Wednesday Bible Study: The end of all things-2 Kings

The 25th chapter of 2 Kings is a story we've hit before- the fall of Judah and Jerusalem to Babylon.  It's also a story in that it borrows from our study of Proverbs the three types of unbeliever- the simple, the fool, and the scoffer.  The simple disbelieves because he hasn't been taught; the fool says in his heart, there is no God- but can learn different; the scoffer sets himself up as his own god, and thus has little hope of turning.  And we are going to look at three gentlemen who show these traits in how they FAIL to listen.

The Fool- Zedekiah

When you study the more fleshed-out story of this last king in Jeremiah, you learn that he has several opportunities to change the judgment on both himself and his city- but he is full of fear.  Because of his fear, he listens to the big men of his society about Jeremiah:

Jer 38:4  Then the officials said to the king, "Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm."
Jer 38:5  King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you."

Wow, the king can do nothing against his citizens?  What a king you must be!  But see, it isn't only these men he fears, but also God...

Jer 38:8  Ebed-melech went from the king's house and said to the king,
Jer 38:9  "My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city."
Jer 38:10  Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, "Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies."


Just days before, he could do nothing to stop them out of fear;  now, he defies them out of fear, saving Jeremiah because what they did was evil.  You start to think there might be hope for him, because he asks Jeremiah what to do next...

Jer 38:14  King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the LORD. The king said to Jeremiah, "I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me."
Jer 38:15  Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me."
Jer 38:16  Then King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, "As the LORD lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of these men who seek your life."
Jer 38:17  Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live.
Jer 38:18  But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand."
Jer 38:19  King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me."
Jer 38:20  Jeremiah said, "You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the LORD in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared. 


Jeremiah goes on to predict the exact fate that ends up happening to Zedekiah- he's not going to listen, he's going to get caught, and he's going to suffer and the city will burn.  And why not listen?  Because his biggest fear was the Babylonians:

2Ki 25:4  Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah.
2Ki 25:5  But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.
2Ki 25:6  Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him.


He knocks a hole in the wall for himself and his guards to escape, but gets caught. He loses his city, his family, his eyes, and is taken in chains to Babylon never to be seen again.  Lesson: the fate of the fool who doesn't listen to God out of fear.

The scoffers- the big shots

These were the same men who forced Zedekiah to imprison Jeremiah; they were the royal, religious, and military leaders.  They did things as they wanted, with no regard for God or Jeremiah's warnings.  They saw themselves, as we put it now, as 'too big to fail'... and, yet....

2Ki 25:18  And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold,
2Ki 25:19  and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and five men of the king's council who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.
2Ki 25:20  And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
2Ki 25:21  And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.


Just to flesh this out- this was about three weeks after the city was taken.  Nebuzaradan had been sent back in to destroy the city and bring these men out- it seems God gave them 18 days (Jeremiah says 21) to repent, and still they thought themselves invulnerable.  And for their lofty opinions of themselves, God had Nebuchadnezzar treat them as they really were- an afterthought.  Lesson- pride goeth before the fall, people.

The simple- Gedaliah

At the end of the story, Nebuzaradan appoints Gedaliah the governor over the poor wretches that are left, but even among these there are snakes in the grass.  One of the leaders remaining, Ishmael 'the son of Nethaniah', who supposedly has that last little bit of royalty in him (his dad was a royal secretary or somesuch).  As a snake, everybody knows he's a snake- except for good-hearted Gedaliah:

Jer 40:13  Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah
Jer 40:14  and said to him, "Do you know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?" But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them.
Jer 40:15  Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, "Please let me go and strike down Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life, so that all the Judeans who are gathered about you would be scattered, and the remnant of Judah would perish?"
Jer 40:16  But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, "You shall not do this thing, for you are speaking falsely of Ishmael." 

And guess what?  Gedaliah didn't get in one year of governing before Ishmael killed him.  Lesson:  Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.


And whereforth am I?

It is just before Gedaliah's murder that Nebuzaradan and Jeremiah have a little talk:

Jer 40:2  The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, "The LORD your God pronounced this disaster against this place.
Jer 40:3  The LORD has brought it about, and has done as he said. Because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey his voice, this thing has come upon you.
Jer 40:4  Now, behold, I release you today from the chains on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you well, but if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, do not come. See, the whole land is before you; go wherever you think it good and right to go.

While the sinful have been judged, Jeremiah has a choice.  And this is what salvation does for us- it removes "the chains on your hands".  God then gives you freedom to do as you will- but will you use it for His will?  Jeremiah stayed while the governor Gedaliah was murdered and preached God's will- stay in Judah, don't flee to Egypt. He followed them to Egypt (Or was forced with them by Ishmael) warning an ever-decreasing listener base that they would not escape the judgment of God OR Nebuchadnezzar in Egypt.  In other words, he continued to try to save even one of these, in the hopes that in the midst of these scoffers there would be one fool to turn, one simpleton to educate.  Jewish tradition says he was killed by the same people he preached to; history says "records are unclear" as to whether his prediction thatGod was coming for them came true:

 "Jer 43:8  Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes:
Jer 43:9  "Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah,
Jer 43:10  and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them.

 


But when you consider everything else came true of what Jeremiah said, it's a safe bet. Lesson for us- Salvation gives you freedom- don't waste it on evil.