Reading: Jeremiah 51-52, Psalm 27

The book of Jeremiah closes with a combination of poetry and narrative and expresses simultaneous lament and hope. Chapter 51 is the conclusion to the judgement of Babylon that we began in yesterday’s reading, which closes with a dramatic sign act that Jeremiah hands off to one of the exiles headed to Babylon. Chapter 52 pretty much quotes 2 Kings 24 and 25, recounting the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, but ending with a glimmer of hope for the dynasty of David. This is the end of the book of Jeremiah. We’ve had quite a few days of judgments, so I want to take a minute and talk about the little glimmers of hope that are still left in the story.

First, though, we have this second telling of the fall of Jerusalem and the beginning of the exile. We’ve already gotten this story in Jeremiah 39. We already know from the books of Kings that the exile happened, and we literally get a direct copy from that book into the end of Jeremiah. This is a literary tactic, like the copy of the story of Hezekiah in the book of Isaiah. The author is telling us something by doing this, not just being too lazy to tell the story in their own words. Isaiah was all about the hope of Israel for a king who would fulfill the covenant promises. The first half of the book sets up Hezekiah to be this king, only to see him disappoint at the test. The rest of the book looks forward to a future Servant of the Lord who will succeed where Hezekiah failed. In a similar way, by placing the well known account from the book of Kings into his book of prophecy, Jeremiah is letting us know what the whole book is really about. In this case, the event is the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. There is a whole bunch to say about the Temple- this is where Jeremiah did most of his work, for at least a time it was where he lived, as a priest it was the center of his life in many ways. Now it is gone. The event is a personal exile for Jeremiah from the place that defined his role in society. The burning of the city and the death of Zedekiah’s line appears to break the line of David, ending the kingdom he was promised. Jeremiah is setting up a huge problem for the people of Israel.

That is what Jeremiah is telling us. The story of Israel, which is the story of God’s redemption for the world, now has a huge problem. The fall of Jerusalem was a humanitarian tragedy, to be sure. Ancient warfare was extremely nasty and brutal. But that isn’t the tragedy that Jeremiah is about to write a book of laments about. This is a tragedy of what Israel should have been. They were to be a kingdom of priests bringing the word of the true creator God to the nations of the world, bearing witness that the human problem would not have the last word and that God makes all things new. Instead, their cities are burned, their temple destroyed, and their people gone into exile. That is Jeremiah’s great tragedy, and the story around which he builds his legacy.

On that cheery note, let’s talk about throwing books in a river. With rocks attached to them. Now here is a real tragedy, ruining a perfectly good book. I guess in this case it’s okay, since God directed it. This odd little story comes at the end of the judgment on Babylon, and seems a little risky from the point of view of Seriah the quartermaster. Here is a guy who survived the invasion and the purge of officials but is getting carted off to Babylon with king Zedekiah, and Jeremiah asks him for a favor. Once you are in Babylon, read off this prophecy of doom for Babylon, then throw the book in the river as a dramatic sign of how they will sink down forever. Because, you know, predicting the destruction of the people who just annihilated your nation is sure to keep you in their good graces. We aren’t told if Seriah did as he was asked, but that really isn’t the point. What we are being told is that God’s word spoken through Jeremiah was going with the exiles to Babylon. Exile was not removing them from being God’s people. The deliverance that God promised in the future would come to them. Like Isaiah’s turn to future hope following his great disappointment, Jeremiah looks to the end of the exile right as it is beginning.

The story of the exiled king Jehoiachin has a similar purpose. Jerusalem is burned. The temple destroyed. The people exiled. The king’s family massacred and Zedekiah himself blinded. It is looking bad for the family of David. Except, at the very end of the story, we are told that Jehoiachin, a king long deposed, was released from bondage and provided for. The house of David was also not forgotten in the foreign land of exile. The story of the Scriptures has reached the nadir for the family of Abraham. Everything seems to have fallen apart, but there are hints left to us that all is not lost, the story isn’t over, and that maybe it will turn out better than anyone thinks it will.