Nebuchadnezzar Attacks And Jerusalem is Destroyed
November 28, 2022
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 3.4 tons of silver and 34 kilograms of gold as taxes (v. 3). Neco made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king of Judah and changed his name to Jehoiakim (v. 4). Jehoahaz was sent to Egypt as a prisoner.
Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he was appointed king and he ruled 11 years from Jerusalem (v. 5). Jehoiakim disobeyed the Lord and was an evil King. During Jehoiakim’s rule, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia invaded Judah, arrested him and put him in chains, and then sent him to the capital city of Babylon (v. 6). Nebuchadnezzar carried off many of the things in the Lord’s temple and put them in his palace in Babylon (v. 7). All of the disgusting and evil things Jehoiakim did are written in the book of 1st and 2nd Kings (v. 8). His son Jehoiachin then became King.
Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king of Judah and he ruled only 3 months and 10 days from Jerusalem (v. 9). He also disobeyed the Lord by doing evil (v. 10). King Nebuchadnezzar had Jehoiachinarrested and taken to Babylon with many valuable items in the temple.
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 36:11– 23 (NET)
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.”