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The religious reforms of King Josiah came to a halt after his murder in 609 BCE at Megiddo by Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, who was hurrying north for spoils following the collapse of the Assyrian Empire. Nineveh had fallen to Babylon, and the political scene was full of confusion. Neco retreated after the first skirmish at Haran, but imposed his choice of king on Judah, ensuring a vassal king there would be a useful ‘buffer’ against reprisals. Thus Jehoahaz was taken away in chains, and his brother, Jehoiakim, placed on the throne instead.

Jehoiakim was not interested in religious reforms, and even after only 11 years since the BOOK had been found, that prompted the reforms, even the prophet, Jeremiah, had begun to realise their limitations. At first he had enthusiastically approved of centralising all YHWH worship in the Temple, even at the cost of his own priestly family in Anathoth becoming redundant as a result. His approval nearly cost him his life, when his brothers plotted to murder him, so he left home and went to live in Jerusalem, with Shaphan’s family.

Disillusionment began to settle in him, however, as he watched the effects of that Law in Jerusalem itself. He realised that legislation, however good, cannot make people good! He watched, and saw people dutifully worshipping YHWH -only in the Temple, - before returning to offer ‘cakes’ to the queen of heaven at home, - and then claiming confidently that all would be well for ever in YHWH’s city of Jerusalem. (Jeremiah’s family could remember the fate of Shiloh, long ago, and he knew this new confidence in Jerusalem was false, even though the city had unexpectedly escaped in Hezekiah’s time). It was indeed a false confidence bred by the BOOK, that obedience to YHWH’s Law could be measured according to a list of rules. Deuteronomy did have great strengths for Israel, but only in later times, when the YHWH-community had become separated from the political Israel.

King Jehoiakim soon became very unpopular. Unlike his father, Josiah, he was selfish and cruel if opposed in his pleasures. He taxed people heavily to pay the tribute to Egypt, and also to build a new palace for himself and his friends. His father’s advisers, Shaphan and co., were out of favour because they realised that their future well-being would depend on the new empire of Babylon, not Egypt. Jeremiah, who was living with Shaphan’s family agreed with them. Jeremiah preached boldly in the Temple, warning people of the dangers to come, and urging them to turn wholeheartedly to trust in YHWH, but was arrested, and would have been lynched but for Shaphan’s influence. Jeremiah was banned from speaking in the Temple!

In 605 BCE, the decisive battle was fought at Carchemish. Babylon, under Prince Nebuchadrezzar, soundly beat the Egyptians, and began to chase them back to Egypt, considering himself now, to be master of all Assyria’s former territories. In Jerusalem, the King was defiant, rejecting all advice to cooperate with Babylon. Jeremiah tried. He dictated all his prophetic poems to his secretary, Baruch, and sent him to read them in the Temple, The scroll was taken to the King, (while Jeremiah and Baruch went into hiding). The King, in his anger, burnt the scroll himself. In hiding, Baruch began another copy. (Jer 1 – 25?)

Jeremiah, in hiding, plumbed the depths of despair within himself. Six poems are known as ‘Jeremiah’s Confessions’, written in the form of Laments, and in which we follow his own spiritual struggles, and his cries for vindication in his dislike of YHWH’s message which he felt bound to proclaim. They reveal the shy, sensitive, inner loneliness of a man everyone resented, and end with his cursing the day he was born. He even felt that his calling left no room for a wife and normal family life, (16.1-13), but always he was eventually comforted by the conviction that YHWH was with him. Jeremiah was the ‘suffering prophet’ of the OT.
See 11.18 – 12.6; 15.10-21; 17.14-18; 18.18-23; 20.7-13; and 20.15-19.

Soon after the battle of Carchemish, Nebuchadrezzar’s father died, necessitating his return to Babylon to ensure his succession, and to organise his own administration. It was four years before he was ready to return to Palestine. In 601, another battle was fought against Egypt, with heavy casualties on both sides, which required Nebuchadrezzar to return home for reinforcements. King Jehoiakim in Jerusalem saw his opportunity to assert Judah’s independence, and he paid no tribute. His recklessness brooked no opposition, but it was an invitation to Nebuchadrezzar to notice, and to deal with Jerusalem on his next visit.

King Jehoiakim had the good fortune to die in 597 BCE, just before Nebuchadrezzar arrived. The might of Babylon’s army arrived to siege Jerusalem only to find a new young, 18 year old, King, Jehoiachin, in charge. He had little option but to surrender the city to Nebuchadrezzar. Jehoiachin was consequently treated with respect, and lived. He was, nevertheless, taken to Babylon as a prisoner, together with his family, the aristocrats, some priests, many soldiers, and many craftsmen. Nebuchadrezzar also took all the royal treasures, and the wealth of the Temple. This was in accord with Babylon’s more lenient policy towards those who did not oppose them. Thus the first wave of exiles left Jerusalem, to live in Babylon, in 597 BCE

In Jerusalem, life went on, but differently. Nebuchadrezzar’s policy was lenient because the city had surrendered, and he did not expect any more trouble. He found another royal son of King Josiah, Mattaniah, and made him King with the name, Zedekiah, demanding only an oath of loyalty, and the payment of an annual tribute. The Temple cult of YHWH continued, with no imposition of Babylon’s god, Marduk, The atmosphere, however, remained troubled, and very unsettled.

King Zedekiah, sadly, was a weakling, the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time! He didn’t inherit an easy situation: The people were stunned by recent events, and unwilling to accept him as King, partly because their ‘proper’ King, Jehoiachin, was still alive and well, and partly from resentment that he had been imposed on them. The political parties were quiescent too. The pro-Egyptian courtiers of Jehoiakim were wisely keeping a low profile, while the pro-Babylonian party had lost its top people to exile, and took time to re-organise.

The ordinary people were stunned by disillusionment: they had worshipped YHWH ‘properly’ in His Temple, and couldn’t believe that their city, The City of David, had been captured! It seemed like an historical accident, a bad dream from which they would soon wake up. The popular prophets of the day endorsed this reaction by their prophecies that it would all be over within two years, and Jehoiachin would return again, to be their king.

Information about the next few years is sparse in Babylonian records and in the OT, but Nebuchadrezzar returned to Babylon in 597 after the capture of Jerusalem, without continuing on towards Egypt. He was confident, and considered himself master of and sent for Jeremiah!