Zedekiah was Jehoiachin’s uncle and had been established in office by the king of Babylon, who had changed his name from Mattaniah to Zedekiah. His mother, Hamutal, was a daughter of Judah; we shall not repeat our remarks previously made about her.
In setting Zedekiah into office, Nebuchadnezzar counted on having a king dependent upon himself who would not ferment new revolts. Zedekiah’s two predecessors had obliged the king of Babylon to make two expeditions against Jerusalem, but now he expected to have peace with this proud, turbulent nation that submitted to his scepter. The prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. 17) in a parable describes the politics and purposes of Nebuchadnezzar. The great Babylonian eagle had cropped off Jehoiachin, the top of the young shoots of the cedar of Lebanon, and had carried him away to Babylon. He had then taken the seed of the land — Zedekiah — and planted it by great waters like a willow tree. It had become a vine, spreading, but not high, for the king of Babylon wanted to have an abased royalty in Judah dependent upon him. This vine turned toward another great eagle, the Pharaoh of Egypt, instead of remaining in submission to the first. God declares through the prophet what the result would be.
“Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon” (2 Kings 24:20). This act was an infamous and sacrilegious act in the eyes of the Lord, and this is why: Nebuchadnezzar “had made him take oath by God” (2 Chron. 36:13). And Ezekiel tells us that he “made a covenant with him, and brought him under an oath” (Ezek. 17:13). Thus to all his other transgressions this king was adding the breaking of an oath made in the name of the Lord. Doing this before the idolatrous nations, he demonstrated before them that he had no regard for the God to whom he pretended to belong. Chronicles registers four reasons for the judgment of this king: He did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke to him on behalf of Jehovah; this was rebellion against the word of the Spirit of God. He revolted against Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against returning to Jehovah (2 Chron. 36:12-13). As to the first point, so often repeated about these latter kings of Judah, we are not told about those who immediately preceded Zedekiah that their idolatry was as dreadful as that of Manasseh, or at least the details are not given to us. But as to Zedekiah, we are informed first of all by Chronicles (2 Chron. 36:13-14), where we are told that together with all the chief of the people, he “defiled the house of Jehovah which he had hallowed in Jerusalem”; and the prophet Ezekiel, in his vision (Ezek. 8) gives us details of these abominations. “The image of jealousy,” This Astarte set up by Manasseh which “provoked Jehovah to jealousy” was there at the entry of the temple; within the court and in the “chambers of imagery” all sorts of idols had been painted, before which the elders were burning incense; at the entry of the northern gate of the house women were weeping for Tammuz—probably Adonis; at the entry of the temple between the porch and the altar men were worshipping the rising sun. The thoughts of the hearts of the people were no better. Instead of recognizing that God’s judgment had overtaken them because of their unfaithfulness, they said: “We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, in serving wood and stone “ (Ezek. 20:32). The same prophet also presents to us the moral state of the prophets, the priests and the princes. Everywhere there was violence, profanation, dishonest gain, extortion, and rapine (Ezek. 22:23-31); see also Jer. 32:30-35).
Zedekiah’s revolt might have had plausible political motives in the eyes of the world. As happens today too, it won the sympathy of all those who chafed under Babylon’s yoke. But this yoke was according to God, and the Lord proclaimed this in a visible way by the prophet Jeremiah who walked through the city bearing a wooden yoke upon his neck. The king of Judah ought to have known and remembered this, had he had the least concern to serve the Lord. But this man, so brave to revolt, down deep was filled with terror, fearing to compromise himself before the princes of the people. He was doubtless being encouraged in his actions by the surrounding nations, as we see in Jeremiah 27:3, where the kings of Moab, of Edom, of the children of Ammon, of Tire, and of Zidon had sent their messengers to encourage him to shake off the yoke of Babylon together with them. The chief men of Judah were of the same mind and had their ideas of resistance supported by prophets who used their gifts to lead the people into error and lead them into a path of rebellion against the Lord (Jer. 27:12-22).
One can understand the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar who thrice under three successive reigns was obliged to return to Jerusalem to besiege it, and the rage of this despot to whom everything had been subjected by God (The Lord had proclaimed this openly to him. Dan. 2:37-38) on seeing himself despised and scoffed at by the weak people of the kingdom of Israel who had been brought so low. He made no delay in setting out to punish the revolt. Ezekiel describes his uncertainty about the execution of his vengeance; should he begin with Rabbah of the Ammonites, or with Jerusalem. He practiced divination to know where to begin. Without his being aware of it, the Lord’s hand led him against Judah. “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it!” said Jehovah (Ezek. 21:18-31).
Nebuchadnezzar builds ramparts all around Jerusalem and undertakes a siege which lasts about eight months. Famine intensifies in the city, according to the word of Jeremiah: “And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one of the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the straitness wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them” (Jer. 19:9). During all this time, despite the innumerable dangers threatening him Jeremiah stands firm for the Lord, according to His word: “I will make thee unto this people a strong brazen wall; and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee, to save thee and to deliver thee, saith Jehovah; yea, I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible” (Jer. 15:20-21). His word, again and again repeated, is: “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon.” “Thou shalt go to Babylon.” He gives the same warning to the nations confederated with Judah (Jer. 27:3-11) and to Zedekiah and his people (Jer. 27:12-15). The princes persecute the prophet and seek to put him to death, under pretext that he is weakening the hands of the people. Zedekiah fears the princes (Jer. 38:24). At a given moment Pharaoh with his army comes to the aid of Jerusalem (Ezek. 17:17; Jer. 37:5). The Chaldeans, learning this news, withdraw from Jerusalem. Jeremiah shows the people their fallacy. The army of Pharaoh, he says, will return to the land of Egypt, and the Chaldeans will come again. At the time when the Chaldeans withdraw the prophet goes out of Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to have his portion there among the people (Jer. 37:12). He is made prisoner, accused of being a deserter, persecuted, and thrown into a deep dungeon where he sinks into the mire. The princes of the people are the most fierce against him. Ebed-melch the Ethiopian speaks to the king in his favor and pulls him up out of the dungeon (Jer. 38). The day the city is taken this man is saved, according to the word of the prophet (Jer. 39:15). Zedekiah himself persecutes Jeremiah and shuts him up in the court of the prison (Jer. 32:2-3), but in fact it is the king who is the captive of his captains and of his princes and does not dare resist them. In reality he did not hate Jeremiah, but was under the pressure of the fear of men instead of being governed by the fear of the Lord whom he had despised and dishonored (Jer. 38:24-28). The prophet, with a boldness that rests upon the word and the promises of God, hides nothing from the king of that which was about to take place: destruction, plunder, conflagration. As judgment is approaching, he cries out all its details in the ears of all and in the king’s ears. He says: “Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans; for he shall certainly be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes” (Jer. 32:4); and again: “Thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon” (Jer. 34:3). And Ezekiel says: “The prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the dark, and shall go forth; they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby; he shall cover his face that he see not the land with his eyes. And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare; and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; but he shall not see it, and there shall he die”(Ezek: 12:12-13). These two prophecies were fulfilled to the letter. When Zedekiah, on the occasion of the temporary departure of the Chaldean army, proclaimed a jubilee and ordered that all Israelite servants should be set free, all “the princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land passed between the parts of a calf cut in two to confirm the covenant that they made before the Lord (Jer. 34:18-19; cf. Gen. 15:9), but scarcely was the promise made than they transgressed it, going and taking back their servants to bring them into bondage again. And so judgment was pronounced upon them with greatest energy by the prophet (Jer. 34:20-22).
Only a small remnant who had received the Lord’s message and had delivered themselves over to the Chaldeans had their lives saved (2 Kings 25:11). They were the excellent figs of Jeremiah 24.
Jerusalem is taken. Zedekiah flees with his army toward Jordan. His retinue is dispersed, he is taken, led to Nebuchadnezzar, judged as we have seen, and led away to Babylon, where the king of Babylon “put him in prison till the day of his death” (Jer. 52:11). Only, according to the word of the prophet, he does not die a violent death (Jer. 34:4-5), the Lord paying heed to the least bit of evidence of turning in this poor king who had shown a moment of pity for the servant of the Lord and had listened to his word, although he lacked the courage to follow it and the faith to humble himself before God.
The people are carried away to Babylon; the priests and those who had helped with the resistance die a violent death at Riblah. The last vestiges of the power and prosperity of Judah disappear following this attack. Even the two pillars of the temple are broken in pieces and carried away to Babylon as well as all the brass, the gold, and the silver of the house of God. The Lord had been despised. What should Jachin and Boaz yet have to do at Jerusalem? The strength that was in the Lord had departed through Judah’s unfaithfulness, and God had destroyed it instead of establishing it. Thus ends the history of man, placed under responsibility before God. God must give him up—but His promises are without repentance. He will re-establish the reign of His anointed upon these two marvelous pillars, and this reign will be unshakeable.