2 Chronicles 36:11-21 - Homilies By T. Whitelaw

Zedekiah; or the fall of Judah.

I. AN EXAMPLE OF INSENSATE WICKEDNESS . ( 2 Chronicles 36:11-16 .)

1 . On the part of the king. Seemingly the third ( 1 Chronicles 3:15 ), but in reality the fourth, son of Josiah (cf. 2 Kings 23:31 , 2 Kings 23:36 ), and the full brother of Jehoahaz, or Shallum ( 2 Kings 23:31 ; 2 Kings 24:18 ). but the half-brother of Jehoiakim ( 2 Kings 23:36 ), Mattanias, or Jehovah s gift, as he was originally called, ascended the throne of Judah in his twenty-first year, by the favour of Nebuchadnezzar his overlord ( 2 Chronicles 36:10 ). With his superior's consent, like Jehoiakim, he adopted of his own accord, or had chosen for him by others (Cheyne), a special throne-name. Zedekiah, Zidkiah, meaning "Jehovah is righteous," or "Justice of Jehovah," had been the name of a former sovereign of Ascalon, whom Sennacherib had subdued; and whatever may have been the object of Mattanias or his princes in selecting this as the designation of Judah's last king, it is hardly possible not to be struck with its singular propriety. To a people who were frequently instructed by "signs" it was a double symbol—first by way of contrast of the utter corruption of the nation, both prince and people; and second by way of prediction of coming doom for the kingdom. So far as the king was concerned, it was a grim satire on holy things to designate a creature like him Zedekiah. If his person and character were remarkable for anything, it was for the absence of righteousness.

2 . On the part of the people. Hardly second to their monarch were the priests, the princes, and the people.

(a) an image of Asherah;

(b) totemistic animal-emblems on the wall of a temple-chamber;

(c) weeping for 'Tammuz dearly wounded;'

II. AN INSTANCE OF DIVINE RETRIBUTION . (Verses 17-21.) The moral and spiritual corruption of the community in Zedekiah's time was so great that nothing remained but to pour out upon them the vials of long-threatened wrath ( Deuteronomy 28:21 , Deuteronomy 28:36 , Deuteronomy 28:52 ; Deuteronomy 31:16-21 ; Jeremiah 5:19 ; Jeremiah 32:28-36 ). In the expressive language of the Chronicler, "there was no remedy," "no healing," more; nothing but fire and sword. After defeating Pharaoh-Hophra, or causing him to retreat, Nebuchadnezzar returned to his head-quarters at Riblah, on the east bank of the Orontes, thirty-five miles northeast of Baalbec, and despatched his captains, Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sar-sechim, Rab-saris, Rab-mag, and others to resume the siege of Jerusalem, which, however, triumphantly withstood their assaults until the beginning of the eleventh year, when the supply of provisions began to fail ( Jeremiah 52:6 ). On the ninth day of the fourth month, i.e. in July, B.C. 586, "there was no bread for the people of the land." The starving defenders of the city could no longer hold out. The horrors of the situation may be gathered from Lamentations 2:19 ; Lamentations 4:3-10 ; Ezekiel 5:10 ; Baruch 2:3. The besiegers eventually effected a breach in the north wall, and poured in like a destroying flood. Then ensued:

1 . Merciless carnage. The Chaldean soldiers butchered all and sundry, young and old, lad and maiden, not even sparing such as had taken refuge in the temple (verse 17). The massacre was wholesale, truculent, and pitiless, eclipsed in horror only by that which took place when Jerusalem was captured by Titus (Josephus, 'Wars' 6.9. 4).

2 . Ruthless sacrilege. They completely despoiled the temple of its sacred vessels, great and small, as well as pillaged the royal palaces, carrying off their treasures (verse 18). Among the articles removed from the temple were the brazen and golden utensils of service, the two pillars, the brazen sea, and the vases which Solomon had made ( 2 Kings 25:13-17 ; Jeremiah 52:17-23 ).

3 . Wholesale destruction. "They burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces" (verse 19); which was pure vandalism. This appears to have been done not on the night of the city's capture (tenth day of tenth month), but seven months after, on the tenth day of the fifth month, i.e. in February, B.C. 587 ( Jeremiah 52:12 ), and to have been carried out by one of Nebuchadnezzar's generals, Nebuzar-adan, captain of the king's guards, or "chief of the executioners" (cf. Genesis 39:1 ), despatched from Riblah for the purpose. What happened in the interval is narrated in 2 Kings ( 2 Kings 25:4-7 ) and Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 52:7-11 ), viz. the capture, near Jericho, of Zedekiah with his court and his forces, who had escaped when the city was taken, and their journey north to Riblah, the head-quarters of Nebuchadnezzar, where, after judgment held ( 2 Kings 25:6 ), Zedekiah's sons and the princes of Judah were slain, and Zedekiah himself blinded according to an inhuman practice of the time, and cast into bonds preparatory to being deported to Babylon. In Babylon he was cast into prison until the day of his death ( Jeremiah 52:11 ); according to tradition, his work in prison was that of grinding in a mill like an ordinary slave (Ewald, 'History of Israel,' 4.273, note 5).

4 . Pitiless expatriation. Those that had escaped the sword were driven off, like gangs of slaves, to become exiles in a strange land, and servants to the kings of Babylon, "until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths," viz. for three score and ten years (verses 20, 21). Such transplantations of conquered populations were common in the ancient Orient. "Sargon transported the Samaritans to Gozan and Media; Sennacherib carried off two hundred thousand Jews from Judaea; Esarhaddon placed Elamites, Susianians, and Babylonians in Samaria. Darius Hystaspis brought the nation of the Paeonians from Europe into Asia Minor, removed the Barcaeans to Bactria, and the Eretrians to Ardericca near Susa".

LESSONS .

1 . The incorrigible character of some sit, hers.

2 . The offensiveness in God's sight of pride and hardness of heart.

3 . The heinousness of oath-breaking and of unjustifiable rebellion.

4 . The hopelessness of reformation in a city or a land when all classes are in love with wicked ways.

5 . The infinite compassion of God towards the worst of men.

6 . The certainty that mercy despised will turn into wrath displayed.

7 . The pitiless character of Heaven's judgments upon them for whom there is no remedy.

8 . The indifference God shows towards the external symbols of religion when the inner spirit is wanting.

9 . The impossibility of God's Word failing.—W.