2 Chronicles 36

2 Chronicles 36:1-10

We have here the unhappy reign, 1. Of Jehoahaz, ver. 1—1. 2. Of Jehoiakim, ver. 5—8. 3. Of Jehoiakim, ver. 9, 10.

4. Of Zedekiah, ver. 11. under whom the dispositions for his name upon the people, ver. 12—21. 5. The proclamation of Es-ras for their return after their long captivity, ver. 22, 23.

5. THEN the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem. 2. Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3. And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 4. And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt. 5. ¶ Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did that whole was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. 6. ¶ Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon. 7. Nebuchadnezzar also carried off the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. 8. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that whole was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and ¶ Jehoiakim his son reigned in his stead. 9. ¶ Jehoiakim was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and he did that whole was evil in the sight of the LORD. 10. And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the § goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made § Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

These short and evil reigns were the forerunners of the kingdom’s ruin.

1. Jehoahaz, set up by the people, was quickly dethroned, and carried captive into Egypt, by Necho, provoked at his father’s opposition. He reigned but three months, yet long enough to give a sufficient specimen of his evil conduct.

2. Jehoakim, the tributary of the king of Egypt, continued eleven years governor of the impoverished country, yet more abundantly weakened by his wickedness, when he fell into the hands of the king of Babylon, and died in chains, after seeing Jerusalem and the temple plundered, and the sacred vessels gone into captivity.

3. His son, who succeeded him at eighteen years of age, rather than eight, (See 2 Kings xxv. 8.) shewed, though young, the evil that was in his heart; and, after a short reign of three months and ten days, was deposed by the king of Babylon, and Zedekiah, the last of the kings of Judah, advanced to the throne.

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Thus did the nation hailily change her kings; and, not being admonished by the repeated warnings, vengeance came upon them to the uttermost.

11. ¶ Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12. And he did that which was evil in the fight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the LORD. 13. And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him * swear by God, but he * diffused his neck and harassed his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel. 14. ¶ Moreover, all the chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much, after all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. 15. And * the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his meifengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compulsion on his people, and on his dwelling-place: 16. But * they mocked the meifengers of God, and despised his words, and inflicted his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. 17. Therefore he brought upon them * the king of the Chaldees, who flew their young men with the sword, in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compulsion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that flopped for age: he gave them all into his hand. 18. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. 19. And * they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and * burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. 20. And them that had escaped from the sword, carried he away to Babylon: where * they were servants to him and his sons, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia; 21. To fulfil the word of the LORD * by the mouth of Jeremiah, until * the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as the lay desolate, * the kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

2 Chronicles 36:11-21

Behold the desolations of Zion! the beautiful temple lies in ruins, the line of confusion is stretched over the palaces of Jerusalem: O sin, what a bitter and evil thing art thou! We have here,

1. Zedekiah’s rebellion against the king of Babylon. Tho’ he had solemnly sworn to serve him, he violated periodically his engagements, and obstinately refused submission, notwithstanding all Jeremiah’s warnings and entreaties. Note, (1.) Oaths are sacred things, God will not suffer them to be broken with impunity. (2.) They who will not bow, must break.

2. He rebelled also against God, nor paid regard to the admonitions of Jeremiah, nor humbled himself before him. We need not fear who is our enemy, if God be our friend; but who ever harassed his heart against him and prospered!

3. The priests and people universally fell into idolatry; they who should have been the first to restrain others, were the ringleaders in the wickedness, and even in the temple their abominations were set up. In vain the compassionate Lord God

of their fathers, unwitting they should perish, sent them repeated warnings, and his prophets with diligence and zeal rose early up to testify against their sins; they mocked at his counsel, and would have none of his reproof; all used his prophets, and treated them with scorn and contempt, and the hand of the priests was chief in the transgressions. Note, (1.) God leaves not the sinner, till all the methods of his grace have been ineffectual, and his wilful heart refuses to be reformed. (2.) God’s true prophets are earnest and assiduous in their word; were to those against whom they complain, all they long have, the first, and the second, and the third, and the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the seventh, and the

4. The consequence of his conduct was ruin to the uttermost. After a terrible siege, for a King’s will, the city was taken by storm, and sacked; no sanctuary protected young or old; even the temple was filled with the carcasses of the sun; the sacred house stripped of all its monuments, the palaces plundered, the temple burnt, the city raised to its foundations, the few that were left from the sword enslaved and inflicted, dragged to Babylon to weep in vain over the mournful remembrance of their past and present miseries; their country ravaged and desolate, and left to enjoy those sabbaths which they profanely refused to observe: and seventy years the iron bondage halted, till the kingdom of Persia rose upon the ruins of their conquerors, and the daughter of Babylon, washed with misery, drank of the cup of wrath which she had put unto the hands of the nations. Note, (1.) The more we see of the miseries for produces, the more should we fear to provoke a holy God. (2.) When the rod hath done its office, it will be broken or burned. God, though he assists his people, will not be wroth for ever.

5. ¶ Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia (that the word of the LORD * spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah, * might be accomplished) * the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing; saying, 23. Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath * the LORD * God of heaven given me, and * he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem which is in Judah: * who is there among you of all his people? * the LORD * his God be with him, and let him go up.

v. 22, 23. These verses conclude the book of Chronicles, and begin the book of Ezra, which seems to speak the same hand author of both. They mention the prophecy of Jeremiah now exactly accomplished by the decree of Cyrus; and after the dark and dismal night of seventy years captivity, the dawnings of the returning day appear, and there is yet hope in their end. They afford us, in the most afflicted circumstances of God’s church, encouragement to wait still upon God, and trust in his mercy. And thus also when the dark and silent grave shall seem to swallow up the ruins of mortality, the believer may still, dependant on the promise, look forward with confidence, and expect a glorious return from his captivity in a resurrection day.

The End of the CHRONICLES. THE