NOTES for Jer 52:1-34

At the end of the prophetic book, when the words spoken by Jeremiah have already sounded, we again survey the events of Jerusalem's final days and relive the scenes of its defeat. The concluding chronicle summary once more gives us the chance to assess the background against which the prophetic words sounded.

Again the details of the temple's destruction arise before us; we see the humiliation of the king and his subjects, the conquerors taking charge. The picture is utterly hopeless, but quite predictable after the judgment given of the king: he did evil in the eyes of the Lord. And in many of his deeds and delusions the king was one with the people; though called to lead the people, he himself often shared those "public moods" that can be called neither reasonable nor healthy, and was guided by them. As a result, kings, courtiers, and society together ruined their country.

But at the very end of the book we unexpectedly find an account of how the king of Babylon showed mercy to the captive king of Judah. This mercy may be very modest on the scale of the conquerors' rule over the people, but after everything that struck the sinners, it looks like a small ray of hope: hope for something better not only for the king himself.