2 Kings · chapter 24 of 25
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2 Kings 24 tells how Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, subdues Jehoiakim, who rebels after three years, and the Lord sends enemy raiders against Judah because of Manasseh's sins. Jehoiakim's son Jehoiachin reigns three months, surrenders, and Nebuchadnezzar deports ten thousand people and takes the temple treasures. He makes Zedekiah king, who rebels against Babylon.
With the death of Josiah, Judah is caught between Egypt and Babylon. 2 Kings 24 narrates the Babylonian advance, the first deportation and the beginning of the end of the kingdom. The narrator stresses that it all happens by the word of the Lord, because of Manasseh's sins and the innocent blood shed, and not only by the strength of an empire.
In the days of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, comes up against Judah, and Jehoiakim serves him three years. Then he rebels against him. The Lord sends against Judah bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites, to destroy it, according to the word the Lord had spoken through his servants the prophets. This comes upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them from his sight, because of the sins of Manasseh and the innocent blood he shed, and the Lord would not forgive.
Jehoiakim dies and his son Jehoiachin reigns. The king of Egypt no longer comes out of his land, because the king of Babylon has taken all that was his, from the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates. Jehoiachin is eighteen when he begins to reign, and reigns three months in Jerusalem. His mother is Nehushta. He does evil, as his father did.
At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar come up to Jerusalem and besiege it. Jehoiachin, with his mother, his servants, his officials and his palace officers, surrenders to the king of Babylon, who takes him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign. He carries off the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the palace, and cuts in pieces all the gold vessels Solomon had made for the temple, as the Lord had said. He deports all Jerusalem: all the officials, all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remain except the poorest people of the land.
The king of Babylon makes Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king and changes his name to Zedekiah. Zedekiah is twenty-one and reigns eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother is Hamutal. He does evil, and the Lord's anger falls on Jerusalem and Judah until he casts them out from his presence. Zedekiah rebels against the king of Babylon.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
This came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them from his presence, because of the sins of Manasseh. The narrator interprets the invasion as God's judgment and not only as a political event.
The innocent blood Manasseh shed filled Jerusalem, and the Lord would not forgive. Violence against the innocent carries a weight God does not overlook.
Nebuchadnezzar carries off the treasures of the temple and cuts in pieces the gold vessels Solomon had made, as the Lord had said. The plundering of the temple is the sign that God was no longer protecting Jerusalem.
Because of the Lord's anger against Jerusalem and Judah, until he cast them out from his presence, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. The text ties political rebellion to a decision of God, yet without removing Zedekiah's responsibility.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Three years. — 2 Kings 24:1
Answer: Because of the sins of Manasseh and the innocent blood he shed. — 2 Kings 24:2-4
Answer: Three months. — 2 Kings 24:8
Answer: He cut them in pieces, as the Lord had said. — 2 Kings 24:13
Answer: Ten thousand, including officials, warriors and craftsmen. — 2 Kings 24:14
Answer: Zedekiah. — 2 Kings 24:17
The chapter reminds us that decisions have consequences that extend for generations. Manasseh's sin weighed on his descendants, and Judah reaped what it had sown. In a small group you can talk about the legacy we want to leave, and how today's faithfulness can open paths for those who come after.
It also shows that the Lord, though he announces judgment clearly and patiently, does not abandon his people. The story does not end in exile. Anyone who reads this chapter honestly can recognize the gravity of sin and at the same time wait on God's mercy, which shows itself in the prophets and in the promises still to come.
2 Kings 24 ends with Zedekiah rebelling against Babylon, a step that will seal Jerusalem's fate. In chapter 25 the city will fall, the temple will be burned and the people will go into exile, but the book will close with a glimmer of hope.
He was the king of Babylon who took Judah into exile. His name also appears in Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. According to 2 Kings 24, he deported Jehoiachin and ten thousand people, among them craftsmen and officials, in the eighth year of his reign.
The text mentions King Jehoiachin, his mother, his officials, the leaders, the warriors and the craftsmen, about ten thousand in all. The Bible says only the poorest of the land were left. Among the exiles was, according to Ezekiel 1, the prophet Ezekiel.
Because the narrator considers that Manasseh's sin marked a point of no return, despite Josiah's reform. It does not mean the later generations were not guilty, since the text also says that Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah did evil.