The Second Book of the Kings, commonly called the Fourth Book of the Kings
2 Kings 24
Chapter XXIV · Vol. II, pp. 803–804
1 Jehoiakim, first submitting to Nebuchadnezzar, then rebelling against him, procureth his own ruin. 5 Jehoiachin succeedeth him. 7 The king of Egypt is vanquished by the king of Babylon. 8 Jehoiachin's evil reign. 10 Jerusalem is taken, and carried captive into Babylon. 17 Zedekiah is made king, and reigneth wickedly: he rebelleth, to the utter destruction of Judah.
1 In his days aNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.
2 And the LORD bsent1 against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, caccording to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets.
b 2 Ch.36.6,7. Is.10.5,6. Je.51.20-23. Eze.7.24; 16.36-43; 23.22-35,45-47.
1 B.C. 603.
c ch.20.17; 21.10-15; 22.16,17. Je.25.9; 26.20. Le.xxvi. De.xxviii.
3 Surely dat the commandment of the 2LORD came this upon Judah, to eremove them out of his sight, ffor the sins of Manasseh,3 according to all that he did;
d Am.3.6. Is.10.5,6; 45.7; 27.11
2 God is not the author of the sin, when by one wicked man he punishes another. The one that is guilty deserves the punishment; the one who desires to punish is given over to his own corrupt affections, which he follows, thereby fulfilling the righteous judgments of God.—C.
e ch.23.26,27. Le.26.33. De.4.26,27; 28.64. Je.15.4.
f ch.21.2-7,16; 22.16,17. 2 Ch.33.2-9. Je.15.1-4.
3 Not punishing them for the personal sins of Manasseh, but for those sins he taught them to practise, and in which they became such expert and infamous adepts.—C.
4 And also for the innocent blood that he shed, (for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood,) which the LORD would not pardon.
5 Nowg the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?
g 1 Ki.11.41,43; 14.29,31; 15.7,8,23,24; 22.45,50. ch.23.28; 21.17,25; 20.20-22; 16.19; 15.6,7,36,38.
6 So Jehoiakim hslept with his fathers:4 and Jehoiachin5 his son reigned in his stead.6
h 2 Ch.36.8. Je.22.18,19; 36.30.
4 B.C. 599.
5 It is necessary to remark that this king is called by other names, 1 Ch.3.16. Je.22.24. Mat.1.11. But nothing is more common in all ages than for the same person to be called by different names. Napoleon and Bonaparte is the most striking modern example—that conquering scourge of the nations being indiscriminately called by the one or the other title.—C.
6 This is not contradicted by Je.35.30, for Jehoiakim had not to sit upon the throne of David, Jehoiachin having scarcely ascended till he is cast away from the royal seat which Nebuchadnezzar did not permit him to occupy.—C.
7 And the king of Egypt icame not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken, from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
8 Jehoiachink was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem three months: and his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
k 1 Ch.3.16. Mat.3.12; 1.12. Je.22.24,28. 2 Ch.36.9. His father had made him prorex ten years before.
9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, laccording to all that his father had done.
A.M. 3405. B.C. 599.
l ch.23.37.
10 Atm that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city nwas besieged.
m 2 Ch.36.10. De.28.49. Le.26.25.
n Heb. came into siege, Le.26.25,26. De.28.52-57. ch.17.5,6. Hab.1.5-10.
11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.
12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah owent out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers:7 and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of phis reign.8
13 Andq he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces rall the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.9
q ch.20.17; 14.14. Is.39.6. 1 Ki.14.26. Je.20.5.
r For ch.25.13-15. Je.27.18-21. Da.5.2,3; 1.2.
14 And he scarried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour,1 even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsment and smiths: none remained, save the poorestu sort of the people of the land.
s Je.24.1,5; 52.28. 2 Ch.36.6,7. Eze.1.2.
1 Not all that were in the land, but all the warriors, nobles, and mechanics that were in the city.—C.
t 1 Sa.13.19,22. ch.25.12.
15 And xhe carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers,2 and the mighty of the land; those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
x 2 Ch.36.10. Es.2.6. Eze.1.2. Je.22.24-30. ver.12; ch.25.27,28.
2 Or, eunuchs.
16 And all ythe men of might,3 even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
y Je.52.28. Ps.76.5,6. ch.25.12. 1 Sa.13.19,22.
3 This expression generally refers to military prowess, but it also signifies wealth, Ge.34.29, and elsewhere; and this sense seems to be required here when compared with ver. 14. C.—This is evidently a supplementary account to that in ver.14. The total may be thus summed up: chiefs and warriors, 10,000; persons of property ('men of might'), 7000; craftsmen and smiths, 1000. Total, 18,000. That persons of property are denoted by 'men of might,' is clear from the distinction in this and the 14th verse.—I.
17 And zthe king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.4
z 2 Ch.36.11. Je.37.1; 52.1. 1 Ch.3.15. ch.23.34.
4 Mattaniah, 'gift of the Lord'—Zedekiah, 'justice of the Lord;' a change imposed in vindication of Nebuchadnezzar's severity, which he justifies by the act of providence that permits or inflicts, and not by the principle by which the agent is actuated.—C.
18 Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal,a the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
a ch.23.31.
19 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, baccording to all that Jehoiakim had done.
b ch.23.37. Je.24.8.
20 For cthrough the anger of the LORD5 it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah drebelled6 against the king of Babylon.
c ch.22.17; 17.12-18. De.4.24-27; 31.16,17; 32.15-27; 28.15-68.
5 'Through the anger of God' Zedekiah was given over to his own ways, Ro.1.24,28.—C.
d Je.27.12. Eze.17.3-21. Pr.14.14.
6 The temerity of this act would be astonishing and unaccountable were it not that, as usual, the renunciation was connected with an alliance with the king of Egypt, Pharaoh-hophra, the Apries of profane authors; compare Je.xlvii. Yet he is strongly reproved for having violated the oath he took to the king of Babylon. This was the filling up of the measure of his iniquity, and now the wrath of God descends upon this devoted king, city, and people to the uttermost.—I.
Notes
[Ver. 1. The history of the kingdom of Judah under Jehoiakim, as given in this book, is very brief; but from a comparison of Da. i., 2 Ch. 36. 6, and Je. 25. 1, sq., the following facts may be gleaned, and they throw light on the detached statements here made. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim Nebuchadnezzar set out on his first expedition against Palestine and Western Asia. His march across the desert must have occupied some time; then he met and conquered the Egyptians at Carchemish; then he conquered Northern Syria and Phœnicia; and at length, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, he besieged Jerusalem, and captured it about a month after. He took the king prisoner, bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon, and took some of the precious vessels of the temple to place them in the temple of Bel. For some reason which is not stated Nebuchadnezzar changed his purpose regarding Jehoiakim, and placed him again on the throne. He remained subject for three years, when he rebelled, probably because Nebuchadnezzar was engaged in other wars. The Babylonian king being unable himself to punish the rebel, appears to have sent against Judah bands of the Chaldees, Syrians, Moabites, &c., by whom the whole country was ravaged, and the last days of Jehoiakim rendered miserable. P.]
Reflections.—By their own wickedness men destroy themselves when they give themselves to sin. Multitudes of wicked men, for their own selfish purposes, are always ready to execute the righteous purpose of God; and all resistance is vain when God will judge. If men mourn not for their fathers' iniquities, they will smart for them: and not one jot or tittle of God's threatenings shall fail. In a day of wrath the vain confidences of sinners shall utterly fail them; and the mightiest arm of flesh will be a weak support against an angry God. In his great power he nips wicked princes in the bud, and lifts them up so their fall becomes the more ruinous and miserable. How craftily conquerers weaken the nations which they purpose to keep enslaved! But there is no evil in the city which the Lord hath not done. Hardened indeed must men be in wickedness, when the repeated miseries of their fellow-transgressors deter them not at all from treading in their steps. And a nation is on the verge of ruin, when God gives up her rulers to infatuation; and when, for the sin of a land, many and wicked are the princes thereof.