The latter part of chapter 21, and chapters 22 and 23 are occupied with the true state of king Zedekiah, his counselors and servants, the people and prophets. In view of this inward state, God could not grant the king's petition (chapter 21:2).
A godly walk is sure to bring blessing, for as a man sows, so shall he also reap, —a principle with God that we often see in action. How could Zedekiah and his people expect God's delivering power when verse 3 etc. plainly indicate that the opposite of what is there said was characteristic of them? Their course, persisted in, would bring, by the infallible word of God, judgment to the full.
Just so is it in this our day, dear reader, for there is a striking parallel in the course of Judah's favored people (see 2 Chronicles 86:11-10) and that of the professors. of Christianity in our times.
Gilead and the summit of Lebanon (verse 6) remind us that God's Word uses natural objects to illustrate His meaning; these are mountainous regions, one on the east, the other on the west of the Jordan. The loftiness, the pride and self-sufficiency of the house of the king of Judah would not avail in the day when the judgment of God fell upon the land; it was indeed imminent; the destroyer was encamped outside Jerusalem's wall.
Verse 10. More deeply affecting than the death of one's friends and relatives was the prospect that lay before the people who yet lived. Here the Holy Spirit has brought forward testimony concerning each of Josiah’s wicked sons and one grandson, as it were gathered together to hear the judgment of God. Shallum (i.e. Jehoahaz) the first to reign, carried away to Egypt a prisoner of Pharaoh Necho, might long to return, to see again the land clear to every Israelite, but he would nevermore tread its soil; where he was gone in chains he should die. In this was the token for the present king and in general his people; soon to be transported as Nebuchadnezzar's captives to Babylon—much further off than Egypt—they, too, would not see the land again. Actually. the king was blinded, and his sons were put to death by Nebuchadnezzar.
That some individuals lived through the captivity and returned to Jerusalem, we know from Ezra 3:12,12But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: (Ezra 3:12) but bearing in mind that seventy years elapsed from the first carrying away; and 63 years for most of the people, or 52 years for the few left with Zedekiah until Jerusalem was destroyed, were spent in and near Babylon, it is evident that few of those that came back in B. C. 530 had previously seen the land of Israel.
Jehoiakim, the second of Josiah's sons to reign, and we may suppose the eldest, is next dealt with (verses 13-19). Jeremiah alone gives us to know much of this king's schemes and ways: he tells in chapter 26 of Jehoiakim's killing Urijah, a prophet, and in the verses before us we see his character expressed. How different Josiah had been (verses 15-16). Verse 19 is our only information regarding Jehoiakim's death; we do not know what was the cause of it, but he evidently died in dishonor. Was this not a picture drawn for Zedekiah's consideration, of what lay before him?
Lastly in the chapter, Coniah (Jehoiachin) is the subject of the solemn word of God (verses 20-30). He was Jehoiakim's son, Josiah's grandson, and after a reign of three months was taken to Babylon, there to be imprisoned for 37 years (2 Kings 25:27-80). What is said of him was of course literally fulfilled; he and his mother (verse 26) were taken captive to Babylon (2 Kings 21:1515Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. (2 Kings 21:15)). In these verses we see a warning to Zedekiah that there would not be another king; he was the last of David's sons to reign until David's Lord reigns in the Millennium.