Ep 394 | Jeremiah 1-20, Come Follow Me 2026 (Oct 19-25)

Bryce Dunford (0:03)

Hey everybody, welcome to Talking Scripture, a podcast where we illustrate relevance and application of the Scriptures in Come Follow Me.

Mike Day (0:10)

We also dive into the history and cultures of the text.

Bryce Dunford (0:13)

Thanks for taking the time to share and subscribe to this podcast.

Mike Day (0:16)

For show notes, head over to our website, talkingscripture.org. Welcome to Talking Scripture, I'm Mike.

Bryce Dunford (0:25)

And I'm Bryce.

Mike Day (0:26)

And today we're going to be in Jeremiah chapters 1-20.

Bryce Dunford (0:29)

Now, that's going to be a little odd because we just finished the latter chapters of Isaiah, and the setting of that is really kind of post-Babylon. It's after the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, and they're rebuilding their temple. And that's kind of what Isaiah was addressing in those final chapters, and now all of a sudden Jeremiah is pre-Babylon. So historically, we're kind of jumping all around, and now we're going to talk about what was causing Israel to go into captivity. Israel is really gone astray, and the Lord is coming and saying, hey, come back, I'll still receive you. Come back, but you are a rebellious people, and they're headed for the destruction.

So we need to go back in time from where we've been the last week and redo a little bit what led to the Babylonian captivity. What were those final kings of Israel doing? What's the history here and kind of the rebellion of the Jews that led to the captivity?

Mike Day (1:27)

Yeah, I want to talk briefly about a series of kings that Jeremiah lived with and worked with during his ministry. So of course, the first one is going to be Josiah.

Bryce Dunford (1:36)

And yes, that's the Josiah that did all the reforms that we talked about, that found the Book of the Law and performed all of those reforms and kind of changed the religious setting in Jerusalem. That's the same Josiah.

Mike Day (1:48)

Same guy. He's going to be killed by the Egyptians at Megiddo, and you can read about that in 2 Chronicles 35

And so, after he's killed, his son, Jehoiakim, is made king of Judah by the Pharaoh. You see, the people that live in Jerusalem are paying tribute to Egypt at this time. And so, he is the king, and they're vassals. And so, after this, there's this battle between Babylon and Egypt, and it's called the Battle of Carcomission. It's in 604 BC, and Babylon wins that battle. Babylon defeats Egypt at this battle in 604 BC.

And after this, alliances have to switch. The Jews have to start paying tribute, not to Egypt, but now to Babylon. And because of this, Jehoiakim actually rebels against them. And so, he dies in 598 BC, in what's called the first Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. So, remember when Nephi says he was alive during the reign of Zedekiah? From Nephi's perspective, Babylon has already laid siege to Jerusalem, and deported a bunch of members of the royal family. And so, at the time when the Book of Mormon begins, the Jews that live in Jerusalem are paying tribute to Babylon, and there already is this threat that the temple could be once again laid siege, or that the city could be laid siege. And so, after Jehoiakim dies, his son, Jehoiachin, he replaces him. So, this is the grandson of Josiah, and his name is also Caniah, or Jeconiah. He's a young man. He's 18 years old, and he's only going to reign for three months and 10 days. That's it, because Nebuchadnezzar is going to capture Jerusalem, and then he's going to take Jehoiachin, and he's going to put him in chains and his household, all 3,000 of them, and they're going to be exiled to Babylon. And if you remember, when Bryce and I talked about the second king's narrative, this is the same king who was later released from captivity.

And this is the same king that the author of Matthew 1 works to show that it's through this king that the Davidic dynasty continues, and Jesus is going to be a descendant, at least through Joseph. Now, I know that Joseph is not the biological father of Jesus, but according to how the Jews perceived lineage and how the kingdom would have been passed on, Jesus would have been from that line, through this king, Jehoiachin.

So, he's taken in a captivity. And so, that happens because of this political discontent that's happening. And so, Jehoiachin's uncle, Zedekiah, is put on the throne. Now, his name isn't Zedekiah, it's Mataniah in the text. But the Babylonians give him a throne name, and they're going to call him Zedekiah. Now, Zedekiah is the son of Josiah. So, I know it's kind of complicated, but it need not be. And we'll put this in the slides. We have Josiah, and then we have three of his sons that are kings, and then one of his grandsons. But the final king that's in the city at the time, after Nephi leaves and when the temple sacked, and the Jews are deported in 586, that king is Zedekiah. And Zedekiah is put on the throne right around 597 BC.