The Temple Gates

Epilogue

Judah virtually died with Josiah. The nation's grief was profound, and Jeremiah poured out his lamentations for his 39 year-old King who had brought religious and political unity to the nation. But Josiah's death brought an end to his reforms because Eliakim/Jehoiakim led the people back into idolatry.

If Judah had continued to worship Yahweh as Josiah had taught them, it may be that the doom to which God eventually allowed them to fall might have been avoided. According to the divine law of the conditional nature of prophecy (Ezekiel 18:5-27), had the nation repented and refused to turn away from God again, the prediction of their destruction may have been overridden.

The people honored Josiah's dying request, though, and Eliakim did not become the next King. His younger brother, Shallum, oldest son of Hamutal, ascended to the throne under the name of Jehoahaz. Eliakim must have been homicidally miffed, but there is no evidence of any attempted coup.

Far northeast Necho and the Assyrians were routed by the Babylonians, perhaps as a result of Necho's losses in both time and men at Megiddo. One record tells that Necho did not even arrive on the scene until after the battle had already been fought, with the Assyrians, under Ashuruballit falling back to Riblah in Syria.

Necho may have been upset by the turn of things, and that may have had something to do with why he summoned Jehoahaz--who had been on the throne for only three months--to appear before him. He deposed the young King and replaced him with his older brother, Eliakim, whom he renamed Jehoiakim. Necho carried 22 year-old Jehoahaz and his wives and children to Egypt. They died in Egypt, never returning to Judah.

Egypt's dreams of reestablishing its ancient Asian empire were short-lived. In 605 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish, and in the following year he advanced southward to the coastal plain of Philistia, seizing the Gaza territory claimed by Egypt.

By pledging himself vassal to Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiakim spared Judah from attack during this campaign, even though he had to give 10,000 of his best people as hostages--including Daniel and his friends.

But when Necho and Nebuchadnezzar fought to a draw in 601 B.C., Jehoiakim rebelled, and once again declared Egypt as Judah's protector. Not yet ready to tie up his armies in the central hill country, Nebuchadnezzar satisfied himself with ordering his vassals in Ammon, Moab, and Edom to attack Judah.

Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years, until his rule was ended by Nebuchadnezzar's major General, in 599 B.C.

Prophesying that unfaithful Judah would suffer an ignominious end, Jeremiah wept (Jer. 4: 5-21):

"Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say:
'Sound the trumpet throughout the land!'
Cry aloud and say:
'Gather together!
Let us flee to the fortified cities!'
Raise the signal to go to Zion!
Flee for safety without delay!
For I am bringing disaster from the north,^*
even terrible destruction."
 

A lion has come out of his lair;
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his place to lay waste your land.
Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant.
So put on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for the fierce anger of the LORD
has not turned away from us.

"In that day," declares the LORD,
"the King and the officials will lose heart,
the priests will be horrified,
and the prophets will be appalled. . . ."
Look! He advances like the clouds,
his chariots come like a whirlwind,
his horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us! We are ruined!
O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved.
How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?
A voice is announcing from Dan,
proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
"Tell this to the nations,
proclaim it to Jerusalem:
'A besieging army is coming from a distant land,
raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.
They surround her like men guarding a field,
because she has rebelled against me,'"
declares the LORD.
"Your own conduct and actions
have brought this upon you.
This is your punishment.
How bitter it is!
How it pierces to the heart!"

Oh, my anguish, my anguish!
I writhe in pain.
Oh, the agony of my heart!
My heart pounds within me,
I cannot keep silent.
For I have heard the sound of the trumpet;
I have heard the battle cry.
Disaster follows disaster;
the whole land lies in ruins.
In an instant my tents are destroyed,
my shelter in a moment.
How long must I see the battle standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?

This story is continued in book three of the series: Fire in the Gates: The Drama of Jeremiah and the fall of Judah.

^* Babylon lay far to the east, but the army had to march northeast up the Euphrates to Carchemish, and then south (from the north) to reach Judah.