Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Jehoiakim reigns during a time of turmoil. Jehoiachin succeeds him and surrenders Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar. Jerusalem is plundered and the Judeans are exiled to Babylon.
II. Photo
Jerusalem surrenders: “Thereupon King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, and his courtiers, commanders, and officers, surrendered to the king of Babylon.” (v. 12a)
III. Important Verses
1-2: In his days, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. The LORD let loose against him the raiding bands of the Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites; He let them loose against Judah to destroy it, in accordance with the word that the LORD had spoken through His servants the prophets.
3-4: All this befell Judah at the command of the LORD, who banished [them] from His presence because of all the sins that Manasseh had committed,and also because of the blood of the innocent that he shed. For he filled Jerusalem with the blood of the innocent, and the LORD would not forgive.
11-17: King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against the city while his troops were besieging it. Thereupon King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, and his courtiers, commanders, and officers, surrendered to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. He carried off from Jerusalem all the treasures of the House of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace; he stripped off all the golden decorations in the Temple of the LORD — which King Solomon of Israel had made — as the LORD had warned. He exiled all of Jerusalem: all the commanders and all the warriors — ten thousand exiles — as well as all the craftsmen and smiths; only the poorest people in the land were left. He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king’s wives and officers and the notables of the land were brought as exiles from Jerusalem to Babylon. All the able men, to the number of seven thousand — all of them warriors, trained for battle — and a thousand craftsmen and smiths were brought to Babylon as exiles by the king of Babylon. And the king of Babylon appointed Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, changing his name to Zedekiah.
IV. Outline
1-7. Jehoiakim king of Judah
1a. Jehoiakim becomes Nebuchadnezzar’s vassal
1b. Jehoiakim rebels against Babylon
2. Judah is attacked by the Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites
3-4. Theological explanation for the attack: Menasseh’s idolatry and murder
5-6. Summary statement: Jehoiakim king of Judah
7. Babylon conquers Egypt’s holdings in western Asia
8-17. Jehoiachin king of Judah
8. Introductory statement
9. Jehoiachin’s evil ways
10-12. Jehoiachin surrenders to Babylon
13. Nebuchadnezzar raids the city and the temple
14-17. Nebuchadnezzar exiles the Judeans to Babylon
18-20. Zedekiah king of Judah
18. Introductory statement
19. Zekekiah’s evil ways
20a. God’s anger
20b. Zedekiah rebels against Babylon
V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.
VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Cogan, Mordechai and Hayim Tadmor. “II Kings” The Anchor Bible v. 11 (USA: Doubleday, 1988).
Collins, John J. “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible,” (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).
Hobbs, T.R. “2 Kings” Word Biblical Commentary vol. 13 (Waco, Texas: Wordbooks, 1985).
Photo taken from http://www.catrionajeffries.com/images/works/g_koh/full/22_g_koh.jpg
