SERIES N --- THE EXILE --- LESSON 18

EVIL RETURNS

THE DECLINE OF THE KINGDOM

From 2 Kings 23 :30-36; 24; 2 Chronicles 36 :1-12

After King Josiah was killed, his son Jehoahaz became king in his place. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. Jehoahaz, who was only twenty-three when he became king, had a short, but evil, three-month reign. King Josiah had made the fatal mistake of fighting against Pharaoh Necho, the king of Egypt. He lost his life in the battle, and his kingdom fell under the control of the Egyptian king. After a reign of only three months, Jehoahaz, the new king of Judah, was thrown into prison at Riblab in Hamath by Pharaoh Necho. Later he was transported to Egypt and died there. Pharaoh Necho then set another son of Josiah on the throne in Jerusalem. His name was Eliakim, but Pharaoh Necho changed it to Jehoiakim. He also demanded a heavy annual tribute from Judah, about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in gold and silver. To raise this money, Jehoiakim forced the people to pay heavy taxes. Jehoiakim became king at the age of twenty-five and ruled in Jerusalem eleven years. His reign was evil, like the reigns of so many of the kings who preceded him. His mother’s name was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. While Jehoiakim was king, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded the land and conquered it. Jehoiakim then had to pay tribute to Nebuchadnezzar instead of to Pharaoh Necho. After three years, however, he rebelled and refused to pay the tribute any longer. Instigated by Nebuchadnezzar, bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites then plundered the land and Jehoiakim was taken prisoner and died soon afterward. At that time, Nebuchadnezzar took some of the golden bowls and other temple treasures and placed them in one of his temples in Babylon. These troubles were clearly Adonai’s punishment on the people of Judah. Adonai’s anger was still burning against them because of the great evil which Manasseh had brought upon the land and the blood of innocent people which he had shed throughout Jerusalem. After King Jehoiakim died, his son Jehoiachin became the new king. The rest of Jehoiakim’s life is recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, including a record of the evil which he did while king. Jehoiachin was eighteen when he became king and he ruled for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. His short reign was very evil in Adonai’s sight, just as the reign of his father Jehoiakim had been. During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar had sent an army to besiege Jerusalem. Later he personally came to accept surrender from Jehoiachin, his officers, his mother, and his palace staff. During the eighth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, King Jehoiachin was taken to Babylon as a prisoner, along with the rest of the temple treasures and palace treasures. Nebuchadnezzar cut into pieces the golden bowls which King Solomon had made, as Adonai had foretold would happen. He also took seven thousand of the bravest warriors, a thousand craftsmen and smiths who were able to take part in war, the princes of the land, and just about everyone else except the poorest people. Nebuchadnezzar appointed Jehoiachin’s twenty-one-year-old uncle Mattaniah as the new king and changed his name to Zedekiah. The new king, whose mother was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. He too, was an evil king in Adonai’s sight, just as Jehoiakim had been. Through all this punishment, Adonai was sending His angry judgment against Jerusalem and Judah. In the course of time, Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.

COMMENTARY

THE KINGDOM OF BABYLON

The Babylonian kings inherited most of the decaying Assyrian Empire around 600 B.C. Babylon’s new rulers brought about a revival of the entire country. Under Nebuchadnezzar’s rule, religion and culture flourished. Crumbling temples and ancient rites were restored. The capital of Babylon became a centre for the latest ideas in architecture, literature and philosophy. As Babylon’s economy boomed and thrived, the country expanded to the trade routes in the west. The move threatened and weakened Egyptian trade, and they successfully created dissent and rebellion in Syria and Palestine. To end what became the ceaseless revolts against him, Nebuchadnezzar finally sacked Jerusalem and deported most of the Jews in 586 B.C. This marked the end of Judah’s existence as an independent country. The thirteen-year siege of Tyre placed the west firmly in Babylon’s hands. But even though Nebuchadnezzar maintained and strengthened his country, he neglected the Empire’s provinces. These were drained of their wealth to help support Babylon, and if they rebelled, they were demolished. Defeated peoples were deported, but few were sent to repopulate vacant regions, and in turn they became another drain on Babylon’s economy. The weak kings after Nebuchadnezzar did not improve things. The large permanent army required endless funds. Nebuchadnezzar’s building projects had been costly. The temple restorations and private museums of the last Babylonian ruler -- King Nabonidus -- exhausted the remaining funds. Nabonidus spent a decade of his reign in Arabia, and as his son Belshazzar ruled in Babylon a new power was growing in the east. The Persians, led by Cyrus II, conquered three thousand miles of land from Greece to India. Faced with such a force, Babylonia surrendered to Cyrus in 539 B.C. Over the centuries to come, Babylon’s language and culture declined and gradually disappeared.