seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Chronicles 36:15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. 17 He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians,[g] who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. 18 He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. 19 They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.
20 He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 21 The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.
22 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:
23 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.’”
g. 2 Chronicles 36:17 Or Chaldeans
This is from the easy English site.
The LORD sent Nebuchadnezzar to punish Judah as he had warned them. So, the army of Babylon came again and it surrounded Jerusalem. After one and a half years, there was no more food in Jerusalem. In 587 BC, the soldiers from Babylon broke down the walls of the city.
Zedekiah and his army ran from the city and they tried to escape. But the soldiers from Babylon caught them near Jericho town. They took Zedekiah to the town called Riblah in Syria to meet King Nebuchadnezzar. As Zedekiah watched them, they killed his sons. Then they took his eyes out so that he was blind. They bound him with chains and they took him to Babylon.
The soldiers from Babylon killed many of the people. Many people hid in the temple area but that did not save them. The soldiers from Babylon killed the young people and the old people, men and women. And they took many people to be their slaves in Babylon. They were slaves for many years until the army of Persia captured Babylon (in 539 BC). The soldiers from Babylon left some of the poorer people in Judah. But they took all the valuable things from the temple and from the houses of the rich people.
Then the soldiers from Babylon destroyed the temple by fire. And they destroyed most of the buildings in Jerusalem.
Just a few people cultivated the fields for 70 years. The law said that the Israelites should not cultivate the land on the 7th year (Leviticus 25:4-7). The land should have rest during each 7th year. For 490 years, the people had not given to the land the rest that was due to it (Leviticus 26:34-35). Now, it had 70 years of rest. These 70 years started in the 4th year of Jehoiakim (605 BC.) and they ended in 536 BC.
In October 539 BC, the army of Cyrus king of Persia captured Babylon. So, he became king of Babylon. In his first year as king of Babylon in 538 BC, he wrote a letter. And he sent it everywhere in his entire kingdom.
He recorded that the LORD is the God of heaven. He said that God had given to him all the kingdoms on the earth. And he said that God had told him to build a temple for the LORD in Jerusalem. So, he told the Jews in exile that they were free to return to Jerusalem. Cyrus wrote what Isaiah had prophesied (Isaiah 44:28-45:5).
Jeremiah wrote that Babylon would rule Judah for 70 years. After that time, the LORD would bring the Jews back from their exile (Jeremiah 29:10). The first exiles went to Babylon in 605 BC. Some of the Jews returned to Jerusalem after 538 BC. They started to build the temple in 536 BC.
God was still looking after his people.
Some of the hardest times a mom faces is correcting her child. I can tell you that teaching your child to lay down and go to sleep at night is a workout for the body and the heart. My kids liked being up... they never wanted the day to end.... [I'll have to remember that next time I'm thinking what a terrible mom I have been....anyway...] I would start the ritual two hours before bedtime.... dinner.... never anything sugary.... all spikes in energy were avoided. After dinner and dishes.... a nice warm soothing bath followed by soft warm jammies and their blanket. Fed, warm, soft..... a favorite show on PBS.... educational but not too exciting.... and every single night.... when I said "ok... bedtime".... they would open their whine.... As they got older.... my kids started to make deals with me.... if I let them stay up they would "behave". My kids couldn't get to far with the "behave" argument.... I had that answer... I'm the oldest of five kids myself.... I know the rules.... and I would reply.... "how could you "behave" any better... y'all are such angels anyway.... time for night night...." and then the sobbing and promising would begin.....
When they were all tucked in their beds... the lights down... and the doors cracked to let the hall light in.... they would still talk some but eventually they would all go to sleep... the day would end and a new one would begin.....
That wasn't the way it went on the first night though.... on the first night... when they were new.... they thought all they had to do was cry and I would be there. They wanted me there so they cried and cried and cried and cried and after two or three minutes I was sure I couldn't take it another minute.... I would check to make sure they weren't really being stuck by a diaper pin.... yep I'm that old.... and they would get all excited ..... thinking I had heard their promises to "be good".... and my heart would break.... they were good.... but they needed to go to sleep..... I needed a break. To be honest the second night wasn't all that good either.... every baby has to learn to rest.... if not for themselves... for their mom.
The commentary says people were slaughtered and the temple was burned to the ground. Some were castrated and taken into slavery. Some were left... with nothing... even the ground was too tired to fight. Makes the heartbreak of a warm soft well fed child crying to spend more time with mom sound a little pathetic.... but I'm sure that horror and aching in my heart while I endured those few nights was nothing compared to how God felt.
I find it odd.... the king watched his sons murder... and then they gouged out his eyes so that was the last thing he would see. I wonder... the Bible says Zedekiah had a bunch of those fake gods and shiny idols in the Temple.... Did molech taste the flesh of any of Zedekiah's children? If a man would sacrifice a baby to a fake god.... sing while it's flesh is burned to muscle.... what difference would it make for him to watch someone put a sword through one of his babies. Skewered or laid flat.... they're still sacrificed.... and Zedekiah is only thinking of himself.
Good job God.... Judah needs a break.
