“Then say, ‘O LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither man nor animal will live in it, it will be desolate forever.”
– Jeremiah 51:62
Hi James and Ellen,
What would you do if the leader of another country summoned you and the leader of your country to meet him in the city where he rules his country? What if the leader of the country who summoned you and your leader to meet with him had four years earlier indiscriminately ravaged your country, what would you say to him? What if you were being outspoken about what was going to happen to the country of this leader who summoned you and your leader to meet with him, would you continue to be defiantly critical of this leader for what he did to your country and especially to the place where you met to worship God? This implausible scenario was played out in 583 B.C. in real time – with real players, when King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jeremiah and Zedekiah to the city of Babylon to interrogate them. King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army – in 587 B.C., wracked havoc throughout the land of Judah, totally ransacked the city of Jerusalem and looted the temple of God that was in the city of Jerusalem. Instead of making the tedious trek with Zedekiah to the city of Babylon, Jeremiah sent a scroll with a staff officer. The staff officer’s name was Seraiah. Jeremiah told Seraiah that when he arrives in the city of Babylon that he wants him to read the scroll aloud. Written on the scroll that Jeremiah sent with Seraiah to read aloud when he arrived in the city of Babylon were pronouncements of horrific punishments that God had pending for King Nebuchadnezzar, for his Babylonian army and for the guys, gals and kids who were living in the land of Babylonia. Jeremiah – in his Jeremiah Book, summarizes in Jeremiah 51 what God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, had him write in the scroll that he gave to Seraiah for Seraiah to read aloud when he arrived in the city of Babylon.
What God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, had Jeremiah write in the scroll – which he told Seraiah to read aloud when he arrived in the city of Babylon, was an indictment against King Nebuchadnezzar, against the Babylonian army and against the guys, gals and kids who lived in the country of Babylonia. Because His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem had been brashly rebelling against His written mandates of how He expected them to center their lives on only Him by living abject vile lifestyles that included worshipping inanimate, manmade idol gods, God had King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army do a devastating number four years earlier on His specially chosen guys, gals and kids who were living in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem. Even though God did not give King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army a choice about invading the land of Judah and razing the city of Jerusalem, King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army crossed the line when they plundered the temple of God that was in the city of Jerusalem and when they carried off to the city of Babylon temple items that had been dedicated for service to God. Verse 62 is what Jeremiah told Seraiah to say to the Babylonian guys and gals after he read aloud the scroll to them, “Then say, ‘O LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither man nor animal will live in it, it will be desolate forever.’” Jeremiah also told Seraiah that once he finished reading the scroll that he was to tie a rock to the scroll and to throw the scroll into the Euphrates River as a visual of how the city of Babylon would soon sink.
Your grandpaa thinks that Seraiah had to have been a very brave dude to be willing to read aloud to enemy guys and gals what was written in the scroll that Jeremiah gave to him to read. God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, had Jeremiah write in the scroll that Babylonian guys and gals were senseless, that He was going to make the city of Babylon a heap of ruins where no one would be able to live and that He was going to shatter the Babylonian guys and gals – dashing them to pieces, just as He had them shatter – or to dash to pieces nations, kingdoms, horses and horsemen, chariots and chariot drivers, old guys and small kids, young guys and young gals, shepherds and their flocks of sheep, farmers and their oxen, governors and officials. Your grandpaa is intrigued about what God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, had Jeremiah write in the scroll as God already had the Mede and Persian people groups’ armies in place to do a number on the Babylonian people group guys and gals for what their Babylonian army did to His specially chosen guys, gals and kids and to His temple that was in the city of Jerusalem. The country of Iraq today compromises the land area that was once the country of Babylonia. The country of Iran today compromises the land area that was once the country of Persia. When God in His omnipotent power formed planet Earth, in His omniscient wisdom placed planet Earth in the cosmos and in His omnipresent attribute stretched out the heavens over planet Earth, God already had in it His unending, unfolding queue an animosity piece that remains in play even today between the countries of Iraq and Iran. The scroll that God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, had Jeremiah write was a warning to the guys and gals who were living in the country of Babylonia that because their king – King Nebuchadnezzar, and their army had messed with Him by doing what they did to His holy temple that was in the city of Jerusalem that they were going to get it big time – that retributions are very much a key component in God’s preordained dossier.
Jeremiah 51 (1185)