2 Kings 25

2 Kings 25

We have reached the end of the books of Kings, and the time of the Exile begins in 2 Kings 25. The monarchy that was set in Jerusalem began with King Saul back in 1 Samuel and extended all the way to the end of 2 Kings. First the kingdom was stripped from Saul and his family and given to David. God promised that David’s line would rule as king from there on out, but in the middle of 1 Kings it seemed as if that might change. After a rebellion in Israel led to the split of the kingdom, 2 kings rose up. David’s line continued to rule the southern kingdom of Judah while various families took the throne in Israel through the years. Israel was full of assassinations and overthrows. They continued to drift further and further from God, and they found themselves taken into exile. Although Judah had fared better than Israel, they too began to drift from God, and their time of exile was at hand in 2 Kings 25.


Zedekiah was king in Judah at the time of the exile. Jerusalem had already been destroyed, and he was only a puppet of Nebuchadnezzar, not really a king any longer. While some of the destruction had already been completed in 2 Kings 24, the worst was still to come. During Zedekiah’s ninth year, the Babylonians once again attacked the land. They burned down the Temple that Solomon had built, destroyed all the items within the Temple, captured King Zedekiah, killed much of his family, and took the rest of the citizens into exile. Only a few were left to tend the land with a new ruler, Gedaliah, in charge. The people were not satisfied with this result, however, unwilling to serve Gedaliah or the Babylonians. So they revolted and killed Gedaliah. But out of fear of how the Babylonians might respond, they fled to Egypt.

Meanwhile, the rest of the people of Judah were in Babylon. Their former king Jehoiachin was the only one who received any type of blessing, as he was promoted to a high position in the king’s court. The rest of the nation had to endure 70 long years in exile, wondering if God would ever save them and take them back home.

This is where the story ends in the Books of History for now. There is a lot that happened during those 70 years, as God sent many prophets to them during that time. The exile was their punishment for their disobedience, but God wanted to draw His people back to Himself. He had promised Moses that the exile would happen, but He also promised that they would one day return to the land. This is one of those moments where it would be helpful to read some of the prophets to see what life was like during the exile. The story starts over in a sense in 1 and 2 Chronicles, recounting many of the same events that we have already seen (from the time of Solomon to the time of the exile). Then, the story continues in Ezra, 70 years later when the people of Judah begin to make their way back to the Promised Land. While we will not get to the prophets for some time, I encourage you to take a look at some of them (like Ezekiel) to see what happened during those 70 years.

Matt