Jerusalem was first besieged by Babylon during the reign of Jehoiakim. Daniel 1:1-6 said that it took place in the 3rd year of his reign. In this siege, Daniel and his three friends and others plus many valuable treasures from the house of the LORD were carried to Babylon.
In 2 Kings 24:10-16 we see the description of the second
siege of Jerusalem by Babylon. This time Nebuchadnezzar personally came to the
city. Verse 12 tells us that “Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to
the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and
his officials. So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of
his reign.”
Verse 13 explicitly said that Babylon again took “all the
treasures of the house of the Lord, and the
treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of
gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD.” This
happened exactly as the LORD had said
would happen. Nebuchadnezzar was said to have carried from Jerusalem “all the
captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives,
and all the craftsmen and the smiths.” Those he did not carry away with
him to Babylon were the poorest people of the land. Second Kings 24:15-16 then
enumerate the number of people whom he carried into exile in Babylon. Besides,
Jehoiachin the king, the list included his mother, his wives and officials, the
leading men of the best of the land, 7,000 men of valor, 1,000 craftsmen and
smiths, and 1,000 strong men, who were fit for war.
The nation’s predicament was due to its failure to honor its
covenant relationship with God. They fail to acknowledge the importance of God
to their national survival. Without God, the Kingdom of Judah was powerless and
was at the mercy of the foreign nations. First the Egyptians and now the
Babylonians. The fact that they could even survive until now was because of
God’s mercy. He was giving them the opportunity time and again to return to
Him, but they squandered them all. We can see that while God was patient toward
them, they persistently disregarded His patience till it wore thin. Second
Chronicles 36:17 said that “they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people until there was no
remedy.” We must not adopt the example of those Judean. Instead, let us
seek to leave behind a model on how to live life to please God. Don’t leave
behind a litany of failures that had incurred God’s displeasure. So we must
live to please Him with a life of obedience.
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