The Beginning of the End of Judah

When Josiah went out to ambush Pharoah Necho of Egypt, he could not have known the chain of events that his foolishness would unleash. He died as a result and his son Eliakim was made king of Judah by Pharoah Necho. Necho changed his name to Jehoiakim, so that everyone would know that Judah was no longer independent, but a vassal state under the rule of Egypt. This would prove to be short lived, since the Neo Babylonian kingdom under Nebuchadnezzar was rising in power, also prophesied by the Word of the LORD to Hezekiah. 

Jehoiakim was 25 when he became king and he reigned for 11 years. He was noted as a wicked king. During his days, Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and sacked it, carrying off the first wave of exiles into Babylon for 70 years. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were some of the royal sons who were carried away. Jehoiakim had been a vassal king under Nebuchadnezzar for three years before he rebelled and Jerusalem fell.

God raised up the Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites against Judah, to remove Judah from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh and of the people. He had lead Judah into idolatry and killed many innocent people. The LORD would not forgive those sins, but had decreed the end of Judah as judgment for that wickedness.

Jehoiakim was bound in bronze chains and taken to Babylon along with the gold articles from the Temple, which were placed in a temple in Babylon, later to be retrieved by Belshazzar when Babylon fell. Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharoah and took the lands from the Nile to the Euphrates from his hand. This first major victory for Babylon propelled it to become to dominate world power for the next 70 years, until it fell to the Medes and Persians. 

When God decrees judgment, there is nothing that man can do to stop it from coming. Repentance may delay its arrival, as in the case of Jonah and Nineveh, and Josiah and Judah, but come it will. God is just and righteous in His judgments. When the sin of mankind rises to a place where judgment is issued, then surely it will come. This world today is stacking up offense and sin against God. Jesus will come, crush His enemies, destroy the wicked, bind Satan in the Abyss, and reign with peace until the Day of Judgment. Surely His judgment is coming and it will be fierce.