2 Chronicles 36:1-16--Judah's Decline

2 Chronicles 36:1-16
English Standard Version

Judah's Decline
36 The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father's place in Jerusalem. 2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.

5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. 6 Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

9 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. 10 In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of the LORD, and made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD. 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel. 14 All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the LORD that he had made holy in Jerusalem.

​15 The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

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The moral decline of this backsliding people started almost immediately after the death of Josiah.  The people took Jehoahaz, the 23-year-old son of Josiah, and made him king in Jerusalem.  His reign was short-lived--only three months.  Why such a short time?  Because Pharoah Necro, the king of Egypt that we just read about that was responsible for Josiah's death, required that the king and the people pay tribute since he had conquered them in battle.  The king of Egypt put in place what is called a vassal king, choosing Eliakim, the brother of Jehoahaz, to be king over Judah, and Pharoah Necro changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim.  He also carried Jehoahaz off to Egypt as a prisoner.

​Jehoiakim was Jehoahaz's older brother by 2 years, being 25 when he assumed the throne--apparently the people had passed over him in selecting one of Josiah's sons to reign in his place, and probably for good reason.  After he had reigned 11 years in Judah, he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and the LORD let Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon take Jehoiakim captive, and Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the vessels from the LORD's Temple with him when he captured Jehoiakim (remember one of the kings was proud and showed the king of Babylon all the treasures of the king's treasuries, its storehouses and even the storerooms of the Temple?  This is the result of that foolish decision as the Babylonians had long coveted the wealth of the people of Judah).  We can find more about the reign of Jehoiakim and the evil things he did in the book of the Kings of Israel and Judah (the book of 2 Kings), and his son Jehoiachin was made king in his place.

Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king.  I think the king of Babylon hopes a younger king will be more likely to be molded into the image of the culture of Babylon and make a better vassal king.  However, three months and ten days later, he did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD and the LORD caused Nebuchadnezzar to take him captive and carry him off to Babylon, along with more of the items from the Temple's treasuries.    Nebuchadnezzar then made Zedekiah (Jehoiachin's uncle) king in Jehoiachin's place.

Zedekiah was f21 years old when he was made king and reigned in Jerusalem for 11 years.  He did great evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not humble himself to listen to the warnings given by Jeremiah the prophet.  His pride got the better of him as he rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar (not a very smart move to rebel against the world's super-power at that time).  Nebuchadnezzar had made Zedekiah swear allegiance to the LORD (we see some of Nebuchadnezzar's transformation in the book of Daniel), but Zedekiah refused to submit to the LORD.  Even the priests became unfaithful to the LORD, and they once again set up all kinds of idols in the Temple and polluted it with pagan worship practices.

The LORD continued to send these kings and the people of Judah messengers to call the kings and the people to repentance, but they would not listen--they hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks.  They mocked the prophets, scoffed at them, and Jesus tells us in the New Testament that they even beat them and put them to death for preaching the word of the LORD to them.  They wanted nothing to do with God and supposed by killing the messenger they could avoid the coming judgment that was prophesied, but judgment was coming and was more certain now than ever because the people would not repent.  "The wrath of God was on His people, and there was no remedy."  Those are some tragic words and would be a terrible place to end the story, but thankfully we have a couple more passages before the end of the book, and we will end on a note of hope and promise--even in the midst of captivity, the LORD will raise up a "savior" for his people that will point to the greater Savior--the Messiah, the Christ that would one day come and set His people free not only from their physical bondage, but their spiritual bondage.