36
The people of the land went and got Jehoahaz. He was the son of Josiah. The people made Jehoahaz king in Jerusalem in place of his father.
2 Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for three months. 3 The king of Egypt removed him from his throne in Jerusalem. The king of Egypt made the people of Judah pay him a huge tax. The tax was almost 4 tonnes of silver and 36 kilograms of gold. 4 Necho, the king of Egypt, made Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem. Eliakim was a brother of Jehoahaz. Necho changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But Necho took Eliakim's brother Jehoahaz with him to Egypt.
33:1–36:4 2 Chronicles records a story about Manasseh that wasn't included in 2 Kings. He made himself humble before God and prayed for God to help him. He did this after God brought judgement against him for his evil deeds. God allowed the Assyrian army to make Manasseh a prisoner in Babylon. Manasseh turned away from his evil ways after God punished and corrected him. Because Manasseh repented, God allowed him to return to Jerusalem. When he once again ruled as king, he led the people to worship only God. He no longer did the evil things he had done before. Yet his son Amon followed the evil example Manasseh had set for many years. He didn't follow Manasseh's example of repenting and being humble. Josiah was a king like David, Solomon and Hezekiah. He got rid of everything that was used to worship false gods. He did this in the southern kingdom. He also did it in the land where the northern kingdom had been. Assyria controlled that land. But any Israelites who still lived there were allowed to worship the true God. So were the outsiders who lived there. Josiah had the temple repaired. He made sure that the Book of the Law was read to the people. This was a copy of the Law of Moses. He learnt about the covenant curses while reading about the Mount Sinai covenant. He hoped to stop the covenant curses from coming. So while he was king, all 12 tribes of Israel obeyed God. Those in the southern kingdom and those left in the northern kingdom followed God faithfully. When he was older, Josiah made a foolish decision to fight against Egypt's army. This led to his death. It also led to Egypt taking control of the government of the southern kingdom. The king of Egypt chose their next king.
5 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 11 years. He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord his God. 6 Nebuchadnezzar attacked him. Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. He put Jehoiakim in bronze chains. And he took him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also took to Babylon objects from the Lord's temple. He put them in his own temple there.
8 The other events of Jehoiakim's rule are written in the records of the kings of Israel and Judah. He did things the Lord hated. Those things and everything that happened to him are also written in those records. Jehoiakim's son Jehoiachin became the next king after him.
9 Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for three months and ten days. He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. 10 In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him. He brought him to Babylon. He also brought things of value from the Lord's temple. He made Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem. Zedekiah was Jehoiachin's uncle.
11 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 11 years. 12 He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord his God. He didn't pay any attention to the message the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. 13 Zedekiah also refused to remain under the control of King Nebuchadnezzar. The king had forced Zedekiah to make a promise in God's name. But Zedekiah's heart became very stubborn. He wouldn't turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 And that's not all. The people and all the leaders of the priests became more and more unfaithful. They followed all the practices of the nations. The Lord hated those practices. The people and leaders made the Lord's temple ‘unclean’. The Lord had set the temple in Jerusalem apart in a special way for himself.
15 The Lord, the God of Israel, sent word to his people through his messengers. He sent it to them again and again. He took pity on his people. He also took pity on the temple where he lived. 16 But God's people made fun of his messengers. They hated his words. They laughed at his prophets. Finally the Lord's great anger was stirred up against his people. Nothing could save them. 17 The Lord brought the king of the Babylonians against them. The Babylonian army killed their young people with their swords at the temple. They didn't spare young men or young women. They didn't spare the old people or weak people either. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar. 18 Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon all the objects from God's temple. Some of those things were large. Others were small. He carried off the treasures of the temple. He also carried off the treasures that belonged to the king and his officials. 19 The Babylonians set God's temple on fire. They broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned all the palaces. They destroyed everything of value there.
20 Nebuchadnezzar took the rest of the people to Babylon as prisoners. They had escaped from being killed by swords. They served him and those who ruled after him. That lasted until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 21 The land of Israel enjoyed its sabbath years. It rested. That deserted land wasn't farmed for a full 70 years. What the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah came true.
22 It was the first year of the rule of Cyrus. He was king of Persia. The Lord inspired him to send a message all through his kingdom. It happened so that what the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah would come true. The message was written down. It said,
23 ‘Cyrus, the king of Persia, says,
‘ “The Lord is the God of heaven. He has given me all the kingdoms on earth. He has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem. And may the Lord their God be with them.” ’
36:5–23 The kings after Josiah didn't follow his example of obeying God and worshipping him only. Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin didn't repent or make themselves humble. They didn't do that even when they were taken to Babylon as prisoners. Zedekiah refused to listen to God's messages from the prophet Jeremiah. God had been very patient with his people. He had shown mercy and pity over and over again. He had forgiven them every time they made themselves humble and prayed to him. But they were committed to following evil practices and to worshipping false gods. They refused to live as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. They refused to listen to the prophets that God sent to them. They refused to follow God's example for being rulers of his land. They didn't allow the land to rest during the sabbath years. God's instructions about the land resting were recorded in Leviticus 25:1–10. So God no longer stopped the covenant curses from coming to the southern kingdom. The Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem and took control of the southern kingdom. They forced many people from the southern kingdom to live in exile in Babylonia. While the people were away, the fields of the southern kingdom weren't farmed. That is how God provided the rest that the land needed. After many years, Cyrus allowed the people to return to Jerusalem. He wanted them to build another temple for the Lord. This made something clear to the Jews who returned to Jerusalem. God still wanted them to worship him according to the laws in the Mount Sinai covenant. He still wanted them to be his people. He still wanted to be their God.