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murder of his children. The king’s
own eyes are then gouged out by
the Babylonians, so that the last
thing he ever sees is the death of
his sons. Blind and defeated, he
is taken to Babylon in chains.Jerusalem destroyed
Over the following two months,
Nebuchadnezzar orders a further
deportation of the population of
Judah and lays waste to Jerusalem.
The city is completely destroyed,
including the fortifications and
the Temple of Solomon. The
destruction of the Temple is
especially significant. For nearly
400 years, the Temple had stood
in the heart of Jerusalem as the
ultimate symbol of the Israelite
religion. Its destruction illustrates
just how far the Israelites had
strayed from God, and their failure
to keep their covenant with Him.
Having not heeded God’s warnings,unhappy with his appointment,
Zedekiah “did evil in the eyes
of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had
done” (2 Kings 24:19). Zedekiah
is just as bad as his predecessors
and leads the holy city further
away from God, into the hands
of its oppressors.
After nine years of presiding
over a ravaged Jerusalem, afflicted
by chronic famine and shortages,
Zedekiah rebels against Assyria
with the help of the Egyptians.
His actions are quickly countered
by those of Nebuchadnezzar, who
marches on Jerusalem and lays
siege to the city for 18 months.
Jerusalem falls into utter chaos,
with the famine in the city so grave
that parents eat their own children
in order to survive. Finally, in July
of 586 bce, Jerusalem’s walls are
breached by the Babylonians.
Zedekiah attempts to escape, but is
captured and forced to watch theTHE FALL OF JERUSALEM
they now faced exile from their
devastated city and were subject
to the rule of the Babylonians.A vengeful God
Although Jerusalem lies in
ruins and the vast majority of its
population is deported to Babylon,
there is evidence to confirm that
other parts of Judah continued
to be inhabited after the exile.
With the loss of their holy city and
Temple, those who remained must
have wondered how all this could
come to pass. Why would God
allow a nation of idol-worshippers—
the Babylonians—to overthrow His
own people, who worshipped only
the one true Lord? The onlyThe ancient city of Jerusalem lies
burning after the Babylonian conquest
in this engraving by 17th-century artist
Jan Luyken. The people are led into
exile as the city is destroyed.US_128-131_Fall_of_Jerusalem.indd 130 12/10/2017 15:02
131
explanation was that Judah, and
Israel before it, had neglected their
worship of God. The Lord had
repeatedly warned both nations
that their ways were unjust and
immoral, and they must repent of
their own idol worship. He had
made it clear that the penalty for
failure to return to worship of Him
alone would be exile.
The people of Judah had not
changed their ways and now, as
God warned in 2 Kings 21:12, a
fearful judgment had come fulfilling
the prophecies of Jeremiah (see
pp.156–159). God’s response
to the Israelites’ neglect follows a
similar pattern to His treatment
of Pharaoh in Exodus. In both
cases, God delivers repeated
warnings that are ignored. The
judgment that follows is final.
As 2 Kings draws to a close,
the situation is dire. The holy city
is destroyed, the Temple has been
obliterated, and all the most
prominent members of Judah’s
society are in exile in Babylon.
However, as if to offer a shred
of hope after these harrowing
events, 2 Kings ends with therelease of Jehoiachin from prison,
when Amel-Marduk succeeds
Nebuchadnezzar as king. Although
still held in Babylon, Jehoiachin
dines at the king’s table and is
even given a regular stipend.Historical evidence
The biblical account of the fall
of Jerusalem and the exile of the
Judean people to Babylon largely
corresponds with historical
evidence. The narrative is
corroborated by a wealth ofTHE HISTORICAL BOOKS
... Jerusalem will
become a heap of
rubble, the Temple hill
a mound overgrown
with thickets.
Micah 3:12archaeological findings and early
accounts. These include a passage
from the Babylonian Chronicles,
a set of ancient tablets discovered
in the 19th century that describes
the sack of Jerusalem in 597 bce,
and also Jehoiachin’s “rations
tablets,” which were unearthed
from Nebuchadnezzar’s royal
archives during excavations in
Babylon in the early 20th century.
Evidence of the Babylonian
rampage through central Judah
in 588–586 bce also includes
pottery fragments, known as clay
ostraca, and the world-renowned
Lachish letters, a series of ancient
Hebrew missives written in carbon
ink on clay tablets, which were
discovered during excavations at
Tel Lachish in 1935.
The seismic events of the early
6th century bce undoubtedly
occurred as poor leadership and
a difficult geographical position
left the people of Judah vulnerable
to their larger, more powerful
neighbors. The Bible’s message
is clear about its cause, however.
God’s people strayed from His way
and, as a result, were punished. ■The failure of
SennacheribThe destruction of Jerusalem by
Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar II
was not the first attempt to
conquer Judah’s holy city. Earlier
in 2 Kings (18:17–35), the Assyrian
King Sennacherib attempts to
strike a deal with the people of
Jerusalem that would allow him
to take control of the city and
become their ruler.
A hugely successful conqueror,
Sennacherib has already colonized
large areas of the Middle East
and significantly expanded the
Assyrian Empire. His reputation
has made him arrogant, and he
believes that taking Jerusalem
will be a relatively simple
undertaking. When making hisproposal to the people of Judah,
he blasphemes against God,
saying that no god of any nation
has ever been able to stand up
to his might. Hezekiah, the king
of Judah at that time, tells God
of Sennacherib’s heresy and
his bold claims that he will
take Jerusalem. He calls on
God to deliver His people from
Sennacherib and preserve the
holy city. The angel of the Lord
then goes into the Assyrian
camp at night and strikes
185,000 Assyrian soldiers dead
(2 Kings 19:35). Sennacherib is
later murdered in suspicious
circumstances by his own sons,
and God is once more avenged.US_128-131_Fall_of_Jerusalem.indd 131 21/09/17 11:51 am