2Ki 24:8-16 | KingComments | STEP | After the death of Jehoiakim, his son Jehoiachin becomes king. This boy was only eighteen years old. He reigned for three months. His short reign was long enough to give him the standard feature that “he did evil in the sight of the LORD” like some of his forebears. To indicate the evil he had done, it is said that he did “according to all that his father had done”. “At that time”, that is, in the three months that he reigned, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar went up to Jerusalem and besieged the city. While his servants were carrying out the siege, Nebuchadnezzar himself also came up to Jerusalem. When he was there, Jehoiachin voluntarily surrendered, “he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials”. The surrender took place in “the eighth year of his reign”, i.e. the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. This is the first dating with a reference to the reign of a foreign ruler.

‏ 2 Kings 24:8-16

Jehoiachin King of Judah

After the death of Jehoiakim, his son Jehoiachin becomes king. This boy was only eighteen years old. He reigned for three months. His short reign was long enough to give him the standard feature that “he did evil in the sight of the LORD” like some of his forebears. To indicate the evil he had done, it is said that he did “according to all that his father had done”.

“At that time”, that is, in the three months that he reigned, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar went up to Jerusalem and besieged the city. While his servants were carrying out the siege, Nebuchadnezzar himself also came up to Jerusalem. When he was there, Jehoiachin voluntarily surrendered, “he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials”.

The surrender took place in “the eighth year of his reign”, i.e. the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. This is the first dating with a reference to the reign of a foreign ruler.

All Jerusalem Led Away Into Exile

After the surrender of Jehoiachin Nebuchadnezzar “carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house”. He took everything with him to Babylon. The treasures of the LORD’s house were later abused by Belshazzar (Dan 5:1-4). Again later Cyrus the Persian ensured that they were brought back to Jerusalem (Ezra 5:14).

As well as the valuable materials, skilled people with useful abilities were carried away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. These people could organize an uprising and thus endanger the authority of Nebuchadnezzar. In this captivity, the prophet Ezekiel (Est 1:1-2) and Mordecai (Est 2:5-6) were also carried away into exile. The only ones who did not have to go were the poorest people of the land. There would be no danger of an organized uprising by them.

He also carried away into exile Jehoiachin to Babylon, along with his mother, his wives, his officials and the leading men of the land. The military men and people able to make weapons (cf. 1Sam 13:19) were also carried away into exile by Nebuchadnezzar. In this way, Nebuchadnezzar prevented any form of resistance.

If the devil succeeds in somehow capturing us by a certain sin, he has nothing left to fear from us and nothing remains of our testimony for the Lord. The same applies to the church. If we engage in strange teachings, such as legalism (see the letter to the Galatians) and philosophy (see the letter to the Colossians), we will also be captured by them and cannot testify of the Savior. The church also loses its witnessing character, both to God and to the world, when the flesh can assert itself without being condemned. We see this in the first letter to the Corinthians.