Jeremiah's Warning To The People Concerning Their Future (Jeremiah 25:3-11).
‘From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these three and twenty years, the word of YHWH has come to me, and I have spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking, but you have not listened.'
He pointed out to them that he had now been engaged in his ministry for twenty three years, diligently (‘rising up early' - a typical Jeremaism) bringing to them the word of YHWH. But he points out that they had not listened.
‘And YHWH has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, (but you have not listened, nor bent your ear to hear,)'
Indeed YHWH had previously been diligent (rising up early) in sending many prophets among them who had been equally diligent and had proclaimed His word to them. But they had not listened to them either.
‘Saying, “Return you now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land which YHWH has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even for evermore,'
So he now with great patience calls on them, as the previous prophets had called on them (compare 2 Kings 17:12-14), again to return from their evil ways, and from the evil of their doings (for they needed to be right in both their behaviour and their attitude) if they wished to dwell ‘for evermore' in the land which YHWH had of old given to their fathers.
‘And do not go after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no hurt.”
For YHWH's promise was that if they did not go after other gods to worship and serve them, and did not provoke Him to anger by breaking the requirements of the covenant, then He would bring no harm upon them. This was still in the stage when repentance was seen as possible, and was looked for.
‘The work of your hands' may indicate the idols that they had made, or it may be pointing to their general behaviour, or indeed both.
“Yet you have not listened to me, the word of YHWH, that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.”
But YHWH now charges them with the fact that they had not listened to any of the prophets, and had also certainly not listened to Jeremiah. And therefore they had not listened to Him. This was the sure ‘word of YHWH'. And the consequence was that they had provoked Him to anger by what they had been doing, and especially by their idolatry, in such a way as would bring hurt upon them.
‘Therefore thus says YHWH of hosts, “Because you have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, the word of YHWH, and I will send to Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.”
And He warns them that because of their failure to listen to the prophets and to hear His word, He would now summon the people of the countries to the north, including ‘My servant' Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and would bring them all against both their land, and also the land of neighbouring countries, to destroy them and make them a spectacle in the eyes of all. Note that the warning is to the whole neighbourhood. Judah would be one of many.
In Isaiah 44:18; Isaiah 45:1 YHWH had called Cyrus ‘My shepherd' and ‘My anointed'. Here He calls Nebuchadrezzar ‘My servant (see also Jeremiah 27:6; Jeremiah 43:10). In both cases it was because they were adopted by Him as His instruments in carrying out His purposes. It did not indicate that they had become believers. And Nebuchadrezzar would come at the head of a coalition of different nations, for in the fight against Assyria the Medes and the Scythians, together with a number of other allies, had been involved.
“Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.”
The devastating effect of the invasion is described. All festivities and activities, the things for which men lived, will come to a halt. There would be no more festal occasions with their mirth and gladness, there would no more be bridegrooms and brides enjoying their wedding celebrations, and even the maids who ground the corn during the day would be affected. The mill stones would cease operating, and the lamps at night would not be lit, for there would be no grain and no oil, and no one to tend to them. Life as they had always known it would have ground to a halt.
“And this whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
This description has in mind a land made so desolate that people who pass through look at it with open mouths, hardly able to believe what they are seeing. And the length of time during which these nations would have to serve the king of Babylon was ‘seventy years' (see also Jeremiah 29:10), that is, the normal lifetime of a man from cradle to the grave. Like most numbers in the Old Testament it was to be taken as a round number, and not applied too strictly. This especially applies to a number incorporating ‘seven' which in all countries was seen as an indicator of ‘divine completeness'. It was a general indicator.
Various attempts have been made to delineate the seventy years in mind more exactly, although in our view unnecessarily:
1. As indicating the period of Babylonian rule from the first time that they entered the area in around 605 BC and had taken people into exile (including Daniel and his three friends), after defeating the Egyptians at Carchemish and Hamath, to the time when the first exiles returned with Cyrus' permission, which would be a year or so after Babylon was crushed in 539 BC. This interpretation would tie in with the date when this prophecy was given, and the fact that the first year of Nebuchadrezzar's rule is (unusually) specifically mentioned (Jeremiah 25:1).
2. As indicating the period from when Assyria was finally crushed in around 609 BC to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC.
3. As simply indicating ‘within a full lifetime'. It would safely take it beyond the lifetime of Nebuchadrezzar.
The purpose of the seventy years according to 2 Chronicles 36:21 was so that the land could ‘enjoy its sabbaths', which may be an indication that the seventh Sabbatical year during which no crops were to be sown (Exodus 23:10-11) had on the whole been ignored in Judah and Israel, or may simply be a symbolic indictor of a period of ‘rest'.