II Chronicles Chapter 36
Please read: II Chronicles 36 –
The next king of Judah was a son of Josiah, but he was not the oldest son, he was the youngest son. His name was Jehoahaz, but that was not his given name, we find from other passages that his given name was Shallum.
I Chronicles 3:15 The sons of Josiah: Johanan the firstborn, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum.
Jeremiah 22:11-12 For thus says the LORD concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, but in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”
This youngest son of Josiah had been the choice of the people rather than following God’s pattern of the firstborn. This may explain why his name is omitted from the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. His reign was very, very short in Judah because his country was taken over by the Egyptian king and he removed Jehoahaz from the throne, put his brother Eliakim (who was renamed by the Pharoah to Jehoiakim) and took Jehoahaz to Egypt as a captive. In the short time that Jehoahaz was on the throne we read that he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
His older brother Jehoiakim also did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and his reign was meaningless because Egypt was now controlling the throne and taxing the people of Judah very heavily. His reign was also fairly short because the next group that came and took control of the vulnerable Judah were the Babylonians, and Jehoiakim was taken in chains to Babylon as captive. They put his son Jehoiachin on the throne but he too was taken captive by the king of Babylon on one of their raids to take more gold and more captives of the people.
In the book of II Kings 24 we read that it was Mattaniah who was put on the throne next but the Babylonian king changed his name to Zedekiah. According to II Kings 24, this was his uncle, a third son of Josiah to sit on the throne. In II Chronicles Zedekiah is called a brother of Jehoiachin. Whether he was his brother or his uncle, he was an evil man too. And it is during the reign of Zedekiah that the kingdom of Judah ended; the Babylonians had seized complete control. God had allowed all of this to happen as He said He would if the people did not turn from their worship of false gods.
Let's Reflect
1. God had in His great mercy sent prophets over the years to warn them of the judgement that would come upon both Israel and Judah. What prophet did God send to Zedekiah? See verse 12.
2. We read that he stiffened his neck. Zedekiah let his pride rule so that he would not listen to a prophet of God and he even rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. This pride cost the people of Judah so much. The raids of the Babylonians were horrific. Many people were killed and many were starved and many led away captive. Verses 15 and 16 describe what God tried to do for Judah. What was the people’s response to God?
3. Verse 17 describes the ruthlessness of the Chaldeans (Babylonians). It is noted that no age group was spared from the violence. What did they do to the temple?
4. What did they do to the wall in Jerusalem?
5. According to verse 20 what happened to the people who were able to escape being stabbed with swords?
6. Verse 21 tells us that this violence and captivity of the people was a fulfillment of prophecy. In that prophecy the land, the promised land, was going to be “at rest.” For how many years would the land be “at rest,” with most all of its people taken captive?
7. As the years passed the Babylonians eventually lost control to the Persians. The Persians had inherited the prisoners of Judah. What unexpected thing did the king of Persia do to the prisoners?
