CHAPTER 24

(610 B.C.)

JEHOIAKIM SUBDUED BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR

¹In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. (In the Book of Daniel, God reveals the fact that He took the government of the world out of Israels hand, and placed it in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, to whom it was said: You are this head of gold [Dan. 2:38]. It was Gods Will that unrepentant Judah be punished for her many sins, and that Nebuchadnezzar would be the chastening rod; consequently, when this Verse says that he rebelled against him, this was very displeasing to the Lord.)

²And the LORD sent against him (against Jehoiakim) 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 spoke by His servants the Prophets (God could command either way, whether judgment or Blessing; it all depends on obedience or disobedience).

³Surely 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 (the meaning is not that the nation was punished for the personal sins and crimes of the wicked Manasseh 40 or 50 years previously, but that the class of sins introduced by this king, being persisted in by the people, in other words, continuing, brought the stern judgments of God upon them Pulpit);

⁴And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon (like the other sins of Manasseh, the shedding of innocent blood continued, both in the Moloch offerings [Jer. 7:31], and in the persecution of the righteous [Jer. 7:6, 9], etc.).

DEATH OF JEHOIAKIM; SUCCEEDED BY JEHOIACHIN

⁵Now 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?

⁶So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead (it says nothing about him being buried, as would be normal, when, in fact, he was buried, but like an animal [Jer. 22:18-19]).

⁷And 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 (this speaks of the ascension of the mighty Babylonian Empire; in fact, Babylon had now conquered Egypt).

JEHOIACHINS REIGN; THE SECOND SEIZURE OF JERUSALEM

⁸Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mothers name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem (his mother was probably the ruling spirit of the time during her sons short reign).

⁹And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done (the Prophet Jeremiah calls him a despised broken idol and a vessel wherein is no pleasure [Jer. 22:28]).

¹⁰At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged (the short phrase, at that time, refers to the reign of Jehoiachin).

¹¹And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it (while the siege conducted by his generals was still going on, Nebuchadnezzar made his appearance in person before the walls, which brought about the surrender of Jerusalem).

¹²And 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 (the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzars reign; this Verse portrays the surrender of Jerusalem).

¹³And he carried out thence all the treasures of the House of the LORD, and the treasures of the kings 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 (thus the Prophecy by Isaiah to Hezekiah was fulfilled [20:17-18]).

¹⁴And he (Nebuchadnezzar) 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 (in this first deportation were carried away Mordecai, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Nehemiah).

JEHOIACHIN TAKEN CAPTIVE TO BABYLON

¹⁵And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the kings mother, and the kings wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

¹⁶And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all who were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon (thus, the nation of Judah was left with no guiding force).

REIGN OF ZEDEKIAH OVER JUDAH

¹⁷And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his fathers brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mothers name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah (this was not Jeremiah the Prophet, who was at Anathoth).

¹⁹And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done (among other things, he fell into the old error of putting trust in Egypt, which was an act of rebellion against God, and against the Babylonian Empire).

ZEDEKIAH REBELS AGAINST BABYLON

²⁰For 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. (God permitted Zedekiah to rebel, for it was determined that Judah should be destroyed at this time and go into captivity because of repeated sinning. Because of repeated rebellion against His Word, the anger of the Lord had risen to a white-hot pitch.)