II Chronicles 36:11,12

II Chronicles 36:11,12 Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD. After good King Josiah died, his sons ruled one after another. But none of them were good kings as their father had been. It was as if Josiah had been a good king but not a good father. Too bad for the family and too bad for the country. Egypt invaded, the Babylonians invaded, and finally the Babylonians invaded a second time. Nebuchadnezzar was so tired of Judah’s rebellions that he carried away everyone in Judah into Babylon as slaves. King Zedekiah saw all of his children killed before him, and then his eyes were burned out. What a pitiful end to the kings of Judah. And why? Because they rejected God! Do we reject God? I hope not, because it didn’t end up well for Israel nor for the kings of Israel. But God was with Judah, even in their captivity in Babylon. After seventy years, God brought them back. God punishes, but God still loves!