Who was the last King of Israel? He reigned and died during Daniel’s lifetime. It’s helpful to understand these events that bring credibility to the historic truth of the Bible. ◊

I was taught long ago to learn and remember history. A very good practice for anyone seeking to understand the world around us.

As a maturing Christian who started to study the Bible seriously in my mid-30s, I was taught to pay attention to historic dates, events, and key individuals throughout the Old and New Testament.

An effective way for me to remember key events in human history is to take it in 500 year chunks of time. Here’s a 4,000 year summary of human history with a Bible/Christian focus:

• ~ 2000 BC – Abraham lived, father of Israel, God’s covenant made
• ~ 1500 BC – Moses lived, led Israel’s exodus from Egypt, God’s Law decreed
• ~ 1000 BC – Israel becomes kingdom under King Saul, then King David, King Solomon (David’s son) builds first Temple in Jerusalem
• ~ 500 BC – Israel’s Exile, Temple destroyed by Babylonians
• ~ 0 BC/AD – Jesus Christ born, died and resurrected, Christianity launches
• ~ AD 500 – Roman Empire falls
• ~ AD 1000 – Great Schism – split of Christianity into Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
• ~ AD 1500 – Martin Luther leads Protestant Reformation of Roman Catholic Church
• ~ AD 2000 – Christians make up 1/3 of global population

There are certainly lots of details in between these major 500 year milestones. Nevertheless, these people and events happened. Wisdom would not easily dismiss history because of one’s belief, or non-belief in Jesus and Christianity.

The Last King of Israel, King Zedekiah
As one studies the Book of DANIEL, one has to look at the historical context of all the momentous events occurring during his lifetime. A critical year is 586 BC. It was almost 500 hundred years since Israel had become a kingdom under Saul in about 1050 BC. David had begun his reign in approximately 1010 BC, and then in 930 BC the kingdom had been divided between the Northern Kingdom of Israel (capital: Samaria) and the Southern Kingdom of Judah (capital: Jerusalem).

Israel, the Northern Kingdom, never had a godly king, and so God’s judgment fell in 722 BC when God sent Assyria to defeat Israel and take its citizens away captive.

The Southern Kingdom of Judah had the Davidic dynasty, and some of its kings were good, but unfortunately most were not.

King Zedekiah, the king of Judah from 597-586 BC, fell into the latter category.¹

As we know through study of the Old Testament, God sent prophets to His people throughout their history to persuade them to return to the stipulations of His covenant with them and to warn them of the judgments that would fall if they persisted in their disobedience and rebellion.

The prophets were largely ignored.

Prophet Jeremiah Tried
Jeremiah was actively preaching to Judah from 626-586 BC. In the very first prophecy that the prophet Jeremiah gave, the Lord said through him:

The Lord said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land. I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the Lord.

“Their kings will come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem; they will come against all her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah. I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.” (Jeremiah 1:14-16)

Later, the Lord was even more specific:

This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. (Jeremiah 25:11)

Disaster Strikes King Zedekiah and Jerusalem
In 588 BC, Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar began a final siege of Jerusalem. His first attack on Judah was in 605 BC when he first took elites from Jerusalem like young Daniel and exiled them to Babylon. Now in 586 BC, the Babylonians broke through the wall of Jerusalem in response to a revolt led by King Zedekiah.

The city fell.

Jeremiah records what happened next:

Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate…. When Zedekiah, king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled; they left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and headed toward the Jordan Valley. (Jeremiah 39:3-4)

But Zedekiah, his family, nobles and officials were caught and taken to King Nebuchadnezzar:

But the Babylonian army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him. There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah.

Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon. 

The Babylonians set fire to the royal palace and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 39:5-8)

Then the captain of the Babylonian guard took the remnant of the population captive to Babylon. The captivity of the Jews lasted for 70 years just as God had decreed.

Yes, God is in control of human history.

By the Way
When we study the Bible in full historical context, we see how God’s promises are weaved through human history and how they extend from His people, the Hebrews,  to all of mankind. Even the warning and promises of God spoken through the prophet Jeremiah can be applied to us in modern times.

Consider the very well known passage from Jeremiah 29:11:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Now with a better understanding the context of this comforting warning to even a disobedient people, greatly loved by God but about to face grave judgment, we can see that God is holy, just, and loves us, with an overarching plan for the restoration of all those lost.

Do you know your history?
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“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” – Jeremiah 29:13-14

¹ The One Year Book of Christian History, by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten, Zondervan Publishing, 2003, p. 400-401.

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Tags: History, Jeremiah, King Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah