Jerusalem Under Siege
Comments for Study 10
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I. The Cooking Pot (24:1-14)
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* Also recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:11-17a and 2 Kings 24:20-25:2 with details of this time recorded in Jeremiah 34:1-7, 37:1-10, 34:8-22, 37:11-38:13 (chronological order listed).
These verses recall the beginning of the final siege of Jerusalem and Judah's other remaining 3 strongholds. Judah's fall and the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the temple is a little over 2 years away. The year is 583 BC.
I look at these verses trying to understand who king Zedekiah was. Recently I exchanged emails with a friend and brother in Christ. One of the subject matters, not the main one, was evil. He used evil to define a person. I cannot recall ever reading in the Bible someone being defined as an evil person. Instead, the Bible defines evil as the description of a life style against God's purpose as he defines and dictates. The Bible says of Zedekiah and others, "He DID evil in the eyes of the Lord," not that Zedekiah was evil.
Everyone is made in the image of God and everyone has distorted and made themselves impure by the choice of sin. Sin is an act that results from a heart and mindset that all is born with, our sin nature. Jesus said this is what makes me unclean, and I like everyone naturally chose to follow my sin nature. This is evil.
Zedekiah was like this, a person impulsively driven to defile the perfect image of God he was intended to be. What made him evil was not who he was. Rather, its what he chose to do. He chose to follow the wrong compulsions of the sin nature instead of God's will for his life. People today are saying others are evil people, when not even God says that of anyone. Jesus didn't say that of Judas, Pilate, and the high priest who betrayed him and had him crucified were evil.
So what are evil acts that I should avoid? The Bible records a lot about Zedekiah's evil actions. Through this I can learn some evil acts I should completely avoid.
2 Chron. 36 says he disobeyed the word of God. He refused to listen to Jeremiah whom the Lord sent. It also says, "Zedekiah was stubborn and refused to turn back to the Lord God of Israel." He broke a promise to Nebuchadnezzar that he made in the Lord's name. And 2 Chron. 36 says he allowed the priests to make "the Lord's holy temple unfit for worship." Have I made myself, the new temple of God unfit for worship?
Jer. 37:1-10 says Zedekiah did not pay any attention to the Lord his God. He refused to change his ways. Then when the Babylonians briefly left the city to fight Egypt, he believed he was vindicated, even though Jeremiah told him his future would end in Babylon. Being stubborn he futher blockaded his heart against God.
Jeremiah 34:8 to the end says he enslaved, released, and then enslaved others again. His actions were in directly violation of God's word.
Jeremiah 37:11 to its end says that he allowed Jeremiah to be beaten and imprisoned, released, but then relented and put him in a cistern as a prison as recorded in chapter 38.
Zedekiah's evil actions are ones that I should avoid. I should not had a cold hard heart like Zedekiah.
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* The fall of Jerusalem and Judah in 586 BC is also recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:11-20, 2 Kings 25:1-21, and Jeremiah 39:1-14 and 52.
Ezekiel who was taken to Babylon during the second seige of Jerusalem in 597. I see parallels with my time.
Ezekiel was hundreds of miles away when the Lord told him the news concerning the beginning of Jerusalem's seige. I can somewhat relate to him as he sat at a distance knowing that there was nothing he could do any longer for the corruption in all strata of society was the cause of the sure end. The Lord showed him all the corruption of all but a few. In previous chapters he recorded the corruption as did Jeremiah.
Ezekiel was not removed from the pain. He felt it with the death of his beautiful beloved wife. Her death was a sign to the remnant in Babylon. The Lord told him that he was going to take her away from Ezekiel. God did it, not because of sin, but as a sign.
I feel pain as the result of the sins of my loved one, my neighbors, my relatives, my coworkers, my leaders, the rich and powerful, and the poor and weak. I also feel pain from my sin. I see the falling apart of society and I know it will only get worse. What to do?
Ezekiel obeyed the Lord even though he was in pain because of his wives death, a death done at the hand of God. Yet he obeyed the Lord. He did not blame God. He kept faith. He kept to his routine. He kept to his mission. He trusted the Lord was good all the time, even in taking his wife. So will I do in tears and hope in God.
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II. Ezekiel's Wife Dies (24:15-27)
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