Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion
1 In those days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, invaded the land, and Jeho iakim became subject to him for three years, after which he rebelled.
2 Yahweh then sent against Jehoiakim, bands of Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites and Ammonites. They raided the land of Judah and destroyed it according to the word Yahweh had spoken through his servants, the prophets.
3 All this happened only because Yahweh had ordered it so. He willed to cast the people far away from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh, and all the evils he had done.
4 And also because of the innocent blood he had shed that filled Jerusalem. Because of all this, Yahweh would not pardon them.
5 The rest regarding Jehoiakim and all that he did is written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.
6 When Jehoiakim died, his son Jehoiachin succeeded him.
7 The king of Egypt did not leave his own land again because the king of Babylon had con quered all that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates River.
The first exile
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he succeeded his father, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Ne hushta, daugh ter of Elna than of Jerusalem.
9 Jehoiachin treated Yah weh badly, as his father had done.
10 At that time, the officials of Nebu chad nezzar, king of Babylon, came to attack Jerusalem, surrounding the city.
11 Nebuchad nezzar came while the city was being be sieged by his men.
12 Jehoiachin, king of Judah, surrendered together with his mother, his ser vants, his leaders and the pa lace officials. It was the eighth year of the reign of Nebuchad nezzar.
13 Nebuchadnezzar captured them and he took away the treasures of the House of Yahweh and of the king’s house. He also destroyed all the objects of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made for the sanctuary of Yahweh. So the word Yahweh had spoken, was fulfilled.
14 Nebuchadnezzar carried off into exile all the leaders and prominent men, the blacksmiths and lock smiths, all the men of valor fit for war. A total of ten thousand were exiled to Babylon. Only the poorest sector of the population was left.
15 Nebu chaddnezzar also carried away Jehoiachin, with his mo ther, his wives, the ministers of the palace, and the prominent men of the land.
16 So all the prominent people, num bering seven thousand, the blacksmiths, numbering a thousand, and all the men fit for war were deported to Babylon by the king of Babylon.
17 He made Mattaniah, Jehoia chin’s uncle, king of Jerusalem, in place of Jehoiachin. And he changed his name to Zedekiah.
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Ha mutal, daughter of Jere miah.
19 He did what displeased Yahweh, as Jehoiakim had done;
20 so the punishment of Yahweh fell on Jerusalem and Judah, until he cast them far away from his presence. And Ze dekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
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Comments 2 Kings, Chapter 24
• 24.8 The destruction of the kingdom of Judah takes place in two stages:
– 598 B.C. Jehoiakim has just died. His son, Jehoiachin surrenders in the city under siege. First exile of the elite to Babylon. The Chaldeans (people of Babylon) force Zedekiah to be king.
– 587 B.C. Zedekiah rebels against the Chaldeans who come to destroy Jerusalem and its temple. Second exile to Babylon.
The Bible states that this destruction – as that of Samaria – would not have occurred, because God is faithful to his covenant, if there had not been such an accumulation of sins and rebellions. To the very last moment, everything could have been saved if Zedekiah had listened to the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 38).
However, against all hope, the Jewish nation rises from its ashes sixty years after its destruction. History shows that the great empires – the Hittites, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans – disappeared forever. We find their statues in museums and their archives recovered after thirty centuries of complete oblivion. The people of Judah, however, go back to their land. Purified by their trials and encouraged by the prophets, they return seeking a new Covenant, a more sincere and interior one, with their God. They come back from the exile under the guidance of Zerubbabel, a descendant of king Jehoiachin and Jesus’ an cestor.