Melakhim B 24-25: The End
SEFER MELAKHIM BET: THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS
By Rav Alex Israel
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by Patti and Michael
Steinmetz and Family.
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Shiur #29: Chapters 24-25
The End
Sefer Melakhim has little to say about the life of the last king of
Yehuda, Tzidkiyahu. Yes, he was Yoshiyahu's third son[1]
and his original name was Matanya (24:17). He was crowned and renamed under the
auspices of the king of Babylon, to whom he swore a pledge as a vassal.[2]
However, Melakhim furnishes no specific happening or event that occurred
during the first nine years of his eleven year rule, curtly describing him in
generic terms:
...He did what was evil in God's sight, according
to all that Yehoyakim had done
(24:19). For Melakhim, it is as if his reign was almost inconsequential.
But then we read the next verse:
Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah were a cause of anger to God, so that he cast them
out from His presence (24:20). This is a theological assertion, stated simply
and clearly: The die has already been cast against Judah and Jerusalem, the
nation has infuriated God, and, as such, He will now distance them cast them
out from his presence. In this regard, Tzidkiyahus story is quite irrelevant.
God's patience has reached its end and the
Churban just happens to transpire on his watch.
In this context, the king's name, which translates as the righteousness of God
strikes us with no little irony, reflecting so evocatively the vindication of
God expressed in the lines of
Eikha: God is righteous; for I have
disobeyed Him (1:18).
When specific events are recorded of
Tzidkiyahus life, it will be merely to explicate the fall of the kingdom. Two
milestones alone are worthy of mention by Melakhim: The first,
Tzidkiyahus political reversal as he renounces his loyalty to Babylon, and
the second, Tzidkiyahus cowardly flight from Jerusalem and his capture by the
Babylonians.
TO REBEL
OR NOT TO REBEL?
In contrast to the scant treatment of Tzidkiyahus reign in Melakhim,
other biblical books recount the turbulent events of this fateful period in
detail. The most difficult political dilemma with which the king had to contend
was the aspiration to renounce Babylonian hegemony.
One opportunity arose in Tzidkiyahus fourth year. During the early
years of Tzidkiyahus reign, Nevukhadnetzar had absented himself from the
region, attending to other pressing campaigns in his far-flung kingdom. It was
the Akkadian rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar in 595/4 that aroused regional
hopes of overthrowing Babylonian control. Jerusalem was the center of a southern
conspiracy in which the kings of Edom, Moav, Ammon, Tzor and Tzidon convened in
Jerusalem in Tzidkiyahus fourth year.[3]
The kings were boosted by prophets who predicted the success of the rebellion
and the return of the Temple vessels to Jerusalem.[4]
One such prophet, Chananya ben Azzur,
even promised the imminent restoration of Yehoyakhin, the exiled king, to
Jerusalem.[5]
Hopes of independence were high.
The opposition to these aspirations was the dour prophet Yirmiyahu, a
sober counterweight to the heady optimism of the seditious group. He
consistently argues in favor of submission to Babylon and denounces the
aforementioned prophets as fakes:
Do not listen
to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune tellers, or your
sorcerers, who are saying to you, You shall not serve the king of Babylon, for
it is a lie that they are prophesying to you
Any nation that will bring its
neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its
own land, to work it and dwell there, declares God. Bring your necks under the
yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people and live
Otherwise
this city shall become a ruin. (Yirmiyahu 27:9-12,17)
Yirmiyahus consistent message is that the kingdom must submit to Babylonian
rule. He even walks around Jerusalem wearing a wooden yoke in order to
theatrically demonstrate his message.[6]
Yirmiyahu must contend with the violence and derision of the rival prophets, but
he refuses to alter or revoke his morbid prediction. He knows that God has
decreed the ascendancy of Babylon. Even as the siege engines stand outside
Jerusalem, he insists that the people can save their lives if they surrender.[7]
But no one would listen. Instead, Yirmiyahu is perceived as a threat, weakening
the national morale, or worse, siding with the enemy during a siege. He is
thrown into jail.
And yet, it was certainly difficult for a king to remain passively under
foreign domination, and the temptations of rebellion were too attractive. As
Yirmiyahu had warned, disloyalty to a superpower was a hazardous enterprise, and
by doing so, Tzidkiyahu risked everything. The revolt against Babylon never
materialized in the fourth year[8];
it was only in Tzidkiyahus ninth year that the kingdom eventually rejected
Babylonian rule.[9]
The Babylonian army arrived without delay to snuff out the revolution. The city
was besieged on the tenth of Tevet and was penetrated a year and seven months
later on the ninth of Tammuz. The true horrors of the protracted siege are
depicted in Eikha:
The tongue of the nursing infant sticks
to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives
to them. Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets;
their skin
has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood.
The hands of
compassionate women have boiled their
own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of
my people. (4:3-10)
From the book of Yirmiyahu, King Tzidkiyahu emerges as a weak
leader, a spineless and fickle character. On the one hand, he seeks Yirmiyahu's
advice and assistance,[10]
and then, when intimidated by his own officials,[11]
he submits to their demands that Yirmiyahu be imprisoned as a traitor.[12]
When conditions get dire, Tzidkiyahu tries to escape Jerusalem, saving his own
life but abandoning his nation still entrapped within. The Babylonians apprehend
him, kill his sons before his eyes, and then blind him so that the death of his
children would be his final image. He is deported to Babylon and dies there.[13]
THE BURNING OF THE TEMPLE
If Melakhim focuses upon neither
Tzidkiyahu and his dilemmas nor the tribulations of Yirmiyahu, upon what does it
focus? In essence, chapter 25 lists a terrible but detailed inventory of
destruction and exile.
The destruction of the Temple itself is
narrated in just a few short phrases. Nevukhadnetzar is not present; instead it
is his henchman Nevuzaraddan, known as rav ha-tabbachim, who enacts the
terrible deed. Rav Ha-tabbachim may be his official government title,
literally meaning the chief cook,[14] but in Hebrew,
the root T-B-Ch can be translated as either cook or slaughter. As such,
Nevuzaraddan has been seared into the Jewish memory as the chief executioner.[15]
Melakhim records the arrival of Nevuzaraddan on the seventh
of Av and the subsequent burning of the Temple (25:7). A cross reference to
Yirmiyahu (52:12) dates the Churban to the tenth of the month. The
Talmud offers a resolution which explains our commemoration of the destruction
of the Temple on the ninth of Av:
Entrance to the Temple was gained by the enemy on the seventh, and
they ate and did damage therein on the seventh, on the eighth and on the ninth.
Toward the evening of the ninth, they set it on fire, and it continued to burn
all day on the tenth
And this bears out the statement of R. Yochanan, who said
as follows: Were I living in those days, I would have ordained the fast for the
tenth of Av, for on that day the greater part of the temple was burned. The
sages of that day, however, maintained that the day when the calamity began
should be observed as a fast day. (Taanit 29a)
THE CHURBAN INVENTORY
From this point onwards, chapter 25 engages in
a slow, meticulous listing of the destruction and exile, as it haltingly rolls
out the different facets of the national tragedy. It begins with the burning
in descending order of, first, the Temple, then the king's palace, all the
residences of Jerusalem and every large house (9). It continues next with the
razing of the city walls (10). Then, Nevuzaraddan begins deporting the
residents, the people and the masses, exiling even those who had surrendered
to the Babylonians, leaving only a pitiful group the lowly of the land who
would maintain the agriculture (11-12).
Melakhim then turns its attention to a painstaking catalogue
of the plundered temple vessels[16]: First, the
large bronze furnishings (13), then the smaller bronze items (14) followed by a
list of sacred gold and silver receptacles, as well as firepans that were used
in the Temple ritual. The account lingers on the two huge decorative pillars
that adorned the entrance to the inner sanctum of the Mikdash, lavishly
detailing their fine latticework and adornments. At times, this passage feels
like a eulogy, the lists and detailed language seeking to capture a hint of the
lost beauty and grandeur of the Temple, now being carted as booty to Babylon.
The exile inventory ends with a group of city
notables the high priest, his deputy, other guards and royal officials,
including the minister of defense and sixty of the Am Ha-aretz who are
deported to Nevukhadnetzar's administrative center in Rivla, Syria, and
publically executed. This segment ends with the epitaph: Yehuda was exiled from
its land (21).[17]
THE ASSASINATION OF GEDALYA[18]
The kingdom has experienced punishing
humiliation, death and destruction, and yet, if we imagined that the situation
had reached rock bottom, we would be mistaken. One further event will deal a
final knockout; the assassination of Gedalya, described in verses 22-26.
Over the people who remained in the land
of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed Gedalia the
son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor. When all the captains and their men
heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedalia governor, they came with
their men to Gedalia at Mitzpa,
Gedalia swore to them and their men, saying,
Do not be afraid because of the Chaldean officials. Live in the land and serve
the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. But in the seventh month,
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with
ten men and struck down Gedalia and put him to death along with the Jews and the
Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpa. Then all the people, both small and great,
and the captains of the forces arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of
the Chaldeans. (25:22-24)
Gedalya was appointed by the Babylonians as governor
of Yehuda. He was an ideal candidate for the job; his father Achikam had served
Yehoyakim,[19] and his
grandfather Shafan had served Yoshiyahu.[20] His pedigree
gained him the trust of many Jews. On the other hand, he supports cooperation
with the Babylonian government: "
serve the
king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you." One imagines that some Jews accepted Gedalya's
collaboration with the Babylonians, but for others it was deeply offensive.
Gedalya's appointment presented a return to
stability for the war-torn country. In response, Jews who had fled the country
during the war now returned, repopulating their villages and farms:
When all the Judeans who were in
Moav and among
the Ammonites and in
Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in
Judah and had appointed Gedalya the son of Achikam, son of Shafan, as governor
over them,
then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they had been driven
and came to the land of Judah, to Gedalya at Mitzpa. And they gathered
wine and summer fruits in great abundance. (Yirmiyahu 40:11-13)
After Gedalya's appointment, there was a genuine
possibility that, despite their loss of self-government, and notwithstanding the
tragedy of the destruction of the Temple, Jewish life could continue in the Land
of Israel, and Jews could have set their efforts to rebuilding their lives and
their national infrastructure.
But this was not to be. People like Gedalyas
assassin, Yishmael ben Netanya from the royal family, loathed Gedalya's
cooperation with the Babylonians and perceived it as an act of treachery,
collaboration with the enemy: They killed
[Gedalya] because the King of Babylon had put him in charge of the land (Yirmiyahu
41:2). They were so ardently opposed to any mode of compromise with the
Babylonian forces that they justified an act of murder.
The people panicked. They knew what the assassination of the Babylonian governor
meant for them. They understood that soon, Babylonian troops would sweep through
the country on reprisal raids to teach the civilian population a lesson of
loyalty. And they decided not to wait around. The leaders of the community,
along with the peasantry, decided to migrate to Egypt to escape the Babylonian
retaliation.
And so, in the final analysis, these unscrupulous monarchists, who cruelly
murdered in the name of their idealistic opposition to any cooperation or
accommodation with the governing Babylonians, directly caused the flight en
masse of the remaining Jewish population in Yehuda. As such, Gedalya's demise
signaled the absolute death knell for the continuity of a Jewish presence in
Yehuda. Those whom the Babylonians had failed to exile were now frightened away
by the violence and political meddling of their own people.
When we fast on Tzom Gedalya, we are certainly mourning a terrible moment
of Jewish infighting, but, more significantly, we are marking the self-inflicted
act by which the land of Yehuda became empty of Jews for the first time in seven
hundred years.
REPRIEVE
In the thirty-seventh year of the
exile of Yehoyakhin, king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh
day of the month, Evil Merodakh king of Babylon, in the year that he began to
reign, graciously
freed [lit. raised the head of]
Yehoyakhin king of Judah from prison.
And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who
were with him in Babylon.
So Yehoyakhin put off his prison
garments. And every day of his life he dined
regularly at the king's table, and for his allowance, a regular allowance was
given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived.
(25:27-30)
This is an enigmatic finale to Sefer Melakhim.
Jerusalem is in ruins, its people exiled. Suddenly, we read a snippet of
information about the exiled king as we jump forward twenty-seven years and
learn that, with the advent of a new Babylonian monarch, Yehoyakhin has been
released from his Babylonian jail and treated well royal garb and food, all
expenses paid by the Babylonian government. He is even granted an elevated
status amongst other exiled kings. Why is this story included as the epilogue to
the Churban? What does it seek to convey?
Some[21] look at this
section as a tale of pessimism and despair continuing the pessimism and doom of
Sefer Melakhim. In this reading, the king languishes in exile with any
hope of a collective return to Zion an absolute impossibility. The Judean king
is absolutely dependent upon his Babylonian benefactor. Churban in this
reading is final and definitive.
Others,[22] however,
disagree, pointing to the release of the king as optimistic news. Corroboration
for this may be found in the restoration of Yehoyakhin's throne, and the
manner in which the king raised the head of Yehoyakhin, a phrase that, in its
parallel usage in Sefer Bereishit (40:13), meant that Pharaoh not only
freed his incarcerated butler, but in fact returned him to his former position
and prestige. Do the change in Yehoyakhin's physical conditions and his newfound
rise in status leave some hope that better times are ahead?
One phrase that strikes me describes Yehoyakhin's
food supply: Devar yom be-yomo (25:30) on a daily basis. This
particular phrase appears in only one other place in Sefer Melakhim, at
the dedication of the Temple. There Shlomo says:
Let these words of mine, which I have pleaded before God, be close to the Lord,
God, day and night, and may He maintain the judgment of His servant and the
judgment of His people Israel, devar yom be-yomo. (Melakhim I
8:59)
This, then, is a phrase of prayer and divine response to Man. Evil Merodakh's
provision of Yehoyakhin's daily requirements is indicative that God is, in some
manner, responding to His nation and acting with closeness. We should add that
just a few verses earlier in that chapter, Shlomo envisages a situation of
exile:
If they sin against You
and You are angry with them
so that they are carried
away captive
to the land of the enemy, far off or near,
if they repent with all their mind
and with all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them
captive
forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and
grant them mercy
before their captors that they pardon them.
(Melakhim I 8:46-50)
Yehoyakhin's reprieve gives a glimmer of hope, a sense that the tide has turned
back and events will, yet again, turn in Israel's favor with the restoration to
land, Temple and self-governance. Indeed, it shall be none other than
Yehoyakhin's grandson Zerubavel[23]
who will, one generation hence, lead the exiles back to Jerusalem and rebuild
the Temple.
[1]
See Divrei Ha-yamim I 3:15.
[2]
See Divrei Ha-yamim II 36:13.
[3]
Although Yirmiyahu
27:1 refers to the first year of Yehoyakims reign, Tzidkiyahu is explicitly
mentioned in verses 3 and 12, and Yirmiyahu 28:1 suggests that we are
referring to Tzidkiyahu's fourth year.
[4]
See Yirmiyahu
27:9,15-16; 28:3-4.
[5]
See Yirmiyahu
28:1-3.
[6]
See Yirmiyahu 27:2.
[7]
See Yirmiyahu 21:8-9; 27:12,17; 38:2,17.
[8]
We don't know quite
how the revolt crumbled, but Yirmiyahu records how, in his fourth year,
Tzidkiyahu was summoned to appear before Nevukhadetzar (Yirmiyahu 29:3,
51:59) indicating that the emperor got wind of the fledgling rebellion and
demanded a gesture of fealty from his subordinates.
[9]
The political backdrop is unexplained by the Tanakh; some speculate that
it was associated with the ascent of a new Pharaoh and the hopes that Egypt
could back Yehuda in resisting Nevukhadnetzar. However, in the critical moments,
Egypt failed to deliver effective military firepower. See Yirmiyahu 37:7.
[10]
See Yirmiyahu
21:1-2; 37:3,17; 38:10-27.
[11]
See Yirmiyahu
38:19.
[12]
See Yirmiyahu
38:3-5.
[13]
See Yirmiyahu
52:11 and Yechezkel 12:13.
[14]
This reminds us of
Potifar, who held the same title (Bereishit 37:36). Also see Daniel
2:14. These titles may have originated with simple culinary positions, but in
time they became the titles of central government appointments, totally
disconnected from any culinary context, preserving the title in name only (Daat
Mikra and Olam Ha-Tanakh).
[15]
This is the
translation of the Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan). His Babylonian name,
meaning The god (Nebbo) will give seed also rings with bitter irony.
[16]
Yirmiyahu pays
special attention to the exiled vessels; see for example Yirmiyahu
27:19-22. These also become a focal point of the Return; see Ezra 1:7,
6:5.
[17]
This is a direct parallel to the language of the exile of Shomron; see
Melakhim II 17:23.
[18]
The
story is told in far greater detail in Yirmiyahu 40-43. For a timely reading of
this story, see Uriel Simon's The
Murder of
Gedalia: An Anatomy of Self Destruction in U. Simon, Seek Peace and Pursue it, Topical Issues in the Light of the
Bible, pp. 218-226 [Hebrew].
[19]
See Melakhim II 22:12, 14 and Yirmiyahu 26:24.
[20]
See Melakhim II 22:3.
[21]
These include Cogan and Tadmor, in the Anchor Bible.
[22]
See Daat Mikra.
[23]
See Divrei
Ha-yamim I 3:17-19.
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