou hast broken the yoke of wood, but I will make a yoke
of iron. I will put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these
peoples that they may serve the king of Babylon.'"
And to Zedekiah he sent the following message:
"Bring your neck into his yoke and serve the king of Babylon;
for these prophets prophesy a lie to you. 'I have not sent
them,' saith the Lord, 'and they prophesy in My name falsely,
that they might drive you out, and that ye might perish,
together with the prophets who have prophesied falsely to you.'"
But Jeremiah's efforts were all in vain. That same year, 589, the
rebellion broke out. Nebuchadrezzar did not delay long. He poured his
trained veterans into Palestine. They marched through the country with
the ease and assurance of a brook running along in its smooth course.
Within a few months they were before Jerusalem and, in 588, besieged it.
CHAPTER XIX.
_A Friend in Need._
Zedekiah sent messenger after messenger into Egypt, urging, pleading,
begging Hophrah to come to his assistance.
Jeremiah cried that it was too late; that Hophrah would not come.
"Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise; he hath let the
appointed time pass by."
Hophrah, however, did finally bestir himself. Word came to Jerusalem,
and it reached the besieging forces, that a vast army of Egyptians was
on the march northward. To the surprise of all, Nebuchadrezzar
withdrew from Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem prophets were jubilant. They saw their hopeful forecasts
all fulfilled and Judah once more independent. But Jeremiah knew
better. He held out no such false hopes:
"Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come out to help you,
shall return to Egypt. Then the Chaldeans shall come back
and fight against the city and shall take it and burn it
with fire.
"Do not deceive yourselves with the idea that the Chaldeans
will depart from you; for they shall not depart. For though
ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight
against you, and there remained but wounded men, yet would
these arise up each in his tent, and burn this city with fire."
Although this sounds like a trumpet call of doom, Jeremiah was not
without hope. The course of events, as he saw it, included the fall of
Judah at the hands of Nebuchadrezzar; but he hoped also for a later
rehabilitation of the land and rebuilding of the capital.
Jeremiah pinned his faith on the exiles in Babylonia and the certainty
of their return to Judah. To picture his hope vividly, he determined
to purchase his family estate in Anathoth. While Jerusalem was
celebrating the withdrawal of the Babylonian troops and awaiting the
coming of Hophrah's army, Jeremiah, with this in mind, started
for Anathoth.
At the gates of the town, however, he was arrested and brought back to
Jerusalem in chains. He was accused of high treason, of having spied
out Jerusalem, and of attempting to escape to the Babylonians with the
secrets. Without trial he was sentenced to prison and jailed in the
guard house of the Temple garrison.
But this was not sufficient for the princes who had trumped up this
charge against Jeremiah. They came to Zedekiah and charged that, by
his speeches and actions, he was undermining discipline in the army
and weakening the spirit of the people. They demanded that he be put
to death.
Zedekiah, always weak and uncertain, replied, "Behold, he is in your
hands." But they dared not kill Jeremiah outright.
"Then took they Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern that
was in the Court of the Guard; and they let down Jeremiah
with cords. And in the cistern there was no water, but mire;
and Jeremiah sank in the mire."
There was one person in the Court of the Guard who might have drawn
Jeremiah right up out of the cistern where he had been left to die,
had he not feared the wrath of the princes. It was Ebed-melech, the
old, faithful friend. The Ethiopian was not afraid to die; but he felt
that it would be useless to attempt to spirit Jeremiah away, for both
would surely be caught. He cast about for some other means to save him
whom he loved only as he had loved Josiah, the friend of his youth.
Had Ebed-melech known, however, that Jeremiah was sunk thigh-deep in
mud, and that he had given himself up to die, he would have acted more
quickly. It was on the second evening that he stole quietly out of the
palace and up to the Court of the Guards. With great care, so as not
to be discovered, he crawled to the cistern prison and leaned his gray
head on the rim to listen. Jeremiah was praying:
"O Lord, Thou knowest.
Remember me and visit me.
Know that for Thy sake I have suffered reproach.
Thy words were found, and I did eat them,
And Thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Thy name.
O Lord, God of hosts, why is my pain perpetual?"
Yes! There was no mistake about it--Jeremiah wanted to die! Hot tears
coursed down Ebed-melech's cheeks as he listened. Then he whispered a
hurried word of hope to the prisoner and was off for the palace as
fast as his old legs could carry him.
Twice he was stopped by the guards, but each time quickly released.
Everyone knew Ebed-melech, his story of Josiah's escape, his
privileges in the palace. He was a fixture at the court, and people
said that he would never die.
Arrived at the palace, he demanded to see the king. Brought into the
presence of Zedekiah he asked to speak to him alone. When both were
left alone, he fell at Zedekiah's feet. Pointing to the door through
which several princes had just gone out, he said:
"My Lord, the King!
"These men have done evil in all that they have done to
Jeremiah, the prophet, whom they have cast into the pit. He
is like to die in the place where he is."
Raising his head and looking straight into the king's eyes, he pleaded
for the life of Jeremiah. He spoke very fast, his grey head shaking
and his lips trembling. At last he finished his impassioned speech,
prostrated himself before Zedekiah and kissed the hem of his robe.
Zedekiah graciously yielded to Ebed-melech's pleading and sent three
men with him to raise Jeremiah out of the cistern. More dead than
alive, Jeremiah was again taken to the guard house. Ebed-melech was
given free access to his cell at all times.
A few days later Zedekiah requested Ebed-melech to bring Jeremiah to
him, secretly. Rumor had it that Pharaoh Hophrah had halted in his
march northward, because the Babylonians had lifted the siege, and was
returning to Egypt. Zedekiah, therefore, wanted to know from Jeremiah:
"Is there any word from the Lord? Conceal nothing from me."
Jeremiah answered him:
"If I declare it to you, will you promise not to put me to
death? And if I give you counsel, you will not hearken to me."
But Zedekiah wanted to hear. Vacillating as he was, he hoped that
perhaps this time Jeremiah would bring him a message of assurance. So,
he swore to him, saying:
"As the Lord liveth, who hath given us this life, I will not
put you to death; neither will I give you into the hands of
these men."
Thereupon Jeremiah fearlessly delivered his final message to the king:
"They have betrayed thee; they have overcome thee, thy
familiar friends!
They have caused thy feet to sink in the mire; they turn back!
They shall also bring out all your sons to the Chaldeans.
You yourself shall not escape out of their hands,
But shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon;
And this city shall be burned."
Zedekiah did not tear and rage as his brother, Jehoiakim, would have
done at such a message. He did not possess enough energy or
determination for that. In a hopeless sort of voice he simply sent
Jeremiah back to the guard house, where Ebed-melech continued looking
after him.
Once more Jeremiah proceeded to give practical evidence of his faith
in the future of Judah, if the country would only submit to Babylonian
rule; or, if king and princes and false prophets persisted in pushing
the country to its fall, of his faith in the Babylonian exiles, who,
he truly believed, would return and build up Judah again.
Therefore, with the assistance of Ebed-melech and Baruch, who was a
frequent visitor to his master, Jeremiah arranged for and purchased
the family property near Anathoth from his uncle, Hananel, and turning
the deed over to Baruch, said to him:
"Take this purchase deed and put it in an earthen vessel,
that it may remain for years to come. For, thus saith the
lord, 'Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again be
bought in this land.'"
Events that followed, however, seemed to mock his enthusiasm and his
hope. The rumor of Hophrah's return to Egypt was verified--and
Nebuchadrezzar was still encamped at Riblah.
CHAPTER XX.
_In the Midst of Despair._
The year 586!
What a terrible year it was for Jerusalem and Judah--and Jeremiah!
Oh, the famine, the misery, the horrors within Jerusalem when the
Babylonians besieged the city for the second time.
Oh, the carnage, the massacre, the hopeless destruction when the
Babylonians finally captured Jerusalem and burned the Temple!
On the ninth day of the fourth month the first breach was made in the
outer walls of Jerusalem by Nebuzaradan, the commander of
Nebuchadrezzar's body guard, who led the besieging forces.
True to his character of weakling, Zedekiah, with his nobles, at this
first sign of danger to the city, fled from Jerusalem through the
king's gardens and the south gate, by night. When the news of the
king's departure reached the Babylonians, Nebuzaradan, with a chosen
troop, followed immediately in hot pursuit. The whole renegade lot
were captured in the plains of Jericho. Thrown into chains, they were
sent to Riblah, to Nebuchadrezzar, while Nebuzaradan returned to his
command, to push the final capture of Jerusalem with an energy equal
to that with which his master had destroyed Nineveh.
Two terrible tragedies were being enacted at about the same time, in
Jerusalem and at Riblah. Nebuchadrezzar timed his performances at
Riblah with the news that was brought to him from the doomed Jerusalem.
On the day when the report of the capture of the second defenses
reached Riblah, Nebuchadrezzar gathered all his court in the market
place, which had been transformed into a festive arena. Zedekiah, his
sons and the Judean princes of the blood, in full regalia, were
enthroned on platforms, on one side of the arena. Nebuchadrezzar and
his courtiers were enthroned in full state on the other.
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