Scorning the unusual privileges granted him, Judah's king willfully followed a way of his own choosing. He violated his word of honor to the Babylonian ruler, and rebelled. This brought him and his kingdom into a very strait place. Against him were sent "bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon," and he was powerless to prevent the land from being overrun by these marauders. 2 Kings 24:2. Within a few years he closed his disastrous reign in ignominy, rejected of Heaven, unloved by his people, and despised by the rulers of Babylon whose confidence he had betrayed--and all as the result of his fatal mistake in turning from the purpose of God as revealed through His appointed messenger.

Men Judas konge lod hånt om de rige muligheder, som han havde, og gik stædigt sin egen vej. Han brød sit æresord til den babyloniske konge og gjorde oprør. Som følge heraf bragtes både han selv og hans rige i store vanskeligheder. Der blev sendt "kaldæiske, aramæiske, moabitiske og anmonitiske strejfskarer imod ham" og det var umuligt for ham at forhindre, at landet blev gennemstrejfet af disse ransmænd. 2Kong. 24,2. Nogle få år senere endte hans ulykkelige regering i vanære. Han var forkastet af Himmelen, hans folk nærede ingen kærlighed til ham, og Babylons konger foragtede ham, fordi han havde forrådt den tillid, som de havde vist ham. Det skyldtes alt sammen den kolossale fejl, han begik, da han nægtede at rette sig efter Guds vilje, som blev givet til kende ved Herrens udvalgte sendebud.