Patricia sums up our summer nicely:
What a great way to end both 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles (I love checking things off the list…I feel accomplished). We end with an awesome review of what we sifted through all summer. We started the Chronicles in April…wow! So as we read this, think about how you would explain all this History to someone who has never read the Old Testament. We don’t need to get caught up on the names and dates and order as much as we keep God’s Patience, Love as well as what angers Him and the punishment we must receive for countless ignoring and disobedience.
So today’s reading flashes back all the way to 612 bc. Remember a while ago I told you 3 nations were trying to be the World Power, Assyria, Babylon and Egypt (it makes a triangle with the Promise Land right on the middle). Well, Babylonian first took Assyria then the Egyptians at the battle of Carchemish. After that, the Babylonians went after Judah, controlling them. This was attack 1 of 3 on God’s people. With each invasion captives were taken. (When we read Daniel, we will come back to this first invasion since I think this is when Daniel was taken).
So to put a few names in that paragraph,
- Nebuchadnezzar was the King of Babylon
- Pharaoh Neco was from Egypt
- King Jehoiakim was from Judah (then his son)
The second and third invasion occurred and the temple was raided and most of the leaders, including the king, were taken captive. Nebuchadnezzar placed Zedekiah on the throne of Judah, but because the king was in captivity and not dead, the Jews did not respond or recognize Zedekiah as their king. The Babylonians did however leave a remnant of people behind and did not take all of them into captivity. Nebuchadnezzar left the poor and the weak in their land, assuming they would be under his authority. All in God’s big plan.
Sadly, after Zedekiah had to see his sons killed they gauged out his eyes and took him captive, so Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah as a governor over the land since he was faithful to Babylon…but he didn’t last too long, assassinated.
Finally we meet Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Evil-Merodach (nice name) became king in Babylon in 562, 24 years after the captivity began. He was actually a nice king, even allowing officials to dine with him and releasing Jehoiachim, but his brother in law will killed him and succeeded the throne.
Notice God’s patience here. Judah was attacked 3 times, each time with years of warnings for repentance. Israel too was not taken in a single swipe, they too were invaded 3 times, God gives the ones He loves so many opportunities to repent before he has no other choice but to exile us in order to get our attention (take it from me, I know personally).
I have to say I think one of the hardest parts about the read today was
On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the 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.
When we read Lamentations we are going to read about what it must have been like for Jeremiah to see all this happening. What would you have written if you were Jeremiah?
In Summary, we started this Summer with the prophet Elijah and we end with Captivity. The next 40 days will be the ending to the Old Testament. May I encourage you to dig deep in them as they surly will speak personally to you as a message from God. Be obedient as to what he is telling you. As we see, sin ignored will have its consequences.
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