Lives of Scripture

Zedekiah, Josiah's son, was installed as a puppet king over Judah by Nebuchadnezzar after his nephew Jehoiachin was deposed and exiled; Nebuchadnezzar renamed him from Mattaniah and required an oath of loyalty (2 Kings 24:17-18; Ezekiel 17:13). Zedekiah repeatedly sought out the prophet Jeremiah for counsel and even protected him from officials who wanted him killed, yet consistently lacked the courage to act on Jeremiah's counsel to surrender to Babylon and live (Jeremiah 37:17-21; 38:14-28). Instead, pressured by his officials and hoping for Egyptian support, Zedekiah broke his sworn oath and rebelled, an act Scripture treats as treachery against God Himself, since the oath had been sworn in His name (2 Chronicles 36:13; Ezekiel 17:15-19). Babylon's response was total: an eighteen-month siege reduced Jerusalem to famine, the walls were breached, and Zedekiah fled but was captured near Jericho (2 Kings 25:1-6; Jeremiah 39:1-5). At Riblah, Nebuchadnezzar executed Zedekiah's sons in front of him — the last thing he ever saw — then had him blinded and carried in bronze shackles to Babylon, fulfilling Ezekiel's paradoxical prophecy that Zedekiah would be brought to Babylon yet never see it (2 Kings 25:6-7; Ezekiel 12:13). His reign closes Judah's monarchy: the temple was burned, and the exile Jeremiah had long warned of began (2 Kings 25:8-21).