#514 Just as Soft

In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.

2 And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets.

3 Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;

4 And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon.

5 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

7 And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.

11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.

12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said.

14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.

15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

16 And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18 Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

19 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

20 For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 2 Kings 24

When we become the servants of sin, it is often not the yoke we thought, and it will have a master for there is no vacuum that ever last so long. There will be a tax to the flesh, like when I chased a constant high, desired to disconnect completely from reality. I hated that I had epilepsy, and if God would not take it away then I would be my own king, yet that will only go on for so long. Three times I overdosed and more times than I can remember I put myself at death's door, thinking myself the master of my destiny, the captain of this ship. Jehoiakim does not understand that when we throw off the yoke of God, we attempt to imagine life belonging to less than the Creator, to ourselves, but here a bigger bully reigns him in. He would like to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar, but this is the payment of sin, the just wrath against a corporately corrupt nation. No one can resist what God has ordained, one can only hope to repent and find mercy. Shall we continue, God forbid, though the Babylonian prince has returned home on urgent business, there are 4 more ready to take up his campaign, and they will act seemingly on behalf of Babylon, but truly they become the servants of God's justice against those who have taken innocent blood. 

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8: 31-36

Jehoiachin continued in the evil of his wicked fathers, and did not see a deterrent in their discipline. It says the king of Egypt no longer comes out against Babylon, so seeing no ally there, it probably plays into the quick surrender of the king of Judah. It says that the Babylonian king took him when he came out to surrender with his family. He empties out the temple and takes the best of all that he finds in the land, including around this time also those that would be made eunuchs in his kingdom. It makes my skin tingle that this is the time of Daniel and his fellows, and so much more will be grasped and point yet again to Messiah. That is still coming, but for here and right now, the king makes Jehoiachin's uncle king of Jerusalem, a puppet monarch, a tax collector. I think these are often a worse thing than the direct rule of the tidal king, for if the tidal monarch of the nations shall want his due, after that the puppet shall also want to maintain his own glory. The people will feel the weight of a heavier tax, the burden of being ruled and the pain of being ridden. 

It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.” ...Daniel 6: 1-5