24:1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked. Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him.

 

Assyrian and Egypt were defeated by King Nebuchadnezzer, making Babylon the next world power. Since Judah was a vassal state of Egypt, then their vassal position was transferred to Babylon. King Jehoiakim was subject to Babylon for three years before he rebelled.

 

2 The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets.

 

The prophets Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and others warned Judah of her coming captivity to Babylon.

 

3 Just as the Lord had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins which Manasseh had committed.

 

Josiah led Judah into revival, but the reforms were not enough to replace the evil acts of Josiah’s father who preceded him.

 

4 Because he killed innocent people and stained Jerusalem with their blood, the Lord was unwilling to forgive them. 

 

Manasseh killed many righteous people, including prophets who were communicating the Word of God to the people. The cup of wrath for Judah was full, so divine judgment would follow.

 

5 The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

 

"The Annals of the Kings of Judah" was an uninspired secular history book which has been lost to this day.

 

6 He passed away and his son Jehoiachin replaced him as king. 

 

The death of Jehoiakim was most likely violent and degrading, as he was bound to Babylon in chains. The prophet Jeremiah predicted, “He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.” Jehoiachin his son became the next king of Judah.

 

7 The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again, for the king of Babylon conquered all the territory that the king of Egypt had formerly controlled between the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates River.

 

Nebuchadnezzar marched against Egypt. Pharaoh Necho II was able to hold on to his own land of Egypt, but he lost all of their territory in Mesopotamia. This was the exact land that God had promised to Abraham and to those who came after him. Why was Babylon, instead of Israel, in control of this area now? Idolatry!

 

24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem. 

 

Jehoiachin’s mother received the credit for his upbringing.

 

24:9 He did evil in the sight of the Lord as his ancestors had done. 

 

Jehoiachin was another evil king of Judah. His mother did not do a very good job of raising him to become a righteous king.

 

24:10 At that time the generals of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched to Jerusalem and besieged the city.

 

The Babylonian generals began their attack on Jerusalem.

 

24:11 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city while his generals were besieging it. 

 

When the city was about to be taken, King Nebuchadnezzar came to the city to claim the victory. This was typical standing operating procedures for kings. General Joab asked King David to do the same thing during David’s affair with Bathsheba.

 

24:12 King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his eunuchs surrendered to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, took Jehoiachin prisoner. 

 

Notice that this is the first time in the Bible that a historical event was dated by a Gentile king. This was the beginning of the Times of the Gentiles. Daniel gave additional prophetic information on this time period.

 

There would be three deportations of Jews who would be carried from Jerusalem to Babylon. The first deportation included the royal family, his officials, an his eunuchs. Daniel and his three friends were included in this first deportation.

 

24:13 Nebuchadnezzar took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items which King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord’s temple, just as the Lord had warned. 

 

King Hezekiah showed the Babylonian ambassadors his treasures 120 years earlier. Elisha predicted that Babylon would take all of it. Elisha made this prediction when Babylon was a very weak nation.

 

24:14 He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers (10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land. 

 

This was the second deportation of Jews by Babylon. All of the military leaders and skilled craftsman were taken. They were transported to the canals of Babylon. Ezekiel was taken with this group. The poor were left behind with Jeremiah. Daniel was already with the royal group and would be leading the King’s cabinet. 

 

24:15 He deported Jehoiachin from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with the king’s mother and wives, his eunuchs, and the high-ranking officials of the land.

 

Jeremiah prophesied that both Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin’s lines would both end, meaning that the Messiah could not come through their royal lines. Therefore, God would have to bring the Messiah into the world through another branch of David’s descendants. Matthew will explain how God worked out these details in his genealogy teaching. 

 

A Babylonian tablet actually names Jehoiachin as one of the Judaeans carried to Babylon. 

 

24:16 The king of Babylon deported to Babylon all the soldiers (there were 7,000), as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metal workers. This included all the best warriors.

 

The very best soldiers and craftsman were now serving Babylon. Even though Judah was separated into three different social classes in three different locations, God was not finished with Israel. He will still keep His promises of the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenant. God left each social class with a prophet to deliver divine communication to them. Daniel prophesied to the royal family. Ezekiel prophesied to the skilled laborers. Jeremiah prophesied to the poor.

 

24:17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in Jehoiachin’s place. He renamed him Zedekiah. 

 

Mattaniah’s name means “gift of the Lord.” It was changed to Zedekiah, meaning “righteousness of the Lord.” This changing of name demonstrated authority over a puppet king.

 

Though Zedekiah was named king by Nebuchadnezzer, the people of Judah did not recognize him as such. This unrecognition may have been due to the fact of his being placed on the throne by a foreign king. There are many inscriptions from the time which refer to Jehoiachin as Judah’s last king. It is also interesting to note that Jeremiah predicted that none of Jehoiachin’s sons would sit on Judah’s throne.

 

24:18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. 

 

The mother would receive credit for Zedekiah’s evil character. Evil mothers bring up evil children.

 

24:19 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done. 

 

Hamutal was not a very good mother. Mothers are responsible for teaching their children Bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God. The Virgin Mary taught Jesus so well, that he could debate rabbi at 13 years old.

 

24:20 What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 

 

For several years, Zedekiah submitted as a puppet king to Babylon. However, nationalists at home pressed him to rebel against being a vassal state. He made an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra, which would lead to his final defeat.