2 Kings 24:18
Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Zedekiah was Judah's last king, beginning to reign at twenty-one and reigning eleven years in Jerusalem, the son of Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. He was Jehoiakim's brother and Jehoiachin's uncle and successor, placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar after Jehoiachin was deposed and carried to Babylon after a brief nominal reign under siege. After being made king in Jerusalem he rebelled against Babylon, bringing another siege and the destruction of the city and his complete overthrow, when Nebuchadnezzar put out his eyes and took him to Babylon where he died in captivity. From that removal Judah never again had truly independent government but remained a province under successive world powers, fulfilling the word in Ezekiel to remove the diadem and overturn the crown until he come whose right it is, which points not to Christ's first advent but to His return in glory to sit on His throne. He was false to the trust of the kingship, showing that a holy and divinely ordained office does not make its holder holy or change his heart, for position without Christ is mockery and only Christ can save and cleanse.
Historical Setting and Succession
2 Kings 24:18 belongs to the history of Judah's remaining kingdom after the ten tribes had been swept away, standing within the record of the kings that runs from the earlier history of Israel and Judah through to the Babylonian captivity. It places Zedekiah among those kings in the kingdom's final decline before Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah. Its eleven years for Zedekiah matches the list of Judah's kings after Israel's overthrow, in Judah's final years when its kings were conquered and made tributary, ultimately to Babylon.
The verse begins the parallel to the concluding chapter of Jeremiah, which is an addition to the words of Jeremiah attributed to Ezra. It identifies Zedekiah as Judah's last king, giving his age of twenty-one years when he began to reign, his eleven-year reign in Jerusalem, and his mother as Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. He was Jehoiachin's uncle and successor and Jehoiakim's brother, installed by Nebuchadnezzar after Jehoiachin was deposed and taken captive to Babylon. Jehoiachin's attempt to reign after Jehoiakim's death lasted only three months, and it was merely nominal because Babylon's army occupied the land and Jerusalem was besieged, until the king of Babylon dethroned him and put Jehoiakim's brother in his place.
The surrounding chapter belongs to the history behind Daniel 1:1-2, showing that in the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against Jerusalem and took it and carried away some of the chief men of the city to Babylon, among whom were Daniel and his three companions. It belongs to the account of the Babylonian captivities, identified with Nebuchadnezzar's third deportation, when Jerusalem was completely destroyed in 586 B.C. It falls in the account of Jerusalem's capture by Nebuchadnezzar, the captivity of many of God's people, Zedekiah's rebellion, and the final capture of the Jewish nation, after which a small company under Gedaliah remained in the land. Zedekiah came to the throne years after the Lord had already directed Jeremiah to send a message to him.
Downfall, Prophecy and Lesson
Nebuchadnezzar carried Jehoiachin and many of the people to Babylon and set Zedekiah as king in Jerusalem, and the verse marks the beginning and length of that reign. Zedekiah came to the throne years after the Lord had already directed Jeremiah to send a message to him. He then rebelled against Babylon's authority, bringing another siege upon Jerusalem, the destruction of the city, and complete overthrow upon himself and Judah.
His downfall is told more fully in 2 Kings 24 and 25. Nebuchadnezzar put out his eyes and took him to Babylon, where he died in captivity. The account of his imprisonment and the end of his reign is paralleled in 2 Kings 25:7, while the added detail that he remained imprisoned until his death is stated elsewhere, not in Kings. After him Judah never again had genuine independent government but existed only as a province subservient to the great kingdoms that ruled the world.
His removal from the throne fulfills Ezekiel's word to remove the diadem and take off the crown, overturning it so it shall be no more until he come whose right it is. This refers not to Christ's first advent, when He did not take the kingship, but to His return in glory, when He will sit on His throne. Zedekiah stands as a king who was false to the trust of the kingship. The kingship itself was important and divinely ordained, and his unfaithfulness does not degrade the office.
A holy office does not make its holder holy, change his heart, or give him the holiness he ought to possess. Position in God's work without Christ is mockery, and only Christ can save and cleanse.