Kings of the Jews: The Origins of the Jewish Nation

Zedekiah

KINGS OF THE JEWS 142 ZEDEKIAH 597–587 BCE Zedekiah, the twentieth and last to wear the crown of the kingdom of Judah, was also the last of all the kings of the Jews in biblical times, the northern kingdom of Israel having been obliterated by the Assyrians more than a century earlier. During Zedekiah’s reign, it became Judah’s turn to suffer final catastrophe. Zedekiah’s prospects as king were slight from the beginning. Two of his brothers had preceded him on the throne: Jehoahaz, who had been led away to captivity in Egypt, and Jehoiakim, who had died young. His immediate predecessor , his nephew Jehoiachin, was imprisoned in Babylon. The Babylonians, masters of conquered Judah, had installed this twenty-one-year-old in his place. Even a more experienced ruler would have found reigning over a shattered, subjugated land a formidable undertaking. Barely out of his teens, and torn between submission and defiance, Zedekiah was badgered with conflicting counsel from his advisers during his ten-year reign. He was urged both to seek an alliance with Egypt as a counterweight to his Babylonian masters and warned of the great dangers that could attend such a course of action. Revered holy men similarly disputed what should be done. The prophet Hananiah, bridling at Babylonian dominance, called for rebellion against it, while Jeremiah pressed for the Babylonians to be considered an instrument of Yahweh, administering divine but temporary punishment to the sinful Judaeans. Zedekiah also had to contend with the conviction of many of his subjects that he was a false king and that Jehoiachin remained their true monarch and would return from Babylonian captivity to reclaim his throne. At a time when adroit diplomatic maneuvering was essential if Judah were to survive, Zedekiah had neither strongly held views nor the ability to abide by decisions that had to be made. Easily swayed by articulate argument, he initially conducted himself as a compliant puppet of the Babylonians. But when the Babylonian rulers focused on consolidating their rule at home, he was persuaded to convene a secret gathering of envoys of subject kingdoms in the region—including Ammon, Edom, Moab, Sidon, and Tyre—to plot rebellion against them. When the Egyptians launched a new military campaign against Babylon and made notable progress, Zedekiah decided the time had come for Judah to join in action against its latest masters as well. KINGS OF JUDAH 143 But as Jeremiah had forecast, it was a disastrous mistake. The Babylonians bounced back, severely punishing the Egyptians. The small kingdoms that had rallied to them were made to pay for their impertinence. Once more Nebuchadnezzar’s army targeted Judah, and once more Jerusalem was besieged. An Egyptian phalanx was dispatched to tangle with the Babylonians , but it was no match for them and was forced to withdraw before it could relieve pressure on the holy city. Nevertheless, Zedekiah held out there for more than two years. Not until the Babylonians brought up attack machines and blasted breaches in Jerusalem’s walls did they overcome its starving and plagueridden defenders. The Babylonian conquest was ruthless and thorough. All Judaean resistance was crushed. The Temple, the heart of Jewish worship, was looted and demolished . Judaism’s most precious relic, the Ark of the Covenant, housed in the Temple’s Holy of Holies, was lost. No one knew what happened to it, or ever would again. Jerusalem was leveled and left largely abandoned. “Lonely sits the city once great with people,” mourned the writer of the Book of Lamentations. “She that was great among nations is become like a widow.”[60] Judah’s other major cities were also pillaged and razed. The deportation of the Judaean elite to Babylonia, begun a decade earlier, was extended so that virtually none was left in the remains of what had been the southern kingdom of the Jews. Nobles, courtiers, officials, priests, scribes, merchants, teachers, artisans, and almost all other leading and active figures of the community who had not fled to Egypt for sanctuary were led away. Only the poorest in the land, mostly farmers, vine growers, and herdsmen, were permitted to remain. Judah was left without leadership or direction, exposed to lawlessness, and subject to encroachment by the small states on its borders. Zedekiah and some of his court had escaped from the city before it fell but were pursued and captured. He was brought before Nebuchadnezzar. For having dared to break his oath of allegiance to the Babylonians, he...