Babylon: Fear and Faith

Synopsis     2Kings 24:16-25:7     10/28/2019 

When the Babylonian army besieged Jerusalem, King Jehoiachin surrendered in order to preserve the city. As a result, he was taken into exile along with key members of his family and along with thousands of Israelite soldiers.  

King Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon. So, he made Jehoiachin’s uncle the new king over Judah. Although his name was Mattaniah, Nebuchadnezzar changed his name to Zedekiah. Accordingly, Zedekiah served Nebuchadnezzar for nine years.  

But after that, Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon. And almost immediately, Nebuchadnezzar brought his army to besiege Jerusalem. The siege lasted more than a year before Zedekiah attempted to flee toward the Arabah wasteland. However, the Chaldean soldiers working for Nebuchadnezzar captured him and brought him to the city of Riblah.  

Nebuchadnezzar dealt harshly with Zedekiah’s rebellion. At Riblah, he brought out Zedekiah’s sons and killed them in front of the Israelite king. After this, he poked out Zedekiah’s eyes so the death of his sons would be his last visual memory. After this, he took him back to Babylon where he placed him in prison until he died.  

Babylon: Fear and Faith 

Zedekiah was faithful to Babylon for almost nine years. But then, something happened. As a result, he decided to break faith with Nebuchadnezzar. For whatever reason, he sensed that faithfulness was no longer required.  

From the Babylonian perspective, the failure to remain faithful was perceived as faithlessness. In other words, broken faith was no faith. Zedekiah’s breach revealed his obedience was only, ever the result of fear. Although Nebuchadnezzar had made personally made him king, Zedekiah was never committed to the Babylonian empire. In this sense, the Babylonian king saw him as a mere opportunist.  

Jesus: Fear and Faith 

It’s somewhat easy to come to God when my life is a mess. I cry, “Jesus take the wheel” not when I find myself overwhelmed with love for God. Instead, I generally only want God to take control when everything is a mess. So my crying out is really more an attempt to avoid the pain and suffering of the mess that I’ve made for myself.  

And God will accept this for a while. He really will take the wheel. And very often, He will even grant relief from the disasters that I create through my own selfishness and pride.  

But His ultimate purpose is that I grow up. He wants to support my adult effort to bless others, not my adolescent disposition to create chaos and then hope somebody else will save me.  

“when I am afraid, in you I place my trust.” Psa 56:4