Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 24
After three years, Jehoiakim refused to pay taxes to the king of Babylon. Babylon was a distant country; and its king had to deal with problems in the many other nations that he controlled. So, Jehoiakim probably believed that he had made a wise political decision. He had now brought freedom to Judah; he hoped that it would now increase in wealth and power.
However, that is not what actually happened. Until this time, Babylon used its power to defend Judah so that Judah’s people could pay their taxes to Babylon. Now that Judah had become Babylon’s enemy, the people from many different nations were able to attack Judah. From Aram, Moab and Ammon, as well as Babylon, soldiers came regularly to rob Judah’s people. So, the real effect of Jehoiakim’s decision was to make Judah even poorer and weaker.
The author of 2 Kings adds an explanation here. We should not see these troubles as the result of foolish political decisions or the power of Babylon’s army. This was God’s judgment against Judah because of its people’s evil deeds. In particular, these things happened because of the terrible crimes that happened during the rule of Manasseh (21:1-18).
Manasseh himself had turned back to God (2 Chronicles 33:11-19), and 33 years passed between his death and the start of Jehoiakim’s rule. However, God demands a proper punishment, especially for murder (Genesis 9:5-6; Numbers 35:33). God could not forgive the people, because they still had the same evil attitudes (Jeremiah 5:1-3; compare Matthew 23:29-37). They had an opportunity during Josiah’s rule to turn back to God. Clearly, they did not use that opportunity well because, soon afterwards, they had again turned away from God (see Jeremiah 26:20-23).
Next part: Babylon's power over Judah's kings (2 Kings 24:5-6)
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