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Kings 25 is the final chapter in the book of Kings and the end of the
reign of kings over Judah. On the surface we see utter destruction
and complete loss. We have to wonder, had God failed in His promise?
Remember that God desired to be Israel’s only King. Leviticus 26
God declared, “I
will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I
will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people“.
Sadly, the nation wanted to be like everyone else. In 1 Samuel
8:19, the people rejected God in favor of an earthly king. “No,
but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the
nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and
fight our battles“.
In 1 Samuel 8:7 God said plainly, “They
have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them“.
And we see ultimate results of living without God. The chapter
begins, “Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped
against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around”.
After
14 months, “the
famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for
the people of the land“.
Without God, there is often hopelessness. Are you under siege?
The
enemy was camped all around Jerusalem and the walls were broken down.
In desperation, the people “escaped” right into the hands of the
waiting enemy. And this is what happens to us under pressure.
Without God to anchor our life, we tend to escape from one unstable
situation to the next. “The
Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of
Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, and
he was captured“.
Interesting to note
without
God he is alone. “They
killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his
eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon“.
In the end, Israel got their wish to be just like every other
nation. It is not always easy to honor God, but I believe it is way
better than the alternative!
“On
the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon… came to Jerusalem. He set fire to
the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of
Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down“.
Everything that seemed important to the earthly kings of Israel was
destroyed. The Babylonians took every piece of gold, silver and
bronze from the temple and palaces that Solomon built. They also
“carried
away captive the rest of the people who
remained“.
“But the captain of the guard left some
of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers“.
God always leaves a remnant!
The
chapter ends with a sign of hope. “In
the thirty-seventh year of the exile…the king of Babylon…
released Jehoiachin from prison“.
Remember,
he was the last legitimate king of Judah (from the line of David).
In the previous chapter he and his family were taken prisoner and
kept “safe” in prison all this time.
“So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of
his life ate regularly at the king’s table“.
According to Matthew 1:12; it was through Jehoiachin that the line
of the Messiah was preserved. You may feel defeated, or even
trapped, but there is a way out. Stop trying to be like everyone
else! Jesus said, “If
you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”
(John 8:32).