Jeremiah 52:8-11
8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
9 Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.
10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
11 Then he put outa the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
Of the many truths which the passage before us teaches, the mysterious intervolution of the plans of God with the plans of men will seem to some minds the most impressive.
I. The enclosure of the plans of men within the plans of God is such that commonly men appear to be left very much to themselves.
II. In leaving men to themselves in the forming and working of their own plans, Divine control does not prevent the occurrence of very shocking catastrophes.
III. Yet the plans of God envelop and use the plans of men with more than motherly tenderness for every man, every woman, every child.
IV. The interlacing of the plans of God with the plans of man goes far towards explaining the mystery of shocking and exceptional calamity. Suffering is God's great remedial antithesis to sin.
V. The interworking of the plans of God with the plans of men suggests the only true method of happy as well as holy living. It is to make our plans one with God's plans.
A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book,p. 215.
Reference: Jeremiah 52:11. J. Kennedy, Christian World Pulpit,vol. ii., p. 140.