Under Siege
2 Kings 25 tells the story of how the city of Jerusalem fell to King Nebuchanezzar of Babylon after a 30 month siege. It is difficult to imagine what life would have been like for the Israelites who lived there at this time, although the Prophet Jeremiah does give us a clue in the book of Lamentations.
Lamentations 4:4-5 (NLT)
The parched tongues of their little ones stick to the roofs of their mouths in thirst. The children cry for bread, but no one has any to give them. The people who once ate the richest foods now beg in the streets for anything they can get. Those who once wore the finest clothes now search the garbage dumps for food.
A siege is designed to break a population through attrition, slowly starving them to death. There is no escape from a well laid siege. The result of Nebuchanezzar’s siege was the destruction of the city and the exile of the people to Babylon. Only a remnant was left.
In contrast to this King David talks about God crowning the year with a bountiful harvest (Psalm 65:11). When you look into the meaning of the Hebrew word for ‘crown’ we see that it means to be encompassed or surrounded. Rather than a siege that leads to death and destruction, this scripture shows that when we put ourselves in the place that God wants us to be then he lays siege to us and surrounds us with a bountiful harvest of his goodness. There is no way of escaping it!
