The End of the Surviving Kingdom
We will start out with a quick review of what happened in our lesson. Jehoiakim, king of Judah, was aligned with Egypt, then he made an oath to be loyal to Babylon. After that, he tried to realign Judah with Egypt. This made Babylon really mad and they, along with some other nations, invaded and plundered Judah. Jehoiakim died and left a big mess for his son, Jehoiachin who was deported to Babylon after only 3 months as king. All of Jerusalem’s wealth and most of her people were send to Babylon, and Babylon placed Zedekiah on the throne of Judah. (By the way, Jehoikim, Jehoahaz-the prevous king of Judah, and Zedekiah were all sons of the Godly king Josiah). After a few years, Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, and Babylon went and completely destroyed Jerusalem and left only the poorest of the people there to work the farms. Sometime later, the Babylonian appointed governor of Jerusalem is killed and most of the remaining Israelites fled to Egypt
And it’s over. There are no more descendants of David on the throne. Almost no Israelites remained in the Promised Land. But God didn’t forget His people. Even while harshly punishing them, He was already making plans for the Remnant, the surviving Israelites, to return to Jerusalem in 70 years to rebuild the temple. We are told in 2 Chronicles that Cyrus, the king of Persia, is told by the Lord to send God’s people back to Jerusalem to do that very thing.
We also know that King Jehoichin, the man who ruled for three months in Judah, was eventually freed and treated very well by the Babylonians. He was also an ancestor to Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. (Matthew 1:11-16). God kept His hand on His people from the very beginning, through the tumultuous reigns of kings, through the exile, when Jesus was on earth, and even today.
We followed the roller coaster of good and evil kings of Israel and Judah in our Divided Kingdom study. When the kings were good and obeyed God, they were blessed with peace and prosperity. When they were evil, they often suffered immediate consequences. God wants His children to be obedient to Him. That includes the ancient Israelites and Christians today. When you know that God is calling on you to do something, remember Israel and Judah, and how their good choices brought on God’s blessings and their bad choices, God’s discipline.
We will start out with a quick review of what happened in our lesson. Jehoiakim, king of Judah, was aligned with Egypt, then he made an oath to be loyal to Babylon. After that, he tried to realign Judah with Egypt. This made Babylon really mad and they, along with some other nations, invaded and plundered Judah. Jehoiakim died and left a big mess for his son, Jehoiachin who was deported to Babylon after only 3 months as king. All of Jerusalem’s wealth and most of her people were send to Babylon, and Babylon placed Zedekiah on the throne of Judah. (By the way, Jehoikim, Jehoahaz-the prevous king of Judah, and Zedekiah were all sons of the Godly king Josiah). After a few years, Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, and Babylon went and completely destroyed Jerusalem and left only the poorest of the people there to work the farms. Sometime later, the Babylonian appointed governor of Jerusalem is killed and most of the remaining Israelites fled to Egypt
And it’s over. There are no more descendants of David on the throne. Almost no Israelites remained in the Promised Land. But God didn’t forget His people. Even while harshly punishing them, He was already making plans for the Remnant, the surviving Israelites, to return to Jerusalem in 70 years to rebuild the temple. We are told in 2 Chronicles that Cyrus, the king of Persia, is told by the Lord to send God’s people back to Jerusalem to do that very thing.
We also know that King Jehoichin, the man who ruled for three months in Judah, was eventually freed and treated very well by the Babylonians. He was also an ancestor to Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. (Matthew 1:11-16). God kept His hand on His people from the very beginning, through the tumultuous reigns of kings, through the exile, when Jesus was on earth, and even today.
We followed the roller coaster of good and evil kings of Israel and Judah in our Divided Kingdom study. When the kings were good and obeyed God, they were blessed with peace and prosperity. When they were evil, they often suffered immediate consequences. God wants His children to be obedient to Him. That includes the ancient Israelites and Christians today. When you know that God is calling on you to do something, remember Israel and Judah, and how their good choices brought on God’s blessings and their bad choices, God’s discipline.
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