God's Appointed Rod: The Folly of a Rebel King Text: 2 Kings 24:1-5
Introduction: The Politics of Providence
We live in an age that is allergic to the sovereignty of God. Modern man, and particularly the modern political man, wants to believe that he is the master of his fate and the captain of his soul. He wants to believe that history is a story that he is writing. He sees geopolitics as a grand chess match between autonomous human powers, Egypt versus Babylon, Washington versus Beijing. But the Bible presents us with a radically different picture. The Bible tells us that the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, but it is the Lord who sits in the heavens and laughs (Psalm 2). He holds their frantic, self-important machinations in derision.
The story of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, is a case study in this very delusion. He was a man who thought he could play the game of nations, who thought he could outmaneuver the God of Heaven by making a shrewd political calculation. He saw Nebuchadnezzar as a mere earthly threat, a Babylonian bully to be managed, resisted, or placated as circumstances required. What he failed to see, what his father Josiah understood but what he had forgotten, was that Nebuchadnezzar was not the ultimate power in the equation. He was merely God's appointed instrument. Jeremiah the prophet had told him as much, calling Nebuchadnezzar God's "servant" (Jer. 25:9). But Jehoiakim had no time for such inconvenient theology. He was a pragmatist, a realist. And his realism got him, and his nation, destroyed.
This passage is not just ancient history. It is a lesson in the politics of providence. It teaches us that rebellion against God's ordained circumstances is rebellion against God Himself. It shows us that God is meticulously sovereign over the affairs of nations, raising up kings and bringing them down. And it reminds us that sin has consequences, that a nation's accounts with God are not settled at the end of every fiscal quarter. Sometimes the bill comes due generations later. For us, living in a nation that has shed innocent blood on an industrial scale and has turned its back on the God who established it, this is a text that should cause us to tremble. It forces us to ask not whether God will judge, but rather what form His judgment is currently taking, and whether we are foolishly rebelling against the rod He has appointed for our chastisement.
The Text
In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. And Yahweh sent against him marauding bands of Chaldeans, marauding bands of Arameans, marauding bands of Moabites, and marauding bands of Ammonites. So He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh which He had spoken by the hand of His slaves the prophets. Surely at the command of Yahweh it came upon Judah, to remove them from His presence because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and Yahweh was not willing to pardon. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
(2 Kings 24:1-5 LSB)
The Foolishness of Rebellion (v. 1)
We begin with the central political and spiritual miscalculation of Jehoiakim's reign.
"In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him." (2 Kings 24:1)
The geopolitical situation was straightforward. Babylon had defeated Egypt at the Battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C. and was now the undisputed superpower. Jehoiakim, who had been a puppet of the Egyptians, wisely switched his allegiance and became a vassal to Nebuchadnezzar. For three years, he paid tribute and kept the peace. This was God's ordained reality for Judah at that moment. The prophets, particularly Jeremiah, had made it abundantly clear that submission to Babylon was God's will. It was a disciplinary measure, a divine chastisement for generations of covenant unfaithfulness. To submit to Nebuchadnezzar was to submit to God's rod.
But Jehoiakim was a proud and foolish man. He chafed under the Babylonian yoke. He listened to the pro-Egyptian counselors at his court. He despised the words of Jeremiah. And so, "he turned and rebelled." This was not an act of courageous patriotism; it was an act of defiant unbelief. It was Jehoiakim telling God that he knew better. He was rejecting God's clear, prophetic word and trusting instead in the phantom power of Egypt and his own political cunning. This is the essence of all sin. It is man declaring his autonomy. It is the creature telling the Creator that he will not have this God to rule over him. Jehoiakim's political rebellion was simply the outward manifestation of his spiritual rebellion.
He thought he was making a strategic move on the world stage, but he was actually picking a fight with the Director of the entire play. When God sends a spanking, the wise son submits to it. The foolish son tries to punch the rod.
The Armies of God (v. 2)
Verse 2 reveals the true power behind the unfolding events. It was not Babylon's military might alone, but the sovereign decree of Yahweh.
"And Yahweh sent against him marauding bands of Chaldeans, marauding bands of Arameans, marauding bands of Moabites, and marauding bands of Ammonites. So He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh which He had spoken by the hand of His slaves the prophets." (2 Kings 24:2)
Notice the blunt and repeated theological claim: "Yahweh sent" them. Nebuchadnezzar did not simply decide to punish a rebellious vassal. The surrounding nations, Judah's old enemies, did not see a moment of weakness and decide to engage in some opportunistic raiding. No, the text is emphatic. Yahweh sent them. The Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites were all pagan nations, enemies of God's people. Yet here they are, enlisted as God's ad hoc army. They are His instruments of judgment, His holy marauders.
This is a profound statement about divine providence. God is not a deist clockmaker who winds up the world and lets it run. He is intimately and meticulously involved. He uses the sinful ambitions and petty hatreds of pagan nations to accomplish His holy purposes. The Moabites thought they were settling old scores. The Arameans thought they were grabbing some easy plunder. But in reality, they were all marching to the beat of Yahweh's drum. They were fulfilling a script they had never read.
And this was not a random act of divine anger. It was all "according to the word of Yahweh which He had spoken by the hand of His slaves the prophets." God always gives fair warning. For decades, men like Isaiah, Micah, and now Jeremiah had been proclaiming the terms of God's covenant lawsuit. They had laid out the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience, straight from the book of Deuteronomy. This judgment was not arbitrary; it was contractual. God was simply enforcing the terms of the covenant that Israel had willingly entered into and then flagrantly violated for centuries.
The Long Memory of God (v. 3-4)
The next verses provide the ultimate theological reason for this judgment, and it reaches back two generations before Jehoiakim.
"Surely at the command of Yahweh it came upon Judah, to remove them from His presence because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and Yahweh was not willing to pardon." (2 Kings 24:3-4)
Again, the emphasis is on God's sovereignty: "Surely at the command of Yahweh it came upon Judah." This was a divine decree. But the reason given is startling. It was not primarily for the sins of Jehoiakim, though he was certainly a wicked king. The final, irrevocable cause was "the sins of Manasseh." Manasseh was Jehoiakim's grandfather, and his fifty-five-year reign was a torrent of idolatry and evil. He had reversed all the good reforms of his father Hezekiah and had plunged Judah into the deepest apostasy.
But the text singles out one sin above all others: "the innocent blood which he shed." Manasseh had not just tolerated idolatry; he had persecuted the faithful to the point that he "filled Jerusalem with innocent blood from one end to another" (2 Kings 21:16). Tradition tells us that the prophet Isaiah was one of his victims, sawn in two. This sin, the state-sanctioned murder of the innocent, had so polluted the land that the text says, "Yahweh was not willing to pardon."
This is a terrifying principle. There are some national sins so grievous that they cross a divine line. The blood of the innocent cries out from the ground (Genesis 4:10), and God hears that cry. The righteous reforms of Josiah, Manasseh's son, were good and pleasing to God, but they were not enough to turn back this particular tide of judgment. The wound was too deep. The guilt was too pervasive. The land itself was defiled. God's patience, though immense, is not infinite. A nation can fill up the measure of its guilt, and when it does, judgment is inescapable. For a nation like ours, that has sanctioned the murder of over sixty million unborn children, this passage should strike us with a holy fear. The blood of the innocent fills our land, and God is not mocked.
The Unimpeachable Record (v. 5)
The passage concludes with the standard formula for a king's reign.
"Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?" (2 Kings 24:5)
This is not just a historian's footnote. It is a reminder that these events are not myths or legends. They are grounded in history. There were public records, accessible to the original readers, that testified to the deeds of this king. God's judgments are worked out on the stage of real human history, with real kings, real armies, and real consequences. The Bible's account of history is not one interpretation among many; it is the ultimate interpretation. It is the divine commentary on the public record.
And it points to a greater reality. Just as there was a Book of the Chronicles for the Kings of Judah, there is a book of remembrance written before God (Malachi 3:16). Every act, every word, every rebellion is recorded. Nothing is lost. On the day of judgment, the books will be opened, and men will be judged according to what they have done. Jehoiakim's rebellion was written down, and his judgment came. Our rebellion is written down, and our judgment will surely come as well, unless our names are found in another book, the Lamb's Book of Life.
Conclusion: The Wise Vassal
The story of Jehoiakim is the story of every sinner. We are all born rebels, vassals of the King of Heaven who have decided to go our own way. We think we can outsmart God, ignore His word, and escape the consequences. We see His providential dealings in our lives, the difficult circumstances, the hardships, as Babylonian invasions to be resisted rather than as a father's discipline to be received.
But God has sent another King, a greater King than Nebuchadnezzar. His name is Jesus. And He comes not as a conqueror to destroy, but as a Savior to rescue. The message of the gospel is a call to unconditional surrender. It is a call to lay down our arms, to cease our foolish rebellion, and to become willing servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Son has said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matthew 28:18). He is the true King, the one to whom every knee will one day bow, either in willing submission or in forced subjugation.
The choice before us is the same choice that was before Jehoiakim: submit or rebel. We can try to fight against the King, to assert our own autonomy, and in the end be crushed by His judgment. Or we can bow the knee, confess that He is Lord, and find that in His service is perfect freedom. Jehoiakim chose rebellion and was destroyed. The wise man or woman will see the advancing armies of the true King and will gladly become His servant for all their days, finding that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.