Events are happening quickly as the foundations crumble under Judah. It’s kingdoom time!
Jehoiachin, Judah’s penultimate king, also called Jeconiah or Coniah, has been so evil, abetting the kingdom’s hopeless unravelling, that God solemnly declares, “Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for none of his descendants shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling anymore in Judah” (Jer 22:30). Thus, barring a supernatural miracle—like a virgin birth, for example!—there can be no possible future king in Judah’s line. Zedekiah (“Jehovah is righteous”), who was previously named Mattaniah until renamed by the king of Babylon and enthroned as a place-holder in Jerusalem, was not a son of Jehoiachin, but his uncle. Whether you nickname Zedekiah “King Zee” (for Americans) or “King Zed” (for the rest of the world), it’s a strong hint that we’ve reached the end of the line for the kingdom of Judah. Beware the spirit of rebellion! It’s a virulent spreading cancer. First, Zedekiah rebelled against the Lord and then against the king of Babylon. “He also did evil in the sight of the Lord…in Jerusalem and Judah…that He finally cast them out from His presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon” (2 Ki 24:19- 20). It didn’t take long until “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it” (25:1). It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? The city of Jerusalem was about to fall to Gentile invaders and “the times of the Gentiles” would begin (Lk 21:24). This was the City of the Name, where God Himself had a local address! Stranger still, there would come a day when the King who bore that Name would be taken as a criminal outside its walls and executed to rescue us. Yes, this time we were the rebels who needed saving.