Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 24:18
Zedekiah [was] twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2Ki 24:18 to 2Ki 25:7. Zedekiah king of Judah. He rebels against Nebuchadnezzar. Jerusalem taken. Zedekiah put to death (2Ch 36:11-21; Jer 52:1-11)
18. Hamutal ] See 2Ki 23:31.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ver. 18-20. Zedekiah was twenty years old when he began to reign,…. So that he was but between nine and ten years of age when his father Josiah died; for Jehoahaz reigned three months, Jehoiakim eleven years, and his son three months and ten days:
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah; by which it appears that he was the brother of Jehoahaz by father and mother’s side, 2Ki 23:31. This and the two following verses are expressed in the same words as in Jer 52:1,
[See comments on Jer 52:1],
[See comments on Jer 52:2],
[See comments on Jer 52:3], in 2Ch 36:10, besides what is here said, is written, that he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet of the Lord, that spoke in his name, but opposed him; and rebelling against the king of Babylon, broke his oath, and hardened his neck and heart against the Lord, and was obstinate, stubborn, and self-willed.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Note: To this section the historical appendix to the book of Jeremiah (Jer 52) furnishes a parallel, which agrees with it for the most part word for word, omitting only the short account of the murder of Gedaliah and of the flight of the people to Egypt (2Ki 25:22-26), and adding instead a computation of the number of the people who were led away to Babel by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 52:28-30). Apart from the less important variations, which have arisen in part simply from copyists ‘ errors, we have in Jer 52:18, and especially in Jer 52:21 and Jer 52:22, by no means unimportant notices concerning the vessels of the temple, especially concerning the ornaments of the brazen pillars, which do not occur anywhere in our books. It is evident from this that our text was not derived from Jer (Hvernick), and that Jer was not borrowed from our books of Kings and appended to the book of Jeremiah ‘ s prophecies (Ros., Maur., Ew., Graf). On the contrary, the two accounts are simply brief extracts from one common and more elaborate history of the later times of the kingdom of Judah, possibly composed by Jeremiah or Baruch, analogous to the two extracts from the history of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18-20 and Isa 36-39. – More minute accounts of this space of time are given in the historical portions of the prophecies of Jeremiah (Jer 39-44), which form an explanatory commentary to the section before us.)
2Ki 24:18-19 Length and spirit of Zedekiah’s reign (cf. Jer 52:1-3, and 2Ch 36:11-13). – Zedekiah’s mother Hamital, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, was also the mother of Jehoahaz (2Ki 23:31); consequently he was his own brother and the half-brother of Jehoiakim, whose mother was named Zebidah (2Ki 23:36). His reign lasted eleven years, and in its attitude towards the Lord exactly resembled that of his brother Jehoiakim, except that Zedekiah does not appear to have possessed so much energy for that which was evil. According to Jer 38:5 and Jer 38:24., he was weak in character, and completely governed by the great men of his kingdom, having no power or courage whatever to offer resistance. but, like them, he did not hearken to the words of the Lord through Jeremiah (Jer 37:2), or, as it is expressed in 2Ch 36:12, “he did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spake to him out of the mouth of the Lord.”
2Ki 24:20 “For because of the wrath of the Lord it happened concerning Judah and Jerusalem.” The subject to is to be taken from what precedes, viz., Zedekiah’s doing evil, or that such a God-resisting man as Zedekiah became king. “Not that it was of God that Zedekiah was wicked, but that Zedekiah, a man (if we believe Brentius, in loc.) simple, dependent upon counsellors, yet at the same time despising the word of God and impenitent (2Ch 36:12-13), became king, so as to be the cause of Jerusalem’s destruction” (Seb. Schm.). On cf. 2Ki 24:3, and 2Ki 17:18, 2Ki 17:23. “And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babel,” who, according to 2Ch 36:13, had made him swear by God, to whom he was bound by oath to render fealty. This breach of covenant and frivolous violation of his oath Ezekiel also condemns in sharp words (Eze 17:13.), as a grievous sin against the Lord. Zedekiah also appears from the very first to have had no intention of keeping the oath of fealty which he took to the king of Babel with very great uprightness. For only a short time after he was installed as king he despatched an embassy to Babel (Jer 29:3), which, judging from the contents of the letter to the exiles that Jeremiah gave to the ambassadors to take with them, can hardly have been sent with any other object that to obtain from the king of Babel the return of those who had been carried away. Then in the fourth year of his reign he himself made a journey to Babel (Jer 51:59), evidently to investigate the circumstances upon the spot, and to ensure the king of Babel of his fidelity. And in the fifth month of the same year, probably after his return from Babel, ambassadors of the Moabites, Ammonites, Tyrians, and Sidonians came to Jerusalem to make an alliance with him for throwing off the Chaldaean yoke (Jer 27:3). Zedekiah also had recourse to Egypt, where the enterprising Pharaoh Hophra ( Apries) had ascended the throne; and then, in spite of the warnings of Jeremiah, trusting to the help of Egypt, revolted from the king of Babel, probably at a time when Nebuchadnezzar (according to the combinations of M. v. Nieb., which are open to question however) was engaged in a war with Media.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
V. THE REVOLT OF ZEDEKIAH AND PUNISHMENT OF ZEDEKIAH 24:18-25:7
TRANSLATION
(18) Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. (19) And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD according to all which Jehoiakim had done. (20) For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and in Judah that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon until He cast them out from His presence. (1) And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem; and he camped against it, and built siege towers round about. (2) And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. (3) On the ninth day of the (fourth) month the famine was strong 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 walls which were beside the garden of the king; (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about) and he went by the way of the Arabah. (5) And the Chaldean army pursued after the king, and they caught up with him in the plains of Jordan; and all his army were scattered from him. (6) So they seized the king and they brought him unto the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they pronounced judgment upon him. (7) And the sons of Zedekiah they slew before his eyes; then the eyes of Zedekiah were blinded, and they bound him in bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.
Nineteenth King of Judah
ZEDEKIAH BEN JOSIAH
597587 B.C.
(Righteousness of Yahweh)
2Ki. 24:17 to 2Ki. 25:21; 2Ch. 36:11-21
Contemporary Prophets
Jeremiah; Ezekiel; Daniel
Mother: Hamutal
Appraisal: Bad
As I live, says the Lord God, Surely in the country of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath be despised, and whose covenant he broke, in Babylon be shall die. Eze. 17:16
COMMENTS
Zedekiah reigned from 597587 B.C.[683] He was the full brother of Jehoahaz who had been deported to Egypt by Pharaoh Necho in 609 B.C. (cf. 2Ki. 23:31). He was the half brother of Jehoiakim (cf. 2Ki. 23:36). His father-in-law, Jeremiah of Libnah, is not the prophet who was of Anathoth (2Ki. 24:18). Zedekiah allowed the people of Judah to continue their pollutions and abominations (2Ch. 36:14). He ignored the prophetic warning to submit willingly to Babylon and sought instead by political maneuverings to extricate himself from the grip of Nebuchadnezzar. For these reasons it is said that he did evil in the eyes of the Lord as did Jehoiakim his half brother (2Ki. 24:19). It was because of Gods righteous anger that He permitted this perverse and faithless monarch to sit on the throne of David. The Almighty permitted Zedekiahs stupid and stubborn rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar to proceed unimpeded until finally the cup of Judahs iniquity was full to overflowing. Judah was cast out from the presence of the Lord, i.e., Judah lost the protecting power of God and thus was left defenseless against national enemies. Yet in spite of the precarious predicament of his people, Zedekiah broke his solemn vassal oath to Nebuchadnezzar and rebelled against his overlord (2Ki. 24:20).
[683] Thiele argues for the date 586 B.C. for the termination of Zedekiahs reign and the fall of Jerusalem.
The reign of Zedekiah was in many respects the most tragic in the history of the people of God. The territory of Judah was diminished, and many of the cities of the land were severely damaged. The population had been drastically reduced through deportation, the upper classes being completely depleted. Zedekiah himself seems to have been at the mercy of his princes. The royal court was bent on rebellion. Jeremiah the prophet thundered forth against the folly of resistance against Babylon,[684] but still the political leaders clung to their suicidal course. A brief insurrection in Babylon sparked renewed hope in the western part of the empire. When a new Pharaoh, Psamtik II, came to power in 594 B.C. the little states of Syria-Palestine began to make plans for a concerted effort against Babylon. Ambassadors from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon met in Jerusalem to plan the rebellion (Jer. 27:3 ff.). The plan must have been uncovered, for that very year Zedekiah was summoned to Babylon to reaffirm his allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 51:59 ff.). Zedekiahs first major effort to break with Babylon was nipped in the bud.
[684] Unlike the Assyrians, the Babylonians did not include worship of their gods as a condition of servitude, and thus there was no theological reason why Judah should not render homage to the Chaldeans. Cf. Finley, BBC, p. 500.
A still more boastful and aggressive Pharaoh took the throne of Egypt in 588 B.C. Pharaoh ApriesHophra, as he is known in the Bibleactively encouraged a western coalition against Babylon. But the revolt does not seem to have been widespread in Syria-Palestine. So far as is known, only Tyre and Ammon seem to have committed themselves. Zedekiah, however, sent ambassadors to Egypt (Eze. 17:15), and entered wholeheartedly into the rebellion.
The author of Kings is very precise in dating the events of the last days of Judah. Only in chapter 25 does he give the year, month and day of any event, and this he does three times. Extreme exactness with respect to a date indicates the extreme importance of the event dated. Chronologists have computed that the Babylonian army arrived at Jerusalem on January 15, 588 B.C. They blockaded the city and began to systematically eliminate the outlying strong points. The fortified towns of Lachish and Azekah were among the last to fall to the Chaldeans[685] (Jer. 34:7). With the fall of these two villages, Zedekiahs communication lines to Egypt were cut. The siege of Jerusalem now began in earnest. Siege towers (KJV forts) were constructed (2Ki. 24:1). These towers were movable ones, made of planks, which were pushed up to the walls of the city. Such towers enabled the assailants to attack their adversaries with better advantage, being now on a level with the top of the walls. Sometimes these towers contained battering rams.
[685] In 1935 eighteen ostraca which date to this very time were discovered in the ruins of the ancient fortress city of Lachish. In the main these ostraca are military communiques between a field commander by the name of Hoshayahu and his superior in Lachish whose name was Yaosh. For a discussion of the significance of these letters, see Smith, JL, pp. 2224.
The author of Kings omits all details of the siege of Jerusalem and passes immediately to the final catastrophe (2Ki. 24:2). Jeremiah and Ezekiel add significant information at this point. In the summer of 588 B.C. an Egyptian army marched northward toward Jerusalem with the intention of relieving the pressure on Zedekiah. Nebuchadnezzar was forced temporarily to lift the siege of the city in order to deal with the Egyptian threat (Jer. 37:5; Eze. 17:17). Apparently with little effort, Nebuchadnezzar was able to send the Egyptians scurrying back home. He then resumed the siege of Jerusalem. The defenders of the city began to suffer from famine (Jer. 21:7; Jer. 21:9; Lam. 2:12; Lam. 2:20). All the bread in the city was consumed by July of 588 B.C.[686] (2Ki. 24:3). Famine was followed by pestilence (Jer. 21:6-7), and after a time the city was reduced to the last extremity (Lam. 4:10).
[686] From the information given here and in Jeremiah 52, it cannot be determined whether the bread was exhausted in the fourth month of Zedekiahs tenth year (July, 587) or fourth month of his eleventh year (July 587 B.C.).
On July 29, 587 B.C. after a siege of eighteen months, the Babylonians were able to make a breach in the walls of Jerusalem, probably on the north side of the city. Zedekiah and the men of war who were left fled from Jerusalem on the south side by means of a gate which opened into the Tyropoeon valley, between the two great walls that guarded the town on either side of it. The escape route took Zedekiah and his men by the kings gardens which were located near the Pool of Siloam. Under cover of darkness, the desperate Jews slipped past the Babylonian outposts and made their way in the direction of the Arab ah, the plains region near Jordan. The way toward the Arabah is the ordinary road from Jerusalem to Jericho. It would appear that Zedekiah was attempting to reach one of the friendly lands beyond the river.
When the escape of Zedekiah and his soldiers was discovered, the Babylonians set out in hot pursuit. Doubtlessly, the commander at Jerusalem was incensed to learn that the king had successfully abandoned the city. A company of soldiers was dispatched immediately to pursue the fugitives. When the Babylonians came within sight, the troops of Zedekiah deserted him (2Ki. 24:5). The king was taken captive without any resistance and was transported north to Riblah where Nebuchadnezzar had made his headquarters. There the rebel stood trial before the Babylonian princes (2Ki. 24:6). The judgment against Zedekiah probably corresponded to the self-maledictions which he had pronounced at the time he swore allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar. He was forced to witness the execution of his young sons.[687] This turned out to be the last sight Zedekiah had on earth, for the Babylonians blinded him, probably by means of a red-hot iron rod.[688] The Babylonians then put Zedekiah in fetters of bronze and carried him away to Babylon (2Ki. 24:7) where he remained in prison until the day of his death (Jer. 52:11).
[687] As Zedekiah was no more than thirty-two years old (cf. 2Ki. 24:18), his sons must have been minors.
[688] Zedekiahs loss of eyesight reconciled the two apparently conflicting propheciesthat he would be carried captive to Babylon (Jer. 22:5), and that he would never see Babylon (Eze. 12:13).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
1). Introduction ( 2Ki 24:18-19 ).
This is the last use of the opening formula which has been common throughout Kings since 1Ki 14:21, and it once more ends with the chilling words ‘and he did what was evil in the sight of YHWH’. It sums up what the house of David had finally come to. In spite of Solomon’s early promise the extravagance, pride and idolatry which began with Solomon had come to its final fruition. Such is ever the result of the outworking of the sinfulness of man. As the book has revealed, it was only due to God’s constant activity through the prophets that hope has been maintained. It is, however, the darkness before a new dawning in the ‘lifting up of the head’ of Jehoiachin (2Ki 25:27-30), that will finally result in the coming of Jesus Christ (Mat 1:11-17).
Analysis.
Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign (2Ki 24:18 a).
And he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah (2Ki 24:18 b).
And he did what was evil in the sight of YHWH, according to all that Jehoiakim had done (2Ki 24:19).
2Ki 24:18
‘Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.’
Zedekiah was twenty one years old when he began to reign and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem ‘the city which YHWH had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put His Name there’ for David’s sake (1Ki 14:21). It was to be the last eleven years of Jerusalem’s existence. The name of the queen mother was Hamutal. Zedekiah was thus the full brother of Jehoahaz (2Ki 23:31), and the half-brother of Jehoiakim.
2Ki 24:19
‘And he did what was evil in the sight of YHWH, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.’
He continued to walk in the same way as Jehoiakim had done, permitting the continuation of the worship of Baal and Asherah, as well as necessarily having to perpetuate the worship of the gods of Babylon. (Neither Jehoahaz nor Jehoiachin had reigned long enough to be seen as a pattern). All Josiah’s efforts had, in the long term, seemingly been in vain. He had given Judah its last chance and it had rejected it.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Reign Of Zedekiah, King of Judah 597-587 BC ( 2Ki 24:18 to 2Ki 25:7 ).
It is a reminder of how quickly events were moving that it was a son of Josiah himself who now came to the throne as the last king of Judah, and that he was only twenty one years old, so short would be the time from the death of Josiah (609 BC) to the final destruction of Jerusalem (586 BC). Furthermore he was not helped by the fact that he was seen by many as only acting as deputy for Jehoiachin, who was still looked on as king of Judah, and expected to return (Jer 28:4).
But as with his brother Jehoiakim before him he did not follow in his father’s footsteps. Instead he continued to encourage the syncretistic worship in high places, and in the Temple, for he ‘did evil in the eyes of YHWH’. It was clear that Josiah’s legacy had not been a permanent one. As we have learned above Judah had in fact fallen too far before he came to the throne. Thus YHWH’s anger continued to be directed against Judah with the result that in the end Zedekiah also foolishly rebelled against the king of Babylon and withheld tribute. We can only assume that it was largely at the instigation of Egypt, for it would have been obvious that Judah and her local allies would have had little chance alone.
However, the author of Kings was not interested in the detail. As far as he was concerned Zedekiah’s reign was doomed from the start. Thus he tells us nothing about what led up to the rebellion. In his eyes it was all due to the fact that the wrath of YHWH was levelled against His people so that He had determined to spew them out of the land. This was not without reason. As Jeremiah reveals the people had become totally corrupt, and the leadership were only out for themselves. And yet, incredibly, they were ridiculously optimistic and responsive to prophets who declared that there would be a quick end to Babylonian supremacy, and that it would be within two years from the commencement of Zedekiah’s reign (Jer 28:1-11). Such was the certainty that they had that YHWH would not allow their desperate state to continue. They still remembered and held on to the earlier promises of the prophets about the final establishment of YHWH’s kingdom without recognising the need to fulfil the conditions which were required. The consequence was that Zedekiah also ignored the warnings of Jeremiah the prophet that he should remain in submission to the king of Babylon. But what they had one and all ignored was the fact that they were not walking in YHWH’s ways and that He had therefore deserted them. The promises of the prophets were not for them. They awaited a day when they would have been restored to full obedience.
This passage divides up into three sections:
1) Introduction (2Ki 24:18-19).
2) Zedekiah Rebels And Is Brought To Judgment (2Ki 24:20 to 2Ki 25:7).
3) The Final Destruction Of Jerusalem And The Death Of Its Leaders (2Ki 25:8-22).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Comparison of the Text of Kings and Jeremiah – This last section in 2Ki 24:18 to 2Ki 25:30 is practically identical to Jer 52:1-34. This account in 2 Kings is almost a word for word copy of the last chapter of Jeremiah.
2Ki 24:18 to 2Ki 25:21 The Reign of Zedekiah Over Judah (597-586 B. C.) 2Ki 24:18 to 2Ki 25:21 records the account of the reign of Zedekiah over Judah.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
2Ki 24:18 Zedekiah [was] twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Ver. 18. And he reigned eleven years. ] But had small joy of his kingdom; so had King John of England.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hamutal. Therefore only half-brother to Jehoiakim, but full brother to Jehoahaz.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
am 3405-3416, bc 599-588
Zedekiah: 2Ch 36:11, Jer 37:1, Jer 52:1-11
Hamutal: 2Ki 23:31
Reciprocal: 1Ch 3:14 – Josiah Jer 21:1 – when
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 24:18-19. He reigned eleven years In the end of which he was carried captive, Jer 1:3. He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord Not regarding the reproofs, exhortations, or predictions of Jeremiah, but shutting him up in prison, Jer 33:1-2; 2Ch 36:12. And his servants, and the people of the land, were as wicked and incorrigible as himself, Jer 37:1-2.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 24:18 to 2Ki 25:7. Zedekiah. Destruction of Temple and City.This event is related more fully in Jeremiah. Zedekiah seems to have been well-meaning but weak, and inclined to favour Jeremiah when not hindered by his nobles. The siege of Jerusalem, which lasted nearly two years (2Ki 25:1-4), is more fully related in Jer 37:1 to Jer 39:7.
2Ki 24:6. and they gave judgement upon him: Zedekiahs offence was intriguing with Egypt and breaking his treaty with Nebuchadrezzar (Eze 17:15).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
H. Zedekiah’s Evil Reign 24:18-25:7
Zedekiah (Mattaniah) was Josiah’s third son to rule over Judah. He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki 24:20) by making a treaty with Pharaoh Hophra (589-570 B.C.), being pressured by nationalists in Judah (cf. Jeremiah 37-38).
"Clearly, he lacks the moral fiber to be more than what he is, a man who gauges each situation by how long its results can keep him in power." [Note: House, p. 395.]
Jerusalem was under siege for about eighteen months (588-586 B.C.; 2Ki 25:1-2). The resulting famine that the residents experienced (2Ki 24:3) was only one of many that the Israelites underwent for their rebellion against God. Yahweh again withheld fertility as a punishment for apostasy. Jerusalem finally fell in 586 B.C. Some scholars believe it fell in 587 B.C. [Note: E.g., Rodger C. Young, "When Did Jerusalem Fall?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 47:1 (March 2004):21-38.] The Babylonians captured King Zedekiah while he was trying to escape and took him to Riblah (cf. 2Ki 23:33) where Nebuchadnezzar passed judgment on him. Nebuchadnezzar killed Zedekiah’s heirs to the throne thus ending his fertility, blinded him (cf. Rev 3:17), and bound him with bronze shackles (2Ki 24:7). All of these measures also represented the fate of the nation the king led. The Israelites were now without royal leadership, spiritually blind, and physically bound. The blinding of prisoners was a common practice in the ancient East (cf. Jdg 16:21). [Note: Andre Parrot, Babylon and the Old Testament, p. 97.]
"The lesson of Samaria’s fall and exile should have been learned." [Note: Wiseman, p. 312.]
". . . the deuteronomistic history, which extends from Joshua through 2 Kings 25, begins victoriously on the plains of Jericho (Joshua 1-7) and ends in tragic defeat on the plains of Jericho (2Ki 25:5)." [Note: J. Daniel Hays, "An Evangelical Approach to Old Testament Narrative Criticism," Bibliotheca Sacra 166:661 (January-March 2009):8.]
These bracketing references to the plains of Jericho are an indication of the narrative unity of this section of Scripture.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
ZEDEKIAH, THE LAST KING OF JUDAH
B.C. 597-586
2Ki 24:18-20; 2Ki 25:1-7
“Quand ce grand Dieu a choisi quelquun pour etre linstrument de ses desseins rien narrete le cours, en enchaine, ou il aveugle, ou il dompte tout ce qui est capable de resistance.”
– BOSSUET, “Oraison funebre de Henriette Marie.”
WHEN Jehoiachin was carried captive to Babylon, never to return, his uncle Mattaniah (“Jehovahs gift”), the third son of Josiah, was put by Nebuchadrezzar in his place. In solemn ratification of the new kings authority, the Babylonian conqueror sanctioned the change of his name to Zedekiah (“Jehovahs righteousness”). He was twenty-one at his accession, and he reigned eleven years.
“Behold,” writes Ezekiel, “the King of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and brought them to him to Babylon; and he took of the seed royal” (i.e., Zedekiah), “and made a covenant with him; he also brought him under an oath: and took away the mighty of the land, that the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.” {Eze 17:12-14}
Perhaps by this covenant Zechariah meant to emphasize the meaning of his name, and to show that he would reign in righteousness.
The prophet at the beginning of the chapter describes Nebuchadrezzar and Jehoiachin in “a riddle.”
“A great eagle,” he says, “with great wings and long pinions; full of feathers, which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar” (Jehoiachin): “he cropped off the topmost of the young twigs thereof, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants. He took also of the seed of the land” (Zedekiah), “and planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside great waters, he set it as a willow tree. And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned towards him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.” {Eze 17:1-6}
The words refer to the first three years of Zedekiahs reign, and they imply, consistently with the views of the prophets, that, if the weak king had been content with the lowly eminence to which God had called him, and if he had kept his oath and covenant with Babylon, all might yet have been well with him and his land. At first it seemed likely to be so; for Zedekiah wished to be faithful to Jehovah. He made a covenant with all the people to set free their Hebrew slaves. Alas! it was very short-lived. Self-sacrifice cost something, and the princes soon took back the discarded bond-servants. {Jer 34:8-11} What made this conduct the more shocking was that their covenant to obey the law had been made in the most solemn manner by “cutting a calf in twain, and passing between the severed halves.” But the weak king was perfectly powerless in the hands of his tyrannous aristocracy.
The exiles in Babylon were now the best and most important section of the nation. Jeremiah compares them to good figs; while the remnant at Jerusalem were bad and withered. He and Ezekiel raised their voices, as in strophe and antistrophe, for the teaching alike of the exiles and of the remnant left at Jerusalem, for whom the exiles were bidden to entreat God in prayer. Zedekiah himself made at least one journey northward, either voluntarily or under summons, to renew his oath and reassure Nebuchadrezzar of his fidelity. He was accompanied by Seraiah, the brother of Baruch, who was privately entrusted by Jeremiah with a prophecy of the fall of Babylon, which he was to fling into the midst of the Euphrates.
The last King of Judah seems to have been weak rather than wicked. He was a reed shaken by the wind. He yielded to the influence of the last person who argued with him; and he seems to have dreaded above all things the personal ridicule, danger, and opposition which it was his duty to have defied. Yet we cannot withhold from him our deep sympathy: for he was born in terrible times-to witness the death-throes of his countrys agony, and to share in them. It was no longer a question of independence, but only of the choice of servitudes. Judah was like a silly and trembling sheep between two huge beasts of prey.
Only thus can we account for the strange apostasies-“the abominations of the heathen”-with which he permitted the Temple to be polluted; and for the ill-treatment which he allowed to be inflicted on Jeremiah and other prophets, to whom in his heart he felt inclined to listen.
What these abominations were we read with amazement in the eighth chapter of Ezekiel. The prophet is carried in vision to Jerusalem, and there he sees the Asherah-“the image which provoketh to jealousy”-which had so often been erected and destroyed and re-erected. Then through a secret door he sees creeping things, and abominable beasts, and the idol blocks of the House of Israel portrayed upon the wall, while several elders of Israel stood before them and adored, with censers in their hands-among whom he must specially have grieved to see Jaazaneiah, the son of Shaphan, flattering himself, as did his followers, that in that dark chamber Jehovah saw them not. Next at the northern gate he sees Zions daughters weeping for Tammuz, or Adonis. Once more, in the inner court of the Temple, between the porch and the altar, he sees about twenty-five men with their backs to the altar, and their faces to the east; and they worshipped the sun towards the east; and, lo! they put the vine branch to their nose. Were not these crimes sufficient to evoke the wrath of Jehovah, and to alienate His ear from prayers offered by such polluted worshippers? Egypt, Assyria. Syria, Chaldaea, all contributed their idolatrous elements to the detestable syncretism; and the king and the priests ignored, permitted, or connived at it. {Eze 16:15-34} This must surely be answered for. How could it have been otherwise? The king and the priests were the official guardians of the Temple, and these aberrations could not have gone on without their cognizance. There was another party of sheer formalists, headed by men like the priest Pashur, who thought to make talismans of rites and shibboleths, but had no sincerity of heart-religion {Jer 7:4; Jer 8:8; Jer 31:33; Jer 7:34} To these, too, Jeremiah was utterly opposed. In his opinion Josiahs reformation had failed. Neither Ark, nor Temple, nor sacrifice were anything in the world to him in comparison with true religion. All the prophets with scarcely one exception are anti-ritualists; but none more decidedly so than the prophet-priest. His name is associated in tradition with the hiding of the Ark, and a belief in its ultimate restoration; yet to Jeremiah, apart from the moral and spiritual truths of which it was the material symbol, the Ark was no better than a wooden chest. His message from Jehovah is, “I will give you pastors according to My heart and they shall say no more, The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more.” {Jer 3:15-16} Doom followed the guilt and folly of king, priests, and people. If political wisdom were insufficient to show Zedekiah that the necessities of the case were an indication of Gods will, he had the warnings of the prophets constantly ringing in his ears, and the assurance that he must remain faithful to Nebuchadrezzar. But he was in fear of his own princes and courtiers. A combined embassy reached him from the kings of Edom, Ammon, Moab, Tyre, and Sidon, urging him to join in a league against Babylon. {Jer 27:3} This embassy was supported by a powerful party in Jerusalem. Their solicitations were rendered more plausible by the recent accession (B.C. 590) of the young and vigorous Pharaoh Hophrah-the Apries of Herodotus- to the throne of Egypt, and by the recrudescence of that incurable disease of Hebrew politics, a confidence in the idle promises of Egypt to supply the confederacy with men and horses. In vain did Jeremiah and Ezekiel uplift their warning voices. The blind confidence of the king and of the nobles was sustained by the flattering visions and promises of false prophets, prominent among whom was a certain Hananiah, the son of Azur, of Gibeon, “the prophet.” To indicate the futility of the contemplated rebellion, Jeremiah had made “thongs and poles” with yokes, and had sent them to the kings, whose embassy had reached Jerusalem, with a message of the most emphatic distinctness, that Nebuchadrezzar was Gods appointed servant, and that they must serve him till Gods own appointed time. If they obeyed this intimation, they would be left undisturbed in their own lands; if they disobeyed it, they would be scourged into absolute submission by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence. Jeremiah delivered the same oracle to his own king.
The warning was rendered unavailing by the conduct of Hananiah. He prophesied that within two full years God would break the yoke of the King of Babylon; and that the captive Jeconiah, and the nobles, and the vessels of the House of the Lord would be brought back. Jeremiah, by way of an acted parable, had worn round his neck one of his own yokes. Hananiah, in the Temple, snatched it off, broke it to pieces, and said, “So will I break the yoke of Nebuchadrezzar from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.”
We can imagine the delight, the applause, the enthusiasm with which the assembled people listened to these bold predictions. Hananiah argued with them, so to speak, in shorthand, for he appealed to their desires and to their prejudices. It is always the tendency of nations to say to their prophets, “Say not unto us hard things: speak smooth things; prophesy deceits.”
Against Hananiah personally there seems to have been no charge, except that in listening to the lying spirit of his own desires he could not hear the true message of God. But he did not stand alone. Among the children of the captivity, his promises were echoed by two downright false prophets, Ahab and Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who prophesied lies in Gods name. They were men of evil life, and a fearful fate overtook them. Their words against Babylon came to the ears of Nebuchadrezzar, and they were “roasted in the fire,” so that the horror of their end passed into a proverb and a curse. {Jer 29:21-23} Truly God fed these false prophets with wormwood, and gave them poisonous water to drink. {Jer 23:9-32}
After the action of Hananiah, Jeremiah went home stricken and ashamed: apparently he never again uttered a public discourse in the Temple. It took him by surprise; and he was for the moment, perhaps, daunted by the plausive echo of the multitude to the lying prophet. But when he got home the answer of Jehovah came: “Go and tell Hananiah, Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou hast made for them yokes of iron. I have put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadrezzar. Hear now, Hananiah, The Lord hath not sent thee: thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Behold, this year thou shalt die, because thou hast spoken revolt against the Lord. What hath the chaff to do with the wheat? saith the Lord.” {Jer 28:13-16; Jer 23:28}
Two months after Hananiah lay dead, and mens minds were filled with fear. They saw that Gods word was indeed as a fire to burn, and as a hammer to dash in pieces. {Jer 23:29} But meanwhile Zedekiah had been over-persuaded to take the course which the true prophets had forbidden. Misled by the false prophets and mincing prophetesses whom Ezekiel denounced, {Eze 13:1-23} who daubed mens walls with whitened plaster, he had sent an embassy to Pharaoh Hophrah, asking for an army of infantry and cavalry to support his rebellion from Assyria. {Eze 17:15} In the eyes of Jeremiah and Ezekiel the crime did not only consist in defying the exhortations of those whom Zedekiah knew to be Jehovahs accredited messengers, in mitigation of this offence he might have pleaded the extreme difficulty of discriminating the truth amid the ceaseless babble of false pretenders. But, on the other hand, he had broken the solemn oath which he had taken to Nebuchadrezzar in the name of God, and the sacred covenant which he seems to have twice ratified with him. {2Ch 36:13; Jer 52:3} This it was which raised the indignation of the faithful, and led Ezekiel to prophesy:-
“Shall he prosper? Shall he escape that doeth such things? Or shall he break the covenant and be believed? As I live, saith the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, Whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, Even with him in the midst of Babylon, shall he die.” { Eze 17:15-16; Eze 28:19}
Sad close for a dynasty which had now lasted for nearly five centuries!
As for Pharaoh, he too was an eagle, as Nebuchadrezzar was-a great eagle with great wings and many feathers, but not so great. The trailing vine of Judah bent her roots towards him, but it should wither in the furrows when the east wind touched it. {Eze 17:7-10}
The result of Zedekiahs alliance with Egypt was the intermission of his yearly tribute to Assyria; and at last, in the ninth year of Zedekiah, Nebuchadrezzar was aroused to put down this Palestinian revolt, supported as it was by the vague magnificence of Egypt. Jeremiah had said, “Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, is but a noise [or desolation]: he hath passed the time appointed.” {Jer 46:17}
This was about the year 589. In 598 Nebuchadrezzar had carried Jehoachin into captivity, and ever since then some of his forces had been engaged in the vain effort to capture Tyre, which still, after a ten years siege, drew its supplies from the sea, and remained impregnable on her island rock. He did not choose to raise this long-continued siege by diverting the troops to beleaguer so strong a fortress as Jerusalem, and therefore he came in person from Babylon.
In Eze 21:20-24 we have a singular and vivid glimpse of his march. On his way he came to a spot where two roads branched off before him. One led to Rabbath, the capital of Ammon, on the east of Jordan; the other to Jerusalem, on the west. Which road should he take? Personally, it was a matter of indifference; so he threw the burden of responsibility upon his gods by leaving the decision to the result of belomancy. Taking in his hand a sheaf of brightened arrows, he held them upright, and decided to take the route indicated by the fall of the greater number of arrows. He confirmed his uncertainty by consulting teraphim, and by hepatoscopy-i.e., by examining the liver of slain victims. Rabbath and the Ammonites were not to be spared, but it was upon the covenant-breaking king and city that the vengeance was to fall. {Eze 21:28-32} And this is what the prophet has to say to Zedekiah:-
“And thou, O deadly-wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day is come in the time of the iniquity of the end; thus saith the Lord God, Remove the miter, and take off the crown. This shall be not thus. Exalt the low, and abase that which is high. An overthrow, overthrow, overthrow, will I make it: this also shall be no more, until He come whose right it is: and I will give it Him.”
So (B.C. 587) Jerusalem was delivered over to siege, even as Ezekiel had sketched upon a tile. {Eze 4:1-3} It was to be assailed in the old Assyrian manner-as we see it represented in the British Musemn bas-relief, where Sennacherib is portrayed in the act of besieging Lachish-with forts, mounds, and battering-rams; and Ezekiel had also been bidden to put up an iron plate between him and his pictured city to represent the mantelet from behind which the archers shot.
In this dread crisis Zedekiah sent Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and Jehueal, to Jeremiah, entreating his prayers for the city, {Jer 37:3} for he had not yet been put in prison. Doubtless he prayed, and at first it looked as if deliverance would come. Pharaoh Hophrah put in motion the Egyptian army with its Carian mercenaries and Soudanese Negroes, and Nebuchadrezzar was sufficiently alarmed to raise the siege and go to meet the Egyptians. The hopes of the people probably rose high, though multitudes seized the opportunity to fly to the mountains. {Eze 7:16} The circumstances closely resembled those under which Sennacherib had raised the siege of Jerusalem to go to meet Tirhakah the Ethiopian; and perhaps there were some, and the king among them, who looked that such a wonder might be vouchsafed to him through the prayers of Jeremiah as had been vouchsafed to Hezekiah through the prayers of Isaiah. Not for a moment did Jeremiah encourage these vain hopes. To Zephaniah, as to an earlier deputation from the king, when he sent Pashur with him to inquire of the prophet, Jeremiah returned a remorseless answer. It is too late. Pharaoh shall be defeated; even if the Chaldaean army were smitten, “its wounded soldiers would suffice to besiege and burn Jerusalem, and take into captivity the miserable inhabitants after they had suffered the worst horrors of a besieged city.”