Scripture
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the Babylonian officers, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned down.
~Jeremiah 38:17, GNT
Quote
Sin adds to our guilt, divides our loyalties, subtracts from our joy and multiplies our sorrows.
~Chip Ingram
Zedekiah was not a good king. He was weak in character. He respected Jeremiah as a man of God and often met with him privately but he had a man fearing spirit that proved to be his undoing. Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem in 597 BC and removed king Jehoiachin {Josiah’s grandson} and replaced him with his uncle Zedekiah {Josiah’s son} but unfortunately Zedekiah was nothing like his father. He did have the opportunity to rule Judah for 11 years as Nebuchadnezzar’s vassal but some of his aids talked him into rebelling. Jeremiah tried to convince him that rebellion would lead not only to his capture but the death of his family and friends, plus the destruction of Jerusalem. Even after Nebuchadnezzar laid siege, Zedekiah had a chance to surrender and live but he refused to listen to God’s prophet.
The consequences of Zedekiah’s disobedience are found in Jeremiah 39. Zedekiah, family, friends and a small band of soldiers fled the city on the eve of its destruction but someone reported their flight to the Babylonians and they pursued them and caught them in the Jordan valley. They carried Zedekiah to Riblah where Nebuchadnezzar was staying. He had all of Zedekiah’s sons executed in front of Zedekiah and then he gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes and put him in chains. The last thing Zedekiah saw on this earth was the execution of his children. Here is the sad thing: it was all unnecessary. It happened because Zedekiah would not obey the word of God. Sin always has consequences.
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