After the wonderful reign of Josiah we return to the bad kings and the eventual downfall of Jerusalem is about to happen.
Jehoahaz succeeded Josiah. He only reigned for three months, but still had time to "do evil in the eyes of the Lord". He was held captive by Egypt and forced to take money from the people of Judah.
Jehoiakim came next. By this time Assyria was already a much weakened nation, having lost its capital to Babylon and the Medes some years earlier. Babylon was the new superpower and she now turned her attentions to Judah. Verse 2 states quite clearly that the Lord sent Babylon to destroy Judah, she was God's instrument of judgement. So what is the conclusion to be drawn from this? It is that if Judah wanted to be rescued she needed to make peace with God, through repentance and faith, not making treaties with Babylon, or other nations. The circumstances are the symptom, the root cause is the state of our relationship with God. Notice that these evil rulers had led to the shedding of much innocent blood. (v4).
Jehoaiachin came next. He was another three month evil doer. Jerusalem was now under siege. See how quickly things have collapsed since the end of Josiah's rule. So Jerusalem surrendered to Babylon. As Isaiah had prophesied (2 Kings 20:13,17) the temple treasures were carried off to Babylon. The king and all the skilled and prominent people were carried off into exile.
Zedekiah was a puppet ruler, placed there by Babylon. Note that Zedekiah was actually a son of Josiah, the family line offered no guarantee of him being a good king.
So Jerusalem was about to fall completely, and all this was a result of Israel's sin.
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