The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 133, Zedekiah King Of Judah, Part One

In Tuesday's study King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took Jehoiachin, the king of Judah who surrendered to him, captive to Babylon and placed Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, on the throne as a vassal king. He changed Mattaniah's name to Zedekiah. Both of these names are Hebrew names and it is not clear whether Nebuchadnezzar chose the change of name or simply insisted that it be changed as a demonstration of his authority over the king of Judah. The original name meant "gift of God" and the new name means "the Lord is righteous". Whether or not Nebuchadnezzar chose this name, we are going to see the Lord carrying out righteous judgment during King Zedekiah's reign. He will be an evil man, like several of his predecessors, and will refuse to repent and turn to the Lord. A large number of the citizens of his kingdom will be of the same mindset as he is.  

In addition of taking away some members of the royal family and top officials, Nebuchadnezzar also carried off many of the treasures of Jerusalem and all but the poorest and least-skilled and least-educated citizens of Jerusalem. Zedekiah's kingdom has been heavily reduced, not only in Jerusalem but throughout the Negev by the Babylonian army. Babylon will largely destroy the nation of Judah but will do it in several stages. We have already seen two episodes in which Nebuchadnezzar took many citizens to Babylon. We will study a third deportation later on in the Old Testament. 

Zedekiah, though he is the deposed Jehoiachin's uncle, is only three years older than the exiled king. "Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done." (2 Kings 24:18-19) His grandfather Jeremiah was not the prophet Jeremiah, who was from Anathoth and not from Libnah. The author of 2 Kings compares Zedekiah's wickedness to that of Jehoiakim, perhaps because his predecessor Jehoiachin was only king for three months. Jehoiakim was king for eleven years which is the same length as the reign of Zedekiah. This means both Jehoiakim and Zedekiah have the same amount of time in which to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. 

The author of 2 Chronicles adds this information: "He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God's name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem." (2 Chronicles 36:11-14)

Zedekiah is an idolater like so many of his family members have been. Since the death of Josiah who loved the Lord and who made many religious reforms, there has not been a godly king on the throne of Judah. The kings since him have done whatever they pleased and the people have done whatever they pleased. There are people in Judah who are still faithful to the Lord, as we will see when we arrive at the books of the prophets, but the nation as a whole has fallen into such widescale idolatry that the Lord is going to allow the nation to completely fall to the enemy. The time has come when no more reprieves will be given. We are about to begin the portions of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles that deal with the fulfillment of the prophecies against Judah and Jerusalem.

I plan to post the Bible study on Thursday and Friday and then I will be leaving on vacation. So we will be taking a break from Saturday, June 24th until Sunday, July 2nd. I plan for us to pick up where we left off on that Sunday morning.