In the last chapter, regardless of all the reforms that Josiah had done, we saw that God was going to send the Southern Kingdom of Judah into Babylonian captivity because of the sins of Manasseh, 2 Kings 23:26-27.
In this chapter, we read about how God fulfilled His will in sending them to Babylon. This is the beginning of the seventy years of captivity for God’s children, just as Jeremiah had prophesied, Jeremiah 25:11.
The exile of Judah took place in three specific stages.
The first stage took place in 605 B.C. On his way back from victory in Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar, general of the armies of Babylon, laid siege to Jerusalem and took some of the leading nobles and young men from the city of Jerusalem as hostages and carried them back to Babylon.
It is at this point that Daniel and his three friends are carried off, Daniel 1:1-7. Most of the citizens are still in the land of Judah but are certainly subservient to Babylon. It is possible that it was at this point that Jeremiah prophesied the seventy-year captivity, Jeremiah 25:11-12.
Nebuchadnezzar had just vanquished the Egyptians at the Battle of Carchemish, thus establishing Babylon as the new ruler of the eastern Mediterranean world. Nebuchadnezzar was establishing Babylonian dominance over all that area and had come to Jerusalem and laid siege to the city.
Hearing of his father’s death, he took several young men from the royal family as hostages and trainees for his court, including Daniel and his three friends, according to Daniel 1:1-7.
He also made King Jehoiakim a vassal, 2 Chronicles 36:6, and then hastened back to Babylon to establish himself on the throne. Nebuchadnezzar and a small military force took the short route across the desert, sending the captives with his greater army along the Fertile Crescent.
At this point, though most of her citizens were yet in the land of Judah, the nation was subservient to Babylon. It is at this point that Jeremiah prophesied that Judah would be carried off to Babylon for seventy years.
Therefore, most scholars believe that the seventy-year captivity began with this event. This would coincide well with the decree for the first return around 538 B.C., which would be followed by that return and the beginning of the temple rebuilding process around 537/536 B.C.
The second stage took place in 597 B.C. Jehoiakim rebels against Nebuchadnezzar, about 602 B.C., who finally comes and attacks Jerusalem, on March 10th 597 B.C., carrying off ten-thousand captives to Babylon.
After rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar, King Jehoiakim died on December 10th 598 B.C., so by the time Nebuchadnezzar arrived to punish Jerusalem for its rebellion, his son Jehoiachin, had been on the throne for three months and ten days.
In other words, Jehoiachin was in the wrong place at the wrong time and would essentially pay for the rebellion of his father against Babylon. Jehoiachin was taken captive to Babylon and remained a prisoner there until the death of Nebuchadnezzar in 561 B.C. 2 Kings 25:27-30.
Nebuchadnezzar also carried off the wealthy elite from Jerusalem, including Ezekiel, the prophet. Although Ezekiel wasn’t actually called to the prophetic ministry until after he had been carried off to Babylon, probably about 593 BC.
The third stage took place in 586 B.C. King Zedekiah ignores the warnings of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 27-28, and plots against Babylon once again, so that Nebuchadnezzar returns, lays siege against Jerusalem, January 15th, 588 B.C., to July 18th, 586 B.C., and captures it. One month after the city fell, the captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s army burned the city and the temple.
It is interesting that the temple was destroyed in 586 B.C. and would not be completely rebuilt until February/March of 516 B.C., seventy years after its destruction. So, not only were the Jews in captivity for a minimum of seventy years, but the temple would not exist for seventy years as well.
A tiny remnant of Jews, including Jeremiah, was left in Judah under Gedeliah, who was appointed governor. When Gedeliah was murdered, those Jews feared reprisal and fled to Egypt, taking Jeremiah there against his wishes, Jeremiah 40:13-16.
Jehoiakim reigned in 597 B.C., 2 Kings 23:36, and he was the victim of God’s judgment that was now coming upon Judah, 2 Chronicles 36:9-10. He had no choice but to surrender to the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Kings 24:1.
This invasion took place in the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign, and the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Jeremiah 25:1 / Jeremiah 46:2. At God’s command and in accordance with His prophets, 2 Kings 22:16 / Jeremiah 14-16, Nebuchadnezzar’s march against Syria and Palestine took Jerusalem and carried the king, Jehoiachin and captives away to Babylon, 2 Kings 24:2-3.
Manasseh had ‘filled Jerusalem with innocent blood’, 2 Kings 24:3-4. Just as Ahab and Jezebel abused their positions of power to take Naboth’s vineyard, 1 Kings 21:1-21, Manasseh had abused his position of power.
The Lord would not forgive them, 2 Kings 24:4 / Jeremiah 15:1, because of the measure of their sin and injustice. The other events of Jehoiakim’s reign, and all he did, are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah, 2 Kings 24:5.
Notice that ‘Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors’, 2 Kings 24:6. This isn’t a contradiction to Jeremiah’s prophecy in Jeremiah 22:19, where he tells us that Jehoiakim ‘He will have the burial of a donkey—dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.’
Jehoiakim had revolted again, and 2 Chronicles 36:6 tells us that ‘Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked him and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon’.
Jehoiachin now succeeds Jehoiakim as king, 2 Kings 24:6. Nebuchadnezzar was now the supreme power during this time; he ruled from the border of Egypt to the Euphrates, 2 Kings 24:7, and for seventy years, Judah would be slaves to the Babylonians in captivity. This was the end of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, Amos 9:8.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘He was so crushed by the Babylonians that he was obliged to confine himself within the limits of his own states, and could no more attempt any conquests. The text tells us how much he had lost by the Babylonians, 2 Kings 24:1.’
Jehoiachin was now king of Judah. He became king at the age of eighteen, 2 Kings 24:8 / 2 Chronicles 36:9. He reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days, 2 Kings 24:8 / 2 Chronicles 36:9.
He is also known as Jeconiah, Matthew 1:11 / 1 Chronicles 3:16 / Jeremiah 22:24. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan and she was from Jerusalem, 2 Kings 24:8.
He was just as evil as his father, 2 Kings 24:9, Jehoiakim, which is surprising considering he only reigned for three months, 2 Kings 24:8 / 2 Chronicles 36:9. But in those three months, he murdered men and ravaged their wives, Ezekiel 19:5-7.
The officers of Nebuchadnezzar now advance on Jerusalem and lay siege to it, and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city while his officers were besieging it, 2 Kings 24:10-11. Jehoiachin, his mother, his attendants, his nobles, and his officials all surrendered to him, and Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin prisoner, 2 Kings 24:12.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following concerning the year, 2 Kings 24:12.
‘Jeremiah calls it the seventh year Jeremiah 52:28, a statement which implies only a different manner of counting regnal years.’
Just as God said would happen, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon, the king of Israel, had made for the temple, 2 Kings 24:13 / 2 Chronicles 36:7 / Daniel 1:2.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It has been remarked that Nebuchadnezzar spoiled the temple three times.
1. He took away the greater part of those treasures when he took Jerusalem under Jehoiakim: and the vessels that he took then he placed in the temple of his god, Daniel 1:2.
And these were the vessels which Belshazzar profaned, Daniel 5:2, and which Cyrus restored to Ezra, when he went up to Jerusalem, Ezra 1:2. It was at this time that he took Daniel and his companions.
2. He took the remaining part of those vessels, and broke them or cut them in pieces, when he came the second time against Jerusalem under Jeconiah, as is mentioned here, 2 Kings 24:13.
3. He pillaged the temple, took away all the brass, the brazen pillars, brazen vessels, and vessels of gold and silver, which he found there when he besieged Jerusalem under Zedekiah, 2 Kings 25:13-17.’
Notice what Nebuchadnezzar does; he takes all the skilled workers away from Jerusalem, but he leaves behind all those who didn’t have any skill, 2 Kings 24:14 / Jeremiah 52:28.
This was his way of removing anyone who may rebel against him, and of course, this would mean that the skilled workers would work for him in building up his empire.
Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin to Babylon, along with his mother, his wives, his officials, and the prominent people of the land, 2 Kings 24:15.
Nebuchadnezzar also deported to Babylon the entire force of seven thousand fighting men, strong and fit for war, and a thousand skilled workers and artisans and he made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah, 2 Kings 24:16-17 / 2 Chronicles 36:10.
This was the first conquest of Jerusalem, which occurred in 597 B.C., but because Jehoiachin surrendered, there was very little destruction to the city. A second conquest of the city occurred in 586 B.C. to stop the rebellion of Mattaniah, that is, Jehoiachin’s uncle, whose name was changed to Zedekiah, 1 Chronicles 3:15.
It was during this conquest that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, 2 Kings 25:1-7. The third and final assault on Jerusalem took place in 582 B.C. Jeremiah 52:29-30.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Nebuchadnezzar spoiled Solomon’s temple three times.
1. He took some of the treasures away when Jehoiakim was king, placing the golden vessels in the temple of his god in Babylon, Daniel 1:2. These were the vessels profaned by Belshazzar, Daniel 5:2.
2. He continued the destruction by taking many other treasures, breaking, and cutting them into pieces when he came up against Jeconiah, as in this chapter.
3. He thoroughly looted and destroyed the temple, even cutting up the brass and all other metal objects of value when the city fell a third time at the end of the reign of Zedekiah, 2 Kings 25:13-16.’
Zedekiah is now king of Judah, and he began his reign when he was twenty-one years old and reigned for eleven years, 2 Kings 24:18 / 2 Chronicles 36:11 / Jeremiah 52:1-3. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah, 2 Kings 24:18.
He, too, did evil in God’s eyes, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, 2 Kings 24:19 / 2 Chronicles 36:12, because it was Nebuchadnezzar who placed him on the throne, 2 Kings 24:17.
We can be sure that he was totally in submission to the Babylonian king. He probably would have had to swear an oath to Nebuchadnezzar, which would have involved invoking the Name of the Lord. The change of his name to Zedekiah was an essential element in the whole procedure, 2 Kings 24:17.
Jeremiah tells us his rebellion against Babylon was also a rebellion against God, Jeremiah 31:1-40 / Ezekiel 17:13. He should have never rebelled in the first place because it was totally against everything God had said to His prophet Ezekiel, Ezekiel 8:1-18, and against everything God had said to His prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 25:11-12 / Jeremiah 28:1-4 / Jeremiah 34:8.
Zedekiah broke his oath of allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Kings 24:20 / 2 Chronicles 36:13, and when Nebuchadnezzar came up once more to destroy Jerusalem, Zedekiah asked Jeremiah to pray for the city, but God declared that He would fight against Zedekiah and the city and destroy them, Jeremiah 37:1-21.
Notice that God ‘thrusts them from his presence’, 2 Kings 24:20. The sin of people had become so bad that God couldn’t even bring Himself to look at them any longer, Isaiah 6:9-10. This is one of the saddest descriptions of God looking at His people in the Scriptures.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel was taken into Assyrian captivity because their sins were too great, 2 Kings 17:5-6 / 2 Chronicles 36:14, and here we read that the Southern Kingdom of Judah were just as bad, and they too were taken into Babylonian captivity for seventy years.
Jehoiachin was the last king of Judah and was so recognised by the Jews. Because Zedekiah was merely a hand puppet of Nebuchadnezzar and because of his foolish rebellion, Jerusalem fell a third time. We will read about that sad event next.