2 Kings 25:2

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.