ZEDEKI'AH, originally MATTA:STAR, the last king of Judah, son of the "good Josiah" by his wife Hamutal, succeeded his nephew Jehoiachin. The latter having rebelled against his master, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was besieged in Jerusa lem, and taken prisoner, after a brief reign of three months. Nebuchadnezzar bestowet the vacant throne on Zedekiah, doubtless in the expectation of securing a faithful liege man. If so, he was mistaken. Zedekiah was a weak unwise ruler, probably incapable of political fidelity : in the phraseology of the Jewish historian, " he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." Forgetting his obligations to the Babylonish monarch, he lent a ready ear to the foolish braggadocia of the nobles and princes of Judah, and in spite of the earnest and reiterated remonstrances and warnings of Jeremiah, finally con summated his perfidy by forming an alliance with Egypt, the hereditary enemy of Assyria and Chaldea. swift destruction overtook the traitor. A Babylonish army
invaded and ravaged the country, besieged Jerusalem, and after inflicting a crushing defeat on an Egyptian force that was marching to the relief of the city, reduced the inhabitants to such horrible extremities that they could no longer hold out. Zedekiah, accompanied by his wives and children, fled in the darkness of night toward the Jordan, but was overtaken and made prisoner near Jericho. The monarch and his sons were sent to Riblah, at the n. end of the valley of Lebanon, where Nebuchadnezzar then abode. The conqueror, with customary Asiatic cruelty, ordered the sons to be slain before their father's face, and then deprived the wretched parent of his eyesight. Thus maimed, and bound with fetters of brass, he was conveyed to Babylon (588 u.c.), where lie probably died. The temple and city were destroyed, the inhabitants carried off into captivity, and the kingdom of David and Solomon ceased to have a place on the earth.