The Destruction of Judah - The Books of 2 Chronicles, 2 Kings, and Jeremiah

In this Bible Story, we witness the brutal downfall of Judah. King Nebuchadnezzar, arms himself with the entire Chaldean army, and obliterates Judah and its defenses. God promises that when the time comes, he would rescue them. This story is inspired by 2 Chronicles 36 & 2 Kings 23:31-25:30. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.

Today's Bible verse is 2 Chronicles 36:23 from the King James Version.

Episode 157: Before the burning of the temple, King Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah, son of Josiah, as King in Judah. Zedekiah hated Nebuchadnezzar and sent for Jeremiah to pray for the deliverance of Judah. However, the word of God that came was not one of hope but of determination. The Chaldeans were coming to destroy Judah and this was from God. After giving this message, Jeremiah was taken by the guards, beaten, and thrown into prison.

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Producer: Ben Gammon

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Music by: Andrew Morgan Smith

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray all the kingdoms of the earth. Hath
the Lord, God of Heaven given me, and he hath
charged me to build him and house in Jerusalem, which
is in Judea Second Chronicles thirty six twenty three, Heavenly Father,
in the midst of my most trying circumstances, and in

(00:23):
the moments where I feel like I'm being held captive
to my past mistakes, my heart will rejoice in the
words you've spoken over me to day through the Prophet Jeremiah.
In spite of what I see, I choose to declare
that you know every plan and purpose for my life.

(00:47):
I rejoice that in your great plan you desire to
give me hope and a future life and not death. Therefore,
like the words in today's reading, I will change the
environment I am in and hold steadfast to your ways

(01:08):
until the time of my deliverance, because You've promised to
bring me out and set my feet on fertile soil,
soil ready to receive my seed of faith to unlock
the harvest of abundance that you have for me. In
Jesus's name, Amen, thank you for praying with us today.

(01:36):
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Speaker 3 (02:15):
Slash prey the destruction of Judah.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
In our last story, we learned of God speaking through
the prophet Jeremiah. His words of comfort, justice, and repentance
began to truly affect the hearts of Judah. However, the
King planted seeds of doubt and burned his words and
the fire. Now we learn about the destruction of Judah
at the hands of Babylon. The enormous nation rises up

(02:50):
like a great beast to completely destroy Judah and all
its inhabitants. Captives are taken like cattle back to Babylon,
but not without a glimmer of hope for the future.
Inspired by the books of Second Chronicles, Second kings and Jeremiah.

Speaker 5 (03:09):
Hello, this is Jack Graham with today's episode of the
Bible in a Year. In our last episode, we heard
how Jeremiah's words often fell on deaf ears, and how
the priest of Judah were some of the biggest opponents,
even trying to put him the prophet, to death. But
Jeremiah was not afraid, and along with his scribe by Ut,
Jeremiah recorded God's warnings on a scroll to speak truth

(03:33):
to his generation and generations to come. Sparks of revival
flickered in the land, but the harshness and hardhearted nature
of King Jehoicam kept the people from truly turning back
to God. Today we'll hear how the enemy from the north,
the great nation of Babylon, finally descends upon Judah to
enact God's judgment on his people. God's people are led

(03:56):
away as slaves amid destruction and devastation of their home.
But this is not a story without hope, because we
know that God always has a plan and a purpose
for his own and that God is faithful. Let's listen
now to God's word.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
Josiah's time as king was over. The battlefield claimed him
and the reforming king was sent to the dust. His son,
Jehoahaz took his place as king. He was a young man,
only twenty three years old. Although he possessed similar traits
as his father, he would be unable to rule rightly
in Judah, for a rising threat emerged from the south.

(04:36):
Egypt had risen up against Judah with chariots of iron.
The king of Egypt, Neko, met Jehoahaz on the battlefield
and claimed him. He captured the king and drug him
back to Egypt as captive. The king desired to dominate Judah,
but not rule it, so he appointed jehoah Has, his
younger brother, as king in his place. Ilia Kim was

(04:58):
also the son of Josiah, but possessed none of his
noble qualities. He was a quiet and brooding man. He
was a wicked and self serving king. Pharaoh changed his
name to Jehorakim. Egypt was cruel and dominant. However, it
was but a fish compared to the shark that lurked

(05:18):
in the distance. The great beast Babylon was growing in
the north. Its mighty army was vast, Unlike any in history.
Babylon was the great boiling point from the north that
Jeremiah had once seen, and like a shark that sens
his blood. Babylon approached when Judah was at its most vulnerable.
King Jehoakim woke in the middle of the night to screaming.

(05:41):
He looked out his window to see pillars of fire
lighting up the horizon. The city of Jerusalem was burning.
Women and children rushed out of burning buildings as men
lifted their swords to attack the incoming Babylonians. Jehoakim watched
as every man was slaughtered in the streets. Panicked, Jehoakim,
he gathered his things to escape out the back of

(06:02):
the palace. As he went to open his door, it
burst open with force. Jehoakim fell flat on his back
and looked up to see him. He was tall and
dripping with power. His armored chest was broad and puffed outward.
His salt and pepper beard was dirtied from ash and blood.
His eyes were dark and glaring. Jehoa Kim looked up

(06:23):
in terror at the infamous king Nebuconesser. The Babylonian king
said nothing. He sauntered towards the half naked King of
Judah and leaned down. He picked him up with ease,
as if he was lifting a cat by its neck fur.
Jehoakim trembled and begged for mercy. Neberconzer gave an impassive stare.

(06:44):
His eyes were pits of unrepentant evil. There would be
no mercy dispensed from him. He threw the small king
onto the ground and had his men bind him in chains.
Jehoakim said nothing. He knew that this would be the
end of his life. It would be the end of
Judah itself. King Neberkonezzar and his army scoured the city

(07:05):
of Jerusalem for wealth. They went from house to house,
seizing any and all gold and silver. They opened up
the house of the Lord and carried away all its
vessels and precious items. After stripping Judah naked, never Canza left.
He allowed for Johoakim's son, jehoah Kin, to reign in
his father's place. Neber Caineza needed Judah to remain a

(07:29):
nation as a strategic edge over Egypt and Assyria. Jehoah
Kin was evil like his brother and a willing servant
of Neberkaneszer. However, his rule was short lived. After only
three months and ten days, he was summoned to Babylon
and kept there for the rest of his days. After
jehoah Kin was taken away, Neberkonezza appointed his uncle Zedekiah

(07:52):
as king. Zedekiah was a young man, only twenty one
years old. He was filled with pride and patriotism. He
ignored the calls of Jeremiah to repent, and instead ward
against God and the kingdom of Babylon. Vainly he rebelled
against King Nebeconezzer. He provoked him to anger. This would

(08:12):
prove to be more fuel for the King of Babylon
to tighten his grip on Judah. The priests and leaders
of Judah followed in Zedekiah's footsteps. They rebelled against God
and turned to the idols of ancient cultures. They defiled
the house of the Lord and sent Judah's leaders into madness.
Yet the Lord continued to send his message of compassion.

(08:33):
He used his prophets to warn them of their ways.
He wanted them to turn to him and cry out
to him, as the slaves in Egypt once did. If
they had just humbled themselves and asked, he would have answered. Instead,
they dug their own graves by warring against Babylon and
turning from God. The image of the Potter burned in

(08:54):
Jeremiah's mind as he watched his nation break. There would
be hope soon, but now was the time for destruction.
The Chaldeans were the next nation to rise up against
Judah under the banner of Babylon. The great army stormed
Jerusalem like a great beast. The walls of Jerusalem began
to crack under the force of Chaldean battering rams. Balls

(09:16):
of fire were sent flying through the air, crashing into homes.
The Chaldeans broke down the walls of Jerusalem. The crumbling
stone shook the earth and signaled for the entire city
to run. Panic filled the streets. Chaldean soldiers showed no mercy.
Women were pinned to the floor and rate men's heads
were thrown onto pikes. Children were chained up and sent

(09:39):
into slavery. The city charred as the screams of men
and women rose up with the smoke. There in the
middle of the city was the Temple of God. The
cedar beams and golden walls were turning to black as
the fire consumed it. All its altars turned to ash,
and all hope faded into oblivion. The surviving Judeans were

(10:00):
captured and chained. With the burning city of Jerusalem at
their backs, they marched forward to Babylon. God's people were
carted off like cattle, once again slaves. The heart of
God ached for his people to cry out to him.
He had Jeremiah send a word to them, a word
of hope and clarity. My children, God said, you will

(10:22):
be taken captive by Babylon, but this is not the
end of you. Go there and thrive, plant gardens, build
homes and start families. Be there and affect the culture
for good. When seventy years are completed, I will come
to you. I will free you and bring you back.
The words filled the captive's hearts with both joy and sorrow.

(10:45):
I have great plans for you, plans for good and
not evil. I will give you a future and a hope.
When you call upon me, I will be there when
you seek me. I will restore your soul. I will
set you free. So the people of Judah were brought
to Babylon, where they would be captives for seventy years.

Speaker 5 (11:11):
As we begin today's reading, Judah has fallen into the
hands of Egypt, but rather than take Judah into captivity,
Egypt only controls the nation, appointing one of Josiah's son, Ilaiacum,
as king, though he was a king with no real
power and lacking the integrity of his father. The king
of Egypt even made him change his name to Johokam.

(11:33):
Judah was experiencing hardship and suffering, but nothing like what
was coming. The Lord had shown Jeremiah the prophet, the
vision of a pot boiling with water facing north. It
represented Babylon, the giant nation had risen to greater power
than any other before. Josiah had foolishly allowed the Babylonians

(11:53):
into Judah to show off the prosperity of a small nation,
and thus set in motion a conquest that would bring
about God's punishment for the disobedience and unfaithfulness of his people.
The destruction of Judah did not happen all at once.
It began with the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem while Jehoicam
was ruler. King Nebuconazar easily overtook the city and sent

(12:16):
Jehoicam into captivity to Babylon. The Babylonians began to pillage
everything of value from Judah. The treasures Josiah had so
willingly shown them were taken and sent back to Babylon,
and so began a cycle of oppression. As Nevicanazar and
his armies picked Jerusalem apart, taking wealth of any kind,

(12:37):
even from the House of God. The Babylonians would appoint
a Jewish king who did not believe in God. And yet,
even as Judah was being conquered and ruled by a
pagan nation, God continued calling his people back to himself
through prophets like Jeremiah. It was not God's desire to
punish his people permanently, but to cause them and to

(13:00):
call them back to Him that they would cry out
for forgiveness, deliverance, and salvation. The Babylonians were God's rod
of iron to chastise his people. Sadly, they turned the
other way, falling back again into idle worship forgetting. Their
only hope for rescue was God Almighty. Next came the Chaldeans,

(13:24):
who served Babylon. They invaded Jerusalem and tore down her waltz, death, destruction, violation,
everything imaginable you can think of happened to the people
of Judah. It was a terrible and tragic time for
the people who refused to call out to God. However,
when all seemed lost, God sent a word of hope

(13:46):
and a promise and a letter from Jeremiah. He had
not abandoned his plan to bless these people and use
them to bless the world. God made a promise to Israel,
and he would keep it even in the midst of captivity.
Israel was to be a force for good. In Jeremiah
twenty nine to seven, God says, but seek the welfare

(14:06):
of the city where I have sent you into exile,
and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in
its welfare you also will find welfare. This is such
a powerful and important lesson. You may actually find yourself
far from God right now, or God may seem far away.
You may be under the hand of judgment or discipline

(14:29):
in your life. Maybe some of the dreams that you
had for your life and your future have fallen apart.
But God will not give up on you. God still
loves you. It has a plan for your life, and
that plan is to be a light even in the darkness.
Jesus would one day give a command which said, bless
those who cursed you and pray for those who abuse you.

(14:53):
Even in the toughest and the most terrible of circumstances,
God is faithful to his people. For seventy years, Judah
was held captive in Bablon, but God's plan to rescue
them remained, as did his faithfulness to all of his people.
Dear God, we are reminded in the reading today that
no matter our circumstances where we find ourselves, that You

(15:16):
are always seeking us. Give us hearing ears and hearing
hearts to receive and respond to your correction, turning to
you in repentance and faith. Thank You for the forgiveness
that we have in Christ, for the Cross and the resurrection,
the good news that saves us all who trust in Him.

(15:36):
Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.
I'm pastor Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. Let me encourage
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(15:58):
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