_A.M. 3416. B.C. 588._ Jerusalem is besieged, 2 Kings 25:1. Zedekiah taken; his sons slain; and his eyes put out, 2 Kings 25:5. Nebuzar-adan burns the city and temple, breaks down the walls, and carries away the spoils with most of the people, 2 Kings 25:8. The chief officers are put to death, 2 Ki... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nebuchadnezzar came, and all his host, against Jerusalem_ To chastise Zedekiah for his rebellion and perjury: for, contrary to the solemn oath he had taken, he had been contriving and endeavoring to revolt from the king of Babylon, and shake off his yoke. _They built forts against it round about_ T... [ Continue Reading ]
_The famine prevailed in the city_ So that for a long time they ate their bread, as Ezekiel foretold they should do, (Ezekiel 4:16,) _by weight and with care_, and _drunk their water by measure and with astonishment_, perceiving the quantity of it lessening fast every day, and having no hope of a fr... [ Continue Reading ]
_The city was broken up_ It was taken by storm, the besiegers having made a breach in the wall, at which they forced their way into it. _All the men of war fled_ Being unable any longer to defend the city, they endeavoured to quit it, which many of them found means to do _by the way of the gate betw... [ Continue Reading ]
_The army of the Chaldees pursued after the king_ Intelligence was soon given of his flight, and which way he was gone, so that they soon overtook him. _And all his army_ His guards; _were scattered from him_ Every man shifting for his safety. Had he made his peace with God, and put himself under hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_And brought him to the king of Babylon, to Riblah_ Where Nebuchadnezzar stayed, that he might both supply the besiegers with men and military provisions, as their occasions required, and have an eye to Chaldea, to prevent or suppress any commotions which might happen there in his absence. _They gav... [ Continue Reading ]
_They slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes_ Though they were but children, that this spectacle, the last he was to behold, might leave a deep and durable impression of grief and horror upon his spirit. And in slaying his sons they in effect declared that the kingdom was no more, and that neithe... [ Continue Reading ]
_And in the fifth month_, &c. Though we have reason to think the Chaldeans were much enraged against the city, for holding out with so much stubbornness; yet they did not, therefore, put all to fire and sword as soon as they had taken the city, which is too commonly done in such cases; but about a m... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he burnt the house of the Lord_ The king of Babylon, it appears, did not design to send any colonies to people Judea, and therefore ordered Jerusalem to be laid in ashes, as a nest of rebels. “At the burning of the king's house,” says Henry, _“and the houses of the great men_, one cannot much w... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now the rest of the people that were left in the city_ Whom neither the sword nor famine had destroyed, who were eight hundred and thirty-two persons, (Jeremiah 52:29,) being members and traders of that city: for it is likely that there were very many more of the country people fled thither, who we... [ Continue Reading ]
_The pillars of brass, &c., did the Chaldees break in pieces_ Because they were too cumbersome to be carried away whole. _And carried the brass of them to Babylon_ As was foretold Jeremiah 27:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The captain of the guard took Seraiah, the chief priest_ The high-priest, grandson of that Hilkiah mentioned 2 Kings 22:4, and father of Jehosadak, who, it seems, was taken with his father; and when his father was slain, (2 Kings 25:21,) was carried away to Babylon, as is observed 1 Chronicles 6:13... [ Continue Reading ]
_Brought them to the king of Babylon_ That he might dispose of them as he thought fit, they being not vulgar persons like those whom he had ordered to be carried captive or left in the land. _The king of Babylon smote them_ Ordered them all to be put to death, when in reason they might have hoped th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Over them he made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, ruler_ A righteous and good man, and a friend to the Prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 26:24. Ahikam, his father, was a person in such credit in all the latter reigns, that he had been able to screen Jeremiah from the resentment of the king and the fury of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_When all the captains of the armies_ Who escaped when Zedekiah was taken; _heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor_ One of themselves, and that things were put into a good posture: _there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah_ A place in the land of Benjamin, famous in Samuel's time; _Ishmae... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gedaliah sware to them_ Assured them by his promise and oath, that if they would be patient and peaceable under the government of the king of Babylon, and would conduct themselves properly, they should be kept from the evils which they feared. This he might safely swear, because he had not only Neb... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ishmael, of the seed royal, came_ Moved with envy at Gedaliah's advancement, and the happy settlement of the people under him; _and ten men with him_ That is, ten captains or officers, and under each of them many soldiers. _And smote Gedaliah, and the Jews and Chaldees_, &c. Resolved to ruin him an... [ Continue Reading ]
_And all the people arose, and came to Egypt_ Contrary to the persuasion of Jeremiah, who pressed them to stay in the land, that it might not altogether lie uncultivated, (seeing they were to be settled in it again, according to the word of the Lord by the Prophet Isaiah, chap. Isaiah 44:28, and Isa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Evil-merodach, king of Babylon_ “Nebuchadnezzar, the father of Evil-merodach, died in the year of the world 3442, and before Christ 562, after he had reigned from the death of his father, according to the Babylonish account, forty-three years. He was certainly one of the greatest princes that had a... [ Continue Reading ]