LII. The narrative that follows is of the nature of an historical appendix, and is, to a great extent, identical with 2 Kings 24:18 to 2 Kings 25:30. For the most part, accordingly, the reader is referred to the Notes on those Chapter s. Whether the compiler of 2 Kings copied from the editor of Jere... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THE FOURTH MONTH. — Omitted in the Hebrew of 2 Kings 25:3, but supplied in the English version.... [ Continue Reading ]
WENT FORTH OUT OF THE CITY. — Omitted in 2 Kings 25:4. THEY WENT BY THE WAY OF THE PLAIN. — In 2 Kings 25:4 “_the king_ (not in the Hebrew) went (verb in the singular) the way toward the plain.”... [ Continue Reading ]
TO RIBLAH IN THE LAND OF HAMATH. — The descriptive words are omitted in 2 Kings 25:6. (See Note on Jeremiah 39:5.) HE GAVE JUDGMENT UPON HIM. — In 2 Kings 25:6, _they gave judgment._ So in the next verse “the king of Babylon slew” takes the place of “they slew” in 2 Kings 25:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SLEW ALSO ALL THE PRINCES OF JUDAH IN RIBLAH. — The fact is not stated in 2 Kings 25, but is found in Jeremiah 39:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PUT HIM IN PRISON TILL THE DAY OF HIS DEATH. — This also is an additional detail not mentioned in 2 Kings 25, and its absence is probably due to the fact that that was the earlier narrative of the two. The word for “prison” is a peculiar one, and differs from that in Jeremiah 52:31. Literally it... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE TENTH DAY OF THE MONTH. — 2 Kings 25:8 gives the “_seventh_ day.” We have no means of ascertaining which of the two statements is the more accurate. The Jews have always kept the _ninth_ day as a commemorative fast. And this date is given in the Syriac version of 2 Kings. WHICH SERVED THE KIN... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE HOUSES OF THE GREAT MEN. — More accurately, _all the great houses. _... [ Continue Reading ]
CERTAIN OF THE POOR OF THE PEOPLE. — Omitted in 2 Kings 25:11, and probably inserted here by an error of transcription, as the next verse states that the “poor of the land” were left in their own country. THE REST OF THE MULTITUDE. — Better, perhaps, _the remnant of the work-people,_ as in Proverbs... [ Continue Reading ]
(18-20) THE CALDRONS ALSO, AND THE SHOVELS... — The list in 2 Kings 25:14 omits the basons, the caldrons, the candlesticks, and the cups; in Jeremiah 52:15 it gives the definite article in the Hebrew “_the_ one sea,” and omits the “twelve brasen bulls. Strictly speaking, the bases (1 Kings 7:27) wer... [ Continue Reading ]
(21-23) AND CONCERNING THE PILLARS... — In 2 Kings 25:16 we have a list abbreviated by the omission of some of the measurements and of the number and arrangement of the pomegranates. “Chapiter” is the old English word for the “capital” of a column. ON A SIDE. — The exact meaning of the Hebrew is _t... [ Continue Reading ]
AN EUNUCH, WHICH HAD THE CHARGE OF THE MEN OF WAR. — Omit the article before “charge.” The Hebrew term (_Pakid_) conveys the meaning of “deputy,” a superintendent under a chief commander. The officer in question had probably, together with the persons named in Jeremiah 52:24, been more conspicuous t... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS THE PEOPLE... — Here the parallelism with 2 Kings 25, which goes on to give a brief summary of the history of Gedaliah and Ishmael, as narrated in Jeremiah 40-43, ceases, and the writer of the appendix goes on to give particulars as to the various stages of the deportation of the captives. I... [ Continue Reading ]
EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTY AND TWO PERSONS. — The comparatively small number indicates the ravages of the sword, the pestilence, and the famine to which Jeremiah so often refers. The captives were probably the scanty remnant of the defenders of the city, and the deportation that by Nebuzar-adan narrated i... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE THREE AND TWENTIETH YEAR OF NEBUCHADREZZAR... — There is no record of this final deportation, five years after the capture of the city, in the historical books. It probably followed on the conquest of Egypt predicted in Jeremiah 44:11; Jeremiah 44:28, and included some of those who had emigra... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE SEVEN AND THIRTIETH YEAR OF THE CAPTIVITY OF JEHOIACHIN... — The closing narrative is almost identical with that of 2 Kings 25:27, the only differences being (1) that “five and twentieth” stands for “seven and twentieth,” (2) that in Jeremiah 52:34 we have “the king of Babylon” instead of “th... [ Continue Reading ]