2 Kings 23:29-30 (NIV) While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Neco king
of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King
Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Neco faced him and killed him at
Megiddo. 30 Josiah's servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to
Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took
Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his
father.
- What is Assyria's status as a world power at this point?
- Very weak since loss of 185K at Jerusalem
- Egypt is meeting up with Assyria to assist or attack (not clear)
- This is right around the time that Nineveh will fall to the Babylonians
- Why attack Egypt?
- Fear of Egypt / Assyrian union destroying Judah (if intent was "to help")
- Fear of Egypt attacking Assyria and filling the power vacuum (if intent was to attack)
- 2 Chron 35:21, Pharaoh declares his intentions were not to attack Israel
- Since God protected Judah from Assyria before, why attack Egypt now?
- Prudent decision. Attack Egypt while weaker than when they join up with Assyria
2 Kings 23:31-35 (NIV) Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when
he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was
Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 32 He did evil in the eyes
of the Lord, just as his fathers had done. 33 Pharaoh Neco put him in chains at
Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he
imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34
Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and
changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off
to Egypt, and there he died. 35 Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Neco the silver and gold
he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and
gold from the people of the land according to their assessments.
- Apparently, Judah's defeat by the Egyptians puts them under Pharaoh's power, what evidence do we see?
- Changing the rule
- Accessing him in Jerusalem
- Imposing a tax
- Changing his brother's name (a sign of dependence)
- At this point in history, all signs point to Egypt as the power to be. Jeremiah appears during this time and announces that Israel's judgment would come from the north
- The north is the direction that Assyria had come from
- News of the fall of Nineveh was well known
2 Kings 23:36-24:4 (NIV) Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old
when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother's
name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah. 37 And he did evil in
the eyes of the Lord, just as his fathers had done.
24 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. 2 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. 3 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, 4 including the shedding of innocent blood.
For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing
to forgive.
- Jeremiah is the referenced prophet of this time, although there were others
- Daniel is taken during Babylon's first deportation
- The main reason for God not delaying his judgment is mentioned clearly?
- Sins of Mannasseh (mostly idolatry)
- Shedding of innocent blood
- Jeremiah gives a very interesting prophecy at this time. Up to now, there is still a chance to delay God's punishment. But the leaders refuse, as a result, Jeremiah gives the prophecy of the broken pottery. The key point about pottery that is smashed and broken is?
- It is too late to put it back together
- APPLICATION: God is very patient with our sin, but there comes a point where things cannot be put back together
2 Kings 24:5-17 (NIV) 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? 6 Jehoiakim rested with his fathers. And Jehoiachin his son
succeeded him as king.
7 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.
8 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. 9 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just
as his father had done.
10 At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it, 11 and Nebuchadnezzar himself came
up to the city while his officers were besieging it. 12 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. 13 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. 14 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.
15 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. 16 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. 17 He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king
in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.
- The famous burning of Jeremiah's prophecy occurs during this Jehoiakim's reign (Jeremiah 36)
- The king cuts the scroll every few lines and throws it into the fire
- It does not say how Jehoiakim dies
- Jehoiachin is actually Jehoiakim's brother, and is the third son (Jehoahaz was the first) of Josiah to rule. This is the second deportation to Babylon
- False prophets will continue to preach all is well and that those items will remain. Jeremiah preaches the opposite
- Zedekiah, Josiah's (very much younger) brother, is installed as the king
- Most of Jeremiah's prophecies are fulfilled, except the complete destruction of the city and the temple
- Still, the people and Zedekiah refuse to believe
2 Kings 24:18-25:12 (NIV) 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. 19 He did evil in the eyes
of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done. 20 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.
Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
25 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of
the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with
his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around
it. 2 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3
By the ninth day of the [fourth] month the famine in the city had become so
severe that there was no food for the people to eat. 4 Then the city wall was
broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the
two walls near the king's garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the
city. They fled toward the Arabah, 5 but
the Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho.
All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, 6 and he was captured.
He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on
him. 7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his
eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year
of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard,
an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He set fire to the
temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every
important building he burned down. 10 The whole Babylonian army, under the
commander of the imperial guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11
Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who
remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had
gone over to the king of Babylon. 12 But the commander left behind some of the
poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
- What is interesting is to read the account in Jeremiah
- Jer 40:2-3 (NIV) When the commander of the guard found Jeremiah, he said to him, "The Lord your God decreed this disaster for this place. 3 And now the Lord has brought it about; he has done just as he said he would. All this happened because you people sinned against the Lord and did not obey him.
- The supposedly ungodly commander of Babylon has a better understanding of what is happening than the people of God
- Also, notice how the commander of Babylon is different from the commander of Assyrian, who both used religious themes in their speeches
- It is apparent, that Daniel, now one of the leading people in Babylon has influenced his circle
- Application: Who influences who in our circle of friends? Do we lead people toward Christ, or do they lead us away from Christ? Be hones with yourselves
2 Kings 25:18-26 (NIV) The commander of the guard took as
prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the
three doorkeepers. 19 Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge
of the fighting men and five royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was
chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of his
men who were found in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and
brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 There at Riblah, in the land
of Hamath, the king had them executed.
So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.
22 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of
Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah.
23 When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had
appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah — Ishmael son
of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite,
Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, and their men. 24 Gedaliah took an oath to
reassure them and their men. "Do not be afraid of the Babylonian
officials," he said. "Settle down in the land and serve the king of
Babylon, and it will go well with you."
25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the
son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated
Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at
Mizpah. 26 At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together
with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.
- Briefly, (story in Jeremiah 40-43)
- Army commanders are guerilla leaders
- They are Jews who fought against Babylon
- Gedaliah tries to get them to work with him and Babylon
- Johanan warns Gedaliah about Ishmael (a descendant of David)
- Ishmael assassinates Gedaliah
- Johanan fails to capture Ishmael and he escapes
- Johanan goes to Jeremiah to ask his advice
- Johanan and the people reject Jeremiahs advice and flee to Egypt
- Babylon then, starts a new attack upon Egypt
- If you go to God for advice and direction, you better follow through on what is revealed
- If God speaks to you, do not ignore him
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