Jeremiah 51 offers an extensive prophecy of the fall of Babylon. While we have already read of it in previous chapters, this is the most extensive word against Babylon. The LORD recounts her guilt not only for destroying Jerusalem, but for her actions against many nations. While the LORD used Babylon for judgment, and while He set her up to serve Him in this regard, she did not acknowledge Him, and continued to serve idols, who are not gods. The prophecy is written both in the future tense, and in the present tense, as if the events had already happened. Throughout the chapter the descriptions of the extensive nature of Babylon’s destruction shows us nothing will be left of this once great place and people. At the end of the chapter, the LORD instructs Jeremiah to write down all these words, to take them to Babylon and read them to the people, and then to throw the book into the river, to illustrate that as a stone sinks to the bottom of a river, so will Babylon sink.
Jeremiah 52 recounts the historical fall of Jerusalem and Judah. We have this history in other places in Jeremiah, as well as in the records of the kings, but here we have one more recording of the events that took place when Judah fell, the Temple was burned, and the people were carried into exile. As always there is a bit of hope, when it comes to the LORD’s record of His people, as the king is released from prison, showing the Davidic line would continue. Jeremiah ends with the people in captivity, but hope still alive.
As we return to Matthew 13, we find a chapter filled with parables. We must remember, Matthew organized his gospel roughly along chronological lines, but he also organized it in a way it would be easier to memorize. Thus, we find sections of teaching and sections of action. Of course, Jesus taught through the actions of healing sick people, casting demons out of people, walking on water and calming storms. But Matthew 13 offers us a large grouping of parables, which may be easily memorized and passed on to others. That was important in Jesus’ day, because no means of mass producing books was available. To have a copy of Matthew one would literally have to copy it by hand. As we look at the parables, we see Jesus was a masterful creator of these stories with a point. No one before or since ever created parables with greater impact, although often they were quite simple in their content. Jesus’ goal was to hide information from those who were only seeking information or religious content, but to reveal it to those who were truly after a relationship with God, and had a desire to pursue His kingdom. As we read the parables, let’s remember to act on the punchlines, and not just nod our heads in affirmation!