17:11-21
Having given the message in parable form, God now tells them explicitly what it means. He is under no illusions as to the nature of the people He is speaking to, they are a “rebellious people”. So the first part is the King of Babylon carrying off the nobles and king, taking them to Babylon. He took a member of the royal family, this being Zedekiah. Zedekiah was a mere vassal, a puppet king in Jerusalem, who had to govern under Babylon’s terms. Zedekiah was put under oath. Babylon’s purpose was the permanent subjugation of Israel, never to rise again. They would exist only under the terms set by Babylon. This is a bit like the Soviet Union’s subjugation of eastern Europe under the Warsaw Pact. However, Zedekiah rebelled by sending envoys to Egypt.
One of the key lessons from this, probably the key lesson, is that God expected Zedekiah to honour the treaty he had made, the oath he had sworn. There was only one way out of the treaty, and that was not rebellion! The only way out was to repent and turn to the Lord. Since Zedekiah did rebel he would die in Babylon. Egypt may have looked powerful, but her power would be of no help to Judah. Zedekiah’s breaking of the covenant with Babylon was regarded as a very serious matter by the Lord. So Zedekiah, and therefore Jerusalem, would pay the price for their treachery.
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