2 Chron 36 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 2 Chron 36:1-8

1 And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.

2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months. 3 The king of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem and imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 4 The king of Egypt made Eliakim, a brother of Jehoahaz, king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Necho took Eliakim’s brother Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt.

5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God. 6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked him and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also took to Babylon articles from the temple of the Lord and put them in his temple there.

8 The other events of Jehoiakim’s reign, the detestable things he did and all that was found against him, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king.

A. Find Out:

1. How old was Jehoahaz and how long did he reign? v.1,2
2. What happened to him? v.3
3. How did Jehoiakim come to the throne? v.4
4. How was he described? v.5
5. What happened to him? v.6

B. Think:

1. Read also 2 Kings 23:31 – 24:6
2. What sort of men were both these kings?
3. Why did the things happen that we’ve read?

C. Comment:

      The information given about these two kings in 2 Chronicles is simple and straight forward: they were both sons of Josiah and the second one did evil in the eyes of the Lord. We have to go to 2 Kings to see the same description of the first son (2 Kings 23:32 ). The first king was taken off into captivity by the king of Egypt and the second one, some eleven years later, was taken into captivity by the king of Babylon .

      To see the spiritual causes behind this we have to go to 2 Kings 24:3 where the recorder concludes that it must be because of the Lord’s word about Manasseh seen in 2 Kings 21:10-15. Manasseh had done such evil and had so desecrated Jerusalem that this had invoked God’s ultimate judgement: Judah will go into exile. You may remember that Manasseh had been carried into exile but had repented there and been brought back by the Lord. The Lord is constantly looking for humility and repentance and where He finds it, He holds back His hand of destruction.

     Thus Judah had been spared some more years and known real blessing in Josiah’s reign. Yet as soon as Josiah is gone, the sons revert back to the bad old ways. Judah is now hanging on by just a thread of God’s mercy but it is now very thin. Manasseh had worn it down and now these two foolish sons wear it away even more, and first one then the other are dealt with. Will not this nation and further kings learn the lesson and repent. Unfortunately, no!

D. Application:

1. God’s judgement comes incredibly slowly.
2. God’s mercy constantly looks for an opportunity to relent and bless.

Passage: 2 Chron 36:9-23

9 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months and ten days. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 10 In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon, together with articles of value from the temple of the Lord, and he made Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, king over Judah and Jerusalem.

11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. 12 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord. 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God’s name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling-place. 16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. 17 He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. 18 He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. 19 They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.

20 He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 21 The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfilment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.

23 ‘This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

‘“The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.”’

A. Find Out:

1. How is Jehoiachin’s reign described? v.9
2. What happened to him? v.10
3. How was Zedekiah described? v.11,12
4. What did he and the other leaders do? v.13,14
5. So what did the Lord do? v.15-21
6. Yet how was their hope for the future? v.22,23

B. Think:

1. What indications are there here of God’s mercy and grace?
2. Yet what drove Him to send Judah into exile?
3. How is that shown NOT to be the end?

C. Comment:

       These verses are a mixture of the sin and stupidity of mankind and the wonderful grace and mercy of the Lord. We may be tempted, with only a casual look, to think that this chapter is about the harsh judgement of God. Look again, it is not!

        The previous two kings were taken and the nation did not learn the lesson and call on the Lord. These last two kings followed exactly in the path of the previous two. One lasted 3 months, the other 11 years. One short sharp shock, the other a period for reflection – but that doesn’t work, for both king and people are set in their way, and that is away from the Lord. There WILL be a faithful remnant no doubt (Jeremiah is an example) but the majority are set in idolatry – and this in a people who were called out and created to be holy! The only solution is radical surgery and so the Lord used Nebuchadnezzar to decimate Jerusalem and take the majority of the people away. Note in verse 15 that the Lord sent “his messengers again and again”.

      To catch the full import of that you need to do the studies on Jeremiah who brought God’s word to Jerusalem again and again. No, God gave this king EVERY chance to learn, EVERY chance to repent – but he ignored them. Yet there is hope as the writer hints at the new day under Cyrus.

D. Application:

1. God speaks again and again and again. Do we hear?
2. God will not hold back judgement for ever. It will come.