In Jeremiah, chapter twenty-one, verse five, “And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.” Zedekiah sent two priests to ask Jeremiah if God would cause Nebuchadnezzar to retreat, as in verses one through three. Through the prophet, God declared an emphatic “No.” In fact, God Himself would fight against Judah and deliver His people into the hands of their enemies. All their resistance would prove useless.
Zedekiah was twenty-one when he began as king, ruling over the nation of Judah. Zedekiah’s name means “Yahweh in righteousness.” However, he was not making decisions in the right way before God during his reign. He experienced political instability and pressure from surrounding nations despite internal and external pressures to rebel against Babylonian rule. The prophet Jeremiah repeatedly warned Zedekiah against such rebellion, urging submission to Babylon as God’s will, as in Jeremiah twenty-seven, verses twelve to fifteen.
However, Zedekiah’s political alliances, including those with Egypt, and his swaying between obedience and rebellion, ultimately led to his downfall. The spiritual state of Judah during Zedekiah’s reign was one of decline. The people continued in idolatry and disobedience to God’s commandments despite the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah. Why would he have to send two priests to Jeremiah to receive an answer from God? Zedekiah himself was described as “doing evil in the sight of the Lord” from Second Kings twenty-four, verse nineteen, following the sinful practices of his predecessors.
Today, there are some Christians like Zedekiah who rely on social connections to make decisions instead of inquiring from God, and then live ungodly and have to send or ask someone who does live godly to pray on behalf of their situation. Does that really make sense?