September 13, 2020 National Collapse 2 Kings 24-25

 September 13, 2020 National Collapse    2 Kings 24-25

Let’s start by turning the clock back about a dozen years from our first reading.  We’ll also add a political perspective to lay beside the theological perspective we get from the Bible.  You may remember from the last two weeks that we were studying King Josiah.  He was noted as the most faith-filled of all the kings.  Josiah reigned from about 640 B.C. to 609 B.C.  Under his reign the nation grew to almost as big, if not as big, as it ever was.  The Bible makes it appear as if Judah was a completely independent nation.  Indeed it probably was in many respects.  However, if you were to ask an Egyptian ruler of the time period and they may give you a different story.  I suspect the Egyptians considered Judah to be more of a vassal state.  That makes sense on a number of fronts.  It explains why the Egyptian army felt it could travel freely through Judah as it sought to help the Assyrians in 509 B.C.  It also explains why King Josiah is killed when he goes to battle against the Egyptians.  

Whatever the case, no matter how independent Judah truly was the Egyptians were clearly a much larger and more powerful nation.

So Josiah dies from battle wounds in 609 B.C.  Josiah’s son Jehoahaz comes to power and reigns three months.  Pharaoh Neco, who killed Josiah, doesn’t seem to like this arrangement.  He confines him in a city away from Jerusalem.  Then Neco put Josiah’s son Elaikim on the throne and changed his name to Jehoiakim.  Jehoiakim submits to the Egyptian rule and begins to tax the land of Judah in order to pay the Egyptians’ demand for silver and gold.  Jehoiakim reigns from 609 B.C. to 598 B.C.  By that point Judah was definitely a vassal state to the Egyptians.

During this time the growing Babylonian empire had won a decisive victory against the Egyptians.  It was the year 605 B.C. and the remnants of the Assyrian Empire joined forces with the Egyptians against the Babylonians and their vassal states.  The battle took place in Carchemish, which is a city on the border of Syria and Turkey today.  With the defeat of the Egyptians the kingdom of Judah no longer had any real defense against Babylon.  King Jehoiakim decides he needs to play a very delicate game of international politics.  After the Egyptians are defeated at Carchemish in 605 Jehoiakim thought it prudent to sign a treaty with the Babylonians and become a vassal to them instead of the Egyptians.

That didn’t last long, however.  In 601/600 B.C. the Egyptians battle the Babylonians back to their homeland.  King Jehoiakim decides to change allegiance again and goes back to the Egyptians.

Getting dizzy yet?

It turns out to have been a bad decision.  The Babylonians resupply and drive back the Egyptians all the way to Egypt.  Things really look bad for Judah now.  Caught between two great empires, and in an attempt to stay alive, they’ve swapped allegiance far too many times.  In their push to Egypt the Babylonians lay siege to Jerusalem.  The author of 2 Kings interprets it theologically saying, “Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manassah, for all that he had committed, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to pardon.”  (2 Kings 24:3).

King Jehoiakim apparently dies in the Babylonian attack.  He is succeeded by his son Jehoiachin.  (Yes, all these guys have very similar names.)  The year is 597 B.C.  Jehoiachin decides to give himself up to the Babylonians.  They conquer the city, haul off the king, the wealth, and all the people of prominence; reported to be 8000-10000 in all.  All that’s left is the poorest people.

Jerusalem is conquered.  Things look bad.  

However, the Davidic bloodline in still alive.  The city still stands.  God’s house, the temple, is still there.

The Babylonians make Jehoiachin’s uncle, whom they rename Zedekiah, “king.”  That’s where our first Bible reading picks up.

The Bible doesn’t record a complete version of what Zedekiah tries to do.  From 2 Kings it sounds like Zedekiah tries to just revolt against the Babylonians on his own.  That sounds absolutely ridiculous all things considered.  But remember the powerful Egyptians are still there.  Not included in the Bible’s history is that the Egyptians make another surge in 592 B.C.  Zedekiah probably felt he was best making an alliance with the Egyptians.  It turns out to have been the ultimate mistake.

This time the Babylonians decide to finish things.  The Bible gives us enough detail that we can date events down to the month.  The Babylonians lay siege to Jerusalem in January 587 B.C.  The siege lasts eighteen months.  In July 586 B.C. the city wall is breached.  Zedekiah try to sneak away but they are caught and killed.  Then in August 586 B.C. the city is burnt, the houses are burnt.  The temple is burnt and destroyed.

All is lost.  The kingdom of Judah is no more.  The story is over.

The Babylonians set up a puppet governor to rule the area.  As we read, his name was Gedaliah.  He is assassinated.  Any remnants of the Jews moves to Egypt, their long time ally.

It is worth noting that the prophet Jeremiah was active all this time.  His message surely sounded like a treasonous one – go along with the Babylonians, let them take over, do not resist.  Jeremiah backed Gedaliah’s rule.  History doesn’t record what actually happened to Jeremiah but he was probably among those who traveled to Egypt where he died in obscurity.

At this point the wealthy and prominent Jews are in exile in Babylon.  Some Jews are refugees in Egypt.  And the poorest and weakest are left scattered around the area of Jerusalem.

Other than being a potentially interesting history lesson, what does this all mean?

The author of 2 Kings seems to take the point of view that they had it coming.  God was so fed up with their unfaithfulness that God decided to let them be destroyed.  From a political perspective we may get the feeling that the little kingdom of Judah was just swept up in the back and forth battles between Egypt and Babylon and was finally inevitably destroyed.

I think it is helpful to keep both perspectives in mind.  Our own lives are not lives that are exclusively religious or exclusively societal.  We may feel torn between priorities.  We may try to make sense of what is going on in our lives through the lens of faith.  Sometimes this may work.  But many times it won’t.  Like the author of 2 Kings who is trying to understand why God has let this happen, many people believe misdeeds in the past are too great for God to ever forgive.  We may also want to feel God’s intentions more fully as we try to navigate the world.  And quite often I think we live like the last of these kings.  We want to do what is good and right and godly, but we also face realities around us that don’t make it easy.  We may end up dancing a delicate dance between priorities.

None of this is easy.  None of this is nice.  We certainly want to feel God more fully.  And like the Jews of that day, we struggle to understand why God’s help doesn’t come.  It may appear that God has forsaken us, that God is not reliable, or that God simply doesn’t care.

What is absolutely true from these passages is that God does not necessarily make life easy for faithful people.  The Bible doesn’t contain that message much.  No, a faithful person may not have an easier life, but a faithful person does have a solid foundation for life.

The Bible contains these difficult stories for good reason.  The Bible does not give us a Pollyanna view of life.  The Bible gives us a real picture of life; one that fits with our own times.

In the next two weeks we will discover God’s ongoing faithfulness to the people.  They were never abandoned.  They would discover that in time, and they would discover God was even bigger and more powerful than they first imagined.  When we face difficulties and when it looks like all is lost may we also make the same discoveries, for God is always faithful and God is always at work.