AUGUST 3

Assyria Falls and Babylonia Emerges______

Already the prophecies about the nations are coming true. There is foreign unrest everywhere. Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt are all vying for supremacy. Just as Jeremiah was beginning his ministry in 626 B.C., Nabopolassar rebelled against Assyria and established the Babylonian Empire. Now, some 14 years later, the time has come for the prophecies of Nahum and others regarding Nineveh's fall to be fulfilled. It takes only a two-month siege by the allied armies of the Medes, Babylonians, and Scythians (from north of the Black Sea) to bring Nineveh to its knees in 612 B.C. Under Nabopolassar, Babylonia begins its rise to world supremacy. But Babylonia must first contend with what is left of Assyria as well as with Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, who succeeds his father, Psammerichus I, in 610 B.C. When Neco recognizes the growing threat of Babylonia, he decides to bolster what few Assyrian forces remain, and that plan of action brings Neco through Canaan.

The incidental result for Judah is loss of its good king Josiah. Why Josiah decides to attack Egypt is not clear, but he goes to Mcgiddo, a city on the south-em edge of the Plain of Esdraelon, and soon finds himself mortally wounded. Here now is the record of Josiah's untimely death and of the brief reign of his son Jehoahaz before Neco replaces him by Jehoahaz's brother Eliakim, whom the pharaoh calls Jehoiakim. During this time Neco tries to make Judah a buffer state between his own country and Babylonia.

JOSIAH KILLED IN BATTLE. 2Chron. 33:20-25 [2Kgs. 23:29,30a ]

After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle. But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, "What quarrel is there between you and me, O king of Judah? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you."

Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Neco had said at God's command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo.

Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, "Take me away; I am badly wounded." So they took him out of his chariot, put him in the other chariot he had and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the men and women singers commemorate Josiah in the laments. These became a tradition in Israel and are written in the Laments.

JEHOAHAZ (SHALLUM) KING. 2Kgs. 23:30b,31 [ 2 Chron. 36:1,2 ]

And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

CHARACTER OF JEHOAHAZ 2Kgs.23:32

He did evil in the eyes of the lord, just as his fathers had done.

NECO TAKES JEHOAHAZ CAPTIVE. 2Kgs. 23:33 [2 Chron. 36:3 ]

Pharaoh Neco put him in chains at Riblah in the land of HamathV so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents² of silver and a talent of gold.

JEHOIAKIM MADE PUPPET KING. 2Kgs. 23:34,36 [2 Chron. 36:4,5a ]

Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother's name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah.

JEHOIAKIM'S CHARACTER2 Kgs. 23:37 [2 Ch.36:5b]

And he did evil in the eyes of the lord,just as his fathers had done.

TRIBUTE TO NECO. 2 Kgs.23:35

Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Neco the silver and gold he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments.

PROPHECY ABOUT JEHOAHAZ. jer. 22:10-17

Do not weep for the dead (king, or mourn his loss;

rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled, because he will never return

nor see his native land again.

For this is what the lord says about Shallum⁶ son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but has gone from this place: "He will never return. He will die in the place where they have led him captive; he will not see this land again."

"Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,

his upper rooms by injustice, making his countrymen work for nothing,

not paying them for their labor. He says, 'I will build myself a great palace

with spacious upper rooms.' So he makes large windows in it,

panels it with cedar

and decorates it in red.

"Does it make you a king

to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink?

He did what was right and just,

so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy,

and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?"

declares the lord. "But your eyes and your heart

are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood

and on oppression and extortion."

Jeremiah Faces Charges__________________

Now that Josiah's good influence is gone and his sons have once again let Judah become corrupt, Jeremiah is in more jeopardy than he might otherwise have been. He is reminded of this by a confrontation in which he barely escapes with his life.

PREDICTION ABOUT JERUSALEM. jer. 26:1-6

Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son

of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the lord: "This is what

the lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the lord's house and speak to all

the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the

lord. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. Perhaps

they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will relent and

not bring on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have

done. Say to them, 'This is what the lord says: If you do not listen to me

and follow my law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to

the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.'"

PRIESTS CONFRONT JEREMIAH. Jer. 26:7-9

The priests, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the lord. But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the lord had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, "You must die! Why do you prophesy in the lord's name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?" And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the lord.

CHARGE BEFORE OFFICIALS. Jer. 26:10,11

When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went up from the royal palace to the house of the lord and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the lord's house. Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, "This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!"

JEREMIAH'S DEFENSE. Jer. 26:12-15

Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: "The lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the lord your God. Then the lord will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you. As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing."

DEFENSE FROM OTHERS. Jer. 26:16-19

Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, "This man should not be sentenced to death! He has spoken to us in the name of the lord our God."

Some of the elders of the land stepped forward and said to the entire assembly of people, "Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah, 'This is what the lord Almighty says:

" 'Zion will be plowed like a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,

the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.

"Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did not Hezekiah fear the lord and seek his favor? And did not the lord relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!"

JEREMIAH RELEASED. Jer. 26:24

Furthermore, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

URIAH HAS WORSE FATE. Jer. 26:20-23 (Now Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim was another man who prophesied in the name of the lord; he prophesied the same things against this city and this land as Jeremiah did.

When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and officials heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt. King Jehoiakim, however, sent Elnathan son of Acbor to Egypt, along with some other men. They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.)