Nebuchadnezzar Takes Jerusalem, Strips the Temple, Exiles the Leaders

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Judah, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then Jehoiakim turned and rebelled. That rebellion set the machinery of judgment in motion, and the Lord sent bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites against Judah to destroy it, exactly as the Lord had spoken through his prophets. The text is blunt: surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight.

The reason given is not the rebellion alone. The Lord acted for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, and especially for the innocent blood he shed. He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon. That refusal to pardon hangs over the entire chapter. No repentance is recorded. No last-minute reform. The Lord had determined to remove Judah from his presence, and the removal began in earnest.

Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and his son Jehoiachin reigned in his stead. But the king of Egypt came no more out of his land, because the king of Babylon had taken all that pertained to the king of Egypt, from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates. The regional power had shifted, and Judah was now caught under the full weight of Babylon.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. The chronicler notes that Jehoiachin did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done. Three months of evil, and then the siege arrived.

At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. Nebuchadnezzar himself came to the city while his servants were besieging it. Jehoiachin went out to the king of Babylon—he, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers. The king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. Surrender did not stop the stripping.

Nebuchadnezzar carried out all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house. He cut in pieces all the vessels of gold that Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. The gold vessels that had stood for centuries in the temple were broken apart and hauled away. The word of the Lord through earlier prophets was being fulfilled in metal and stone.

Then he carried away all Jerusalem: all the princes, all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest sort of the people of the land. The deportation was systematic. The king, the queen mother, the king's wives, his officers, and the chief men of the land were all taken into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. Seven thousand men of might and a thousand craftsmen and smiths—all strong and apt for war—were brought captive to Babylon.

The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's father's brother, king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah. The name change signaled a new order: Zedekiah would reign as a vassal under Babylon's authority, not as a free king of the Davidic line.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. The pattern continued. Through the anger of the Lord did it come to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The chapter ends with that rebellion unfulfilled, but the reader knows what is coming. The temple is already stripped. The leaders are already gone. The poorest remain, and a puppet king sits on the throne. The Lord had said he would remove Judah from his sight, and the removal was well underway.