1Thus it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his forces came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. 2And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 4And the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans were encamped all around against the city. And the king went the way toward the plain. 5And the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 6So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment upon him. 7And they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and brought him to Babylon. 8And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9He burned the house of Jehovah and the king's house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of distinction, he burned with fire. 10And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around. 11And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who remained in the city and the defectors who had fallen out to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude. 12But the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers. 13The bronze pillars that were in the house of Jehovah, and the carts and the bronze sea that were in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the bronze to Babylon. 14They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils which were used in service. 15The firepans and the basins, the things of gold in gold and of silver in silver, the captain of the guard carried away. 16The two pillars, one Sea, and the carts, which Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah, the bronze of all these articles was without weight. 17The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with a network. 18And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. 19He also took out of the city an official who had charge of the men of war, five men who were found in the city who looked after the king's presence, the chief marshal of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. 20So Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21And the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its land. 22And he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left. 23And when all the commanders of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Careah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 24And Gedaliah swore before them and their men, and said to them, Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. 25But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, came with ten men and struck Gedaliah, the Jews, as well as the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah, so that they died. 26And all the people, small and great, and the commanders of the forces, arose and went to Egypt; for they were afraid before the Chaldeans. 27And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. 28He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 29And Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread continually before him all the days of his life. 30And a continual allowance was rationed to him by the king, the matter day by day, all the days of his life.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 JERUSALEM AGAIN BESIEGED. (
2Kgs 25:1-3)
Nebuchadnezzar . . . came . . . against Jerusalem--Incensed by the revolt of Zedekiah, the Assyrian despot determined to put an end to the perfidious and inconstant monarchy of Judea. This chapter narrates his third and last invasion, which he conducted in person at the head of an immense army, levied out of all the tributary nations under his sway. Having overrun the northern parts of the country and taken almost all the fenced cities (
Jer 34:7), he marched direct to Jerusalem to invest it. The date of the beginning as well as the end of the siege is here carefully marked (compare
Ezek 24:1;
Jer 39:1;
Jer 52:4-
Jer 52:6); from which it appears, that, with a brief interruption caused by Nebuchadnezzar's marching to oppose the Egyptians who were coming to its relief but who retreated without fighting, the siege lasted a year and a half. So long a resistance was owing, not to the superior skill and valor of the Jewish soldiers, but to the strength of the city fortifications, on which the king too confidently relied (compare
Jer 21:1-
Jer 21:14; Jer. 37:1-38:28).
pitched against it, and . . . built forts--rather, perhaps, drew lines of circumvallation, with a ditch to prevent any going out of the city. On this rampart were erected his military engines for throwing missiles into the city.
3 on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed--In consequence of the close and protracted blockade, the inhabitants were reduced to dreadful extremities; and under the maddening influence of hunger, the most inhuman atrocities were perpetrated (
Lam 2:20,
Lam 2:22;
Lam 4:9-
Lam 4:10;
Ezek 5:10). This was a fulfilment of the prophetic denunciations threatened on the apostasy of the chosen people (
Lev 26:29;
Deut 28:53-
Deut 28:57;
Jer 15:2;
Jer 27:13;
Ezek 4:16).
4 ZEDEKIAH TAKEN. (2Ki. 25:4-30)
the city was broken up--that is, a breach was effected, as we are elsewhere informed, in a part of the wall belonging to the lower city (
2Chr 32:5;
2Chr 33:14).
the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden--The king's garden was (
Neh 3:15) at the pool of Siloam, that is, at the mouth of the Tyropćon. A trace of the outermost of these walls appears to be still extant in the rude pathway which crosses the mouth of the Tyropćon, on a mound hard by the old mulberry tree, which marks the traditional spot of Isaiah's martyrdom [ROBINSON]. It is probable that the besiegers had overlooked this pass.
the king went . . . toward the plain--that is, the Ghor, or valley of Jordan, estimated at five hours' distance from Jerusalem. The plain near Jericho is about eleven or twelve miles broad.
6 they took the king, and brought him . . . to Riblah--Nebuchadnezzar, having gone from the siege to oppose the auxiliary forces of Pharaoh-hophra, left his generals to carry on the blockade, he himself not returning to the scene of action, but taking up his station at Riblah in the land of Hamath (
2Kgs 23:33).
they gave judgment upon him--They, that is, the council (
Jer 39:3,
Jer 39:13;
Dan 6:7-
Dan 6:8,
Dan 6:12), regarding him as a seditious and rebellious vassal, condemned him for violating his oath and neglecting the announcement of the divine will as made known to him by Jeremiah (compare
Jer 32:5;
Jer 34:2;
Jer 38:17). His sons and the nobles who had joined in his flight were slain before his eyes (
Jer 39:6;
Jer 52:10). In conformity with Eastern ideas, which consider a blind man incapable of ruling, his eyes were put out, and being put in chains, he was carried to perpetual imprisonment in Babylon (
Jer 52:11), which, though he came to it, as Ezekiel had foretold, he did not see (
Jer 32:5;
Ezek 12:13;
Ezek 17:16).
8 on the seventh day of the month . . . came Nebuzar-adan--(compare
Jer 52:12). In attempting to reconcile these two passages, it must be supposed either that, though he had set out on the seventh, he did not arrive in Jerusalem till the tenth, or that he did not put his orders in execution till that day. His office as captain of the guard (
Gen 37:36;
Gen 39:1) called him to execute the awards of justice on criminals; and hence, although not engaged in the siege of Jerusalem (
Jer 39:13), Nebuzar-adan was despatched to rase the city, to plunder the temple, to lay both in ruins, demolish the fortifications, and transport the inhabitants to Babylon. The most eminent of these were taken to the king at Riblah (
2Kgs 25:27) and executed, as instigators and abettors of the rebellion, or otherwise obnoxious to the Assyrian government. In their number were Seraiah, the high priest, grandfather of Ezra (
Ezra 7:1), his sagan or deputy, a priest of the second order (
Jer 21:2;
Jer 29:25,
Jer 29:29;
Jer 37:3).
18 the three keepers of the door--not mere porters, but officers of high trust among the Levites (
2Kgs 22:4;
1Chr 9:26).
19 five men of them that were in the king's presence--that is, who belonged to the royal retinue. It is probable that there were five at first, and that other two were found afterwards (
Jer 52:25).
22 Nebuchadnezzar . . . made Gedaliah . . . ruler--The people permitted to remain were, besides the king's daughters, a few court attendants and others (
Jer 40:7) too insignificant to be removed, only the peasantry who could till the land and dress the vineyards. Gedaliah was Jeremiah's friend (
Jer 26:24), and having, by the prophet's counsel, probably fled from the city as abandoned of God, he surrendered himself to the conqueror (
Jer 38:2,
Jer 38:17), and being promoted to the government of Judea, fixed his provincial court at Mizpeh. He was well qualified to surmount the difficulties of ruling at such a crisis. Many of the fugitive Jews, as well as the soldiers of Zedekiah who had accompanied the king in his flight to the plains of Jericho, left their retreats (
Jer 40:11-
Jer 40:12) and flocked around the governor; who having counselled them to submit, promised them on complying with this condition, security on oath that they would retain their possessions and enjoy the produce of their land (
Jer 40:9).
25 Ishmael . . . of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah--He had found refuge with Baalis, king of the Ammonites, and he returned with a bad design, being either instigated by envy of a governor not descended from the house of David, or bribed by Baalis to murder Gedaliah. The generous governor, though apprised of his intentions, refused to credit the report, much less to sanction the proposal made by an attached friend to cut off Ishmael. The consequence was, that he was murdered by this same Ishmael, when entertaining him in his own house (
Jer 41:1).
26 and all the people . . . came to Egypt--In spite of Jeremiah's dissuasions (
Jer 43:7-
Jer 43:8) they settled in various cities of that country (
Jer 44:1).
27 seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin--corresponding with the year of Nebuchadnezzar's death, and his son Evil-merodach's ascension to the throne.
Evil-merodach . . . did lift up the head of Jehoiachin . . . and spake kindly--gave him liberty upon parole. This kindly feeling is said to have originated in a familiar acquaintance formed in prison, in which Evil-merodach had lain till his father's death, on account of some malversation while acting as regent during Nebuchadnezzar's seven years' illness (
Dan 4:32-
Dan 4:33). But doubtless the improvement in Zedekiah's condition is to be traced to the overruling providence and grace of Him who still cherished purposes of love to the house of David (
2Sam 7:14-15).
29 Jehoiachin . . . did eat . . . continually before him--According to an ancient usage in Eastern courts, had a seat at the royal table on great days, and had a stated provision granted him for the maintenance of his exiled court.
