Thursday, May 2, 2024

2 Kings 24:8

 2 Kings 24:8 says, Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.  Jehoiachin only ruled for three months, which was one of the shorter reigns.  We have no assurance of how long we will live, so we need to come to Christ for salvation as soon as we hear the gospel.  Putting it off might leave us forever lost.  Verse nine adds, And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.  Of course, Jehoiachin did not come to God at all, but did evil in His sights as his father had done.  People tend to follow the example of their parents, but not always.  Still, we as followers of Jesus Christ need to try to live our lives in a way that will point our children to Him.  There are plenty of people who will point them away from Him.  Verse ten continues, At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.  During Jehoiachin's brief reign, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem.  This is where God's Chosen People lived, and yet they had failed to live up to their covenant with Him.  As Christians, we enter into a covenant relationship with God through our faith in Jesus Christ, and we need to live in obedience to that covenant through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Even if we do, we will likely be besieged by evil many times in our life.  Verse eleven states, And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.  This verse repeats the fact that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem.  Verse twelve adds, And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.  Jehoiachin, when he heard that the king of Babylon had himself come against Jerusalem, he immediately surrendered.  When we face evil in the world today, if we do not put our faith in God, we will never be able to stand against it.  Verse thirteen continues, And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said.  Nebuchadnezzar took away all the treasures of the house of God and even cut in pieces the vessels of gold that Solomon had made under God's direction.  He had no respect for God nor fear of Him.  There are many countries today that try to remove even any reference to God from their culture, because they have no respect for or fear of Him, but we need to pray that we who call ourselves a Christian nation never become that way.  All this was happening because those who were called God's people had turned away from Him.  Verse fourteen declares, And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.  Nebuchadnezzar carried away all the people of Jerusalem, including what were referred to as their mighty men of valor, and left only the poorest sort of people in the land.  In this case, it would seem that being poor would have been a blessing, because the poorest weren't carried away captive.  People may think of themselves as mighty men of valor, but if they are not putting their faith in God, they may find themselves captive to someone who is more powerful.  Verse fifteen adds, And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.  Jehoiachin and all his family, officers, and mighty men were carried away to Babylon.  If we don't put our faith in Jesus Christ, we will always be a captive of sin, and we may lead others around us to be also.  Verse sixteen continues, And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.  Those who should have stood up and fought against Nebuchadnezzar surrendered without a fight.  I believe that too often as Christians we give up the fight against sin in the world.  Verse seventeen says, And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.  Nebuchadnezzar appointed Jehoiachin's uncle king of Jerusalem in place of him.  Matthew Henry said Jehoiachin was childless, so this was a further indication of how powerless he was.  The people of the world, those who do not believe in God, will always try to have people in power who do not believe in Him either.  The new kings name was changed to Zedekiah, Matthew Henry says to show Nebuchadnezzar's power over him.  Verse eighteen adds, Zedekiah was twenty and one 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.  Zedekiah reigned for eleven years, but he was still under the power of Nebuchadnezzar.  We are either going to be under the power of Satan or under the power of God.  Even if we reach great heights of power, we will still be under the power of one or the other of these two.  There really is no neutral ground.  Verse nineteen continues, And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.  Zedekiah continued to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord, even though he had seen the devastating effects of doing so.  Even as they see the devastating effects of sin ruling their lives, many people still choose to repent and turn to God for salvation.  Verse twenty concludes, For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.  Though he didn't repent and turn to God for help, Zedekiah eventually rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.  Unless we turn to God for salvation and deliverance from the power of sin, we may rebel against someone in power over us, but even if we are successful in defeating them, we are still lost and doomed spiritually.

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