II Kings 24, Nebuchadnezzar Conquers

Long ago I read the seven books in The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis. As I read through the seventh book, The Last Battle, I began to realized that the beautiful fantasy country of Narnia was coming to an end. I knew it was all fiction, but the end of Narnia still saddened me.

Here, in the last two chapters of 1 & 2 Kings, we read of the end of a real country. The glorious kingdom of Saul, David and Solomon, now half a millennia old, is coming to an end.

The date is about 600 BC. Neco of Egypt has defeated the Judean kings and placed Eliakim/Jehoiakim on the throne of Judah. There is another kingdom moving into the region now....

2 Kings 24: 1-6, Jehoikim's reign

During Jehoiakim's reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. But then he changed his mind and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. The LORD sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him. He sent them to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the LORD proclaimed by his servants the prophets.

Surely these things happened to Judah according to the LORD's command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive.

As for the other events of Jehoiakim's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Jehoiakim rested with his fathers. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king.

Jehoiakim's reign is a short and traumatic one, attacked from every side. The writer makes it clear that this is due to the longterm refusal of Judah to follow YHWH.  We are not told what happen to Jehoiakin, other than that he ultimately "rested with his fathers" and then Jehoiachin is next....

2 Kings 24: 7-12, Nebuchadnezzar conquers

The king of Egypt did not march out from his own country again, because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River. Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem.

He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father had done.

At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it, and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city while his officers were besieging it. Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his attendants, his nobles and his officials all surrendered to him. In the eighth year of the reign of the king of Babylon, he took Jehoiachin prisoner.

It is not Egypt (from the southwest) that is the real threat, but Babylon from the east. The army of Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem. Eventually even Nebuchadnezzar himself shows up to give attention to this campaign and the Judean royalty surrenders. 

A Babylonian date is given for the imprisonment of Jehoiachin, suggesting that a latter portion of the book of Kings was completed in Babylon (possibly around 550 BC.)

As best we understand, the Wadi of Egypt was a wadi (sporadic brook) that marked the border of Israel and Egypt in ancient times, running roughly south to north into the Mediterranean; it is currently just inside modern Egypt.

2 Kings 24: 13-14, Exile

As the LORD had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed all the treasures from the temple of the LORD and from the royal palace, and took away all the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the LORD.

He carried into exile all Jerusalem: all the officers and fighting men, and all the craftsmen and artisans--a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.
 

All the leaders and elite are carried away to Babylon.  This is the Babylonian Exile, a traumatic and critical part of Jewish life and history.

2 Kings 24: 15-16,

Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. He also took from Jerusalem to Babylon the king's mother, his wives, his officials and the leading men of the land. The king of Babylon also deported to Babylon the entire force of seven thousand fighting men, strong and fit for war, and a thousand craftsmen and artisans.

Almost anything of value is to be taken to Babylon.

2 Kings 24: 17-20a, Zedekiah

He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done. It was because of the LORD's anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence. 

Like Neco before him, the new invasion force puts a puppet king on the throne. Here it is Mattaniah/Zedekiah, uncle of Jehoiachin. The author of 1 & 2 Kings makes one last comment on the theme of this book -- that defeat was always the result of giving up the Covenant, of giving up allegiance to YHWH.

2 Kings 24: 20b, One last rebellion

Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Zedekiah, in the ninth year of his reign, attempts to throw off Nebuchadnezzar. The result of that rebellion, and the end of Judah, is in the next chapter.

A parallel passage to this chapter is 2 Chronicles 36.