IN THE NINTH YEAR ... - As the final catastrophe approaches, the historian becomes more close and exact in his dates, marking not only the year, but the month and the day, on which the siege began, no less than those on which it closed 2 Kings 25:3. From Ezekiel 24:1 we find that on the very day whe... [ Continue Reading ]
The siege lasted almost exactly a year and a half. Its calamities - famine, pestilence, and intense suffering - are best understood from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, written probably almost immediately after the capture.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CITY WAS BROKEN UP - Rather, “broken into,” i. e., A breach was made about midnight in the northern wall Ezekiel 9:2, and an entry effected into the second or lower city (see the 2 Kings 22:14 note), which was protected by the wall of Manasseh 2 Chronicles 33:14. Precipitate flight followed on t... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah Jeremiah 38:23 and Ezekiel Ezekiel 12:13 had prophesied this capture; and the latter had also prophesied the dispersion of the troops 2 Kings 25:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO RIBLAH - See 2 Kings 23:33 note. A position from where Nebuchadnezzar could most conveniently superintend the operations against Tyre and Jerusalem. In the absence of the monarch, the siege of Jerusalem was conducted by a number of his officers, the chief of whom were Nebuzar-adan, the captain of... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE HIS EYES - This refinement of cruelty seems to have especially shocked the Jews, whose manners were less barbarous than those of most Orientals. It is noted by Jeremiah in two places Jeremiah 39:6; Jeremiah 52:10. AND PUT OUT THE EYES OF ZEDEKIAH - Blinding has always been among the most comm... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NINETEENTH YEAR OF KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR - 586 B.C., if we count from the real date of his accession (604 B.C.); but 587 B.C., if, with the Jews, we regard him as beginning to reign when he was sent by his father to recover Syria and gained the battle of Carchemish (in 605 B.C.). CAPTAIN OF THE G... [ Continue Reading ]
HE BURNT THE HOUSE OF THE LORD - Compare the prophecies of Jeremiah Jeremiah 21:10; Jeremiah 34:2; Jeremiah 38:18, Jeremiah 38:23.Psalms 79:1 is thought to have been written soon after this destruction of the temple.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FUGITIVES ... - It was from a fear of the treatment which he would receive at the hands of these deserters that Zedekiah persisted in defending the city to the last Jeremiah 38:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
There was probably an intention of seating colonists into the country from some other part of the Empire, as the Assyrians had done in Samaria 2 Kings 17:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PILLARS OF BRASS ... - All the more precious treasures had been already removed from the temple 2 Kings 24:13. But there still remained many things, the list of which is given in Jeremiah 52:17 much more fully than in this place. Objects in brass, or rather bronze, were frequently carried off by... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHOUT WEIGHT - The Babylonians did not take the trouble to weigh the brass as they did the gold and silver. In the Assyrian monuments there are representations of the weighing of captured articles in gold and silver in the presence of the royal scribes.... [ Continue Reading ]
Compare with this description the accounts in marginal references. The height of the capital (“three cubits”) must be corrected, in accordance with those passages, to “five cubits.”... [ Continue Reading ]
It devolved on Nebuzaradan to select for exemplary punishment the persons whom he regarded as most guilty, either in respect of the original rebellion or of the protracted resistance. Instead of taking indiscriminately the first comers, he first selected those who by their offices would be likely to... [ Continue Reading ]
OUT OF THE CITY - This clause shows that the five persons mentioned in 2 Kings 25:18 were taken out of the temple. FIVE MEN - Or, “seven men,” according to Jeremiah 52:25. It is impossible to say which of the two numbers is correct. OF THEM THAT WERE IN THE KING’S PRESENCE - See the margin. A mode... [ Continue Reading ]
SO JUDAH WAS CARRIED AWAY - The kingdom of the two tribes was at an end; and the task of the historian might seem to be accomplished. He still, however, desires to notice two things: (1) the fate of the remnant 2 Kings 25:22 left in the land by Nebuzaradan; and (2) the fate of Johoiachin, who, of... [ Continue Reading ]
We may be allowed to conjecture that Jeremiah, in gratitude for Ahikam’s service to himself Jeremiah 26:24, recommended his son Gedaliah to Nebuzaradan, and through him to Nebuchadnezzar, for the office of governor.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CAPTAINS OF THE ARMIES - i. e., the officers of the troops who had fled from Jerusalem with Zedekiah 2 Kings 25:4, and had then dispersed and gone into hiding 2 Kings 25:5. For Mizpah, see Joshua 18:26 note. THE NETOPHATHITE - Netophah, the city of Ephai (compare Jeremiah 40:8), appears to have... [ Continue Reading ]
As rebels against the Babylonian king, their lives were forfeit. Gedaliah pledged himself to them by oath, that, if they gave no further cause of complaint, their past offences should be forgiven.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah gives this history with much fullness of detail Jer. 41–43.... [ Continue Reading ]
The captivity of Jehoiachin commenced in the year 597 B.C. - the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar. It terminated 561 B.C. - the first year of Evil-merodach, the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar. He reigned only two years, being murdered by his brother-in-law, Neriglissar, or Nergal-shar-ezer. He is... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KINGS THAT WERE WITH HIM - Probably captive kings, like Jehoiachin himself. Compare Judges 1:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
Evil-merodach gave him garments befitting his rank. To dress a man suitably to his position was the first thought of an Oriental Genesis 41:42; Esther 8:15; Daniel 5:29; Luke 15:22. So again, Oriental kings regarded it as a part of their greatness to feed daily a vast multitude of persons at their c... [ Continue Reading ]
ALLOWANCE - From the treasury, in order to enable him to maintain the state proper to his rank, and in addition to his food at the royal table. Jehoiachin, to the day of his death, lived in peace and comfort at the court of Babylon (compare Jeremiah 52:34).... [ Continue Reading ]