THE BABYLONIANS DESTROY JERUSALEM

2 KINGS 23–25; 2 CHRONICLES 36; JEREMIAH

The Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar had the capacity to put an incredible army in the field. They were of a mind to build an empire that would rival that of the Assyrians, and they had the military strength to do so. During the first quarter of the sixth century BC this war machine took aim at Jerusalem. When the dust settled, administrative buildings were leveled, beautiful homes were burned down, and the Temple lay in ruin. The Babylonian assault had taken place at Jerusalem for a reason.

The collapse of the Assyrian Empire created a power vacuum that both Egypt and Babylon wanted to fill. In all the twists and turns of this struggle, Judah was central. At first the Egyptians required money and loyalty from the Southern Kingdom during the days of King Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:31–35). When the Egyptian campaign against Babylon failed at the critical battle of Carchemish (605 BC), Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers chased the Egyptians back to the mouth of the Nile and made Neco’s vassal, Jehoiakim, their vassal (2 Kings 23:34; 24:1).

That might have ended the story had it not been for two revolts—revolts that the Lord (through the prophet Jeremiah) warned the people against. As a result the Babylonian army came crashing down on Jerusalem. In time, Egypt wanted to test the resolve of Babylon and encouraged Jehoiakim to revolt. Shortly after Jehoiakim died, his son Jehoiachin became king. It was in 597 BC, during the first three months of his reign, when Babylon entered the city gates of Jerusalem and ransacked the Temple. The first of what would be three deportations skimmed off the leading citizens of the land (2 Kings 24:8–16; Jer. 52:28–30). Nebuchadnezzar set up Zedekiah as a puppet ruler in Jerusalem. Despite swearing allegiance to Babylon, this king of Judah initiated a revolt, which the Lord informed Zedekiah would end in defeat (Jer. 34:1–7). The Babylonians had had enough. Nebuchadnezzar directed his army to annihilate the country and destroy Jerusalem. Dozens of cities and forts were leveled. And by the close of 586 BC, a multiyear siege left Jerusalem and the Temple a smoking ruin.4

Excavated remains of Jerusalem’s “Broad Wall” (eighth century BC), about twenty-three feet thick.

Jerusalem had been founded as Israel’s capital by David. The Lord had promised David that he would always have a son to rule on Israel’s throne (2 Sam. 7:11–16). The Southern Kingdom assumed this enduring lineage of David would always express itself from Jerusalem. David’s son Solomon had built the Temple of God in this city. The yearly festivals and the daily sacrifices in Jerusalem’s Temple recalled God’s call to a specific life and destiny for Israel (1 Kings 9:1–7). The Lord had warned his people through Jeremiah that the Temple structure would be of no help (Jer. 7:4). When it fell, what the Hebrew people assumed about themselves was put into question. That was the point proclaimed by the prophet Jeremiah.

Babylonian text mentioning Nebuchadnezzar’s victory at Carchemish and his later capture of Jerusalem in 598 BC.
© Dr. James C. Martin. The British Museum.

City of David (view looking southwest).

The Lord used Babylon to remove the messengers, the descendants of Abraham, from the land where they had turned from him and become loyal to idols. They had misrepresented and rejected the King of the Universe. As a consequence, they were taken from their land for seventy years (Jer. 7:24–34). It was better to remove these intended messengers of God from the podium of the Promised Land than to allow them to misrepresent the Message Giver while on that podium. Perhaps during their time of exile they would come to remember why they had received the land in the first place—to worship the Lord their God and be a blessing to the nations (Gen. 12:1–3).

The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem for a reason. Jerusalem was the nation’s capital, the location of all the public buildings that validated Judah’s political identity. Once Nebuchadnezzar had taken Jerusalem, matters of state came to a close, and the people of Judah were removed from the podium.

Babylon and Jerusalem