=Jeremiah as a patriot.=—­Jeremiah had no sympathy with them.  He loved his native land deeply and tenderly.  But until the people were worthy of liberty he was sure Jehovah would not give it to them.

Again and again they proved their unworthiness.  Once when the Babylonian armies were knocking almost at the gates of Jerusalem they remembered that law about Hebrew slaves, which had been made even more strict in the new law, Deuteronomy.  According to this law, no Hebrew could be kept in slavery longer than seven years.  So in their fear of the Babylonians these rich nobles solemnly set free a great number of slaves whom they had been illegally keeping in slavery.  A few days later the hostile army, for some reason or other, withdrew.  And within a month all these slaves who had been set free were seized and reenslaved.  How Jeremiah denounced this hypocrisy!

THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM

If Jeremiah’s advice had been followed, the people of Judah would have been spared a world of sorrow.  But the leaders of the kingdom seemed bent on dragging the whole nation into ruin.  In B.C. 597, Jerusalem was captured and some ten thousand of the inhabitants were carried away as exiles to Babylon.

Even that lesson was not enough.  Within a few years the new king, Zedekiah, and his nobles again rebelled against Nebuchadrezzar.  Jeremiah protested and was called a traitor.  Many times his life was threatened; for a long period he was kept in a filthy dungeon, and almost perished from hunger.  But friends saved him.  Very soon, in B.C. 586, the city came to the horrible end which Jeremiah had so patiently tried to ward off.  The city was captured by Babylonian soldiers and burned.  Thousands were carried away as exiles.  Thousands more fled to Egypt and to other foreign countries.  Only the poorest farmers were left to till the soil.  David’s kingdom and dynasty were ended.

Jeremiah himself was not taken to Babylon, but remained in Palestine.  According to tradition, his last days were spent in Egypt, with a Hebrew colony there.  His life had been spent in keeping alive the soul of true religion in an age when few would listen.  He is one of the great heroes of uncompromising truth.

STUDY TOPICS

1.  Look up the story of Jeremiah in the Bible dictionary.

2.  Read Jeremiah 1. 1-9, for a taste of his style of writing.

3.  One man sacrifices to a heathen god; another tries to bribe Jehovah with a sacrifice as though he were like the heathen gods: 

    a. Which is worse?
    b. Which would the authors of Deuteronomy have considered worse?
    c. Which would Jeremiah have considered worse?

CHAPTER XXI

KEEPING THE FAITH IN A STRANGE LAND