Four Kings in Babylon

by: Michael Wilcock

As we reach the end of the book of Jeremiah, we find ourselves in Babylon, sharing the city with four kings. Two of them were kings of Babylon: Nebuchadnezzar, who brought the Israelite kingdom to an end, and his son Evil-merodach, who succeeded him twenty-four years later. They form part of the historical backdrop to the story of the Old Testament people of God. Of more interest to us are the two kings in Babylon, former kings of Judah whose names are linked with theirs, and who underline the message of the great prophet whose ministry we have been following.

Zedekiah, captured by Nebuchadnezzar, was blinded, chained, and carried off to die in a prison in Babylon. To all like him, who have had a glimpse of the truth, even a hankering after it, but never quite get round to letting it re-shape their lives, Jeremiah, the “weeping prophet,” speaks with tears, in agony of spirit, of the doom that awaits the sinner.

Jehoiachin, his nephew, taken into captivity after an earlier campaign, was just as bad a man, but for some reason Evil-merodach showed him a kindness he didn’t deserve. Neither the Jewish king nor his Babylonian captor would have known that reason, but we do: from him would spring not only leaders among the returning exiles, but a continuing line of the family of David, and ultimately our Lord Jesus himself. Thus would the Lord work out his plans, fulfilling Jeremiah’s vision of restoration and hope, and establishing a new covenant of grace.