Jeremiah 39:8

THE CAPTIVE DAUGHTER OF ZION

‘The Chaldeans … brake down the walls of Jerusalem.’

Jeremiah 39:8

How Zedekiah must have repented now that he had not listened to the prophet’s word! How his neglect must have stabbed him to the heart when he saw his little children massacred! But it was all too late now, and the hour had struck. The day of mercy had closed for Zedekiah. Like Esau, he found no place of repentance, although he sought it carefully with tears. Let us all remember the terrible risk we run if we neglect so great salvation. God speaks to us through minister and teacher, as He spoke to Zedekiah through the prophet. And we may love and reverence our teachers, as the king in secret reverenced Jeremiah, yet if we live on and never heed their message, may not we also have to suffer terribly? It is to teach us such things that this tale is written. It is far more than a dark scene from ancient history. It is a scene of warning and of judgment, written for us by the God of love.

There are three particular lessons we should learn here.

I. How slow yet sure is God.—All that now happened had been long foretold, yet it had come so slowly that men doubted it. More than once it had looked as if all were lost, and more than once the sun had shone again; until at length the citizens of Judah had come to think that all would yet be well. That was one thing graven on their hearts, when at long last the city was destroyed. It was that God, though He may long delay, yet never fails at last to keep His word. And whether it be for evil or for good, do not forget that God is still the same—‘though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small.’

II. How our sin involves the life of others.—Not only did Zedekiah perish, but he brought a doom upon his helpless children. Had he obeyed the message of his God, all would have been well with him and them; but disobeying it, not only did he suffer, but the children whom he loved so, suffered also. Sin would be bad and terrible enough if it affected no one but ourselves. But the worst of sin is that it puts out its hands and touches the happiness of other people. Hence sin is fittingly portrayed by leprosy, that most deadly and infectious trouble, that spreads insidiously, with its curse and blight, till it takes the brightness from the eyes of innocence. Lastly, let us notice here—

III. How no service to the needy is forgotten.—Ebed-melech had rescued Jeremiah, and in the day of trouble God did not forget it. ‘Lord, when saw we Thee in prison and visited Thee, or when did we see Thee naked and clothed Thee?’ ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My little ones, ye have done it unto Me.’

Illustrations

(1) ‘The siege of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon was begun amid the hardships of mid-winter, and was continued, with certain intermissions, for a period of eighteen months. It was a common belief that the city was impregnable, a belief which the false prophets helped to foster, but the strongest city is no longer safe when it neglects the God Who is its refuge. Jerusalem was captured, and through the broken walls the Babylonian troops came pouring in. Following them, in all the pride of victory, came the procession of Babylonian princes. And in the middle gate, where had sat the Hebrew rulers, now sat these heathen and contemptuous nobles, whose very names suggested the false gods that they worshipped in their Babylonian home.’

(2) ‘We can well imagine with what divided feelings Jeremiah would view the capture of the city. There is always a mingling of feelings in our greatest moments, and so it would be with the prophet in this hour. On the one hand, as a true child of Israel, he must needs mourn for the downfall of the kingdom. He loved his land and its capital too well not to be bitterly humbled at this overthrow. But on the other hand would be that exaltation that comes from God’s unquestioned intervention, for this was the very issue of events that God had led His prophet to predict. Had Jeremiah spoken in his own wisdom, you might have found him crying now, “I told you so.” You might have found him boasting in his triumph, and taunting all who had gainsaid his word. But a true messenger of God is always humble, and while he proclaims the punishment of sin, no one has such a sorrowing heart as he, when the predicted punishment arrives.’