2 Chronicles 36

This is the final chapter of 2 Chronicles. After Josiah dies at Megiddo fighting Necho king of Egypt in 2 Chronicles 35, the chapter traces in rapid succession the kingdom of Judah's decline to its destruction and closes the book with a message of restoration.

Outline

• Verses 1–4 The people make Jehoahaz king. After three months the king of Egypt deposes him and imposes on the land a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. Necho makes Eliakim king, changes his name to Jehoiakim, and carries Jehoahaz away to Egypt.
• Verses 5–8 Jehoiakim reigns eleven years and does evil. Nebuchadnezzar binds him in fetters and carries the vessels of the temple to his temple in Babylon.
• Verses 9–10 Jehoiachin reigns three months and ten days before being taken to Babylon, and his uncle Zedekiah becomes king.
• Verses 11–16 Zedekiah does not humble himself before Jeremiah and breaks the oath he swore to Nebuchadnezzar. The priests and the people also defile the temple and mock the messengers God sends to them.
• Verses 17–21 The king of the Chaldeans slays the people, plunders the temple treasures, burns the temple, and breaks down the wall of Jerusalem. The survivors become servants until the rise of the kingdom of Persia, and the land keeps sabbath for seventy years.
• Verses 22–23 In his first year Cyrus issues a decree ordering the building of the temple and proclaims that God's people should go up.

Key Verses

• 2 Chronicles 36:16 "They mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words" — summarizes the Chronicler's view of the cause of the destruction.
• 2 Chronicles 36:21 "Until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath" — interprets the exile both as the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy and as a sabbath rest for the land.
• 2 Chronicles 36:23 "Let him go up" — ends the account of judgment with a call to restoration.

People and Places

• Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Jehoiachin Sons and a grandson of Josiah; the last kings of Judah.
• Necho The king of Egypt who killed Josiah.
• Chaldeans A name referring to the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

Points for Reflection

• A comparison with 2 Kings 24 and 2 Kings 25, which cover the same period, reveals differences between the accounts. For example, 2 Kings 24:8 gives Jehoiachin's age at accession as eighteen, and some ancient versions are also reported to read eighteen.
• The seventy years connect the prophecies of Jeremiah 25 and Jeremiah 29 with the sabbath-year warning of Leviticus 26. Interpretations differ as to when this period should be reckoned to begin and end.
• Verses 22–23 are nearly identical to the opening of Ezra 1. Widely used printed editions of the Hebrew Bible today place Chronicles at the very end, so the Hebrew Bible as a whole concludes with this call to return.
• The genealogy in Matthew 1 refers to this event as the time "they were carried away to Babylon."