Nebuchadnezzar Attacks and Jerusalem is Destroyed
July 8, 2019
Commentary
At the death of Josiah, his son Jehoahaz was crowned king (v. 1) He was 23 years old at the time and only ruled three months (v. 2). He was captured by King Neco from Egypt, who forced Judah to pay 100 talents of silver and 1 talent of gold (v. 3). Neco made Jehoahaz’s older brother, Eliakim, king of Judah and changed his name to Jehoiakim (v. 4). Jehoahaz was sent to Egypt as a prisoner. Jehoiakim ruled 11 years in Jerusalem (v. 5). He was an evil, disobedient king. During his rule, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia invaded Judah, arrested Jehoiakim, and sent him to Babylon in chains (v. 6). Nebuchadnezzar carried off many things from the Lord’s temple and put them in his palace in Babylon (v. 7). Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, then became King and ruled for only 3 months and 10 days (v. 9). He also disobeyed the Lord by doing evil (v. 10). King Nebuchadnezzar had Jehoiachin arrested and taken to Babylon with many valuable items in the temple. Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s brother, then became king of Judah and ruled for eleven years (v. 11). He disobeyed God and refused to change his ways even after a warning from the prophet Jeremiah (v. 12). He also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia who had forced him to sign a promise that he would be loyal (v. 13). Zedekiah was stubborn and refused to turn back to the Lord.
As time went on, the people became more unfaithful as they followed the example of the nations around them (v. 14). Instead of destroying his people, God felt sorry for them and sent prophets to warn them over and over (v. 15). But the people ignored them, and God finally rose against them in anger (v. 16). He sent Nebuchadnezzar to attack Jerusalem showing no mercy on anyone (v. 17). He robbed the treasury and carried off everything in the temple, taking it back to Babylon (v. 18). His troops burned down the temple, destroyed every important building and broke down the city wall (v. 19). The survivors were taken as prisoners to Babylonia and were made slaves of the king and his sons (v. 20). Judah laid desolate for 70 years to make up for all the years it was not allowed to rest (v. 21). In the first year that Cyrus was king of Persia he sent a message that the Lord God had chosen him to build a temple in Jerusalem as a place for the Jews to go back to (vv. 22-23).
Application
I never like to see things destroyed that the Lord has made. However, it may be God’s way of purifying things just as he did with the flood in Noah’s day. He will never destroy my salvation.
2 Chronicles 36:1– 23 (NET)
1 The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem. 2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 The king of Egypt prevented him from ruling in Jerusalem and imposed on the land a special tax of 100 talents of silver and a talent of gold. 4 The king of Egypt made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Necho seized his brother Jehoahaz and took him to Egypt.
5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God. 6 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked him, bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar took some of the items in the Lord’s temple to Babylon and put them in his palace there.
8 The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign, including the horrible sins he committed and his shortcomings, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin replaced him as king.
9 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. 10 At the beginning of the year King Nebuchadnezzar ordered him to be brought to Babylon, along with the valuable items in the Lord’s temple. In his place Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.
11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, the Lord’s spokesman. 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him vow allegiance in the name of God. He was stubborn and obstinate, and refused to return to the Lord God of Israel. 14 All the leaders of the priests and people became more unfaithful and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations. They defiled the Lord’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
15 The Lord God of their ancestors continually warned them through his messengers, for he felt compassion for his people and his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his warnings, and ridiculed his prophets. Finally the Lord got very angry at his people and there was no one who could prevent his judgment. 17 He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered their young men in their temple. He did not spare young men or women, or even the old and aging. God handed everyone over to him. 18 He carried away to Babylon all the items in God’s temple, whether large or small, as well as what was in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the king and his officials. 19 They burned down God’s temple and tore down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned all its fortified buildings and destroyed all its valuable items. 20 He deported to Babylon all who escaped the sword. They served him and his sons until the Persian kingdom rose to power. 21 This took place to fulfill the Lord’s message spoken through Jeremiah and lasted until the land experienced its sabbatical years. All the time of its desolation the land rested in order to fulfill the seventy years.
22 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the Lord’s message spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord motivated King Cyrus of Persia to issue a proclamation throughout his kingdom and also to put it in writing. It read:
23 “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: ‘The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Anyone of his people among you may go up there, and may the Lord his God be with him.”