Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. The last chapter forms no part of the book of Jeremiah, properly so called. We find in it events relative to the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple. After the remarks we have made, that which is said in it of Babylon will be easily understood.
I recapitulate here the principles of this book on account of their importance. The empire of Babylon, in consequence of the unfaithfulness of the house of David, was established by God Himself, and entrusted with the government of the world. But Babylon not only oppressed Israel, but set up idolatry, and corrupted the world. He who should have been a worshipper of the true God, and an instrument of His power, established, as far as he could, the influence of the enemy. God has judged him. The empire which God Himself established has been entirely overthrown. This judgment was executed against the pride of man, and against idolatry. At the same time it was the deliverance of Israel. This last consideration gave rise to a declaration on God's part of what Israel was to Him, and what it shall be in the last days. But the subject treated of is the Babylon of that day. Since then God has permitted other powers to exist, governing the world with universal dominion, until the final accomplishment of all His purposes. These empires have subsisted according to His will, have been raised up or cast down as He saw good. But neither of them has held precisely the same place as Babylon. None of them have been formally established in the place of Israel, nor has the destruction of any of them been the occasion of Israel's restoration. The word of prophecy assures us that at the end of the days, the judgment of the last empire will have this effect. The judgment of Babylon has, in a manner, foreshadowed it; as its moral character commenced the sad history of these monarchies, and served as a model to them in many respects as to the evil that should be developed until the end. But to understand the fundamental principles of this history, and the dealings of God, the place which this first empire held in these dealings must be clearly and distinctly kept in mind. Besides the immense fact of the substitution of empire in man's hand, for the immediate exercise of God's government on the earth, the diligent testimony which God sent, and the warnings to king after king, to people and to priests, is very striking in this book, the patience of God's love and interest.
For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about.
Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.
Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.
Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.
And the basons, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the captain of the guard away.
The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.
And a chapiter of brass was upon it; and the height of one chapiter was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these.
He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that were near the king's person, which were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.
In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.
And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison,
And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
Jer 52:1. Zedekiah was one-and-twenty years old- The present chapter, seems to belong to the book of Lamentations, and serves as a kind of proem to them. The generality of commentators are agreed, that this chapter could not be added by Jeremiah, not only because a great part of it is a repetition of what he himself had related in the 39th and 40th chapters of his prophesy, but because mention is made in it of the reign of Evil-merodach; and of some transactions which happened at the end of Jeconiah's reign, and after Jeremiah's death. Indeed, the chapter is chiefly taken out of the latter part of the second book of Kings, with some few additions, probably supplied by Ezra. It is therefore most reasonable, to conclude, that this chapter was added by Ezra, who designed this brief history of the desolations of the Jewish nation as an introduction to the book of Lamentations. See Grotius, Calmet, and the notes on 2Ki 24:18; 2Ki 24:20 to the end of chap. 25:
Jer 52:3. For through the anger of the Lord, &c.- For it was so because of the anger of JEHOVAH against Judah and Jerusalem. The particle כי ki, is here causal, and assigns a reason for what went before; namely, why Zedekiah succeeded Jehoiakim in the throne. This happened, it is said, "because of the anger of JEHOVAH;" not that JEHOVAH instigated either them or any man else to do wickedly; but it was of his special order and appointment, for the punishment of a wicked people, that men of such perverse and evil dispositions were advanced to be their kings. For having determined, as it is said, 2Ki 21:11-16 to execute a signal vengeance upon Judah and Jerusalem for the very heinous provocations that he had received during the reign of Manasseh, he first of all removed the good Josiah out of the way, from respect to whose piety he would not bring the evil in his days, and thus opened the succession to his sons, the badness of whose principles favoured the designs of God's justice, and led them to pursue measures equally fatal to themselves and their country. For hence it flowed, that to their other wicked and sinful actions they added one no less impolitic than profligate, that of rebelling against a prince, to whom they were engaged by all the ties of religion, honour, and gratitude; one who had power to crush them, and who exercised that power with the most unrelenting severity. Thus truly might it be said of the people of Judah, in the words of the prophet Hosea, chap. Jer 13:11. "God gave them kings in his anger, and took, or applied, them to the purposes of his indignation;" which indeed is but another way of expressing the sense here intended, namely, that it, Zedekiah's succession, was the consequence of the anger of JEHOVAH against Judah and Jerusalem, and designed finally to terminate in his removal of them out of his sight.
Jer 52:7. And they went by the way of the plain- In the parallel passage in Kings, it is, And the king went the way toward the plain.
Jer 52:25. An eunuch- An officer. So it is read in the parallel places.
Jer 52:32. And set his throne above the throne of the kings, &c.- And set his seat above the seat of the kings. This may easily be understood to signify, that the king of Babylon shewed him more respect and honour than he did to any of the other captive princes, by placing him nearest himself. See Est 3:1. It is probable, the phrase may have proceeded from the custom of placing cushions for persons of more than ordinary distinction in the place allotted them to sit in. See Harmer's Observ. ch. 6 obs. 26.
REFLECTIONS.-1st, We are here told,
1. The cause of the ruin of Zedekiah and the people. It was their sins which provoked God's wrath against them: and what particularly hastened their destruction was, his rebellion against the king of Babylon, in violation of the oath of God which was upon him; and this God permitted as a punishment for his former sins. Note; When sinners wilfully depart from God, he gives them up to their own folly; and usually nothing more is needful to push them on their destruction.
2. The instruments employed were, the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar, who, after a siege of about eighteen months, took the city by assault, the famine having disabled the besiegers, and the obstinacy of the king and princes preventing a surrender.
3. Too late the king, and the men of war who survived, attempted to escape. Though covered by the night, they are quickly pursued and taken. See the unhappy king dragged as a criminal before the Babylonish monarch; judgment passed upon him; his sons murdered before his eyes; his princes slain; and then, as if to fix upon his mind continually the memory of the shocking scene, his eyes put out; in chains carried to Babylon, and condemned in a prison to languish out the remainder of his miserable days. He would not be warned, therefore he must suffer for it.
2nd. A month after the taking of the city, we have an account of its entire demolition by Nebuzar-adan, sent for this purpose by Nebuchadnezzar: the temple is laid in ashes, after being plundered of all its vessels and all its brass; the quantity of which was immense, and the particulars of which are mentioned, to shew the exact fulfilment of the prediction, chap. Jer 27:19. The palaces and houses of Jerusalem are burnt to the ground, the walls razed, and the residue of the people, who survived the siege and famine, led captive by the Chaldean army. A melancholy scene! a warning to other nations, how dangerous it is to provoke a jealous God!
3rdly, When the sword is drawn, it is not quickly sheathed. We have,
1. The dreadful execution of seventy-four of the principal men, who were brought up by Nebuzar-adan to the king of Babylon at Riblah. The account in 2Ki 25:18-19 reckons them but seventy-two; some hence imagine, that Jeremiah and Ebed-melech were of the number who were taken, but afterwards released; or two, of less note than the rest, might not be there reckoned. All these were murdered in cold blood by Nebuchadrezzar's orders, as a punishment for their rebellion; and we must own this to be the just fate of traitors, while we condemn the cruelty of the Chaldean king.
2. Their repeated captivities in the seventh, the eighteenth, and twenty-third years of Nebuchadnezzar. The two former we had an account of, 2Ki 24:12; 2Ki 24:20 though the numbers considerably differ. Perhaps here the men of note only are mentioned, and the officers; there the common people also: but the latter probably was the gleaning of the people after the death of Gedaliah and the flight of Johanan: a number small and inconsiderable, compared to the multitudes which once dwelt in the land; but by pestilence, famine, and the sword, they were thus miserably reduced. Such ravages does sin make!
4thly, There is a difference between the account given, Jer 52:31 and that in 2Ki 25:27. There Jehoiakin's deliverance from prison is said to be on the 27th day of the 12th month; here on the 25th: probably the orders were given this day, though not executed till two days after. The captive king experienced now a very happy change; released from his prison; arrayed in royal robes, instead of his prison-garments; his throne exalted above his fellow-captive monarchs; treated with great affection and regard by the Babylonish emperor; admitted to a constant seat at his table, and nobly provided for all his days. Thus strange are the changes of this shifting scene; prosperity and adversity are often set over-against each other, that in our highest estate we may never be confident, nor, in the lowest, despair. It was, no doubt, matter of inexpressible joy to this unhappy captive, after so long a confinement, once more to taste the sweets of liberty. But how much greater the delight of the captive soul, when delivered from the bondage of corruption through the blood of the covenant; exchanging its filthy prison-garments for the glorious robe of righteousness; fed at the table of the King of kings; yea, called to sit down on his throne.
