Jeremiah is imprisoned (and rescued) again (Jeremiah 38)

Jeremiah's prophesies turn to saying that those that surrender to the Babylonians will be spared while those who remain in Jerusalem will die.  He is arrested for inciting desertion and put into a cistern.  Before doing so, his arresters ask for permission from the king to do this, who says he is powerless to stop it.

Later, Jeremiah loyalists then plead with the king for Jeremiah's release.  This time, the king assigns 30 soldiers to help lift Jeremiah out of the cistern.  The king then has another private conversation with the king and Jeremiah advises surrendering Jerusalem otherwise everyone will be killed.

The king then advises Jeremiah to lie in case his enemies ask what he told the king.  Sure enough, Jeremiah's enemies inquire about his conversation with the king and Jeremiah tells the lie that the king instructed him to do.

I have frequently wondered about the morality of lying in times like that.  Is there a warfare or necessity exception to lying?  What about secret agents behind enemy lines, they must lie all the time.

The issue was similarly raised when Joshua's spies scoped out Jericho and Rahab lied to protect them.  Here, Jeremiah, a major prophet of God, lies to his enemies under specific orders from the king.

Jeremiah is imprisoned (Jeremiah 37)

In between the Babylonian invasions, the Egyptian army came north, forcing the Babylonians to withdraw from Jerusalem.  Meanwhile, good ole Jeremiah predicted that the Babylonians would return, which they did.

King Zedekiah was a bad king, but did ask for Jeremiah to pray for the city during the siege.  

Later on, Jeremiah leaves Jerusalem to collect his property from the area of the Benjamites.  He is accused of defecting to the Babylonians, beaten up, and imprisoned.  Eventually, King Zedekiah summons for Jeremiah to get a private prophecy about the Babylonian invasion.  Jeremiah's prophecy is not good for the king, as he predicts the king will be taken off to Babylon.  Jeremiah then asks to be released from prison and Zedekiah puts him in the courtyard of the guard and given a ration of bread.  It is not clear if this was a form of house arrest or for Jeremiah's protection.

Likewise, it is interesting that King Zedekiah does not act more promptly to release Jeremiah from prison.  It may have been the case that King Zedekiah privately believed in Jeremiah, but the people still had their doubts.  Given that his own political situation was precarious, he may have felt it was too risky to publicly support Jeremiah.

Regardless, it's just another chapter in the weird hot/cold relationship between prophets of God and kings of Israel and Judah.

The destruction of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 52)

Jehoiachin's uncle Zedekiah became king.  He rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who came with his mighty army and laid seize to Jerusalem.  A famine broke out and the army eventually tried to flee, but was overtaken and beaten.  Zedekiah was blinded but after seeing his sons killed.  Many of his officials were also executed and many people of Jerusalem were taken into exile.

The Babylonian army pillaged Jerusalem, set fire to the temple, and destroyed the walls.

Years later, back in Babylon, the king eventually released from prison king Jehoiachin and allowed him to live in peace in Babylon until his death.