67. THE KINGDOM OVERTHROWN
€ It shall be no more until he comes whose right it is and I will give it him "
Aim
To show how Judah refused to listen to God's prophets and as a result of this Jerusalem was overthrown and the people taken into captivity.
God had said in the days of Josiah, "/ will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen" (2 Kings 23:27). Josiah himself had been righteous, and so God had shown him mercy by not bringing this evil in his days. It was a sad day for Judah when Josiah died and it was not very long before God's judgements were felt in the land.
2 Chronicles 36; 2 Kings 23:31-37; Jeremiah 36
THE LAST KINGS OF JUDAH: 2 Chronicles 36:1-10
Josiah had three sons, who each reigned after him. Not one of them had the lovely ways of his father, nor did any of them dedicate themselves to serving God as Josiah had done. They all "did that which was evil in the sight of 'Yahweh" (2 Kings 23:32, 37; 24:9, 19).
First was Jehoahaz. He was only on the throne for three months. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, put him in prison and made the people of Judah pay tribute of gold and silver. Finally Pharaoh took him away to Egypt where he eventually died.
In his place Pharaoh set up Jehoiakim as king in Judah. He had to tax his own people heavily so that they could continue to pay tribute to Egypt. Yet he himself lived in luxury in Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet rebuked him openly for his covetousness. His father, Josiah, had not been like that. His father had been just and fair: he had cared for "the poor and needy" in Judah and was known for his kind deeds (Jeremiah 22:13-19).
Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years. During the third year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, fought against Pharaoh in a great battle. Babylon won and so Jehoiakim now had to pay tribute to Babylon instead of Egypt. If only he had listened to Jeremiah he might have saved his own life. Jeremiah knew that God was sending Babylon to destroy Jerusalem. He told the people plainly that they would be taken captive to Babylon and would stay there for seventy years. The sensible thing was to believe this prophecy and do whatever the king of Babylon asked. Jehoiakim was foolish; he was too proud to listen to Jeremiah and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.
JEHOIAKIM BURNS THE SCROLL: Jeremiah 36
God had tried many times through His prophets to turn back the hearts of the people, for He was always ready to show mercy. In the reign of Jehoiakim, He told Jeremiah to write out all the prophecies He had told him on a scroll. "It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin " (v 3). So Jeremiah called for a scribe named Baruch, a faithful man and close friend of the prophet. He listened to Jeremiah and wrote down on a scroll all that God had told him. Then he went out and read it aloud to any who stopped to hear. The people had gathered to mourn the evil things that had come upon them. The words of God on the scroll were words of anger, but full of hope to any who listened carefully. One man who stopped to hear, went and told it all to the princes. They summoned Baruch to them so that they could hear Jeremiah's words for themselves. When Baruch finished reading "they were afraid... and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words " (v 16). Then they asked him, "How didst thou write all these words at his mouth? "(v 17). So Baruch told them, "He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book" (v 18). They all knew what kind of man Jehoiakim was and knew that Jeremiah and Baruch were in danger of losing their lives when the king heard about it. So they advised him to hide. "Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be" (v 19).
So the princes, realising the seriousness of all they had heard, went into the king, who sat by the fire in his winter palace. When they had explained why they had come, Jehoiakim chose one of them to read from the scroll. Not many lines had been read before Jehoiakim realised that it was the same story he had heard from Jeremiah many times before. He would show what he thought of these threatening words! Taking up the penknife lying on the table before him, he slashed the scroll and threw the pieces in the fire. Most of the princes felt easier in their own minds now. If the king was not afraid, well, they would not worry either.
But it was God's Word! Three of them were horrified at his behav iour, but the king took no notice. He sent his men out to find Jeremiah and Baruch, "but Yahweh hid them " (v 26).
So God's Word was despised. How could Judah be saved with such wicked, godless men as their leaders.
Jehoiakim's action only brought worse punishments from God upon him. "He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost" (v30).
When Nebuchadnezzar came again to Jerusalem he bound Jehoiakim in chains, to take him away to Babylon, but for some reason he changed his mind. He killed him in Jerusalem and threw his body over the walls. It was a lesson for all who passed by of what would happen to those who rebelled.
JEREMIAH'S WORDS ARE NOT HEEDED: 2 Chronicles 36:9-16; Jeremiah 38:10-13
Jehoiakim's own son Jehoiachin now reigned. He had only reigned for three months when Nebuchadnezzar surrounded Jerusalem and brought him captive to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar then set up Zedekiah, Josiah's other son, as king in Jerusalem. During his reign Jeremiah con tinued to warn the king and the people, but they brought forward false prophets who spoke what the people wanted to hear.
On one occasion Jeremiah was accused of betraying his country to the king of Babylon because he said, "He that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live" (Jeremiah 38:2). The princes said to the king, "Let this man be put to death for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war" (Jeremiah 38:4). They took him and threw him into a dungeon full of foul-smelling mud. There they left him to die, for the city was being besieged at this time by Nebuchadnezzar. But an Ethiopian eunuch pleaded with the king for his life and rescued him.
Still Zedekiah "humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of Yahweh" (2 Chronicles 36:12).
JERUSALEM FALLS: 2 Chronicles 37:17-21
Finally, in Zedekiah's eleventh year, the besieged city, now gravely weakened by eighteen months of famine and fear, fell to Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:1-2). Zedekiah, still ignoring Jeremiah's advice, tried to flee at night time, but the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar caught him and took him before their king. They made him watch while his sons were put to death. Then they put out his eyes and took him off to Babylon, where he died (2 Kings 25:4-7).
As for the city of Jerusalem, that city which God had chosen to put His Name there, it was destroyed.
The Babylonians broke down its walls and burnt all its palaces. They even burnt the glorious Temple that Solomon had built as a house of worship. All its treasures they took away to Babylon, together with the rest of the people who had not been killed by the sword. There they stayed until seventy long years had passed.
God would not be mocked. He kept His Word and punished the disobedient and rebellious as He had said.
LESSON FOR US
From this lesson we learn two things about God's wonderful char acter - He is merciful and longsuffering, yet just and by no means clear ing the guilty (Exodus 34:6-7). God demands obedience - we must obey Him. If we make mistakes, He will be quick to help us as soon as we try to change our ways. If, however, we refuse to hear His words and go our own way, He will punish us as we deserve. Our attitude to our own par ents must be the same. We must obey them or accept the punishment they said they would give us. If we are obedient to our parents, we are learning to be obedient to God.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
At the time of the fall of Jerusalem, while Jeremiah made a last effort to make the people listen to God, two great prophets were already in Babylon. Daniel had been taken captive in the reign of Jehoiakim (Dan iel 11:1-3, 6) and Ezekiel was taken away in the reign of Jehoiachin (Ezekiel 1:2). There in Babylon Ezekiel's words agreed with Jeremiah's. He spoke of Zedekiah as a "profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end" (Ezekiel 21:25) and so it all came to an end when Jerusalem fell. God said it should remain like that, without a king in the line of David, "until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him " (v 27). This is a very exciting proph ecy, for the one who has the right to the throne of David in Jerusalem is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has not yet reigned as king, but even at his birth this prophecy was confirmed, for the angel Gabriel said to Mary: "The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:32-33).
We believe that he will soon return from heaven, where he is now awaiting the set time when God will send him to set up that kingdom. (See Stage 4, Lesson 25, Additional Notes) Only then will Jerusalem become a great city. Once again even a more glorious Temple shall be built where all nations shall come to worship and God's Name shall be placed there forever. May this wonderful prophecy soon be fulfilled and may we through our faith and obedience to God share the happiness of the kingdom age.
QUESTIONS Short Answers
1. What were the names of Josiah's 3 sons?
2. How were they different from their father?
3. Which prophet in Jerusalem kept trying to make the people hear God's Word?
4. What did Baruch write on the scroll?
5. What did King Jehoiakim do when they read him the words on the scroll?
6. Who was the last king of Judah?
7. Where did they throw Jeremiah?
8. Who rescued Jeremiah?
9. What happened when Zedekiah tried to escape?
10. What happened to the Temple when Nebuchadnezzar broke into the city?
11. What happened to the people of Jerusalem when the city was de stroyed?
12. How long did Israel stay in captivity?
Detailed Answers
13. Tell how God told Jeremiah to write His prophecies on a scroll and what happened to the scroll
14. Jeremiah's words should have shown the people what God was really like. What should they have learned?
Additional Answers
15. (a) Will there ever be a king to reign on David's throne again?
(b) Who will it be?
(c) When will it happen?
KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH |
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JUDAH |
PERIOD OF REIGN |
ISRAEL |
PERIOD OF REIGN |
PROPHETS |
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Rehoboam |
17 years |
Jeroboam |
1 22 years |
Shemaiah |
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Ahijah |
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Abijam |
3 years |
Nadab |
2 years |
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Asa |
41 years |
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Hanani |
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Baasha |
24 years |
Oded |
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Azariah |
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Elah |
2 years |
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Zimri |
1 week |
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Omri |
12 years |
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Ahab |
22 years |
Elijah |
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Jehoshaphat |
25 years |
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Micaiah |
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Ahaziah |
2 years |
Jehu |
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Jehoram |
12 years |
Elisha |
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Jehoram |
8 years |
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Eliezer |
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Ahaziah |
1 year |
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Jahaziel |
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Athaliah |
6 years |
Jehu |
28 years |
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Joash |
40 years |
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Jehoahaz |
17 years |
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Jehoash |
16 years |
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Amaziah |
29 years |
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Jonah |
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Jeroboam 2 |
41 years |
Hosea |
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Uzziah |
52 years |
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Isaiah |
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(Azariah) |
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Amos |
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Zechariah |
6 months |
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Shallum |
1 month |
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Menahem |
10 years |
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Pekahiah |
2 years |
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Jotham |
16 years |
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Micah |
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Pekah |
20 years |
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Ahaz |
16 years |
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Hoshea |
9 years |
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TAKEN INTO CAPTIVITY |
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KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH |
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JUDAH |
PERIOD OF REIGN |
ISRAEL |
PERIOD OF REIGN |
PROPHETS |
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Hezekiah |
29 years |
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Nahum |
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Manasseh |
55 years |
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Amon |
2 years |
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Zephaniah |
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Josiah |
31 years |
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Joel |
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Jehoahaz |
3 months |
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Jeremiah |
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Jehoiakim |
11 years |
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Habakkuk |
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Jehoiachin |
3 months |
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Obadiah |
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Zedekiah |
11 years |
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TAKEN INTO CAPTIVITY SOME OF THE PROPHETS MINISTERED DURING SEVERAL REIGNS |
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