The execution of one king and the deportation of another were but
preludes to the great national catastrophe in the time of Zedekiah, the
destruction of the Temple and the exile of the whole people. After
Nebuchadnezzar had led Jehoiachin and a portion of the people into
banishment, his commiseration was aroused for the Jews, and he
inquired, whether any other sons of Josiah were still living. Only
Mattaniah was left. (1) He was re-named Zedekiah, in the hope that he
would be the father of pious sons. In reality the name became the omen
of the disasters to happen in the time of this king.
Nebuchadnezzar, who invested Zedekiah with the royal office, demanded
that he swear fealty to him. Zedekiah was about to swear by his own
soul, but the Babylonian king, not satisfied, brought a scroll of the
law, and made his Jewish vassal take the oath upon that. (2)
Nevertheless he did not keep faith with Nebuchadnezzar for long. Nor
was this his only treachery toward his suzerain. He had once surprised
Nebuchadnezzar in the act of cutting a piece from a living hare and
eating it, as is the habit of barbarians. Nebuchadnezzar was painfully
embarrassed, and he begged the Jewish king to promise under oath not to
mention what he had seen. Though Nebuchadnezzar treated him with great
friendliness, even making him sovereign lord over five vassal kings, he
did not justify the trust reposed in him. To flatter Zedekiah, the five
kings once said: "If all were as it should be, thou wouldst occupy the
throne of Nebuchadnezzar." Zedekiah could not refrain from exclaiming:
"O yes, Nebuchadnezzar, whom I once saw eating a live hare!"
The five kings at once repaired to Nebuchadnezzar, and reported what
Zedekiah had said. Thereupon the king of Babylonia marched to Daphne,
near Antioch, with the purpose of chastising Zedekiah. At Daphne he
found the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem, who had hastened thither to receive
him. Nebuchadnezzar met the Sanhedrin courteously, ordered his
attendants to bring state chairs for all the members, and requested
them to read the Torah to him and explain it. When they reached the
passage in the Book of Numbers dealing with the remission of vows, the
king put the question: "If a man desires to be released from a vow,
what steps must he take?" The Sanhedrin replied: "He must repair to a
scholar, and he will absolve him from his vow." Whereupon
Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed: "I verily believe it was you who released
Zedekiah from the vow he took concerning me." And he ordered the
members of the Sanhedrin to leave their state chairs and sit on the
ground. (3) They were forced to admit, that they had not acted in
accordance with the law, for Zedekiah's vow affected another beside
himself, and without the acquiescence of the other party, namely,
Nebuchadnezzar, the Sanhedrin had no authority to annul the vow. (4)
Zedekiah was duly punished for the grievous crime of perjury. When
Jerusalem was captured, he tried to escape through a cave extending
from his house to Jericho. God sent a deer into the camp of the
Chaldeans, and in their pursuit of this game, the Babylonian soldiers
reached the farther opening of the cave at the very moment when
Zedekiah was leaving it. (5) The Jewish king together with his ten sons
was brought before Nebuchadnezzar, who addressed Zedekiah thus: "Were I
to judge thee according to the law of thy God, thou wouldst deserve the
death penalty, for thou didst swear a false oath by the Name of God; no
less wouldst thou deserve death, if I were to judge thee according to
the law of the state, for thou didst fail in thy sworn duty to thy
overlord."
Zedekiah requested the grace that his execution take place before his
children's, and he be spared the sight of their blood. His children, on
the other hand, besought Nebuchadnezzar to slay them before he slew
their father, that they might be spared the disgrace of seeing their
father executed. In his heartlessness Nebuchadnezzar had resolved worse
things than Zedekiah anticipated. In the sight of their father, the
children of Zedekiah were killed, and then Zedekiah himself was
deprived of sight; his eyes were blinded. (6) He had been endowed with
eyes of superhuman strength, they were the eyes of Adam, and the
iron lances forced into them were powerless to destroy his sight.
Vision left him only because of the tears he shed over the fate of his
children. (7) Now he realized how true Jeremiah had spoken when he had
prophesied his exile to Babylonia. Though he should live there until
his death, he would never behold the land with his eyes. On account of
its seeming contradictoriness, Zedekiah had thought the prophecy
untrue. For this reason he had not heeded Jeremiah's advice to make
peace with Nebuchadnezzar. Now it had all been verified; he was carried
to Babylonia a captive, yet, blind as he was, he did not see the land
of his exile. (8)