Thursday after VaYakhel
Thursday after VaYakhel
Weekday Reading
Jeremiah chapter 52
Jer 52:1 Tzidkiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Yerushalayim: and his mother’s name was Chamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu of Livna.
Jer 52:2 He did that which was evil in the sight of YHWH, according to all that Yehoiakim had done.
Jer 52:3 For through the anger of YHWH did it happen in Yerushalayim and Yehudah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Bavel.
Jer 52:4 It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nevukhadnetzar king of Bavel came, he and all his army, against Yerushalayim, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about.
This is why we fast during the daylight hours on Tevet the 10th.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 52:5 So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Tzidkiyahu.
Jer 52:6 In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
This is Tammuz the 9th, which is generally not observed, but is instead “rolled into” the fast of Tammuz 17th, when the walls were breached. It would be good to mark this date on the calendar, however, because it is presumed that anytime the Tanakh mentions a specific date, it is because that date is a signpost to be watched in the future.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 52:7 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden; (now the Kasdim were against the city round about;) and they went toward the `Aravah.
Jer 52:8 But the army of the Kasdim pursued after the king, and overtook Tzidkiyahu in the plains of Yericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
Jer 52:9 Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Bavel to Rivlah in the land of Chamat; and he gave judgment on him.
Jer 52:10 The king of Bavel killed the sons of Tzidkiyahu before his eyes: he killed also all the princes of Yehudah in Rivlah.
Jer 52:11 He put out the eyes of Tzidkiyahu; and the king of Bavel bound him in fetters, and carried him to Bavel, and put him in prison until the day of his death.
Jer 52:12 Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nevukhadnetzar , king of Bavel, came Nevuzar’adan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Bavel, into Yerushalayim:
Jer 52:13 and he burned the house of YHWH, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Yerushalayim, even every great house, burned he with fire.
This is observed as the Fast of the 9th of Av, which is a 24 hour fast. The destruction of the second Temple occurred on the 9th, and continued onto the 10th – but a two-day fast is too much for most ordinary people to endure. So the Sages ruled the 9th would be observed, since that is the more recent destruction to be commemorated. Prophetically, one should keep an eye on both days.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 52:14 All the army of the Kasdim, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Yerushalayim round about.
Jer 52:15 Then Nevuzar’adan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Bavel, and the residue of the multitude.
Jer 52:16 But Nevuzar’adan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vineyard keepers and farmers.
Presumably, the am ha’aretz complied with Jeremiah’s warnings to be cooperative with the King of Bavel and were allowed to remain – but the city was clearly defiant.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 52:17 The pillars of brass that were in the house of YHWH, and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of YHWH, did the Kasdim break in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Bavel.
Jer 52:18 The pots also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, took they away.
Jer 52:19 The cups, and the fire pans, and the basins, and the pots, and the menorot, and the spoons, and the bowls–that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver,–the captain of the guard took away.
Jer 52:20 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which king Shlomo had made for the house of YHWH. The brass of all these vessels was without weight.
Jer 52:21 As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness of it was four fingers: it was hollow.
Jer 52:22 A capital of brass was on it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital round about, all of brass: and the second pillar also had like these, and pomegranates.
Jer 52:23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were one hundred on the network round about.
Archaeological records from Babylon also record the items from the Temple that were confiscated – but one item, as most people already know, is conspicuously absent from both the Babylonian’s records and from the Biblical account. That missing item is the Ark of the Covenant. It was not captured by Babylon, and in fact just seems to disappear out of the Bible and history. It is said that loyal priests, possibly led by Jeremiah himself or one of the other prophets, took the Ark and concealed it before the city walls were breached. It’s location is unknown to this day, though a great deal of speculation exists.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 52:24 The captain of the guard took Serayah the chief Kohen, and Tzefanyah the second Kohen, and the three keepers of the threshold:
Jer 52:25 and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city.
Jer 52:26 Nevuzar’adan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Bavel to Rivlah.
Jer 52:27 The king of Bavel struck them, and put them to death at Rivlah in the land of Chamat. So Yehudah was carried away captive out of his land.
Jer 52:28 This is the people whom Nevukhadnetzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand twenty-three Jews;
Jer 52:29 in the eighteenth year of Nevukhadnetzar he carried away captive from Yerushalayim eight hundred thirty-two persons;
Jer 52:30 in the three and twentieth year of Nevukhadnetzar, Nevuzar’adanthe captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.
Jer 52:31 It happened in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Yehoiakim king of Yehudah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-Merodakh king of Bavel, in the [first] year of his reign, lifted up the head of Yehoiakim king of Yehudah, and brought him forth out of prison;
Jer 52:32 and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Bavel,
Jer 52:33 and changed his prison garments. [Yehoiakim] ate bread before him continually all the days of his life:
Jer 52:34 and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Bavel, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
The deportations occurred in stages, over several king’s reigns. Prophetically, this may mean that the return of the exiles from the Diaspora will take place in stages, over the “reigns” of several successive Israeli governments. That has been the case since the 1930s. The bulk of the people will not return, however, until the Ingathering.
It is interesting that 70 years after the first Zionist settlements of the 30s, the population of Jews in Israel finally became equal to the number of Jews in the Diaspora – about 5.5 million or so. We know the number of those who returned to Eretz Israel with Nehemia and Ezra were only a remnant – the majority of Jews stayed behind in Babylon, refusing to make Aliyah. We are only just now reaching a time when more Jews will have made Aliyah or been born in Eretz Israel than live in the Diaspora. It is surely significant, therefore, that Jeremiah’s prophetic warnings against those of the House of Judah who refuse to make Aliyah, and his warning to the House of Israel as well as the House of Judah to “come out of her, my people,” seem to be happening at this point in history with seriousness for the first time. It is the calm before the storm, so to speak. We must decide whether we can or will take advantage of it or not.
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