God’s Judgment of Judah

MEMORY VERSE: “Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.” —Jeremiah 26:13

JEREMIAH 26:1-6; 52:12-16

ACCORDING to the conditions set forth in God’s Law which formed the basis of the covenant with the Lord into which the Israelites had entered, it was inevitable that sooner or later divine judgment would come upon them. It came upon the ten tribes when they were taken captive into Assyria, and now the Lord had indicated that he would also punish the people of the two-tribe kingdom.

A definite statement to this effect was given by the Lord during the reign of Judah’s last righteous king, Josiah. Then the Lord said, “Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah: because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hand; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched.”—II Chron. 34:24,25

The execution of this pronouncement of judgment upon Judah was delayed by the Lord until after the death of Josiah. This was because the Lord appreciated Josiah’s repentant attitude, and his desire to do the Lord’s will when he learned it from having the Book of the Law read to him. The Lord explained to this good king, “I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same.” (II Chron. 34:27,28) If in death Josiah would be unaware of the calamities which would come upon his people, it meals, as the Bible so definitely teaches, that “the dead know not anything.”—Eccl. 9:5

Jehoiakim, a wicked son of Josiah, was made king of Judah and Jerusalem by the king of Egypt. The foretold punishment was already beginning to fall upon the nation, for the people had lost their liberty. Jehoiakim was a puppet king. However, as our lesson points out, even now, if he would co-operate with the Lord in reestablishing righteousness in the nation, the prophecies of doom would not be carried out. He was given a message to relay to the people and, if he delivered it and they gave heed to it, the Lord said, “I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.”—Jer. 26:3

Surely God is longsuffering toward his people, and gives them every possible opportunity to return to him when they have strayed away through unfaithfulness.

Our memory verse again reminds us of God’s willingness to repent, or change his course of action, when those involved turn from their evil ways. This attitude on God’s part had previously been explained to Jeremiah in a lesson which the Lord drew from the potter. Jeremiah was instructed by the Lord “to go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.”

Jeremiah observed that when a vessel “was marred in the hand of the potter … he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it” Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.”—Jer. 18:1-8

But in the case of Judah during the reign of their last two kings, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, no desire to repent was indicated, so the foretold judgment came upon the kingdom and its people. This brought to an end the typical kingdom of Judah, and Israel has been without a king ever since; and will be “until he come whose right it is.”—Ezek. 21:25-27

QUESTIONS

Basically, what led to the overthrow of the kingdom of Judah?

Who was Jehoiakim, and how could he have saved the kingdom of Judah from destruction?

What scriptural proof do we have that God is willing to withdraw his judgments when those involved repent?

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