Jehoiachin's Special Treatment

June 16, 2009

Today's Reading: 2 Kings 24-25 and Galatians 3

It would appear that the second book of Kings has ended with a terrible tragedy. The Babylonians invaded the nation of Israel and took it over. In four days, Israel had no food to eat. I have no idea what it is like to live under an invading army, but I usually don’t hear any nice stories coming out of World War II Europe.

You usually hear about the stories like in Schindler’s List, where people have to do morally questionable things just to survive.

This reminds me of the time in Israel when the land was invaded. At the time, Jehoiakim reigned, and he did bad things. I mentioned yesterday about how Josiah was a good guy who probably postponed the fall of Israel, but Jehoiakim probably helped bring it on.

Jehoiakim was relieved by Jehoiachin, who was only 18 years at the time. He was dragged to captivity, and then Zedekiah became king.

What is interesting is the treatments of Jehoiachin versus Zedekiah. Zedekiah had his sons killed in front of him, and then they put out his eyes. Yeah, that was the last thing he ever saw. Sick, isn’t it?

However, Jehoiachin was treated much differently. He was released from his captivity, and then was invited to eat regularly with the ruling king.

Man, which king do you want to be? I suppose this is the classic Christian duality going on here. This is where we say: “do you want eternal bliss of heaven, or torment of hell?” I never did like the black and white view of the world, even if the afterlife seems to be that way.

The issue is what did Jehoiachin do for the Babylonians to deserve such special treatment? Probably nothing, if you want to know the truth. I don’t know if Jehoiachin was more willing to give up certain valuables than the others.

The reading in Galatians talks about how the world is a prisoner of sin, much like the nation after Babylon took over. Then the odd thing is that Paul talks about how we are prisoners of the law, and “locked up until faith should be revealed”.

Technically, we should all be cut down by sin, and then again, we should all be cutoff by the law. However, grace is the one thing that can set us apart, make us stand out. I suppose it was grace that allowed Jehoiachin to have his comfortable prison, while Zedekiah pretty much rotted.

Like I said, completely random. However, random isn’t what is on God’s mind when we give ourselves to him. We all get the special treatment there. Sure, we may not be at the king’s table, but we will eventually end up at God’s table.