The suffering to which Jeremiah was exposed was finally ended by the
capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. This Babylonian king was a son
of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. (21) His first contact with the
Jews happened in the time of his father-in-law Sennacherib, whom he
accompanied on his campaign against Hezekiah. The destruction of the
Assyrian army before the walls of Jerusalem, the great catastrophe from
which only Nebuchadnezzar and four others escaped with their life,
inspired him with fear of God. (22) Later, in his capacity as secretary
to the Babylonian king Merodach-baladan, it was he who called his
master's notice to the mention of the Jewish king's name before the
Name of God. "Thou callest Him 'the great God,' yet thou dost name Him
after the king," he said. Nebuchadnezzar himself hastened after the
messenger to bring back the letter and have it changed. He had advanced
scarce three steps when he was restrained by the angel Gabriel, for
even the few paces he had walked for the glory of God earned him his
great power over Israel. A further step would have extended his ability
to inflict harm immeasurably. (23)
For eighteen years daily a heavenly voice resounded in the palace of
Nebuchadnezzar, saying: "O thou wicked slave, go and destroy the house
of thy Lord, for His children hearken not unto Him." But Nebuchadnezzar
was beset with fears lest God prepare a fate for him similar to that of
his ancestor Sennacherib. He practiced belomancy and consulted other
auguries, to assure himself that he was against Jerusalem would result
favorably. When he shook up the arrows, and questioned whether he was
to go to Rome or Alexandria, not one arrow sprang up, but when he
questioned about Jerusalem, one sprang up. He sowed seeds and set out
planets; for Rome or Alexandria nothing came up; for Jerusalem
everything sprouted and grew. He lighted candles and lanterns; for Rome
or Alexandria they refused to burn, for Jerusalem they shed their
light. He floated vessels on the Euphrates; for Rome or Alexandria they
did not move, for Jerusalem they swam. (24)
Still the fears of Nebuchadnezzar were not allayed. His determination
to attack the Holy City ripened only after God Himself had shown him
how He had bound the hands of the archangel Michael, the patron of the
Jews, behind his back, in order to render him powerless to bring to his
wards. So the campaign against Jerusalem was undertaken. (25)