The book of Jeremiah is like a manual or guide in our relationship with God. We may have never known him in the way Jeremiah brings Him to life. He brings God down to earth and teaches us that He is ever so present with us in all parts of our lives. He lives with us, in us. He is always in our joys and our sorrows...

Interestingly at the end of chapter 51 it says, “The words of Jeremiah end here”. And yet there is still one more chapter. Chapter 52 is like an appendix providing more detail about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity. It underlines the fact that all of these things occurred as Jeremiah had predicted.

A fascinating and seemingly insignificant note about the fate of the exiled King Jehoiachin is found in Jeremiah 52:31-34. We’re told that in the 37th year of his exile (26 years after the fall of the city), the current Babylonian king (Evil-Merodach) released him from prison, “spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon”. And for the rest of his life, King Jehoiachin is given a regular allowance and allowed to dine “regularly at the king’s table.”

So why was this historical footnote included? My sense is that the turn of events in Babylon is included to give a glimmer of hope for the future of the nation of Israel. Like Jehoiachin, the nation had done evil in the eyes of the Lord and suffered as a result. However, because of His unfailing love, God was not finished with his people. As it was with Jehoiachin, so it would be with Israel. And the book of Jeremiah which is filled with so much sadness and suffering, ends on a note of grace and hope. God is merciful to His miserable people. God’s promises allow hope to have the final word in the story of His people.