Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Israel had voided their covenant with God. They forsook Him (willingly turned away), participated in abominations, and refused to follow His commandments. God was merciful and continued to bless them for hundreds of years, but in the end, when they time and again refused to repent, they got the judgment that He had been withholding in hopes of their return. And He only waited because of His love for and faithfulness to David. Now in Judah we have seen a sporadic pattern of following God and forsaking God. But you can’t live like that. You HAVE to obey. Not out of fear, but you obey because you love Him. Failure to obey shows an immature love – or a total lack thereof. They had an example in the nation of Israel. But Judah has not taken it to heart.

Which is why Josiah was so affected when he heard the Law read. He realised how imperfectly they had been following God. When the prophetess Huldah confirmed it to him, he took the elders of the nation and went up to the Temple. There he began one of the greatest revivals Judah had ever seen. He destroyed and removed everything in the Temple that didn’t belong. Everything Manasseh and Amon had put in. He tore down the huts of the prostitutes that were beside the Temple – male and female. He tore down the high places and would not let the priests who had sacrificed there (even though it was to Yahweh) to offer sacrifices anymore – because the Lord in the Law said ONLY sacrifice in the Temple/tabernacle and nowhere else).

Josiah even tore down the temples and pillars that Solomon had made. He didn’t care that they were cultural treasures. He didn’t care that they were beautiful. He tore down, burnt, and destroyed everything that was against God. He went through the nation destroying everything that was ungodly from God’s point of view. He even destroyed the altar and Bethel and dug up the bones of the evil priests and burnt their bones. This was a fulfillment of the prophecy 300 years before (1 Kings 13). In fact, one grave was marked as special. Josiah was told it was the prophet that had foretold all these things. Josiah ordered his grave left alone – thereby saving the bones of the false prophet who made sure to be buried with the godly prophet (1 Kings 13:31-32).

Israel had been carried into captivity, but there were still some priests offering sacrifices in Samaria. Josiah went there and destroyed those altars and killed those unholy priests too. Then he returned to Jerusalem and commanded all the people that they were to keep the Passover – which had been neglected. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah (he was 26 years old), they kept a Passover that was so large, heartfelt, and true to the Law that no one else had ever done one quite so thoroughly. It is very likely that Jeremiah and Zephaniah were present – they were operating prophets at the time and godly men.

Josiah put away (killed) anyone who consulted mediums or spiritists, household gods (they used them as kind of magic eight balls and it is said the masks spoke to people – clearly demonic), idols, and all the abominations that had been present in the land before the Lord brought His children there. Josiah kept the Law as it was written and was zealous for the Lord and His House (the Temple). No other king did as much as he did. Every other king, no matter how godly, had left elements like these in their kingdoms. Not Josiah. He forbade everything that the Lord forbade and held to it with zeal. And remember that if it was wrong then, it is STILL WRONG NOW. It doesn’t matter what WE think or feel, only what GOD says is right. We are subjective people. He is not. He is completely objective and righteous in all His ways.

But judgment was still coming. Because of the horrors that Manasseh had led the people into, judgment was coming. It was delayed because of this revival, but it was still coming.

Josiah had been prophesied to thirteen years previously that he could end his days in peace. But Pharoah Necho (reigned 610–595 B.C. and was part of the 26th Dynasty) was coming up out of Egypt to help the Assyrians against the Neo-Babylonians (he did not succeed and was later conquered by Nebuchadnezzar – Jeremiah 46:2). Josiah got all puffed up and tried to stop him. Pharoah told him not to. That they had no quarrel (2 Chronicles 35:20-25). Josiah would not listen and insisted on fighting. He was killed at Megiddo where they clashed. He was taken back to Jerusalem and buried in his own tomb. He could have died in peace, but he did not hold to God’s promise and went his own way. Prophecies have to have our cooperation to come to pass – unless the Lord tells us they are immutable.

Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, was twenty-three when he became king and reigned three months. He was an ungodly man. He did evil from God’s point of view. He did NOT follow in the ways of his father, but in the ways of his other ungodly ancestors. Pharaoh Necho put him into prison and took tribute from Judah. Pharaoh put Eliakim, a different son of Josiah, on the throne and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Pharaoh took Jehoahaz with him back to Egypt and Jehoahaz died there. Jehoiakim was twenty-five when he became king and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He paid tribute to Pharaoh. He was ALSO an ungodly man. Josiah had been very godly, but he had not trained up his children in God’s ways (Proverbs 22:6). During the reign of Jehoiakim is when Jeremiah 25-27, 35-36, and 45-46 occurred. God told them if they repented (Jeremiah 26) their defeat would not happen, but they did NOT repent.

Nebuchadnezzar came down and made Jehoiakim his vassal. That lasted for three years before Jehoiakim rebelled. Nebuchadnezzar responded by sending people he had conquered against Judah. The Syrians, Moabites, and Chaldeans raided the country for four years. This was the judgment against Manasseh for the evil he had done and the innocent blood he had spilt (Numbers 35:33). Jehoiakim died an attacked king in an attacked country. He was buried in Jerusalem and his son Jehoiachin took the throne. Pharaoh did not come to their aid during any of this time because Nebichadnezzar had taken all the land outside Egypt and locked the Pharaoh up in his own country.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king. He reigned for three months. Now 2 Chronicles 36:9 says he was eight when he became king, but when we went into captivity his WIVES went also. Either 2 Chronicles has a different way of marking his age (eighth year of his majority or something), or the wives were in name but not consummation. It’s possible that it was three months of FREE reign and then the siege, and then the fall of Jerusalem in his eighth year of reigning (I think that’s the most likely, but I’m still reading through commentaries, articles, and Rabbinical teaching about it). In any case, he followed in his father’s footsteps and did evil in the sight of the Lord. Finally done with playing, Nebuchadnezzar’s forces came and besieged Jerusalem. In fulfillment of Jeremiah 22:24-27, Jehoiachin, his mother, his wives, his servants, his princes (he had no sons – Jeremiah 22:30), and his officers were taken out to Nebuchadnezzar, made prisoners, and taken to Babylon.

Jerusalem was sacked. All the treasures were taken. All the captains and the mighty men of valor. Ten thousand citizens and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest of the land. Daniel and his friends were taken at this time, and it is in Babylon as prisoners that the book of Daniel is written. It is also assumed that Ezekiel was one of these prisoners (Ezekiel 1:1-3). Nebuchadnezzar took them all to Babylon. In the place of the king, he took Jehoiachin’s uncle and made him king – changing his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah was twenty-one when he became king and reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. He was an evil king. He did the same things that Jehoiakim had done. This was the final straw. They had been punished. They had been corrected. They refused to repent. They were forsaking God and His covenant with them. So God cast them out from His presence. And Zedekiah got the bright idea to rebel against Babylon.

“So the city came under siege until the eleventh year of the king.” (2 Kings 25:2)

From the ninth year and tenth month of Zedekiah’s reign until the eleventh year and fourth month, he was under siege in Jerusalem (also shown in Jeremiah 39 and 52). Zedekiah had sworn oath to Nebuchadnezzar but had broken it in rebelling (Ezekiel 17:13-19). After a year and a half, there was no food left in Jerusalem. The city wall was broken through. Defeat was inevitable as Jeremiah had prophesied (Jeremiah 21:1-14). Zedekiah made a break for it with some soldiers, but the Babylonians chased them down. The soldiers scattered, but the king was taken and brought before Nebuchadnezzar at Ribnah. They took out his eyes, bound him up, and took him to Babylon – fulfilling prophecy (Ezekiel 12:13). This is also recorded in Jeremiah 52:9-11.

Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem in his nineteenth year as king (after the events of Daniel 2-3). He burned the Temple, the king’s house, and all the houses of the great men and women of Jerusalem. This was the fourth time he had conquered the city and had kinda had enough of it. He took it in 2 Kings 24:1 and only took some treasures. He took it and replaced the king (2 Kings 24:6). He took the city again and took ALL the treasures and most of the people (2 Kings 24:11). This time he reduced it to rubble. They destroyed the walls completely. And took ALL the people except a few to keep the vineyards and farms going. They decimated the Temple and took everything in it of value including the gold and solid silver (which show up again – Daniel 5:1-5).

The captain of the guard took the chief priest, the second priest, three doorkeepers, officers, the king’s close associates, and sixty men who were found hiding in the city, and brought them to Nebuchadnezzar. They were all killed there at Ribnah. Judah as a nation was done.

Nebuchadnezzar made Gedaliah a governor over the area. He wasn’t a king. Judah didn’t exist as a nation anymore. The captains of the remaining armies didn’t like this and Gedaliah was warned against them (Jeremiah 40:13-16), but he didn’t believe it. He told them to live, don’t make waves, and Babylon will leave them alone. They killed him and fled to Egypt. The rest of the people assumed Babylon would hear about it and kill them all, so ALL the people left Judah and went to Egypt – also recorded in Jeremiah 40-44.

Back in Babylon time has passed. Jehoiachin had been prisoner for thirty-seven years. But Nebuchadnezzar was dead and his son Evilmerodach (father of Belshazzar – Daniel 5) let him out of prison. The blind king got a seat with the other kings that were captive in Babylon. One of honour too. He ate bread before the Babylonian king for the rest of his life – but he was still a prisoner. He was given provisions everyday. But history records that Evilmerodach only reigned for two years before being killed in a conspiracy when Jehoiachin was about fifty-eight years old. Evilmerodach’s brother-in-law Neriglissar killed him and reigned for four years. His son Laborosoarchad took the throne and reigned for nine months, then Belshazzar took the throne and reigned for seventeen years and became the last king of the Babylonians. Neither the Word nor history tell us of the ultimate end of Jehoiachin. He was cursed by God that neither he nor his seed would ever sit on the throne of David again (Jeremiah 22:24-30).

Summary

Key Players: God, Josiah, Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiachin, Jehoiakim, Zedekiah

Key Verse(s): 2 Kings 23:1-3, 21-23, 29-30, 31-34; 24:1-4, 10-12, 15-20; 25:1-4, 18-21, 25-26