Historical Appendix to the Book This ch. except Jeremiah 52:28, whose source is unknown, is taken from 2 Kings 24:18; 2Ki 25:21; 2 Kings 25:27-30, but in some cases the text here has been more faithfully preserved than that in 2 Kings Vv4-11, 13-16 here have already appeared in Jeremiah 39:1-2; Jer... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah 52:1-11. Capture of the city 1. _Zedekiah was one and twenty years old_ So 2 Chronicles 36:11, but, if we compare 1 Chronicles 3:15 and 2 Kings 23:31 (2 Chronicles 36:2), we find that, supposing the numbers which we now read there to be correct, Zedekiah should by this time have been thirt... [ Continue Reading ]
_in the tenth month_ Cp. Zechariah 8:19 for the memorial fast. _Nebuchadrezzar_ the more accurate form of the name. See on ch. Jeremiah 21:2. _forts_ some kind of bulwarks, or siege-wall.... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the fourth month_ In memory of this date also, a fast was appointed (Zechariah 8:19). The numeral, which was dropped out of the Kgs. narrative, here survives. _famine_ described in detail in Lamentations (Jeremiah 2:19 f., Jeremiah 4:3 ff., Jeremiah 5:10). Cp. Ezekiel 4:16 f., Jeremiah 5:16 f.... [ Continue Reading ]
See on Jeremiah 39:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lamentations 4:19 f. may perhaps refer to this, in which case the circumstances probably were these, that one body of Chaldaeans followed, and another laid wait in the plain. Cp. Ezekiel 12:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Riblah_ See on Jeremiah 39:5. _he gave judgement upon him_ For mg. _spake judgements with him_see on Jeremiah 1:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
_he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah_ omitted in 2 Kgs.... [ Continue Reading ]
These _vv_. appear in a shorter form in 2 Kings 25:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
_he put out the eyes_ See on Jeremiah 34:3, and Jeremiah 39:7. _and put him in prison till the day of his death_ an addition to the narrative in 2 Kgs. _prison_ lit. _the house of visitations_, i.e. of punishment. The LXX render _mill_, of which rendering there is also a trace in Jeremiah 39:7 in... [ Continue Reading ]
Severities following upon the capture 12. From this to Jeremiah 52:23, a part of the narrative which has been summarized in Jeremiah 39:8-10, we find in almost verbal accord with 2 Kings 25:8-17. _in the fifth month_ See Zechariah 7:3 for the commemorative fast. _tenth_ 2 Kgs has _seventh_. We ha... [ Continue Reading ]
_every great house_ We must render as mg. _every great man's house_, but the Heb. expression is a strange one.... [ Continue Reading ]
The whole _v_. is omitted by the LXX. The words "of the poorest sort of the people and" seem to have come in from the next _v_. through an error of sight on the part of a copyist. The three classes of persons actually spoken of in the _v_. appear to be (_a_) those found within the city at the time o... [ Continue Reading ]
This description of the fate of the Temple furniture is much fuller than that in the Kings passage, and has no parallel in ch. 39. For the vessels mentioned in this _v_., see on ch. Jeremiah 27:19 with note. They were too large to be conveniently carried as they were, and so were broken and taken to... [ Continue Reading ]
_pots_ See 1 Kings 7:45. They were used (Exodus 27:3) for the altar of burnt offering. _snuffers_ for the lamps (Exodus 25:38; Numbers 4:9). _basons_ lit. _tossing-vessels_, to toss (not "sprinkle" as in E.VV. in Leviticus 1:5; Leviticus 1:11; Leviticus 3:2, etc.), the blood of the sacrifices agai... [ Continue Reading ]
The cups, basons, and spoons are said in 1 Kings 7:50 to have been of gold. _candlesticks_ See 1 Kings 7:49. _bowls_ for libations in connexion with the table of "shewbread." Cp. Exodus 25:29 in C. B., where Driver suggests "chalices," and Numbers 4:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
_twelve brasen bulls that were under, etc_.] There appears to be some confusion in the MT. In the Temple as built by Solomon the bases were under the lavers, while the twelve bulls supported the sea. (1 Kings 7:25; 1 Kings 7:44.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_eighteen cubits_ a cubit was about 18 inches.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. 1 Kings 7:15-18.... [ Continue Reading ]
_a chapiter_ a capital. _five cubits_ From this, which agrees with 1 Kings 7:16, we must correct the "_three_cubits" of 2 Kings 25:17, unless we take the smaller number to denote the actual measurement of the network of the chapiter, excluding the pomegranates. _and pomegranates_ The Heb. for "net... [ Continue Reading ]
In 1 Kings 7:20; 1 Kings 7:42 each pillar is said to have had two rows of pomegranates, a hundred in each, the one above and the other below the ornamental network of the chapiters. It is possible that the account here may not be inconsistent with the existence of such a _double_row upon each chapit... [ Continue Reading ]
_Seraiah the chief priest_ probably identical with the ancestor of Ezra, mentioned Ezra 7:1. _Zephaniah_ See on Jeremiah 21:1. _keepers of the door_ Heb. _threshold_. See on Jeremiah 35:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
Omitted in ch. 39, but cp. with it 2 Kings 25:18-21.... [ Continue Reading ]
_seven men_ in 2 Kings (Jeremiah 25:19) _five_men. _saw the king's face_ were near his person as privileged members of the court. So in Esther 1:14. Cp. 2 Samuel 3:13; 2Sa 14:24; 2 Samuel 14:28. _scribe_ secretary. _mustered_ organised in military fashion.... [ Continue Reading ]
Enumeration of Nebuchadnezzar's captives 28. _in the seventh year_ These _vv_. are absent from the LXX and from 2 Kings 25 and apparently come out of a separate document from the rest. For "seventh" we should read _seventeenth_, for in Jehoiachin's captivity the number was far greater than is here s... [ Continue Reading ]
_the seven and thirtieth year_ b.c. 561. _five and twentieth_ 2 Kgs has _seven and twentieth_. _Evil-merodach_ See on Jeremiah 27:7. _lifted up the head_ For the phrase generally, but not always, used as here in a good sense cp. Genesis 40:13; Genesis 40:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
Last notice of Jehoiachin 31 34. Found with slight variations in 2 Kings 25:27-30.... [ Continue Reading ]
_set his throne above_ in general, _paid him more honour_. _the kings_ Captured kings were kept at the court of their conqueror to perpetuate the memory of his triumph as well as for security against rebellion. Cp. Judges 1:7. So Croesus dwelt at the court of Cyrus.... [ Continue Reading ]
_changed his prison garments_ Cp. Genesis 41:14; Luke 15:22. _did eat bread before him continually_ was admitted to the king's own table. Cp. 2 Samuel 9:7; 2 Samuel 19:33. So this privilege was accorded to Democêdês the Greek physician after his cure of Darius (Herod. III. 132).... [ Continue Reading ]
_until the day of his death, all the days of his life_ The latter of these clauses (absent from LXX) is probably either an addition to, or originally a substitution for, the former, in order to avoid the inauspicious ending with the word _death_.... [ Continue Reading ]