A GLEAM OF HOPE
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Opening Prayer
Father, when my heart is troubled, help me to focus on your Word so that I can find hope in your unfailing love.
Read 2 KINGS 24:20b—25:30
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Fall of Jerusalem
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[a] 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[b] were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,[c] 5 but the Babylonian[d] 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 deserted 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.
13 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried the bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. 15 The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver.
16 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed. 17 Each pillar was eighteen cubits[e] high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits[f] high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.
18 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 the conscripts 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 Maakathite, 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.
Jehoiachin Released
27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. 28 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. 30 Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 25:3 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text (see Jer. 52:6); Masoretic Text does not have fourth.
- 2 Kings 25:4 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 13, 25 and 26
- 2 Kings 25:4 Or the Jordan Valley
- 2 Kings 25:5 Or Chaldean; also in verses 10 and 24
- 2 Kings 25:17 That is, about 27 feet or about 8.1 meters
- 2 Kings 25:17 That is, about 4 1/2 feet or about 1.4 meters
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
During hard or dark times, in what ways has God shown you his presence?
Zedekiah was the last king of Judah. His name means ‘Justice of the Lord’ in Hebrew, which ironically expresses God’s justice in the closing chapter of the book. Judah falls under God’s unrelenting judgment against her willful disobedience.1 Before the curtain falls, the camera pans to the exile in Babylon (vv. 27–30). Because of the amnesty of Awel-Marduk, king of Babylon, Jehoiachin, king of Judah, is released after 37 years of imprisonment and dines regularly at the Babylonian king’s table. What does this epilogue mean to the Jewish exiles, whose hope is shattered by the destruction of the temple (vv. 13–17), the fall of Jerusalem (vv. 8–10), and the humiliation of their last king Zedekiah (vv. 1–7)? The release of Jehoiachin demonstrates God’s unfailing promise to David—a survivor is preserved in the Davidic line.2
Despite the depressing accounts of Judah’s downfall, the second book of Kings actually ends on a positive note—and this is not the final word. God’s acts are yet to come as history unfolds. His divine promise to David is further realized when Zerubbabel (Jehoiachin’s grandson) is appointed as the governor of the province of Judah by the Persians.3 During the post-exilic period, Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest co-lead the Jewish returnees in rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem.4 Although he is never a king on earth, a descendant of Jehoiachin and Zerubbabel would be born to play the role of a perfect righteous King.5 This Messiah would deliver his people from darkness and forgive their sins.6
Apply
During dark times, it can be difficult to look beyond the negativity. May Jehoiachin’s uplifting story rekindle our hope in God, who is greater than all highs and lows.
Closing prayer
Father, I confess there are times when circumstances overwhelm me and I lose sight of your loving promises. Forgive me—help me to remember your faithfulness, to know you are with me, and trust that you will fulfill your purposes for me.
1 2 Kings 24, 25 2 2 Sam 7:16; 2 Kings 8:19 3 Hag 1:1 4 Hag 2 5 Matt 1:12–16; 2:2, 6; 21:6–9; 27:11, 29, 37, 42 6 Col 1:13, 14
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