We have come to the last 4 Kings of Judah. Next week we will close with the fall of Jerusalem. In one chapter the author penned through the 4 Kings.
• Everything moves downhill from Manasseh’s reign onwards because the Lord has decreed that He will judge Judah and Jerusalem will fall under the Babylonians.
• The outcome wasn’t the arbitrary decision of an uncaring God, but the consequences of Judah’s persistent rebellion against God.
We are still going to hear this line repeating, for all the last four Kings: “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his fathers had done.”
• Every one of them from Jehoahaz (23:32), Jehoiakim (23:37), Jehoiachin (24:9) and Zedekiah (24:19).
The sin of Judah has led to God’s judgement, yet we are going to see God not giving up on them despite their rebellion.
• God will surely judge, but judgment is not God’s goal, redemption is.
• Punishing Judah isn’t God’s end, it is the means to an end. The end is to bring them to understand the errors of their ways, humble themselves and return to Him.
• Repentance is what God is seeking after. Over the next two sermons, we are going to see a patient God still urging the people to turn around.
This is the picture we are looking at:
Josiah 31 years. Killed by Pharaoh Neco (Egypt) 23:29
Jehoahaz 3 months (taken to Egypt) Josiah’s 1st
Jehoiakim 11 years (puppet king of Pharoah Neco) Josiah’s 2nd
• Babylon overthrew Egypt at Battle of Carchemish 605BC
• 1st deportation to Babylon (Daniel and friends)
Jehoiachin 3 months (under siege by Babylon)
• 2nd deportation (24:15-16, includes Ezekiel)
Zedekiah 11 years Josiah’s 3rd
• Babylonian siege and falls of Jerusalem (587BC)
• 3rd deportation
GOD SPEAKS TO THE KING through the prophet Jeremiah. See Jer 1:1-3.
• Jer 1:1-3 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. 2The word of the Lord came to him in the 13th year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, 3and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.
• For this entire period, God has been speaking. We have this line “This is what the Lord says” throughout the 52 chapters of Jeremiah.
4th last King JEHOAHAZ – 23:31-35
23:29 Pharaoh Neco (Egypt) killed Josiah at the battle in Megiddo and the locals made his son Jehoahaz King.
Listen to what God says to JEHOAHAZ –
• Jer 22:1-5 This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there: 2‘Hear the word of the Lord to you, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you, your officials and your people who come through these gates. 3This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. 4For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. 5But if you do not obey these commands, declares the Lord, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.’”
• 22:10-11 10Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss; rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled, because he will never return nor see his native land again. 11For this is what the Lord says about Shallum (birth name of JEHOAHAZ) son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but has gone from this place: “He will never return. 12 He will die in the place where they have led him captive; he will not see this land again.”
Jehoahaz warmed the seat only for 3 months, and Pharaoh chained and took him away to Egypt. His brother Eliakim was placed as their puppet king (name changed to Jehoiakim).
3rd last King JEHOIAKIM – 23:36-24:7 Read 24:1-2
Not long into his term, the Egyptians met the full might of the Babylonian army led by Nebuchadnezzar.
• The Egyptians, together with the Assyrians, were defeated in the Battle at Carchemish in 605BC. This was significant because after this battle, both Assyria and Egypt ceased to be powers to be reckon with.
• Babylon ruled and Jehoiakim then became a vassal of Babylon.
GOD SPEAKS TO THE KING - Jer 25, 26, 36
• Jer 25:1-3 The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 2So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: 3For twenty-three years--from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day--the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.
• Jer 26:1-6. Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2“This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. 3Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. 4Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), 6then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth.’”
And again in Jer 36 – this time the Lord asked Jeremiah to write it down in a scroll.
• Jer 36:1-4 1In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2"Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. 3Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, each of them will turn from his wicked way; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin."
• 4So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the LORD had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll.
• God did not speak to terrify but save. Warnings are meant to save you, not to harm you. God’s goal is still the same – repent and be forgiven!
Eventually the scroll reached the King. Let’s see how the King respond to it.
• Jer 36:23-25 23Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. 24The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. 25Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.
• Jer 36:27-31 27After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 28 "Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up.
29Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD says: You burned that scroll and said, "Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and cut off both men and animals from it?"
• 30Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. 31I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.'"
Jehoiakim could have saved himself, his children, his attendants, if he had listened to God’s warning, but he did not! This is the window of God’s grace to him.
• But sadly Jehoiakim did not change. Rabbinic literature tells us he was a godless tyrant who committed brutal crimes and great evil.
• Not that God did not give him a chance, but he refused to believe. Not that God did not speak to him, he refused to listen.
• It’s not ignorance; it is wilful disbelief. It stems from a hardened heart.
The problem is not a lack of the revelation of God’s will. It is with man’s unwillingness to heed the Word of God.
• We know from the parable of the sower - the problem is not with the seed, not that it cannot bring life, but the harden ground that refuses to take in the seed.
• The Word of God just couldn’t take root in Jehoiakim’s heart; he rejected it.
Jehoiakim rebelled against Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar invaded the land, laid siege and captured him. He was finally killed by Nebuchadnezzar and given no proper burial.
2nd last King JEHOIACHIN – 24:8-17
His son Jehoiachin stepped in but he did not really ‘reign’. Nebuchadnezzar broke through the siege and looted Jerusalem. Read 24:10-14.
• God prophesied his fate in Jer 22:24-30. He will be handed over to Nebuchadnezzar.
• Prophet Ezekiel was among those taken in this 2nd deportation.
• Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin’s uncle ZEDEKIAH his puppet king in Judah
We’ll touched on the last King next Sunday and read the fall of Jerusalem.
GOD DID NOT GIVE UP ON HIS PEOPLE. They gave up on God.
• God speaks to them. He continues to speak even though they are not willing to listen.
• Even to the exiled ones, God continues to speak to them through Ezekiel (Babylon) and Jeremiah (Egypt).
God did not stop then, and He will not stop today. He continues to speak to us through His written Word. Listen, and listen well. Obey Him and be blessed.
The scroll can be burned, but God’s Word can never be destroyed.
• The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever (Isa 40:8).
We are going to take the bread and cup today and remember Jesus.
• God is determined to save us; let us be determined too to rid sin from our lives and honour Him.
• We repented and trusted Christ once-a-upon-a-time. Let us examine ourselves and repent of our sin and trust Christ every day of our lives.
Punishing Judah/Israel is not an end in itself. It is just a means to an end. The end is repentance and restoration.
• God wants them to understand the errors of their ways, humble themselves and return to Him. The exile is just the means to that end.
• God’s goal is to redeem, not to condemn; to restore, not to destroy.
As we take the bread and cup today, give thanks for His salvation and renew our commitment to live aright. We are serious with God, we listen to Him, we honour and obey Him. Sing THROUGH IT ALL
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for not giving up on us. Forgive us of our disobedience and unwillingness to listen to You. Enable us, by Your grace, to listen well and obey You fully. In all our ways, to acknowledge You. May the bread and cup we take be means of your grace and strength. Revive us, O Lord. This we pray, in Jesus’ Name. AMEN.
• Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor 11:23-24)
• Jesus took the cup, gave thanks, and said, “Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the covanat, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Do this in remembrance of me.” (Matt 26:27-28)
