• Zedekiah
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • ZEDEKIAH

      (Zed·e·kiʹah) [Jehovah is righteousness].

      1. “Son of Chenaanah”; a false prophet who assured King Ahab that he would succeed in his effort to wrest Ramoth-gilead from the Syrians. Zedekiah “made for himself horns of iron” to illustrate that Ahab would push the Syrians to their extermination. Thereafter, when Jehovah’s true prophet Micaiah foretold calamity for Ahab, Zedekiah struck Micaiah upon the cheek.—1 Ki. 22:11, 23, 24; 2 Chron. 18:10, 22, 23.

      2. A prince in the time of King Jehoiakim.—Jer. 36:12.

      3. “Son of Maaseiah”; an adulterous, lying prophet among the exiles in Babylon. Jehovah’s prophet Jeremiah foretold that King Nebuchadnezzar would roast Zedekiah and his associate Ahab in the fire.—Jer. 29:21-23.

      4. Son of Josiah by his wife Hamutal; last of the Judean kings to reign at Jerusalem. Upon his being constituted vassal king, his name was changed by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar from Mattaniah to Zedekiah. During the eleven years of his reign Zedekiah “continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes.”—2 Ki. 24:17-19; 2 Chron. 36:10-12; Jer. 37:1; 52:1, 2.

      At 1 Chronicles 3:15 Zedekiah is listed as the “third” son of Josiah. Whereas he was actually the fourth son in the order of birth (compare 2 Kings 23:30, 31; 24:18; Jeremiah 22:11), he may here be placed before his full brother Shallum (Jehoahaz) because of having ruled much longer.

      When his father, King Josiah, was mortally wounded in the attempt to turn back the Egyptian forces under Pharaoh Nechoh at Megiddo (c. 629 B.C.E.), Zedekiah was about nine years old, or about three years older than his nephew Jehoiachin. At that time the people made Zedekiah’s full brother, twenty-three-year-old Jehoahaz, king. Jehoahaz’ rule lasted a mere three months, as Pharaoh Nechoh removed him as king, replacing him with Eliakim (renamed Jehoiakim), the twenty-five-year-old half brother of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah. Following the death of his father Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin began ruling as king. It appears that at this time the Babylonian armies under King Nebuchadnezzar were besieging Jerusalem. After having reigned three months and ten days, Jehoahaz surrendered to the king of Babylon (617 B.C.E.).—2 Ki. 23:29–24:12; 2 Chron. 35:20–36:10.

      EARLY YEARS OF REIGN

      Subsequently Nebuchadnezzar placed Zedekiah on the throne at Jerusalem and had him take an oath in Jehovah’s name. This oath obligated Zedekiah to be a loyal vassal king.—2 Chron. 36:10, 11; Ezek. 17:12-14; compare 2 Chronicles 36:13.

      Evidently, early in Zedekiah’s reign messengers arrived from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon, perhaps with the intention of getting Zedekiah to join them in a coalition against King Nebuchadnezzar. (Jer. 27:1-3; the reference to Jehoiakim in verse 1 may be a transcriber’s error for Zedekiah; see NW, 1958 ed., ftn.) The Scriptures do not reveal just what the messengers accomplished. Possibly their mission did not succeed, as Jeremiah urged Zedekiah and his subjects to remain submissive to the king of Babylon and also presented yoke bars to the messengers to symbolize the fact that the nations from which they had come should likewise submit to Nebuchadnezzar.—Jer. 27:2-22.

      It was also early in his reign that Zedekiah (for some reason not stated in the Bible) sent Elasah and Gemariah to Babylon. If the incident is presented in chronological order, this would have been in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s kingship.—Jer. 28:1, 16, 17; 29:1-3.

      Zedekiah personally went to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Likely this was to present tribute and thereby to reassure Nebuchadnezzar of his continued loyalty as a vassal king. On that occasion Zedekiah was accompanied by his quartermaster Seraiah, whom the prophet Jeremiah had entrusted with a scroll setting forth Jehovah’s judgment against Babylon.—Jer. 51:59-64.

      About a year later Ezekiel began serving as a prophet among the Jewish exiles in Babylonia. (Ezek. 1:1-3; compare 2 Kings 24:12, 17.) In the sixth month of Zedekiah’s sixth year as king (612 B.C.E.), Ezekiel saw a vision that revealed the idolatrous practices, including the worship of the god Tammuz and the sun, being carried on at Jerusalem.—Ezek. 8:1-17.

      REBELS AGAINST NEBUCHADNEZZAR

      Approximately three years later (c. 609 B.C.E.), contrary to Jehovah’s word through Jeremiah and the oath that the king himself had taken in Jehovah’s name, Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and sent to Egypt for military assistance. (2 Ki. 24:20; 2 Chron. 36:13; Jer. 52:3; Ezek. 17:15) This brought the Babylonian armies under Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem. The siege of the city began “in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month.”—Ezek. 24:1-6.

      It may have been at the commencement of this siege that Zedekiah sent “Pashhur the son of Malchiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest,” to Jeremiah in order to inquire of Jehovah whether Nebuchadnezzar would withdraw from Jerusalem. Jehovah’s word through Jeremiah was that the city and its inhabitants would experience calamity at the hands of the Babylonians. (Jer. 21:1-10) It appears that after this, Jeremiah, in compliance with divine direction, personally went to Zedekiah to advise him that Jerusalem would be destroyed and that the king would be taken to Babylon, there to die in peace.—Jer. 34:1-7.

      In besieged Jerusalem, Zedekiah and his princes deemed it advisable to do something to comply with Jehovah’s law and gain His favor. Although it was not the Jubilee year, they concluded a covenant to release their Hebrew slaves from servitude. Later they broke this covenant by enslaving those whom they had set free. (Jer. 34:8-22) This appears to have taken place at the time a military force from Egypt came to the defense of Jerusalem, causing the Babylonians to lift the siege temporarily to meet the Egyptian threat. (Jer. 37:5) Apparently believing that the Babylonians would be defeated and unable to resume the siege, those who had released enslaved Hebrews felt that the danger was over and, therefore, again brought freed Hebrew slaves into servitude.

      During this general period Zedekiah dispatched “Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah” with the request that the prophet pray to Jehovah in behalf of the people, evidently so that the foretold destruction of Jerusalem would not come. But Jehovah’s answer, as conveyed by Jeremiah, showed that the divine judgment remained unchanged. The Chaldeans would return and destroy Jerusalem.—Jer. 37:3-10.