Zedekiah, Last (19th) King of Judah

• 2 Kings 24:17 - 2 Kings 25:7
• 1 Chronicles 3:15.
• 2 Chronicles 36:10-20

Wikipedia: Zedekiah and צדקיהו

The last King of Judah before the exile.

His original name was Mattanyahu (Hebrew: מַתַּנְיָהוּ‎, Mattanyāhû, "Gift of God"; traditional English: Mattaniah), but when Nebuchadnezzar II placed him on the throne as the successor to Jehoiachin, he changed his name to Zedekiah. Zedekiah was the third son of Josiah, and his mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, thus he was the brother of Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:31, 24:17-18, 23:31, 24:17-18).

He ascended the throne at the age of twenty-one and became a strong leader. The kingdom was at that time tributary to Nebuchadnezzar II. Despite the strong remonstrances of Jeremiah and others, as well as the example of Jehoiachin, he revolted against Babylon, and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt. This brought up Nebuchadnezzar, "with all his host" (2 Kings 25:1), against Jerusalem.

Nebuchadnezzar began a siege of Jerusalem 589 BCE. During this siege, which lasted about eighteen months.

In the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign, Nebuchadnezzar succeeded in conquering Jerusalem. The city was plundered and reduced to ruins. Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape, making their way out of the city, but were captured on the plains of Jericho, and were taken to Riblah. There, after seeing his own sons put to death, his own eyes were put out, and, being loaded with chains, he was carried captive (587 BCE) to Babylon, where he remained a prisoner, how long is unknown, to the day of his death.

After the fall of Jerusalem, Nebuzaraddan was sent to carry out its complete destruction. The city was razed to the ground. Only a small number of vinedressers and husbandmen were permitted to remain in the land. Gedaliah, with a Chaldean guard stationed at Mizpah, was left to rule over Judah

According to the Book of Mormon, Zedekiah's son Mulek escaped death and travelled across one of the oceans (Atlantic or Pacific) to the Americas, where he founded a nation that later merged with the Nephites.

• Jeremiah 38:6.

Was executed by Nebuchadnezzar.

The King of Judah was taken with his family to Riblah to the military headquarters of King Nebuchadnezzar. Here was the global ruler, who had put him into power, and entrusted him to keep his kingdom loyal to the international political and economic interests of their global empire, Babylon. Here was the ancient “Golden Internationale”. The king was chastised for his unfaithfulness and breaking his oath of servitude to him.

Then before his eyes, his sons were massacred, and then his eyes were gouged out. His last visible memory would forever be his sons, lying in pools of blood, for the oaths that he did not keep. In his mind, the entire lineage of the royal family of Solomon was now destroyed. His nephew, King Jeconiah, was still alive and now solitary confinement in Babylon, also for active rebellion in Babylon. Jeconiah’s family lineage was now extinct. Here now, lying dead before him was the last of the physical descendants of the royal house of David and Solomon. It was now over. The promises of God appeared to have now completely failed. King Zedekiah, blinded, was bound in chains and taken to Babylon. There in the prisons he languished until his death, nine years later.

• 2 Kings 24:17 - 2 Kings 25:7
• 2 Chronicles 36:10-20

Wikipedia: [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedec%C3%ADas_de_Jud%C3%A1] y צדקיהו

Sedequías fue el último rey de Judá. Nabucodonosór, rey de Babilonia, entró a Jerusalén en el año décimo del reinado de Sedequías y la sitió por un tiempo. Después la ciudad fue asolada y sus riquezas saquadas, los hijos del rey y los nobles fueron asesinados y el resto llevados en cautiverio a Babilonia. (2 Reyes 24:18-20 y 25:1-21)