=10. This king of Judah= had reigned only three months when Nebuchadnezzar sent an army into Judah and soon after arrived in person; and the king of Judah was forced to submit to the king of Babylon, and, with 10,000 of his best citizens, he was taken prisoner and carried to Babylon. The uncle of the king of Judah, whose name was changed to Zedekiah, that is, “the righteousness of Jehovah,” was placed upon the throne by Nebuchadnezzar. His previous name was Mattaniah, that is, “gift of Jehovah,” and Nebuchadnezzar, in giving him this new name, evidently intended it as a suggestion to the king that he was expected to sustain the truthful character of that Jehovah whom he professed to serve; for the king of Babylon had made Zedekiah promise by oath and covenant, swearing by his God, to be faithful to him, 2 Chron. 36:13; Ezek. 17:13, B. C. 599. In the same manner Pharaoh-nechoh changed the name of Eliakim to Jehoiakim, when he advanced him to the throne eleven years before, B. C. 610. 2 Kings 23:34. He simply changed the ordinary name, El, _god_, to that most holy name of the Israelites’ divinity, namely Jehovah. =11. After eleven years of reign= Zedekiah rebelled, and then the final siege of Jerusalem took place, and the Jews were forced by starvation to yield to the king. During the delay required by the siege, Nebuchadnezzar remained at a place called Riblah (now Ribla) 200 miles north of Jerusalem and 70 miles northeast of Beirût, pleasantly located in the valley between the Lebanon ranges and on the east side of the river Orontes. This place was made sadly prominent eighteen years before by the imprisonment of Jehoahaz, the successor of Josiah, king of Judah. He was taken captive and removed from Jerusalem and left at this place by Pharaoh-nechoh when he was on his way to his terrible defeat by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish, B. C. 606. But on his retreat he carried Jehoahaz to Egypt, where he died, 2 Kings 23:33, 34. =12. When the generals of Nebuchadnezzar= had taken Jerusalem, they brought Zedekiah and the royal family to Riblah, where it appears that the king of Babylon upbraided Zedekiah for his violation of his oath, and then slew his sons before his eyes. This was his last and dreadful vision, for immediately after, according to the custom of these kings depicted upon the monuments, “he put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with fetters of brass and carried him to Babylon,” 2 Kings 25:7.