19. (a) What did Jesus tell his disciples to do when early destruction of Jerusalem was indicated? (b) What did those in the open country in Jeremiah’s day do, at the disappointment of their expectations?

¹⁹ Back in the year 33 C.E., when Christ foretold the destruction that was to come upon Jerusalem in 70 C.E., what did he tell the Jews to do? To get out of Jerusalem and all the province of Judea when the nearness of impending destruction was indicated. The person in the field or rural areas was not to go into Jerusalem but at once was to get out of all Judea, for security and survival. (Matt. 24:15-18; Luke 21:20, 21) But in Jeremiah’s day, at the approach of the Babylonian destroyers, the people felt it to be better to leave the open country and take refuge in Jerusalem and other fortified cities. There, in such possible holdouts during siege, they preferred to come to silence in death, if need be. But aid from Jehovah, the God of their temple, did not come. Instead, he let them drink a bitter potion, death-dealing “poisoned water.”

Jer. 8:14

The Babylonian destroyers and desolators meant business; back there in 609 B.C.E. nothing done by the besieged Israelites could charm these away from their God-given task. “Fortified cities,” in which the Israelites had taken refuge, could not shield them from Jehovah’s judgment.