In our last study we learned that Pharaoh Necho had effectively taken the land of Judah and had installed Jehoiakim as a puppet-king. But events in the larger world around were moving rapidly. As we will see, the major players – Egypt, Assyria and Babylon were actually being orchestrated by the Lord. By now, Babylon had totally assimilated Assyria and was looking further south-west. To complete its empire, Judah and Egypt still needed to be brought under control.
Read 2 Kings 24:1-4
1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. But then he turned against Nebuchadnezzar and rebelled. 2 The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by his servants the prophets. 3 Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, 4 including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.
2 Chronicles 36:6-7 adds that ‘6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked him and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also took to Babylon articles from the temple of the Lord and put them in his temple there. ’
Read 2 Kings 24:5-7
5 As for the other events of Jehoiakim’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 6 Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king.
7 The king of Egypt did not march out from his own country again, because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the Wadi of Egypt to the River Euphrates.
Nebuchadnezzar was now ‘king of the world’. But Judah even with a puppet-king, still hung on to the belief that they were special.
Read 2 Kings 24:8-9
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem. 9 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father had done.
They may have thought they were special, but by continuing to do ‘evil in the eyes of the Lord’ their ‘special relationship’ as God’s people had been squandered away and it was now time to face their judgement.
Read 2 Kings 24:10-20
10 At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it, 11 and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city while his officers were besieging it. 12 Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his attendants, his nobles and his officials all surrendered to him.
In the eighth year of the reign of the king of Babylon, he took Jehoiachin prisoner. 13 As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord. 14 He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans – a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.
15 Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. He also took from Jerusalem to Babylon the king’s mother, his wives, his officials and the prominent people of the land. 16 The king of Babylon also deported to Babylon the entire force of seven thousand fighting men, strong and fit for war, and a thousand skilled workers and artisans. 17 He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 19 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done. 20 It was because of the Lord’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence.
Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
It’s hard to know how to comment. Jeremiah had been active in prophesying during this whole period (Jeremiah 32-44) and surely it must have been plain for all to see that the Lord had ‘thrust them from his presence’ (v20).
And even after ‘The king of Babylon also deported to Babylon the entire force of seven thousand fighting men, strong and fit for war’ (V16) still Zedekiah imagined he could somehow reclaim his kingdom (v20).
Even without the benefit of a map (by now the Assyrian empire had been taken over by the Babylonians) I really can’t understand how Zedekiah could imagine he could stand against the might of Nebuchadnezzar.
So we read 2 Kings 25:1-7
1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He camped outside the city and built siege works all around it. 2 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. 4 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled towards the Arabah, 5 but the Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, 6 and he was captured.
He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. 7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
So sad, and all so unnecessary.
That was the king’s fate, but what happened in Jerusalem itself?
Read 2 Kings 25:8-10
8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 10 The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
Obviously Jerusalem, as the capital of Judah, represented government and power so had to be destroyed. Even the Babylonians recognised the symbolic importance of the Temple so that too had to be destroyed. Finally the very walls were broken down.
Next, all the people, not just those living in Jerusalem were taken:
Read 2 Kings 25:11-12
11 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. 12 But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
Next, any valuable items they could find were looted.
Read 2 Kings 25:13-17
13 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried the bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. 15 The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls – all that were made of pure gold or silver.
16 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed. 17 Each pillar was eighteen cubits high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.
Finally, any people who held any positions of rank were taken..
Read 2 Kings 25:18-21
18 The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. 19 Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and five royal advisors. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of the conscripts who were found in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.
So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.
Of course, having taken over a foreign country, the Babylonians could never be certain that those who were left behind were simply ‘peasants’. Smart people would have hidden, and would emerge when your army had left. And remember too that the army detachment that had escaped with Zedekiah were still dispersed somewhere in the Plains of Jericho (v5). So a local official who appeared to be on the Babylonian side would have to be appointed as governor. But at the same time, other Babylonian officials would also be left to keep their eyes on what was going on.
Read 2 Kings 25:22-24
22 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah. 23 When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah – Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men. 24 Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. ‘Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,’ he said. ‘Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.’
Gedaliah may have been appointed by the Babylonians, but he was still an Israelite and was not going to betray his fellow men. Basically they were told ‘keep your heads down’.
But they were not the only people of rank that were left behind. Others had managed to escape into surrounding towns and villages.
Read 2 Kings 25:25-26
25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. 26 At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.
Who knows what they had hoped to achieve - obviously there would soon be repercussions from Babylon, and just about everyone fled – including Jeremiah. He had initially been chained ready to be taken to Babylon, but then released and allowed to remain in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 40:1-6).
And fleeing to Egypt (also under Babylonian control) was never going to be a good idea. The next few chapters of Jeremiah contain more detail of these events including his message “O remnant of Judah, the Lord has told you ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today” (Jeremiah 42:19 – and also Jeremiah 44:24-28).
Back in Babylon a new king had come to the throne. This king (sometimes referred to as Evil-Merodach) had actually himself spent some time in prison and may have struck up a friendship with Jehoiachin and other imprisoned kings.
Read 2 Kings 25:27-30
27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. 28 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honour higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. 30 Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.
A postscript is added in 2 Chronicles 36:20-21
20 He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 21 The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfilment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.
The Lord always watches over his people; then, and still today. Like the Exodus, it would be a new generation who entered the promised land when they returned from exile.
There is little recorded detailing what life was like during the seventy years of Exile. What happened next is recorded in Ezra.
