Zedekiah's Fate and Broken Covenant

As we continue forth with Jeremiah chapter 34, "The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all of his army, all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion, and all the people fought against Jerusalem and all of its cities, saying, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, go and speak to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and tell him, thus says the Lord, behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from his hand, but shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand. Your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon.' He's talking about Zedekiah. He shall speak with you face to face, and you shall go to Babylon, Zedekiah. Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah, king of Judah. Thus says the Lord concerning you. You shall not die by the sword. You shall die in peace, as in the ceremonies of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so that they shall burn incense for you and lament for you, saying, 'Alas, Lord!' for I pronounce the word, says the Lord." Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah, king of Judah, in Jerusalem, when the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and Azekah. For only those fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.

"This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them, that every man should set free his male or female slave, a Hebrew man or woman, that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage." My friends, this was a year that this occurred, because that's when you pronounce liberty every seventh year. Understand the seven-year cycle. The Sabbatical year, the year of the age, the seven-year tribulation is a Sabbatical cycle. It will fall on the exact cycle that we deal with. This is what he's talking about. They are supposed to release the servants or the slaves. If a Jewish person had another Jewish person as a servant, serving them, keeping their cattle, their livestock, whatever it may be, then after the end of six years, they should release them on the seventh year. This is where this comes in. Without understanding the knowledge of Leviticus 25 and Torah, we don't have any clue what this is talking about as believers. We have to understand what Jeremiah is referring to with the Sabbatical year or the seven-year cycle when they were supposed to release the captives on the seventh year.

"This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them, that every man should set free his male in bondage. Now when all the princes and all the people who have entered into the covenant that everyone should be set free, his male and female servants, that no one should keep them in bondage anymore, they obeyed and they let them go. But afterward, they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return whom they had set free and brought them into subjection as male and female servants. Therefore, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, at the end of seven years, let every man set free his Hebrew brother who has been sold to him, and when he has served you six years, you shall let them go free from you. But your fathers did not obey me, nor incline their ear. Then you recently turned and did what was right in my sight, proclaiming liberty to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name. Then you turned around and profaned my name, and everyone of you brought back his male and female servants, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, and brought them back into submission to be your male and female servants. Therefore, thus says the Lord, you have not obeyed me in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother and everyone to his neighbor. Behold, I will proclaim liberty to you, says the Lord, liberty to the sword, liberty to the pestilence, and liberty to the famine. I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth. I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, and have not performed the words of the covenant, which they have made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it, the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead body shall be for meat for the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth. 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.'"

So, my friends, He turned back the king of Babylon because they obeyed the Lord and released the slaves. This is how important it is to Him to follow His commandments and follow exactly what He said. So, six years the people worked for the other people, then on the seventh year, they released them as Leviticus 25 said. They obeyed at first, and then they turned back and got the people back into captivity. And then what does the Lord say? "I'm going to give you liberty. I'm going to give you liberty to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine." That's the liberty He was going to give the people. And then He says what He says about the king of Babylon. Again, think about how many times He warns the people about the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Almost every chapter in Jeremiah's book, he warns them about the king of Babylon coming to destroy them.

The theme of this chapter is broken promises and vows. King Zedekiah briefly frees the Hebrew servants. The people immediately enslave them again. Major points: temporary obedience without a change of heart. God condemns covenant breaking, yet He loves and honors covenant keeping. Teaching point: Repentance is measured by perseverance, not emotion. It wasn't just one thing; it was many things: breaking the Sabbatical year, not releasing the servants, idolatry, adultery, spiritual adultery, passing children through the fire, burning incense to other gods, breaking the Sabbath. All of these things they were doing. Unfortunately, today, we are seeing the same things. We are seeing children passed through abortion, and sometimes it's free abortion in Israel. We are seeing homosexuality take root there, with Tel Aviv building a city in Sodom for homosexuals for three or four days. The rebellion is really, no one's blushing as Jeremiah petitions the people to blush. No one's blushing. Everybody's going along with this, it seems. You don't see many protests. You don't see the government coming against this stuff over there. Actually, you see them supporting the stuff down in Sodom. I don't take pleasure in saying this, but they are doing the same things over and over again that will bring judgment. That's why you're not seeing any victories with the military campaign or greater Israel, because there are no victories when you are in disobedience. How can there be victories? No one can show any of us a victory in the last 25 years, or really in Israel since 1973. A major victory. No one can show you that. There hasn't been a victory over the terrorist groups, Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, no victory over Iran, no victory over Turkey. No victory over the beast kingdom, and no victory over Antichrist or Nebuchadnezzar. Until there is repentance and Teshuvah, they will not get any victories. I think that's pretty obvious with the Mosaic covenant. Why, since God wants the Jewish people to repent and turn toward Yeshua, toward Jesus, why would He give Israel a victory and make their pride go higher instead of repentance? There are not going to be victories; there is only going to be what you are seeing. And then He is warning the people to repent, to turn to the Jewish Messiah so that He can get the victory for them and they can have the promised land for all people, including you and me, over there as well. Right now, it's about obedience. It's about Teshuvah right now, not about doing things that the Jewish Messiah is only going to do.