The Last Kings: 2 Chronicles 36

By: Henri L. Rossier

Narrator: Ivona Gentwo

2 Chronicles 36 • 4 min. read • grade level: 10

2 Chronicles 36

This chapter is only a summary, intentionally very brief, of the account contained in the last chapters of the book of Kings (2 Kings 23:31-25). The collapse of the kingdom is complete and final under the kings who succeeded Josiah. It hardly seems necessary to the inspired author to record these last convulsions. They have no more real importance in the book of Chronicles except to count, as far as history follows them, the links of the chain which will end with the Lord's Anointed. This is also why the Spirit of God in a remarkable way links the end of Chronicles to the book of Ezra, literally repeating in 2 Chron. 36:22-23²²Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, ²³Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up. (2 Chronicles 36:22‑23) the words with which the following book (Ezra) begins. Indeed, Zerubbabel, in the book of Ezra, is still a weak offshoot of Judah's royalty. Then come the revivals of Ezra and Nehemiah, revivals produced in the midst of a remnant returned from Babylon to await the promised Messiah; but these revivals also are without lasting result, and when at last the true King of Israel appears, His people crucify Him. Nevertheless God's counsels are fulfilled: the sufferings of Christ open the door to the establishment of His glorious throne on earth.

All the last kings "did evil in the sight of Jehovah." Jehoahaz (2 Chron. 36:1-4¹Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem. ²Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ³And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. ⁴And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt. (2 Chronicles 36:1‑4)) is bound with chains by Pharaoh Necho whom Josiah had the temerity to fight. Thus this pious king's only fault resulted in hastening the kingdom's decline. Carried away to Egypt, Jehoahaz dies there after having reigned for three months at Jerusalem.

Jehoiakim (2 Chron. 36:5-7⁵Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. ⁶Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. ⁷Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. (2 Chronicles 36:5‑7)) commits abominations; bound with chains of brass, he is led away by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon where he dies the death of an evil-doer (Jer. 36:30³⁰Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. (Jeremiah 36:30)). His mother's name is lacking in Chronicles, as is the case for all the evil kings after Hezekiah.

Jehoichin, his son, is carried away to Babylon. His restoration at the court of Evil-merodach, after 37 years of captivity, is not mentioned here (see 2 Kings 25:27-30²⁷And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; ²⁸And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon; ²⁹And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life. ³⁰And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life. (2 Kings 25:27‑30)), for here it is only a matter of accentuating the complete and final ruin of the kingdom in Judah.

The enumeration ends with Zedekiah. We have spoken elsewhere (2 Kings) of his reign in relation to that which is told us in the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. 2 Chron. 36:12-13¹²And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. ¹³And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel. (2 Chronicles 36:12‑13) summarize all of his sad history: he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah his God. When the word of Jehovah is addressed to him by the prophet Jeremiah, he does not humble himself. He rebels against the power established over him as a chastisement from God; much more, he breaks an oath made in the name of Jehovah. What could be more odious than this act towards idolatrous nations and in the eyes of God whose holy name had been desecrated by perjury and cast into the mud? Finally, he stiffens his neck and hardens his heart, refusing to return to the Lord. An irrevocable decision is taken against Him, for Zedekiah refused God.

Thus the history of the kingdom ends. The priests' end and that of the people was no better (2 Chron. 36:14-21¹⁴Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. 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. ¹⁷Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. ¹⁸And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. ¹⁹And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. ²⁰And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: ²¹To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. (2 Chronicles 36:14‑21)). "They defiled the house of Jehovah." And still, right to the end God shows them His grace, the characteristic that is so remarkable in Chronicles: "Jehovah the God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending; because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling-place" (2 Chron. 36:15¹⁵And 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: (2 Chronicles 36:15)). They answered Him by mocking, despising, and scoffing at the prophets. Finally wrath came upon them for the final time: The king of the Chaldeans came up against. Jerusalem. From the account in Kings and the prophet Jeremiah we know what Zedekiah's fate was. Here without any other detail he is, as it were, engulfed in the general judgment. God had "had compassion on His people and on His dwelling-place" up to that final moment, but the hour came when He "spared not young man nor maiden, old man nor him of hoary head: He gave them all" into the hand of the king of the Chaldeans (2 Chron. 36:17¹⁷Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. (2 Chronicles 36:17)). The Chaldeans "burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire, and all the precious vessels thereof were given up to destruction. And them that had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they became servants to him and his sons, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia; to fulfill the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years" (2 Chron. 36:19-21¹⁹And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. ²⁰And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: ²¹To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. (2 Chronicles 36:19‑21)).

By his fall the first Adam had brought God's counsels with regard to him to naught; God has answered by the Second Adam. The kingdom of Israel had done the same; God will answer by anointing His King in Zion, the mountain of his holiness! (Psa. 2:6⁶Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. (Psalm 2:6)).

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