Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 282
270
IMMERSE
•
KINGDOMS
2K
| 25:14-26
Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea,
and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon. They also took all the ash
buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, ladles, and all the other bronze articles
used for making sacrifices at the Temple. The captain of the guard also
took the incense burners and basins, and all the other articles made of
pure gold or silver.
The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea, and the water
carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the
Lord’s Temple in the days of Solomon. Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall.
The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 71/2 feet high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around.
Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners
Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the
three chief gatekeepers. And from among the people still hiding in the
city, he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; five
of the king’s personal advisers; the army commander’s chief secretary,
who was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens. Nebuzara
dan, the captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at
Riblah. And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon
had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile
from their land.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam and
grandson of Shaphan as governor over the people he had left in Judah.
When all the army commanders and their men learned that the king of
Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they went to see him at Mizpah. These included Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah,
Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jezaniah son of the Maaca
thite, and all their men.
Gedaliah vowed to them that the Babylonian officials meant them no
harm. “Don’t be afraid of them. Live in the land and serve the king of Bab
ylon, and all will go well for you,” he promised.
But in midautumn of that year, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, went to Mizpah
with ten men and killed Gedaliah. He also killed all the Judeans and Bab
ylonians who were with him at Mizpah.
Then all the people of Judah, from the least to the greatest, as well as the
army commanders, fled in panic to Egypt, for they were afraid of what the
Babylonians would do to them.