Bible Commentaries
2 Kings 25

Verses 1-30

2 Kings 25:0

1. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of that month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.

2. And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. [The siege lasted one year, five months, and twenty-seven days.]

3. And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed [reached a climax] in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

4. ¶ And the city was broken up [a breach was made in the walls by battering-rams, such as are depicted in the Assyrian sculptures], and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about [the city was completely invested]:) and the king went the way toward the plain [the Arabah, or valley of the Jordan].

5. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.

6. So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. [Nebuchadnezzar was not present at the storming of Jerusalem.]

7. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes [a Babylonian punishment] of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass [literally, with the double brass], and carried him to Babylon [the blinding of Zedekiah need not have been done by the conqueror himself].

8. ¶ And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan [Nebo gave seed], captain of the guard [chief of executioners], a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:

9. And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house [which were in the upper city], and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire.

10. And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

11. Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude [the rank and file of the fighting men], did Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carry away.

12. But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen [ploughmen].

13. And the pillars of brass [understand copper throughout] that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the Lord, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon.

14. And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.

15. And the firepans [snuff-dishes], and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away.

16. The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord; the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

17. The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the wreathen [lattice] work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work.

18. ¶ And the captain of the guard took Seraiah [probably the grandson of Hilkiah] the chief [high] priest, and Zephaniah the second priest [probably the high priest's deputy], and the three keepers of the door [threshold]:

19. And out of the city [of David] he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered [enrolled the names of such persons as were bound to serve in the army] the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city:

20. And Nebuzar-adan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah:

21. And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.

22. ¶ And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam [one of Josiah's princes], the son of Shaphan, ruler.

23. And when all the captains of the armies [who now came out of their hiding], they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.

24. And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.

25. But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal [probably suggests the motive], came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah [at a friendly meal in the governor's own house], that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah [soldiers left to support his authority].

26. And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt [and took Jeremiah with them, Jer 43:6 ]: for they were afraid of the Chaldees.

27. ¶ And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach [Man of Merodach] king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison [gave him precedence over the other captive kings];

28. And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon;

29. And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.

30. And his allowance [besides his own sustenance at the royal table, Jehoiachin had a daily allowance from the treasury] was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life. ["The author thus leaves the seed of David with a comforting thought an anticipation of the dawn that was soon to break,... promising an ultimate restoration of the seed of Abraham to God's grace and favour."]