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2 Kings Chapter
Twenty-five
2 Kings 25
Chapter Contents
Jerusalem besieged, Zedekiah taken. (1-7) The temple
burnt, The people carried into captivity. (8-21) The rest of the Jews flee into
Egypt, Evil-merodach relieves the captivity of Jehoiachin. (22-30)
Commentary on 2 Kings 25:1-7
(Read 2 Kings 25:1-7)
Jerusalem was so fortified, that it could not be taken
till famine rendered the besieged unable to resist. In the prophecy and
Lamentations of Jeremiah, we find more of this event; here it suffices to say,
that the impiety and misery of the besieged were very great. At length the city
was taken by storm. The king, his family, and his great men escaped in the
night, by secret passages. But those deceive themselves who think to escape
God's judgments, as much as those who think to brave them. By what befell
Zedekiah, two prophecies, which seemed to contradict each other, were both
fulfilled. Jeremiah prophesied that Zedekiah should be brought to Babylon, Jeremiah 32:5; 34:3; Ezekiel, that he should not
see Babylon, Ezekiel 12:13. He was brought thither, but his
eyes being put out, he did not see it.
Commentary on 2 Kings 25:8-21
(Read 2 Kings 25:8-21)
The city and temple were burnt, and, it is probable, the
ark in it. By this, God showed how little he cares for the outward pomp of his
worship, when the life and power of religion are neglected. The walls of
Jerusalem were thrown down, and the people carried captive to Babylon. The
vessels of the temple were carried away. When the things signified were sinned
away, what should the signs stand there for? It was righteous with God to deprive
those of the benefit of his worship, who had preferred false worships before
it; those that would have many altars, now shall have none. As the Lord spared
not the angels that sinned, as he doomed the whole race of fallen men to the
grave, and all unbelievers to hell, and as he spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all, we need not wonder at any miseries he may bring
upon guilty nations, churches, or persons.
Commentary on 2 Kings 25:22-30
(Read 2 Kings 25:22-30)
The king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah to be the governor
and protector of the Jews left their land. But the things of their peace were
so hidden from their eyes, that they knew not when they were well off. Ishmael
basely slew him and all his friends, and, against the counsel of Jeremiah, the
rest went to Egypt. Thus was a full end made of them by their own folly and
disobedience; see Jeremiah chap. 40 to 45. Jehoiachin was released out of
prison, where he had been kept 37 years. Let none say that they shall never see
good again, because they have long seen little but evil: the most miserable
know not what turn Providence may yet give to their affairs, nor what comforts
they are reserved for, according to the days wherein they have been afflicted.
Even in this world the Saviour brings a release from bondage to the distressed
sinner who seeks him, bestowing foretastes of the pleasures which are at his
right hand for evermore. Sin alone can hurt us; Jesus alone can do good to
sinners.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Kings》
2 Kings 25
Verse 1
[1] And
it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the
tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his
host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against
it round about.
Came — To
chastise Zedekiah for his rebellion and perjury.
Built — To
keep all supplies of men or provisions from entering into the city: and that
from thence they might shoot darts, or arrows, or stones.
Verse 3
[3] And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city,
and there was no bread for the people of the land.
The people —
For the common people, but only for the great men. Now they eat their own
children for want of food, Lamentations 4:3, etc. Jeremiah in this
extremity, earnestly persuaded the king to surrender; but his heart was
hardened to his destruction.
Verse 6
[6] So
they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and
they gave judgment upon him.
Riblah —
Where Nebuchadnezzar staid, that he might both supply the besiegers with men,
and military provisions, as their occasions required; and have an eye to
Chaldea, to prevent or suppress any commotions which might happen there in his
absence.
They —
The king's officers appointed thereunto, examined his cause, and passed the
following sentence against him.
Verse 7
[7] And
they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of
Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
Slew, … —
Tho' they were but children, that this spectacle, the last he was to behold,
might leave a remaining impression of grief and horror upon his spirit. And in
slaying his sons they in effect declared, that the kingdom was no more, and
that he nor any of his breed were fit to be trusted: therefore not fit to live.
Babylon —
Thus two prophecies were fulfilled, which seemed contrary one to the other,
that he should go to Babylon, Jeremiah 32:5; 34:3, and that he should never see Babylon:
which seeming contradiction, because Zedekiah the false prophet could not
reconcile, he concluded both were false, and it seems Zedekiah the king might
stumble at this difficulty.
Verse 8
[8] And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the
nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan,
captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:
Months, … — So
the Chaldeans did not put all to fire and sword, as soon as they had taken the
city: but about a month after, orders were sent, to compleat the destruction of
it. This space God gave them to repent after all the foregoing days of his
patience. But in vain; they still hardened their hearts: and therefore
execution is awarded to the utmost.
Verse 9
[9] And
he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all the houses of
Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire.
Burnt the house of the Lord — One of the apocryphal writers tells us, that Jeremiah got the ark out of
the temple, and conveyed it to a cave in mount Nebo, 2Macc 2:4,5. But this is
like the other tales of that author, who has no regard either to truth or
probability. For Jeremiah was at this time a close prisoner. By the burning of
the temple God would shew, how little he cares for the outward pomp of his
worship, when the life and power of religion are gone. About four hundred and
thirty years the temple of Solomon had stood. And it is observed by Josephus,
that the second temple was burnt by the Romans, the same month, and the same
day of the month, that the first temple was burnt by the Chaldeans.
Verse 11
[11] Now
the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell
away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan
the captain of the guard carry away.
People —
Whom neither the sword nor famine had destroyed, who were eight hundred and
thirty two persons, Jeremiah 52:29, being members and traders of
that city: for it is likely, there were very many more of the country people
fled thither, who were left with others of their brethren to manure the land.
Multitude — Of
the inhabitants of the country.
Verse 12
[12] But
the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and
husbandmen.
Left of the poor — So
while the rich were prisoners in a strange land, the poor had liberty and peace
in their own country! Thus providence sometimes humbles the proud, and favours
them of low degree.
Verse 21
[21] And
the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath.
So Judah was carried away out of their land.
Out of the land —
This compleated their calamity, about eight hundred and sixty years after they
were put in possession of it by Joshua.
Verse 22
[22] And
as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son
of Shaphan, ruler.
Gedaliah — A
righteous and good man, and a friend to the prophet Jeremiah.
Verse 24
[24] And
Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be
the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon;
and it shall be well with you.
Sware —
Assured them by his promise and oath, that they should be kept from the evils
which they feared. This he might safely swear, because he had not only the king
of Babylon's promise but also God's promise deliver'd by Jeremiah. And it might
seem, a fair prospect was opening again. But how soon was the scene changed!
This hopeful settlement is quickly dashed in pieces, not by the Chaldeans, but
by some of themselves.
Verse 25
[25] But
it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the
son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote
Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at
Mizpah.
Came —
Moved with envy to see so mean a person advanced into their place.
Ten men —
Ten captains or officers, and under each of them many soldiers.
Verse 26
[26] And
all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose,
and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees.
Egypt —
And here they probably mixt with the Egyptians by degrees, and were heard of no
more as Israelites.
Verse 27
[27] And
it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin
king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the
month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did
lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;
Seven and twentieth —
Or, on the twenty fifth day, as it is, Jeremiah 52:31. For then the decree was made,
which was executed upon the twenty seventh day.
Verse 30
[30] And
his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for
every day, all the days of his life.
All the days of his life — Let none say, they shall never see good again, because they have long
seen little but evil. The most afflicted know not what blessed turn providence
may yet give to their affairs.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Kings》
25 Chapter 25
Verses 1-7
Verses 1-21
And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign.
Captivity of Judah
We have two prominent characters in this lesson--Zedekiah King of
Judah, and Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon. The latter was one of the remarkable
men of the world, not only as a military conqueror, but as a ruler of great
genius and executive power. Zedekiah was the youngest son of Josiah, and was
placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar at the age of twenty-one. He reigned
eleven years in Jerusalem, and “did that which was evil in the sight of the
Lord” (2 Kings 24:19). At length he
revolted against the King of Babylon, and this revolt was the beginning of the
end, which was the captivity of Judah. It was in the year 589 b.c., in the
month of January, that the siege of Jerusalem commenced, and it lasted one year
five months and twenty-seven days. During this time the besieging army, or a part of it, marched
to meet the Egyptians, who were coming to the help of the Jews, and with the
retreat of the Egyptians the siege was continued even more rigorously. As the
Jews were accustomed to observe the anniversary of national disasters with
lastings, the dates of such disasters were preserved accurately. (See Zechariah 7:3-5; Zechariah 8:19.) By turning to Jeremiah 34:7 we learn that the army of
Nebuchadnezzar also besieged the cities of Lachish and Azekah, which were the
only strongholds remaining to the Jews, so that with their capture the victory
was complete and the humiliation of God’s people perfected (verses 1-3). It is
interesting to study the life of Jeremiah in connection with the events of this
lesson (Jeremiah chaps, 37., 38.), for it was he who prevented for some time
the revolt of the king against the yoke of Babylon by counselling submission
and patience, and after the siege he urged Zedekiah to surrender to the enemy,
assuring him, by the word of the Lord, that there was nothing to be gained by
resistance, and that the end would be the burning of the city and the king’s
capture and death. And now commenced the afflictions of Zedekiah--afflictions
which were the fulfilment of Divine prophecy, in which fulfilment the King of
Babylon was unconsciously the instrument in God’s hand in the punishment of
this wicked monarch of Judah. And notice how terrible the punishment was. In
the first place, his sons were put to death before his eyes, the purpose being
to put an end to the dynasty. Then we learn from Jeremiah 12:10 that his daughters were
carried into captivity. In addition to this, Zedekiah himself was bound in
chains, “fetters of brass,” and double fetters too, so that he was bound hand
and foot, making escape impossible. His trial took place in the royal camp at
Riblah, but we may suppose that it was a mere form, since the guilt of Zedekiah
in breaking his oath of allegiance to the King of Babylon was known to all. Now
let us consider what sins Zedekiah had committed, which brought down upon him
and his family and the people of God this terrible punishment.
1. We know from 2 Kings 24:19 that he did not seek
the glory of God in his reign. “He did that which was evil in the sight of the
Lord, according to all which Jehoiakim had done.” By studying the history of
the reign of his brother Jehoiakim we know that this “evil” consisted in the
fact that he did not oppose and overthrow idolatry in the kingdom. We have no
evidence that Zedekiah was himself an idolater, but we are responsible to God
not only for what we say and do, but for our influence over others.
2. Another sin of Zedekiah’s was his revolt from the King of Babylon,
and we learn from the punishment visited upon Judah’s king the sacredness of an
oath in God’s sight.
3. Zedekiah broke a solemn covenant which he had made with the
people, that all Jews held in bondage should be set free. In accordance with
the king’s command, this degree of emancipation was carried out, and no Jew
throughout Judah was a slave. But when it was known that the Egyptian army was
coming to help them, then Zedekiah thought that he would not need the
assistance of these freedmen in the battle with the enemy, and so the order of
emancipation was revoked, and slavery was re-established in the land (Jeremiah 34:16-17).
4. Zedekiah’s treatment of the prophet was another cause which led to
his overthrow. Although in the beginning of the national peril he had sent to
Jeremiah with the urgent message, “Pray now unto the Lord our God for us,” yet
we read (Jeremiah 37:2), “Neither he, nor his
servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the Lord,
which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.” And not only did he refuse to follow
the prophet’s advice, but he yielded to the enemies of this fearless man of
God, and suffered them to imprison and maltreat him. There are some very solemn
lessons which we learn from the sad life and tragic end of this last king of
Judah.
They are--
1. The first and indispensable requisite to success is for one to
gain the victory over his own lower nature. So long as we are slaves to sin, we
cannot be great in any path of life, but he who keeps self under, who has
conquered passions and appetites for the sake of God and His cause, is sure to
live a royal life, though he may never sit on a throne.
2. The fact that any one is our enemy does not relieve us from the
obligation to keep faith with him (Joshua 9:19). Perjury is always a
terrible sin.
3. If our trust is in God, we need never fear what our enemies may
do, for with God on our side all must be well. Zedekiah feared his nobles
because he had no faith in God.
4. The Christian is the only one who can be absolutely fearless of the
future, for around him are the everlasting arms. Zedekiah put his trust in the
fortifications around Jerusalem; if he had trusted in Jehovah and believed the
words of Jeremiah, his life would have been safe and his kingdom would have
been preserved. David sang: “In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of
my strength and my refuge is in God.”
5. We never gain by doing wrong. When we do evil that good may come,
we are always disappointed.
6. God is not mocked. If He determines to punish, no walls or weapons
can defeat His purpose. When He says to us that all other paths but the one
which he has marked out lead to destruction, we may be sure that our
disobedience will in the end prove His words to be true (Jeremiah 2:17; Hosea 13:9). (A. E. Kitteridge, D.
D.)
The captivity of Judah
The destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and the removal of
the Jews into the Babylonish captivity, were a Divine judgment. Nebuchadnezzar
was an unconscious agent of God in destroying, as Cyrus was in rebuilding and
restoring. This judgment was not final Terrible as it was, it was a
chastisement rather than a punishment. As such it illustrates some features of
the Divine method in disciplinary judgment.
I. It is a Divine
method to delay judgment, not only final, but also partial judgment. The
instructions of Moses had been clear. His warnings had been full and explicit.
He had gathered in the Book of Deuteronomy a complete presentation of the
conditions upon which his people would alone be blessed; failing to comply with
which they would be afflicted and cursed. When the people began to transgress,
God began to afflict them; first, however, reviewing the warning of Moses by
His prophetic messengers. He was prompt to chide them. As a father He chastised
them.
II. The Divine
judgments are certain. We do not know the time of them, but God does. It is
delayed, but it is not indefinite. It is fixed. There are many hints in the
Scripture at the exact timing of events in God’s government. The Saviour began
early to speak of His hour. At times He said it was not yet come. The night was
coming, but it had not come. Then the fateful announcement fell from His lips
in a prayer: “Father, the hour is come!” One chapter in Ezekiel, pointing to
the culmination of judgment upon Judah, has for its awful refrain, It is come.
The notes of time in the history grow definite. Nebuchadnezzar came in the
ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the
month. In the eleventh year, the fourth month, the ninth day, the supply of
food gave out, and famine prevailed. In the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s
reign, in the fifth month, in the seventh day of the month, the city was
destroyed. The very hour when the Chaldeans broke into the city is recorded. So
certain are the delayed judgments of God, if men do not repent. They impend.
They are withheld. They may be withdrawn. God would withdraw them. It grieves
Him to inflict them. But when a certain definite hour is reached, and His
people is still incorrigible, they must fall. A thousand years may pass. Men
may grow bold, and say, “Since the fathers fell asleep, all things remain as
they were from the beginning.” But not when the hour strikes. Then, punctually,
the fire falls upon the cities of the plain, and the floods of the deluge are
poured out, and Shiloh falls, and Samaria falls, and Jerusalem falls. Here is a
lesson for all nations, all families, all individuals, under the Divine
government. To remain unsubmissive under the government of God is to expose
ourselves to His judgments. These may be delayed. Not so, they will be delayed. But their time is not
indefinite: it is fixed. When the hour is reached the blow will fall. It may be
a trial; it may be an affliction! it may be a tragedy. It may be all these
three, for disciplinary judgments are cumulative.
III. The judgments
of God are thorough. It is true of those that are final, it is true also of
those that are partial. When Nebuchadnezzar came, he had a force equal to his
needs. He came in person with “all his host.” Jeremiah says more explicitly,
“All his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people.”
This immense host was the Lord’s messenger. “It seemed,” says Stanley, “to
those who witnessed it, like the rising of a mighty eagle, spreading out its
vast wings, feathering with the innumerable colours of the variegated masses
which composed the Chaldean host, sweeping over the different countries, and
striking fear in his rapid flight.” If this array had not been sufficient for
the conquest, God would have brought new levies; for the day was come. The
siege was thorough. The city was surrounded. It was assailed from huge mounds
and towers built up for the purpose. For a year and a half it held out. Then
its store of provisions failed. Fathers devoured the flesh of their own sons
and daughters. The hands even of pitiful mothers have sodden their own
children, the mere infants just born. When the city still stubbornly held out,
the siege was pressed more fiercely. At last the wall was pierced. At midnight
the breach was made. The Chaldeans swarmed in. The destruction was complete.
The, ark now disappeared, to be seen no more. Tradition says that Jeremiah
buried it. Probably the fire destroyed it. It could not have been taken to
Babylon with the spoil of the temple, the pillars of Solomon, and the molten
sea, whose loss Jeremiah so bitterly bewailed; for otherwise it would have been
returned with the other temple furniture by Cyrus. It was not needed longer.
Religion had not disappeared from the nation. It is of much consequence to
observe, in the light of this history, that a certain proportion of religious
life is necessary to save a nation or an individual. There were individuals
like Jeremiah and Baruch and their friends. There were youths like Daniel and
his companions. There were others, perhaps even numerous, who cherished the law
so recently discovered by Josiah, and whose recovery was so joyfully regarded
as an event of national importance. But it was not enough to save the nation
that there were good men and women in it, or that it had the Bible.
IV. The purpose of
a disciplinary judgment is kept ever in view. Though the judgment of Judah was
terribly thorough it was not final. Its aim was to save the nation, if
possible, and as many of its individual citizens as possible. A considerable
remnant of the poorer classes was left on the land to keep it in tillage. Those
taken into captivity were told that it should only be of limited duration.
After seventy years they should return. They were permitted to have prophets
and religious teachers with them in Babylon and in Judah. (Monday Club
Sermons.)
Captivity of Judah
If we come to the fall of Jerusalem with the desire to see not
merely a special judgment of God, but to gain lessons from the operation of
what are commonly called natural causes, we shall discover three facts to which
it was largely due.
1. Bad economic conditions. Judah fell into the hands of the
Babylonians because her kings had wasted bet resources. David gave a united
nation to Solomon, who in turn passed it, still entire, to Rehoboam. Under this
its fourth king the nation was broken into two hostile kingdoms. The narrative
gives the cause explicitly,--unendurable taxation. The glory of Solomon, his
navy and palaces and harem and chariots, had been purchased at the price of
great suffering on the part of the people. Had Rehoboam followed the advice of
his older counsellors and lightened taxation, Jeroboam would never have become
his rival, and the confederation of the twelve tribes, none too strong at best,
would not have wasted its strength in civil war.
2. Moral degeneracy. But back of the bad financial policy of the
nation lay its moral weakness. For a nation whose God was Jehovah, the Jews
were wonderfully prone to idolatry. If we except a few years of David’s reign,
there was not a moment, from the Call to the Return, when Israel was not
itching to run after strange gods. Solomon was a typical eclectic in religion,
permitting heathen divinities to be worshipped by the side of his great temple.
The reforms of such kings as Hezekiah and Josiah were short-lived, and served
but to set in strange contrast the popular worship in the high places and the
groves.
3. Disregard of religious teachers. Nothing is more dramatic than the
struggle between the prophets and the kings of Israel. Samuel with the gigantic
Saul cowering at his feet; Elijah defying Ahab, slaying the prophets of Baal,
and running from Jezebel; Elisha travelling up and down a half-converted land;
Isaiah outspoken and dying a martyr’s death; Jeremiah deep in the filth of his
prison,--are but leaders in the noble army of prophets whom God sent to guide
Israel through the paths of national success, in the face of the bitterest
opposition. Each of them was faithful and spoke his message; but his words
passed unheeded, or only excited anger and persecution. Neither people nor king
cared to follow the stern words of their religious teachers except as they were
threatened by some overwhelming disaster. Then perhaps, for a few days or
months, the worship of Jehovah was reinstated in its proper place, and the
prophetical office was again honoured. Judah is the type of the world. Had its
king listened to God’s servants, the nation would have weathered its financial
distress and been cured of its wickedness. In their words lay the only hope;
and Judah laughed at them and stoned them. Jerusalem, the Zion of David, became
the execution city of the prophets. Judah fell, just as any nation will fall
that fails to apply religion to national problems. The one great lesson of the
captivity of Judah is this: the fearless application of Christianity to living
questions is the duty of both clergy and laymen, and the hope of the state. (S.
Matthews.)
Verses 1-21
And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign.
Captivity of Judah
We have two prominent characters in this lesson--Zedekiah King of
Judah, and Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon. The latter was one of the remarkable
men of the world, not only as a military conqueror, but as a ruler of great
genius and executive power. Zedekiah was the youngest son of Josiah, and was
placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar at the age of twenty-one. He reigned
eleven years in Jerusalem, and “did that which was evil in the sight of the
Lord” (2 Kings 24:19). At length he
revolted against the King of Babylon, and this revolt was the beginning of the
end, which was the captivity of Judah. It was in the year 589 b.c., in the
month of January, that the siege of Jerusalem commenced, and it lasted one year
five months and twenty-seven days. During this time the besieging army, or a part of it, marched
to meet the Egyptians, who were coming to the help of the Jews, and with the
retreat of the Egyptians the siege was continued even more rigorously. As the
Jews were accustomed to observe the anniversary of national disasters with
lastings, the dates of such disasters were preserved accurately. (See Zechariah 7:3-5; Zechariah 8:19.) By turning to Jeremiah 34:7 we learn that the army of
Nebuchadnezzar also besieged the cities of Lachish and Azekah, which were the
only strongholds remaining to the Jews, so that with their capture the victory
was complete and the humiliation of God’s people perfected (verses 1-3). It is
interesting to study the life of Jeremiah in connection with the events of this
lesson (Jeremiah chaps, 37., 38.), for it was he who prevented for some time
the revolt of the king against the yoke of Babylon by counselling submission
and patience, and after the siege he urged Zedekiah to surrender to the enemy,
assuring him, by the word of the Lord, that there was nothing to be gained by
resistance, and that the end would be the burning of the city and the king’s
capture and death. And now commenced the afflictions of Zedekiah--afflictions which
were the fulfilment of Divine prophecy, in which fulfilment the King of Babylon
was unconsciously the instrument in God’s hand in the punishment of this wicked
monarch of Judah. And notice how terrible the punishment was. In the first
place, his sons were put to death before his eyes, the purpose being to put an
end to the dynasty. Then we learn from Jeremiah 12:10 that his daughters were
carried into captivity. In addition to this, Zedekiah himself was bound in
chains, “fetters of brass,” and double fetters too, so that he was bound hand
and foot, making escape impossible. His trial took place in the royal camp at
Riblah, but we may suppose that it was a mere form, since the guilt of Zedekiah
in breaking his oath of allegiance to the King of Babylon was known to all. Now
let us consider what sins Zedekiah had committed, which brought down upon him
and his family and the people of God this terrible punishment.
1. We know from 2 Kings 24:19 that he did not seek
the glory of God in his reign. “He did that which was evil in the sight of the
Lord, according to all which Jehoiakim had done.” By studying the history of
the reign of his brother Jehoiakim we know that this “evil” consisted in the
fact that he did not oppose and overthrow idolatry in the kingdom. We have no
evidence that Zedekiah was himself an idolater, but we are responsible to God
not only for what we say and do, but for our influence over others.
2. Another sin of Zedekiah’s was his revolt from the King of Babylon,
and we learn from the punishment visited upon Judah’s king the sacredness of an
oath in God’s sight.
3. Zedekiah broke a solemn covenant which he had made with the
people, that all Jews held in bondage should be set free. In accordance with
the king’s command, this degree of emancipation was carried out, and no Jew
throughout Judah was a slave. But when it was known that the Egyptian army was
coming to help them, then Zedekiah thought that he would not need the
assistance of these freedmen in the battle with the enemy, and so the order of
emancipation was revoked, and slavery was re-established in the land (Jeremiah 34:16-17).
4. Zedekiah’s treatment of the prophet was another cause which led to
his overthrow. Although in the beginning of the national peril he had sent to
Jeremiah with the urgent message, “Pray now unto the Lord our God for us,” yet
we read (Jeremiah 37:2), “Neither he, nor his
servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the Lord,
which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.” And not only did he refuse to follow
the prophet’s advice, but he yielded to the enemies of this fearless man of
God, and suffered them to imprison and maltreat him. There are some very solemn
lessons which we learn from the sad life and tragic end of this last king of
Judah.
They are--
1. The first and indispensable requisite to success is for one to
gain the victory over his own lower nature. So long as we are slaves to sin, we
cannot be great in any path of life, but he who keeps self under, who has
conquered passions and appetites for the sake of God and His cause, is sure to
live a royal life, though he may never sit on a throne.
2. The fact that any one is our enemy does not relieve us from the
obligation to keep faith with him (Joshua 9:19). Perjury is always a
terrible sin.
3. If our trust is in God, we need never fear what our enemies may
do, for with God on our side all must be well. Zedekiah feared his nobles because
he had no faith in God.
4. The Christian is the only one who can be absolutely fearless of the
future, for around him are the everlasting arms. Zedekiah put his trust in the
fortifications around Jerusalem; if he had trusted in Jehovah and believed the
words of Jeremiah, his life would have been safe and his kingdom would have
been preserved. David sang: “In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of
my strength and my refuge is in God.”
5. We never gain by doing wrong. When we do evil that good may come,
we are always disappointed.
6. God is not mocked. If He determines to punish, no walls or weapons
can defeat His purpose. When He says to us that all other paths but the one
which he has marked out lead to destruction, we may be sure that our disobedience
will in the end prove His words to be true (Jeremiah 2:17; Hosea 13:9). (A. E. Kitteridge, D.
D.)
The captivity of Judah
The destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and the removal of
the Jews into the Babylonish captivity, were a Divine judgment. Nebuchadnezzar
was an unconscious agent of God in destroying, as Cyrus was in rebuilding and
restoring. This judgment was not final Terrible as it was, it was a
chastisement rather than a punishment. As such it illustrates some features of
the Divine method in disciplinary judgment.
I. It is a Divine
method to delay judgment, not only final, but also partial judgment. The
instructions of Moses had been clear. His warnings had been full and explicit.
He had gathered in the Book of Deuteronomy a complete presentation of the
conditions upon which his people would alone be blessed; failing to comply with
which they would be afflicted and cursed. When the people began to transgress,
God began to afflict them; first, however, reviewing the warning of Moses by
His prophetic messengers. He was prompt to chide them. As a father He chastised
them.
II. The Divine
judgments are certain. We do not know the time of them, but God does. It is
delayed, but it is not indefinite. It is fixed. There are many hints in the
Scripture at the exact timing of events in God’s government. The Saviour began
early to speak of His hour. At times He said it was not yet come. The night was
coming, but it had not come. Then the fateful announcement fell from His lips
in a prayer: “Father, the hour is come!” One chapter in Ezekiel, pointing to
the culmination of judgment upon Judah, has for its awful refrain, It is come.
The notes of time in the history grow definite. Nebuchadnezzar came in the
ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the
month. In the eleventh year, the fourth month, the ninth day, the supply of
food gave out, and famine prevailed. In the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s
reign, in the fifth month, in the seventh day of the month, the city was
destroyed. The very hour when the Chaldeans broke into the city is recorded. So
certain are the delayed judgments of God, if men do not repent. They impend.
They are withheld. They may be withdrawn. God would withdraw them. It grieves
Him to inflict them. But when a certain definite hour is reached, and His
people is still incorrigible, they must fall. A thousand years may pass. Men
may grow bold, and say, “Since the fathers fell asleep, all things remain as
they were from the beginning.” But not when the hour strikes. Then, punctually,
the fire falls upon the cities of the plain, and the floods of the deluge are poured
out, and Shiloh falls, and Samaria falls, and Jerusalem falls. Here is a lesson
for all nations, all families, all individuals, under the Divine government. To
remain unsubmissive under the government of God is to expose ourselves to His
judgments. These may be delayed. Not so, they will be delayed. But their time is not
indefinite: it is fixed. When the hour is reached the blow will fall. It may be
a trial; it may be an affliction! it may be a tragedy. It may be all these
three, for disciplinary judgments are cumulative.
III. The judgments
of God are thorough. It is true of those that are final, it is true also of
those that are partial. When Nebuchadnezzar came, he had a force equal to his
needs. He came in person with “all his host.” Jeremiah says more explicitly,
“All his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the
people.” This immense host was the Lord’s messenger. “It seemed,” says Stanley,
“to those who witnessed it, like the rising of a mighty eagle, spreading out its
vast wings, feathering with the innumerable colours of the variegated masses
which composed the Chaldean host, sweeping over the different countries, and
striking fear in his rapid flight.” If this array had not been sufficient for
the conquest, God would have brought new levies; for the day was come. The
siege was thorough. The city was surrounded. It was assailed from huge mounds
and towers built up for the purpose. For a year and a half it held out. Then
its store of provisions failed. Fathers devoured the flesh of their own sons
and daughters. The hands even of pitiful mothers have sodden their own
children, the mere infants just born. When the city still stubbornly held out,
the siege was pressed more fiercely. At last the wall was pierced. At midnight the
breach was made. The Chaldeans swarmed in. The destruction was complete. The,
ark now disappeared, to be seen no more. Tradition says that Jeremiah buried
it. Probably the fire destroyed it. It could not have been taken to Babylon
with the spoil of the temple, the pillars of Solomon, and the molten sea, whose
loss Jeremiah so bitterly bewailed; for otherwise it would have been returned
with the other temple furniture by Cyrus. It was not needed longer. Religion
had not disappeared from the nation. It is of much consequence to observe, in
the light of this history, that a certain proportion of religious life is
necessary to save a nation or an individual. There were individuals like
Jeremiah and Baruch and their friends. There were youths like Daniel and his
companions. There were others, perhaps even numerous, who cherished the law so
recently discovered by Josiah, and whose recovery was so joyfully regarded as
an event of national importance. But it was not enough to save the nation that
there were good men and women in it, or that it had the Bible.
IV. The purpose of
a disciplinary judgment is kept ever in view. Though the judgment of Judah was
terribly thorough it was not final. Its aim was to save the nation, if
possible, and as many of its individual citizens as possible. A considerable
remnant of the poorer classes was left on the land to keep it in tillage. Those
taken into captivity were told that it should only be of limited duration.
After seventy years they should return. They were permitted to have prophets
and religious teachers with them in Babylon and in Judah. (Monday Club
Sermons.)
Captivity of Judah
If we come to the fall of Jerusalem with the desire to see not
merely a special judgment of God, but to gain lessons from the operation of
what are commonly called natural causes, we shall discover three facts to which
it was largely due.
1. Bad economic conditions. Judah fell into the hands of the
Babylonians because her kings had wasted bet resources. David gave a united
nation to Solomon, who in turn passed it, still entire, to Rehoboam. Under this
its fourth king the nation was broken into two hostile kingdoms. The narrative
gives the cause explicitly,--unendurable taxation. The glory of Solomon, his
navy and palaces and harem and chariots, had been purchased at the price of
great suffering on the part of the people. Had Rehoboam followed the advice of
his older counsellors and lightened taxation, Jeroboam would never have become
his rival, and the confederation of the twelve tribes, none too strong at best,
would not have wasted its strength in civil war.
2. Moral degeneracy. But back of the bad financial policy of the
nation lay its moral weakness. For a nation whose God was Jehovah, the Jews
were wonderfully prone to idolatry. If we except a few years of David’s reign,
there was not a moment, from the Call to the Return, when Israel was not
itching to run after strange gods. Solomon was a typical eclectic in religion,
permitting heathen divinities to be worshipped by the side of his great temple.
The reforms of such kings as Hezekiah and Josiah were short-lived, and served
but to set in strange contrast the popular worship in the high places and the
groves.
3. Disregard of religious teachers. Nothing is more dramatic than the
struggle between the prophets and the kings of Israel. Samuel with the gigantic
Saul cowering at his feet; Elijah defying Ahab, slaying the prophets of Baal,
and running from Jezebel; Elisha travelling up and down a half-converted land;
Isaiah outspoken and dying a martyr’s death; Jeremiah deep in the filth of his
prison,--are but leaders in the noble army of prophets whom God sent to guide
Israel through the paths of national success, in the face of the bitterest
opposition. Each of them was faithful and spoke his message; but his words
passed unheeded, or only excited anger and persecution. Neither people nor king
cared to follow the stern words of their religious teachers except as they were
threatened by some overwhelming disaster. Then perhaps, for a few days or
months, the worship of Jehovah was reinstated in its proper place, and the
prophetical office was again honoured. Judah is the type of the world. Had its
king listened to God’s servants, the nation would have weathered its financial
distress and been cured of its wickedness. In their words lay the only hope;
and Judah laughed at them and stoned them. Jerusalem, the Zion of David, became
the execution city of the prophets. Judah fell, just as any nation will fall
that fails to apply religion to national problems. The one great lesson of the
captivity of Judah is this: the fearless application of Christianity to living
questions is the duty of both clergy and laymen, and the hope of the state. (S.
Matthews.)
Verse 18
And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest.
Unconscious heroism
1. Most of us, I daresay, are familiar with the story of the faithful
sentinel at Pompeii. It is told for us by Miss Yonge, in her little book of
golden deeds. The man was an ordinary soldier, set to guard the city gate. It
was the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and from the position assigned
to him he was able to watch the stream of molten lava, like a cruel crawling
hungry tide, setting in the direction of Pompeii: on and on it came: nearer and
nearer with its blinding light and burning flame it advanced towards him: but
the sentinel never stirred from his post; he stood where he had been ordered to
stand: and when after more than a thousand years the buried city was, as it
were, disentombed from her sepulchre, the good soldier’s bones, still girt
about with breast-plate and helmet, and with the hand still raised to keep the
dust from his mouth, remained to tell all future generations how a Roman
soldier, rather than leave the post of duty, was not unwilling to die. The
story is not without modern parallels. Lord Wolseley pays a tribute of
respectful admiration to the chivalrous faithfulness which was shown by one of
the English sentinels at the battle of Inkermann. In the blinding mist of the
November morning, the Russian soldiers crept within our lines. Through what
some call chance, but what we would rather call the providence of God, the
enemy in their progress failed to come across one of our sentries: all day
long, with enemies before him and enemies behind him, that man remained where
he had been placed; and when, in the evening of the day, the thin red line of
our troops drove back their opponents into their entrenchments, Lord Wolseley found this
sentinel, still holding his ground, at his post, doing his duty. I have
referred to these two incidents, not merely because they are golden deeds, but
because they help, I think, to illustrate the act of unconscious heroism which
our text describes. In this last chapter of the Second Book of Kings we read
the story of the abolition of the Jewish monarchy and of the leading away into
captivity of the Jewish people. From the throne on which had once reigned David
and Solomon and Hezekiah, the last occupant passed forth a blind and childless
man, to the ignominy of a Babylonish prison: by command of King Nebuchadnezzar,
the wall and the palaces of the city, once the joy of the whole earth, were
levelled to the ground: and the holy and beautiful temple, fragrant with cedar
wood and bright with gold, where in happier days the shining cloud of God’s
presence had rested upon the mercy seat, was turned into a charred and
dilapidated ruin. Verily the weeping captives as they went forth to their exile
in the land of the enemy must have learned at last the lesson which is taught
so plainly on every page of history, and by the experience of every life, “be
sure your sin will find you out.” But just as some gleams of pleasant sunshine
will often come to cheer us at the end of a cloudy and dark day, so this dark
and terrible national catastrophe seems to have been lit up by at least one
deed of noble unconscious heroism. When the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar
forced themselves at last into the very precincts of the temple, the great
crowd of worshippers, who habitually were present there, had gone; the many
attendant priests and Levites, who habitually assisted at the services, had
also gone; but Seraiah the chief priest was there; and Zephaniah the second
priest was there: and there were also present three men whose names are not so
much as told us, three men of whom the historian apparently knows nothing,
three men who were faithful but not famous; they were only keepers of the door,
but faithful among the faithless, they were ready to sacrifice their lives
rather than desert their posts. “The captain of the guard took Seraiah the
chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the door,
and the king of Babylon smote them and slew them at Riblah in the land of
Hamath.” What epitaph shall we write on the grave of these unconscious heroes?
“Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.” It is the
peculiar glory of the Christian religion that it has sowed the world broadcast
with unconscious heroes. By their love of God, by their devotion to duty, by
the unselfishness of their lives, by their repression of themselves, by their
enthusiasm for humanity you may know them; they are to be met with almost
everywhere; in cottages, in palaces; in towns and villages; in busy workshops,
in great seats of learning; in the silence of the sick-room, among those who go
down to the sea in ships, in the darkness of the underground mine. They are of
all ages; some are schoolboys and schoolgirls; some are young men and maidens;
some are old and grey-headed, weary with the burden of three score years and
ten, holding the staff in the hand for very age. Yes, “who can count the dust
of Jacob or the number of the fourth part of Israel?” Thanks to the example
which our Lord set, thanks to the teaching which our Lord gave, thanks to the
Holy Spirit which our Lord sends, unconscious Christian heroes have been as the
stars in heaven for multitude and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable.
Quite impossible is it for human mind to measure the widespreading fruitfulness
of any single life, however humble, thus given unreservedly to the service of
God. As God’s word expressly teaches us, as Church History continually reminds
us, as our own experience of life shows us, it is, as a rule, Almighty God’s
way to work great results by apparently insufficient means. By little grains of
sand the proud waters of the sea are held within their limits; by little drops
of rain the earth is made to give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
When our Lord Jesus Christ came to save the world He chose the humiliations of
poverty and the ignominy of a death upon a cross. Not so much by the pre-eminent holiness of great
saints as by the unconscious heroism of numberless Christian lives has the
faith, which was once committed to the saints, won its way throughout the
world. Sometimes it is given to us to know bow fruitful a humble Christian life
can be. In our own time a single Christian nobleman has been allowed to lift
hundreds and thousands of his fellow-countrymen out of abysses of ignorance
‘and oppression, and in many cases to guide their feet into the way of peace.
But whence did Lord Shaftesbury acquire his enthusiasm for humanity and his
desire to serve God? He did not learn it from his father or mother; he did not
learn it from his schoolmasters at Harrow or elsewhere; but he learned it, as
he tells us, from that unlettered, faithful nurse who had the courage to lift
up her voice for God, who spoke to him about our Lord Jesus Christ, and taught
him to pray, who prayed with him and prayed for him, and who unconsciously
sowed a seed in a kindly soil, which brought forth fruit thirtyfold,
sixty-fold, hundredfold.
3. And here we stop and ask how is it possible to attain to that
state of grace which produces as its natural fruit a life of unconscious
Christian heroism? I answer you by referring you to a text of Scripture. We
read that when Moses after forty days came down from the clouds and darkness
that wreathed and settled on the top of Sinai, “he wist not,” so the Revised
Version has it, “that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with
God.” For forty days without weariness and without cessation he had lived in
the light of the presence of God; during that time there had been revealed to
him, as before time to no other, thoughts from the mind of God; and when at
last he turned to go back to the camp of Israel, lo, just as the moon with its
surface of extinct volcanoes gets illuminated by the beams of the sun, till it
is beautiful with silver light, so the earthly features of the countenance of
Moses were radiant with more than human brightness, and the Israelites could
not bear to look upon him because he reflected the glory of God. Yet Moses wist
not that his countenance did shine because of his speaking with God. Surely it
is not difficult to guess the secret of the faithfulness to duty of those three
keepers of the door in the house of the Lord. Do you ask how it was that when
they heard the tramp of the army of the enemy they did not make haste to
escape? How it was that when priest and Levite, and chorister, and worshipper
were seeking safety they choose to remain at their post? Was it not because
they were men worthy of their office? They preferred to be doorkeepers in the
house of the Lord rather than dwell in the tents of ungodliness; their hearts
rejoiced within them when they said one to another, day by day, “Let us go into
the house of the Lord.” They loved worship; they loved duty; they loved God;
and so when the hour of their trial came they east in their lot with Seraiah
the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest, being all the time as
unconscious of their heroism as Moses was of his glory, when he wist not that
the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with God. And not
otherwise has it been with all the bright and shining lives which have made the
pages of Church history, and the homes of pious Christians flash and glitter
like a milky way. They were by nature men of like passions with ourselves, they
were compassed like us with manifold infirmities; they found, as we do, a law
in their members warring against the law of their minds; but over and over
again, morning, noon, and night, they prayed God that for Jesus Christ’s sake
Satan might not have dominion over them, and so, out of weakness they were made
strong, “and in the darkness o’er their fallen heads perceived the waving of
the hands that bless.” (W. T. Harrison, D. D.)
Heroism instructive
Heroism is not heroism until it is ingrained in the character. No
one can become an hero in an instant. Like the flower of the century plant,
heroism is the sudden blossoming of what has been years in preparation. It is
not premeditated, it is instinctive, because nobility has grown into a habit,
and grandeur has become the fife-blood, and self-sacrifice the very fibre of
the nerves. So we may parody Milton’s famous saying, “If you would write an
epic, your whole life must he an heroic poem,” and assert, “If you would do a deed
of heroism at any time in the future, you must begin to be a hero now.” (Amos
R. Wells.)
Verses 22-30
Verses 27-30
And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the
captivity of Jehoiachin.
Jehoiachin as a victim of tyrannic despotism and as an object of
delivering mercy
The incident here recorded presents Jehoiachin--
I. As a victim of
tyrannic despotism. He had been in prison for thirty-seven years and was
fifty-five years of age. It was Nebuchadnezzar, the tyrannic King of Babylon,
who stripped this man of liberty and freedom, and shut him up in a dungeon for
this very long period of time. Such despotism has prevailed in all ages and
lands. To the eternal dishonour of England, it has existed here for centuries,
and is rampant even now. Look at this man--
II. As an object of
delivering mercy. We are told that as soon as “Evil-Morodach” came to the
throne on the death of his father Nebuchadnezzar, mercy stirred his heart and
he relieved this poor victim of tyranny. Corrupt as this world is, the element
of mercy is not entirely extinct. This mercy gave honour and liberty to the men
who had been so long in confinement and disgrace. Let not the victims of
tyranny--and they abound everywhere--despair. Mercy will ere long sound the
trump of jubilee over all the land. “The spirit of the Lord,” said the great
Redeemer of the race, “is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the
gospel to the poor, He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》