2 Kings 24

This is the next-to-last chapter of 2 Kings. After Josiah dies in 2 Kings 23 and Pharaoh Necho of Egypt installs Jehoiakim as king, this chapter describes Judah's submission to Babylon and the first large-scale deportation of its people. The fall of Jerusalem follows in 2 Kings 25.

Outline

• Verses 1–7 Jehoiakim serves Nebuchadnezzar for three years and then rebels. Bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites attack Judah. The text attributes this to the sins of Manasseh and to the innocent blood he shed. Jehoiakim dies, his son Jehoiachin becomes king, and the king of Egypt does not come out of his land again.
• Verses 8–9 Jehoiachin becomes king at eighteen, reigns three months, and does evil.
• Verses 10–16 Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem, and Jehoiachin surrenders (in the eighth year of the king of Babylon). The treasures of the temple and the royal palace are carried off, and the gold vessels that Solomon had made are cut in pieces. The king and the royal household are taken captive, along with ten thousand people, seven thousand mighty men, and a thousand craftsmen and smiths; only the poor are left behind.
• Verses 17–20 The king of Babylon makes Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king and changes his name to Zedekiah. Zedekiah becomes king at twenty-one, reigns eleven years, does evil, and rebels against Babylon.

Key Verses

• 2 Kings 24:3 "for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did" — offers a theological explanation for the collapse of Judah.
• 2 Kings 24:14 "none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land" — marks the beginning of the Babylonian exile.

Persons and Places

• Jehoiakim: Son of Josiah and king of Judah.
• Jehoiachin: Son of Jehoiakim; he reigned three months and was carried off to Babylon. In the book of Jeremiah he also appears as Jeconiah and Coniah.
• Nehushta: Mother of Jehoiachin and daughter of Elnathan.
• Hamutal: Mother of Zedekiah and daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. This Jeremiah is a different person from the prophet Jeremiah.
• The river Euphrates: Mentioned as the northern limit of the territory under Egyptian influence.

Notes for Reading

• The reference to Manasseh in verses 3–4 connects with 2 Kings 23:26, which states that judgment was not withdrawn despite Josiah's reforms.
• The ten thousand in verse 14 differ from the seven thousand and one thousand in verse 16, and Jeremiah 52:28 gives yet another count. Some interpreters explain these differences as reflecting different methods of counting.
• 2 Chronicles 36:9 gives Jehoiachin's age at accession as eight. This is commonly interpreted as a discrepancy that arose in the process of scribal transmission.
• Among those taken captive at this time was Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:2). In the New Testament, the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 mentions Jechonias and the time "they were carried away to Babylon."