2 Chronicles 36:1–21
36 The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem. 2 36:2Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 36:3Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent 1 of gold. 4 36:4And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.
5 36:5Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. 6 36:6Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon. 7 36:7Nebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. 8 36:8Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
9 36:9Jehoiachin was eighteen 2 years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 10 36:10In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.
11 36:11Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 36:12He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. 13 36:13He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 36:14All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.
15 36:15The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 36:16But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.
17 36:17Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand. 18 36:18And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. 19 36:19And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. 20 36:20He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21 36:21to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
Section Overview
After decades free from Assyrian hegemony, and despite the extent of Josiah’s reforms, the years after Josiah’s death (609 BC) saw dramatic changes. His successor was soon taken as captive to Egypt; five years later, key officials were taken to Babylon; a mere seven years later, the king himself and a large number of significant people were taken captive to Babylon; after another decade (in 587), the city and temple were razed, Judah devastated, and more people taken into exile. Babylonian rule continued until they were overthrown by the Persians under Cyrus (539). Events until c. 560 are described in 2 Kings 23:31–25:30 and are the context of the book of Jeremiah, which adds further details.
Chronicles’ account is much shorter, selecting, abbreviating, and supplementing details from Kings up to Zedekiah’s rebellion (2 Chron. 36:13a; 2 Kings 24:20). Thereafter (2 Chron. 36:13b–21) the description and evaluation of the fall of Jerusalem are the Chronicler’s own material. In his telling, he omits mention of any king’s death but highlights how three kings experienced exile while the destruction and greater exile took place in the reign of the fourth (vv. 4, 6, 10, 20), and he shows the accompanying fate of the temple and its contents (vv. 7, 10, 14, 18–19). Both kings and people are at fault for their response to the words of prophets (vv. 12, 15–16, 21). With the Chronicler’s own distinctive vocabulary, verses 15–16 provide the reason for the destruction: despite the Lord’s “compassion on his people and on his dwelling place,” evidenced in “his messengers . . . his prophets,” the people kept “mocking . . . despising . . . scoffing”—“there was no remedy.”
TABLE 3.23: Comparison of 2 Chronicles 36:1–21 and 2 Kings
| 2 Chronicles | 2 Kings | |
|---|---|---|
| Reign of Jehoahaz | 36:1–4 | 23:30b–34 |
| Reign of Jehoiakim | 36:5–8 | 23:35–24:7 |
| Reign of Jehoiachin | 36:9–10 | 24:8–17 |
| Reign of Zedekiah | 36:11–16 | 24:18–20 |
| Fall of Jerusalem and exile | 36:17–21 | 25:1–26 |
Section Outline
- IV. The Kingdom of Judah Continues (29:1–36:23) . . .
- D. Four Kings and the Destruction of Jerusalem and Its Temple (36:1–21)
Response
Six hundred years later, Jesus’ words would express anguish over the results of persistent rejection: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” He continues, however, with an “until”: “Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Luke 13:34–35).
The experience of Israel over the centuries had illustrated how God is “slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex. 34:6)—but there is anger (cf. Rom. 1:18). Punishment is deserved, and many of Christ’s parables warn of judgment (e.g., Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43; 21:33–44; 22:1–14). Often explicit is the goal of repentance and restoration when the reason for punishment is acknowledged. Hosea speaks of being brought into the wilderness as the place where God will again “speak tenderly” (Hos. 2:12–15); Ezekiel delivers a message of judgment because of persistent blatant apostasy and injustice, until news comes of the destruction of Jerusalem, at which point he begins to announce the hope of restoration (Ezekiel 33–34); Paul speaks of “handing [individuals] over to Satan” (i.e., excommunication) so that they might realize the seriousness of their sin and be restored (1 Tim. 1:20; cf. 1 Cor. 5:4–5). God’s patience continues, but the warning of the future “day of the Lord” remains (1 Thess. 5:1–11; 2 Pet. 3:1–13).
1 Selman, 2 Chronicles, 546.
2 Most Hebrew manuscripts have his age as “eight”; LXX and Syriac texts, however, have “eighteen,” as in 2 Kings 24:8.
3 LXX: “all those held in honor in Judah and the priests.”
4 The Chaldeans were a nomadic tribe in the south of Babylonia who came to occupy the throne of Babylon, so their name was commonly used in the OT for the Babylonians.
5 Dillard, 2 Chronicles, 301–302; Boda, 1–2 Chronicles, 427.