Jeremiah 52:24-27

II. EVENTS SUBSEQUENT TO THE FALL OF JERUSALEM Jeremiah 52:24-34

A. The Execution of the Princes Jeremiah 52:24-27

TRANSLATION

(24) And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold. (25) He also took from the city an officer who had charge of the men of war, seven men who were personal advisers of the king who were found in the city, the secretary of the captain of the host who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. (26) And the king of Babylon smote them and had them killed at Riblah in the land of Hamath and deported Judah from upon his land.

COMMENTS

Jeremiah 52:10 alludes to the execution of the princes of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah; Jeremiah 52:24-27 expands upon that allusion by naming the princes who were slain. The passage is almost identical with 2 Kings 25:18-21. Nebuzaradan selected those who were highest in authority and therefore most responsible for the prolonged resistance of Jerusalem. At the head of these officials is Seraiah the chief of priests, who is not elsewhere mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah. Seraiah comes from a noble line of priests. He was the grandson of the great priest Hilkiah who is famous for his participation in the reforms of king Josiah; he was grandfather of Joshua who was high priest when the Temple was rebuilt after the Exile (cf. 1 Chronicles 6:13-15; Haggai 1:1). Ezra the scribe also descended from this Seraiah (Ezra 7:1). After Seraiah, the priest Zephaniah is mentioned. He is probably the same Zephaniah who is mentioned several other times in the Book of Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 21:1; Jeremiah 29:25; Jeremiah 29:29; Jeremiah 37:3). Zephaniah is called the second priest and it is not entirely clear whether this is an office or an order. According to 2 Kings 23:4 there were several second priests. Three keepers of the threshold were also among those executed at Riblah. These must have been high-ranking clergy who supervised the four thousand Levites (1 Chronicles 23:5) whose duty it was to prevent any disturbance or desecration of the Temple (cf. 2 Kings 12:10; 2 Kings 22:4; 2 Kings 23:4; Jeremiah 35:4).

In the second category of those executed are certain officials of state. The first such official is not named but is designated as the officer that was set over the men of war. Some commentators have suggested that this gentleman was the general who commanded the city garrison; others propose that he was a civilian official equivalent to minister of defense or the like. Seven men who saw the king's face i.e., who were part of the king's personal entourage were also among the executed. The account in the Book of Kings gives the figure here as five instead of seven. Perhaps two additional court officers were executed shortly after that day on which Zedekiah saw his princes slain and then had his own eyes put out. Kings would be counting only those slain in the initial execution while Jeremiah 52 is giving totals, The scribe of the captain of the host is next listed among the officials who were slain. His job it was to muster the people of the land. A scribe in the Old Testament is not merely one who knows how to write or a stenographer. Scribe is a title given to the highest officers of state.[429] This particular scribe was likely the head of the war department of Judah.[430]

[429] Cf. 2 Samuel 8:7; 2 Samuel 20:25: 2 Kings 12:11; 1 Chronicles 18:16; 1 Chronicles 27:32

[430] In 2 Chronicles 26:11 it is expressly stated that Uzziah's army went out by the hand of Jeiel the scribe i.e. Jeiel was the civilian official who organized and dispatched the host.

In addition to the priests and civilian officials, some sixty of the people of the land were also executed by Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 52:25). Frequently in the Old Testament the phrase people of the land has the meaning of landed gentry. However, since earlier in this verse the people of the land are the general populace who were mustered for military service, the expression likely has that same meaning here, In other words, sixty men were singled out from the, ranks of the conscripted soldiers for execution as a warning to the rest of the troops. The group that was destined for death was taken to Riblah to stand trial before Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 52:26). The king of Babylon smote them (perhaps had then flogged) and put them to death (Jeremiah 52:27).