2 Chronicles 36

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

2 Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for 3 months.

3 The king of Egypt removed him from office in Jerusalem and fined the country 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold.

4 The king of Egypt made Jehoahaz's brother Eliakim king of Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. Neco took Jehoahaz away to Egypt.

5 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 11 years in Jerusalem. He did what the LORD his God considered evil.

6 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jehoiakim and put him in bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.

7 Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the utensils of the LORD's temple to Babylon. He put them in his palace in Babylon.

8 Everything else about Jehoiakim--the disgusting things he did and all the charges against him--is written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiakin succeeded him as king.

9 Jehoiakin was eight years old when he began to rule as king. He was king for three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what the LORD considered evil.

10 In the spring King Nebuchadnezzar sent for Jehoiakin and brought him to Babylon with the valuable utensils from the LORD's temple. Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiakin's uncle Zedekiah king of Judah and Jerusalem.

11 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 11 years in Jerusalem.

12 He did what the LORD his God considered evil and didn't humble himself in front of the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke for the LORD.

13 Zedekiah also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had made Zedekiah swear an oath of allegiance to him in God's name. But Zedekiah became so stubborn and so impossible to deal with that he refused to turn back to the LORD God of Israel.

14 All the officials, the priests, and the people became increasingly unfaithful and followed all the disgusting practices of the nations. Although the LORD had made the temple in Jerusalem holy, they made the temple unclean.

15 The LORD God of their ancestors repeatedly sent messages through his messengers because he wanted to spare his people and his dwelling place.

16 But they mocked God's messengers, despised his words, and made fun of his prophets until the LORD became angry with his people. He could no longer heal them.

17 So he had the Babylonian king attack them and execute their best young men in their holy temple. He didn't spare the best men or the unmarried women, the old people or the sick people. God handed all of them over to him.

18 He brought to Babylon each of the utensils from God's temple, the treasures from the LORD's temple, and the treasures of the king and his officials.

19 They burned God's temple, tore down Jerusalem's walls, burned down all its palaces, and destroyed everything of value.

20 The king of Babylon took those who weren't executed to Babylon to be slaves for him and his sons. They remained captives until the Persian Empire began to rule.

21 This happened so that the LORD's words spoken through Jeremiah would be fulfilled. The land had its years of rest and was made acceptable [again]. While it lay in ruins, [the land had its] 70 years of rest.

22 The promise the LORD had spoken through Jeremiah was about to come true in Cyrus' first year as king of Persia. The LORD inspired the king to make this announcement throughout his whole kingdom and then to put it in writing.

23 This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: The LORD God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the world. Then he ordered me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem (which is in Judah). May the LORD God be with all of you who are his people. You may go.

2 Chronicles 36 Commentary

Chapter 36

The destruction of Jerusalem. (1-21) The proclamation of Cyrus. (22,23)

Verses 1-21 The ruin of Judah and Jerusalem came on by degrees. The methods God takes to call back sinners by his word, by ministers, by conscience, by providences, are all instances of his compassion toward them, and his unwillingness that any should perish. See here what woful havoc sin makes, and, as we value the comfort and continuance of our earthly blessings, let us keep that worm from the root of them. They had many times ploughed and sowed their land in the seventh year, when it should have rested, and now it lay unploughed and unsown for ten times seven years. God will be no loser in his glory at last, by the disobedience of men. If they refused to let the land rest, God would make it rest. What place, O God, shall thy justice spare, if Jerusalem has perished? If that delight of thine were cut off for wickedness, let us not be high-minded, but fear.

Verses 22-23 God had promised the restoring of the captives, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, at the end of seventy years; and that time to favour Zion, that set time, came at last. Though God's church be cast down, it is not cast off; though his people be corrected, they are not abandoned; though thrown into the furnace, they are not lost there, nor left there any longer than till the dross be separated. Though God contend long, he will not contend always. Before we close the books of the Chronicles, which contain a faithful register of events, think what desolation sin introduced into the world, nay, even into the church of God. Let us tremble at what is here recorded, while in the character of some few gracious souls, we discover that the Lord left not himself without witness. And when we have looked at this faithful portrait of man by nature, let us contrast with it that same nature, when recovered by Almighty grace, through the justifying and soul-adorning righteousness of Christ our Saviour.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 36

This chapter records the reigns of the four kings of Judah, and the captivity of the Jews, the short reign of Jehoahaz, deposed by the king of Egypt, and his brother Eliakim or Jehoiakim set up in his room, 2Ch 36:1-4, the reign of Jehoiakim, who was bound and carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, 2Ch 36:5-8, the reign of Jehoiachin his son, who also in a short time was taken and carried to Babylon by the same king, 2Ch 36:9,10, the reign of Zedekiah, who also rebelled against the king of Babylon, and he and his people were taken and carried captive by him for his sins, which are here mentioned, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, and where the Jews continued until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, 2Ch 36:11-21 and the chapter is concluded with the proclamation of Cyrus king of Persia, and with which also the next book begins, 2Ch 36:22,23.

\\Josiah\\ Of whose reign, and of the three following, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, and the account of them, from hence to the end of 2Ch 36:13, what needs explanation or reconciliation, \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:31"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:32"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:33"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:34"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:35"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:36"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:37"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 24:5"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 24:6"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 24:8"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 24:10"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 24:17"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 24:18"\\ 19953-950201-1301-2Ch36.2