Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 24
In just a few years, the politics of the whole region had changed completely, because of the extraordinary success of Babylon’s army.
Formerly, for many centuries, Egypt had been the most powerful nation to the south and west of Judah. It used its power in both trade and war, and it often controlled various nations round Israel and Judah.
On the north and east side, the most powerful nation had been Assyria. Assyria became important more recently, after it overcame Aram, also called Syria (2 Kings 16:9: Isaiah 7:1 to 8:8).
These two nations, Egypt and Assyria, opposed each other as they tried to gain control over the smaller nations. For about 100 years, Judah’s kings worried about the plans and ambitions of those two nations. However, Babylon seemed to Judah’s kings to be a distant nation which was unlikely to have any direct effect on them (20:14).
Then, Babylon attacked Assyria and in a few important battles, completely overcame it. The king of Egypt saw the danger to the nations that he controlled. So, he took his army to fight against Babylon’s army (2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles 35:20-22).
In the end, the result was defeat for Egypt’s army (Jeremiah chapter 46). Babylon took control of all the land that Egypt’s king had formerly controlled, all the way to Egypt’s own border. Jeremiah declared a message from God that the king of Babylon would soon attack Egypt itself (Jeremiah 46:13-26). Babylon’s king would even gain control over Egypt.
Next part: Jehoiachin, also called Coniah or Jeconiah (2 Kings 24:8-10)
Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 1000+ page course book.
© 2026, Keith Simons.