The Babylonian Captivity
2 Kings 24:8 – 25:30
2 Kings 24:8 – 25:30
Jehoiachin: King of Judah (Evil – 3 Months) (24:8-16)
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9 And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father had done. v.9 Jehoiachin was no better than his father Jehoiakim, but when he was shown that he was wrong, he turned to the word of Jeremiah and submitted to it.
10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, while his servants were besieging it. 12 And Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his chamberlains; and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. v.12 ultimately, he submitted to the word of God, and went out to the king of babylon. his life was spared, just as the Lord had promised. the way we do this practically is to own the ruin and failure of the christian testimony, and to submit to the word of the Lord and practice the whole word of God, howbeit in a remnant testimony. if we do this the lord will make a little way for us even in a difficult day.
13 And he brought out thence all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold that Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah, as Jehovah had said. 14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained but the poorest sort of the people of the land. 15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his chamberlains, and the mighty of the land, he led into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon; 16 and all the men of valour, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all strong men apt for war, and the king of Babylon brought them captive to Babylon.
Zedekiah: King of Judah (Evil – 11 Years) (24:17 – 25:21)
17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his uncle king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah. 18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19 And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 20 For, because the anger of Jehovah was against Jerusalem and against Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
CHAPTER 25
1 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built turrets against it round about. 2 And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. 4 And the city was broken into; and all the men of war fled by night, by the way of the gate between the two walls, which leads to the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about); and they went the way toward the plain. 5 And the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 6 And they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon unto Riblah; and they pronounced judgment upon him, 7 and slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with chains of brass, and carried him to Babylon. 8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, which was in the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzar-adan, captain of the body-guard, servant of the king of Babylon, came unto Jerusalem; 9 and he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; and every great man’s house he burned with fire. 10 And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the captain of the body-guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about. 11 And Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard carried away captive the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the deserters that had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. 12 But the captain of the body-guard left of the poor of the land for vinedressers and husbandmen. 13 And the brazen pillars that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the brass thereof to Babylon. 14 The cauldrons also and the shovels and the knives and the cups, and all the vessels of copper wherewith they ministered, they took away. 15 And the censers and the bowls, that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, the captain of the body-guard took away. 16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah: for the brass of all these vessels there was no weight. 17 The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital upon it was brass, and the height of the capital three cubits; and the network and the pomegranates, upon the capital round about, all of brass: and similarly for the second pillar with the network. 18 And the captain of the body-guard took Seraiah the high priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. 19 And out of the city he took a chamberlain that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king’s presence, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the host, who enrolled the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land that were found in the city. 20 And Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah; 21 and the king of Babylon smote them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his land.
Gedaliah: Governor of Judah (Good) (25:22-26)
22 And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left behind, over them he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. 23 And all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, and they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 24 And Gedaliah swore unto them and to their men, and said to them, Fear not to be servants of the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. 25 And it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah. 26 And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
Jehoiachin Partially Restored (25:27-30)
27 And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; 28 and he spoke kindly to him, and set his seat above the seat of the kings that were with him in Babylon. 29 And he changed his prison garments; and he ate bread before him continually all the days of his life; 30 and his allowance was a continual allowance given him by the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.