seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Kings 25:1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. 2 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. 4 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah, 5 but the Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, 6 and he was captured.
He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. 7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 10 The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. 12 But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
13 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried the bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. 15 The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver.
16 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed. 17 Each pillar was eighteen cubits high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.
18 The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. 19 Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and five royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of the conscripts who were found in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.
So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.
22 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah. 23 When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men. 24 Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”
25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. 26 At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.
27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. 28 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. 30 Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.
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Here's the link to the commentary I read.
God sent Nebuchadnezzar!
They built a siege wall against it all around: Nebuchadnezzar used the common method of attack in those days of securely walled cities — a siege wall. A siege was intended to surround a city, prevent all business and trade from entering or leaving the city, and to eventually starve the population into surrender.
Then the city wall was broken through: At this desperate point for Judah during the siege of Jerusalem, Zedekiah made a last-chance effort to escape the grip of the nearly-completely successful siege. They planned a secret break through the city walls and the siege lines of the Babylonians, using a diversionary tactic.
Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put out the eyes of Zedekiah: The Babylonians were not known to be as cruel as the Assyrians who conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel some 150 years earlier, but they were still experts in cruelty in their own right. They made certain that the last sight King Zedekiah saw was the murder of his own sons, and then he spent the rest of his life in darkness.
He burned the house of the LORD: Solomon’s great temple was now a ruin. It would stay a ruin for many years, until it was humbly rebuilt by the returning exiles in the days of Ezra.
“The Talmud declares that when the Babylonians entered the temple, they held a two-day feast there to desecrate it; then, on the third day, they set fire to the building. The Talmud adds that the fire burned throughout that day and the next.” (Dilday)
Broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around: The walls of Jerusalem — the physical security of the city — were now destroyed. Jerusalem was no longer a place of safety and security. The walls would remain a ruin until they were rebuilt by the returning exiles in the days of Nehemiah.
On Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard: “That title in Hebrew is literally, ‘the chief executioner’ or ‘the slaughterer.’ Methodically, he set about to demolish the beautiful city, burning the palace and the chief buildings, breaking down the walls, and wrecking the temple.” (Dilday)
Carried away captive the rest of the people who remained in the city: This was the third major wave of captivity, taking the remaining people all except for the poor of the land.
Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you: It seemed unpatriotic and perhaps ungodly to do this, but it was the right thing to do. The best they could do under this situation of deserved and unstoppable judgment was to simply accept it from the hand of God and do the right thing under the Babylonians.
Came with ten men and struck and killed Gedaliah: Because Gedaliah led the remaining people of Judah to submit to the Babylonians (also here called the Chaldeans), he was assassinated as a traitor to the resistance movement against the Babylonians.
All the people… arose and went to Egypt: They did this because they were afraid of what the Babylonians would do to them in light of the assassination of Gedaliah the governor. In this case, going to Egypt was worse than submitting to the judgment of God brought through the Babylonians.
Released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison… spoke kindly to him, and gave him a more prominent seat: The final words of the Book of 2 Kings describe small kindnesses and blessings given in the worst circumstances. Judah was still depopulated; the people of God were still exiled; and the king of Judah was still a prisoner in Babylon. Yet, looking for even small notes of grace and mercy as evidences of the returning favor of God, the divine historian noted that King Jehoiachin began to receive better treatment in Babylon.
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I skipped ahead again. After Josiah tried every little thing he could to straighten Judah out, and get God's people back in God's good graces, two more bad kings came along and did exactly what the bums before Josiah did. The people went back to their old ways.
What if some other nation, some nation we've had low on our radar, [like Columbia or Brazil or even one we have been watching intently, like Russia or China] just took over and pulled everyone out of their homes? What if some other nation killed a bunch of "fighters" who didn't go easily? What if they took our President hostage? What if they killed our Vice President, Speaker of the House, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court? What if they loaded us on freight liners, like cattle, and took us off to live in a distant land as slaves or second-class citizens?
What if what happened back in the American Slave Trade, happened here and now?????
What if they picked up white, freckled, brown, black, or yellow alike and shipped them off into slavery in a foreign country?!?
What would you do if they picked you and your family up, forced you to wear forged anklets of steel, and chained you all together and marched you out of your homes????
Remember, these people have been under siege for so long, just 3 hots and a cot of slavery would seem like a luxury vacation, compared to what they had been going through for years.
Check out verse 6! What if they killed the President's son and then poked out his eyes so the death of his son was the last thing he would ever see? That's what they did. They killed the king's sons in front of him, and then poked out his eyes, and imprisoned him. I know, there are some patriots who would say, "they deserved it". But what if it were Donald, Donald Jr., and Eric? What if we couldn't fight back to save them????
Check out verse 27. How would we feel if they put the President at the table, blind, but in a prominent spot at the table? Would we be more compliant??? Is that why they offered the king of Judah a prominent seat?
God sent Nebuchadnezzar!
