Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"The city was besieged"
Text: Jeremiah 52:5
THE PROPHETIC WORDS OF WARNING
Jeremiah had prophesied the fall of Jerusalem time and again. But his words of warning fell on deaf ears. The prophecy was fulfilled when Jerusalem was invaded.
“Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month,
on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it;
and they built a siege wall against it all around.
So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe
in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.
Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled
and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls,
which was by the king’s garden,
even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around.
And they went by way of the plain.”
Jeremiah 52:4-7
1. “Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day
of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem
and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around”
a) Nebuchadnezzar encamped against Jerusalem.
b) They laid siege effectively against the city of Jerusalem by building a wall
around the city.
2. “So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah”
a) The siege began in the 9th year of Zedekiah’s reign.
b) It was in siege for about 2 years.
3. “By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe
in the city that there was no food for the people of the land”
a) The siege of Jerusalem created a famine in the city.
b) Food ran out and the situation was dire.
4. “Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden,
even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the plain”
a) The city walls of Jerusalem were finally breached.
b) The army of Zedekiah fled the city at night.
c) They managed to get out of Jerusalem by a gate that was near the king’s garden.
d) They fled by way of the plain, thinking that they would be able to escape capture.