Although these plots to ruin a nation that has historically been God’s chosen people, and whose inhabitants have enjoyed divine protection in a world that is hostile to sacred values. These dangerous conspiracies have not necessarily been listed in chronological order, but they are serious enough and of sufficient importance to prevent them from being overlooked or ignored. One such event was the complete destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian emperor, Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah was the son of the righteous king Josiah, a descendant of David.
Zedekiah, aka Tzidkiyahu, originally called Mattanyahu or Mattaniah, was the 20th and last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. He was born in 618 BC in Jerusalem, and died in Babylon. He reigned from 597–586 BC. His reign ended in the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of the Jews to Babylon. Mattaniah was the son of Josiah and the uncle of Jehoiachin, the reigning king of Judah. In 597 BC the Babylonians under King Nebuchadrezzar, besieged and captured Jerusalem. They deported Jehoiachin to Babylon and made Mattaniah regent under the name Zedekiah. Zedekiah held his throne as a vassal under an oath of allegiance to Nebuchadrezzar. QUORA: Who Was The King Of Judah When The Babylonians Destroyed Jerusalem By Roberta Brown
In 586 BC the Babylonian military, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, succeeded in breaking a two-year-long siege and destroyed much of the city of Jerusalem; her walls, palaces, and most devastatingly, the Temple of Solomon. Nebuchadnezzar was continuing his mission to secure and grow the resurrected Babylonian Empire, known today as the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Years earlier, he had already made Judah a part of his empire (2 Kings 24:1), requiring yearly tribute. But when Jerusalem’s vassal king Jehioakim rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city and won (597 BC); instead of destroying it, took in pledge into exile the new King Jehoiachin, much of the royal family, courts, nobility, priesthood, and military. Nebuchadnezzar then appointed a new, and who ended up being the last, king of Jerusalem, Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:10-17). BIBLE DISCOVERY: 586 B.C. The Fall Of Jerusalem, By Corie Bobechko, July 28, 2020.
History has a way of repeating itself. Jerusalem was destroyed because of its own sins in ancient times. Still, before God’s judgement fell upon them, they were repeatedly warned by His prophets over many years. In fact, Jeremiah pleaded with Israel and warned them for forty years before any of his prophecies were fulfilled.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’ “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.” Jeremiah 7:3-7 (NKJV).
Israel’s greatest sin was its rejection and crucifixion of the world’s Redeemer. Not all Jews rejected the Saviour, but the majority of the nation did. Those who embraced Jesus were permitted to flee to Perea. While sheltering there, they were able to escape the terrible catastrophe that came upon the Jews who had taken refuge in the city of Jerusalem.
The hour of hope and pardon was fast passing; the cup of God’s long-deferred wrath was almost full. The cloud that had been gathering through ages of apostasy and rebellion, now black with woe, was about to burst upon a guilty people; and He who alone could save them from their impending fate had been slighted, abused, rejected, and was soon to be crucified. When Christ should hang upon the cross of Calvary, Israel’s day as a nation favored and blessed of God would be ended. The loss of even one soul is a calamity infinitely outweighing the gains and treasures of a world; but as Christ looked upon Jerusalem, the doom of a whole city, a whole nation, was before Him—that city, that nation, which had once been the chosen of God, His peculiar treasure. GC 20.3
Not one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. Christ had given His disciples warning, and all who believed His words watched for the promised sign. “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies,” said Jesus, “then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out.” Luke 21:20, 21. Upon the retreat of Cestius, the Jews, sallying from Jerusalem, pursued after his retiring army; and while both forces were thus fully engaged, the Christians had an opportunity to leave the city. At this time the country also had been cleared of enemies who might have endeavored to intercept them. At the time of the siege, the Jews were assembled at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, and thus the Christians throughout the land were able to make their escape unmolested. Without delay they fled to a place of safety—the city of Pella, in the land of Perea, beyond Jordan. THE GREAT CONTROVERSY By Ellen G. White
Prophets had wept over the apostasy of Israel and the terrible desolations by which their sins were visited. Jeremiah wished that his eyes were a fountain of tears, that he might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of his people, for the Lord’s flock that was carried away captive. Jeremiah 9:1; 13:17. What, then, was the grief of Him whose prophetic glance took in, not years, but ages! He beheld the destroying angel with sword uplifted against the city which had so long been Jehovah’s dwelling place. From the ridge of Olivet, the very spot afterward occupied by Titus and his army, He looked across the valley upon the sacred courts and porticoes, and with tear-dimmed eyes He saw, in awful perspective, the walls surrounded by alien hosts. He heard the tread of armies marshaling for war. He heard the voice of mothers and children crying for bread in the besieged city. He saw her holy and beautiful house, her palaces and towers, given to the flames, and where once they stood, only a heap of smoldering ruins. GC 21.1
Looking down the ages, He saw the covenant people scattered in every land, “like wrecks on a desert shore.” In the temporal retribution about to fall upon her children, He saw but the first draft from that cup of wrath which at the final judgment she must drain to its dregs. Divine pity, yearning love, found utterance in the mournful words: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” O that thou, a nation favored above every other, hadst known the time of thy visitation, and the things that belong unto thy peace! I have stayed the angel of justice, I have called thee to repentance, but in vain. It is not merely servants, delegates, and prophets, whom thou hast refused and rejected, but the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer. If thou art destroyed, thou alone art responsible. “Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” Matthew 23:37; John 5:40. THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, By Ellen G. White
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