11. Zedekiah rebels against Babylon, 689 BC.
Zedekiah's reign was characterized by the most dramatic jockeying for power in the political arena. Zedekiah was young—just twenty-three. His power base was weak, for many still look back to Jehoiachin as the king proper while he was only a foreign appointee. He had a poor government; the key and experienced personnel had already been exiled. In the book of Jeremiah he is reported to have sought Jeremiah's counsel on several occasions but he was weak in will and too intimidated by his counselors to act decisively. False prophets prophesied hope and and ultranationalists urged rebellion. It was tough for a twenty-three-year-old, however one looks at it.
Nebuchadnezzar's government suffered an insurrection in 595/4. While it was eventually put down, it raised the hopes of independence-minded ultra-nationalists in the region. Envoys from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon gathered in Jerusalem to plot how they might throw off the yoke of Babylonian suzerainty. While Jeremiah condemned the conference (Jer 27), Hananiah, the false prophet encouraged rebellion (Jer 28). Though nothing came out of these proceedings, Zedekiah was drawn deeper and deeper into the false hope proffered to rebel. In 589, and against Jeremiah's strenuous counsel, he did.
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