2 Kings 25:1-7: a reflection

1In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it around it. 2So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 4Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and the king went by the way of the Arabah. 5But the Chaldean army pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 6Then they captured the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they passed judgment on him. 7They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

This passage records the fall of Jerusalem: the long siege, the famine within the walls, the city broken through, and the tragic end of King Zedekiah, captured and carried off. It is a somber account of disaster; and behind it lies a long history of warnings unheeded. For generations the prophets had warned that persistent sin and rebellion would bring this ruin; the people had presumed it would never come. But at last the consequences, long warned of, arrived. The disaster the prophets foretold was not an empty threat.

Notice that the disaster, long warned of, at last arrived. For generations the warnings had been given, and for generations they had seemed not to come; the people could presume that the warned-of ruin would never actually happen. But it did come; the consequences of persistent sin, long delayed, at last arrived. The long delay had not meant the warnings were empty; it had only meant that the reckoning was not yet. When it came, it showed that the warnings had been true all along.

That is a sobering truth, for we too can presume that warned-of consequences will never actually come, because they have not yet. God warns, in Scripture and conscience, that persistent sin brings ruin; and because the ruin does not come at once, we can presume it never will, and go on in the sin. But Jerusalem's fall shows that consequences long warned of do at last arrive; the delay is not the same as escape. Do not presume that the consequences God warns of will never come simply because they have not yet; the reckoning long delayed is not the reckoning escaped, as Jerusalem learned when the disaster the prophets had long foretold at last arrived. Take God's warnings seriously, turning from the sin he warns against, rather than presuming on a delay that is not escape, lest the consequences long warned of arrive at last, as they did for Jerusalem.

Lord, this passage records the fall of Jerusalem: the long siege, the famine within the walls, the city broken through, and the tragic end of King Zedekiah. It is a somber account of disaster; and behind it lies a long history of warnings unheeded. For generations the prophets had warned that persistent sin and rebellion would bring this ruin; the people had presumed it would never come. But at last the consequences, long warned of, arrived. Show me that the disaster, long warned of, at last arrived. For generations the warnings had been given, and had seemed not to come; the people could presume the warned-of ruin would never actually happen. But it did come; the consequences of persistent sin, long delayed, at last arrived. The long delay had not meant the warnings were empty; only that the reckoning was not yet. That is a sobering truth, for I too can presume that warned-of consequences will never actually come, because they have not yet. You warn, in Scripture and conscience, that persistent sin brings ruin; and because the ruin does not come at once, I can presume it never will, and go on in the sin. But Jerusalem's fall shows that consequences long warned of do at last arrive; the delay is not the same as escape. Keep me from presuming that the consequences you warn of will never come simply because they have not yet. Help me take your warnings seriously, Lord, turning from the sin you warn against, rather than presuming on a delay that is not escape.