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Judah Alone - part 2
Judahs Last Years
Auditorium Class March - May 2009 Ken Ledbetter
Lessons 1 thru 5
2
Lesson Plan
Judahs Last Years

• Lesson
• 1. Introduction Overview Timeline and
  History
• 2. Gods Message of Rebuke through Jeremiah
• 3. Josiahs Reforms Assyria falls to Babylon
• 4. Jehoiakim on the throne of Judah First
  Deportation
• 5. The Burned Scroll Jehoiakims Last Years
• 6. Zedekiah and the Great Deportation
• 7. Jeremiahs Prophesies under Zedekiah
• 8. Siege and Fall of Jerusalem
• 9. Habakkuks Questions
• 10. Prophesies of Physical and Spiritual
  Restoration

3
Scriptures
Judahs Last Years
3
4
Approx 650 BC
5
Overview, Timeline and History

• Will cover period from about 650 BC to fall of
  Judah in 587 BC.
• The Assyrian Empire was near its peak. (and
  beginning to decline)
• Assyrian Kings Sargon II ? Sennacherib ?
  Esarhaddon ? Ashur-banipal
• The Babylonian Empire was rising.
• Babylonian Kings Nabopolassar ? Nebuchanezzar
• Media was growing in power under Cyaxares, who
  preceded Cyrus.
• Egypt was still a power under Pharaoh Necho,
  although declining.
• Judah was caught in the geographic middle of
  world conflict.
• Kings of Judah Josiah ?Jehoahaz ?Jehoiakim
  ?Jehoiachin ?Zedekiah
• Prophets of God consistently foretold the woe to
  come.
• Zephaniah ? Jeremiah ? Habakkuk
• False prophets were proclaiming a popular
  message of
• Peace, lasting peace in this place. (Jer
  1413)

5
6
Judah in the geographic middle of world conflict
Circa 650 BC
7
Timeline During Isaiahs Exhortation
Fall of Israel - 722
Sargon II conquers Gaza and defeats Egyptians -
720
Assyria sacks Babylon - 689
Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem - 701
First Captivity - 732
Manassah taken to Ninevah -678
Esarhaddon invades Egypt - 671
740 730 720 710 700 690
680 670 660 650 640
BC
Zephaniah prophesies (c 650 630)
Isaiah (740 700)
Micah prophesies (c 710 698)
Kings Of Judah
Ahaz (735 - 716)
Hezekiah (716 686)
Manassah (697 642)
Kings Of Assyria
Amon (642 - 640)
Tiglath Pileser III (745 727)
Shalmaneser V (727 722)
Sargon II (722 705)
Sennacherib (704 681)
Esarhaddon (681 669)
Ashur-banipal (669 - 627)
7
8
8
9
Attitude of the People

• Rather than study the man Jeremiah or his book as
  a whole, we will look at Jeremiahs words as they
  reflect the current situation, his prophesy of
  what is to come, and the attitude and actions of
  the people.
• Judah had just experienced 55 years of evil King
  Manassah
• Jeremiah 7 22-31
• Jeremiah 8 4-9
• Jeremiah 9 2-8

9
10
Attitude of the People
Jer 8 4-9 They have turned away and do not
repent are in continual apostasy hold fast to
deceit refuse to return speak what is not
right do not repent of wickedness saying What
have I done? they do not know the ordinances of
the Lord the scribes have a lying pen their
wise men reject the word of the Lord.
Jer 9 2-8 They are all adulterers an
assembly of treacherous men they bend their
tongue where lies, and not truth, prevail in the
land they proceed from evil to evil they do not
know God deal craftily with their brothers
every neighbor slanders and deceives his
neighbor do not speak the truth, having taught
their tongue to speak lies weary themselves
committing iniquity their tongue is a deadly
arrow speaking peace, they set an ambush for
their neighbor.
10
11
Gods Message of Rebuke through Jeremiah
Judahs Last Years
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lesson 2

• Jeremiahs Call Jer 11-5
• Began in the 13th year of the reign of Josiah,
  king of Judah
• (627 BC)
• Will last until the fall of Jerusalem into
  captivity. (587 BC)
• Was the son of Hilkiah, a priest, later to be
  the High Priest.
• Appointed to be a prophet of God while still
  in the womb.
• It will be a hard task. . . But God will be with
  him. (Jer 117-19)
• God warns Jeremiah they will not listen to him.
  (Jer 725-28)

11
12
Gods Message of Rebuke

• Jeremiah
• 114-16 Punishment will come from the kingdoms
  of the north
• 226-28 People have turned to idols who cannot
  save them.
• 36-11 Judah did not learn from Israels
  mistakes.
• 525-31 An appalling and horrible thing has
  happened in the land.
• 66-8 Jerusalem. This is the city which must
  be punished.
• 613-15 No, they were not at all ashamed.
• 730-33 Because they sacrificed their children,
  they will die horribly.
• 911-16 The people stubbornly followed their own
  hearts rather than follow God.
• 119-14 They have turned back to the iniquities
  of their forefathers and have broken my
  covenant

13
The Peoples Response to Jeremiah

• Jeremiah
• 235-37 People refuse to acknowledge their sin.
• 511-12 They have spoken falsely of the Lord
• 616-17 They arrogantly choose not to listen to
  God.
• 85-6 Every one turns to his own course
• 1118-23 The people plot to kill Jeremiah.
• 1413-14 False prophets exclaim words of comfort.
• 201-2 Jeremiah is beaten and put in stocks.

14
Gods Response to the People

• His Concern for His people
• Jeremiah
• 414 wash your heart from wickedness, that you
  may be saved.
• 418-22 God is in anguish over Judahs sin.
• 73-7 God offers to let them live if they amend
  their ways.
• His Righteous Judgment
• Jeremiah
• 45-8 A destroyer of nations will make
  your land a waste.
• 511-19 you shall serve strangers in a land
  that is not yours.
• 618-23 Evil will come from the north because
  they spurned Gods law.
• 713-15 you did not listen and I will cast
  you out of my sight
• 734 The voices of mirth and of gladness will
  cease from Judah.
• 1415-16 False prophets to be stricken down.
• 204-6 Judah to be carried into captivity in
  Babylon.

15
Gods Response to the People

• Other contemporary prophets gave same message
• Zephaniah also prophesied during the early part
  of the reign of Josiah. (Zeph 11)
• His message forecast similar woe for Judah for
  those that worship idols, who turn from following
  God and who fill the house of the Lord with
  violence and deceit. (Zeph 14-9,17)
• Huldah the prophetess answers Josiah when he
  inquires about the wrath of God. (2 Kings
  2214-17 or 2 Chron 3422-25)
• Because they have forsaken God and worshiped
  other gods, He will bring evil upon Judah and its
  inhabitants,

16
Josiahs Reforms
Judahs Last Years
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lesson 3

• Josiahs father, Amon, followed in the evil steps
  of Manasseh, his father. (2 Chron 33 21-24)
• Josiah became King in 640 BC when he was only 8
  years old. (2 Chron 341-2)
• He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, in
  spite of his father and grandfather.
• May have been influenced by Hilkiah, the high
  priest.
• In the 8th year of his reign (In 632 BC, when he
  was 16) he began to seek the God of his father
  David. (2 Chron 343a)
• It is possible he was influenced by the preaching
  of Zephaniah.
• In his 12th year (in 628 BC, when he was 20) he
  began to purge Judah of idols. He destroyed the
  alters of Baal, the Asherah poles and carved
  idols. (2 Chron 343b-7)
• Jeremiah began preaching a year after this.

17
Josiahs Reforms

• In his 18th year (in 622 BC, when he was 26) he
  set out to have the house of the Lord repaired.
  (2 Chron 348-11)
• Trusted Hilkiah with the money given by the
  tribes to the house of God to hire workmen for
  the repair work.
• As repairs to the temple began, the workers found
  the book of the Law. It was customary in
  ancient times to place documents in the
  foundations of buildings..
• Upon reading the Book, Josiah rent his clothes.
  (2 Chron 3414-19)
• Why did Josiah do this? See 2 Chron 3421.
• Even the High Priest was not aware of the
  requirements of the Law of Moses. The book had
  been lost for generations.
• Josiah inquired of Huldah the prophetess, the
  meaning of the words of the book. (2 Chron 3422)

Archeology and the Old Testament, Merrill F.
Unger, 1954, pg 281
18
Josiahs Reforms

• Gods response to Josiahs inquiry Judah will
  still be punished, but after Josiahs time. (2
  Chron 3423-28)
• Josiahs response He renewed the covenant and
  made all to serve the Lord, their God. (2
  Chron 3429-33)
• Josiah conducts the Passover for the first time
  in many years. (2 Kings 2321-23 Also 2
  Chron 351-19)
• In the same year that the temple was repaired
  (621 BC), Josiah commanded the Passover to be
  observed.
• By now, the land had been purged of idols, the
  law had been found, the covenant renewed and the
  temple repaired.
• Josiah had the Levites put the Ark into the
  temple.
• We do not know why the Ark was not already in the
  temple or where it had been, but it is notable
  that this is the last time the ark is mentioned
  as being in existence.

19
Josiahs Reforms

• Josiahs Fight Against Idolatry
• 2 Kings 23 and 2 Chron 34 record details of
  Josiahs sweeping reforms, which extended beyond
  Samaria.
• He removed the idolatrous priests.
• He removed the Asherah pole from the temple.
• He destroyed the houses of the Sodomites.
• He destroyed the horses chariots dedicated to
  the sun.
• He destroyed idolatrous altars made by Ahaz
  Manasseh.
• He destroyed the high places built by Solomon for
  his wives.
• He destroyed the altar the Asherah pole in
  Bethel.
• His efforts went beyond Judah to even Manasseh,
  Ephraim, Simeon, Naphtali (2 Chron 346-7)

20
Josiahs reform spread from Judah throughout
the entire promised land
21
Josiahs Reforms

• 2 Kings 2324-27 says there was no King before or
  after Josiah who turned to God with more heart
  and soul.
• Josiahs reign is a high point in Judahs
  history, but his goodness did not atone for the 3
  centuries of the peoples sin, especially the
  wickedness of Manassah.
• Sin sometimes sets in motion certain consequences
  which even subsequent good intentions cannot
  forestall.
• Given Josiahs reforms, Jeremiah inquired of God
  why he does not relent in his seeking punishment
  for Judah. (Jer 1419-21)
• Gods answer I am weary of relenting. (Jer
  151-6)
• Are there applications for today?

22
The Fall of Assyria (and of Josiah)

• Median forces attack and take Ashur of Assyria in
  614 BC.
• Cyaxares of Media and Nabopolassar of Babylonia
  join forces when Nabopolassars son
  Nebuchadnezzar marries Cyaxares daughter.
• The combined Median/Babylonian forces destroy the
  Assyrian capital, Nineveh, in 612 BC.
• Assyrian forces withdraw to Haran, only to be
  beaten again by Nabopolassar in 610 BC.
• Afraid of Babylonian supremacy, Pharaoh Necho of
  Egypt rushes northward to help the weakened
  Assyrians.
• King Josiah of Judah tries to stop Necho, but is
  killed in battle on the Plain of Megiddo in 609
  BC. (2 Chron 3520-24)

23
Assyria falls to Babylon (612 605 BC)
24
The Fall of Assyria (and of Josiah)

• In 609 BC, Pharaoh Necho takes Josiahs son
  Jehoahaz captive to Egypt, placing his brother
  Jehoiakim on the throne and imposing heavy
  tribute on Judah. (2 Chron 361-4)
• Pharaoh Nechos forces and the remaining
  Assyrians battle Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish in
  605 BC Assyrians are crushed Necho is defeated.
  
• This battle at Carchemish effectively brings to
  an end two Empires. The Assyrians will never be
  heard from again and the Egyptians will never
  again be a world power.
• Thus in 605 BC, the Babylonians now control the
  former Assyrian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar is made
  King of this new Babylonian Empire, having
  succeeded his father Nabopolassar

25
Jehoiakim on the throne of Judah
Judahs Last Years
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lesson 4

• The people made 23-year old Jehoahaz (or Joahaz),
  the son of Josiah, King, but he only reigned 3
  months. (2 Kings 2331-33)
• In this short time, he chose to ignore the good
  works of his father and follow his grandfathers
  path to evil.
• Why do you suppose he did this?
• In 609 BC, Pharoah Necho took Jehoahaz prisoner
  back to Egypt and installed his 25-year old
  brother, Jehoiakim, on the throne instead. (2
  Kings 2334)
• Jeremiah prophesied that he would not return.
  (Jer 2210-12)
• The people wanted the younger brother they got
  the older one instead.

26
Jehoiakim on the throne of Judah

• Jehoiakim exacted heavy taxes from the people to
  pay the heavy tribute that Necho required. He
  reigned for 11 years and did evil in the sight
  of the Lord. (2 Kings 2335-37)
• Now that Josiahs good influence is gone and his
  sons have led Judah back into corrupt practices,
  Jeremiah renewed his call for reform. (Jer
  261-6)
• God says If they listen and turn from their
  evil ways, I will relent
• The peoples response Jer 267-11 This man
  must die.
• Some defended him Jer 2616
• In the end, Jeremiah was released Jer 2624

27
Jehoiakim on the throne of Judah

• The First Deportation 606 BC
• Jehoiakims subjugation to Pharaoh Necho lasted 3
  years. In 606 BC, Nebuchadnezzar arrived and
  Jehoiakims reporting chain is changed.
• 2 Kings 241 Jehoiakim was to be a puppet king
  for Nebuchadnezzar. (Also lasted for 3 years.)
• 2 Chron 366-7 Nebuchadnezzar bound Jehoiakim
  in chains and raided the house of the Lord.
• Daniel 11-3 Establishes the date
  Nebuchadnezzar carried away articles from the
  house of God along with certain royal family
  youth, including Daniel.
• Nebuchadnezzar may have released Jehoiakim after
  securing him as a vassal king or may have taken
  him first to Babylon and then let him return to
  govern Judah as his vassal.
• He ruled Judah for another 8 years, 3 of them
  under Babylon.

28
Jehoiakim on the throne of Judah

• One year after the first deportation to Babylon,
  Jeremiah doesnt let the threats on his life stop
  his message. (Jer 251-7)
• God says For 23 years I have spoken to you
  again and again and you have not listened.
• This is likely after the Battle of Carchemish, in
  605 BC.
• Jeremiah told them to expect 70 years of
  captivity. (Jer 258-11)
• Nebuchadnezzar will come and destroy you and you
  shall serve him.
• Then Babylon will fall. (Jer 2512-14) At the
  end of the 70 yrs
• I will punish the King of Babylon and that
  nation, says God.
• Message for Judah. (Jer 3513-17)
• There are those that have listened to My words
• Example the sons of Jonadab.
• But you have not. . . and will thus reap the
  disaster.

29
The Burned Scroll
Judahs Last Years
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lesson 5

• After 23 years of preaching, none of Jeremiahs
  words have been written down. God now directs
  that to happen. (605 BC) (Jer 361-3)
• Why do you suppose God requested this be done?
• Jeremiah enlisted the scribe Baruch to take
  dictation. (Jer 364)
• This task took significant effort, because Baruch
  complained about weariness and Jeremiah had to
  set him straight. (Jer 451-5)
• Jeremiah told Baruch to go to the house of the
  Lord on a day of fasting and read the scroll, and
  he complied. (Jer 365-10)
• People had come from other cities of Judah to
  Jerusalem.
• This occurred in the 9th Jewish month (winter) of
  604 BC.
• Court officials hear of the scroll and request it
  be read to them. (Jer 3611-15) Baruch
  complies.

30
The Burned Scroll

• The officials were alarmed at the words of the
  scroll and decided they must report this to King
  Jehoiakim. (Jer 3616-19)
• They warned Baruch and Jeremiah to go hide.
• The scroll is read to Jehoiakim, who, as it was
  read, burned it in the fireplace, in spite of
  advice from his officials not to do so.
  (Jer 3620-26)
• He then ordered the arrest of Baruch and
  Jeremiah.
• God directed Jeremiah to re-write the scroll, and
  add to it a judgment against Jehoiakim. (Jer
  3627-32)
• Jehoiakim will be deposed, his body thrown out in
  the open.
• He will have the burial of a donkey. (Jer
  2218-19)
• Jehoiakim disdained Gods word. Do people today
  disdain Gods word? What are some of the
  consequences?

31
The Last Years of Jehoiakim

• Jehoiakim must have been emboldened by his
  disdain for the Lords words, because now he
  rebels against Nebuchadnezzar. (2 Kings 241b)
  It is now 603 BC.
• Jehoiakim withheld his tribute and threw off the
  yoke, hoping to make himself independent.
• He couldnt re-align with Egypt, because they had
  been beaten back by the Babylonians. (2 Kings
  247)
• For the next four years, God (thru
  Nebuchadnezzar) sent bands of Chaldeans, Syrians,
  and Ammonites to chastise his rebellious vassal.
  (2 Kings 242-4)
• They cruelly harassed the whole country.
• because of the sins of Manassah

32
The Last Years of Jehoiakim

• Jehoiakims death. (2 Kings 245-6)
• Secular history says the king came to a violent
  death and his body was thrown over the wall of
  Jerusalem to convince the besieging army that he
  was dead. After having been dragged away, he was
  buried beyond the gates of Jerusalem "with the
  burial of a donkey as Jeremiah had prophesied.
  This was in 598 BC.
• Jehoiakim was succeeded by his 18-year old son
  Jehoiachin on the throne. (2 Kings 248-9)