Reign Of Zedekiah, Last King Of The Line Of David (597-587)
Before returning to Babylon Nebuchadnezzar replaced the unhappy Jehoiachin by Zedekiah, the brother of Josiah. He was twenty-one, of less than second-rate mind, with no ideas of his own and lacking any intellectual power at all. He allowed himself to be influenced by the pro-Egyptian and anti-Babylonian party, like his predecessors he continued to hope foolishly that he would succeed in regaining the freedom of Yahudah. In the last resort it was Yerusalem which was to be broken, finally, like the earthenware vessel which YermeYah shattered at the gate of the Potsherd.
In Yerusalem: the war party and the peace party with the king between them
Deportation of the unfortunate Jehoiachin did nothing to calm political passions in Yerusalem. With increased violence the war party confronted the partisans of peace. Between the two, undecided and timid, was the new king of Yahudah, Zedekiah (597-587).
The military party eagerly resumed more or less secret conversations with the other vassal nations of Babylon (Edom, Ammon, Moab, Tyre, Sidon) which were impatient to shake off the Babylonian yoke. They plotted together almost openly and endeavoured to bring Egypt into their plans; but ever since the severe lesson he had been taught at Carchemish, Neco II (609-593) while insidiously urging the discontented countries to rebel, took good care not to commit himself to a real offensive alliance. After him, Psammetichus II (593-588) pursued the same shrewd policy. Despite this, in Yerusalem the war party felt sure that when the moment came Egypt would fight, and they looked forward calmly and confidently to a renewal of hostilities.
The prophets, under the untiring leadership of YermeYah, continued to preach submission to Nebuchadnezzar. They did so in the formal interests of the nation. It was, of course, true that the annual tribute to be paid to Babylon was very heavy, but in this way Yahudah was to all intents and purposes free, in practice, if not in theory. Another uprising against Babylon could obviously have no other consequence than the destruction of Yerusalem and its population.
Then, too, the mission of the Chosen People did not consist in dissipating its energies in useless political and military contests; the lofty role reserved to it was the thorough study, meditation and practice of the Law.
To endeavour to convince his fellow-citizens YermeYah continually went through the streets explaining the situation and showing the people and their leaders where their responsibilities lay. One day, to illustrate his remarks, he went round the principal streets of the city on hands and knees, a wooden yoke on his neck as a sign of the political yoke that the people of Yerusalem would have to bear if they clung obstinately to their insane plans.
The false prophet Hananaiah, who had previously foretold the return in two years' time of the first body of citizens to be deported, took YermeYah's yoke and broke it in pieces. Shortly afterwards YermeYah reappeared with an iron yoke and said: 'YAHWEH Sabaoth, the Mighty One of Yisrael says this: "An iron yoke is what I now lay on the necks of all these nations to subject them to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon'" (Jer. 28:14).
The wretched Zedekiah was torn between these two irreconcilable parties, but he felt attracted more strongly by the movement favouring rebellion which asserted that it could obtain the liberation of the country. On the other hand, he felt great reverence for the prophet, who nonetheless in his public speeches did not spare the king and continually and vehemently inveighed against him.
The Beginning Of The Revolt Of Yerusalem Against Nebuchadnezzar (589)
It was Egypt which tipped the balance.
With Neco and Psammetichus the Egyptian empire pursued a policy of non-intervention in Asia. But directly after the death of Psammetichus, Hophra, brother of the dead king (Apries of the Greek historians), announced that he was ready to join the coalition of the vassal nations; he formally undertook to give full military support to the expedition intended to destroy Babylon.
Hostilities opened in the very year of Hophra's accession. Using the island of Tyre, his new ally, as a naval base, he sent a contingent to Phoenicia by sea to occupy the rear and thus block the route to be taken by Nebuchadnezzar when he made for Yerusalem. Thus his advance would be considerably delayed (or so his opponents hoped) and Hophra in this way would gain time to mobilize the main body of his troops in Egypt.
Nebuchadnezzar's lightning counterstroke (588)
Without losing a moment Nebuchadnezzar, at the head of a large army, took the field. He began by establishing his headquarters at Riblah on the Orontes.
He had decided on his plan of campaign: first he would swoop down on Yerusalem and besiege it. Dividing his army he would send a part into Phoenicia which would be promptly brought to see reason; he would continue the siege of Yerusalem and when he had captured the city would attack Egypt and annex it.
That was the plan of this amazing tactician and, except for the part of it concerning Egypt, it was all realized.
The Siege Of Yerusalem (January 588-June-July 587)
It lasted eighteen months.
The inhabitants of Yerusalem thought that their citadel was practically impregnable. Its position on a steep rock with an almost sheer drop on three sides, has already been described. Down the centuries the kings of Yahudah carried out many improvements to the defenses; by Zedekiah's time Yerusalem bristled with ramparts. All the defenders had to do was to hold out until the arrival of Hophra's Egyptian troops who would soon put Nebuchadnezzar to flight.
The latter had made an entrenchment all round the city to prevent it receiving supplies from outside.
To begin with, the morale of the population was excellent. But the Egyptian battalions, heralded so loudly, never arrived. Soon food began to be scarce because a certain number of country people had come to seek shelter behind the city's ramparts. At the end of a few months famine prevailed, and possibly the plague as well (YermeYah 38:2). The situation was turning to tragedy.
The false prophets tried to uphold the people's courage by announcing daily the coming deliverance. But the reality gave the lie to these misleading promises.
YermeYah, on the other hand, continued to thunder out his predictions of misfortune. He advised the king, officials, and private individuals to surrender as the only means of saving Yerusalem and its inhabitants. But the prophet's speeches were received with derision and sarcasm, and even threats. His anti-patriotic and according to the ideas of the times, his anti-spiritual attitude soon made him suspect of treason; it began to be thought that this pessimistic speech-maker might be the leader of a band of traitors, in the pay of Nebuchadnezzar, entrusted with the task of undermining the moral resistance of the beleaguered city.
And yet YermeYah was the only one, or practically the only one, to have been right about the political situation.
But his role became increasingly unbearable. By force of circumstances he soon came to be regarded as a dangerous spy whom it would be only prudent to get rid of as soon as possible.
Zedekiah visited the prophet secretly to ask his advice. The answer was unvarying: Yerusalem must open its gates to Nebuchadnezzar: 'If you go out and surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon your life will be safe and this city will not be burnt down. But if you do not. this city will be handed over into the power of the king of the Chaldaeans who will burn it down; and you yourself will not escape their hands' (Jer. 38:15-23). Royal protection, not worth a great deal after all, was powerless to save the prophet from all sorts of persecution which now befell him. He was interned in the Court of the Guard, then thrown into a well empty of water but half full of mud in which he would have ended his days had it not been for the help of the Ethiopian Ebed-melech, a eunuch of the royal palace.
Hope Disappointed
For exactly a year, Nebuchadnezzar, having settled down before the fortifications of Yerusalem, patiently awaited his prey. Suddenly news came to the besieged, news that they scarcely dared hope for; Hophra had set out from Egypt with his army and even now was arriving to deliver the City of David. The joy of the inhabitants of Yerusalem may be imagined when they saw the Chaldaeans hurriedly raising the siege to march against the Egyptian troops; they waited eagerly for news of the Egyptian victory. They felt sure that YAHWEH, in agreement with the powerful alien deities introduced into the Tabernacle, would spare HIS people the shame of capitulation and the sacking of the capital. And they recalled YAHWEH's amazing feat in the days of Hezekiah and Sennacherib, the miraculous deliverance of Yerusalem foretold by the prophet YeshaYahu.
But the prophet YermeYah appeared to have received a mission different from that of his predecessor. He proclaimed vehemently that the Chaldeans had raised the siege only for the time being; the battle that they would fight with the Egyptians would end with the total defeat of the latter and very soon Nebuchadnezzar and his troops would be seen returning in triumph more threatening than ever; the siege would be continued and would end in the fall of Yerusalem (YermeYah 37:7-10).
And this was the course taken by events. Hophra's army, cut in pieces, was obliged to return to its Egyptian bases in disorder. Nebuchadnezzar did not pursue it further. His primary concern was to finish his business with the insufferable Judaean capital and strike it from the map.
The elders and military leaders began to see that YermeYah was right. Nonetheless he was thrown into prison in an underground cell where he spent several weeks.
The siege went on. In the capital conditions began to grow really very bad indeed. There were epidemics and famine (Lam. 1 :20). Men came to envy the fate of those who fell in the skirmishes. Even the wealthy, living skeletons, dropped down dead in the streets. Mothers killed their children, cooked and ate them Echah-(Lamentations) 2:20; 4:10.
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