Summary Jeremiah 51 - 52 Jeremiah 51: The prophecy of Jeremiah continues from the previous chapter. In what was probably a collection of prophecies against Babylon collected together, God announced His coming judgment against the empire that Yahweh Himself used to bring judgment against Judah. God used the picture of a destroying wind that would winnow Babylon as grain is processed, with a wind blowing away the useless chaff. They would utterly destroy all her army. God’s judgment upon Babylon would be one display of the truth that He had not forsaken His people, but would bring judgment against those who conquered them. His people had sinned, but they were not forsaken of God. It is never good to remain in a place that is a target of God’s judgment. Because Babylon’s fall was sure, it was best to flee to save one’s life. The right standing of God’s people was revealed in the eventual judgment of Babylon. This showed that it was not merely a matter of Babylon’s gods being mightier than Yahweh. The eventual judgment of Babylon showed that Yahweh was in control; that He used Babylon as it pleased Him and judged them when it pleased Him. This was a kind of a justification of God’s people and a revelation of their righteousness and of the work of the LORD our God. God’s judgment against Babylon was in part because they destroyed the temple Solomon had built unto the LORD. It was a strange process, repeated often through history. Jeremiah gave a copy of the prophecy to Seriah because he did not go to Babylon himself. Jeremiah ended his days in Egypt. Jeremiah Chapter 52: Tells us more of the evil of Zedekiah, specifically that he did not listen to Jeremiah or other messengers of God. Instead, he mocked and disregarded the message. He was not willing to listen to God’s word through Jeremiah; he broke an oath made in Yahweh’s name as a vassal of Babylon, he was unrepentant and failed to restrain leaders and priests from defiling the temple with the reintroduction of idolatrous practices.” God’s patience and longsuffering had finally run its course and He allowed – even prompted – the Babylonian conquest of the Kingdom of Judah. Jeremiah tells us that there were many false prophets in those days who preached a message of victory and triumph to Zedekiah, and he believed them instead of Jeremiah and other godly prophets like him. Therefore, he rebelled against the king of Babylon. At this desperate point for Judah at the siege of Jerusalem, Zedekiah made a last-chance effort to escape the grip of the nearly-completely successful siege. They planned a secret break through the city walls and the siege lines of the Babylonians, using a diversionary tactic. This was a considerable distance from Jerusalem. Zedekiah probably thought that his strategy was successful, and that he had escaped the judgment that prophets such as Jeremiah had promised. Yet God’s word was demonstrated to be true and he was captured in the plains of Jericho.