Zedekiah
Zedekiah or
Tzidkiyáhu (
צִ"ְקִיָּ"וּ "Righteous of/is
the LORD",
Standard Hebrew 'idqiyyáhu,
Tiberian Hebrew Ṣiḏqiyyāhû;
BoM Arabic صدقيا Ṣidqiyyā) was the last king of
Judah.
William F. Albright has dated his reign to
597 BC-
587 BC, while
E. R. Thiele offers the dates
597 BC-
586 BC. He was the third son of
Josiah, and his mother's name was
Hamutal, the daughter of
Jeremiah of Libnah, thus he was the brother of
Jehoahaz (
2 Kings 23:31; 24:17, 18).
His original name was
Mattaniah or
Matanyáhu (
מַתַּנְיָ"וּ "Gift of/is
the LORD",
Standard Hebrew Mattanyáhu,
Tiberian Hebrew Mattanyāhû); but when
Nebuchadnezzar II placed him on the throne as the successor to
Jehoiachin, he changed his name to Zedekiah. The prophet
Jeremiah was his counsellor, yet "he did evil in the sight of the Lord" (
2 Kings 24:19, 20;
Jeremiah 52:2, 3).
He ascended the throne at the age of twenty-one. The kingdom was at that time tributary to
Nebuchadnezzar II. Despite the strong remonstrances of Jeremiah and others, as well as the example of
Jehoiachin, he revolted against
Babylon, and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh
Hophra, king of
Egypt. This brought up Nebuchadnezzar, "with all his host" (
2 Kings 25:1), against
Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar began a siege of Jerusalem
589 BC. During this siege, which lasted about eighteen months, "every worst woe befell the devoted city, which drank the cup of God's fury to the dregs" (
2 Kings 25:3;
Lamentations 4:4, 5, 10).
In the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign, Nebuchadnezzar succeeded in conquering Jerusalem. The city was plundered and reduced to ruins. Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape, making their way out of the city, but were captured on the plains of
Jericho, and were taken to
Riblah.
There, after seeing his own children put to death, his own eyes were put out, and, being loaded with chains, he was carried captive (
587 BC) to
Babylon (
2 Kings 25:1-7;
2 Chronicles 36:12;
Jeremiah 32:4,5; 34:2, 3; 39:1-7; 52:4-11;
Ezekiel 12:12), where he remained a prisoner, how long is unknown, to the day of his death.
After the fall of Jerusalem,
Nebuzaraddan was sent to carry out its complete destruction. The city was razed to the ground. Only a small number of vinedressers and husbandmen were permitted to remain in the land (Jer. 52:16).
Gedaliah, with a
Chaldean guard stationed at
Mizpah, were left to rule over Judah (
2 Kings 25:22, 24; Jer. 40:1, 2, 5, 6).
Sources
According to the
Book of Mormon, King Zedekiah's reign began in (or immediately prior to)
600 BC, and Zedekiah's surviving son
Mulek escaped death and travelled across the
Atlantic Ocean to the
Americas, where he founded a nation that later merged with the
Nephites.
