WHEN King Jehoiakim was dead, and his son Jehoiachin carried away to Babylon, another king began to reign, named Zedekiah. He was Jehoiachin's uncle; he was Jehoiakim's brother; and he was son to good Josiah. The king of Babylon said that Zedekiah should reign as long as he would be obedient to him, and pay some money every year, so as to show that he owned the king of Babylon for his master. And God spake through His prophet Jeremiah, and said that if Zedekiah would obey the king of Babylon, the people should be left in peace, only they must be patient under their punishment.
But Zedekiah was more like his bad brother than his good father. He listened to people who pretended to be prophets, though God had never spoken by them. They told him to set up for himself against the king of Babylon, and that all the beautiful things that had been taken out of the Temple should come back again.
And when Jeremiah told them that it would not be so, and that if they rebelled against the Babylonians it would be worse for them, and the king would be put to death, they were so wicked as to let the holy prophet down into a pit, with mud and mire at the bottom; and there he lay sunk in the mire, and with no food to eat, nor water to drink.
At last a black man, one of the king's slaves, came and told the king that the prophet would soon be dead if he stayed there. Then Zedekiah was shocked, and he told the black to get Jeremiah safe out of the pit. So they threw him down soft rags, and told him to put them under his arms, that the ropes might not hurt him when they drew him up.
So Jeremiah came out of the horrible pit, and had some food; and the king sent to see him in secret. Then he told the king that it was God's will that he should bear to be under the Babylonian power, and that he must not make war; for that if he did, he would come to great misery, and die blind and a prisoner.
Zedekiah was not angry, as his brother had been, but all he had to say for himself was that he was afraid of his people. He was more afraid of them than of God, and he would not do what he knew to be right. So he told the black man to keep Jeremiah safe, and take care he had food every day; but he begged Jeremiah not to say one word to these wicked men about the conversation they had had together.
Was it not a foolish thing to be so afraid of men, when God could have taken care of him? He would have been quite safe if he had only been bold enough to do as God told him! Mind, that if ever idle children should want you to be as naughty as they are, and tease you till you feel afraid to stand out against them, the only way to be safe is to do as God tells you. Zedekiah, who was afraid to do right, was quite as much punished as Jehoiakim, who was bold to do wrong.
QUESTIONS.
1. Who was the king after Jehoiakim? 2. What did the king of Babylon promise? 3. What did God say? 4. By whom did God speak? 5. To whom did Zedekiah listen instead? 6. What did he do to Jeremiah? 7. What kind of place was the pit? 8. Who had pity on Jeremiah? 9. How was Jeremiah taken out of the pit? 10. What did he tell the king? 11. Why did not Zedekiah mind him? 12. Why was it very foolish of Zedekiah to be afraid of the people?