2 Kings 24:1-5 – Live right and prevent needless suffering

Second Kings 23:36 said that Jehoiakim ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. He was said to have been placed on the throne by Pharoah Neco and had been paying yearly tribute to Egypt. And being a vassal state of Egypt, Judah was unwittingly drawn into the conflict Egypt had at the battle of Carchemish. According to Jeremiah 46:2. this was a battle that Egypt eventually lost to Babylon in the 4th year of the reign of Jehoiakim.

But in the 3rd year of Jehoiakim’s reign, Daniel 1:1-6 tells us that “…Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.” We are also told that “The LORD gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.” This was the time that some of the better-educated youth from Judah, including the Prophet Daniel, were deported to Babylon.

Second Kings 24:1 tells us having served Babylon for three years, Jehoiakim rebelled. This could mean that he refused to pay the tribute due to them. From the book of Jeremiah, we understand that Jehoiakim was depending on Egypt to come to their support. This was something that the Prophet Jeremiah objected to vehemently. Although Nebuchadnezzar did not deal with the rebellion immediately, he allowed Judah’s border to be raided by “bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites.” We are told in 2 Kings 24:2-4 that this was the LORD’s doing. He allowed them to be attacked for the sins that the kings and the nation had committed against Him. Although Manasseh was explicitly mentioned, God was not punishing Judah only because of his sin. He was used as an illustration of the evil the nation had conducted against God. His was the worst of all the evil that kings had done against God. Besides re-introducing idolatry, he was totally licentious. He allows witchcraft, medium, and spiritism to flourish in the nation. He not only permitted sodomy but also allowed child sacrifice and made his son pass through the fire.

What Jehoiakim and Judah went through was more painful considering that they were preventable. They reached where they were due to neglect and carelessness. They had forgotten how to be faithful to their covenant God. It was not as if they did not have a merciful God even when they had fallen. All they needed was to return and repent. What they went through is a lesson for us. We must not forsake our faithful God. The assurance of Isaiah 59:1-2 is that the LORD’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor His ear so dull that it cannot hear. The cause for why God would not respond to our call would be our iniquities. It is the blockage between God and us and would cause His face to be hidden from us. If we persist in our sins, judgment becomes inevitable to get our attention. Let’s remember if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.