ToES Diary February 2018

After an unexpectedly long hiatus, the diary resumes…

The text and cover of Terror on Every Side! Volume 3 – Darkness Falling are both complete and uploaded to the Ingram Spark website.  Proofs were provided and approved on Tuesday.  An order for a single copy of the book has been placed for review before printing larger numbers for distribution.  This volume uses different margins for odd and even pages to make sure that there is a large enough margin on the binding side of each page.

Writing of Volume 4 continues, but has been delayed by the amount of time needed to get Volume 3 ready for printing.

Still working on chapter 1 of Volume 4. Jeremiah has made his way into Jerusalem on a stormy night with some difficulty and then catches up on the latest news from Azariah and others. Maybe it has to spread into chapter 2….

Received first copy of Terror on Every Side! Volume 3. Not satisfied with it. Likely to be printing problems, but sent an email to check whether they are printing problems or problems with how I have set things up.

Have to wait for a reply from Ingram Spark before ordering more copies.

Events surrounding the death of Jehoiakim and subsequent accession of Jehoiachin are not described clearly in the Bible.

For Jehoiakim, his death is described in 2 Kings 24:6, which reports simply that he slept with his fathers.  His death is also described prophetically in two places:

1. Jeremiah 22:18-19  Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:   “They shall not lament for him, saying, ‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’  They shall not lament for him, saying, ‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’  With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried, dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
2. Jeremiah 36:30-31  Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night.  And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.”

Jehoiachin, the son of Jehioakim, then became king (2 Kings 24:6; 2 Chronicles 36:8) and reigned for 3 months and 10 days (2 Chronicles 36:9 (rounded to 3 months in 2 Kings 24:8)).

His age is given as 8 years old in the Hebrew of 2 Chronicles 36:9 while the Syriac and Arabic manuscripts say 18 (as all manuscripts do in 2 Kings 24:8).  18 appears more likely since it is stated that he did evil in God’s sight, despite only ruling for such a short time.  Such a bad report is more likely for an 18-year-old than an 8-year-old.

Some translations use “8” in 2 Chronicles 36:9 (e.g. KJV, NASB, ESV (2001), Rotherham, WEB, YLT), while many others use “18” (e.g. ESV (2011), NET, NIV, TLB, RSV, NRSV), often without any note whatsoever.

2 Kings 24:7 tells us that the king of Egypt didn’t come out of his land again because Nebuchadnezzar had taken away all of his lands outside of Egypt from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates.  This seems to relate to a time around the end of Jehoiakim’s reign and the reign of Jehoiachin.

A few events followed Jehoiachin’s accession:

• The Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem.
• Nebuchadnezzar came while his servants were besieging Jerusalem.
• Jehoiachin and others surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar.
• At the return of the year (i.e., in the spring), Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought Jehoiachin to Babylon with goods and people.

Maybe there was some time in this series of events when Nebuchadnezzar was away from Jerusalem finishing taking away the last of Pharaoh’s lands to the north of the brook of Egypt.  It seems most likely that his army (or at least part of it) stayed at Jerusalem during that time.

Given the prophecy about Jehoiakim and the description of events in the reign of Jehoiachin, it also seems likely that some of the Babylonian army was around Jerusalem and were probably involved in the ignominious death of Jehoiakim and left his body to rot outside the gates of Jerusalem, which remained besieged until Jehoiachin surrendered.

I forgot to send this earlier…

Just to state this once again: the timing and detail of events around the death of Jehoiakim and the reign of Jehoiachin is not made clear.

In the events we know about, there could be time between them that is not quantified.  History doesn’t tell us much either and we don’t know how much we can rely on the details it does tell us.

For Terror on Every Side! I have decided on the following timeline:

• Early December 598BC:  Nebuchadnezzar takes most of the army south to fight Egypt.  Part of the Babylonian army besieges Jerusalem.  Jehoiakim killed in the attack and his body dumped outside the gates while the siege continues.  Jehoiachin made king.
• January-Feb 597BC: Nebuchadnezzar busy dealing with Egypt.
• March 597BC:  Nebuchadnezzar arrives at Jerusalem and Jehoiachin surrenders.  Very little damage and death because of surrendering.
• April 597BC: Nebuchadnezzar take Jehoiachin and 10,000 other men (plus women and children) to Babylon.  This includes Ezekiel and his wife.

The reprinted copy of Terror on Every Side! Volume 3 – Darkness Falling was delivered yesterday.  It is much better than the first one although there is still a bit more variation in the centring of pages than I would expect.  Nevertheless, it is better and so now I have ordered some copies to deliver to those who followed the serial or pre-ordered through the special newsletter offer.  They will probably arrive in one to two weeks.

People fled to walled cities for safety when foreign armies threatened.  From what I have read, this often made besieged cities quite crowded, and also caused supplies to run out more quickly than would otherwise have been the case.

Rainfall can replenish water supplies, but a crowded city is no place to grow lots of food.

Jehoiachin surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar, but did he do so in response to Jeremiah’s prophecies, or because the city was running out of supplies?

God seems to have blessed Jehoiachin and the exiles who went with him more than the later king/exiles.  They are spoken of as “good figs” (Jeremiah 25:5-7) in contrast to those who remained who were “bad figs” (Jeremiah 25:8-10).  This contrast convinces me that what King Jehoiachin did was probably approved of by God.  God may also have made sure that the “better” people were taken away into captivity, although obviously Jeremiah, Baruch and Ebed-melech were all given special treatment by God to keep them safe through the disaster promised to those bad figs who stayed in the city.  Comparatively few people went into captivity when Jerusalem was destroyed.  It seems that large numbers of people were killed instead.

• Hilkiah is associated with Shaphan the secretary (the son of Azaliah, the son Meshullam (2 Kings 22:3)) in the events surrounding the discovery of the Book of the Law (2 Kings 22:8-11; 2 Chronicles 34:8, 14-19).
• Ahikam the son of Shaphan went with his father and Hilkiah to visit Huldah the prophetess (2 Kings 22:12-14; 2 Chronicles 34:20-22).  Later, Ahikam also supported Jeremiah when the priests and the prophets wanted to kill him because of his prophecies.
• Gemariah the son of Shaphan had a chamber in the temple in the fifth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 36:9-10).  Who would have assigned such a chamber to him?  Gemariah tried to stop Jehoiakim burning Josiah’s scroll but failed (Jeremiah 36:25).
• Micaiah the son of Gemariah the son of Shaphan heard God’s words from Jeremiah’s scroll read by Baruch and went to tell various officials (including his father) about them (Jeremiah 36:11-13).
• Elasah the son of Shaphan was sent with Gemariah the son of Hilkiah to Babylon by King Zedekiah early in his reign to see Nebuchadnezzar and also carried with them a letter from Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:3).
• In the 6th month of the 6th year of Zedekiah, Ezekiel sees a vision of Jerusalem with an image of jealousy and Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing with 70 elders offering incense to idols and pictures.  He is the only one named.
• Nebuchadnezzar appointed Ahikam’s son, Gedaliah, governor over Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:22).  Jeremiah was entrusted to his care (Jeremiah 39:13-14; 40:5-6).

• Shallum the father of Hilkiah (1 Chronicles 6:13)
• Azariah the son of Hilkiah who would have been High Priest after him (1 Chronicles 6:14).
• Seriah the son of Azariah (1 Chronicles 6:13) who was killed by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah after the destruction of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:18-21).
• Jehozadak the son of Seriah who was taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar (1 Chronicles 6:15).
• Ezra (author of the book of Ezra), the son of Seriah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah (Ezra 7:1).  If there are no generations missed out here, Ezra was Azariah’s grandson, so Jeremiah would have been his great-uncle.  Ezra would also have been the brother of Jehozadak who was carried into captivity.  Since his father Seriah was killed at that time, Ezra would have been already born or at least conceived by that time.  Many argue that the list in Ezra 7:1 leaves out one or more generations and that Seriah was Ezra’s ancestor, not his direct father.