I. AN EXAMPLE OF INSENSATE WICKEDNESS. (Vers. 11-16.)

1. On the part of the king. Seemingly the third (1 Chronicles 3:15), but in reality the fourth, son of Josiah (cf. 2 Kings 23:31, 36), and the full brother of Jehoahaz, or Shallum (2 Kings 23:31; 2 Kings 24:18). but the half-brother of Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:36), Mattanias, or Jehovah's gift, as he was originally called, ascended the throne of Judah in his twenty-first year, by the favour of Nebuchadnezzar his overlord (ver. 10). With his superior's consent, like Jehoiakim, he adopted of his own accord, or had chosen for him by others (Cheyne), a special throne-name. Zedekiah, Zidkiah, meaning "Jehovah is righteous," or "Justice of Jehovah," had been the name of a former sovereign of Ascalon, whom Sennacherib had subdued (Schrader, 'Die Keilinschriften,' p. 291); and whatever may have been the object of Mattanias or his princes in selecting this as the designation of Judah's last king, it is hardly possible not to be struck with its singular propriety. To a people who were frequently instructed by "signs" it was a double symbol - first by way of contrast of the utter corruption of the nation, both prince and people; and second by way of prediction of coming doom for the kingdom. So far as the king was concerned, it was a grim satire on holy things to designate a creature like him Zedekiah. If his person and character were remarkable for anything, it was for the absence of righteousness.

(1) His devotion to idols was intense. He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God (ver. 12), by adhering to the heathen worship of his predecessors (2 Kings 24:19; Jeremiah 52:2).

(2) His unbelief was pronounced. He refused to believe Jeremiah the prophet speaking to him in Jehovah's name (Jeremiah 37:2).

(3) His disobedience was flagrant. He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear (allegiance) by God (ver. 13; cf. 2 Kings 24:20; Ezekiel 17:13-19) - a wickedness for which Jehovah declared he should die in Babylon. The reason of this revolt was the accession of a new Pharaoh, Hophrah in Scripture (Jeremiah 44:30), in the hieroglyphic - inscriptions Uahibri, Οὐαφρῆ in the LXX., Ἀπίης, or Apries, in Herodotus (2:161, 169; 4:159). To him Zedekiah, against Jeremiah's advice, despatched ambassadors, hoping to obtain "horses and much people" (Ezekiel 17:15). Nebuchadnezzar at once took the field, uncertain whether to march against Egypt or Jerusalem. By means of divination he decided for Jerusalem (Ezekiel 21:20-22). In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar with his armies sat down before Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:1). Hearing, however, of Pharaoh-Hophra's approach, he raised the siege (Jeremiah 37:5). This having excited false hopes as to Nebuchadnezzar's final withdrawal from the city (Ezekiel 17:17), Jeremiah warned king and people that he would soon return (Jeremiah 37:8-10). This warning Zedekiah would not hear (2 Chronicles 36:16).

2. On the part of the people. Hardly second to their monarch were the priests, the princes, and the people.

(1) Their passion for idolatry was as great: "They trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the heathen" (ver. 14). "Like priest, like people" - a proverb applicable to kings and subjects, masters and servants, as well as ecclesiastics and worshippers.

(2) Their insolence was as high. "They polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem" (ver. 14). "Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:11) alludes to practices specially inconsistent with the holy place, and one of the Jewish captives explains what they were (Ezekiel 8:11-17). There was

(a) an image of Asherah;

(b) totemistic animal-emblems on the wall of a temple-chamber;

(c) weeping for 'Tammuz dearly wounded;'

(4) sun-worship and the rite of holding up 'the twig' to the nose'" (Cheyne, 'Jeremiah: his Life' etc., pp. 166, 167).

(3) Their unbelief was as daring. Though Jehovah had "sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending them," yet had they "mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets" (vers. 15, 16) - a degree of criminality beyond that of which the Israelites had been guilty when they laughed Hezekiah's messengers to scorn (2 Chronicles 30:10), but not above that which hearers of the gospel may incur (Acts 2:13; Acts 17:32; Hebrews 10:29; 2 Peter 2:3, 4; Jude 1:18).

II. AN INSTANCE OF DIVINE RETRIBUTION. (Vers. 17-21.) The moral and spiritual corruption of the community in Zedekiah's time was so great that nothing remained but to pour out upon them the vials of long-threatened wrath (Deuteronomy 28:21, 36, 52; Deuteronomy 31:16-21; Jeremiah 5:19; Jeremiah 32:28-36). In the expressive language of the Chronicler, "there was no remedy," "no healing," more; nothing but fire and sword. After defeating Pharaoh-Hophra, or causing him to retreat, Nebuchadnezzar returned to his head-quarters at Riblah, on the east bank of the Orontes, thirty-five miles northeast of Baalbec, and despatched his captains, Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sar-sechim, Rab-saris, Rab-mag, and others to resume the siege of Jerusalem, which, however, triumphantly withstood their assaults until the beginning of the eleventh year, when the supply of provisions began to fail (Jeremiah 52:6). On the ninth day of the fourth month, i.e. in July, B.C. 586, "there was no bread for the people of the land." The starving defenders of the city could no longer hold out. The horrors of the situation may be gathered from Lamentations 2:19; Lamentations 4:3-10; Ezekiel 5:10; Baruch 2:3. The besiegers eventually effected a breach in the north wall, and poured in like a destroying flood. Then ensued:

1. Merciless carnage. The Chaldean soldiers butchered all and sundry, young and old, lad and maiden, not even sparing such as had taken refuge in the temple (ver. 17). The massacre was wholesale, truculent, and pitiless, eclipsed in horror only by that which took place when Jerusalem was captured by Titus (Josephus, 'Wars' 6:9. 4).

2. Ruthless sacrilege. They completely despoiled the temple of its sacred vessels, great and small, as well as pillaged the royal palaces, carrying off their treasures (ver. 18). Among the articles removed from the temple were the brazen and golden utensils of service, the two pillars, the brazen sea, and the vases which Solomon had made (2 Kings 25:13-17; Jeremiah 52:17-23).

3. Wholesale destruction. "They burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces" (ver. 19); which was pure vandalism. This appears to have been done not on the night of the city's capture (tenth day of tenth month), but seven months after, on the tenth day of the fifth month, i.e. in February, B.C. 587 (Jeremiah 52:12), and to have been carried out by one of Nebuchadnezzar's generals, Nebuzar-adan, captain of the king's guards, or "chief of the executioners" (cf. Genesis 39:1), despatched from Riblah for the purpose. What happened in the interval is narrated in 2 Kings (2 Kings 25:4-7) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 52:7-11), viz. the capture, near Jericho, of Zedekiah with his court and his forces, who had escaped when the city was taken, and their journey north to Riblah, the head-quarters of Nebuchadnezzar, where, after judgment held (2 Kings 25:6), Zedekiah's sons and the princes of Judah were slain, and Zedekiah himself blinded according to an inhuman practice of the time (see 'Records,' etc., 3:50, 1. 117, "Of many soldiers I destroyed the eyes;" and comp. Herod., 7:18), and cast into bonds preparatory to being deported to Babylon. In Babylon he was cast into prison until the day of his death (Jeremiah 52:11); according to tradition, his work in prison was that of grinding in a mill like an ordinary slave (Ewald, 'History of Israel,' 4:273, note 5).

4. Pitiless expatriation. Those that had escaped the sword were driven off, like gangs of slaves, to become exiles in a strange land, and servants to the kings of Babylon, "until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths," viz. for three score and ten years (vers. 20, 21). Such transplantations of conquered populations were common in the ancient Orient. "Sargon transported the Samaritans to Gozan and Media; Sennacherib carried off two hundred thousand Jews from Judaea; Esarhaddon placed Elamites, Susianians, and Babylonians in Samaria. Darius Hystaspis brought the nation of the Paeonians from Europe into Asia Minor, removed the Barcaeans to Bactria, and the Eretrians to Ardericca near Susa" (Rawlinson, 'Egypt and Babylon,' pp. 45, 46).

LESSONS.

1. The incorrigible character of some sit, hers.

2. The offensiveness in God's sight of pride and hardness of heart.

3. The heinousness of oath-breaking and of unjustifiable rebellion.

4. The hopelessness of reformation in a city or a land when all classes are in love with wicked ways.

5. The infinite compassion of God towards the worst of men.

6. The certainty that mercy despised will turn into wrath displayed.

7. The pitiless character of Heaven's judgments upon them for whom there is no remedy.

8. The indifference God shows towards the external symbols of religion when the inner spirit is wanting.

9. The impossibility of God's Word failing. - W.

1. That habits are easily commenced. There is little difficulty in forming' habits. They are not acquired by one mighty bound, but by a series of almost imperceptible steps.

2. That habits are readily strengthened. Every step that is taken is planted with firmer grip. With every ripple that flows the stream becomes wider and swifter, fed as it were with other streamlets on the way. Every time an action is repeated the easier it becomes, and the more deeply rooted in the soul.

3. That habits are seldom eradicated. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? Yea, easier than a man unassisted by Divine help can break away from evil habits. They become part of the nature of the man himself.

II. WE SEE THE PRESUMPTION OF CONTINUED REBELLION. We are constantly reminded of the fact that God is merciful. But there is a limit to the mercy and forbearance even of God. This is evident —

1. From the fact that it is impossible always to continue His warning and judgments on the impenitent. If the obstinacy of one person cannot be overcome it were unjust on that account to remove the chance of salvation from others.

2. From the inevitable progress of temporal affairs. Death comes on with his rapid step and cuts short the life and with it the opportunities of repentance from the obdurate spirit. Then the door of mercy must be shut for ever.

3. From the very nature of the refusal. Is it likely that He, the Lord of all, will continue offering heavenly treasures to human swine who only trample His gifts in the mire? Oh, it is a sad and an awful truth that man may presume too far even on infinite love!

III. WE SEE THE AWFUL END OF PRESUMPTUOUS SIN. The consequences are at the last utter destruction and irretrievable loss. This stands to reason if we remember —

1. That God must vindicate His character.

2. That an example must be set to the world at large.

3. That the sinful must be removed out of the way.

(Homilist.)