The Fall of Jerusalem

Manasseh’s reign saw a rebirth of Baal worship in Judah.  He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down. At these rebuilt high places he set up altars to the Canaanite fertility gods and goddesses.  He also built altars in the Temple area for the worship of the star deities.  He practiced human sacrifice, even burning his own son on an altar to a pagan god; and he encouraged the practices of black magic and fortune-telling. Those who opposed him were severely persecuted.

Manasseh's son Amon tried to continue the policies of his father.  After ruling for two years, Amon was assassinated.  Amon's eight-year-old son, Josiah, was put on the throne in his place.  Josiah came to the throne at a time when Assyria was fading as a world power, Egypt was still weak, and Babylon had not yet become a threat.  Since he was only eight years old, the government actually was controlled by the high priest, who was the chief religious official of the kingdom (2 Kings 22:1-2).

As king, Josiah revived the policies of his ancestor Hezekiah.  Josiah fulfills both the letter and the spirit of Deuteronomy's commands.  The Book of Deuteronomy became Josiah's chief instrument in revitalizing Judah's national religion.

In 622 BCE, the book of Deuteronomy was found during repairs to the Temple.  These renovations probably involved removing Manasseh's Baalistic shrines and images.  Deuteronomy brought the Mosaic tradition to general public notice, perhaps for the first time in Israel's history.  The writer indicates that both king and people were unfamiliar with the laws and curses of the Mosaic legacy.

 The writer also notes that holding Passover ceremonies, so important in the Exodus account, was regarded as an innovation.  No Passover celebration like Josiah's enactment of Deuteronomy's command had ever been observed "throughout the entire period of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah" (2 Kings 23:21-23).  After the discovery of the book, Josiah led the people in a ceremony of covenant renewal. 

Taking advantage of Assyria's rapid decline, Josiah extends his reforms and political influence into the former northern kingdom, demolishing altars and high places throughout the countryside.  His renewal campaign is cut short, however, when Egypt's pharaoh Necho invades the area on his way to aid the last remnant of Assyrian power in northern Syria.

Whereas Necho wanted a weakened Assyria to survive as a buffer state between Egypt and the newly revived empire of Babylon, Josiah may have hoped to rid Judah of all foreign occupation or, if not that, to support Babylon against Assyria.  Attempting to intercept Necho's army, Josiah is killed at the Battle of Megiddo.  The year was 609 B.C.E.  His death would set in motion a chain of events that would lead to the death of the nation itself.

After Josiah's death, the tiny state of Judah had no choice but to submit to the Babylonian yoke.  The last kings of Judah are merely tribute-paying vassals of King Nebuchadnezzar, who is now master of the Near East.

Josiah's son Jehoiakim was placed on Judah's throne by Nebuchadnezzar.  King Jehoiakim reigned from 609-597 B.C.E.  For the first few years of his reign, Jehoiakim paid heavy tribute to the Egyptians.  However, he also spent rather extravagantly on his own comfort.  At Beth-kerem, just south of Jerusalem, he had an elaborate palace built.  This infuriated the prophet Jeremiah.

In 605 B.C.E. Jehoiakim's loyalties changed.  This change came about because the Babylonian army defeated Egypt at the battle of Carchemish in northern Mesopotamia.  Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of Babylon, demanded and got Jehoiakim's submission with the resulting money payment.  By 601 B.C.E., Jehoiakim had switched his loyalties back to Egypt.

After a fierce battle with Pharaoh Neco's forces in 601 B.C.E., Nebuchadnezzar withdrew from Palestine for a time to lick his wounds.  Jehoiakim quickly switched his allegiance to Egypt.  It was a fatal mistake. In 598 B.C.E., the Babylonians invaded Judah with force.  It was a convenient time for Jehoiakim to die, and he did, either from natural causes or by assassination (2 Kings 24:1-6).  His son Jehoiachin succeeded him.  Jehoiachin came to the throne just in time to be captured when the city fell in 597 B.C.E.

Several thousand people and an enormous amount of treasure were taken to Babylon.  This was the first deportation to Babylon.  During this time, the Temple was stripped of its treasures as well.  Most of the people, among them a priest named Ezekiel, were settled in villages along a large irrigation canal called the River Chebar (Ezek. 1:1).  Jehoiachin would remain a captive until 560 B.C.E., when he was released and made a ward of the Babylonian royal court (2 Kings 25:27-30).