20150929 Tuesday, September 29 2015
Jeremiah 34: The Sinking Of His Majesty's Vessel, Judah

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"Thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto Me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth"

If a naval vessel were ever hijacked by its captain and crew, it would thereby become an enemy vessel - regardless of what flag it was flying. If the pirated, treason-committing vessel could not be restored to its proper service, it would become the duty of the remainder of the fleet to sink it - regardless of what flag it was flying.

The Kingdom of Judah, like the Kingdom of Israel before it (see Why Didn't Jeremiah Live In The Kingdom Of Israel?), had been created by the LORD (see The Identity Of The LORD God and The LORD God Our Saviour) as a vessel of His Messianic purpose, while the sovereign Messianic purpose was in no way dependent upon any particular kingdom of man. When the Kingdom of Judah became an outlaw kingdom, forsaking the prophetic symbolic purpose for which it was created (i.e. of the coming Kingdom of God; see The Patriotism Prophecy) by serving idols and defying His Law, the LORD sent many warnings to its captains, to king after king after king, through His prophets, but each "captain" became more corrupt and more defiant in their betrayal.

Finally, as a last resort, the day came when the LORD withdrew the protection of the rest of the fleet and allowed it to be sunk by an overwhelming force of enemy vessels. Such as it was with the LORD allowing the Babylonian Empire to remove the Kingdom of Judah from His sight.

Zedekiah was the final king of the Kingdom of Judah. The last communication that He received from the ultimate King, the LORD, was that Judah was going down, not by the force of other righteous vessels, but by the enemy that they all formerly faced together. Judah had truly been an unsinkable "titanic" superpower when it was righteous, but it had made itself weak and worthless, blind to its own headlong self-destruction, with its iniquity and decadence (see the Fact Finder question below).

"34:1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying, 34:2 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: 34:3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.

34:4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword: 34:5 But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.

34:6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 34:7 When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah." (Jeremiah 34:1-7 KJV)

The LORD's last command to Zedekiah was for him to set the people, including the slaves, free from the laws of the corrupt regime. The "leaders" obeyed, but then quickly forced their corrupt will back again. In a way, it may have been another, the last, means of "separating the sheep from the goats" - those who would survive the plunge (see The LORD's Letter To The Exiles In Babylon), and those who would not.

"34:8 This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them; 34:9 That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother. 34:10 Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go. 34:11 But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

34:12 Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 34:13 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying, 34:14 At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. 34:15 And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: 34:16 But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

34:17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. 34:18 And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof, 34:19 The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf; 34:20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.

34:21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which are gone up from you. 34:22 Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant." (Jeremiah 34:8-22 KJV)

Fact Finder: What caused the fall of the Kingdom of Judah - and the Kingdom of Israel before them?
See Iniquity In History And Prophecy and Decadence In History And Prophecy