The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah
Jeremiah 39
Chapter XXXIX · Vol. III, pp. 1280–1281
1 Jerusalem is taken. 4 Zedekiah is made blind, and sent to Babylon. 8 The city laid in ruins, 9 and the people carried captive. 11 Nebuchadrezzar's charge for the good usage of Jeremiah. 15 God's promise to Ebed-melech.
1 In the aninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it.
A.M. cir. 3414. B.C. cir. 590.
a 2 Ki.25.1,2. ch.52.4,5. Le.26.25. De.28.49-57.
2 And in the eleventh year1 of Zedekiah, in the bfourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.2
1 B.C. cir. 588.
b Zec.8.19.
2 Taken by storm, Mi.2.12,13. Le.26.30-32. De.4.26; 28.49-52,63;32.22-25. Jos.23.15,16. 2 Ki.21.12-15;22.16,17. Ps.44.9,16; 74.1-10; 79.1-7; 80.12-16; 89.38-45. Pr.1.24-32. Is.1.7,8,24; iii.;5.5-30;6.11,12;8.21,22; 9.12-21; 10.1-4; 22.1-7,14; xxiv.; 26.21; 27.9-11; 29.1-6; 30.1-6; 31.1-3; 42.24,25; 47.6; 51.17-20; 64.10,11; 65.12;66.15,16,24, &c.
3 And call the princes of the king of Babylon dcame in, and sat in the middle gate, even eNergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.
4 And it came to pass, gthat when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate hbetwixt the two walls; and he went out the way of the plain.3
* 'The way of the Arabah,' i.e. the plain or valley of the Jordan. The king's gardens lay in the bottom of the Kidron, at the opening of the Tyropœon. Zedekiah probably escaped from Zion by a gate between that mount and Moriah, and then fled down the valley of the Kidron to the Arabah. He would thus escape notice, and have a tolerably level path.—P.
g Is.30.15,16. Am.2.14. ch.38.18; 4.13. Eze.12.12. ch.52.7.
h 2 Ch.32.5.
3 See note * in first column.
5 But ithe Chaldeans' army pursued after them, and jovertook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they khad taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah,4 in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.5
i Eze.12.13,14; 17.15-21. ch.32.4; 38.18,23; 52.8,9. La.4.20.
j La.1.3. Jos.5.10; 8.15. 2 Sa.15.28; 17.16. Mat.3.1.
k See ch.38.18.
4 Riblah. Supposed by some to be Daphne, by others Antioch, while by some it is placed in the tribe of Naphtali. See Nu.34.11. C.——Riblah is situated on the right bank of the river Orontes, at the northern end of the valley of Cœle-Syria where it opens into the great plain of Hamath. Nebuchadnezzar had established his head-quarters there, and a more fitting place could not have been selected. It is surrounded by a fertile plain, it has an unfailing supply of pure water, and it commands the three great highways from the north to Palestine and Egypt. By taking the eastern side of Anti-Lebanon, he could easily reach Damascus; by marching down the open valley of Cœle-Syria, he could enter Palestine at Dan; and by passing round the northern end of Lebanon through the 'entrance of Hamath,' he had access to all Phœnicia and the coast.—P.
5 Heb. spake with him judgments, ch.4.12.
6 Then the king of Babylon slew lthe sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
l ch.38.23; 21.7;24.8; 29.16-19;34.21;38.4.
7 Moreover, nhe put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with chains,6 to carry him to Babylon.
n ch.52.11; 32.4; 38.18. Eze.12.13.
6 Heb. with two brasen chains or fetters.
8 And the Chaldeans oburned the king's house, and the phouses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.
9 Then Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard,7 carriedq away captive into Babylon the remnant8 of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to him, with the rest of the people that remained.
7 Or, chief marshal. Heb. chief of the executioners or slaughter-men, and so ver.10,11. Ge.37.36.
8 The remnant who had adhered to the princes in their rebellion—for the king had sworn allegiance to Nebuchadrezzar (2 Ch.36.13. Eze.17.16,18)—and in their infatuated defence of the city contrary to the word of the LORD.—C.
q Le.26.33. De.4.27. 2 Ki.21.14. Ps.106.47. Is.5.13. ch.2.37; 10.13;16.13,15;20.4-6.
10 But Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard, rleft of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.9
r 2 Ki.25.11. ch.40.7.
9 Heb. in that day.
11 Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon sgave charge concerning Jeremiah to1 Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard, saying,
s ch.15.11,20,21;17.17, with 28.11. Job 5.19.
1 Heb. by the hand of.
12 Take him, and look well to him,2 and tdo him no harm, but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee.
2 Heb. set thine eyes upon him.
13 So Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard, sent, and Nebushasban, uRab-saris, and Nergalsharezer, Rab-mag, and all the king of Babylon's princes;
u ver.3.
14 Even they sent, and took Jeremiah vout of the court of the prison, and committed him unto xGedaliah the son of yAhikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him zhome:3 so he dwelt among the people.4
A.M. cir. 3416. B.C. cir. 588.
v ch.38.13,28. Ps.105.18-20.
x ch.40.5. 2 Ki.25.22.
y ch.26.24.
z ch.1.1;37.12.
3 Nebuchadrezzar would no doubt hear from the deserters the nature of Jeremiah's prophecy and advice, and hence this kind treatment may be readily accounted for. As an acknowledged or reputed prophet of the LORD, he may also have felt for him a respect that his unbelieving countrymen did not feel.—C.
4 Nebuzar-adan having been directed (ver.12) to allow Jeremiah perfect freedom, his choosing to return to the miserable remnant of paupers (ver.10) that Nebuchadrezzar had left, is every way worthy of admiration, ch.40.4. Such a generous sacrifice would have glorified a philosopher—shall it fail of due honour when exhibited in a prophet!—C.
15 Nowa the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, bwhile he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
a ch.1.1;2.1, &c.
b ch.38.13,28;32.2.
16 Go and speak cto Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; dBehold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day ebefore thee.
Notes
Ver. 2. The city was broken up. The walls being breached by battering-rams, the city sacked, and the inhabitants driven away or made prisoners.—Note, By a barbarous common consent, called 'a law of nations,' certainly, however, not a law of God, a city whose garrison has bravely held out till it is taken by storm, is delivered up to plunder. In such cases the infuriated soldiery are let loose from all restraint, their officers lose all control, and the city is literally 'broken up' by the hands of merciless destroyers. Lord, hasten the time when they shall 'beat their swords into ploughshares, and men shall learn war no more!' C.
Ver. 4. Betwixt the two walls. The Chaldeans had taken the city, but the citadel of Zion, in the south-west, was still, most probably, in the hands of Zedekiah. 'Betwixt the two walls' may accordingly mean that part of Zion to the north where the walls of the city and citadel approached; and the passage was, most likely, the way to the royal gardens in the vale of Gihon. The Jews have a tradition that the escape was by a subterraneous passage reaching to Jericho; and that the king would have escaped but that a hind, hunted by the Chaldeans, took refuge in the cave where the passage ended just as the king was emerging, and that he was thus miraculously made prisoner by the exulting Chaldeans. C.
Reflections.—Alas! how the families of the north sit in the gates of Jerusalem, and the lords of the heathen where their gods had been worshipped! God's judgments fearfully convince such as would not believe his threatenings. And fruitless are all attempts to flee from his judgment. But it will be awfully piercing to see our children murdered or lost through our obstinacy in sinning; and shut up at last in spiritual and eternal darkness through our obstinate ignorance of God's will! Marvellous, but just, are the changes and retributions of Providence; and the ruin of oppressors is the rise of the oppressed. God comforts his people, while the wicked are tormented; and heathens deliver them when hypocrites persecute them: yea, even prisons protect and mark them out for particular favours. Nor shall a cordial kindness to God's servants in trouble ever pass without distinguished honour and reward; and he will suit his comforts to the tears and griefs of his people. None that trust in him shall ever perish or be confounded.