Sunday, February 17, 2008

The Nightmare was Not Forever

2 Kings 25:27-30
And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;
And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon;
And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.
And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.


Jehoiachin was the first to be removed from Jerusalem when the trouble with Babylon began. While he is sitting in a Babylonian cell

  • Terrible things have happened in Jerusalem
  • Kings and governors have risen and fallen and
  • Countless souls have lost their lives

I can imagine this man, who knows the pronouncement of judgment upon his nation and even his own family, expects never to see good again. I can imagine the state of depression, the dark thoughts that must have been his immediately after and during those long years in jail.

Yet there came a day when the king of Babylon spake kindly to him and lifted him out of that prison.

It might have been through the influence of Daniel, who by this time had had great influence on Nebuchadnezzar (Evilmerodach's father?) and will continue to exert some influence for years to follow. However it came to pass, Jehoiachin's nightmare did not last forever.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary says of this, "...Let none say that they shall never see good again, because they have long seen little but evil: the most miserable know not what turn Providence may yet give to their affairs, nor what comforts they are reserved for, according to the days wherein they have been afflicted. Even in this world the Saviour brings a release from bondage to the distressed sinner who seeks him, bestowing foretastes of the pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore."

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