Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Judah's last king was Babylon's choice — twenty-one years old, renamed by the man who put him on the throne. Why did God grant him eleven more years, and what was that borrowed name meant to tell him?
Zedekiah came from Josiah's own family. One commentator gives his line, and explains what the change of name stood for.
Zedekiah was Josiah's youngest son, and full brother of Jehoahaz. He was, at his father's death, only ten years old. Nebuchadnezzar changed his name to mark that he was a vassal. But he did not give him the name of a pagan god, as he did with Daniel and his three Hebrew friends. Nebuchadnezzar "had made him swear by God." He may have given him the new name, Righteousness of the Lord, to remind him of that oath. Or the name may have had some link, even in this pagan king's mind, with the Lord's righteousness in taking away the political independence of this wicked people, who were called by His name, and putting them under his own rule.
after
His birth name was Mattaniah. Commentators differ on the exact force of the new name — some read it as "righteousness of the Lord," others as "the Lord is might" — but one writer finds in the pair of names a promise buried in the wreckage.
His name means "the gift of the Lord," and Nebuchadnezzar changed it to Zedekiah, "the righteousness of the Lord." This is surely a prophetic hint. Judah and Jerusalem went down in judgment, in ruin and shame beyond words. Yet in the very names of the last king, God showed 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.
Read the other way, the name was a warning he failed to hear.
The name Mattaniah means "gift of the Lord," but the king did not live up to his name. He "did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done." Zedekiah means "The Lord is might," and the king proved that his own evil, and the evil of his fathers, could not escape the might of the God of Israel.
The verse names his mother. One writer describes where she came from, and why a mother like her no longer counted.
From now on, mothers who come from among the people of God have no influence. Either there is no ear left to hear them, or they share in the ruin themselves. Hamutal, the wife of Josiah and mother of Jehoahaz, was the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, and it seems she came from a priestly family.
The same writer draws a wider lesson from these kings: godly parents do not produce a godly son.
Grace alone explains the characters of Hezekiah and of Josiah. The last kings of Judah prove it: they were ungodly, even though they had Jewish mothers and a godly father.
The eleven years were not just a countdown to the end. In that time, something could still have been saved.
Zedekiah gained nothing from the disasters that struck the kings before him. He was Israel's last hope. He was "a spreading vine of low stature" (Ezekiel 17:6) — a very humiliating picture indeed! But there might still have been crumbs of blessing for the unhappy people had he walked humbly with God.
He did not walk humbly. His sin was not open cruelty but pretence.
He pretended to want the prophet's prayers, saying, "Pray now to the Lord our God for us." At times he also pretended to trust Jeremiah's prophecies — "Ask the Lord for us" — yet when the answers came, he refused to listen or believe. He was perhaps not as openly wicked as the three kings before him, and not eager to persecute. But the Lord does not see as man sees, and His thoughts are not man's thoughts.
With him, an era closed and another opened.
Zedekiah was the last man to wear the crown, though perhaps he wore it in name only. He added treachery to his many sins, and dishonoured the name of his God. Then Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, and the rule passed into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. So "the times of the Gentiles" began.
- Named — Nebuchadnezzar renamed Mattaniah, "gift of the Lord," as Zedekiah. The new name marked him as a vassal, and may have recalled the oath he swore by God.
- Warned — the name he wore preached to him. He did not live up to it, and proved instead that his evil could not escape the might of Israel's God.
- Untaught — a mother from among God's people and a godly father still produced an ungodly son. Grace alone, not parentage, explains a Hezekiah or a Josiah.
- Offered — he was Israel's last hope, a vine of low stature, with eleven years still given. Had he walked humbly with God, crumbs of blessing might still have come.
- Ended — he asked for the prophet's prayers but refused his word. With his fall the crown passed to Babylon, and the times of the Gentiles began.
And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
Zedekiah was the last king to sit on David's throne, and Nebuchadnezzar put him there. This verse is God's verdict on his reign in one line: he did the same evil as his fathers.
The king had two names, and both spoke of God. Neither shaped him.
The name Mattaniah means "gift of the Lord." But the king did not answer to his name, for "he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done." Zedekiah means "The Lord is might." The king proved that his own evil, and the evil of his fathers, could not escape from the might of the God of Israel.
Nebuchadnezzar chose that second name. It may have carried a message:
Nebuchadnezzar changed his name as a sign that he was now under Babylon's rule. But he did not give him the name of a foreign god, as with Daniel and the three Hebrew young men. Nebuchadnezzar "had made him swear by God," and perhaps he gave him the new name, Righteousness of Jehovah, to remind him of that oath.
Zedekiah did not sin in the dark. Two kings before him had been carried off, and the prophet Jeremiah was still speaking in the city.
At the age of twenty-one opportunity was given to Zedekiah to show that he had benefited from the stern and striking lessons which God had taught the nation through the lips of the prophet and by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, but "he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done."
Everything that could have held him steady was still standing around him:
At that time Judah represented the nation of Israel. It still had the city of government and a king of David's line on the throne. The House of the Lord still stood before them, and spoke to them of the preserving mercy of God. The chief priest and others still carried on the ministry. Yet they did not merely fail to do good — they did what was evil in God's sight.
The charge against him is not left general:
Chronicles registers four reasons for the judgment of this king: He did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke to him for Jehovah. That was rebellion against the word of the Spirit of God. He revolted against Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against returning to Jehovah.
Measured by human standards, Zedekiah was not the worst of his line. God's measure was different.
Perhaps he was not as openly wicked as the three kings before him, and he was not eager to persecute. That is probably why Josephus, judging by human standards, speaks of "his gentle and righteous disposition." But the Lord does not see as man sees, and His thoughts are not man's thoughts. The Lord says, "He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel." So God took him away in His anger.
The king's evil was his own. Yet God was working through it:
God used the very wickedness of king Zedekiah to carry out His will… How very wonderful are the ways of God! Here He uses the evil of Israel, and above all the evil of their king, to carry out the judgment He had foretold. Another wonderful case comes before us in an entirely different way. God used the dreadful wickedness of Israel and of the rulers of the Jews to secure His will and counsels — the blessing of the nation under the new covenant, and the blessing of millions of Gentiles. As it is written in Acts 2:23, "this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men."
One man's evil closed a line of kings that had stood since David.
While David's throne stood, it was still "the throne of Jehovah," however weak and unworthy its occupants might be. The last king, Zedekiah, brought on the ruin by his treachery… Now note the words of Jehovah to him: "And you, O profane wicked one, prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of your final punishment, thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban and take off the crown… A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it. This also shall not be until He comes, the one to whom judgment belongs, and I will give it to Him."
- Gift. His first name meant "gift of the Lord," his second "The Lord is might" — he answered to neither.
- Warning. The temple still stood and Jeremiah still spoke for God — he sinned with mercy in plain sight.
- Charge. Chronicles lists four counts: evil in God's sight, refusing to humble himself under God's word, breaking an oath sworn in God's name, and a hardened heart.
- Verdict. Men called him gentle; God called him stiff-necked — the Lord does not see as man sees.
- Overturned. The crown came off David's line, and it stays off until the rightful One comes. The same God who used this king's rebellion to carry out judgment later used men's worst act to bless millions.
For, because the anger of Jehovah was against Jerusalem and against Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
Zedekiah was the last king to sit on David's throne, and his revolt against Babylon happened "because of the anger of the LORD." So how could one king's political gamble be the very thing God's anger used, and what made it so serious?
The verse does not present Zedekiah's revolt as an accident that upset God's plan. It presents the revolt as the way God carried out a judgment He had already announced.
God used the very wickedness of king Zedekiah to carry out His will... How very wonderful are the ways of God! Here He uses the evil of Israel, and above all the evil of their king. That evil becomes the means of carrying out the judgment He had foretold. Another wonderful case comes before us in a completely different way. God used the dreadful wickedness of Israel, and of the rulers of the Jews, to secure His will and His counsels: the blessing of the nation under the new covenant, and the blessing of millions of Gentiles. This is just what Acts 2:23 says.
Zedekiah had sworn loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in God's own name. That oath turned a political revolt into an offence against God.
But Zedekiah rebelled against his lord, and the rebellion was through the anger of the Lord; it was part of the judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem, and it brought special judgment upon himself. Nebuchadnezzar's terrible revenge on his helpless captive was due perhaps not so much to the rebellion of a subject king as to the guilt of breaking the oath he had taken in the name of Jehovah to obey Nebuchadnezzar. This sin filled up the measure of his guilt. He made a covenant with the king of Babylon. He took an oath in the name of Jehovah to obey Nebuchadnezzar, so much so that Jehovah said "My oath," and "My covenant." Afterwards he rebelled against the king that Jehovah had set over him, and sent to Egypt for horses and men. He despised the covenant and oath so solemnly taken, and so presented the name of the Holy One of Israel to the heathen king as nothing. This brought things to a climax: there was "no remedy."
In political terms the revolt made sense, and it was popular. But God Himself had put that yoke on Judah.
Zedekiah's revolt might have had plausible political motives in the eyes of the world. As happens today too, it won the sympathy of all those who chafed under Babylon's yoke. But this yoke was according to God, and the Lord announced it in a visible way through the prophet Jeremiah, who walked through the city with a wooden yoke on his neck. The king of Judah ought to have known and remembered this, had he had the least concern to serve the Lord. But deep down this man, so brave in revolt, was full of fear. He was afraid of compromising himself in front of the leading men of the people.
The broken oath pointed back to something missing in the man himself.
"Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon." He had no real faith in Jehovah, Israel's covenant-keeping God, and therefore had no scruples about breaking his covenant with Nebuchadnezzar. But how dearly he paid for this violation of his oath!
The last words of the verse are the heaviest. Judah lost more than a war, and one writer ties that loss to the king's refusal to bow to a sentence God had already passed.
Zedekiah ought to have been a pattern of submission, owning the just judgment of God... And now Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon. That was rebellion against the sentence of Jehovah, who was then, as it were, morally compelled to cast out the Jews from His presence.
What ended with him was not one man's career but a throne.
While David's throne stood, it was still "the throne of Jehovah," however weak and contemptible its kings might be. The last king, Zedekiah, brought on the ruin by his treachery... Nothing was sacred in his eyes... Ever since that day David's throne has lain in the dust, and the crown of rule over the nations has been taken away.
- Anger — The revolt did not surprise God. It happened "because of the anger of the LORD," and God used the king's own wickedness to carry out a judgment He had already announced.
- Oath — Zedekiah had sworn loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar in the name of the Lord. God called it "My oath" and "My covenant," so breaking it presented God's name to a foreign king as nothing.
- Yoke — Jeremiah carried a wooden yoke through the city to show that Babylon's rule was God's will. Resisting it was popular politics and open defiance of God.
- Unbelief — The broken promise revealed the man. He had no real faith in God, so he had no conscience about breaking his word.
- Cast out — The end was removal from God's presence. David's throne fell into the dust, and the crown of rule over the nations was taken away.
And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, [that] Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built turrets against it round about.
This verse dates Judah's last chapter to a single day: Babylon's whole army camped against Jerusalem and built siege works. Why did God let an enemy surround the city that held His own house, and why does the record name the very day?
The siege began with Zedekiah's rebellion, not with Babylon's ambition. One writer shows why that rebellion was so serious.
"Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon" (2 Kings 24:20). This act was disgraceful and sacrilegious in the eyes of the Lord. Here is why: Nebuchadnezzar "had made him take an oath by God" (2 Chronicles 36:13). Adding this to all his other sins, this king was breaking an oath made in the name of the Lord. Doing this in front of the idol-worshipping nations, he showed them that he had no regard for the God he claimed to belong to.
Politically the revolt made sense, since everyone hated Babylon's rule. That case collapses once you see whose hand put Babylon there.
Zedekiah's revolt might have had believable political motives in the eyes of the world. As happens today too, it won the sympathy of everyone who chafed under Babylon's yoke. But this yoke was according to God. The Lord announced it in a visible way through the prophet Jeremiah, who walked through the city carrying a wooden yoke on his neck. The king of Judah should have known and remembered this, if he had the least concern to serve the Lord.
The army outside the walls was not God's last word. Prophets kept speaking while the enemy dug in.
You must read the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel to have the complete history — the inner history of the spirit of the people and of the king. It is the history of the condition that drew down the judgment. It is also the history of God's patience. Right up to the taking of the city He kept sending them the most moving calls to repentance — and all in vain. And the times of the Gentiles began.
Even with the siege wall up, God named one way out. The king refused it, and not for military reasons.
Jeremiah told Zedekiah, by the word of the Lord, that if he surrendered to the king of Babylon, he would live and the city would not be burned with fire. If he would not surrender, the city would be burned and he himself would not escape (Jeremiah 38:17-18). But because Zedekiah was afraid of the Jews, he would not surrender.
The same date reached a prophet hundreds of miles away in Babylon, on the day it happened.
The exact date is given by the prophet. It was the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year. What happened on that date we find recorded in 2 Kings 25:1... How did Ezekiel know all this? It was the Lord who gave him this information and led him to record the date. That is the statement of the second verse: "Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day."
The fall of one more city to Babylon looked ordinary. It was not.
It was a sad day for many faithful hearts when Jerusalem surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar, and a sadder one when the king's officer destroyed the temple a month later. Both days were kept as fasts for long afterwards. No doubt Nebuchadnezzar had devastated many cities and temples, but the overthrow of Jerusalem was not in the same class with them. Jerusalem was the chosen resting place of the Lord, its sanctuary was His house, and the throne of David was His throne. So handing these over to the enemy meant giving up a divine purpose, at least for a season... But God will be no partner with wrongdoing. He could therefore do no less than discipline His people when their ways became utterly corrupt before Him.
Yet loss is not the last word. God takes the wreckage as an occasion for grace.
The temple is burned. The walls of Jerusalem are broken down. The Gentiles trample the seat of the Lord's throne. What a sorrowful result of His having entrusted His glory to men among whom He had placed His throne!... On the other hand, God will take this as an occasion to display His infinite goodness. In sovereign grace He will restore the very thing man threw down to be profaned.
- Oath. The siege began with a broken promise. Zedekiah swore it to Nebuchadnezzar in God's name, then broke it in full view of the nations.
- Yoke. God set Babylon's rule over Judah, and Jeremiah pictured it by wearing a wooden yoke. Shaking it off was not politics but defiance of the Lord.
- Mercy. Even with the siege wall built, God offered life: surrender and the city stands. Zedekiah refused, held back by fear of men rather than fear of God.
- Day. God gave Ezekiel the exact date in Babylon on the day it happened and told him to write it down. The news came by revelation, not rumour.
- Throne. What fell was not just a city. It was the place God chose for His house and His throne, and Gentile powers took it over — the times of the Gentiles began. Yet grace will restore the very thing man threw down.
And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
From Zedekiah's ninth year to his eleventh, Babylon's army ringed Jerusalem and no one could get out. Those two years show how God warns, waits, and then acts.
The prophet Ezekiel wrote down the exact day the siege began. One writer asks how he could have known it:
The prophet gives the exact date. It was the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year... How did Ezekiel know about all this? It was the Lord who gave him this information and led him to record the date. This is what the Lord told him to write: "Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day."
Zedekiah had sworn loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar in God's own name. One writer lists the four charges against him:
"Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon." This was an outrageous and sacrilegious act in the eyes of the Lord. Here is why. Nebuchadnezzar "made him swear by God." And Ezekiel tells us that he "made a covenant with him, putting him under oath." So to all his other sins this king was adding the breaking of an oath made in the name of the Lord. He did this in front of nations that worshipped idols. So he showed them that he had no regard for the God he claimed to belong to. Chronicles records four reasons for the judgment of this king: He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke to him on the Lord's behalf. He revolted against Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against returning to the Lord.
The world had one reading of Zedekiah's revolt. God had another:
Zedekiah's revolt might have had plausible political motives in the eyes of the world. As happens today too, it won the sympathy of all those who chafed under Babylon's yoke. But this yoke was from God. The Lord showed this in a visible way through the prophet Jeremiah, who walked through the city wearing a wooden yoke on his neck. The king of Judah ought to have known and remembered this, if he had the least concern to serve the Lord. But deep down this man, so brave to revolt, was full of terror. He was afraid of compromising himself before the leading men of the people.
The two years were not unbroken. An Egyptian army marched north, and for a moment the siege lifted:
Meanwhile the siege continued, without hope of relief... At length a gleam of hope appeared. An Egyptian army advanced through Phoenicia under their King Hophra, the grandson of Necho. It forced the Chaldeans to lift the siege of Jerusalem. You can imagine the excitement and reaction in Jerusalem. Probably for that reason Jeremiah, who still predicted disaster, was thrown into prison. But the relief of Jerusalem was brief. The Egyptian army had to retreat. The Chaldeans resumed the siege of Jerusalem, and conditions for those inside grew even worse.
Surrender was still open, and it came with a promise:
In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign Nebuchadnezzar came and besieged Jerusalem. He built a wall around it. Jeremiah told Zedekiah, by the word of the Lord, that if he surrendered to the king of Babylon, he would live and the city would not be burned with fire. But if he refused to surrender, the city would be burned and he would not escape. Yet because Zedekiah was afraid of the Jews, he would not surrender.
The siege was not one more military defeat. It closed an era:
God's patience still waited with the kingdom of Judah. It waited until the sin of David's house made it impossible for Him to bear with them any longer. Jerusalem was taken; the temple was destroyed; and the Jews were carried away captive to Babylon. The throne of God no longer existed at Jerusalem. Power was given into the hands of the Gentiles, and has remained with them until now.
- Dated. God had a prophet record the day the siege began, on the very day it began. This judgment was no accident.
- Deserved. Four charges stood against Zedekiah, including breaking an oath he had sworn in God's own name.
- Refused. Babylon's yoke came from God. Shaking it off looked brave to the world, but it was rebellion against the Lord.
- Delayed. Two years of siege, and a brief Egyptian rescue, gave Zedekiah room to surrender and live. He feared men instead, and used none of it.
- Decided. When God's patience ran out, the throne left Jerusalem and world power passed to the Gentile nations.
On the ninth of the [fourth] month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
In Zedekiah's eleventh year, after months of siege, Jerusalem's food ran out. This verse marks the day hunger turned deadly — and it asks how a city chosen by God came to this.
The date in this verse is the end of a slow process, not a sudden blow.
The siege continued for one and a half years, till the 11th year of Zedekiah's reign (v.2). Their food supply ran out (v.3), and at that time the city was broken through.
Hunger was not the only thing at work inside the walls.
It was a terrible siege, lasting eighteen months; famine and pestilence prevailed. Mothers boiled and ate their own children (Lamentations 4:10). At midnight the Babylonians broke into the city and captured the fleeing king.
Zedekiah could have stopped this. God gave him a clear choice through the prophet Jeremiah. Fear of his own people decided it.
Jeremiah told Zedekiah, by the word of the Lord, that if he surrendered to the king of Babylon he would live, and the city would not be burned with fire. If he refused, the city would be burned and Zedekiah himself would not escape (Jeremiah 38:17-18). But Zedekiah feared the Jews, so he would not surrender.
The famine was not an accident of war. Moses had warned Israel that this would come, long before they entered the land.
In Jerusalem's distress, the terrible predictions Moses made (Deuteronomy 28:56-57; Leviticus 26:29) came true again. They had come true several times before as well (2 Kings 6:26-29). When "the hands of the compassionate women" could reach out like this against their own starving children, the famine had clearly done its worst.
Hunger reached the youngest child and the richest noble alike.
The nursing baby's tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth from thirst; little children ask for bread, and no one breaks any for them. That was the pitiful state of children, from the tiniest babies upward. Were the adults any better off? "Those who ate fine food now die in the streets; those who grew up in scarlet now lie on ash heaps." Parents and other adults were starving to death.
Ironside draws a lesson from the same scenes for God's people in any age:
Only in fellowship with God do His people find peace and plenty. Away from Him unrest and famine must result.
The bread was running out for everyone. Yet Zedekiah answered the prophet's plea and had him fed.
Zedekiah, in answer to Jeremiah's plea, does not send him back to the prison cells. He has him put in the court of the guard: "and they gave him daily a loaf of bread ... until all the bread in the city was gone."
The fourth month, named in this verse, became one of Israel's four days of fasting. God's last word about those days is not mourning.
Besides the two fasts mentioned in the previous chapter, we now have the one in the fourth month. In that month the famine took hold and Jerusalem was broken into, as Jeremiah 52:6 records... Now we learn that the day would come when these four fasts would become feasts of rejoicing.
- Bread refused. God offered Zedekiah life and a spared city if he surrendered; fear of men made him say no, and the famine followed.
- Bread foretold. Moses warned Israel of this starvation long before it came. It was a warning fulfilled, not an accident.
- Bread gone. After eighteen months of siege, children begged for bread and no one had any. The rich died in the streets.
- Bread kept. The one man who had spoken God's word received a loaf a day, right up until the city had none left.
- Bread restored. The month became a national fast, and God promised that this very day of mourning will one day be a feast of joy.
And the city was broken into; and all the men of war [fled] by night, by the way of the gate between the two walls, which [leads] to the king's garden (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about); and they went the way toward the plain.
The siege had run eighteen months and the bread was gone. Then the wall of Jerusalem gave way, and the king and his soldiers slipped out by night through a gate near the garden. Two questions hang over that night. Where did they think they could go? And why did the king run, when God had offered him terms?
Verse 4 is the moment the defence collapses. One writer sets the flight directly against the alternative the king had, and then points out how hopeless the plan was:
The siege continued for a year and a half, until the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign (v.2). Their supply of food ran out (v.3), and at that time the enemy broke into the city. But they would not surrender to the king of Babylon. Instead, all the men of war and Zedekiah tried to escape at night through a gate between two walls (v.4). How did they expect to escape when the army of the Chaldeans surrounded the city?
The gate between the two walls and the king's garden mark a real route out of the city, aimed at the Jordan valley. The enemy already held the other end:
On the ninth day of the fourth month, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the enemy took the northern suburb. Before the middle gate the Babylonian captains held a council of war. Then the king and all the regular army sought safety in flight during the darkness of the night. Since the Chaldeans held the northern part of the city, they fled southwards. They went between the two walls, out through the "fountain-gate," and past the king's garden, hurrying to reach the Jordan.
This flight was not the king's only option. God had already named the terms, and they were generous:
Jeremiah told Zedekiah, by the word of the Lord, that if he surrendered to the king of Babylon he would live, and the city would not be burned with fire. If he would not surrender, the city would be burned and he would not escape (Jer. 38:17-18). But because of Zedekiah's fear of the Jews, he would not surrender.
Fear ruled this king. He was never in charge of his own capital:
Zedekiah himself persecutes Jeremiah and shuts him up in the court of the prison (Jer. 32:2-3), but in fact it is the king who is the captive of his captains and his princes, and he does not dare resist them. In reality he did not hate Jeremiah. The fear of men pressed him, instead of the fear of the Lord, whom he had despised and dishonoured (Jer. 38:24-28).
This is more than one man's panic. Warnings ignored for years arrive at last, and bold men break:
Hopes founded on man are vain, most of all for God's people when He is morally judging. Unbelief is rich in nothing but devices to fend off submission to God — even more than it fends off conviction. But in the end the moment comes to fulfil the warning they ignored for so long. Then the stout-hearted become cowards, all the more because they have a guilty conscience.
The escape did not defeat God's word. It carried it out — including two predictions that seem to cancel each other:
Both prophets implied that, though he might try to escape, he would be taken. Both affirmed that he must go to Babylon. But Ezekiel predicted, "yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there." Jeremiah predicted, "your eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth." … The fugitive king was pursued and overtaken before he crossed the Jordan. At Riblah the king of Babylon judged the matter. He had Zedekiah's sons killed before their guilty father's eyes, then put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with chains and carried him to Babylon. So he did not see Babylon, though he went there. Yet he did see the eyes of the angry conqueror, who spoke with him face to face. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
Not everyone in Jerusalem ran. Those who did the opposite of verse 4 came out alive:
Only a small remnant had their lives saved — those who had received the Lord's message and had handed themselves over to the Chaldeans (2 Kings 25:11). They were the good figs of Jeremiah 24.
- Word given. Jeremiah brought Zedekiah the terms: surrender and live; refuse, and the city burns and you will not escape.
- Word refused. He would not surrender. Fear of his own princes held him, not the fear of the Lord.
- Word evaded. When the wall broke he fled by night through the king's garden. With the enemy ringed around the city, where could he go?
- Word fulfilled. They caught him before the Jordan. He saw the king of Babylon's eyes, then lost his own — and so never saw Babylon. Two prophecies, both true.
- Word obeyed. Those who gave themselves up, as God had said, kept their lives. Obedience, not escape, was the way out.
And the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
The Chaldean army has Jerusalem surrounded, and King Zedekiah slips out of the city by night toward the Jordan. Verse 5 tells what happened next: the chase, the capture near Jericho, and an army that scattered from its king.
The king ran rather than surrender. One writer asks the obvious question about that choice:
But instead of surrendering to the king of Babylon, all the men of war and Zedekiah sought to escape at night by way of a gate between two walls. How did they expect to escape when the army of the Chaldeans surrounded the city? At least, Zedekiah and his sons were caught, though others of his men were scattered from him.
Zedekiah was not running blind. The prophet had already told him how to save his life, his house and the city.
Had not the prophet given Zedekiah this promise? If he went out to the king of Babylon's princes, he and his house would live, and the city would not be burned with fire. Sadly, this is one of the effects of the evil heart that turns away from the living God. It always seems to forget the word just when the word is needed most. It feels the force of that word only after it has taken up some new plan of its own, as disappointing as all the ones before. How bitter to remember too late that everything the heart clung to must be given up to vengeance and the enemy! The ruin about to follow is the fruit of one's own folly.
His dealings with the prophet followed a pattern. He asked for prayer, he asked for prophecy, then refused what came back:
He was hypocritical also. He pretended to want the prophet's prayers, saying, "Please pray to the LORD our God for us." At times he also pretended to trust Jeremiah's prophecies: "Inquire of the LORD for us." But when those prophecies came, he refused to heed or believe them.
The Chaldean army caught him. Long before, Ezekiel had described that capture as God's own act.
Ezekiel says: "And the prince who is among them shall lift his baggage upon his shoulder at dusk, and shall go out. They shall dig through the wall to bring him out through it. He shall cover his face, that he may not see the land with his eyes. And I will spread My net over him, and he shall be taken in My snare. And I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he shall not see it, and he shall die there."
Two prophecies about Zedekiah's end look like they clash.
Ezekiel foretold that he would not see Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, though he would die there. Jeremiah foretold that his eyes would see the eyes of the king of Babylon. To a shallow reader this might look hard to reconcile, even a contradiction. But such a thought would only be ignorance, and irreverence too. Each prophet gave out from God beforehand what the events themselves fulfilled. The Chaldeans pursued the fleeing king and overtook him before he crossed the Jordan. At Riblah the king of Babylon judged his case. He had Zedekiah's sons killed in front of their guilty father's eyes, then put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with chains and carried him to Babylon. So he did not see Babylon, though he went there; yet he did see the eyes of the angry conqueror, who spoke with him face to face. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
The capture cost more than a battle. It took away the man the people had expected to live under.
The Babylonians had captured the king, despite his effort to escape with a few loyal attendants. "The breath of our nostrils, the LORD's anointed, was captured in their pits, of whom we said, 'Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.'" Not until the true Anointed of the Lord comes will there be a ruler under whose shadow His people can live in perfect security.
Even here, the sentence had a limit.
Only, according to the word of the prophet, he does not die a violent death. The Lord takes notice of the least sign of turning in this poor king. Zedekiah had shown a moment of pity for the servant of the Lord and had listened to his word. Yet he lacked the courage to follow that word, and the faith to humble himself before God.
- Word refused. Zedekiah asked Jeremiah for prayer and for prophecy. Then he refused the answer. That refusal put him on the road to Jericho.
- Word forgotten. A heart turned from God forgets the promise just when it would have saved. Zedekiah ran from the one surrender that would have spared his life and his house.
- Word enacted. The Chaldean pursuit was God's net, spread beforehand in Ezekiel's picture of the prince taken in a snare.
- Word verified. Two sayings that look opposed came true in one event. Zedekiah met the eyes of Babylon's king at Riblah, and never saw Babylon itself.
- Word tempered. The capture cost Judah its shelter. Yet Zedekiah did not die a violent death, and the shelter the people longed for still waits for the true Anointed.
And they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon unto Riblah; and they pronounced judgment upon him,
The last king in David's line ends his reign as a prisoner. He stands in an enemy war camp far from Jerusalem, waiting for a Gentile king to sentence him. Two questions run through the chapter: why did it come to this, and whose judgment did Riblah really carry out?
The march to Riblah began with a broken promise. Zedekiah had sworn a covenant with Nebuchadnezzar. One writer ties the ruin to the king's contempt for that oath:
"Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon." He had no real faith in Jehovah, Israel's covenant-keeping God, and so he had no scruples about breaking his covenant with Nebuchadnezzar. But how dearly he paid for violating his oath!
The same writer names what Zedekiah leaned on, and where his captors took him:
The occasion of this rebellion was Zedekiah's hope of help from the king of Egypt (see Ezekiel 17:11-21)… He was brought, with his sons, to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. That was "on the high road between Palestine and Babylon, where the Babylonian kings stayed while directing the operations of their armies in Palestine and Phoenicia."
"They passed sentence upon him" describes something formal. The king of Judah was tried:
But their flight could not go unnoticed. They were pursued and overtaken in the plains of Jericho. The soldiers scattered in various directions. But the king himself and his household were taken captive and carried to the headquarters at Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar himself was at the time. Here Zedekiah was formally charged and sentenced.
Two prophecies about Zedekiah seem to clash. One had him meeting the king of Babylon face to face. The other said he would never see Babylon. Riblah is where both came true:
Even more remarkable, another prophet was given this word to prophesy: that Zedekiah's eyes would be put out, and that he would not see Babylon. "And I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he shall not see it, and he shall die there." (Ezekiel 12:13.) Both are true. His eyes did not see the king of Babylon in Babylon. He was taken prisoner in "the plains of Jericho." From there they brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath.
Jeremiah had offered Zedekiah a way out, and he took his own way instead. The same writer shows how such a heart acts in a crisis:
A spirit that has given in to man's thoughts against God's word remembers very little in the moment of greatest need. It is solemn to see how it forgets what might even then have saved city, people and prince alike. Had not the prophet assured Zedekiah that if he went out to the king of Babylon's princes, he and his house would live, and the city would not be burned with fire? Sadly, this is one of the effects of the evil heart that turns away from the living God: it always seems to forget the word just when the word is needed most… How bitter to remember too late that everything the heart clung to must be handed over to vengeance and the enemy. The destruction soon to follow is the fruit of one's own folly.
Riblah was more than one man's downfall. One writer treats the fall of Jerusalem as a turning point:
Nebuchadnezzar overthrew Jerusalem and carried Judah away captive. After that, everything changed. Royal authority did not pass from the house of David to some other family in Israel, as it had passed from Saul and his house to David and his descendants. No; the covenant with David and his descendants is not broken. Far from it. The captivity was part of the chastening promised in the covenant if David's children failed to walk in his steps. But there was a transfer of power, a transfer from Israel altogether to the Gentiles.
Even in a sentence this severe, one commentator finds a possible mercy in the words "until I visit him" (Jeremiah 32:5):
It is more fitting to take the expression to mean that God in mercy would visit him with repentance and a true knowledge of Himself, as He did with Manasseh before him. How often God has used the stern hand of His government to break down the pride and rebellion of the heart! Through such a "visitation" He secures for the repentant soul the truest liberty of all — deliverance from the bondage of sin. So his soul would be set free, though his body stayed in chains.
- Sentence earned — Zedekiah stood at Riblah because he broke a sworn covenant while leaning on Egypt instead of God.
- Sentence formal — his captors did not cut him down in flight; they charged him and judged him, a king tried in a foreign camp.
- Sentence foretold — the trial fulfilled both prophecies at once: he saw the king of Babylon's face, yet never saw Babylon.
- Sentence avoidable — Jeremiah had promised life if he surrendered; the ruin was the fruit of his own choice.
- Sentence larger than one man — power passed from Israel to the Gentiles. Yet God's covenant with David stood, and even the blinded king might still meet God's mercy.
and slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with chains of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
Zedekiah's last moment as a seeing man was also the last moment of the kingdom of Judah. One verse ends the line of kings that began with David. Did God's promise to David end with it?
Zedekiah faced a trial before the sentence fell, and his daughters went free.
They took the king himself and his household captive and carried them to the headquarters at Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar was at the time. Here Zedekiah faced a formal trial, and the sentence went against him. They set his daughters free, but killed his sons in front of him. It was the last sight the king saw. They put out his eyes, bound him hand and foot with double chains of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
Another writer gives the literal force of the words: his eyes were "dug" out of their sockets (C. Knapp).
This was not random Babylonian cruelty. Zedekiah had sworn an oath by God and then broken it.
While David's throne stood, it was still "the throne of the LORD," however weak and shameful its kings might be. The last king, Zedekiah, brought on the ruin by his treachery. Nebuchadnezzar "made him swear by God" (2 Chronicles 36:13), but he "despised the oath by breaking the covenant" (Ezekiel 17:17-18). Nothing was sacred in his eyes.
Jeremiah said Zedekiah would look the king of Babylon in the eye. Ezekiel said he would go to Babylon but never see it. This verse is where both come true at once.
Both prophets implied that he would be caught, even if he tried to escape. Both said he must go to Babylon. Ezekiel predicted that he would not see it, though he would die there. Jeremiah predicted that his eyes would see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and that the king would speak with him face to face. At first glance the two look hard to square, even contradictory... So he did not see Babylon, though he went there; yet he did see the eyes of the angry conqueror who spoke with him face to face. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
Zedekiah stayed in prison until he died. Yet Jeremiah had also said "until I visit him," and commentators read hope into that phrase.
It fits better to take the words this way: God in mercy would visit him with repentance and a true knowledge of Himself, as He did with Manasseh before him. How often God has used the stern hand of His government to break down the pride and rebellion of the heart! Through such a "visitation" He gives the repentant soul the truest liberty of all — deliverance from the bondage of sin. So his soul would go free, though his body stayed in prison.
The same mercy shows in how he died. God spared Zedekiah a violent death. One writer sees the Lord "paying heed to the least bit of evidence of turning in this poor king." Zedekiah "had shown a moment of pity for the servant of the Lord and had listened to his word, although he lacked the courage to follow it" (H. L. Rossier).
The physical blinding of the last king carries a wider meaning.
How solemn a judgment for a king of Judah! But it is a picture of Israel's eyes being blinded today because of unbelief (Romans 11:7-8). That spiritual blindness has lasted ever since their scattering among the Gentiles.
God had told David his throne would stand for ever. This verse seems to bury that word in chains.
The last king of Judah was taken captive to Babylon. He was blinded, bound in brass chains and carried in disgrace to that city. Was God's promise overthrown? It was not. If the record of David's seed ended in total failure, then another seed of David must come. Only then can God's promise to David be fulfilled. That Seed has surely come.
God emptied the throne on purpose, not by accident.
Every other hand has proved unfit to hold this sceptre, which God is taking from the line of David for a time. But there is One who has the right, and He will press His claim to it... How we forget that the overturning is not against His right — it has His right in view.
- Oath — Zedekiah swore by God to Babylon and then broke his word. The throne he sat on was the Lord's, so his treachery struck at God before it struck at Nebuchadnezzar.
- Sight — the death of his sons was the last thing his eyes ever saw. The sentence fell in the exact shape the prophets had described.
- Word — Jeremiah and Ezekiel sounded like they contradicted each other. Riblah made both true to the letter. No word of the Lord falls to the ground.
- Mercy — even here God noted the little good in this king. He spared him a violent death, and one writer reads His promise to "visit him" as repentance that frees the soul while the body stays in chains.
- Throne — David's seat was not destroyed but emptied. The overturning waits for the One whose right it is, and God's promise to David is fulfilled in Him.