Bible Commentaries
2 Kings 25

H. Zedekiah’s Evil Reign 24:18-25:7

Zedekiah (Mattaniah) was Josiah’s third son to rule over Judah. He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24:20) by making a treaty with Pharaoh Hophra (589-570 B.C.), being pressured by nationalists in Judah (cf. Jeremiah 37-38).

"Clearly, he lacks the moral fiber to be more than what he is, a man who gauges each situation by how long its results can keep him in power." [Note: House, p. 395.]

Jerusalem was under siege for about eighteen months (588-586 B.C.; 2 Kings 25:1-2). The resulting famine that the residents experienced (2 Kings 24:3) was only one of many that the Israelites underwent for their rebellion against God. Yahweh again withheld fertility as a punishment for apostasy. Jerusalem finally fell in 586 B.C. Some scholars believe it fell in 587 B.C. [Note: E.g., Rodger C. Young, "When Did Jerusalem Fall?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 47:1 (March 2004):21-38.] The Babylonians captured King Zedekiah while he was trying to escape and took him to Riblah (cf. 2 Kings 23:33) where Nebuchadnezzar passed judgment on him. Nebuchadnezzar killed Zedekiah’s heirs to the throne thus ending his fertility, blinded him (cf. Revelation 3:17), and bound him with bronze shackles (2 Kings 24:7). All of these measures also represented the fate of the nation the king led. The Israelites were now without royal leadership, spiritually blind, and physically bound. The blinding of prisoners was a common practice in the ancient East (cf. Judges 16:21). [Note: Andre Parrot, Babylon and the Old Testament, p. 97.]

"The lesson of Samaria’s fall and exile should have been learned." [Note: Wiseman, p. 312.]

". . . the deuteronomistic history, which extends from Joshua through 2 Kings 25, begins victoriously on the plains of Jericho (Joshua 1-7) and ends in tragic defeat on the plains of Jericho (2 Kings 25:5)." [Note: J. Daniel Hays, "An Evangelical Approach to Old Testament Narrative Criticism," Bibliotheca Sacra 166:661 (January-March 2009):8.]

These bracketing references to the plains of Jericho are an indication of the narrative unity of this section of Scripture.

Verses 8-30

I. The Captivity of the Southern Kingdom 25:8-30

Nebuzaradan, Nebuchadnezzar’s commander-in-chief, returned to destroy Jerusalem more thoroughly and to preclude any successful national uprising in Judah.

His burning of Yahweh’s house (2 Kings 25:9) was a statement that the Babylonians had overcome Yahweh as much as it was an effort to keep the remaining Judahites from worshipping Him. This act would have thoroughly demoralized even the godly in Judah, since in the ancient Near East the condition of the house (temple) of a god reflected on that god’s reputation. The breaking down of Jerusalem’s walls (2 Kings 25:10) prevented the inhabitants from defending themselves but also visualized the fact that Judah no longer had any defense. Yahweh had been her defense. The third deportation removed all but the poorest of the people from the land (2 Kings 25:11-12).

The writer’s emphasis on the desecration of Yahweh’s temple (2 Kings 25:13-17) illustrates God’s abandonment of His people (cf. 1 Kings 9:7-9). His special interest in the pillars (2 Kings 25:17) draws attention to the fact that Israel, which God had established (Jachin), had suffered destruction. Israel’s strength (Boaz) had also departed from her because of her apostasy (cf. Samson). Most scholars believe the Babylonians either destroyed the ark of the covenant or took it to Babylon from which it never returned to Jerusalem (but cf. 2 Chronicles 5:9). A few believe the Jews hid it under the temple esplanade.

The Babylonians also cut the priesthood back (2 Kings 25:18-21) so the people could not unite around it and rebel. Its temporary termination also meant that Israel was no longer able to worship God as He had prescribed because she had been unfaithful to Him. Access to God as the Mosaic Law specified was no longer possible. Both the temple furnishings and the priesthood that God had ordained for access to Himself were no longer available to the people. Israel could no longer function as a kingdom of priests as God had intended her to live (Exodus 19:5-6).

Ezekiel and Daniel both ministered in Babylon during the Captivity: Ezekiel to the exiles in their settlement, and Daniel to the Babylonians and Medo-Persians in their capitals. The context of the Book of Esther is also the Babylonian captivity and the Persian capital.

"In the exile and beyond it, Judaism was born." [Note: Bright, p. 323.]

By this, Bright meant the present form of Israelite worship that operates around the world today without a temple and Levitical priesthood.

Gedaliah (2 Kings 25:22) was a descendant of Josiah’s secretary (of state? 2 Kings 22:3). He was a friend of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 39:14) who followed that prophet’s advice to cooperate with the Babylonians. Ishmael (2 Kings 25:25) possessed royal blood and evidently wanted to rule over Judah (cf. Jeremiah 41:2). Mizpah, the Babylonian provincial capital, was just seven miles north of Jerusalem (cf. 1 Samuel 7:5-12).

"It is not altogether clear whether this [Gedaliah’s assassination] is in the same year that Jerusalem fell or not. The wall was breached in the fourth month (=early July; Jeremiah 39:2) and Nebuzaradan came and burned the palace, the temple, and many of the houses and tore down the wall in the fifth month (=early August; Jeremiah 52:12). That would have left time between the fifth month and the seventh month (October) to gather in the harvest of grapes, dates and figs, and olives (Jeremiah 40:12). However, many commentators feel that too much activity takes place in too short a time for this to have been in the same year and posit that it happened the following year or even five years later when a further deportation took place, possibly in retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah (Jeremiah 52:30). The assassination of Gedaliah had momentous consequences and was commemorated in one of the post exilic fast days lamenting the fall of Jerusalem (Zechariah 8:19)." [Note: The NET Bible note on 25:25.]

It is ironic that the Judahites who rebelled against the Babylonians and God’s will in an attempt to secure their independence ended up fleeing back to Egypt. Their forefathers had been slaves there, and God had liberated them from Egypt 850 years earlier (2 Kings 25:26; cf. Deuteronomy 28:68).

In 560 B.C., the Babylonian king Evilmerodach (562-560 B.C.) permitted Jehoiachin to enjoy a measure of freedom. Perhaps the writer of Kings chose to end his book on this positive note because in the Abrahamic Covenant, God had promised that He would never abandon His chosen people completely (Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 12:7). In the Mosaic Covenant, He also assured them that if they repented, He would bring them back into their land (Deuteronomy 30:1-5; cf. 1 Kings 8:46-53). God’s mercy to Jehoiachin also points to the continuation of the Davidic dynasty that God had promised would never end (2 Samuel 7:16). God’s mercy to His people is one of the persistently recurring motifs in Kings.