Historical Events

Jeremiah 36-43

            These chapters are all over the place chronologically. It might be helpful to have a little chart of Judah’s final kings.

Josiah (640-609 BC)

Jeremiah’s Ministry (626-586 BC)

Jehoahaz (609 BC, son of Josiah, reigned 3 months)

Jehoiakim (609-598 BC, also Josiah’s son)

Jehoiachin (598-597 BC, Jehoiakim’s son)

Zedekiah (597-586 BC, Josiah’s son)

So, Jeremiah was preaching the destruction of Jerusalem at least some 20 years before it happened, and for all of those years none of the kings wanted to hear it. Jeremiah himself was under some sort of arrest a number of times in these years. In 36:5, Jeremiah is under some kind of restriction. In chapter 37, he is imprisoned. In chapter 38, he is thrown into a cistern during the siege off Jerusalem. “Neither Jehoiachin nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet” (37:2). There’s something important there about hearing and taking seriously the Lord’s words!

            Chapter 39 records the fall of Jerusalem (repeated later this week in chapter 52). The Babylonians set up a puppet, Gedaliah, as a proxy for them. Unfortunately, in a story worthy of the north kingdom, he is assassinated, and then the assassins are executed, too. Amid such uncertainty, the leaders worry that the Babylonians will blame them for revolting and ask Jeremiah what to do. He tells them that the Lord wants them to stay in the land. But, typically, they take their own counsel and leave.

            The latter incident stands out because of the Lord’s concern for a remnant in the land. He has every intention of keeping His promises to bless the peoples of the earth through the family of Abraham. Leaving the land is tantamount to stymying the Lord’s plans.