2 Kings 24:1-9 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years… It had been predicted that the final blow on Judah would be delivered, not by the Assyrians, but by the Chaldeans. "The days come, that all that is in thine house... shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left" (2 Kings 20:17; cf. Micah 4:10). That prediction now hasted to its accomplishment. Babylon had emerged as the successor to Assyria in the undisputed possession of imperial power. Its second king was Nebuchadnezzar, God's chosen instrument for the chastisement of Judah and surrounding nations (Jeremiah 27.). I. JEHOIAKIM'S SUBMISSION. 1. The defeat of Nechoh. It was through Pharaoh-Nechoh, as previously stated, that Nebuchadnezzar was brought into relations with Judah, which did not end till the final ruin of the latter state. Nechoh had advanced to Carchemish on the Euphrates, when Nebuchadnezzar, finding his hands free, met him in battle, and completely defeated him ( B.C. 605). All the country between Egypt and the Euphrates, which Nechoh had conquered, thus fell under the power of Babylon (ver. 7). Egypt might intrigue, but was thereafter powerless to help. Wonderful are the combinations of circumstances by which, in providence, God works out his ends. 2. Nebuchadnezzar's adduce on Jerusalem. It was now the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 25:1), and, as Nechoh's vassal, he had probably contributed his contingent to the defeated Egyptian army. Nebuchadnezzar speedily came against him. We learn from other passages (2 Chronicles 36:6, 7; Daniel 1:1, 2) that Jerusalem actually was besieged, and Jehoiakim bound in fetters, with the intention of being sent to Babylon. The king saved himself by submission; but the temple was plundered of its sacred vessels, and certain princes, among them Daniel, were taken away captive. This is the beginning of the seventy years' captivity (Jeremiah 25:11). 3. The three years servitude. For three years Jehoiakim bore the heavy yoke of the King of Babylon, as before he had borne that of Nechoh. During that period his character underwent no improvement. He still proved himself the tyrant and oppressor of his people, was obstinate and headlong in his courses, and sought the life of God's prophets. He built magnificent palaces by forced labor (Jeremiah 22:13-17). When Jeremiah's roll was read to him, he cut it up with his penknife, and threw it in the fire (Jeremiah 36:20-23). He slew Urijah the prophet, and would have put Jeremiah also to death if he had dared (Jeremiah 26:12-24). Under his reign heathenism underwent a great revival, and the moral condition of the people rapidly deteriorated. Judah, like Israel of former days, had become a hopelessly corrupt carcass, and nothing remained but to remove it from the face of the earth. II. JEHOIAKIM'S REBELLION. 1. Its motives. Three years Jehoiakim served the King of Babylon, then "he turned and rebelled against him" Not much light is thrown on the motives of this rebellion beyond the fact that Nebuchadnezzar was at this time at a distance, and Jehoiakim may have thought he might assert his independence with impunity. Pharaoh-Nechoh was still intriguing to stir up disaffection; plots were always hatching to get the subject-nations to combine against their common oppressor (cf. Jeremiah 27:3: on this occasion, however, Moab and Ammon were on the side of Nebuchadnezzar, ver. 2); and false prophets were never wanting to predict success (cf. Jeremiah 28.). Jeremiah gave a steady voice to the contrary, but it was unheeded. The proverb was again to be fulfilled - whom the gods wish to destroy, they first madden. Jehoiakim was given up to the delusions of his own vain and foolish notions, and the people cherished extravagant hopes based on their possession of the temple and the Law (Jeremiah 7:4; Jeremiah 8:8). But neither temple nor Law will avail those who refuse to "thoroughly amend" their "ways' and their "doings" (Jeremiah 7:5). 2. Human instruments of punishment. "And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians," etc. Nebuchadnezzar could not at the time attend to Jehoiakim in person; but he could lay his commands on neighboring peoples, and these were ordered to keep up a galling and harassing attack on Judah by means of marauding bands. Detachments of his own Chaldeans were assisted by Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, and gave Jehoiakim no peace. God's heritage is compared by Jeremiah to "a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her" (Jeremiah 12:9). Troubles rise on every side against those who forsake God. 3. God over all. It was the "Lord" who sent these hostile bands "against Judah to destroy it" - "surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight." In sacred history everything is looked at from the standpoint of Divine providence. From second causes it mounts invariably to the supreme cause. Nebuchadnezzar is God's "servant - his instrument for the chastisement of the nations" (Jeremiah 27:4-7); and what, from the purely historical point of view, seems a lawless play of forces, is, from the Divine point of view, a scene full of meaning, interest, and purpose. The rejection of Judah is again in these verses connected with the sin of Manasseh, only, however, as before shown, because people and rulers made these sins their own, and would not depart from them. Heathenism was again rampant (cf. Ezekiel 8.), and Jehoiakim, like Manasseh, was shedding "innocent blood" (Jeremiah 22:17). Scripture knows no fatalism beyond that which springs from the incorrigibleness of a people wedded to their sins. Neither is there any sin which, if sincerely repented, of, God will not pardon, though its temporal effects may still have to be endured. But there is the awful possibility of getting beyond pardon through our own obduracy. Both sides of the truth are seen in Jeremiah - on the one hand exhortations to repentance, with assurances of forgiveness. (Jeremiah 18:7-10; Jeremiah 26:1-3;. 35. .15); and on the other declarations that the time for pardon was past (Jeremiah 7:15-16, 27, 28; Jeremiah 11:11-14; Jeremiah 15:1; Jeremiah 18:11, 12; Jeremiah 36:16, 17, etc.). It was not because the fathers had eaten sour grapes that the children's teeth were set on edge (Ezekiel 18:2); but the children had walked in the fathers' ways. III. JEHOIAKIM'S SON. 1. Jehoiakim's end. Like so many other wicked kings, Jehoiakim came to a miserable end, for there is no reason to doubt that Jeremiah's prophecy was fulfilled regarding him, "He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem" (Jeremiah 22:18, 19). The circumstances are unknown. 2. Jehoiachin's character. Jehoiachin succeeded to the throne of his father, but, like Jehoahaz, he only held it for three months. Of him, too, the record is borne that he "did evil." He is, perhaps, the "young lion" of Ezekiel 19:5-9, whom the nations took in their net, and brought to the King of Babylon. There seem to have been some elements of nobleness in his nature, and, after a long captivity, he became the friend and companion of the Babylonian king who succeeded Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:27-30). - J.O. Parallel Verses KJV: In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. |
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