Bible Study Notes 11/4/2025
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Zedekiah (597-586 BC)
2 Kgs. 24:17-25:7, 2 Chr. 36:10-21, Jer. 21:1-22:9, 13-17; 27-28, 32:1-5, 34:1-22, 37:1-39:10, 52:1-11,
Ezek. 12:12-14, and 17:1-24
After Nebuchadnezzar takes Jehoiachin and other leading officials to Babylon in 597 BC, he places Mattaniah, Josiah’s third-born son (1 Chr. 3:15) on the throne, and changes his name to Zedekiah at age 21.
He reigns for 11 years in Jerusalem as a vassal king under the greater sovereignty of the king of Babylon.
Zedekiah “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD” (2 Chr. 36:12; Jer. 37:2).
On several occasions, Jeremiah warns Zedekiah about the judgment that is about to come, telling the king and the people that they should submit to the Babylonian king and serve him (Jer. 27-28).
- Zedekiah does not believe Jeremiah’s words, however; he prefers to listen to the false prophets.
As Nebuchadnezzar is besieging Jerusalem, Zedekiah asks Jeremiah to inquire of the LORD about the Babylonians.
- Jeremiah announces that God himself is waging war against the king and that he and the people will be given into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, because God is punishing them for their sins (Jer. 21).
- Zedekiah is commanded by the LORD to “do justice and righteousness” and to “do no wrong or
violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow” (Jer. 22:3; cf. Deut. 24:17).
- If he obeys God’s words, he will sit on David’s throne, but if not, the temple will become a desolation (Jer. 22:5) and the city the city will be destroyed because the people “have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and worshiped other gods and served them” (Jer. 22:9) – this occurrence is not unlike the temple destruction in 70 AD when God’s people did not believe Him concerning the Messiah having come.
Zedekiah rebels against Nebuchadnezzar and seeks assistance from Egypt (Jer. 37:5-7; Ezek. 17:15).
- In the meantime, the Babylonian king withdraws from besieging Jerusalem in order to contain an Egyptian advance.
- During this period of calm, Jeremiah tells Zedekiah that the Egyptians will return to Egypt, but the Babylonians (also called “Chaldeans”) will surely return to Jerusalem and take the city (Jer. 37:1-10).
- The prophet Ezekiel also has something to say about Zedekiah’s rebellion against the Babylonian king (Ezek. 17-18; cf. 2 Kgs. 24:20).
- Ezekiel recalls that Nebuchadnezzar had made a covenant with Zedekiah (Ezek. 17:11-15).
- Records indicate that Zedekiah made at least one trip to Babylon (Jer. 51:59).
- Ezekiel asks the question about what happens to a person who breaks a covenant: “Can he break the covenant and yet escape?” (Ezek. 17:15).
- According to political standards in the ancient world, covenant breakers would be punished: Zedekiah not only broke the covenant with Nebuchadnezzar, but he also broke God’s covenant (Ezek. 17:19-20).
- After Jeremiah pronounces God’s word to Zedekiah, the prophet is placed under house arrest in the court of the guardhouse, and remains there until the city is taken (Jer. 37-38).
Jeremiah is Instructed to Buy a Field
God’s word comes to Jeremiah while he is confined in the court of the guard regarding his cousin, Hanamel, who will come to request that Jeremiah buy his field located at Anathoth (location is unsure, but is thought to be 3 miles northeast of Jerusalem) (Jer. 32:1-15).
- Jeremiah knows the LORD instructed him to buy the field, so he and his cousin sign all the documents and then Jeremiah gives them to Baruch to store in an earthenware jar so that they would last for a long period of time, as God has commanded him to do.
- Keep in mind that Jeremiah just bought property that he knew would soon be invaded and seized.
- But God promises that ‘houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land” (Jer. 32:15).
- God will bring back His people, and Jeremiah recognizes that the LORD God made the heavens and the earth – nothing is too difficult for him (Jer. 32:16-17).
God will gather His people, bring them back to the land, and make a new covenant with them, as God said: READ Jer. 33:2-3.
- The “great and hidden things” include his promise to cleanse his people from all their iniquities and pardon all their sins (Jer. 33:8).
Jerusalem Falls in 586 BC
Jerusalem is finally taken in 586 BC, after a two-year siege, which produced an appalling famine inside the city (2 Kgs. 25:1-5).
When the city walls are finally broken, King Zedekiah and his troops abandon Jerusalem.
The Babylonian army pursues Zedekiah, overtaking him in the plains of Jericho as his army scatters.
- The Babylonians show no mercy and bring the captured king before Nebuchadnezzar, who sits in judgment against him.
- They then slaughter the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and gouge out Z’s eyes, bind him with bronze fetters, and take him to Babylon (2 Kgs. 25:7; Jer. 52:10-11).
This is the last king of Judah, who is brutally blinded by Nebuchadnezzar and leaves Jerusalem in the dark (as hinted in Ezek. 12:12-13).
Zedekiah is now bling en route to Babylon, just like God’s idolatrous people, who will go into exile, having eyes to see “but see not” (Ezek. 12:2).
Everlasting peace will only be established when the Messiah comes, as this is the king from the line of Judah, the line of kings, who will be born in Bethlehem, who will save his people from their sins. He will establish God’s everlasting kingdom.
EXILE
During the final years of the southern kingdom, Judah spiraled downward in unrepentant sin.
God raises up prophets to call His people back to Him, but to no avail. The southern kingdom ended in 586 BC and God’s people were exiled.
The Period of EXILE Simply Explained
We are now in the 5th period of the OT: EXILE.
In 586 BC Jerusalem is destroyed and Judah is brought into exile to Babylon.
- First deportation: 605 BC – leading citizens and nobility were brought to Babylon, including Daniel and his three friends.
- Second deportation: 597 BC – Nebuchadnezzar brings another group of Judeans to Babylon, including King Jehoiachin and the prophet Ezekiel.
- Final deportation: 586 BC – official beginning of the exile.
These exiles are partially resolved in 539 BC when the Persian king, Cyrus, defeats the Babylonian Empire and allows the exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, but only a portion of God’s people return to the land.
Ezekiel is from a priestly family and begins his ministry shortly after the second deportation of 597 BC.
- His priestly background (he does not officiate at the temple) informs both his prophecies and the language he uses in his oracles.
- He is living in Babylon with the exiles and is summoned by God through a vision of the glory of the LORD.
- In 593 BC, just a few years prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, God calls the prophet to speak God’s word to the house of Israel, but God’s people are stubborn and rebellious and the prophet knows the people will not listen to him.
- God gives Ezekiel visions of the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the temple because of the abominations that are being committed by the house of Israel.
- Ezekiel highlights the Israelites ongoing rebellion against God and their failure to follow his laws.
- He then has a vision of God’s glorious presence departing from the temple, which is devastating because God would allow his own house to be destroyed.
- God’s departure of God’s glory marks the most tragic event in Israel’s history, yet the prophet also speaks of the restoration of God’s people after the exile, and the return of the divine presence.
- The book of Ezekiel ends with 8 chapters that describe a glorious and future restoration of the temple, with a declaration that “the LORD is there.”
- God will cleanse Israel from their sins, give his people a new heart and a new spirit, cleanse them from their idols, raise up a righteous Davidic king, and fill the restored temple with His glorious presence!
Ezekiel is speaking God’s words in Babylon before AND after the 586 BC destruction while the prophet Jeremiah continues to minister in Jerusalem for severl years after the Babylonian attack of 586 BC.
- Jeremiah sees firsthand God’s wrath being poured out against Jerusalem, which is recorded in the book of Lamentations.
- He also travels to Egypt along with the rebellious remnant of Judah, a people who refuse to listen to Jeremiah.
- Jeremiah announces God’s judgment against the remnant of Judah in Egypt, and against Babylon and other neighboring nations.
- Then the prophet Obadiah explains that the Edomites are not exempt from God’s wrath, for they have delighted in Judah’s demise.
While Jeremiah is in Jerusalem (then later in Egypt), and while Ezekiel is in Babylon, God calls the prophet Daniel to speak to King Nebuchadnezzar.
- Daniel is taken to Babylon in the first deportation in 605 BC and is educated for service in Nebuchadnezzar’s court.
- God gives Daniel wisdom to interpret dreams and to make known to King Nebuchadnezzar that Yahweh rules over all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Daniel receives a series of visions pertaining to coming kings and their kingdoms.
- He sees that God has ordained four successive and tyrannical kingdoms, followed by the arrival of God’s kingdom.
- The kings of the earth are represented by four beasts, whereas the king reigning over God’s everlasting kingdom is depicted as a human being.
- God shows Daniel his sovereign intention, that after the rise and fall of these earthly kingdoms, Yahweh will establish the Son of Man on his throne.
- God will give him everlasting dominion, glory, and a kingdom, so that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.
The key people in this period are: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and his three friends (Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah), Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Cyrus.
(Much gratitude is given to Dr. Carol Kaminski for her Old Testament Survey course at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the study materials that accompany and inform this teaching.)