Nebuchadrezzar had not yet fully established himself on his throne in
Babylon. He was too busy to deal with the rebellious Judean, himself.
So he ordered a guerrilla warfare to be carried on by detached troops
in all parts of Judah. It was only a question of time, however, when
Nebuchadrezzar would invade Judah with his entire army and crush
Jehoiakim like a snail under foot. No wonder that Jeremiah asked:
"Who will have pity on thee, O Jerusalem?
Or who will bemoan thee?
Or who will turn aside to ask for thy welfare!"
His grief was not alone for the great and glorious city and for its people, but for himself as well, that he should have to witness what he knew was inevitable:
"Oh, that I could comfort myself against sorrow!
My heart is faint within me.
The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved.
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt.
I mourn; dismay hath taken hold of me.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my
people recovered?
"Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter
of my people.
Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men;
That I might leave my people and go from them."
This despondency and hopelessness did not last long, however. As Nebuchadrezzar's guerrillas continued their cruel and merciless warfare, destroying crops and whole villages, Jeremiah determined that he must once more return to Jerusalem. He was ready and willing to pay for his efforts in behalf of his country with his life, if need be.
A comforting and encouraging message came to him from God, at this time:
"I will make thee unto this people a fortified, brazen wall; and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee.
"And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible."
But Baruch and Ebed-melech counseled against undue risks. They had heard that the Rechabites, that tribe of wandering nomads, which, because of the vow their ancestor, Jonadab, son of Rechab, had taken never to settle permanently in any definite place and never to follow agricultural pursuits, had been driven south by the marauding guerrillas and were making their way toward Jerusalem. Jeremiah and Baruch fell in with them and came, unobserved, into the city.