Jeremiah 52:1 says, Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. This is back to the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah. His was a very bad reign. Verse two adds, And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. We are told that during his reign, Zedekiah did all that was evil in the sight of God. He was compared to Jehoiakim, during whose reign the people of Judah and Jerusalem had already suffered defeat. Verse three continues, For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. God said that because of His anger against Zedekiah and the people of Judah and Jerusalem that He cast them out. They were God's chosen people, but they were not choosing to be obedient to Him. We cannot be God's people in name alone if we are to be successful in our Christian journey. Verse four states, And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. During the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, Nebuchadrezzar came to seize Jerusalem and the rest of Judah. Matthew Henry says that Zedekiah's greatest sin was to rebel against Nebuchadrezzar, whom God had told him through the prophesy of Jeremiah not to do. Verse five adds, So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. Jerusalem was under siege for about seven years. Zedekiah resisted surrendering to Nebuchadrezzar for as long as he could, even though God had told him not to. We need to make sure that we do not attempt to hold on to things that God tells us to let go of. Verse six adds, And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. The people of Jerusalem were basically without enough food for several months that year. We should be careful that we never allow ourselves to starve spiritually by not feasting on God's word. Verse seven continues, Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain. We are told that at the end of those months that the men of war fled Jerusalem, attempting to slip away safely. There is no way that we can slip away from God's punishment, except through accepting God's word, which calls us to salvation through Jesus Christ. We cannot make our own way. Verse eight says, But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. As was already stated in a previous chapter, Zedekiah and his army were overtaken by Nebuchadrezzar. Of our own ability, we will never escape the judgment of God when He sends it, and the people of Judah and Jerusalem had already been told that God was going to allow them to be defeated by the Babylonians. Verse nine adds, Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him. Zedekiah was captured and carried before Nebuchadrezzar, who sat in judgment over him. Verse ten continues, And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah. Once again we are told that Zedekiah's sons were slain as he watched. Verse eleven concludes, Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. Zedekiah was then blinded, chained and thrown into prison until he died. He had refused to listen to Jeremiah when he told him to surrender to Nebuchadrezzar, and he paid a terrible price because of his refusal. Those who fail to listen to God's call to salvation today will pay an even greater price, which is everlasting punishment separated from God and His mercy.
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