And at the turn of the year king Nebuchadnezzar sent and had him brought to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of Jehovah; and he made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Spring came, and with it Nebuchadnezzar. He took the young king Jehoiachin to Babylon, took the treasures of God's house with him, and put an uncle on the throne instead. Two things in this short verse settle the rest of Judah's story. The holy vessels leave the land, and the last king of David's line sits on a throne that is not his to hold.
Judah was not destroyed in one blow. This was the second of three deportations, and Babylon would come back for more.
Jehoiachin and his servants surrendered without a fight. 2 Chronicles 36:10 tells us that Nebuchadnezzar summoned him to Babylon, and that the costly articles from the house of God went to Babylon too — though not all of them yet. This is a picture of how the truth of God has been slowly stolen from the Church in our own day, because of the failure and disobedience of the people. Nebuchadnezzar then made Zedekiah, Jehoiakim's brother (Jehoiachin's uncle), king in Judah… he was clearly trying to find someone he could fully control.
The verse calls Zedekiah Jehoiachin's brother. He was in fact his uncle — the brother of Jehoiachin's father.
Measured by damage, this was not the worst invasion. Measured by God's clock, it was the one that counted.
The last of these three did the most damage. The temple burned, and very large numbers went into captivity. But the 70 years of captivity are counted from the first deportation — the one we would call minor. Why was that first one the important one in God's eyes? Because of the vessels… Such a thing had never happened before. True, some kings had taken silver from the treasury, and even from the doors of the temple (Ahaz and Hezekiah), to buy off the king of Assyria. But no one had ever touched the holy vessels.
God's sentence on Jehoiachin sounds like a curse of childlessness. It is not.
The point of that sentence is not that he would have no family, for it speaks of his descendants, and Matthew 1:11-12 lists them. What we are told is this: God had decreed that, as far as the throne of David went, he counted as childless, because none of his descendants would rule in Judah again. God had decided the end of this sinful line.
Zedekiah did not choose his own name. Nebuchadnezzar gave it, and the giving of it said everything about who was really in charge.
Nebuchadnezzar changed his name as a sign that he was now a subject king. But he did not give him the name of some pagan god, as he did with Daniel and the three young Hebrew men. He "had made him swear by God." His new name, Righteousness of Jehovah, may have been given to remind him of that oath. Or it may have had some link, even in the pagan king's mind, with Jehovah's righteousness in stripping this wicked people — a people called by His name — of their political independence, and bringing them under his rule.
The verse reads like politics. It is judgment. God was moving the king who moved all the other kings.
The king of Babylon carries out Jehovah's wrath on Jerusalem, and Egypt must now submit to the man God had appointed to rule the world. Nebuchadnezzar set up anyone he chose, and he threw down anyone he chose… See how completely Judah lies under the power of Nebuchadnezzar! He puts this king in chains, sets a child of eight years on the throne, and three months later puts his uncle Mattaniah (Zedekiah) there instead.
Even in the wreckage, the names of Judah's last king carry something forward.
His name means "the gift of Jehovah," and Nebuchadnezzar changed it to Zedekiah, "the righteousness of Jehovah." Surely there is a prophetic hint here. When Judah and Jerusalem went down under judgment, in ruin and shame beyond words, God showed in the very names of the last king that One would still come from David's line: He who is God's own precious gift, and in whom righteousness will be given and established.
- Vessels first. No one had ever touched the holy vessels before. God counts the seventy years from the day they were taken, not from the later burning of the temple.
- Truth gone. The vessels left in stages, not all at once — a picture of how God's truth is slowly stolen from His people through failure and disobedience.
- Throne gone. Jehoiachin counted as "childless" only as to the throne. His family line continued, but no descendant of his would rule in Judah again.
- Name gone. A foreign king now chose Judah's king and renamed him. The new name proved whose authority stood over David's throne.
- God not gone. Nebuchadnezzar was only carrying out Jehovah's wrath. And the last king's two names, "gift of Jehovah" and "righteousness of Jehovah," still pointed to the One yet to come from David's line.
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
Zedekiah was the last king of David's line to reign in Jerusalem, and a foreign king put him on the throne. The verse gives only his age and the length of his reign. Everything that follows in the chapter hangs on how he used those years.
Zedekiah did not choose his own name. One writer explains where it came from.
Zedekiah was Josiah's youngest son, and the full brother of Jehoahaz. When his father died he was only ten years old. Nebuchadnezzar changed his name to show that Zedekiah was now under his rule. But he did not give him the name of some heathen god, as happened with Daniel and the three Hebrew young men. He "had made him swear by God," and his new name, Righteousness of Jehovah, may have been given to remind him of his oath.
At twenty-one he was old enough to know what God had already said and done.
At the age of twenty-one Zedekiah had his chance to show that he had profited from the hard and striking lessons God had taught the nation. God taught them through the words of the prophet and by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. But "he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done." He also rebelled against the king of Babylon, whom God had used to set him on the throne in Jerusalem.
His father Josiah had been a good king. Another writer marks how fast Judah fell after him:
Zedekiah was the last of the kings ruling in Judah before their complete captivity. He proved as evil as the kings before him, though he was a son of Josiah. So, following Josiah's good reign, the condition of Judah went downhill fast.
Breaking with Babylon looks like patriotism. One writer treats it instead as a refusal to accept what God had arranged.
One thing in particular provoked the anger of Jehovah: he rebelled against the king of Babylon. When Judah fell away, God had given that king the empire of the world. The faithful had a clear duty to bow to God's sovereignty in this. They had all the more reason, because it was the idolatry of the people of Judah and of the king of David's house that in the end brought on this solemn change in the government of the world.
In his own palace the king turned out to be the weakest man of all.
In fact the king is the prisoner of his own captains and princes, and he does not dare to resist them. He did not truly hate Jeremiah. He acted under the pressure of the fear of men, and not under the fear of the Lord, whom he had despised and dishonoured.
That same fear drove him to break his word:
This fear of his servants moved Zedekiah to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar. He had already sworn an oath by God, an oath of loyalty to that king. This was plain dishonesty, and God could not excuse it on the grounds of his fear of men.
With Zedekiah, something larger than one man's reign ends.
While David's throne stood, it was still "the throne of Jehovah," however feeble and contemptible its occupants might be. The last king, Zedekiah, brought on the ruin by his treachery. Nebuchadnezzar "made him swear by God," but he despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Nothing was sacred in his eyes.
Yet one writer finds a signal in his two names:
Nebuchadnezzar made Mattaniah, the youngest son of Josiah, king over Judah. His name means "the gift of Jehovah," and Nebuchadnezzar changed it to Zedekiah, "the righteousness of Jehovah." Here is without doubt a prophetic hint. Judah and Jerusalem went down in judgment, in unspeakable ruin and shame. Yet in the very names of the last king God showed that One would still come from David's line. He is God's own precious gift, and in Him righteousness will be given and established.
- Given — Zedekiah was Josiah's youngest son. Nebuchadnezzar put him on the throne and renamed him "Righteousness of Jehovah," a mark of who now ruled him and perhaps a reminder of the oath he swore by God.
- Tested — at twenty-one he had the lessons of the prophet and of Babylon in front of him, and eleven years to profit from them. Instead he repeated the evil of Jehoiakim.
- Refused — his rebellion against Babylon was not courage. He would not bow to God's transfer of world rule, which Judah's own idolatry had brought on.
- Feared — the king was the captive of his own princes, ruled by fear of men and not by fear of the Lord. His broken oath was plain dishonesty, and his fear was no excuse.
- Kept — the throne of Jehovah fell with him. Yet his two names still pointed to One still to come from David's line: God's gift, in whom righteousness would be established.