2 Kings 24:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we first meet a name that appears often in the history and prophecies of the Old Testament, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (2 Kings 24:1). He was a powerful ruler and a terror to the strong in the land of the living. Yet his name would not have been recorded in Scripture if God had not used him in the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jews.

He made Jehoiakim pay tribute and kept him under his control for three years (2 Kings 24:1). Nebuchadnezzar began his reign in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and in his eighth year he made Jehoiakim his prisoner. Then he let him go after Jehoiakim promised loyalty to him, and that promise held for about three years before he rebelled, likely hoping for help from the king of Egypt. If Jehoiakim had served God as he should, he would not have become a servant of the king of Babylon. God was showing him the difference between serving Him and serving the kings of other lands (2 Chronicles 12:8). If Jehoiakim had stayed content under this rule and kept his word, things would not have gone worse for him. But by rebelling against the king of Babylon, he brought more trouble on himself.

When Jehoiakim rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar sent forces against him to destroy the land, bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, who were now serving the king of Babylon (2 Kings 24:2). They also showed their old hatred against Israel, God’s people. Yet Scripture does not speak here of Nebuchadnezzar’s authority, but of the higher rule of God: the Lord sent these bands against Jehoiakim. Again it says, “Surely by the Lord’s command this happened to Judah” (2 Kings 24:3). Many people serve God’s purposes without realizing it.

God meant two things by allowing Judah to be troubled this way. First, He was punishing the sins of Manasseh, and now He was bringing those sins back upon the nation to the third and fourth generation. He had waited a long time, hoping the people would repent. But they stayed stubborn, despite Josiah’s efforts to reform them, and were ready to return to idolatry at the first chance. Now the old debt was being collected. God brought out what He had stored up and sealed among His treasures (Deuteronomy 32:34; Job 14:17). In this way Judah was removed from His sight, and the world learned that time does not erase guilt and that a delay in punishment is not the same as forgiveness. All that Manasseh had done was remembered, especially the innocent blood he had shed, much of it likely the blood of God’s witnesses and worshipers, and the Lord would not overlook it.

This does not mean there is no forgiveness for any sin except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Here the point is the removal of temporal punishment, the punishment that happens in this life. Though Manasseh repented, and we have reason to think his persecutions and murders were pardoned so that he was saved from final wrath, those sins were still counted against the nation. National sins can call down national judgments. Some people may still have been alive who had helped in those crimes, and the present king was also guilty of innocent blood, as Jeremiah 22:17 shows. Murder is a deeply provoking sin, and it cries out loudly and for a long time. Nations should mourn the sins of their fathers, or they may suffer for them.

God also did this to fulfill His prophecies. It happened according to the word of the Lord spoken by His prophets. Judah would be removed from His sight sooner than one word from God would fail. Not even heaven and earth would pass away before His word fell to the ground. Threats are fulfilled just as surely as promises, unless the sinner’s repentance turns them away.

The king of Egypt was also subdued by the king of Babylon, and a large part of his land was taken from him (2 Kings 24:7). Not long before, he had oppressed Israel (2 Kings 23:33). Now he himself was brought low and unable to help recover what he had lost or aid his allies. He no longer dared to come out of his own land. Later he tried to help Zedekiah, but had to retreat (Jeremiah 37:7).

Jehoiakim saw his country laid waste and himself close to falling into the enemy’s hands, and it seems he died of a broken heart in the middle of his life (2 Kings 24:6). So Jehoiakim rested with his fathers, but Scripture does not say he was buried with them. No doubt Jeremiah’s prophecy was fulfilled, that he would not be mourned like his father, but would be buried with the burial of a donkey (Jeremiah 22:18-19), and his dead body would be thrown out (Jeremiah 36:30).