Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"A desolation without inhabitant"
Text: Jeremiah 34:22
A SOLEMN WORD OF JUDGMENT
The deliberate breaking of the covenant to liberate fellow Jews had deadly consequences! The judgment that God had pronounced was most sobering!
“‘I will give them into the hand of their enemies
and into the hand of those who seek their life.
Their dead bodies shall be for meat
for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth.
And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes
into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their life,
and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army
which has gone back from you.
Behold, I will command,’ says the LORD,
‘and cause them to return to this city.
They will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire;
and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.'”
Jeremiah 34:20-22
1. “I will give them into the hand of their enemies
and into the hand of those who seek their life.
Their dead bodies shall be for meat
for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth”
a) All the covenant breakers would be delivered to the enemies.
b) They would be killed by their enemies.
c) Their corpses would not be buried with dignity.
d) The dead bodies would become food for the carrion birds and scavenger beasts.
2. “And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army which has gone back from you”
a) Zedekiah and the princes would not be spared.
b) They would also be delivered into the hands of their enemies.
c) The king of Babylon had, in fact, returned home.
d) Zedekiah was a vassal king appointed by Nebuchadnezzar.
3. “‘Behold, I will command,’ says the LORD, ‘and cause them to return to this city.
They will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire;
and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant'”
a) The LORD Himself will command the Babylonians to return to Judah and Jerusalem.
b) The short reprieve was over! Judah had proven unworthy of the mercy extended.
c) The king and the princes had broken their covenant.
d) The Babylonians would return and fulfil God’s word of judgment.
i) They will fight Judah and Jerusalem.
ii) The cities of Judah would be destroyed by fire.
iii) The cities would be utterly desolate and without inhabitants.
iv) The nation would be exiled to Babylon.