2 Chr 36: 5-10

The next section is a tale of two kings, first Jehoiakim who was the king that succeeded Jehoahaz, his father. His reign lasted 11 years and according to other parts of the Bible and history was a self indulging and arrogant king. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord. Jeremiah, the prophet was the Lord's mainstay throughout this time and did much to warn and correct him in what the Lord wanted but was not well received. The result was him being in captivity via King Nebuchadnezzar in bronze chains into Babylon with his ill-gotten gains as well. During this time frame, there was another prophet Uriah (Jer 23) who was killed by Nebuchadnezzar while Jeremiah was not. The reason that the Egyptians were the ones that were oppressing the Judeans was that the Babylonian empire had, by this time, extended to Egypt so Jehoiakim had to obey Babylon rather than Egypt.

The second king, was Jehoiakim's son - Jehoiachin. He was as bad as his father and his reign only lasted a little over 3 months. According to the commentary: Then in March 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar’s army entered the city. Nebuchadnezzar himself came to Jerusalem. He took Jehoiachin as a prisoner to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar took all the valuable things from the temple. And he took many people from Jerusalem to Babylon. He took about 10 000 people from the city. This included Jehoiachin’s family, 7000 soldiers and all the business people (2 Kings chapter 24).

Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin’s uncle Mattaniah the king of Judah and Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar changed Mattaniah’s name to Zedekiah.

 

The event last night was pretty good and was focused on ending domestic violence. The keynote speaker was Lavon Morris-Grant who was a victim of domestic violence as well. She is a Christian and gave a stark and gripping account of her life and how she had to cope with the ridicule of being a victim - not only from her friends and family but even her own church which abandoned her. She was also a great woman of action and faith and I got a chance to pray with her afterwards.

 

Getting ready to head home but for how long? The impending hurricane hitting landfall late this weekend may prompt me to stay in NJ longer rather than coming down on Sunday. We'll see...

 

Praise for today: But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge. Psalm 94:22.