The long-suffering of the Lord shines from the pages of the Bible. God gives men and women great latitude to turn to him, even after years of wandering and egregious bouts of sin. But occasionally someone reached his limits.

Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, achieved such dubious status. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord…He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord, the God of Israel.

Notice the patience of the Lord, even with this defiant, middle-finger flipping king. The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.

You’re in a bad spot when no remedy remains between you and the Lord. Zedekiah met a particularly grizzly end, his sons executed before him and his eyes gouged out. Perhaps he should have listened a little closer to Jeremiah.

Zedekiah spent the rest of his days in a Babylonian prison, reflecting on his failures. Who knows, maybe he humbled himself as he wallowed in dark and filth? If so, we know even then the Lord took him back.

No one is too far gone for the Lord’s grace, but I can get too far gone for the Lord’s benevolence. Mocking, self-centeredness, and evil find their limit, beyond which lies no remedy. Not all who do evil flourish, and the story of Zedekiah reminds me that even the most powerful face the judgement of the Lord.

2 Chronicles 36 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Egor Myznik