1-5 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon. When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls; and they went towards the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, at Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and he passed sentence on him.

6-8 The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon. The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. 9-10 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained.  Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. Jeremiah 39:1-10 English Standard Version

It's not uncommon to hear people say they reject the Bible because it’s full of violent things. Today's reading would be an example of their objection. But what they ignore is that a part of the Bible like this is only describing an actual event of history that took place. Ever since the first man disobeyed God in the garden of Eden, so mankind has increasingly turned away from God's word. The outcome has been the sort of violence we see in this chapter. The cruelty we see here was not that of God, but of man.

But it can raise the question of why did God allow Jerusalem and it's King, leaders, and inhabitants to fall into the hands of the Babylonians? I suggest the answer can be seen in the New Testament book of Hebrews where the writer says: “If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgement, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.” (Hebrews 10:26-28) He goes on in vs 31 to say “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

God had given Israel good laws meant for their blessing and welfare. He had also given them priests to offer sacrifices for their sins and to intercede from them. But they had continually drifted away from all that God had said and chosen to live in blatant and brazen disobedience. So He had sent them prophets like Elijah and Jeremiah to warn them of the judgment that would come upon them if they would not repent of wickedness and return whole heartedly back to the One who had brought them into existence as a nation with their own lovely land. But many of these prophets suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. And so God's wrath came upon them and He gave them up to the cruel Babylonians.

I know these things are hard to hear, but we must not skip over them. For the writer in Hebrews who spoke of the judgment of God upon sinners was warning Christians who were thinking of turning their backs on Christ because of the hard times they were going through. And he says to them: “How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29) Oh let us hate those sins that drag us away from God, and let us strive to cling with obedient hearts to all that Jesus taught us.