Chapter 39

In Jeremiah 39 prophecy and history converge. It is a devastating, clinical account of the end of the “reign” of the last king of Judah. We are told the day, the number of years into the reign, the month. We are told which of the Babylonian military leaders are present. We are told that the city is taken over and that king Zedekiah flees but is captured. The brutality is terrible. Zedekiah is chained. His sons are brought before him and killed by the Babylonians. Then Zedekiah’s eyes are gouged out so that the last thing he sees is the murder of his sons. The Babylonians (like all nations held up by violence) practice a military, terrorizing violence. There is this note in the chapter. After we hear that the people of the land are taken into exile, we are told that a few remain. Some of the poor people just stay and Nebuchadnezzar grants them land. We are told that previously these people owned nothing at all.  

The second half of the chapter tells us what happens to Jeremiah in the midst of all of this. He is taken by Babylonians, but Nebuchadnezzar gives instructions that Jeremiah be looked after well. He is not to be harmed. 
What are we to do with the word of the Lord? Jeremiah who has spoken God’s warning over the city for so many years is not living the days of the destruction. He has been beaten and left for dead by his own people and now he is held in safety by a brutal, relentless military nation. In some ways he has given his life for his people who have not heard or listened. Again, in the midst of all of this, (vs. 15) “The word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah …" 
God says that the destruction of the city will be accomplished, but that Jeremiah himself will be saved. Then God says something that sounds to me like life itself, like breath. Jeremiah is utterly undone. We know what he is feeling because he writes the book of Lamentations in the midst of all of this. He is utterly undone. And God says, “I know that you have put your trust in me.” 

Dear God; 
History itself can spin like a hurricane. We can sometimes barely keep track of the turnings of our own lives let alone the events of the world around. But I long to hear, as life itself, that I have put my trust in you.