The Reign of King Zedekiah/Mattaniah and the Fall of Jerusalem

Above:  Zedekiah

Image in the Public Domain

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READING 2 KINGS 22-25, 1 ESDRAS, 2 CHRONICLES 34-36, EZRA, AND NEHEMIAH

PART IX

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2 Kings 24:18-25:26

2 Chronicles 36:11-21

1 Esdras 1:47-58

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By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept:

when we remembered the holy city.

–Psalm 137:1, A New Zealand Prayer Book (1989)

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For a different yet similar perspective on this material, read Jeremiah 37-44, O reader.

The last four Kings of Judah were in impossible situations.  Each one had bad choices and worse choices, not good choices.  Circumstances they did not create defined the monarchs’ horizons.  Geopolitics (being sandwiched between Egypt and Chaldea, to be precise) contributed to the difficulty.  And all of the four kings died in exile–one in Egypt and three in Babylon.  Zedekiah’s fate was the cruelest of the four fates.

Zedekiah was never his own man as King of Judah.  Mattaniah (“Gift of YHWH”) became Zedekiah (“YHWH is my righteousness”) when Nebuchadezzar II appointed and renamed him.  Zedekiah reigned as a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar II for about 11 years (597-586 B.C.E.).

The theology in the designated readings and in Jeremiah is consistent.  That theology upholds the sacredness of Zedekiah’s oath to God to be the vassal of Nebuchadnezzar II.  That theology also understands Nebuchadnezzar II as an instrument of God.

The assassination of governor Gedaliah and the subsequent mass exodus to Egypt (see also Jeremiah 40:13-41:18) added to the heartache of the Fall of the Jerusalem and the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah.

A common way of interpreting the conquest of a kingdom or an empire was that the gods of the victorious power had defeated the gods of the conquered power.  Nebuchadnezzar II had conquered Judah, but not YHWH.  The Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire had a date with divine judgment, too.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 5, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ALFRED TENNYSON, ENGLISH POET

THE FEAST OF ADAM OF SAINT VICTOR, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF ALBRECHT DÜRER, MATTHIAS GRÜNEWALD, AND LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER, RENAISSANCE ARTISTS

THE FEAST OF GEORGE FREDERICK ROOT, POET AND COMPOSER

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This is post #2250 of BLOGA THEOLOGICA.

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