2 Kings 25:27-30 - Homilies By D. Thomas

Jehoiachin as a victim of tyrannic despotism, and as an object of delivering mercy.

"And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year," etc. The life of this man has been already sketched. The incident here recorded presents him—

I. AS A VICTIM OF TYRANNIC DESPOTISM . He had been in prison for thirty-seven years, and was fifty-five years of age. It was Nebuchadnezzar, the tyrannic King of Babylon that stripped this man of liberty and freedom, and shut him up in a dungeon for this long period of time. Such despotism has prevailed in all egos and lands.

II. As AN OBJECT OF DELIVERING MERCY . We are told that as soon as Evil . Merodach came to the throne on the death of his father Nebuchadnezzar, mercy stirred his heart and relieved this poor victim of tyranny. Corrupt as this world is, the element of mercy is not entirely extinct. This mercy gave honor and liberty to the man who had been so long in confinement and disgrace. Let not the victims of tyranny—and they abound everywhere—despair. Mercy will ere long sound the trump of jubilee over all the land. "The Spirit of the Lord," said the great Redeemer of the race, "is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."—D.T.