God promised Zedekiah that he will die in peace and be buried with his father Jer34 v 5 but 52v11 tells Zedekiah dying of a violent death in a foreign land?

Answer 1

The 2 verses quoted are :-

Jer 34:5 But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.

Jer 52:11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

To understand and reconcile any scriptural questions, the most important thing to do is to put all the relevant scriptures together, get them in context, and to take them literally:-

Zedekiah was told if he submitted to Babylon, then he and his people would be allowed to stay in their own land :-

Jer 27:1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

Jer 27:2 Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,

Jer 27:3 And send them to the king ... by ...the messengers ... unto Zedekiah king of Judah;

Jer 27:4 ...Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;...

Jer 27:5 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me.

Jer 27:6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant;...

Jer 27:7 And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, ...

Jer 27:8 ...[and] the nation and kingdom which willnot serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put theirneck under the yoke of the king of Babylon,that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, ...

Jer 27:9 Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, ... dreamers, ... enchanters, ... sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:

Jer 27:10 For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.

Jer 27:11 But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.

Jer 27:12 I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

Jer 27:13 Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

Jer 27:14 Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.

Jer 27:15 For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.

Jer 27:16 Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD'S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.

Jer 27:17 Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city be laid waste?

However, Zedekiah didn't submit as he was told to do, and was blinded etc:-

2Ki 25:1 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.

2Ki 25:2 And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

2Ki 25:3 And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

2Ki 25:4 And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about and the king went the way toward the plain.

2Ki 25:5 And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.

2Ki 25:6 So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him.

2Ki 25:7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.

He had been told that this would happen [because he disobeyed - Jer 27:12]:--

Jer 34:1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,

Jer 34:2 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:

Jer 34:3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.

The next 2 verses of Jeremiah 34 are the "contradictory" ones:-

Jer 34:4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:

Jer 34:5 But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 34:5 must be read in conjunction with 52:11 :-

Jer 52:8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

Jer 52:9 Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.

Jer 52:10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

Jer 52:11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

The end of the seige of Jerusalem , and its capture, was in July 586BC. Zedekiah was captured, blinded, and put in prison in Babylon , until he died of natural causes some unknown time later. He did not die ' a violent death in a strange land', but died in a time of peace - there was an unknown time interval between his capture and his death, and he was given the burial due to a king . Also, captured kings were often kept alive as a hostage to guarantee the submission and obedience of his captured nation: they were more useful alive than dead .