Due to his self-reliance, King Zedekiah ended his days as a lowly prisoner in Babylon.
Constantine XI was an emperor like none other. And he ruled a city unlike any other. His beloved capital of Constantinople was a sought-after jewel in Late Antiquity. Everyone wanted the throne that Constantine the Great had established over a thousand years earlier. From education and literature to the arts and architecture, Constantine XI ruled over a shining city on a hill.
But in 1453, no one envied him. His Eastern Roman Empire, the last portion of an ancient civilization, was on the brink of destruction. The Ottoman armies surrounded the Golden City, and Constantine had only a small number of soldiers. Slowly but surely, the enemy battered their way through the city's massive walls. Then, finally, on May 29, the inevitable happened. The walls gave way, and the Ottoman soldiers broke through.
As the enemy rushed through the city streets, Constantine XI cried to his comrades, "Be not afraid because its walls have been worn down by the enemy's battering. For your strength lies in the protection of God." In the ensuing battle, the emperor was last seen leaping into the fray, fighting side by side with his soldiers to defend the city. But it wasn't enough. Constantinople fell, and with her, the final remnants of the Roman Empire. The body of Emperor Constantine XI, the last emperor of the Romans, was never found.
As we search the crypt, we find there is something amiss: no tomb bears King Zedekiah's name.
Throughout this Lenten season, we have been walking among the final resting places of the descendants of David. This stroll among fallen royalty has shown us the lives of King Asa and King Jehoshaphat, the High Priest Jehoiada, King Uzziah, and the repentant King Manasseh. Each of these men was buried in or near the tombs of the Kings of Judah. Today, we reach the tomb of the final King of Judah, the final King in the line of David in the Old Testament, King Zedekiah. But as we search the crypt, we find there is something amiss: no tomb bears King Zedekiah's name.
As we have seen, you can tell a lot about a king by where he is buried. Zedekiah wasn't buried in Jerusalem at all. And unlike Constantine XI in Constantinople, Zedekiah's absence isn't because he was fighting for his people—quite the opposite. Zedekiah is nowhere to be found in death because he was nowhere to be found at the end of his reign.
It seemed as though Solomon had his descendant, Zedekiah, in mind when he wrote: "The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until it is day. The way of the wicked is like gloomy darkness. They never know where they will stumble" (Prov. 4:18-19).
King Zedekiah found himself in a similar position to Constantine XI. Zedekiah, like his Roman counterpart, was stuck inside his capital city. Jerusalem wasn't as big or grand as Constantinople, but it was surrounded by an enemy all the same. The fearsome King Nebuchadnezzar and his formidable Babylonian army laid siege to Jerusalem. The situation was dire. Under this Babylonian siege, the rest of God's people holding out in Jerusalem could either walk out and be killed by the Babylonian army or stay in the city and slowly starve to death.
Zedekiah didn't know what to do, so in a last-ditch effort, he did something he didn't want to do. He found the prophet Jeremiah, who was bound and chained in the courtyard of Jerusalem. King Zedekiah had nowhere else to turn. His false prophets had all left. The wicked priests no longer helped him. And the people of Jerusalem were in a panic. The King went to the only man who knew what would happen and asked him for help.
The prophet Jeremiah had seen this movie before. He knew that even if he gave Zedekiah guidance, the King would not listen. But this time, Zedekiah swore he wouldn't harm Jeremiah. This time, Zedekiah insisted he would listen. So Jeremiah gave this answer from the Lord: "If you surrender to the Babylonian king's officials, your life will be spared, and this city will not be burned. You will live, and your family will live" (Jer. 38:17). But what if Zedekiah didn't surrender? "Then this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you will not escape from their hands" (Jer. 38:18).
Fearful that his people would turn against him, King Zedekiah refused to surrender. In a crisis this big, he refused to trust the Lord. He resolutely put his confidence in his own strength.
Finally, on July 18, 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar's army burst through the walls of Jerusalem. God's people needed a leader to stand with them and fight, as Constantine XI would do in Constantinople, yet King Zedekiah abandoned them. When night fell, Zedekiah fled Jerusalem. He headed for the Arabah, but he never made it. The Babylonians captured him. They killed Zedekiah's sons right before his eyes. Then they gouged out his eyes so that the last thing he would ever see was the death of his own flesh and blood. Zedekiah was then bound and brought to Babylon where he lived out his days in captivity.
We see many of the details of King Zedekiah's story in the final days of Jesus' ministry. By the time Jesus hung on the cross, the crowds had left him. His disciples abandoned him. Everyone seemed to be looking out for themselves, just as King Zedekiah had done. We learn a lot about where our trust lies when we are in a crisis. Oftentimes, we default to trusting in ourselves and our own abilities to escape disaster.
Due to his self-reliance, King Zedekiah ended his days as a lowly prisoner in Babylon. No tomb in Jerusalem bears his name. He did not rest with his fathers.
And yet, years later, a descendant of King Zedekiah walked right through the gates of Jerusalem. He didn't come with armies and chariots like King Nebuchadnezzar. He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on a donkey. When he faced a world's worth of suffering in hell, he didn't back down. He refused to run away. He walked right toward it. And because Jesus held himself to that cross for you, you have escaped the fires of hell. He has opened the gates of heaven for you.
It leads us to one final resting place in this Lenten walk through the tombs. It is the tomb of a man treated like the worst criminals. It is the resting place of one who walked straight into death. It is a tomb like none other. Later this week, we will conclude our walk through the tombs of the kings of Judah. Until then, we join with King David in praise of our loving Lord, the Victor, over death itself.
"Make music to the Lord, you his favored ones, and give thanks when you remember his holiness, for we spend a moment under his anger, but we enjoy a lifetime in his favor. In the evening, weeping comes to stay through the night, but in the morning, there is rejoicing!" (Ps. 30:4-5)
