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The LORD gave, the LORD has taken away

2 Kings 23:31-24:17 (JDV).

2 Kings 23:31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.
2 Kings 23:32 He did what was evil in Yahveh’s sight just as his ancestors had done.
2 Kings 23:33 Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath to keep him from reigning in Jerusalem, and he imposed on the land a fine of seventy-five hundred pounds of silver and seventy-five pounds of gold.
2 Kings 23:34 Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.
2 Kings 23:35 So Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but at Pharaoh’s command he taxed the land to give it. He exacted the silver and the gold from the common people, each according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.
2 Kings 23:36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah.
2 Kings 23:37 He did what was evil in Yahveh’s sight just as his ancestors had done.
2 Kings 24:1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked. Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years, and then he turned and rebelled against him.
2 Kings 24:2 Yahveh sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahveh he had spoken through his servants the prophets.
2 Kings 24:3 Indeed, this happened to Judah at Yahveh’s command to remove them from his presence. It was because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all he had done,
2 Kings 24:4 and also because of all the innocent blood he had shed. He had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Yahveh was not willing to forgive.
2 Kings 24:5 The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.
2 Kings 24:6 Jehoiakim lied down with his fathers, and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.
2 Kings 24:7 Now the king of Egypt did not march out of his land again, for the king of Babylon took everything that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.
2 Kings 24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem.
2 Kings 24:9 He did what was evil in Yahveh’s sight just as his father had done.
2 Kings 24:10 At that time the servants of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.
2 Kings 24:11 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it.
2 Kings 24:12 King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his officials, surrendered to the king of Babylon. So, the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.
2 Kings 24:13 He also carried off from there all the treasures of Yahveh’s temple and the treasures of the king’s palace, and he cut into pieces all the gold articles that King Solomon of Israel had made for Yahveh’s sanctuary, just as Yahveh had predicted.
2 Kings 24:14 He deported all Jerusalem and all the commanders and all the best soldiers– ten thousand captives including all the craftsmen and metalsmiths. Except for the poorest people of the land, no one remained.
2 Kings 24:15 Nebuchadnezzar deported Jehoiachin to Babylon. He took the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
2 Kings 24:16 The king of Babylon brought captive into Babylon all seven thousand of the best soldiers and one thousand craftsmen and metalsmiths — all strong and fit for war.
2 Kings 24:17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.

The LORD gave, the LORD has taken away

The end of Judah came not with an explosive battle, but with a series of failures. There were attacks on all sides and nothing that anyone could do. The great city that was Jerusalem became a collection of poor people ruled by the uncle of the king. All that was great about Jerusalem was carried away to another land. Where was God? We ask questions like that in times like that. The author of 2 Kings lets us know that God is not only present – but these things were happening at his word. Could it be that sometimes bad things happen because our God is a judge as well as a Savior? No matter how good we might think we are, there is always evil among us, and enough within us, to justify calamity. The LORD gave, the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.

LORD, no matter what happens, you are our God. We submit to your rule, whatever happens to us.