2 Kings 25:1-7 – The great cost of disobedience

Second Kings 24:20 reveals that what Judah and Jerusalem were going through was due to the anger of the LORD, who would have them cast out of His presence.  We are also told that Zedekiah chose to rebel against the king of Babylon. In the previous siege, the more capable administrators were deported to Babylon. Those who were left behind did not have a good appreciation of the situation. They counseled Zedekiah to turn to Egypt for help in his rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar. This was something the Prophet Jeremiah had warned them not to do.

In Jeremiah 37:7-8, the prophet’s message from God to Zedekiah, who sent men to inquire of the prophet was: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come out for your assistance is going to return to its own land of Egypt.  The Chaldeans will also return and fight against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with fire.”  Jeremiah also told the king the word of the LORD saying, “Do not deceive yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,’ for they will not go. For even if you had defeated the entire army of Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men left among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.”

Obviously, Zedekiah did not heed Jeremiah’s words. Both he and his people were steeped in their obstinacy. Second Chronicles 36:15-16 said that “The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but 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. They left God with no option but to let loose the Babylonians against them.

What 2 Kings 25 describes was Nebuchadnezzar’s final siege of Jerusalem. The siege started in the 9^th year until the 11^th year of his reign. Verse 3 said that there was a famine that came upon them and there was no food in the land. Verse 4 said that the city was finally broken into, and all the men of war fled by night though the city was surrounded by the Chaldeans (The Babylonians). They escaped by the way of Arabah. Verse 6 implied that the king fled with his army, but he was overtaken by the pursuing Chaldeans in the plain of Jericho. With his capture, his army scattered from him. He was brought to the king of Babylon at Riblah to be dealt with. Cruelly, the Chaldean slaughtered all of Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes. They also had his eyes gouged out Then they bonded him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.   

Zedekiah had an interesting conversation with the prophet in Jeremiah 38. In verse 20 Jeremiah literally pled with him to listen to the LORD. He pled with Zedekiah saying, “Please obey the LORD in what I am saying to you, that it may go well with you, and you may live.” What sound advice! Obedience is key to a believer’s well-being. Life’s painful experiences can be avoided by being obedient to the LORD. One thing we can be sure about being obedient is that it is less painful than regrets. Our greatest worship of God is best reflected in our total obedience to Him. Hear a wise counsel from Saint Augustine, “The cost of obedience is small compared to the cost of disobedience.”