Judgment and Mercy on the Same Day

Jeremiah 39 records the event Jeremiah had warned about for many years. The siege began in the ninth year of Zedekiah, and in the eleventh year, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city (39:1-2). Babylon's princes sat in the middle gate, a sign that they now ruled. Zedekiah tried to escape toward the Jordan, but he was captured in the plains of Jericho and brought to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. There he suffered the severe punishment Jeremiah had foretold, and he was carried to Babylon in chains. The temple, palace, and homes were burned and the walls torn down.

The account is deliberately plain. Every detail fulfills God's word, showing that the warnings were not empty threats. Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, deported the population but left some of the poorest in the land and gave them vineyards and fields, a small reversal in which the poor received land.

Two individuals stand out amid national judgment. Nebuchadnezzar ordered, Take him and take care of him. Do him no harm. Jeremiah was entrusted to Gedaliah. And God's earlier promise to Ebedmelech was kept. God told him that he would escape with his life, because he had put his trust in God. The faithful foreigner who risked his life for Jeremiah was spared. God's judgment on a nation does not cancel his care for those who trust him.