The last ruling priest (Eli), the last judge (Samson), the last king—all blind. And the last church? (Rev 3:17).
The Babylonian army built a siege wall around Jerusalem and then sat down to watch the city die. Due to Hezekiah’s forethought, the inhabitants had access to water which ran from the Gihon Spring through a serpentine tunnel 1,750 feet long (533 meters) into the southern pool. But food was another matter. The Jerusalemites lasted 18 months until there was nothing left. Then one night, by the Fountain Gate, the inhabitants slipped out into the darkness and scattered. The king tried to escape as well, heading toward the wilds of Edom, where the Remnant will hide during the Tribulation. But, captured by the enemy “in the plains of Jericho” (2 Ki 25:5), he was taken to the Babylonian base camp at Riblah, a town near the springs of the Orontes River, 75 miles north of Damascus. What will happen to good King Josiah’s youngest son? Two contemporary prophets give us clues, though they seem to contradict. Jeremiah prophesied: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon…And you shall not escape from his hand, but shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand; your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, he shall speak with you face to face, and you shall go to Babylon’” (Jer 34:2-3). But Ezekiel said, “He shall be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon, to the land of the Chaldeans; yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there” (Ezek 12:13). How could he see the king eye to eye, yet not see Babylon? Tragically, after seeing the king, “they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon” (2 Ki 25:7). How good that, when we’re spiritually blind, our Savior can give us sight again (Rev 3:18).