ZEDEKIAH WAS TWENTY-ONE years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 19He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done. 20It was because of the LORD’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence.
Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
1So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. 2The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. 4Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah, 5but the Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, 6and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. 7They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
8On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 10The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had gone over to the king of Babylon. 12But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
13The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the LORD and they carried the bronze to Babylon. 14They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. 15The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver.
16The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the LORD, was more than could be weighed. 17Each pillar was twenty-seven feet high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was four and a half feet high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.
18The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. 19Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men and five royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of his men who were found in the city. 20Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.
So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.
22Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah. 23When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, and their men. 24Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”
25In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. 26At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.
27In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin from prison on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. 28He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 29So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. 30Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.
Original Meaning
THE DEUTERONOMISTIC HISTORY ends with six vignettes about the end of the state of Judah. After a brief record of the reign of Zedekiah (24:18–20), the fates of several elements in Jerusalem are recorded. These include the doom of the king (25:1–7), the city itself (25:8–12), the temple (25:13–17), religious, military, and civil personnel (25:18–21), the chaos of the inhabitants after the collapse (25:22–26), and finally the clemency shown to a previously exiled king (25:27–30). Every element of life in Judah is destroyed. Sacred and symbolic buildings are desecrated and ruined, holy vessels are carried away, and the king is maimed and exiled. Even the puppet administration of Gedaliah fails, and those responsible flee to Egypt.
Breach and Plunder of Jerusalem (24:18–25:21)
ZEDEKIAH BEGINS HIS eleven-year reign “in the spring” when Nebuchadnezzar takes Jehoiachin captive to Babylon (2 Chron. 36:10). The accession year of Zedekiah begins in the spring of Nebuchadnezzar’s eighth year (597 B.C.).1
The tenth year of Zedekiah is the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar according to Jeremiah (Jer. 32:1). The siege of Jerusalem begins in the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah (2 Kings 25:1; Jer. 39:1). Jeremiah is imprisoned the next year (587 B.C.). Famine prevails, the city is eventually broken, and the king flees on the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh year (2 Kings 25:2–3), the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar (586 B.C.). The Babylonian Chronicles end with Nebuchadnezzar’s eleventh year (594 B.C.), so the historical reconstruction of the destruction of Jerusalem depends entirely on biblical data, supplemented by indirect references in Egyptian sources.
Zedekiah takes the throne as a sworn vassal of Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonians expect little resistance from Judah; the deportation of military personnel and high officials requires that a new administration must be restructured. Zedekiah has a difficult time maneuvering among the various factions; some hope for the return of Jehoiachin (alternately Jeconiah), hoping for a more vigorous resistance to the Babylonians (Jer. 28:1–4).
It is not clear what inspires Zedekiah’s rebellion (2 Kings 25:1). The march of Pharaoh Psammetichus II (595–589 B.C.) to Phoenicia in 591 B.C. may have been interpreted as a revival of Egyptian strength. As a representative of the Palestinian region, Zedekiah would look to Egypt for help. Thus, Zedekiah breaks his treaty with Babylon by sending messengers to Egypt to ask for horses and troops (Ezek. 17:15). The Egyptian pharaoh is succeeded by his son Hophra, who increases Egypt’s political activities in Palestine.2 The Babylonians encounter no resistance to their advance through Palestine. Nebuchadnezzar chooses to attack Jerusalem first, besieging it in 588 B.C. Earthen ramps are thrown around the city to prevent anyone from escaping.
The siege of Jerusalem lasts for about a year and a half. Once the wall is breached, King Zedekiah and his entourage flee toward Jericho, perhaps in an effort to escape to Ammon, an ally of Jerusalem. The royal party is captured in the level area at Jericho. The group is taken to the military headquarters in Riblah, where the king witnesses the death of his sons before being blinded and led to Babylon.
The destruction of Jerusalem is thorough. Temple, palaces, and houses are burned, the temple vessels including the enormous bronze Sea and the wheeled bronze stands are broken and taken as booty—all those items described in the account of Solomon’s construction of the temple. The temple is of chief concern, since it served as a symbol of the legitimacy of the monarchy. With the capture and destruction of Jerusalem, the kingdom of Judah ceases to exist.
Reign of Gedaliah (25:22–26)
THE BABYLONIAN POLICY for conquered territory did not involve rebuilding destroyed cities. Under a Babylonian official, the rural population was expected to carry on with their lives; de-centralization made a national uprising hard to organize. Gedaliah belongs to a prominent noble family; his grandfather was a scribe during the days of Josiah (2 Kings 22:3); his father was a member of the mission sent to Huldah (22:12), and he also intervened to save Jeremiah from the mob (Jer. 26:24). Jeremiah supports Gedaliah, appointed by the Babylonians as governor at Mizpah (Jer. 39:14). The army officers enter into oath with Gedaliah (2 Kings 25:24); they need assurance there will be no reprisals for their having fought against the Babylonians. They are granted amnesty to now serve the Babylonians.
After a short time, Gedaliah and the Babylonians at Mizpah are murdered by a band led by Ishmael son of Nethaniah, a member of the royal family. He and a number of other Judahites were able to escape before the siege of Jerusalem began. Ishmael kills a number of others, including eighty men coming from Shechem and Shiloh to bring offerings and incense at the temple place as a rite of mourning (Jer. 41:5–6). It is not certain if Ishmael is contesting Gedaliah’s position as a leader of Judah. The murder is hardly an act of rebellion against the Babylonians; it is a vendetta against those who are viewed as collaborating with the Babylonians.
The people of Judah, fearful of Babylonian revenge, flee to Egypt, forcing Jeremiah and Baruch to go with them (Jer. 43:4–7). The report of their flight indicates that the judgment of exile is carried out in totality. Gedaliah’s death is the extinction of all national existence.
Release of Jehoiachin (25:27–30)
AMEL-MARDUK, SON AND successor of Nebuchadnezzar, reigns for two years (561–560 B.C.). His accession year becomes the occasion to grant amnesty to prisoners. Jehoiachin was apparently charged with some act of treason and was thrown into prison until the death of Nebuchadnezzar. Jehoiachin is then granted a favored status in relation to other captive kings; it is not specified what these privileges actually mean. He is confined to the court of the Babylonian king, with his family. Seven sons are born to him in exile (1 Chron. 3:17–18).
Bridging Contexts
FAITH AND HOPE. Jeremiah preserves an almost verbatim copy of the fate of Jerusalem (Jer. 52:1–27). A shorter version of the fall of Jerusalem and Zedekiah’s tragic end is found earlier in Jeremiah’s prophecy (39:1–14). The evaluation of Jehoiakim (Jer. 52:2) and the punishment of the Exile (vv. 3, 27) are both characteristic of Kings. Jeremiah 52 functions as an appendix; it follows after the words of the prophet are concluded (51:64b). A comparison of the various texts of Jeremiah and Kings indicates that an account of the fall of Jerusalem as preserved in Kings serves as the conclusion of Jeremiah, and a second account of Jeremiah’s fate is merged with portions of this in his memoirs (Jer. 39).3 The traumatic experience of exile and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple create a crisis of faith. More than one record of the events is preserved, and these records are variously integrated into prophetic compositions.
The crisis of faith is not the end of hope in the covenant promise. The full force of the covenant curse brings an end to the kingdom and the loss of the land of promise. Hope is to be found only in the Babylonian exile and among the exiles in Babylon.4 The Deuteronomistic History ends with the desolation of Judah; symbols of faith and hope continue beyond Judah. The Deuteronomistic view concerning the future of Judah as a nation is more enigmatic. The release of Jehoiachin may be viewed as an expression of hope for the Davidic dynasty (2 Kings 25:27–30). There appear to be significant resonances with Solomon’s prayer for restoration (cf. 1 Kings 8:46–53).5 This may be nothing more than hope for a good life in exile.
There are also a number of comparisons that can be made with Mephibosheth.6 Both have a place at the king’s table (cf. 2 Sam. 9:7, 11, 13) and both suffer a disability (cf. 4:4; 9:3, 13). The fate of Saul’s house seems to be recalled at the end of the Davidic dynasty in the tearing apart of the kingdom (1 Sam. 15:28; 28:17; 1 Kings 14:8; 2 Kings 17:21). Both Mephibosheth and Jehoiachin seem to represent a dynasty that survives, though incapable of functioning as a royal order. The parallels to Mephibosheth suggest that Jehoiachin is testimony to the survival of Israel, even in exile.
Mention of Jehoaichin’s release at the end of the Deuteronomistic History introduces a glimmer of hope in that the Davidic dynasty does survive. Just as Joash survived the virtual extinction of the Davidic dynasty, so does Jehoiachin. The influence of that hope takes effect when Zerubbabel, Jehoiachin’s grandson, is made governor of Judah by the Persians (cf. Hag. 1:1). Faith and promise are preserved among the exiles in Babylon, where the temple vessels, the king, the priests, and other leaders are located. Hope is found among those whose trust is in the God of the covenant; the One who redeemed them from Egypt can also bring them back from Babylon.
Righteousness and hope. The name Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, becomes the basis of a sermon in prophetic preaching. That name means “Yahweh is righteous.” To know Yahweh as a righteous God is to know him as judge. Jeremiah anticipates a future day when righteousness will have the salvific sense that is inherent in the word. Righteousness is a deed that God will perform, a deliverance that he will bring.7
Isaiah spoke about the righteousness that would come quickly, the salvation that God would bring, not only for Israel but for all nations to the farthest coastlands (Isa. 51:4–5). The ultimate work of God’s justice is that there will be deliverance and salvation for all. Jeremiah anticipates the day when another son of David, a righteous Branch, will rule; the name by which he will be called is “the LORD Our Righteousness.” Jeremiah refers to this time as “the days are coming” (Jer. 23:5–6). Then the people will no longer remember the Exodus as the great deliverance, but they will remember the Exodus from the land of the north and from all the other lands to which they have been driven.
Later on the prophet Jeremiah repeats the promise; in the coming days the righteous Branch will lead Israel to live in security (33:15–16). God will never abandon his kingdom or the promise that there will be a descendant of the King David on the throne of Israel. The temple and its officials will be revived and its symbolic offerings reinstated (33:17–18). To know Yahweh is to know that he is merciful and compassionate (see Ex. 33:19; 34:6). God’s work never ends in punishment, but in the victory of his grace.
The prophetic promise did not result in the revival of the nation. Covenant expressed in national terms failed miserably. But there will be a restoration and a return to the land. The Chronicler ends on that hope (2 Chron. 36:22–23); God’s anointed will include a Persian king who will order the rebuilding of Jerusalem. The punishment is of limited duration; the land must be relieved of its disobedient people for the number of years they failed to keep the Sabbath (vv. 20–21).
The Sabbath was the preeminent sign of the covenant (Ex. 31:12–18), the symbol that these people belonged to God, the Holy One, to a realm that is more than just the common realm of this earth. The Sabbath is expressed in terms of a day, a seventh year, or a fiftieth year. The Chronicler counts the number of seventh-year Sabbaths in which the covenant has not been confessed and makes that the time of punishment. After that comes restoration, a second exodus.
The Second Temple period never results in the salvation anticipated in prophetic preaching. It results instead in a rigidity of rules applied to the covenant and in continual conflict with the surrounding peoples. Instead of peace there is conflict within and without. The Gospel writers find the fulfillment of the righteous Branch in the son born to Joseph and Mary; this one is the Son of David (Matt. 1:1). In him righteousness will flourish. Paul describes him as the one who makes peace between the nations (Eph. 2:14–18). The covenant fulfilled in him will offer access for all to the Father in heaven. This is the Redeemer promised to Zion, who will remove all their iniquity; this one is the fulfillment of the new covenant (Rom. 11:26–27). In this righteous Branch all Israel will be saved.
Contemporary Significance
LIFE GOES ON. Life goes on. In whatever manner death takes place, life continues, and the living must adjust to new circumstances. Death is the end of an individual life in this world; the death of an individual may also be the end of a marriage or the end of any number of other relationships. Sometimes death takes place without the death of an individual. The death of a marriage may take place because of divorce; the death of a community may take place because of political fiat, because of war, or simply because there are no longer sufficient cultural supports for it to continue. Whenever death takes places, those affected must learn a new way of life.
Death is a process. The process itself can be long and agonizing, or it can be swift and unexpected, whether it be the death of an individual, a marriage, or any other relationship. Depending on the process and the circumstances, the pain is experienced in different ways and at different levels. In many respects, the death of a marriage in divorce or the death of a community is more painful than physical death. In physical death there is an absolute termination; the death of a marriage or community is like a death that does not die. If children are involved in the death of a marriage, something of continuity with the former relationship is unavoidable. In the death of a community, like that of Judah, there is much continuity with the past, but also much alienation, in which highly valued relationships and customs end.
Expressing the pain of death. The pain of death must be expressed. In the death of an individual, a specific ceremony is involved, in which the memory of a life is shared and there is disposal of the body. In the Jewish community especially, the disposal of the body is an important part for the grieving to take place and hope to be expressed. Throughout the millennia, particularly after the Holocaust when the word “crematoria” took on a horror all its own, Jews shuddered at the idea of reducing a body to ashes. There is a ritual process involving washing, purifying, and dressing the body in shrouds.
In interpreting the Torah, the rabbis prohibited a body from being cremated, autopsied, or cosmetically altered. Such practices, they claimed, desecrate the holiness of the deceased as well as allow the mourners to continue living in denial of their loss. In contrast, the traditional Jewish burial demonstrates respect for the dead and comfort for mourners. As mourners witness the kindness shown by the chevra kadisha,8 they recognize that when their time comes, they too will be cared for by concerned community members. Their own fear of dying is thereby allayed.9
The equivalent of the funeral service for the exiles of Israel is found in Lamentations. This sequence of five poems was composed sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem, quite possibly for ceremonies commemorating the event. Lamentations does not report or narrate the tragic events of its subject matter. Rather, it expresses a complex cluster of emotions—sorrow, anger, guilt, hope, despair, fear, self-loathing, revenge, compassion, forgiveness, uncertainty, and disorientation.10 The Exile evoked all of these feelings, which are subjected to scrutiny, deliberation, and argumentation. Images are superimposed over each other like a film montage.
The poetry of Lamentations moves from one emotional high to the next. Conflicting emotions are held simultaneously. Zion confesses that Yahweh is right and that she has rebelled (Lam. 1:18), but immediately the people are called to inspect Zion’s wounds, to observe that her young men and women have been led into captivity. Zion’s confession of rebellion is softened in light of the punishment she receives, but the Exile is justified by the conduct of the rebel.
The function of a lament is not to resolve a problem or come to a conclusion. It surveys, articulates, and probes the variegated tapestry of emotions provoked. It included the various groups of the community: children (4:1–4), rich and privileged (vv. 5, 7–8), mothers (v. 10), prophets, priests, and elders (vv. 13, 16), and even the king (v. 20). Emotions must be controlled by reason, but they must not be unreasonably suppressed. Expression of emotions is one mechanism by which orientation is made to life that goes on.
The exile leads to customs of fasting in remembering the tragedy that took place (Zech. 7:3). In modern Judaism these have evolved into the Bein Hametzarim (Between the Straits), a period of mourning that runs from the seventeenth day of Tammuz, the fourth month of the Jewish religious year, to the ninth day of Av (Tisha be-Av), the fifth month (variously, about June to August). This observance commemorates the days between the first breaching of the walls of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. to the subsequent destruction of the temple. Marriages and haircuts are forbidden during these three weeks. The nine days of Av are observed with special intensity: meat and wine are forbidden except on the Sabbath, the blessing of the New Moon is omitted, and prophecies of doom from Jeremiah and Isaiah are read in the synagogue on the three Sabbaths that fall within this period. The period ends with a twenty-four-hour fast.
Lament and memory of the past in the celebration of anniversaries are a way of honoring those who have gone before, who have enabled life to be what it is in the present. It is a way of dealing with the continuous change in life, with death that relentlessly confronts the living. It is one aspect of expressing the hope that lies before us, the knowledge that whatever are the losses of the past, life goes on.
It is said that those who lose all their possessions lose a lot, those who lose their friends lose a lot more, and those who lose hope have lost everything. The exiles have lost their possessions and were separated from many of their friends, but they never lose hope. Their memory of the Exile is one expression of the faithfulness of God—and implicitly therefore hope in the faithfulness of God for the future.