Zedekiah; Judah's Final King

“That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requires that which is past (Ecclesiastes 3:15).” God required and recorded the realities of yesteryear to serve as patterns to help believers comprehend the present, and materialize the future. He also used recorded biblical history in another clever way: he allowed certain names in scripture to serve as parables in prophesy, and he spoke of the future through these parables: “Give ear, O my people, to my law… I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old (Psalms 78:1-2).”

Zedekiah's name was used in this fashion.  Zedekiah was Judah’s final king before her Babylonian captivity: God used his name, his decisions, and his doings, to generate messages for today's believers. From details of Zedekiah's life, believers can learn such things as the enormous confusion which takes place when God begins to do a new thing. Believers can also learn lessons about God’s long forbearance with those who refuse to listen. Ultimately, the lessons of Zedekiah can cause God's people to discover the good reasons for obeying God's voice, and thereby they can avoid the consequences of not listening.

Even before Zedekiah was ever crowned king, God began doing a new thing in the earth. God had Jeremiah don a yoke to warrant an impact, and when the princes of the other nations came to Jerusalem to see Prince Zedekiah, they were given a yoke, and they left Jerusalem with that yoke and with a message for their masters (Jeremiah 27:1-4). To paraphrase God's message: I made earth, and now I give all lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. “The nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar… will I punish, with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence; until I have consumed them by his hand… But the nations that serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land.” God's commandment was not open for debate, for he had determined that Nebuchadnezzar would reign over all nations, and that word "all" included Judah (Jeremiah 27:5-11). Notice that God promised rewards for obedience. All these things were done as a pattern for today's believers, and one important lesson which this pattern demonstrates is that God will send his messengers to prepare the way of his coming.

Jeremiah continued to faithfully prophesy God's message for years, but Judah’s priests rejected his message, for they refused to believe that God would expect his chosen people to serve Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 25:3). Zedekiah respected the priesthood, and even after he swore before God to serve Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah conferred with them, and turned and rebelled against serving Nebuchadnezzar (2Chronicles 36:13). Jeremiah tried to convince Zedekiah to hear the the truth, saying, Serve Nebuchadnezzar and live. Why will you die? (Jeremiah 27:12-13). But Zedekiah was confused, “I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and my elders (Lamentations 1:19).”

Many priests weighed in with their opinions, “You shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place (Jeremiah 14:13).” They ostracized Jeremiah, “Come, let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words (Jeremiah 18:18).” These priests walked in pride and envy, the same pride and envy which once plagued Aaron and Miriam: “Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? (Numbers 12:2).” Remember that these things were written as a pattern: they allow that the priesthood's greatest hinderance is their very own envy and pride. They also reveal the undependability of the priesthood during a time when God is doing a new thing.

At the beginning of Zedekiah's reign there was an incident that should have authenticated Jeremiah as a prophet. A prophet named Hananiah came Jeremiah and audaciously broke his yoke, and prophesied peace to Judah. “They… going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God (Romans 10:3).” God then rebuked all the prophets by sending Jeremiah back before them to condemn the lies of Hananiah. Jeremiah prophesied the consequence of Hananiah's mistake: death within the year. “Hananiah the prophet died the same year (Jeremiah 28:17).”

This sobering occurrence should have authenticated Jeremiah as a prophet, but Judah's leaders still “made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return (Jeremiah 5:3).” They were deceived. They were rebelling against God by refusing to hear Jeremiah, and their rebellion was creating confusion. God will not show mercy unto today's leaders if they refuse to listen, for they too create confusion: for all these things were given as a pattern which bears witness against them  (Jeremiah 7:25-26, 14:12). Scripture also testifies that God sends messages through ordinary people, so priests are without excuse. “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty (1Corinthians 1:27).”

When God does a new thing, if priests are not willing to hear his messengers, and if they are not willing to pray and consult his word, then false divinations will occupy the pulpits (Jeremiah 5:13). “At that time shall it be said to this people… a dry wind of the high places… not to fan, nor to cleanse (Jeremiah 4:11)." The priests of Zedekiah's day were trusting in their own ways, and they were not interested in receiving God's word. “The wrath of God arose against his people, till there was no remedy (2Chronicals 36:16).”

Zedekiah chose to believe the counsel of the priesthood. “Know ye not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom you obey (Romans 6:16).” He suffered the consequences of his mistake. Zedekiah witnessed as his own sons, as well as the priests and princes of Judah, were slain before his eyes, and then his eyes were put out, and he was imprisoned until the day of his death (Jeremiah 52:9-11, 52:24,27). Tragically, because of his defiance, the city of Jerusalem was burned (Jeremiah 38:23). These horrific consequences are written and recorded for our edification.

Another lesson that is discerned from the parable of Zedekiah, happened early in Zedekiah’s reign, when Jeremiah had Zedekiah and Seraiah deliver a message to Babylon. They were told to read this message in the ears of everyone listening. Then they were to bind that message unto a stone and cast it into Euphrates, saying: “Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her (Jeremiah 51:64).” Their actions depict prophesy: they prophesied a message about the day of God's wrath. This truth is discovered by noticing the cooperation of their actions with the verse: “A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all (Revelation 18:21).”

The message which Zedekiah read in the ears of all listeners, and which he cast into Euphrates, was miraculously preserved in the book of Jeremiah, in the thirty ninth chapter, beginning in the thirty fourth verse. Zedekiah and Seraiah stood there together in the Babylonian province of Elam, reading a message against Elam (Jeremiah 49:34; Daniel 8:2). When they took that message and bound it to a stone and cast it into the Euphrates, their actions physically depicted the afore mentioned prophecy which prophesy's of religion's demise under the name of Babylon, so why was the content of their message prophesying truths against Elam? Because their actions forever linked the physical location of Elam, to the judgment of Babylon, which was the purpose for binding that message to the stone. “I will set my throne in Elam (Jeremiah 49:38).” Discovering more about the mystery of their actions requires finding out where God has sat his throne.

After Jerusalem’s burning, the fugitives of Judah went down into Egypt against God’s warnings. They came to Tahpanhes, where God issued yet another warning, “I will… send Nebuchadnezzar… and will set his throne upon these stones (Jeremiah 43:7-10).” In other words, Jeremiah prophesied that the Babylonian throne would soon be situated in Egypt, where Tahpanhes had once stood. Referring to Egypt in making reference to where this throne would be set up, created confusion, and kept the location discrete. This land did once belong to Egypt, but it had been taken by Babylon in the forth year of Jehoiakim’s reign (Jeremiah 46:13-14; 2Ki 24:7).

Zedekiah and Seraiah had read their message and prophesied against Elam and against Babylon at the place of God's throne: in the province of Elam, at Tahpanhes. Afterwards, Jeremiah prophesied once again saying that Babylon's throne would be there: Jeremiah's second prophesy was fulfilled when Shushan the palace was built in the province of Elam (Daniel 8:2). In other words, Babylon's throne, and Elam's throne, and God's throne, are inseparable. “I will set my throne in Elam (Jeremiah 49:38).” Zedekiah’s actions were done deliberately in that specific place to testify and verify, that Elam’s people, as well as the place of its throne, is attached to the prophecies of Babylon.

Egypt’s army once occupied Carchemish, the spot that most likely discloses the location of Elam. Jeremiah prophesied, “against the army… of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar… smote in the forth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 46:2).” Carchemish was located in the valley of Megiddo (2Chronicals 35:20-22). Same Megiddo Joshua conquered, Manasseh inherited, Solomon built, and the Canaanites influenced (Joshua 12:21; Judges 1:27; 1Kings 9:15). In this valley stood a rock named Rimmon (Zechariah 12:11). Rimmon was a holy site large enough to house six hundred Benjaminites for four months, and this holy site taught a non Jewish doctrine of religion (Judges 20:47; 2Kings 5:18). The rock of Rimmon was located south of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:10).

Evidence is suggesting that the former province of Elam, where God situated his throne, is in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. God prophesied a significant message through Zedekiah's actions, one that makes great promises for the shake up of Islam! “I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might… I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them towards all those winds… I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies… I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger… and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them (Jeremiah 49:35-37).”

The prophecy which Zedekiah read in Babylon in the province of Elam, reveals truths about the confusion of religion, and it testifies that judgment will come upon Islam as well as upon Christianity and Judaism. Therefore the truth of Zedekiah's message agrees with the truths of the covenant message.