Nebuchadnezzar＊s invasion
1 In those days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, invaded the land, and Jeho
iakim became subject to him for three years, after which he rebelled.
2 Yahweh then sent against Jehoiakim, bands of Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites
and Ammonites. They raided the land of Judah and destroyed it according to
the word Yahweh had spoken through his servants, the prophets.
3 All this happened only because Yahweh had ordered it so. He willed to cast
the people far away from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh, and
all the evils he had done.
4 And also because of the innocent blood he had shed that filled Jerusalem.
Because of all this, Yahweh would not pardon them.
5 The rest regarding Jehoiakim and all that he did is written in the Book of
the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.
6 When Jehoiakim died, his son Jehoiachin succeeded him.
7 The king of Egypt did not leave his own land again because the king of
Babylon had con quered all that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the
river of Egypt to the Euphrates River.
The first exile
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he succeeded his father, and he
reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Ne hushta, daugh ter
of Elna than of Jerusalem.
9 Jehoiachin treated Yah weh badly, as his father had done.
10 At that time, the officials of Nebu chad nezzar, king of Babylon, came to
attack Jerusalem, surrounding the city.
11 Nebuchad nezzar came while the city was being be sieged by his men.
12 Jehoiachin, king of Judah, surrendered together with his mother, his ser
vants, his leaders and the pa lace officials. It was the eighth year of the
reign of Nebuchad nezzar.
13 Nebuchadnezzar captured them and he took away the treasures of the House
of Yahweh and of the king＊s house. He also destroyed all the objects of gold
which Solomon, king of Israel, had made for the sanctuary of Yahweh. So the
word Yahweh had spoken, was fulfilled.
14 Nebuchadnezzar carried off into exile all the leaders and prominent men,
the blacksmiths and lock smiths, all the men of valor fit for war. A total
of ten thousand were exiled to Babylon. Only the poorest sector of the
population was left.
15 Nebu chaddnezzar also carried away Jehoiachin, with his mo ther, his
wives, the ministers of the palace, and the prominent men of the land.
16 So all the prominent people, num bering seven thousand, the blacksmiths,
numbering a thousand, and all the men fit for war were deported to Babylon
by the king of Babylon.
17 He made Mattaniah, Jehoia chin＊s uncle, king of Jerusalem, in place of
Jehoiachin. And he changed his name to Zedekiah.
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven
years. His mother was Ha mutal, daughter of Jere miah.
19 He did what displeased Yahweh, as Jehoiakim had done;
20 so the punishment of Yahweh fell on Jerusalem and Judah, until he cast
them far away from his presence. And Ze dekiah rebelled against the king of
Babylon.
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Comments 2 Kings, Chapter 24
• 24.8 The destruction of the kingdom of Judah takes place in two stages:
每 598 B.C. Jehoiakim has just died. His son, Jehoiachin surrenders in the
city under siege. First exile of the elite to Babylon. The Chaldeans (people
of Babylon) force Zedekiah to be king.
每 587 B.C. Zedekiah rebels against the Chaldeans who come to destroy
Jerusalem and its temple. Second exile to Babylon.
The Bible states that this destruction 每 as that of Samaria 每 would not have
occurred, because God is faithful to his covenant, if there had not been
such an accumulation of sins and rebellions. To the very last moment,
everything could have been saved if Zedekiah had listened to the warnings of
the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 38).
However, against all hope, the Jewish nation rises from its ashes sixty
years after its destruction. History shows that the great empires 每 the
Hittites, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans 每 disappeared forever. We find their
statues in museums and their archives recovered after thirty centuries of
complete oblivion. The people of Judah, however, go back to their land.
Purified by their trials and encouraged by the prophets, they return seeking
a new Covenant, a more sincere and interior one, with their God. They come
back from the exile under the guidance of Zerubbabel, a descendant of king
Jehoiachin and Jesus＊ an cestor.