Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion
1In those days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became subject to him for three years, after which he rebelled.
2Yahweh then sent against Jehoiakim, bands of Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites and Ammonites. They raided the land of Judah and destroyed it according to the word Yahweh had spoken through his servants, the prophets.
3All this happened only because Yahweh had ordered it so. He willed to cast the people far away from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh, and all the evils he had done. 4And also because of the innocent blood he had shed that filled Jerusalem. Because of all this, Yahweh would not pardon them.
5The rest regarding Jehoiakim and all that he did is written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. 6When Jehoiakim died, his son Jehoiachin succeeded him.
7The king of Egypt did not leave his own land again because the king of Babylon had conquered all that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates River.
The first exile
8 ① Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he succeeded his father, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9Jehoiachin treated Yahweh badly, as his father had done.
10At that time, the officials of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to attack Jerusalem, surrounding the city. 11Nebuchadnezzar came while the city was being be sieged by his men.
12Jehoiachin, king of Judah, surrendered together with his mother, his servants, his leaders and the palace officials. It was the eighth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. 13Nebuchadnezzar captured them and he took away the treasures of the House of Yahweh and of the king’s house. He also destroyed all the objects of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made for the sanctuary of Yahweh. So the word Yahweh had spoken, was fulfilled.
14Nebuchadnezzar carried off into exile all the leaders and prominent men, the blacksmiths and locksmiths, all the men of valor fit for war. A total of ten thousand were exiled to Babylon. Only the poorest sector of the population was left. 15Nebuchaddnezzar also carried away Jehoiachin, with his mother, his wives, the ministers of the palace, and the prominent men of the land.
16So all the prominent people, numbering seven thousand, the blacksmiths, numbering a thousand, and all the men fit for war were deported to Babylon by the king of Babylon.
17He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king of Jerusalem, in place of Jehoiachin. And he changed his name to Zedekiah.
18Zedekiah was twenty-one years old, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah. 19He did what displeased Yahweh, as Jehoiakim had done; 20so the punishment of Yahweh fell on Jerusalem and Judah, until he cast them far away from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
- 2 K 24,8 The destruction of the kingdom of Judah takes place in two stages: - 598 B.C. Jehoiakim has just died. His son, Jehoiachin surrenders in the city under siege. First exile of the elite to Babylon. The Chaldeans (people of Babylon) force Zedekiah to be king. - 587 B.C. Zedekiah rebels against the Chaldeans who come to destroy Jerusalem and its temple. Second exile to Babylon. The Bible states that this destruction - as that of Samaria - would not have occurred, because God is faithful to his covenant, if there had not been such an accumulation of sins and rebellions. To the very last moment, everything could have been saved if Zedekiah had listened to the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 38). However, against all hope, the Jewish nation rises from its ashes sixty years after its destruction. History shows that the great empires - the Hittites, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans - disappeared forever. We find their statues in museums and their archives recovered after thirty centuries of complete oblivion. The people of Judah, however, go back to their land. Purified by their trials and encouraged by the prophets, they return seeking a new Covenant, a more sincere and interior one, with their God. They come back from the exile under the guidance of Zerubbabel, a descendant of king Jehoiachin and Jesus' ancestor.
