The Babylonians had already conquered Judah a decade prior
to the more destructive conquest which is described in this chapter. At that
time Jehoachin (or Jeconiah, or Coniah) had been the king of Jerusalem. This
time Zedekiah, Jehoachin's uncle, was king. This means that Josiah had 3
different sons who reigned as kings in Jerusalem: Jehoahaz, Jehoakim and
finally Zedekiah. During the days of Zedekiah God sent word to him through
Jeremiah that he was supposed to submit to Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 21:9)...
but he refused.
When Nebuchadnezzar was finished putting down the
insurrection which had been led by Zedekiah (II Kings 24:20), he killed
Zedekiah's sons while forcing Zedekiah to watch it happen... then he blinded
Zedekiah and took him as his prisoner. After that, Nebuchadnezzar's men
completely destroyed both the temple of Solomon and the walls of
Jerusalem. The fall of David's entire
kingdom was complete.
Nebuchadnezzar did leave some poor Jewish peasants in the
land to do some farming, and he promoted one Gedaliah to a new position in
Jerusalem. Gedaliah was declared to be the governor. Well, he was governor
until he was murdered by some of the people over whom he was supposed to be
ruling. The eventual exaltation of Jehoachin in Babylon demonstrates that God's
plan at this juncture in Hebrew history was for them to submit to the
Babylonians (Jeremiah 29:7).
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