King Jehoiakim had become vassal to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; but after three years, he rebelled. Raiders from the territories surrounding Judah – Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, Ammonites – ravaged the land (II Kings 24:1-2). It’s possible to see this as the simple outworking of politics, with Nebuchadnezzar farming out the work of punishing a rebellious province to these nationalistic raiders: smacking down the rebels and paying the troops without having to use his own army or his own treasury.

Yet the author of II Kings analyzes this in theological terms, rather than sociological or political. “Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, for all that he had committed, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed” (24:3-4). We can see and explain the actions of kings and armies in secular terms, if we wish; but there is a divine purpose at work behind the scenes, which God will surely bring to fulfillment.

In the next generation, during the reign of Jehoiachin son of Jehioiakim, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon brought his army to Jerusalem, and besieged and captured the city. He took as plunder all the gold and silver, and took as captives all the leading citizens and artisans (24:11-16). He left Zedekiah behind as a puppet king; but nine years later Zedekiah rebelled, and Nebuchadnezzar came back, besieged Jerusalem again, and this time everything was destroyed: the temple was wrecked, all its furnishings broken down for plunder, everything in the city was taken (25:8-21).

We can see in this that “the Exile” actually took place in several waves: some probably quite early, from when Jehoiakim was vassal to Nebuchadnezzar; most of the people were taken after Jehoiachin surrendered, and he and his officials and ten thousand leading citizen were taken to Babylon (24:12-16); after the rebellion of Zedekiah most of the rest of the people were carried into exile (25:11). At that point just a few brave men were left; they assassinated Gedaliah, the governor the Babylonians had appointed, and then they fled to Egypt (25:22-26). The Promised Land of the people of Israel had been reduced to a wasteland; the city of Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord had been shattered to rubble; and everyone was dead except for a remnant comprised of slaves in Babylon and rebels running to Egypt.

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Again and again, Lord, it becomes plain that we are no better than our ancestors: we are so slow to learn from their experience. Teach us, O God, to live in repentance and faithfulness; save us from presuming that in your patience and your grace you would never let disaster overtake us.

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