2 Kings 23:31-24:20
Key verse 24:20 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.
Today’s passage covers the reign of the last four kings of the
kingdom, Judah. Their reigns bespeak of
what it would be when God was not with them. This served them as a warning of
coming exile and as a revelation of how God’s judgment would be actualized in
their lives.
1.
[31-35] Find the facts of Jehoahaz’s reign
(31-32). What did Pharaoh Necho do to Judah (33-34)?
31 Jehoahaz
was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months. Though he was the fourth son of Josiah, the people of the land took him and made him king. This seems to say
that by the consensus of the leaders of the nation, he was chosen over the
first three sons of Josiah. The reason for this selection by the people might
be because Josiah was killed by Egyptian King Necho and though he was evil in
the eyes of the Lord, the anti-Egyptian sentiments of the group prevailed among
the leaders of the nation and have influenced this choice (AYBD). Soon Necho
attacked the nation and took him away as a prisoner. He was imprisoned at Riblah,
far north of Damascus. And he died there, ending three months of his reign. Also, he put a heavy levy on the nation. The burden for the nation was enormous.
Here we are to think three things: first, the majority of the
people or the leaders of the nation held a strong ant-sentiment against Egypt,
esp. King Necho. Out of this came a choice of Jehoahaz though he was evil in
the eyes of the Lord. They did not give their thought to what the will of God
was. Instead, they chose for themselves or their purpose within the frame of
their mind. It seems that their primary goal was how to get off of the
oppression by Necho.
Necho did take Jehoahaz not because he had an intention to kill but that he might not reign in Jerusalem (v33). Jehoahaz died, and the cause of his death was
unmentioned (34b); most likely by natural death, though it is not certain,
subtly suggesting that it was the Lord’s hand. Jeremiah gave them a message;
Jer
22:10 Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his
loss; rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled, because he will never return
nor see his native land again. 11 For this is what the LORD says about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his
father as king of Judah but has gone from this place: “He will never return. 12 He will die in the place
where they have led him captive; he will not see this land again.”—Shallum(Jehoahaz)
As we noted in the previous lessons, it was an honor to be buried
in the city;
1 Kings 15:8 And Abijah rested with his
ancestors and was buried in the City of David.
2 Kings 16:20 Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And
Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.
2 Kings 20:21 Hezekiah rested
with his ancestors. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king. 2
Chronicles 32:33 Hezekiah rested with his
ancestors and was buried on the hill where the tombs of David's descendants are.
2 Kings 21:18 Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was
buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son succeeded him
as king. 2 Chronicles 33:20 Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried
in his palace. And Amon his son succeeded him as king.
2 Kings 21:26 He(Amon) was buried in his tomb
in the garden of Uzza. And Josiah his son succeeded him as king. (2 Chr has no
mention of his burial)
2 Kings 22:20 Therefore I will gather you (Josiah) to your ancestors, and you will be buried
in peace. 2 Chronicles 35:24 So they
took him out of his chariot, put him in his other chariot, and brought him to
Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors,
and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.
In the description of the
burial site, the word “city of David” is missing after Ahaz. From Hezekiah, the
phrase “the city of David’ changes to descriptions of burial place:
buried on the hill where the tombs of David's
descendants are. (Hezekiah)
buried in his palace garden (Manasseh)
buried in the tombs of his ancestors (Josiah)
Amnon was an exception to this: he was buried in his tomb in the
Garden of Uzza.
After Josiah, Jehoahaz came. About him, Jeremiah prophesied that
he would be taken to a foreign land and he could not come back to the land (died
in Egypt).
This suggests that he was excluded from being buried in the land
of God’s blessing, particularly in the city of David. Also, this serves as an ominous sign that the following kings, as well as the nation, would suffer a
similar fate unless they would take drastic action in repentance.
How did Jehoiakim
do then?
At the age of twenty-five years, he was made king of the nation by
Necho. He had to tribute Egyptian King Necho hefty sum of gold and silver. To
do so, he heavily taxed the land and exacted silver and gold from the people of
the land.
And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just
as his predecessors had done.
What did it mean?
Jeremiah 22: 13 "Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice,
making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.
14 He says, 'I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.' So
he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar, and decorates it in red. 15
"Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father
have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.
16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that
not what it means to know me?" declares the LORD. 17 "But your eyes
and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and
on oppression and extortion."
18 Therefore this is what the LORD
says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: "They will not mourn for
him: 'Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!' They will not mourn for him: 'Alas,
my master! Alas, his splendor!' 19 He will have the burial of a donkey--
dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem." (Jer 22:11 NIV)
As we have seen in this passage, the people of Judah had hope for
Jehoahaz to come back. But Jeremiah warned that that hope would be in vain. An
effort to be independent or to get off of the pressing hand of Necho was
totally failed.
They were so disappointed in the death of Josiah and failed to see
God’s will in it or failed to see the spirit of Josiah who willed to suffer and
committed even to death in the battle, i.e., his trust in the righteousness of
the Lord. Simply the king of the choice of the people lasted just three months.
Eliakim was the second son of Josiah, the older brother of
Jehoahaz. He was chosen, not by the
people of the nation but by King Necho as the replacement of Jehoahaz at the
age of twenty-five years old. Nevertheless,
his name was changed to Jehoiakim (‘YHWH establishes’). But he did evil in the eyes of the LORD,
just as his predecessors had done and reigned in Jerusalem eleven years.
Both sons of Josiah did evil in the eyes of the Lord just as his
predecessors done: Josiah’s godly reign did not make any impact on these sons;
instead, they were influenced by their predecessors—grandfather Ahaz, and (m) ..
23: 25 Neither before nor after
Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart
and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law
of Moses.26 Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the heat of
his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had
done to arouse his anger. 27 So the LORD said, “I will remove Judah also from my presence as I
removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple,
about which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.—shutting off of His favor or grace
to these kings; they were forced to seek within the means and ways that they
had—no choice but to suffer or only choices were: to be independent, to rely on
Egypt or Babylon. None of them would give them peace or security of the kingdom
24: 5 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 ancestors. 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.
Jehoiakim was the last king that suffered the attack from Egypt.
2.
[23:36-24:4] When did Jehoiakim rebel against
Nebuchadnezzar (1)? What did the Lord do(2a) Why (2b-4; Ref. )?
a.
36 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 predecessors had done.
24:1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land,
and Jehoiakim became his
vassal for three years. But then he turned against Nebuchadnezzar and
rebelled. 2 The LORD sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite
raiders against him 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.
2
Chr 36:6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked him and bound him with
bronze shackles to take him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also took
to Babylon articles from
the temple of the LORD and put them in his temple there. 8 The other
events of Jehoiakim’s reign, the detestable things he did and all that was
found against him, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king.
i.
After the decisive Babylonian victory at Carchemish (605 BC),
Nebuchadnezzar returns to Babylon for his coronation. He mounts another
invasion in 604 BC, during which Ashkelon is taken and ‘all the kings of the
Hatti-land came before him and he received their heavy tribute’ (Wiseman 1956:
69). It is during this year that Jehoiakim becomes a Babylonian vassal. Three years later (601 BC)
Babylon suffers a defeat at the hands of Egypt, subsequently withdraws
and remains in Babylon for a whole year to regroup (A)
Jehoiakim 609-598 (11 years): During this time, Necho was defeated
by Babylon in 605. At this time, Jehoiakim became a vassal to Babylon. But
three years later(602), he rebelled against Babylon prob he foresaw the
weakness of Babylon. As he anticipated, Necho came back and defeated Babylon in
601. After Babylon’s defeat (601), Jehoiakim
attempted to be independent from Babylon.
ii.
3.
[8-17] Find the facts on Jehoiachin’s reign
(8-9) When did Nebuchadnezzar attack Judah (10-11)? How did Judah respond to
(12a)? Then what did Nebuchadnezzar do to her (12b-17)?
a.
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he
became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 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.
i.
18 ys old he became king and ran for 3 months.
(598-597)
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord as his father had done.
b.
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.
i.
Now, Assyria is gone and Babylon is the super
power of the region.
c.
12 Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his
attendants, his nobles, and his officials all surrendered to him.
i.
After taking Jehoahaz, Egypt never came back.
ii.
Jehoiachin was the only king in this period to
surrender to Babylon; this was in line with God’s command through Jeremiah:
after all, he was the only one who survived among the last four kings from the
attack of Babylon (25:27-30)
iii.
Only the one who submits to the commands of God
or only who accepts God’s disciplines in obedience to His will remain as a remnant. To such remnants, the sign of God’s blessing comes.
d.
12b In the eighth year of the reign of the
king of Babylon, he took Jehoiachin prisoner. 13 As the LORD had declared,
Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the LORD and from the
royal palace and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made
for the temple of the LORD. 14 He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the
officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers 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 prominent people 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 skilled workers
and artisans. 17 He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and
changed his name to Zedekiah.
i.
Zedekiah was the brother of Jehoahaz (uncle of
Jehoiachin). Like two kings before him, he was evil in the eyes of the Lord:
ii.
He was a puppet king of Nebuchadnezzar and in
order to make him look good and genuine, he changed the puppet king, Mattaniah
to Zedekiah (‘righteousness of God’).
iii.
Nebuchadnezzar depleted the source of
spiritual (temple articles) and political power (7k fighting men) from Judah;
signifying that these two power were not in with Jerusalem but in Babylon.
4.
[18-20] How did Zedekiah reign the kingdom
(18-19)? Why did all these things happen to Jerusalem and Judah (20a)? What was
the purpose of his anger after all (20b)?
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old
when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 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.
a.
Zedekiah reigned 11 years and did evil in the
eyes of the Lord; He was not much different from Jehoiakim: In other words, he
followed the way of his brother, not his father. Jehoiakim’s reign was marked
by his rebellion against “Babylon” (24:1). As his brother did, Zedekiah also
rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar (24:20b). This tells us that the desire to be
independent or reluctance to go under the authority of Nebuchadnezzar, whom God
established as the lord of the region (God’s servant) to disciplines first Judah
and then the other kings of the region.
b.
Out of the four kings, only Jehoiachin
listened to the message delivered by Jeremiah and in submission to God’s will,
surrendered to Babylon.
c.
The depth of rebellion is well revealed in Jer
27.
i.
Jer 27:1 Early in the reign of Zedekiah son of
Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 This is what
the LORD said to me: “Make
a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck. 3 Then send word to
the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through the envoys who
have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 Give them a message for
their masters and say, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel,
says: “Tell this to your masters: 5 With my great power and outstretched arm I
made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to
anyone I please. 6 Now I
will give all your countries into the hands of my servant Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. 7 All nations
will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes;
then many nations and great kings will subjugate him. 8 “‘“If, however, any
nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck
under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine, and plague,
declares the LORD, until I destroy it by his hand. 9 So do not listen to your
prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your
sorcerers who tell you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ 10 They
prophesy lies to you that will only serve to remove you far from your lands; I
will banish you and you will perish. 11 But if any nation will bow its neck
under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation
remain in its own land to till it and to live there, declares the LORD.”’”
ii.
Jer 44:30 This is what the LORD says: ‘I am
going to deliver Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hands of his enemies who
want to kill him, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hands of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the enemy who wanted to kill him.’”
iii.
As we noted here, this message was given to
Judah during Zedekiah: this indicates what God would do through Nebuchadnezzar:
i.e., making him the representation of God’s lordship over all the
kings/nations mentioned in v 2 as well as Egypt (Jer 44:30). This certainly
includes Judah as well. It would not be agreeable to the minds of Judah; his
people as well as her leaders that i) Their Lord would not be the Lord of Israel
only but also take care of all these nations which clearly would provoke her
people to jealousy ii) certainly Judah would suffer under the reign of Babylon;
Both of these understanding did not go well with Jeremiah and Judah intensely
challenged the truthfulness of Jeremiah’s prophecy. At its root was their
unwillingness to submit to God’s discipline.
|
Josiah (640–609) |
|
|
|
Jehoahaz
(609) |
|
Necho
took him to Egypt and died there? |
|
Jehoiakim
(609–598) |
605
Babylon defeats Necho |
Necho
placed him as king? Rebel against Nebuchadnezzar; |
|
Jehoiachin
(598–597) |
Nebuchadnezzar(8th
yr) conquer Judah |
Jehoiachin
and all his family surrendered to
Babylon |
|
Zedekiah
(597–587) |
|
rebel
against Babylon |
5.
Discuss God’s will and His purpose in all that
He did on these kings of Judah.
Diagram from Bible Knowledge Commentary
Two
things to consider.
First,
the last kings of Judah were told to submit to God’s purpose; His discipline
under Babylon. Surely it was hard to accept because their suffering would be
sure to come and it would be far difficult to bear. The most troubling thing
would be losing God’s undivided attention to her and she would be leveled to
the nations surrounding her. Here how Jesus took his suffering from arrest,
sentencing and crucifixion gives us a good example of how we are to go about
with God’s discipline; instead of refuting God’s word of warning, accepting by
faith and daring to go through suffering
Second,
This was the time to recognize that their Lord is the Lord of all nations and
their failure to function according to God’s purpose, God would use even pagan
kings/nations for His purpose. This is applicable to us as well as our hearts
are much attached to the nations that we were born from and are living in. We
are born with nationalism and it may work against the work of God as it was
with Judah. In this respect, we must be willing to entertain and understand,
and adopt God’s view, not only on Korea, and the USA, but also far more
importantly, on all the nations of the world because we must discern
God’s perfect will and purpose for the nations of the world. In this respect,
it might be good to study and learn God’s will regarding this time, i.e.,
eschatological messages of the Bible; Daniel, Ezekiel, end time warnings in the
Gospels, and the book of Revelation. We are to establish a firm worldview
according to the word of God.
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