Zedekiah Rules in Judah
11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God; he did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet [c]who spoke for the Lord. 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God. But he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel. 14 Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the Lord which He had sanctified in Jerusalem.
15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; 16 but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy. 17 Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand. 18 All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon. 19 Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. 20 Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath [d]until seventy years were complete.
Cyrus Permits Return
22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah—the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 23 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up!’”
Sometimes we think it hard or unfair when God punishes the righteous along with the wicked. But in this case, it’s unlikely there were many righteous, and ultimately there is no cause for the righteous to fear death. Even in the hardships of this world, God is with us, so that there is nothing to fear because we will spend eternity with Him.
Now, did the “righteous” of that day fully understand that? Not necessarily, but if they served and trusted God truly, then he would still comfort them in their affliction and bring them His peace.
If there were anyone God should show mercy upon then, it should be the wicked, that they might be given opportunity to repent of their evil deeds, turning to God for salvation. But alas, God had given Israel and Judah ample warning and not just once, but repeatedly. Not only did they ignore His prophets, but they scorned and ridiculed them, and at times even beat or killed the messenger of God.
So ultimately, just like the few righteous in Israel, we need not fear death or persecution, for what can man do to a servant of God? Even if they “take our lives”, we live on eternally with God evermore.
Rather, we should continually pray for the unbeliever, that their hearts would be receptive to His love and truth. There will come a day when second chances run out, and He comes to judge the living and the dead for eternity. Until then, we must seek the lost and scatter the seed of God’s Word to find those who will hear and open their hearts to Him.