Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah"
Text: Jeremiah 52:11
THE END OF KING ZEDEKIAH
King Zedekiah came to a bad end. The price he paid for rejection of the word of the LORD was very high. He chose to follow his own foolish and wicked ways that led to a tragic end.
“But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king,
and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho.
All his army was scattered from him.
So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon
at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him.
Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.
And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah;
and the king of Babylon bound him in bronze fetters,
took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.”
Jeremiah 52:8-11
1. “But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king,
and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him”
a) Zedekiah had badly underestimated the Babylonians.
b) He thought he could escape from the Chaldeans but he was deadly wrong.
c) His army fled from him. They were not loyal to him at all.
d) Zedekiah was overtaken in the plains of Jericho.
2. “So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah
in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him”
a) Zedekiah was brought to see King Nebuchadnezzar.
b) Riblah in Hamath.
i) This was a place between Babylon and Judah.
ii) It was a place where Nebuchadnezzar had set up his court.
c) Nebuchadnezzar judged Zedekiah at Riblah and pronounced him guilty.
i) Treason for rebelling against Babylon.
ii) Zedekiah was appointed king by Nebuchadnezzar
but had proven to be a rebellious king.
3. “Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.
And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah”
a) Nebuchadnezzar was known for cruelty.
b) To punish Zedekiah, he killed all his sons in front of his eyes.
c) All his sons were brought to Riblah for execution.
4. “He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him
in bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death”
a) The last thing Zedekiah saw was the execution of his sons.
b) Nebuchadnezzar then put out Zedekiah’s eyes.
c) He then fettered the blind king of Judah to Babylon.
d) Zedekiah would be left to die in a prison in Babylon.
e) This was the sad and tragic end of Zedekiah!