Zedekiah, also called Mattaniah, reigned as the final king over the House of Judah when Babylonian forces completed the exile of that nation in three stages between 604 BC and 585 BC. The king of Babylon executed Zedekiah's sons and all the nobles of Judah before his eyes at Riblah, blinded Zedekiah himself, bound him in bronze fetters, and carried him to Babylon, where he died in prison. Although no male heirs survived to inherit the throne, Zedekiah's daughters remained alive and formed part of the remnant that Johanan led into Egypt along with Jeremiah and Baruch. This event marked the end of the visible Pharez line of Judah's royal succession that had held the scepter promise from the time of David through Solomon and Rehoboam. Ezekiel 21:25-27 directly addresses Zedekiah as the profane and wicked prince whose iniquity would end, commanding the removal of the turban and crown with the declaration that nothing would remain the same, that the lowly line of Zerah would be exalted and the exalted line of Pharez abased, and that the throne would be overturned three times until the rightful heir, the Messiah, receives it. The survival of Zedekiah's daughters preserved the possibility for the prophesied healing of the ancient breach between Pharez and Zerah through a future marriage that would transfer the scepter while fulfilling the unconditional promise that David's dynasty would continue through all generations.

Zedekiah, originally named Mattaniah, was the last king of Judah, installed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in place of his nephew Jehoiachin after the second deportation in 597 BC. He was the youngest son of Josiah and Jehoiachin's uncle, and Nebuchadnezzar changed his name to Zedekiah upon making him a vassal king. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, having become king at twenty-one years of age. According to the chronicler's summary in II Chronicles 36, Zedekiah did evil in the sight of the Lord and refused to humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke directly from God's mouth. Despite having sworn an oath of loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar in God's name, Zedekiah stiffened his neck and hardened his heart, rebelling against Babylon just as his predecessors had done. This rebellion mirrored the pattern of the leaders, priests, and people of Judah, who transgressed more and more, following the abominations of the surrounding nations and defiling the temple that God had consecrated in Jerusalem. Zedekiah's rebellion, allying with Egypt against the explicit warnings of God and Jeremiah, proved catastrophic. Nebuchadnezzar returned in 587/586 BC and finished Judah for good, killing Zedekiah and his sons, destroying Jerusalem and the temple, and slaying most of the remaining citizens. This marked the third and most devastating deportation, following those of 604 and 597 BC. His reign thus represents the final collapse of the Davidic kingdom of Judah, the culmination of generations of covenant unfaithfulness despite repeated warnings from God's messengers, whom the people mocked, despised, and scoffed at until there was no remedy. Zedekiah's story fits within the broader narrative of divine judgment fulfilling covenant curses outlined in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. His failure to heed Jeremiah, despite direct prophetic warning, exemplifies the persistent stubbornness that Ezekiel describes as making Judah's sins worse than Israel's and even worse than Sodom's. The destruction under his rule fulfilled Jeremiah's prophecy of seventy years of desolation, allowing the land to finally enjoy its neglected Sabbath rests. His downfall thus serves as the historical hinge between the kingdom's fall and the eventual Babylonian captivity, setting the stage for the later Persian-era return that would, generations afterward, make possible the birth of the Messiah in the land of Judah.

The account of Zedekiah, originally named Mattaniah, is presented as an illustration of what it means to break a covenant and fail to escape the consequences, drawing directly from Ezekiel 17:11-18. After Nebuchadnezzar took the upper echelons of Judah's kingdom into captivity in Babylon, God granted a form of salvation to the remnant left in the land: they were permitted to remain, and Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as king. A covenant was established, and Zedekiah was placed under oath, requiring him and the kingdom to remain subservient to Babylon rather than attempting to rise up against it. However, instead of showing gratitude for the salvation that allowed the nation to continue, Zedekiah broke this agreement by seeking to throw off the yoke placed upon him, sending ambassadors to Egypt for military support. He had made his pledge only to survive the immediate crisis, but once that crisis passed, he pursued his own agenda, apparently unable to accept that God had placed him and the nation in this subservient position because of their spiritual condition. Though Zedekiah's rebellion was directed against Nebuchadnezzar, it was in truth a rebellion against God, since Nebuchadnezzar served as God's agent in the matter. It proved easier for Zedekiah to resist the human representative than to acknowledge and address the true spiritual reason behind his circumstances. God poses a rhetorical question through Ezekiel: "Will he who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still be delivered?" This is particularly striking because the covenant in question was not even directly with God but an agreement between men. Yet God answers His own question decisively in verse 18: because Zedekiah despised the oath, broke the covenant, and gave his pledge yet still acted treacherously, he would not escape. This episode connects directly to the warning given in Hebrews 2:1-4, where the author asks how anyone could escape if they neglect "so great a salvation." The parallel is instructive: if Israel's covenant, mediated through angels, was backed up by God with full consequences for disobedience, and if Zedekiah could not escape retribution for breaking a mere human covenant, then there is even less possibility of escape for neglecting the far greater salvation offered through Christ. Believers made a pledge at baptism, entering into the best covenant ever offered by God, one requiring absolute loyalty and subservience. Just as the exodus generation who covenanted at Sinai did not escape judgment, and just as Zedekiah individually did not escape after reneging on his agreement, so too will anyone who despises, neglects, or ignores their own covenant pledge fail to escape. This demonstrates that salvation is not merely a past event securing forgiveness of sins, but an ongoing relationship demanding continual faithfulness, one that can be jeopardized through neglect just as Zedekiah's was through rebellion.