What King David DIDN’T See from His Roof

Among the most familiar sins recorded in the Scriptures is King David’s adultery with Bathsheba. Why did he do it? How can we learn from his experience and avoid repeating it? The text describes this incident in 2 Samuel 11, and it begins by telling us what and whom David saw.

2 Sa 11:1 Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. 2 Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance.

Here’s a start at least. David did not go out to battle, as kings would typically do. Whatever the reason may be, whether his laziness, his selfishness, or simply his age, a simple fact remains. If David had gone to battle, what happened next would not have happened. Think about how one decision opens the door to multiple consequences. I have often heard and said, “Decisions determine destiny.”

While our choices do cause consequences, our choices are also often caused by previous factors. One of my mentors used to say, “Before something happens, it’s about to happen.” In other words, before one commits sin with his heart, his eyes, or his hands, one must recognize and address the things that could precede sin and increase his temptation to sin.

Romans 13:13-14 tells us, “Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

“Make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” implies that we should exercise foresight or forethought in advance. In a very real sense, David sinned because he had not predetermined that he would not sin. Likewise, if each Christian man prays and chooses at the beginning of each day, “Today with God’s help I will not look lustfully at a woman,” he is making provision (anticipating ahead of time) not to take advantage of opportunities to sin.

The Christian man says, along with Job, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin” (Job 31:1)? If David had made such a covenant, think of what would have followed instead when he first saw what he saw.

David saw a very beautiful woman bathing while he was walking on the roof of his house. It is true to say that David sinned because, when he saw Bathsheba, he chose to lust after her, and he failed to curb his sinful desires.

David’s actions parallel those of Achan in the days of Joshua that cost Israel the battle at Ai. Achan admitted, “I saw the forbidden items … I coveted them … I took them … and I hid them” (Josh 7:20-21). Likewise, we read in James 1:14-15, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

However, to say that David sinned only because of what he saw – a beautiful woman bathing – is only partly correct. Actually, David’s sin also resulted from some things he failed to see from the top of his palace. In fact, if he had paid attention to some undeniable realities, he might have turned his eyes away from Bathsheba.

David had some major blind spots. So do we, whenever we choose to disobey God. By noting his blind spots, we will be much more able to deal with our own.

1. First, David did not see the people’s need for his leadership in the war. As stated above, it was at “the time when kings go out to battle” (2 Samuel 11:1) that David sent others to war but stayed home himself. Israel’s army may have won against the Ammonites, but her king lost his war, because he did not lead. The same is true today. Before you sin, ask: “How will this action affect my ability to lead and influence others for the Lord?” “Is my devotion to showing others the way serious enough that it helps prevent me from losing my way?”

2. David also blinded himself to the past experiences, failures, and consequences in the lives of others. Since the beginning of time, David must have known what had become of others, perhaps many others, each of whom had sinned immorally by committing adultery with someone else’s wife. They were caught. The woman became pregnant. They were unable to cover it up. A marriage died. A lifetime of guilt and shame ensued. David didn’t see, or refused to see, that his experience would be no different. He failed to learn from those who preceded him. Before you sin, ask: “Who do I know that took a similar action or made a similar decision, and how did that work out for them?”

3. In addition, David didn’t recognize the corrupting, corrosive effect that absolute power can have on a man. He can begin to think that he is above the law, that he wrote the law, or that he can ignore the law. David’s authority could have swollen his ego to such an extent that he was unaware of how far he had fallen already. Before you sin, ask: “Am I so proud, so narcissistic and self-absorbed, that I believe than I can disobey God’s rules and treat other people as objects?”

4. David overlooked his good friend, Uriah the Hittite, who was Bathsheba’s husband. This man was one of David’s “mighty men,” his most loyal followers (2 Samuel 23:39). When David saw Bathsheba, he did not see himself deceiving her husband Uriah, getting him drunk, and having him killed. If he had, he might have denied his own lust and temporary pleasure. Before you sin, ask: “How will this decision affect my friends and those who have put their trust in me?” “How will this action destroy rather than protect the purity and sanctity of my friends’ marriages?”

5. This mighty king failed to see an innocent baby. The child conceived by David and Bathsheba would die as a part of David’s punishment (2 Samuel 12:14). If the king had foreseen the baby suffering with an illness for seven days, the sorrow that David himself would experience, and the lifetime of guilt that he would carry, he might have avoided his adulterous encounter. How many sinless babies have been aborted, their precious lives thrown away, as the result of sexual misconduct? Before you sin, ask: “How will this choice affect my children and other innocent people?” “Would I be willing for my young daughter, niece, or granddaughter to know that I did this?” “Would my son, nephew, or grandson respect me if this action became known?”

6. David became blind to his loyal wife, Abigail. This good woman provided for David and kept him from sin, in spite of her foolish husband Nabal. She became David’s wife after Nabal died. See 1 Samuel 25. How would David’s choice of another woman affect Abigail? Apparently he never asked. Before you sin, ask: “How will this conduct affect my dedicated, God-fearing spouse and my covenant before God to be faithful to him or her until one of us dies?”

7. King David lost sight of His children – Tamar, Amnon, and Absalom. Turmoil would characterize David’s household from this point forward. The sword would never depart from his house (2 Sam 12:10). David’s son Amnon would assault and violate his own half-sister, Tamar. Her full-brother Absalom would murder Amnon, become a fugitive, and take over the throne for a time. These sons carried out the very things recorded in David’s playbook. David would hear of Absalom’s death and mourn, saying, “Would that I had died instead!” Before you sin, ask: “How will this behavior affect the way my children turn out and the long-term direction of future generations?”

8. David lost sight of his God-given throne. If David had realized that, because of his immorality, he would forfeit his anointed position as king and run from his own son, would he have sent for Bathsheba? Likely not. Before you sin, ask: “How will this deed affect my calling to serve the Lord in my current position?”

9. At the heart of it all, David did not see God when he was on the palace roof. He became blind to God’s authority in his life, God’s righteous wrath toward sin, God’s broken heart when one rejects His will, and God’s grace, which had blessed and sustained him from the beginning. Before you sin, ask: “How will this decision affect my relationship with the Lord? My prayer life? My spiritual peace and confidence? My eternal salvation?”

What happened to David can happen to us. Peter wrote by inspiration: “For he who lacks these qualities [of spiritual growth just mentioned] is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins” (2 Peter 1:9).

It is when one sees what he wants to see rather than what he ought to see that he either runs into a wall or falls off of a cliff.

Do you want to be strong and prepared when temptation arises? Then take some time, go up on your palace roof, and see the things that David didn’t see from his roof. When you see what you ought, God will help you to do – and not do – what you ought.

The REAL World of Genesis 1

Ge 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

I have recently become aware of a troubling new challenge to (and rejection of) the face-value understanding of the creation account in Genesis 1. It claims that the original “world” of Genesis 1 is “lost” to us and can only be “rediscovered” by studying other ancient cosmologies that were being developed in Babylon, Egypt, and Phoenicia.

According to this theory, Genesis 1 does not actually describe God creating anything at all, whether in a seven-day period or otherwise! It does not have anything to do with God initially bringing into existence light, the expanse, the vegetation, the sun, moon, and stars, fish and birds, and beasts and man. It proposes instead that Genesis 1 tells us that God took materials that He previously created, perhaps even millions of years earlier, perhaps through evolutionary processes, and gave them form and function.

The more I have reviewed this approach, the more concerned I have become. I have been surprised to see it being considered, supported, and validated in various conservative, evangelical religious circles. Even some instructors and other leaders in Christian university settings whom I know personally have given it a public hearing without clearly refuting it.

Some are claiming that one may accept, support, and teach this position without compromising the Bible’s inspiration, accuracy, historicity, and reliability.

Obviously, this approach allows for, perhaps even calls for, some form of “theistic evolution” or “evolutionary creationism.” These ideas propose that evolutionary processes may have occurred over eons of time before God’s revelation in Genesis began, but that God oversaw or allowed these processes. This theory then interprets all the scriptures that describe creation within this framework.

I cannot accept this approach because of the clear message to be found throughout the scriptures, even beyond Genesis. I am convinced that the “real world” of Genesis 1 was never “lost,” and I base that conviction on what I read everywhere in the Word of God. I cannot see any inspired scripture which would keep me from taking the Genesis creation account at face value. Rather, the Spirit-led writers treated the text just as most Bible students once did – just for what it says. They did not attempt to “get behind the text” and explain that it meant something different from what it said.

The Law of Moses

Let’s begin with the words God spoke – yes, God Himself – when He gave Moses and Israel the Law, including the Ten Commandments.

Ex 20:9 “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore, the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”

It's interesting to study the source of the seven-day week in world history. Have you ever considered its origin? From a biblical standpoint, the seven-day week reflected the week of creation as described in Genesis. There is no other explanation given.

When God Himself said, “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day,” how would the people of Israel have understood “six days?” If they would have taken these words to mean something different from what they say, the burden of proof is on those who would teach such a thing.

Surely those ancient Hebrews were much closer to the “REAL” world of Genesis than anyone living today, whether a scholar or otherwise. After all, it was their world! Surely God could have communicated to them in ways that they could understand. He would not have misled them. If the “seven days” had been related to the ancient cosmologies of other cultures, and not to the days of the week with which they were familiar, He could have indicated that. Why did He not? 

Why didn’t God through Moses explain Himself? The “lost world” hypothesis would perhaps answer that God didn’t need to explain the “hidden meaning” of the seven days because the Hebrews already understood that meaning.

However, God went on to stipulate the “face-value” meaning of Genesis 1 again. Once more, again in Exodus, God Himself interpreted the words of Genesis 1 in this same way.

Ex 31:16 “‘So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.’ 17 “It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.”

The Psalms

Let’s continue. What did the psalmists consider to be the truth about Genesis and creation? Granted, they used Hebrew poetry, rather than prose narrative. However, it seems clear enough that they connected Genesis 1 to the God’s original creation, not to His (much) later providing purpose to the heavens and earth that He had already made.

As you read this next text, consider what event was likely in mind when you see, “Of old You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.” Does this statement not interpret Genesis 1:1 as referring to God’s initial creation? (By the way, these words, first ascribed to Yahweh in this text, are later cited and ascribed to Christ in Hebrews 1:10-12, as another indicator of His full deity.)

Ps 102:25 “Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 26 “Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. 27 “But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.”

Again, while using poetic language, this next passage from Psalm 104 also points back to Genesis 1. It affirms the understanding that the first chapter of the Bible was to be taken for what it said.

Ps 104:5 He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever. 6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; The waters were standing above the mountains. 7 At Your rebuke they fled, At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away. 8 The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the place which You established for them. 9 You set a boundary that they may not pass over, So that they will not return to cover the earth.

The Later Prayer of Nehemiah

Notice how Nehemiah affirmed the Genesis creation when he praised God centuries later. In the 400s BC, Nehemiah led the effort to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem after the Jews returned from Babylonian exile.

Ne 9:6 “You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.

The Teaching of Jesus

Jesus believed and taught that God made male and female from the beginning, apparently pointing to the original creation. Jesus accepted the plain meaning of Genesis and gave no indication that it had been lost. Also, Jesus quoted from both Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 together, as both belonged to one united creation account.

Noticeably absent from His teaching is any indication that the words of Genesis 1 had been misunderstood. There is no evidence that He connected the creation account with ancient cosmologies or anything else that was not stated in the text.

Mt 19:4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’”?

The “Beginning” of John’s Gospel

When the apostle John by inspiration wrote in John 1:1, “In the beginning …” he tied that phrase from Genesis 1:1 to God’s original creation. I see no room here for the idea that the heavens and the earth pre-existed the creation discussed in Genesis 1. To John, “the beginning” of Genesis 1:1 was not the time that God took the pre-existing heavens and earth and gave them form and purpose. No, “the beginning” for John was the point at which God through the Word, Jesus Christ, brought all things into being.

Jn 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

The Teaching of Paul

When Paul by inspiration wrote regarding Genesis 1-3, he also accepted the text at face value. He did not connect it to the ancient cosmologies of Babylon or Egypt. Neither did he indicate at any point that its meaning had been lost.

Paul believed that when God said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), that was the point at which He created light. It was not the point at which God took pre-existing light, which had been around for perhaps millions of years, and gave it form and purpose.

2 Co 4:6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Paul accepted the Genesis account of God’s making the first man, Adam. Adam was a real person, created directly by God from the ground, not as the result of an evolutionary process that began long before Genesis 1. In fact, the Bible says, “Then the LORD God formed man (Hebrew, adam) of dust from the ground (Hebrew, adamah), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Ge 2:7). The very name “Adam” reflects Paul’s conviction that Adam was created from the ground, rather than his having evolved from previous life forms.

1 Co 15:45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Genesis presents Eve as a real person, whom God made from one of Adam’s ribs (Ge 2:18-23). Adam called her “woman” (Hebrew, ishshah) because she was taken from man (Hebrew, ish). He also named her “Eve” (from the Hebrew term for life or living), because she was “the mother of all living” (Ge 3:20). From the standpoint of Genesis, it is false to say that Adam and Eve evolved from pre-human beings who existed possibly millions of years before the Bible’s creation account. Eve had no mother; she was the mother!

Paul likewise presented Eve as a real person. He taught that she was taken from the man, just as Genesis said, not as the result of evolution. Paul taught that a real serpent deceived Eve in a real moment in history.

1 Co 11:8 For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; 9 for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. 10 Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God.

2 Co 11:3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

Paul by inspiration taught that the gender distinctives for men and women originated in the actual historical events described accurately in Genesis. When the simple message of Genesis is questioned, minimized, or rejected, the God-created distinctions between male and female are blurred. We continue to see this in the religious world today.

1 Ti 2:11 A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. 12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. 13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. 14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. 15 But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

In closing …

The best interpreter of the Bible, and the most ancient and reliable interpreter, is the Bible itself. There is no clear indication (that I can see) in the scriptures themselves that the Jews ever understood Genesis 1 in ways other than its apparent meaning. The idea that no one through the centuries could properly interpret the text or comprehend its “real” meaning is very troubling. I would need solid proof of such a claim.

Here’s another clincher for me. If the real world of Genesis 1 was somehow lost, who lost it? When, how, and why did that happen? Did no one ever write it down and preserve it? Wouldn’t that have been Moses’ role?

I cannot comprehend how the Jews, who so carefully and accurately transmitted the Word of God throughout the centuries, somehow lost the proper understanding of Genesis. I cannot see what reason they would have to start taking the text to mean just what it says. How could a Jew, or a group of Jews, pull such a switch and make such a change? Why is there no record of it? Why weren’t they caught and stopped by those who knew better?

Here are some wise words from an unknown source that are worth considering. “If someone tells you that he has found something in the Bible that no one has seen before in the two thousand years since the Bible was written, be careful! Perhaps what he says he found was never there to begin with.”

Of course, one may choose to reject the Bible completely, including what it says about creation. However, in my judgment, one who accepts the Bible cannot remove from it the claim that God created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day.

And so, I go back to where I started, back to where this post began, “in the beginning.”

Ge 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Jer 1-6 Jeremiah’s Call & Judah’s Condemnation

Access to all the posts in this series: Serving and Sharing: Jeremiah & Lamentations

Jeremiah – Course of Study

Jer 1-6 Jeremiah’s Call & Judah’s Condemnation

Jer 7-10 False Worship & Divine Wrath

Jer 11-15 Broken Promises & Shattered Pride

Jer 16-17 Idolatrous Ways & Deceitful Hearts

Jer 18-20 The Potter, the Pot, & the Prophet

Jer 21-24 False Shepherds & Scattered Sheep

Jer 25-33 Deserved Destruction & Divine Deliverance

Jer 34-35 Broken Covenants & Defiant Disobedience

Jer 36-38 Burned Prophecies & Bold Preaching

Jer 39-45 Jerusalem’s Fall & Captives’ Flight

Jer 46-52 Nations’ Judgment & Judah’s Exile

 

Jer 1-6 Jeremiah’s Call & Judah’s Condemnation

Jer 1 Revelation: God Calls His Prophet.

1:1-3 Panorama: from the Priests, to the Kings, Until the Exile

1:4-5 Purpose: Foreknown, Formed, Consecrated, Appointed

1:6 Pushback: Lack of Experience and Maturity

1:7-8 Promise: Not Your Condition, but My Presence

1:9-10 Promotion: The LORD’s Empowering Touch and Word

1:11-12 Pole: Almond Tree (saqed): God Watching (soqed) Word

1:13-16 Pot Boiling: God’s Hot Wrath from the North (Babylon)

1:17 Prod: Gird up Your Loins! Tell Them What I’ve Told You!

1:18-19 Potential: Fortified City, Pillar of Iron, Walls of Bronze

Jer 2 Rebellion: God Calls Out Judah’s Sins.

2:1-8 An unfaithful wife

2:9-13 Broken cisterns

2:14-19 A plundered slave

2:20 A stubborn animal

2:21 A degenerate vine

2:22 A defiled body

2:23-25 An animal in the desert

2:26-28 A disgraced thief

2:29-35 Incorrigible children

2:36-37 Prisoners of war

Jer 3 Repentance: God Pleads for Their Return.

3:1-5 The Possibility of Repentance

3:6-10 The Need for Repentance

3:11-14 The Call for Repentance

3:15-18 The Blessings of Repentance

3:19-25 The Plan of Repentance

Jer 4 Rebuke: God Warns of Coming Judgment.

4:1-4 Return! Cultivate Your Soil! Circumcise Your Hearts!

4:5-13 Sound the Alarm! You Will Be Blown Away!

4:14-18 Wash Your Heart! Your Own Rebellion is the Cause!

4:19-22 Jeremiah’s Anguish and God’s Answer

4:23-29 Desolation, but not Complete Destruction

4:30-31 Despair, as of Unwanted Harlots Dying in Childbirth

Jer 5 Rationale: God Cites the Charges.

5:1-6 Moral corruption

5:7-9 Sexual impurity

5:10-18 Treacherous unbelief

5:19-24 Religious apostasy

5:25-29 Social injustice

5:30-31 Corrupt leadership

Jer 6 Retribution: God Sends Destruction.

6:1-5 God declares war.

6:6-15 God directs the attack.

6:16-23 God delivers the verdict.

6:24-30 God describes the consequences.

Jeremiah & Lamentations – Timeline & Setting

Source: NKJV Study Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers

722 BC Israel is conquered by the Assyrians.

640 BC Josiah becomes king in Judah.

626 BC Jeremiah is called to prophesy.

612 BC Assyria falls to the Babylonians and Medes.

609 BC Jehoahaz becomes king in Judah.

608 BC Jehoiakim becomes king in Judah.

605 BC Nebuchadnezzar becomes king in Babylon.

598 BC Jehoiachin becomes king in Judah.

598 BC Zedekiah becomes Judah’s last king.

586 BC Jerusalem falls to the Babylonians.

585 BC Jeremiah is taken to Egypt.

Author and Date Jeremiah was born in Anathoth, just three miles northeast of Jerusalem in the hill country of Benjamin. His father was Hilkiah. Jeremiah’s ministry extended from 626 to 586 BC, making him a contemporary of Zephaniah, Ezekiel, and Habakkuk. The prophet’s writing ministry began in the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign in 605 BC (see 36:1, 2), though portions of the book may have been written earlier. The book was completed sometime after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

Historical Setting Jeremiah’s ministry covered a very critical time in the history of the ancient Middle East. When Josiah king of Judah died at the hands of the Egyptian army, Judah became subject to Egypt and its ruler Pharaoh Necho. The people of Judah chose Jehoahaz to succeed Josiah. However, three months later Necho appointed Jehoiakim (Eliakim) to rule as his vassal on the throne in Jerusalem. Having lost their freedom, the people of Judah turned not to God but to the idols they had worshiped in the days of Manasseh and Amon. This idolatry was the reason for Jeremiah’s proclamations of God’s judgment.

In 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish, and Jehoiakim immediately submitted to the Babylonian king, who permitted him to remain on the throne as a vassal. Three years later, Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and was deposed (see 2 Kin. 24:1, 2). Jehoiachin replaced Jehoiakim on the throne for a short time, but he was then exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Thousands of political and religious leaders were carried to Babylon with Jehoiachin in 597 BC (see 2 Kin. 24:14–16).

Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiakim’s brother Zedekiah the new ruler of Judah. In 589 BC, Zedekiah led a rebellion against Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar’s reprisal was swift. His army entered Judah and destroyed all resisting fortified settlements. Nebuchadnezzar’s army turned aside from besieging Jerusalem when the Egyptian army appeared in southwest Palestine in the summer of 588 BC. But the Egyptians soon withdrew, and Nebuchadnezzar resumed his siege. Several times during the siege of Jerusalem, Zedekiah came to Jeremiah for counsel from the Lord. The prophet advised him to surrender, but Zedekiah would not listen.

Jerusalem’s walls were breached in the fourth month of 586 BC. One month later, the temple was burned, along with the palaces, houses, and other administrative buildings. An additional 4,600 Jerusalemites were deported to Babylon. Gedaliah was appointed governor of Judah at Riblah. Jeremiah, who had been imprisoned by Zedekiah, was released and sent to serve under Gedaliah. Gedaliah was assassinated and his supporters fled to Egypt, fearful of Nebuchadnezzar’s revenge. Jeremiah went with them to Egypt against his will, and there he continued to confront the Jews for their idolatry and unfaithfulness.