Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
2 Chronicles 36:22

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2 Chronicles 36:22. Now in the first year of Cyrus — This and the following verse are supposed to have been written by mistake from the book of Ezra, which begins in the same way. The book of the Chronicles, properly speaking, does close with the twenty-first verse, as then the Babylonish captivity commences, and these two verses speak of the transactions of a period seventy years after. This was in the first year of the reign of Cyrus over the empire of the East which is reckoned to be A.M. 3468. But he was king of Persia from the year 3444 or 3445. See Calmet and Usher.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Failure, defeat and captivity (36:1-23)

The Chronicler spent much time describing the reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah, impressing upon his readers that good kings tried to be faithful to the Mosaic and Davidic covenants. They had to follow the Levitical order if they were to enjoy the promises given to the dynasty of David. With the death of Josiah, Judah quickly returned to its former ungodly ways. Successive kings followed disastrous policies, both political and religious, which resulted in God’s final judgment upon the nation. He allowed Babylon to conquer Judah, destroy Jerusalem, and take the people captive to a foreign land.

It is not the Chronicler’s purpose to record details of the conquest. These are given in Kings. Instead he draws attention to the reasons for Judah’s destruction: the unfaithfulness of the priests and the people, and their refusal to heed the warnings of the messengers God sent to them (36:1-21; see notes on 2 Kings 23:31-30).

Yet God did not cast off his people for ever. About seventy years later a new age dawned, when Cyrus, the Persian king who had conquered Babylon, announced that the Jews were free to return to their homeland and rebuild their nation. As formerly, that nation was to have its life centred on the temple in Jerusalem (22-23).

APPENDIX
Index of Parallel Passages

1 Chronicles

1 Samuel

-

1:1-30:31

1:1-9:44

-

10:1-14

31:1-13

2 Samuel

-

1:1-4:12

11:1-9

5:1-10

11:10-47

23:8-39

12:1-40

-

13:1-14

6:1-11

14:1-17

5:11-25

15:1-16:3

6:12-23

16:4-43

-

17:1-27

7:1-29

18:1-17

8:1-18

-

9:1-13

19:1-19

10:1-19

20:1

11:1

-

11:2-12:25

20:2-3

12:26-31

-

13:1-21:17

20:4-8

21:18-22

-

22:1-23:7

21:1-22:1

24:1-25

22:2-29:30

-

2 Chronicles

1 Kings

-

1:1-3:3

1:1-13

3:4-15

-

3:16-4:34

1:14-17

10:26-29

2:1-18

5:1-18

3:1-5:1

6:1-7:51

5:2-7:22

8:1-9:9

8:1-18

9:10-28

9:1-28

10:1-25

-

11:1-40

9:29-31

11:41-43

10:1-11:4

12:1-24

-

12:25-14:20

11:5-12:16

14:21-31

13:1-22

15:1-8

14:1-16:14

15:9-24

-

15:25-21:29

17:1-19

-

18:1-34

22:1-40

19:1-20:30

-

20:31-37

22:41-50

-

22:51-53

2 Kings

-

1:1-8:15

21:1-20

8:16-24

22:1-6

8:25-29

-

9:1-20

22:7-9

9:21-29; 10:12-14

-

9:30-10:11

-

10:15-36

22:10-23:21

11:1-20

24:1-27

11:21-12:21

-

13:1-25

25:1-26:2

14:1-22

-

14:23-29

26:3-23

15:1-7

-

15:8-31

27:1-9

15:32-38

28:1-27

16:1-20

-

17:1-41

-

18:1-12

29:1-31:21

-

32:1-33

18:13-20:21

33:1-25

21:1-26

34:1-33

22:1-23:20

35:1-27

23:21-30

36:1-21

23:31-25:30

36:22-23

-

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE DECREE OF CYRUS THE KING OF PERSIA

"Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath Jehovah, the God of heaven, given me; and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up."

Through the two great prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah God had foretold and prophesied exactly what and when the captivity of the Children of Israel would be terminated. It was Jeremiah who prophesied the exact duration of the captivity in Jeremiah 25 of his great prophecy. (See our comments on that chapter in the commentary, beginning on page 279.)

But another great prophet, namely Isaiah, had foretold and prophesied the nature and source of the very decree of Cyrus mentioned here even naming Cyrus generations before he was born. (See our discussion of this phenomenal prophecy on pp. 8, 9, in our Commentary on Isaiah. The prophecy is recorded in Isaiah 45:1 f, which is also discussed on pages 467 and the following pages of that commentary.)

There is no logical doubt whatever of the validity and integrity of those prophecies. The Jewish historian Josephus verifies them; and the very fact of such a thing as a captive nation being given permission to return to their own land, and even to be encouraged to do so, and aided financially in the project, is so contrary to the inclinations of human nature, so unheard of in any other instance, that the only intelligent conclusion must allow God as the Author of the prophecies.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

This and the next verse are repeated at the commencement of the book of Ezra Ezra 1:1-3, which was, it is probable, originally a continuation of Chronicles, Chronicles and Ezra together forming one work. See the introduction to Chronicles.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 36

Now at his death, Jehoahaz began to reign.

He was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for only three months in Jerusalem. And the king of Egypt came up, conquered him, and took him back as a captive to Egypt and made Eliakim his brother the king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, he reigned eleven years: he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. And against him came Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon ( 2 Chronicles 36:2-6 ).

And Nebuchadnezzar set upon the throne a vassal king, Jehoiachin, who was only eight years old and he reigned only for three months and ten days and did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. Now that's, for an eight-year old kid who only reigned for three months that's pretty good. Pretty bad.

And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and he made Zedekiah his brother the king over Judah and Jerusalem. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, he reigned for eleven years. He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord ( 2 Chronicles 36:10-12 ).

In fact, Zedekiah had Jeremiah thrown in the dungeon.

And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and he hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel. Moreover all of the chief priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: but they mocked the messengers of God, they despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon the young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed the beautiful vessels. And all of them that had escaped from the sword were carried away captive to Babylon; where they were the servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years ( 2 Chronicles 36:13-21 ).

Israel had existed for 490 years in the land which God had given unto them. Now, they were commanded in the law of Moses to let the land rest every seven years. They were to plant the land. They were to cycle their crops. Six years they were to plant. The seventh year they weren't to plant. Just that which grew up by itself. They were to eat it. But they weren't to plant any. Just let the land rest in the seventh year.

Now they failed to do that. They didn't obey the commandment of God, the law of God. So when God brought them into captivity He said, "And because they have not obeyed for the 490 years the Sabbath law but have planted the land year after year, I will allow the land to lie desolate for seventy years because there are seventy Sabbaths that were missed by the land." And so God said, "I'll just let the land lie for seventy years in order that the land might have its Sabbaths that it missed while the people were living there because they disobeyed the law of the Lord."

Here we find the captivity, the end of the nation and the beginning of what the scriptures call the time of the Gentiles from a biblical kind of a standpoint. The time of the Gentile reign beginning with Babylon and the Babylonian kingdom which will move to the Medo-Persian kingdom, which will move to the Grecian kingdom, which will move to the Roman empire, which finally will move into a ten-nation federation in the last days. Ten-nation European federation which we see taking place today.

But it is interesting that God in declaring, first of all, His love and because He loved them He sent His prophets, but they wouldn't listen. They mocked the prophets. They despised the word of God. They misused the prophets of God. Therefore, the judgment was sealed by themselves. God withdrew His hand of protection. God withdrew His hand of blessing and judgment came.

What lessons there are for us to learn. "If you forsake the Lord," the prophet said, "you will be forsaken by the Lord." They forsook God. They were forsaken by God and are now carried away captive. Whenever they worshipped God, whenever they served the Lord, they were strong. God made them strong. God gave them victory over their enemies. They dwelt safely in the land. The land prospered. Whenever they turned their backs on God, their enemies were victorious against them. They were oppressed by their enemies and it was a time of national weakness and decline. Lessons that we need to pay close attention to in this day in which we live as we, too, have enjoyed the benefits and a nation, living in a nation where God was placed by the founding fathers at the heart of the national life. But even as they forsook God, so have we forsaken God. And we cannot long exist without God's help.

We dare not to think of ourselves ever as independent from God. And our nation is in serious trouble tonight. Our leaders are beginning to tell us more and more about how serious that danger is. May God help us if it is not already too late to turn to God with all of our hearts.

Now the last two verses of this chapter are the same as the first two verses of the book of Ezra. So there is a definite tie between II Chronicles and Ezra. Ezra begins when they, after the seventy years of captivity, as they come back into the land. The book of Ezra and Nehemiah cover this period of the rebuilding of the temple after the seventy years of Babylonian captivity.

So next week we move into Ezra. We jump now the seventy years of Babylonian captivity. If you would like to really do some diligent Bible study, you should read this week along with the book of Ezra the books of Daniel and Ezekiel, because it is during this seventy years that they are in captivity that the books of Daniel and Ezekiel were written. So to get some, really, background and color, you should read Daniel and Ezekiel along with Ezra this week. I'd like to challenge you to do that.

It may mean that you won't be able to watch Soap or Dallas. But I'll tell you what, you'll be a lot better off at the end of the week if you don't pollute your mind with that stuff anyhow. I'd like to just challenge you to do it. I hope you'll take up that challenge. I'll do it, and I challenge you to do it. You're not going to have much time to study anyhow. Soon be over, you might as well find out what it's going to be like. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

R. The Edict of Cyrus 36:22-23

These two verses reflect the whole mood of Chronicles. Rather than ending with the failure of man, the writer concluded by focusing attention on the faithfulness of God (cf. Lamentations 3:22-23). God was in control of the Persian king as He had controlled the kings of Babylon, Egypt, and Israel. God had promised Israel a future as a nation. His people would experience this future under the rule of a perfect Davidic Son. Yahweh was moving now-after 70 years of captivity-to bring that future to pass (cf. Isaiah 9:7). Even though the Babylonian army had burned Yahweh’s temple to the ground (2 Chronicles 36:19), it would rise again (2 Chronicles 36:23).

The message to the returned exiles was clear. God would respond to their repentance (2 Chronicles 6:36-39). He would forgive their sin and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14). Moreover, He would raise up a descendant of David who would rule over not only Israel but all the nations forever (1 Chronicles 17:11-14).

"Now that Cyrus had decreed the rebuilding of the temple (2 Chronicles 36:22-23), here was prima facie evidence that God had not annulled His covenant with Israel nor the Levitical system revealed at Sinai." [Note: George Harton, "Fulfillment of Deuteronomy 28-30 in History and in Eschatology" (Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1981), p. 190.]

The closing words of Chronicles are identical to the opening ones in Ezra. If the same person wrote both books, he may have duplicated this pivotal information to tie the events of these two books together. If different people wrote them, the writer of Chronicles probably included this material to present a note of hope at the end of his "sermon." [Note: See Menahem Haran, "Explaining the Identical Lines at the End of Chronicles and the Beginning of Ezra," Bible Review 2:3 (Fall 1986):18-20, for one explanation of the duplication, and Edwin Yamauchi, "Ezra-Nehemiah," in I Kings-Job, vol. 4 of Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 573, for another.]

"Unlike the Book of Kings, with its central message of stern moral judgments . . . Chronicles exists essentially as a book of hope, grounded on the grace of our sovereign Lord." [Note: Payne, "1, 2 Chronicles," p. 559.]

"If Chronicles in its last chapter tells us that God acted in mercy by restoring his people Judah, Ezra-Nehemiah will reveal to us how they fared upon their return, privileged with a new opportunity to be God’s people in their own land." [Note: J. G. McConville, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, p. 1.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Ver. 22,23. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,.... These two verses are the same with which the next book, the book of Ezra, begins, where they will be explained; and these two books, the one ending and the other beginning with the same words, is a strong presumption, that one and the same person, Ezra, is the writer of them both; or rather, as a learned e writer conjectures, these two verses are added by some transcriber, who, having finished the book of Chronicles at verse twenty one went on with the book of Ezra, without any stop; but, perceiving his mistake, broke off abruptly; for so it is plain these verses conclude; however, this shows, as the same writer observes, that the book of Ezra followed that of the Chronicles, in the Hebrew copies, though it now does not.

e Dr. Kennicott's Dissert. 1. p. 492, &c.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,   23 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.

      These last two verses of this book have a double aspect. 1. They look back to the prophecy of Jeremiah, and show how that was accomplished, 2 Chronicles 36:22; 2 Chronicles 36:22. God had, by him, promised the restoring of the captives and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, at the end of seventy years; and that time to favour Sion, that set time, came at last. After a long and dark night the day-spring from on high visited them. God will be found true to every word he has spoken. 2. They look forward to the history of Ezra, which begins with the repetition of 2 Chronicles 36:22; 2 Chronicles 36:23; Ezra 1:1-3. They are there the introduction to a pleasant story; here they are the conclusion of a very melancholy one; and so we learn from them that, though God's church be cast down, it is not cast off, though his people be corrected, they are not abandoned, though thrown into the furnace, yet not lost there, nor left there any longer than till the dross be separated. Though God contend long, he will not contend always. The Israel of God shall be fetched out of Babylon in due time, and even the dry bones made to live. It may be long first; but the vision is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak and not lie; therefore, though it tarry, wait for it.