Jeremiah 52:23

or life, Jer 52:11. Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard, burns and spoils the city and temple, Jer 52:12-19. The two pillars of the temple, with their dimensions and ornaments, Jer 52:20-23. The officers of the temple, and several others, carried away captives into Babylon, and then slain by order of Nebuchadnezzar, Jer 52:24-27. The number of Jews that Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive in the seventh year of his reign, Jer 52:28; in his eighteenth year, Jer 52:29; and in his twenty-third year, Jer 52:30. Evil-merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, in the year of his accession to the throne of Babylon, (which was in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity, and the one hundred and ninety-first from the building of Rome, according to the computation of Varro), orders Jehoiachin to be taken out of prison, and treats him kindly for the remainder of his life, Jer 52:31-34. Verse 1 Zedekiah was one and twenty years old - See 2Kgs 24:18. Verse 2 And he did - evil - This and the following verse are the same as 2Kgs 24:19. Verse 3 Through the anger of the Lord - Here is a king given to a people in God's anger, and taken away in his displeasure. Verse 4 Ninth year - tenth month - Answering nearly to our January. Verse 5 So the city was besieged - It held out one year and six months. Verse 6 And in the fourth month - See the notes on Jer 39:1, etc. The fourth month answers nearly to our July. Verse 8 The army of the Chaldeans pursued - See on 2Kgs 25:5 (note). Verse 9 King of Babylon to Riblah - See the note on Jer 39:5. Verse 11 He put out the eyes of Zedekiah - See on Jer 39:7 (note). Verse 12 Now in the fifth month - Answering nearly to our August. Verse 13 And burned the house of the Lord - Thus perished this magnificent structure, after it had stood four hundred and twenty-four years three months and eight days. It was built A.M. 2992, and destroyed A.M. 3416. Verse 15 Those that fell away - The deserters to the Chaldeans during the siege. Verse 16 The poor of the land - See on Jer 39:1 (note). Verse 17 Also the pillars - See on Jer 27:19 (note). Verse 18 In reference to these verses see the parallel texts Exo 27:3 (note); 2Kgs 25:14-16 (note); 1Kgs 7:47 (note); 1Kgs 7:15 (note); 2Chr 3:15 (note); 1Kgs 7:20 (note), and the notes. Verse 24 The second priest - See the note on 2Kgs 25:18. The three keepers - The priests who stood at the door to receive the offerings of the people, see 2Kgs 20:9, and 2Kgs 23:4. Verse 25 Seven men - that were near the king's person - These were privy counsellors. Verse 28 On these verses Dr. Blayney has some sensible remarks; I will extract the substance. These verses are not inserted in 2 Kings 25. Are we to conclude from these verses that the whole number of the Jews which Nebuchadnezzar, in all his expeditions, carried away, was no more than four thousand six hundred? This cannot be true; for he carried away more than twice that number at one time and this is expressly said to have been in the eighth year of his reign, 2Kgs 24:12-16. Before that time he had carried off a number of captives from Jerusalem, in the first year of his reign, among whom were Daniel and his companions, Dan 1:3-6. These are confessedly not noticed here. And as the taking and burning of Jerusalem is in this very chapter said to have been in the fourth and fifth months of the nineteenth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, those who were carried into captivity at the date of those events cannot possibly be the same with those that are said to be carried away either in the eighteenth or twenty-third year of that prince. Nor, indeed, is it credible that the number carried away at the time that the city was taken, and the whole country reduced, could be so few as eight hundred and thirty-two, (see Jer 52:29 ); supposing a mistake in the date of the year, which some are willing to do without sufficient grounds. Here then we have three deportations, and those the most considerable ones, in the first, in the eighth, and nineteenth years of Nebuchadnezzar, sufficiently distinguished from those in the seventh, eighteenth, and twenty-third years. So that it seems most reasonable to conclude with Abp. Usher, in Chronologia Sacra, that by the latter three the historian meant to point out deportations of a minor kind, not elsewhere noticed in direct terms in Scripture. The first of these, said to have been in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, was one of those that had been picked up in several parts of Judah by the band of Chaldeans, Syrians, and others, whom the king of Babylon sent against the land previously to his own coming, 2Kgs 24:2. That in the eighteenth year corresponds with the time when the Chaldean army broke off the siege before Jerusalem, and marched to meet the Egyptian army, at which time they might think it proper to send off the prisoners that were in camp, under a guard to Babylon. And the last, in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, was when that monarch, being engaged in the siege of Tyre, sent off Nebuzaradan against the Moabites, Ammonites, and other neighboring nations, who at the same time carried away the gleanings of Jews that remained in their own land, amounting in all to no more than seven hundred and forty-five. Josephus speaks of this expedition against the Moabites and Ammonites, which he places in the twenty-third year or Nebuchadnezzar; but mentions nothing done in the land of Israel at that time. Only he says that after the conquest of those nations, Nebuchadnezzar carried his victorious arms against Egypt, which he in some measure reduced, and carried the Jews whom he found there captives to Babylon. But the Egyptian expedition was not till the twenty-seventh year of Jehoiachin's captivity, i.e., the thirty-fifth of Nebuchadnezzar, as may be collected from Eze 29:17; so that those who were carried away in the twenty-third year were not from Egypt, but were, as before observed, the few Jews that remained in the land of Judah. Verse 31 In the twelfth month - Answering nearly to our twenty-fifth of April, A.M. 3442. Lifted up the head of Jehoiachin - This phrase is taken from Gen 40:13. It is founded on the observation that those who are in sorrow hold down their heads, and when they are comforted, or the cause of their sorrow removed, they lift up their heads. The Hebrew phrase, lift up the head, signifies to comfort, cheer, make happy. Verse 32 Spake kindly - Conversed freely with him. Set his throne - Gave him a more respectable seat than any of the captive princes, or better than even his own princes had, probably near his person. Verse 33 And changed his prison garments - That is, Jehoiachin changed his own garments, that he might be suited in that respect to the state of his elevation. Kings also, in token of favor, gave caftans or robes to those whom they wish to honor. And he did continually eat bread before him - Was a constant guest at the king's table. Verse 34 And - there was a continual diet given him - This was probably a ration allowed by the king for the support of Jehoiachin's household. For other particulars, see the note on 2Kgs 25:30. All the days of his life - I believe these words have been by mistake added from the preceding verse. There, they are proper; here, they are tautological. They are wanting in the Septuagint and in the Arabic. The preceding words, עד יום מותו ad yom motho, "to the day of his death," are wanting in two of De Rossi's and one of Kennicott's MSS. Coverdale ends thus: - All the days of his life until he died. This is better than the common Version. Immediately after this verse my old MS. Bible adds the following words: And done is aftir that into caitifte is brougt Israel, and Jerusalem is bestroide, satte Jeremye the prophet weepund, and weiled with this lamentation Jerusalem; and with bitter inwit sighand and criand weilawai, seide. Then follows in red letters: Here beginneth the Lamentation of Jeremye, that is intitle Cenoth; with the sortynge out of Ebrue letters. Aleph: How sitteth aloon the city, etc. See something of a similar kind from other authorities, at the beginning of Lamentations. Masoretic notes Number of verses in this Book, 1365. Middle verse, Jer 28:11. Masoretic sections, 31.

The Babylonish Captivity. ( b. c. 588.) 12 Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem, 13 And burned the house of the Lord , and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire: 14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. 15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen. 17 Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord , and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the Lord , the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon. 18 The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. 19 And the basons, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the captain of the guard away. 20 The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord : the brass of all these vessels was without weight. 21 And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow. 22 And a chapiter of brass was upon it; and the height of one chapiter was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these. 23 And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates upon the network were a hundred round about. We have here an account of the woeful havoc that was made by the Chaldean army, a month after the city was taken, under the command of Nebuzaradan, who was captain of the guard, or general of the army, in this action. In the margin he is called the chief of the slaughter-men, or executioners; for soldiers are but slaughter-men, and God employs them as executioners of his sentence against a sinful people. Nebuzaradan was chief of those soldiers, but, in the execution he did, we have reason to fear he had no eye to God, but he served the king of Babylon and his own designs, now that he came into Jerusalem, into the very bowels of it, as captain of the slaughter-men there. And, 1. He laid the temple in ashes, having first plundered it of every thing that was valuable: He burnt the house of the Lord, that holy and beautiful house, where their fathers praised him, Isa. lxiv. 11 . 2. He burnt the royal palace, probably that which Solomon built after he had built the temple, which was, ever since, the king's house. 3. He burnt all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great men, or those particularly; if any escaped, it was only some sorry cottages for the poor of the land. 4. He broke down all the walls of Jerusalem, to be revenged upon them for standing in the way of his army so long. Thus, of a defenced city, it was made a ruin, Isa. xxv. 2 . 5. He carried away many into captivity ( v. 15 ); he took away certain of the poor of the people, that is, of the people in the city, for the poor of the land (the poor of the country) he left for vine-dressers and husbandmen. He also carried off the residue of the people that remained in the city, that had escaped the sword and famine, and the deserters, such as he thought fit, or rather such as God thought fit; for he had already determined some for the pestilence, some for the sword, some for famine, and some for captivity, ch. xv. 2 . But, 6. Nothing is more particularly and largely related here than the carrying away of the appurtenances of the temple. All that were of great value were carried away before, the vessels of silver and gold, yet some of that sort remained, which were now carried away, v. 19 . But most of the temple-prey that was now seized was of brass, which, being of less value, was carried off last. When the gold was gone, the brass soon went after it, because the people repented not, according to Jeremiah's prediction, ch. xxvii. 19 , &c. When the walls of the city were demolished, the pillars of the temple were pulled down too, and both in token that God, who was the strength and stay both of their civil and their ecclesiastical government, had departed from them. No walls can protect those, nor pillars sustain those, from whom God withdraws. These pillars of the temple were not for support (for there was nothing built upon them), but for ornament and significancy. They were called Jachin—He will establish; and Boaz—In him is strength; so that the breaking of these signified that God would no longer establish his house nor be the strength of it. These pillars are here very particularly described ( v. 21-23 , from 1 Kings vii. 15 ), that the extraordinary beauty and stateliness of them may affect us the more with the demolishing of them. All the vessels that belonged to the brazen altar were carried away; for the iniquity of Jerusalem, like that of Eli's house, was not to be purged by sacrifice or offering, 1 Sam. iii. 14 . It is said ( v. 20 ), The brass of all these vessels was without weight; so it was in the making of them ( 1 Kings vii. 47 ), the weight of the brass was not then found out ( 2 Chron. iv. 18 ), and so it was in the destroying of them. Those that made great spoil of them did not stand to weigh them, as purchasers do, for, whatever they weighted, it was all their own.