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In his days Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came up. 2 Kings 24:1-16 Wickedness David Thomas, D. D. In glancing through these chapters there are two objects that press on our attention.(1) A national crisis. The peace, the dignity, the wealth, the religious privileges of Judah are converging to a close. Israel has already been carried away by a despot to a foreign land, and now Judah is meeting its fate. All nations have their crises — they have their rise, their fall, their dissolution(2) A terrible despot. The name of Nebuchadnezzar comes for the first time under our attention. I. THE WICKEDNESS OF MAN. The wickedness here displayed is marked — 1. By inveteracy. It is here said of Jehoiachin, "He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done." In verse 18 the same is also said of Zedekiah, "He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiachin had done." The wickedness here displayed is marked — 2. By tyranny. "At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it." What right had Nebuchadnezzar to leave his own country, invade Judah, plunder it of its wealth, and bear away by violence its population? The wickedness here displayed is marked — 3. By inhumanity. "And the King of Babylon... 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 all the vessels of gold which Solomon King of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land." The wickedness here displayed is marked — 4. By profanity. "He burnt the house of the Lord," etc. Thus this ruthless despot desecrated the most holy things in the city of Jerusalem and in the memory of millions. II. THE RETRIBUTION OF HEAVEN. In the retribution here displayed we are reminded of two facts: That the sins of one man may bring misery on millions. "Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of His sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did; and also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon," All the misery here recorded comes to the people "for the sins of Manasseh." Here is the hereditary principle of Divine government. Will not the following facts anyhow modify the severity of the complaint?(1) That no man is made to suffer more than he actually deserves on account of his own personal sin.(2) That the evils which thus descend to us from our ancestors are not to be compared with those we produce ourselves.(3) That whilst the hereditary principle of the Divine government entails evils, it also entails good. Great as are the evils that have come down to us from posterity, great also is the good.(4) This hereditary principle tends to restrain vice and stimulate virtue. The parent knowing, as all parents must know, the immense influence he exerts upon his offspring, and having the common natural affection, will be set more or less on his guard; he will restrain evil passions which otherwise he would allow to sport with uncontrolled power, and prosecute efforts of a virtuous tendency, which otherwise he would entirely neglect. 2. The pernicious influence of a man's sin in the world may continue after his conversion. Manasseh repented of the sins he had committed, and received the favours of his God. Notwithstanding we find men here suffering on account of the sins he had committed. 3. That retribution, though it may move slowly, yet will move surely. A hundred years had well-nigh passed away, and several generations had come and gone since Manasseh had gone to his grave. Yet avenging justice appears at last, and wreaks upon others the terrible effects of his crimes. The tardy march of retribution men have made the occasion and the reason of continued depravity," Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily," etc. ( David Thomas, D. D. )

Benson Commentary 2 Kings 24:1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 Kings 24:1 . In his days — That is, in Jehoiakim’s reign; and, according to Daniel 1:1 , compared with Jeremiah 25:1 , in the end of the third, or the beginning of the fourth year of it; came up Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon — Son of Nebopolassar, who, having subdued Assyria, soon made himself absolute monarch of all that part of the world. He probably left Babylon in the third year of Jehoiakim, and reduced him in his fourth year. According to Jeremiah 46:2 , he smote the army of Pharaoh- nechoh near the river Euphrates. He then attacked Jehoiakim, as the friend and ally of Pharaoh, and having taken him prisoner, “put him in chains to carry him to Babylon.” But as Jehoiakim submitted, and agreed to become tributary to him, Nebuchadnezzar released him. He carried away, however, some of the gold and silver vessels of the temple, and some of the most considerable persons of the kingdom, among whom were Daniel and his companions, Daniel 1:1-7 . And Jehoiakim became his servant three years — That is, was subject to him, and paid him tribute. Then he turned and rebelled against him — Being instigated so to do by the king of Egypt, who promised him his utmost assistance if he would shake off the yoke of the king of Babylon, and threatened he would declare him an enemy, and make war upon him, if he would not. 2 Kings 24:2 And the LORD sent 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, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets. 2 Kings 24:2 . The Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees — Including, probably, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, who were all now subject to the king of Babylon, and many of them engaged as soldiers in his service. Doubtless they were ordered by Nebuchadnezzar to attack and chastise Jehoiakim and the revolted Jews; yet no mention is here made of their commission from the king of Babylon, but only of that from the King of kings: the Lord sent them. And again, ( 2 Kings 24:3 ,) Surely upon the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah; otherwise the order of Nebuchadnezzar could not have brought it. Many are serving God’s purposes, who are not aware of it. 2 Kings 24:3 Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did; 2 Kings 24:3-4 . To remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh — Properly and directly for their own sins, and remotely for the sins of Manasseh; who had so corrupted the whole body of the people, that they were become incurable, and Josiah’s reformation had no lasting influence to recover them: for, immediately upon his death, they relapsed into their old idolatry, and other vices. Manasseh’s personal sins, although, as he was their chief ruler, they were to be considered as national sins, and merited national punishment, yet would never have been charged on the nation, unless they had made them their own by their impenitency for them, and repetition of them. And for the innocent blood which he shed — Namely, of those prophets and saints, who either reproved, or would not comply with his idolatrous worship. Which the Lord would not pardon — That is, would not remit the temporal punishment of the land, though he did pardon it so as not to inflict eternal punishment upon his own person, for from that God undoubtedly exempted him upon his repentance. God is the righteous governor of the world, and the guardian of civil society, and in it order could not be preserved, if he did not interpose in his providence, and, on proper occasions, cause signal and national judgments to follow public and national crimes. 2 Kings 24:4 And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon. 2 Kings 24:5 Now 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? 2 Kings 24:6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. 2 Kings 24:6 . So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers — But it is not said he was buried with them. No doubt the prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled, that he should not be lamented as his father was, but buried with the burial of an ass. Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead — Called also Jechoniah, 1 Chronicles 3:16 , and in a way of contempt Coniah, Jeremiah 22:24 . 2 Kings 24:7 And the king of Egypt came 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. 2 Kings 24:7 . The king of Egypt came not again out of his own land — In this king’s days. He could not now come to protect the king of Judah, being scarce able to defend his own kingdom. 2 Kings 24:8 Jehoiachin 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. 2 Kings 24:8 . Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign — In 2 Chronicles 36:9 , it is said that he was eight years old when he began to reign. But as both the Syriac and Arabic versions in that place read eighteen, it seems most reasonable to believe that the transcriber of the book of Chronicles made a mistake, and wrote eight for eighteen. Poole, however, and many other commentators, suppose that both places are correct, and that in his eighth year he began to reign with his father, who made him king with him, as divers other kings of Israel and Judah had acted in times of trouble; and that in his eighteenth year he reigned alone. Jehoiachin’s succeeding his father in the throne of Judah may seem to disagree with the threat which the prophet denounces against his father, Jeremiah 36:30 , He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; but as Jehoiachin’s reign lasted little more than three months, during which time he was absolutely subject to the Chaldeans, a reign of so short continuance, and of so small authority, may well be looked upon as nothing: see Ezekiel 19:6 , &c. 2 Kings 24:9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done. 2 Kings 24:10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 2 Kings 24:10 . The servants of Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem — Either, 1st, Because the people had made Jehoiachin king without his consent: or, 2d, Because he had some notice, or at least a suspicion, of his intentions to rebel and join with Egypt against him, as Zedekiah his successor did. But whatever was the second and immediate cause of it, the chief cause was God’s commandment, or the direction of his providence, as was said 2 Kings 24:3 . 2 Kings 24:11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. 2 Kings 24:12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. 2 Kings 24:12 . Jehoiachin went out to the king of Babylon — Yielded up himself and the city into his hands; and this by the counsel of Jeremiah, and to his own good. In the eighth year of his reign — Of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, as appears by comparing this with 2 Kings 25:8 ; and because Jehoiachin reigned not half a year. Had he made his peace with God, and taken the method that Hezekiah did in the like case, he needed not to have feared the king of Babylon, but might have held out with courage, honour, and success. But, wanting the faith and piety of an Israelite, he had not the resolution of a man. 2 Kings 24:13 And 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 all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. 2 Kings 24:13 . He carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord — Nebuchadnezzar carried away the treasures and rich furniture of the temple at three different times: First, In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, when he first took Jerusalem, he carried a part of the vessels of the house of God into the land of Shinar, and put them in the house of his god, Daniel 1:2 . These were the vessels which his son Belshazzar profaned, ( Daniel 5:2 ,) and which Cyrus restored to the Jews, ( Ezra 1:7 ,) to be set up in the temple again, when rebuilt: Secondly, In the reign of this Jehoiachin he took the city again, and cut in pieces a great part of the vessels of gold which Solomon had made, and which, through some means, had escaped his former plunder, and the plunder of the kings of Egypt and Israel, who had rifled the city and temple more than once; perhaps being preserved from them by the care of the priests, who hid them, or by the special providence of God, disposing their hearts to leave them. Or if these vessels had been taken away by any of these kings, they might afterward be recovered at the cost of the pious kings of Judah: Thirdly, In the eleventh year of Zedekiah he pillaged the temple once more, when he broke in pieces the pillars of brass, &c., and took away all the vessels of silver and gold that he could find, and carried them to Babylon, 2 Kings 25:13 . It is something strange, that among all this inventory, no mention is made of the ark of the covenant, which, of all other things, was held most sacred. But it is very probable that it was burned, together with the temple, in the last desolation; for what some say of its being hidden by the Prophet Jeremiah in a certain cave in mount Nebo, is a mere fable. See Calmet’s Comment. and Dissert. on the Ark. 2 Kings 24:14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. 2 Kings 24:14 . He carried away all Jerusalem — That is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem; not simply all, but the best and most considerable part, as the following words explain and restrain it. Even ten thousand captives — Which are more particularly reckoned up 2 Kings 24:16 , where there are seven thousand mighty men, and a thousand smiths; and those mentioned 2 Kings 24:15 make up the other two thousand. Craftsmen and smiths — Who might furnish them with new arms, and thereby give him fresh trouble. 2 Kings 24:15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 Kings 24:16 And all the men of might, 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. 2 Kings 24:17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah. 2 Kings 24:17 . And changed his name to Zedekiah — That he might admonish him of (what his name signifies) the justice of God, which had so severely punished Jehoiakim for his rebellion; and would no less certainly overtake him, if he should be guilty of the same perfidiousness. 2 Kings 24:18 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, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 Kings 24:18-19 . He reigned eleven years — In the end of which he was carried captive, Jeremiah 1:3 . He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord — Not regarding the reproofs, exhortations, or predictions of Jeremiah, but shutting him up in prison, Jeremiah 33:1-2 ; 2 Chronicles 36:12 . And his servants, and the people of the land, were as wicked and incorrigible as himself, Jeremiah 37:1-2 . 2 Kings 24:19 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 2 Kings 24:20 For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 2 Kings 24:20 . For through the anger of the Lord, &c. — God was so highly displeased with this wicked people, that he permitted Zedekiah to break his faith with Nebuchadnezzar, and to rebel against him, forgetting for what cause he changed his name. Unto this revolt, it is probable, he was persuaded by the ambassadors which the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon, sent unto him, to solicit him to throw off the yoke of the king of Babylon, Jeremiah 27:2-4 , &c. which was the greater crime, because he had taken a solemn oath that he would be true to him, 2 Chronicles 36:13 . The king of Egypt also, it is likely, promised him help, Ezekiel 17:15 ; and Hananiah, a false prophet, assured him God would, in two years time, break the yoke of the king of Babylon, and bring back all the vessels of the house of God, with Jehoiachin and all the captives: see Jeremiah 28:1-4 . Jeremiah indeed proved that he made them trust in a lie, by predicting his death that very year, which accordingly came to pass, 2 Kings 24:15-17 . But they still persisted in their vain hopes, there being other deceivers that prophesied falsely in God’s name, Jeremiah 29:8-9 : and they most of all deceived themselves with proud conceits that they were the true seed of Abraham, who had a right to that land, Ezekiel 33:24 . The people’s sins, therefore, as Poole has justly observed, were the true cause why God gave them wicked kings, whom he suffered to act wickedly, that they might bring the long-deserved and threatened punishments upon themselves and their people. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary 2 Kings 24:1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. 37 JEHOIAKIM B.C. 608-597 2 Kings 23:36-37 ; 2 Kings 24:1-7 "But those things that are recorded of him, and of his uncleanness and impiety, are written in the Chronicles of the Kings," - RAPC 1Es 1:42 "When Jehoiakim succeeded to the throne, he said," "My predecessors knew not how to provoke God." - Sanhedrin, f. 103, 2 "There is no strange handwriting on the wall, Through all the midnight hum no threatening call, Nor on the marble floor the stealthy fall Of fatal footsteps. All is safe.-Thou fool, The avenging deities are shod with wool!" - W. ALLEN BUTLER ELIAKIM succeeded to the throne at the age of twenty-five under very unenviable circumstances-as a nominal king, a helpless nominee and tributary of the Pharaoh. He seems to have been thoroughly distasteful to the people; and if we may judge from the fact that Ezekiel frankly ignores him and passes from Jehoabaz to Jehoachin, he was regarded as a tax-gathering usurper nominated by an alien tyrant. For after speaking of Jehoahaz, Ezekiel says, - "Now when she [Judah] saw that she had waited [for the restoration of Jehoahaz], and her hope was lost, Then she took another of her whelps; A young lion she made him. He went up and down among the lions; He became a young lion." The historian says that Necho turned the name of Eliakim ("God will establish") to Jehoiakim ("Jehovah will establish"); but by this can hardly be meant more than that he sanctioned the change of El into Jehovah on Eliakim’s installation upon the throne. Jehoiakim is condemned in the same terms as all the other sons of Josiah. His misdoings are far more definitely recorded in the Prophets, who furnish us with details which are passed over by the historians. Some of his sins may have been due to the influence of his wife Nehushta, who was a daughter of Elnathan of Achbor, one of the princes of the heathen party. It was this Elnathan whom the king chose as a fitting ambassador to demand the extradition of the prophet Urijah from Egypt. One of the crimes with which Jehoiakim is charged is the building for himself of a sumptuous palace, and thus vainly trying to emulate the splendors of Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian kings. In itself the act would not have been more wicked than it was in Solomon, whose architectural parade is dwelt upon with enthusiasm. But the circumstances were now wholly different. Solomon was at that time in all his glory, the possessor of boundless wealth, the ruler of an immense and united territory, the head of a powerful and prosperous people, the successor of an unconquered hero who had gone to his grave in peace; Jehoiakim, on the other hand, had succeeded a father who had died in defeat on the field of battle, and a brother who was hopelessly pining in an Egyptian prison. The Tribes had been carried into captivity by Assyria; the nation was beaten, oppressed, and poor; the king himself possessed but a shadow of royalty. In such a condition of things it would have been his glory to maintain a watchful and strenuous activity, and to devote himself in simplicity and self-denial to the good of his people. It showed a perverted and sensuous mind to insult the misery of his subjects at such a time by feeble attempts to rival heathen potentates in costly aestheticism. But this was not all; he carried out his ignoble selfishness at the cost of oppression and wrong. It is possible that the prophet Habakkuk alludes to him in the words: "Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." {Hab 2:9-11} The thought of the Jewish king’s selfish expensiveness may have crossed the mind of Habakkuk, though the taunt is addressed directly to the Chaldaeans. and especially to Nebuchadrezzar, who was at that time reveling in the beautifying of Babylon, and especially of his own royal palace. On the other hand, the rebuke, or rather the denunciation, uttered by Jeremiah against the king for this line of conduct, and for the forced labor which it required, is terribly direct. "‘Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, And his chambers by wrong; That useth his neighbor’s service without wages, And giveth him not his hire; That saith, "I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers," And cutteth out windows; And it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. Shalt thou reign because thou viest with the cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice? Then it was well with him! ‘Was not this to know Me?’ saith the Lord. But thine heart is not but for thy dishonest gain, And for to shed innocent blood, And for oppression and for violence to do it.’" {Jer 22:13-17} Then follows the stern message of doom which we shall quote hereafter. The king’s bad example stimulated or perhaps emulated similar folly and want of patriotism on the part of his nobles. They were shepherds who destroyed and scattered the sheep of Jehovah’s pastures. But vain was their imagined security, and their ostentation. The judgment was imminent. {Jer 23:1} "O inhabitress of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars," exclaims the prophet in bitter mockery, "how greatly wilt thou groan when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!" {Jer 22:23} But Jehoiakim’s offences were deadlier than this. The Chronicler speaks of "the abominations which he did"; and some have therefore supposed that the evil state of things described by Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 19:1-15 ) refers to this reign. If so, he plunged into the idolatry which caused Judah to be shivered like a potter’s vessel. Certainly he sinned grievously against God in the person of His prophets. Jeremiah was not the only prophet who disdained the easy and traitorous popularity which was to be won by prophesying "peace, peace," when there was no peace. He had for his contemporary another messenger of God, no less boldly explicit than himself-Urijah, the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-Jearim. Jeremiah had as yet only prophesied in his humble native village of Anathoth; he had not been called upon to face "the swellings" or "the pride of Jordan." {Jer 12:5} Urijah had been in the fuller glare of publicity in the capital, and his bold declaration that Jerusalem should fall before Nebuchadrezzar and the Chaldaeans had excited such a fury of indignation that he escaped into Egypt for his life. Surely this should have appeased the rulers, even if they chose to pay no attention to the Divine menace. For the prophets were recognized deliverers of the messages of Jehovah; and with scarcely an exception, even in the most wicked reigns, their persons had been regarded as sacrosanct. But Jehoiakim would not let Urijah escape. He sent an embassy to Necho, headed by his father-in-law Elnathan, son of Achbor, requesting his extradition. Urijah had been dragged back from Egypt, and, to the horror of the people, the king had slain him with the sword, and flung his body into the graves of the common people. What made this conduct more monstrous was the precedent of Micah the Morasthite. He, in the days of Hezekiah, had prophesied, - "Zion shall be ploughed as a field, And Jerusalem shall become heaps, And the Mountain of the House as the wooded heights." {Jer 26:18} Yet so far from putting him to death, or even stirring a finger against him, the pious king had only been moved to repentance by the Divine threatenings. Thus the blood of the first martyr-prophet, if we except the case of Zechariah, had been shed by the son of Judah’s most pious king. Jeremiah himself only narrowly escaped martyrdom. The precedent of Micah helped to save him, though it had not saved Urijah. He was far more powerfully protected by the patronage of the princes and the people. Standing in the Temple court, he had declared that, unless the nation repented, that house should be like Shiloh, and the city a curse to all the nations of the earth. Maddened by such words of bold rebuke, the priests and the prophets and the people had threatened him with death. But the princes took his part, and some of the people came over to them. His most powerful protector was Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, a member of a family of the utmost distinction. Meanwhile, we must follow for a time the outward fortunes of the king and of the world. Necho, after his successful advance, had retired to Egypt, and Jehoiakim continued to be for three years his obsequious servant. An event of tremendous importance for the world changed the entire fortunes of Egypt and of Judah. Nineveh fell with a crash which terrified the nations. We might apply to her the language which Isaiah applies to her successor, Babylon. "Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the shades for thee, even the Rephaim of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall answer and say unto thee, ‘Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?’ All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast forth away from thy sepulcher like an abominable branch, as the raiment of those that are slain, that are thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit.. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and say, ‘Is this the man that made the earth to tremble? that did shake kingdoms? that made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof? that let not loose his prisoners to their home?"’ Yes, Assyria had fallen like some mighty cedar in Libanus, and the nations gazed without pity and with exultation on his torn and scattered branches. And coincident with the fate of Nineveh had been the rise of the Chaldaean power. Nabupalussur had been a general of one of the last Assyrian kings, and had been sent by him with an army to quell a Babylonian revolt. Instead of this, he seized the city and made himself king. When the final overthrow and obliteration of Nineveh had secured his power, he sent his brave and brilliant son Nebuchadrezzar (B.C. 605) to secure the provinces which he had wrested from Assyria, and especially to regain possession of Carchemish, which commanded the river. Necho marched to protect his conquests, and at Carchemish the hostile forces encountered each other in a tremendous battle, -immemorial Egypt under the representative of its age-long Pharaohs; Babylon, with her independence of yesterday, under a prince hitherto unknown, whose name was to become one of the most famous in the world. The result is described by Jeremiah. {Jer 46:1-12} Egypt was hopelessly defeated. Her splendidly arrayed warriors were panic-stricken and routed; her chief heroes were dashed to pieces by the heavy maces of the Babylonians, or fled without so much as looking back. The scene was one of " Magor-missabib "-terror on every side ( Jeremiah 46:5 ). Pharoah’s host came up like the Nile in flood with its Ethiopian hoplites and Asiatic archers; but they were driven back. The daughter of Egypt received a wound which no balm of Gilead could cure. The nations heard of her shame, and the prophet pronounced her further chastisement by the hands of Nebuchadrezzar. Then, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the young Babylonian conqueror swept down upon Syria and Palestine like a bounding leopard, like an avenging eagle. {Hab 1:7-8} Jehoiakim had no choice but to change his vassalhood to Necho for a vassalage to Nebuchadrezzar. He might have suffered severe consequences, but tidings came to the young Chaldaean that his father had ended his reign of twenty-one years and was dead. For fear lest disturbances might arise in his capital, he at once dashed home across the desert with some light troops by way of Tadmor, while he told his general to follow him home through Syria by the longer route. He seems, however, to have carried away with him some captives, among whom were Daniel, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, {Dan 1:6} destined hereafter for such memorable fortunes. Jehoiakim himself was thrown into fetters to be carried into Babylon: but the conqueror changed his mind, and probably thought that it would be safer for the present to accept his pledges and assurances, and leave him as his viceroy. "He took an oath of him," says Ezekiel; {Eze 17:13} "he took also the Mighty of the land." For three years this frivolous egotist who occupied the throne of Judah remained faithful to his covenant with the King of Babylon, but at the end of that time he rebelled. In this rebellion he was again deluded by the glamour of Egypt, and reliance on the empty promise of "horses and much people." Ezekiel openly disapproved of this policy, {Eze 17:15} and reproached the king for his faithlessness to his oath. Jeremiah went further, and declared in the plainest language that "Nebuchadrezzar would certainly come up and destroy this land, and cause to cease from thence both man and beast." {Jer 36:29; Jer 25:9; Jer 26:6} Nearer and nearer the danger came. At first the King of Babylon was too busy to do more than send against the Jewish rebel marauding bands of Chaldaeans, who acted in concert with the hereditary depredators of Judah-Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites. But the prophet knew that the danger would not end there, believing that God would yet "remove Judah out of His sight" for the unforgiven sins of Manasseh and the innocent blood with which he had filled Jerusalem. {2Ki 24:2-4} At last Nebuchadrezzar had time to turn closer attention to the affairs of Judah, and this became necessary because of the revolt of Tyre under its King Ithobalus. In the stress of the peril Jehoiakim proclaimed a fast and a day of humiliation in the Temple. Jeremiah was at this time "shut up"-either in hiding, or in some sort of custody. As he could not go and preach in person, he dictated his prophecy to Barnch, who wrote it on a scroll, and went in the prophet’s place to read it in the Lord’s House to the people there assembled from Jerusalem and all Judah in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, in the inner court, by the new gate. Gemariah was the brother of Ahikam, the protector of the prophet. No one was more painfully alarmed by Jeremiah’s prophecy than Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, and he thought it his duty to go and tell his father and the other princes what he had heard. They were assembled in the scribe’s chamber, and sent a courtier of Ethiopian race-Jehudi, the son of Cushi - bidding him to bring the scroll with him, and to come to them. Baruch was a person of distinction. He was the brother of Seraiah, who is called in our A.V "a quiet prince," and in the margin "prince of Menucha" or "chief chamberlain," literally "master of the resting-place"; and he was the grandson of Maaseiah, "the governor" of the city. The office imposed on him by Jeremiah was so perilous and painful that it nearly broke his heart. He exclaimed to Jeremiah, "Woe is me now! the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow. I am weary with my sighing, and I find no rest." The answer which the prophet was commissioned to give him was very remarkable. It confirmed the terrible doom on his native land, but added, "And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. For, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh,’ saith the Lord: ‘but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest."’ {Jer 45:1-5} Baruch obeyed the summons of the princes, and at their request sat down with them and read the scroll in their ears. When they had heard the portentous prophecy, they turned shuddering to one another, and said, "We must tell the king of all these words." They asked Baruch how he had written them, and he said he had taken them down at the prophet’s dictation. Then, knowing the storm which would burst over the bold offenders, they said, "Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man know where ye be." Not daring to imperil the awful document, they laid it up in the chamber of Elishama, the scribe, but went to the king and told him its contents. He sent Jehudi to fetch it, and to read it in their hearing. Jehoiakim and the illustrious company were seated in the winter chamber; for it was October, and a fire was burning in the brazier, where Jehoiakim sat warming himself in the chilly weather. As he listened, he was filled not only with fury, but with contempt. Such a message might well have caused him and his worst counselors to rend their clothes; but instead of this they adopted a tone of defiance. By the time that Jehudi had read three or four columns, Jehoiakim snatched the scribe’s knife which hung at his girdle, and began to cut up the scroll, with the intention of burning it. Seeing his purpose, Gemariah, Elnathan, and Seraiah entreated him not to destroy it. But he would not listen. He flung the fragments into the brazier, and they were consumed. He ordered his son Jerahmeel, with Seraiah and Shelemiah, to seize both Baruch and Jeremiah, and bring them before him for punishment. Doubtless they would have suffered the fate of Urijah, but "the Lord hid them." There were enough persons of power on their side to render their hiding-place secure. But the king’s impious indifference, so far from making any difference in the things that were, only brought down upon his guilt a fearful doom. Truth cannot be cut to pieces, or burnt, or mechanically suppressed. "Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again. The eternal years of God are hers: But error vanquished, writhes in pain, And dies amid her worshippers." All the former denunciations, and new ones added to them, were rewritten by Jeremiah and his faithful friend in their hiding-place, and among them these words:- "Thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, ‘He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost."’ A frightful drought added to the misery of this reign, but failed to bring the wretched king to his senses. Jeremiah describes it:- "Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they bow down mourning unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And the nobles send their menials to the waters: they come to the pits, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed and confounded, and cover their heads because of the ground which is chapped, for that no rain hath been in the land. Yea, the hind also in the field calveth, and forsaketh her young, because there is no grass. And the wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage." Even this affliction, so vividly and pathetically described, failed to waken any repentance. And then the doom fell. Nebuchadrezzar advanced in person against Jerusalem. Even the hardy nomad Rechabites had to fly before the Chaldaeans, and to take refuge in the cities which they hated. The sacred historian tells us nothing as to the manner of the death of Jehoiakim, only saying that he "slept with his fathers": his narrative of this period is exceedingly meager. Josephus says that Nebuchadrezzar slew him and the flower of the citizens, and sent three thousand captives to Babylon. Some imagine that he was killed by the Babylonians in a raid outside the walls of Jerusalem, or "murdered by his own people, and his body thrown for a time outside the walls." If so, the Babylonians did not war with the dead. His remains, after this "burial of an ass," {Jer 36:30; Jer 22:19} may have been finally suffered to rest in a tomb. The Septuagint says {2Ch 36:8} that he was buried "in Ganosan," by which may be meant the sepulcher of Manasseh in the garden of Uzza. Not for him was the wailing cry " Hoi, adon! Hoi, hodo! " ("Ah, Lord! Ah, his glory!"). "The memory of the wicked shall rot." Certainly this was the ease with Jehoiakim. The Chronicler mysteriously alludes to "his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him ." {2Ch 36:8} The Rabbis, interpreting this after their manner, say that "the thing found" was the name of the demon Codonazor, to whom he had sold himself, which after his death was discovered legibly written’ in Hebrew letters on his skin. "Rabbi Johanan and Rabbi Eleazar debated what was meant by that which was found on him." One said that "he tattooed the name of an idol upon his body (wtma), and the other said that he had tattooed the name of the god Recreon." 2 Kings 24:8 Jehoiachin 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. JEHOIACHIN B.C. 597 2 Kings 24:8-16 B.C. 597 "There are times when ancient truths become modern falsehoods, when the signs of God’s dispensations are made so clear by the course of natural events as to supersede the revelations of even their most sacred past." - STANLEY, "Lectures," 2:521 JEHOIACHIN-"Jehovah maketh steadfast"-who is also called Jeconiah, and-perhaps with intentional slight-Coniah, succeeded, at the age of eighteen, to the miserable and distracted heritage of the throne of Judah. The "eight years old" of the Chronicler must be a clerical error, for he had a harem. He only reigned for three months; and the historian pronounces over him, as over all the four kings of the House of Josiah, the stereotyped condemnation of evil-doing. Was there anything in the manner in which Josiah had trained his family which could account for their unsatisfactoriness? In Jehoiachin’s case we do not know what his transgressions were, but perhaps his mother’s influence rendered him as little favorable to the prophetic party as his brother Jehoiakim had been. For the Gebirah was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. Her name means apparently "Brass," and nothing can be deduced from it; but her father Elnathan was (as we have seen) the envoy who, by order of Jehoiakim, had dragged back from Egypt the martyr-prophet Urijah. {Jer 26:22} Brief as was his reign of three months and ten days {2Ch 36:9} #NAME?Yet there must have been something in Jeconiah which impressed favorably the minds of men. Brief as was his reign, his memory was never forgotten. We learn from the Mishna that one of the gates of Jerusalem-probably that by which he left the city-forever bore his name. Josephus says that his captivity was annually commemorated. Jeremiah writes in the Lamentations:- "Our pursuers are swifter than the eagles of heaven: they have pursued us upon the mountains, they have laid wait for us in the wilderness. The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, ‘Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen."’ Ezekiel compares him to a young lion:- "He went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey. And he knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fullness thereof, by the noise of his roaring. Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit. And they put him in ward in hooks, and brought him to the King of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel." A prince of whom a contemporary prophet could thus write was obviously no fainéant . Indeed, the energetic measures which Nebuchadrezzar adopted against him may have been due to the fact that he had endeavored to rouse his discouraged people. But what could he do against such a power as that of the Chaldaeans? Nebuchadrezzar sent his generals against Jerusalem; and when it was ripe for capture, advanced in person to take possession of it. Resistance had become hopeless; there lay no chance in anything but that complete submission which might possibly avert the worst effects of the destruction of the city. Accordingly, Jeconiah, accompanied by his mother, his court, his princes, and his officers, went out in procession, and threw themselves on the mercy of the King of Babylon. Nebuchadrezzar was far less brutal than the Sargons and Assurbanipals of Assyria; but Judah had twice revolted, and the defection of Tyre showed him that the affairs of Palestine could no longer be neglected. He thoroughly despoiled the Temple and the palace, and carried the spoils to Babylon, as Isaiah had forewarned Hezekiah should be the case. That he might further weaken and humiliate the city, he stripped it of its king, its royal house, its court, its nobles, its soldiers, even its craftsmen and smiths, and carried ten thousand eight hundred and thirty-two captives to Babylon (Jos., " Antt. ," X 7. I), among whom was the prophet Ezekiel. He naturally spared Jeremiah, who regarded him as "the sword of Jehovah," {Jer 47:6} and as "Jehovah’s servant, to do His pleasure". {Jer 25:9; Jer 27:6; Jer 43:10} On the whole, Nebuchadrezzar is not treated with abhorrence by the Jews. There was something in his character which inspired respect; and the Jews deal with him leniently, both in their records and generally in their traditions. "Nebuchadnezzar," we read in the Talmud (" Taanith, " f. 18, 2), "was a worthy king, and deserved that a miracle should be performed through him." From the allusion of Ezekiel we might infer that Jehoiachin was violent and self-willed; but Josephus speaks of his kindness and gentleness. Was he, as Jeremiah had prophesied, literally "childless"? It is true that in 1 Chronicles 3:17-18 , eight sons are ascribed to him, and among them Shealtiel, in whom the royal line was continued. But it was far from certain that these sons were not the sons of his brother Neri, of the House of Nathan {Luk 3:27; Luk 3:31 Mat 1:12} and it seems that they were only adopted by the unhappy captive. The Book of Baruch describes him weeping by the Euphrates. But if we may trust the story of Susannah, his outward fortunes were peaceful, and he was allowed to live in his own house and gardens in peace and in a certain degree of splendor. 2 Kings 24:18 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, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ZEDEKIAH, THE LAST KING OF JUDAH B.C. 597-586 2 Kings 24:18-20 ; 2 Kings 25:1-7 " Quand ce grand Dieu a choisi quelqu’un pour etre l’instrument de ses desseins rien n’arrete le cours, en enchaine, ou il aveugle, ou il dompte tout ce qui est capable de resistance. " - BOSSUET, " Oraison funebre de Henriette Marie ." WHEN Jehoiachin was carried captive to Babylon, never to return, his uncle Mattaniah ("Jehovah’s gift"), the third son of Josiah, was put by Nebuchadrezzar in his place. In solemn ratification of the new king’s authority, the Babylonian conqueror sanctioned the change of his name to Zedekiah ("Jehovah’s righteousness"). He was twenty-one at his accession, and he reigned eleven years. "Behold," writes Ezekiel, "the King of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and brought them to him to Babylon; and he took of the seed royal" ( i.e. , Zedekiah), " and made a covenant with him; he also brought him under an oath: and took away the mighty of the land, that the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand. " {Eze 17:12-14} Perhaps by this covenant Zechariah meant to emphasize the meaning of his name, and to show that he would reign in righteousness. The prophet at the beginning of the chapter describes Nebuchadrezzar and Jehoiachin in "a riddle." "A great eagle," he says, "with great wings and long pinions; full of feathers, which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar" (Jehoiachin): "he cropped off the topmost of the young twigs thereof, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants. He took also of the seed of the land" (Zedekiah), "and planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside great waters, he set it as a willow tree. And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned towards him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs." {Eze 17:1-6} The words refer to the first three years of Zedekiah’s reign, and they imply, consistently with the views of the prophets, that, if the weak king had been content with the lowly eminence to which God had called him, and if he had kept his oath and covenant with Babylon, all might yet have been well with him and his land. At first it seemed likely to be so; for Zedekiah wished to be faithful to Jehovah. He made a covenant with all the people to set free their Hebrew slaves. Alas! it was very short-lived. Self-sacrifice cost something, and the princes soon took back the discarded bond-servants. {Jer 34:8-11} What made this conduct the more shocking was that their covenant to obey the law had been made in the most solemn manner by "cutting a calf in twain, and passing between the severed halves." But the weak king was perfectly powerless in the hands of his tyrannous aristocracy. The exiles in Babylon were now the best and most important section of the nation. Jeremiah compares them to good figs; while the remnant at Jerusalem were bad and withered. He and Ezekiel raised their voices, as in strophe and antistrophe, for the teaching alike of the exiles and of the remnant left at Jerusalem, for whom the exiles were bidden to entreat God in prayer. Zedekiah himself made at least one journey northward, either voluntarily or under summons, to renew his oath and reassure Nebuchadrezzar of his fidelity. He was accompanied by Seraiah, the brother of Baruch, who was privately entrusted by Jeremiah with a prophecy of the fall of Babylon, which he was to fling into the midst of the Euphrates. The last King of Judah seems to have been weak rather than wicked. He was a reed shaken by the wind. He yielded to the influence of the last person who argued with him; and he seems to have dreaded above all things the personal ridicule, danger, and opposition which it was his duty to have defied. Yet we cannot withhold from him our deep sympathy: for he was born in terrible times-to witness the death-throes of his country’s agony, and to share in them. It was no longer a question of independence, but only of the choice of servitudes. Judah was like a silly and trembling sheep between two huge beasts of prey. Only thus can we account for the strange apostasies-"the abominations of the heathen"-with which he permitted the Temple to be polluted; and for the ill-treatment which he allowed to be inflicted on Jeremiah and other prophets, to whom in his heart he felt inclined to listen. What these abominations were we read with amazement in the eighth chapter of Ezekiel. The prophet is carried in vision to Jerusalem, and there he sees the Asherah-"the image which provoketh to jealousy"-which had so often been erected and destroyed and re-erected. Then through a secret door he sees creeping things, and abominable beasts, and the idol blocks of the House of Israel portrayed upon the wall, while several elders of Israel stood before them and adored, with censers in their hands-among whom he must specially have grieved to see Jaazaneiah, the son of Shaphan, flattering himself, as did his followers, that in that dark chamber Jehovah saw them not. Next at the northern gate he sees Zion’s daughters weeping for Tammuz, or Adonis. Once more, in the inner court of the Temple, between the porch and the altar, he sees about twenty-five men with their backs to the altar, and their faces to the east; and they worshipped the sun towards the east; and, lo! they put the vine branch to their nose. Were not these crimes sufficient to evoke the wrath of Jehovah, and to alienate His ear from prayers offered by such polluted worshippers? Egypt, Assyria. Syria, Chaldaea, all contributed their idolatrous elements to the detestable syncretism; and the king and the priests ignored, permitted, or connived at it. {Eze 16:15-34} This must surely be answered for. How could it have been otherwise? The king and the priests were the official guardians of the Temple, and these aberrations could not have gone on without their cognizance. There was another party of sheer formalists, headed by men like the priest Pash