Jeremiah 52 Study Notes

52:1-34 A shortened form of this material is found in 39:1-10. A longer form is preserved in 2Kg 24:18-25:30, which in turn is condensed in 2Ch 36:11-21. The differences with the 2Kg 24:18-25:30 passage are: (1) some expansions in Jr 52:10-11,21-23 (expanded over 2Kg 25:7,17); (2) one omission (2Kg 25:22-26), perhaps because the information about Gedaliah had already been covered in Jr 40-41; and (3) one addition (52:28-30), which lists the number of exiles, possibly to give a sign of hope for the future.

52:1-3 This is a brief background and explanation about why Jerusalem had to fall. King Zedekiah (597-587 BC) did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, and it came to the point where God could no longer turn his back on the nation’s sin.

52:4-11 The siege of Jerusalem, with its horrible famine, began in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign (January 588 BC); it persisted until July of 587 BC, Zedekiah’s eleventh year. The king and his warriors attempted to escape by the king’s garden, but they were overtaken by the Babylonian army in the plains of Jericho. At Riblah the Babylonian king had Zedekiah’s sons slaughtered before his eyes just before Zedekiah was blinded.

52:12-23 One month after the fall of Jerusalem, the Babylonian army returned under the command of Nebuzaradan to burn down the temple, the king’s palace, the houses of the city, and to raze the city walls. The vessels of the temple are listed one by one, as if to prolong the agony of the report and to note that all the most cherished items of the temple were dismantled. Nothing could depict more convincingly the destruction of the temple, the central focus of Israel’s religious life.

52:24-30 Seventy-four priestly, royal, and military leaders were executed. These included the chief priest Seraiah (not the same Seraiah as 40:8 and 51:59) and Zephaniah the priest of the second rank. Most leaders were exiled to Babylon; why these specific leaders were executed is not known. This was the third and last deportation. The first deportation in 606 BC involved Daniel and other youths. The second deportation in 597 BC involved ten thousand persons, including Ezekiel (2Kg 24:14).

52:31-34 About twenty-six years after the destruction of Jerusalem, King Jehoiachin found favor in exile under the Babylonian king Evil-merodach. The former Judean king was given a standing above all the other exiled kings in Babylon, was awarded a place at the royal table, and was provided with new robes and privileges. No reason is given for this special treatment. In another twenty years, King Cyrus of Persia would allow the exiles to return home (538 BC; Ezr 1:1-4).