This second dirge in Ezekiel 19:10-14 is about the plight of the people
of Judah under the reign of King Zedekiah. Judah was a flourishing vine planted
by the Lord. Because of her waywardness,
her people were plucked up and brought into exile in Babylon. Whatever little
that was left of her back home was destroyed by a consuming fire. King Zedekiah
proved to be that fire. And with him dealt with, the line of David to the throne
seemed to have ended.
The behind-the-scenes of this dirge can be found in 2 Kings 24, 2
Chronicles, and Jeremiah 21. Babylon’s first siege of Jerusalem
took place during the 3rd year of Jehoiakim’s reign. In that siege,
the Prophet Daniel, some bright youths plus many valuable treasures from the
house of the Lord were
carried to Babylon. The second siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar took place
during the reign of Jehoiachin. Second Kings 24:10-16 said that Nebuchadnezzar
personally came to the city and “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.”
The third siege took place during the time of King
Zedekiah. Nebuchadnezzar had put him on the throne as his vassal king in
Jerusalem in the place of his nephew Jehoiachin. But he rebelled against
Nebuchadnezzar by refusing to pay the tribute promised to the latter and even
had the gut to seek the help of Egypt to deal with Babylon. In response to what
he did, the Babylonians came and laid a siege on Jerusalem. He then sent messengers
to seek Jeremiah’s help to intercede for them hoping that the Lord would be willing to deliver them
from the hand of the Babylonians.
The prophet’s response to Zedekiah can be found in Jeremiah 21. God not only refused to deliver him and Judah
from Babylon but he Himself would also fight against them to bring about
their defeat. God said, “He was going to war against the king with
an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, even in anger and wrath and
great indignation.” God warned that He would also strike down the inhabitants
of this city, both man and beast; they would die of a great pestilence. Jeremiah
21:7 guaranteed them that those people in Jerusalem who survived the initial
bombardments of pestilence, famine, and sword would be delivered into the hand
of Nebuchadnezzar as well as their foes to be struck down by “the edge of the
word.” Neither pity nor compassion would be shown to the people. All these happened
as God had warned.
Judah was once a flourishing vine but how lowly had she fallen. How
did she end up in such a plight? One way
to explain the root cause of their fall would be complacency. They had taken
their relationship with God for granted. They forgot that their ability to survive
as a luxuriant vine depended on staying connected to God. This passage is a
call to avoid complacency and to stay connected to Jesus the true vine. In John
15, Jesus said that are only the branches of His. Our fruitfulness depends on
how connected we are to Him, the true vine. Let us never let complacency slip into our relationship
and lose grip on our relationship with Him.
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