Zedekiah in Smiths Bible Dictionary

(justice of Jehovah). 1. The last king of Judah and Jerusalem. He was the son of Josiah by his wife Hamutal, and therefore own brother to Jehoahaz. 2Ki 24:18 comp. 2Kin 23:31 His original name was Mattaniah, which was changed to Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar when he carried off his nephew Jehoiachim to Babylon and left him on the throne of Jerusalem. Zedekiah was but twenty-one years old when he was thus placed in charge of an impoverished kingdom, B.C. 597. His history is contained in a short sketch .of the events of his reign given in 2Ki 24:17 ... 25:7 and, with some trifling variations in Jer 39:1-7; 62:1-11 together with the still shorter summary in 1Ch 38:10 etc.; and also in Jere 21,24,27,28,29,32,34,37,38 and Eze 16:11-21 From these it is evident that Zedekiah was a man not so much bad at heart as weak in will. It is evident from Jere 27 and 28 that the earlier portion of Zedekiah's reign was marked by an agitation throughout the whole of Syria against the Babylonian yoke. Jerusalem seems to have taken the lead, since in the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign we find ambassadors from all the neighboring kingdoms --Tyre, Sidon, Edom and Moab --at his court to consult as to the steps to be taken. The first act of rebellion of which any record survives was the formation of an alliance with Egypt, of itself equivalent to a declaration of enmity with Babylon. As a natural consequence it brought on Jerusalem an immediate invasion of the Chaldaeans. The mention of this event in the Bible though indisputable, is extremely slight, and occurs only in Jer 37:5-11; 34:21 and Ezek 17:15-20...