Image: "Moody Marsh", 2016, Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuge, De
Jeremiah 52:28–30 These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews; 29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons; 30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons. All the persons were four thousand six hundred.j
Jeremiah 52:31–32 Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. 32 And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
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And so the Biblical history of national Israel/Judah fizzles out. As a people, their story continued. The relatively few people in exile in Babylon will come trooping home. The "lost" tribes of Northern Israel retained some ignominous presence in the area bordering Galilee. In the New Testament, they are called Samaritans. Jerusalem would be rebuilt and have a tumultuous history right down to the birth of Jesus. After Cyrus restores the people to Palestine and gives the region some degree of regional self-government, there would come Alexander the Great and with him the Greek language and culture.
After Alexander died, his empire was divided into four parts and Judah was part of the Seleucid division. Around 150 BC the massive infusion of Greek culture and influence had so degraded the Israelite heritage that a revolt was staged under the Maccabees, a group of rebel warriors who wanted to reclaim the Jewish heritage. They set up the Hasmonean dynasty, ruled by members of the Maccabean family, which was subordinate to the Seleucids but allowed a fair amount of autonomy. It was during this period that several new sects were formed inside Judaism. Prominent among them were the Pharisees and the Essenes. The Pharisees, in particular, were convinced that only when Israel returned to strict observance of the Mosaic law that God would bring them out of a form of "exile." They looked for the restoration of Israel and its ascent to prominence as a light to the world and an example of righteousness as it would enjoy the special protection and blessing of its Covenant God.
Thus, as Jeremiah's written text sputters to a close we see Babylon undertaking its rape of Jerusalem in stages. There were several incursions accompanied by the looting of the temple and the removal of more people to Babylon. The sordid story of Zedekiah ends with the horror of watching his sons die before his eyes and then having those eyes ripped out of his skull. He spends the rest of his days rotting in a dungeon... a just punishment for a treasonous fool. The story of Jehoiachin is a bit surprising. The king who followed Nebuchadnezzar brings him out of the dungeon, provides him a measure of comfort and clothing, and allows him to eat at the king's table for the rest of his life. No doubt he was a victory prize that the king showed off to visiting ambassadors to reinforce the glory of his power... but, at that point, I imagine Jehoiachin wasn't complaining too much. There was also the witness of blind Zedekiah to remind him of the fragile favor he was being shown.
And thus the era ends.
The Glory of David/Solomon is only a memory. For centuries the people of God would be left in relative revelational darkness. All kinds of speculation would arise about when and if God would send a Messiah. Many eschatological, fanciful writings would be promulgated and a sense of urgency/imminence would pervade the people, especially the poor. Rome would arise and build roads that God would use, along with the Greek language introduced by Alexander, to spread the Good News that Israel's Messiah had indeed come in due season.
The people of God were reduced to a pitiful shell of their former self. They were powerless, strife-ridden, and held in contempt by their more powerful neighbors. But their God was not powerless and they were not forgotten.
We should leave Jeremiah with this image in our minds. We should see Judah lying desolate, Jerusalem in ruins, and the people as lost sheep without a shepherd. This picture will define the scenario in which the Son of God would be provided. He came to heal wounds, call His sheep, and claim His throne in Jerusalem. Another sad image will be painted then as the very ones He came to save and to restore, refuse Him on His terms and rebellious reject the Wisdom of God which He embodied.
For that egregious sin, Jerusalem would again be destroyed and the Jewish people themselves rejected as the Covenant people of God. The New Israel would be made up of sinners saved by grace, whether Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. This New People would be the Church of Jesus Christ and the gates of Hell itself will not withstand the war they wage on its dominion.
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