2 Kings 24

2 Kings 24
Now entered the rising power of Babylon into Judah's history. It had been foretold in Isaiah's message to the godly king, Hezekiah ( chapter 20:17), when Assyria was the great power, rivaling Egypt at the time. Jehoiakim's story contains nothing that suggests a change of heart such as we read of in Manasseh (2 Chron. 33:12-1912And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13And prayed unto him: and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God. 14Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah. 15And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. 16And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. 17Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the Lord their God only. 18Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. 19His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers. (2 Chronicles 33:12‑19)). His son Jehoiachin was as evil as the father had been; and in his days, the conquering hosts of Babylon entered Jerusalem, and carried away the king and all the people, except the poorest sort, and with the captives, all the treasures of the temple, and of the king's house.
Here ends Israel's history as the acknowledged people of God in a peculiar place of responsibility and favor among the nations; the "times of the Gentiles" begin now. The temple and the kingdom remained for a brief season, but stripped of the glory.
The king's uncle, Mattaniah, was made the ruler of the land of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, with his name changed to Zedekiah. This is another change of name without special significance, we judge. It was a mark of the power of the conqueror. Zedekiah's reign was the last, as we shall see in the next chapter.
How is speaks to the heart of the believer, to consider the history of Israel through the years in Egypt; in the wilderness with Moses; the conquest of the land under Joshua; the early decline, beginning almost in Joshua's day; the state of things revealed in the book of Judges and in Samuel's lifetime; the history of David, the man after God's heart (though he sinned, his repentance was deep); of Solomon, and the cleavage in the kingdom; the ten tribes immediately led into idolatry, but followed by their faithful God with such devoted servants as Elijah, Elisha, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah and others. See 2 Chronicles 36:15, 16,15And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: 16But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. (2 Chronicles 36:15‑16) pronouncing the doom of the nation, though grace would deal with them again in the bringing back of a remnant to occupy the land,—alas! then to reject their Messiah to death, the crowning sin of Israel, far eclipsing the sin which brought about their captivity under the Assyrians and Nebuchadnezzar.