2 Chronicles 36:1-14
The Reign and Captivity of Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:31–33)
1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem. 2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 Now the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 4 Then the king of Egypt made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him off to Egypt.
The Reign and Captivity of Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:34—24:7)
5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God. 6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried off some of the articles from the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. Then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
The Reign and Captivity of Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:8–17)
9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD. 10 At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar summoned him and took him to Babylon, with the costly articles from the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah, Jehoiakim’s brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Zedekiah Reigns in Judah (2 Kings 24:18–20; Jeremiah 52:1–3)
11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD. 13 And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel. 14 Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the LORD which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.
Jehoahaz the son of king Josiah was made king then abruptly taken to Egypt by the Pharaoh Necho whom Josiah refused to hear the word of God from. The Egyptian monarch made the brother of Jehoahaz, Eliakim, king in Jerusalem and Judah instead. This was a bad choice since Eliakim (renamed as Jehoiakim) only pursued doing evil in God’s estimation until the king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon carried him off captive from the land along with treasure from God’s house. His son Jehoiachin took over the throne and also did evil in God’s sight until he also was carried off to Babylon with more treasures from God’s temple. Following this, Jehoiakim the brother of Zedekiah was made king and he also was an evildoer, refusing to listen to God through the words of Jeremiah the prophet and even rebelling against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He refused to turn from sin to the LORD as he hardened his heart and his example caused the priests and leaders of God’s people to sin more and more. They defiled God’s consecrated house with their idolatry and accompanying immorality as they spiraled into complete apostasy. The end of the kingdom on earth was nigh as they spiraled away in sin and refused to even try to follow the LORD anymore. This all happened to demonstrate that all are born sinners (Psalm 51:5, Romans 3:23, 5:12) and destruction is guaranteed if righteousness is to be found in man’s efforts unless God intervenes. This is why Christ came, to bring good news of His grace and mercy to take on our sins and nail them to the cross (Colossians 2:14, Galatians 2:20, Hebrews 5:8-9), and then forgive us and reconcile us with Him that we may escape the destruction we all deserve (Romans 6:23) under the bondage of sin and the devil who lied to us from the beginning (Genesis 3:1, 4-5) and continues to lead others into rebellion against our Lord and captivity to sin (2 Timothy 2:25-26, Hebrews 2:15) of disbelief and rejection of God’s word. May we learn from the kings who rejected God’s word that we may pay heed to all He says in the scriptures and humble ourselves before Him as our true and righteous King of all kings to deliver and keep us from captivity to sin and find rest and eternal hope in Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment