CHAPTER 25

(588 B.C.)

THE FALL OF JERUSALEM

¹And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign (the reign of Zedekiah), in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about. (The exact day of this siege was revealed to Ezekiel in a vision in faraway Babylonia [Ezek. 24:1]. The Holy Spirit records the exact day that this began, simply because of its significance. Israel, destined to be a light unto the world, lost her way, and would become a vassal state to heathen powers, which was never intended by God, but brought on because of Israels persistent rebellion. God cannot condone sin, even if it is in His chosen People!)

²And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah (the writer omits all the details of the siege, and hastens to the final catastrophe).

³And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land (a third part of the inhabitants died of the famine, and the plague which grew out of it [Ezek. 5:12]; this could well have been nearly a half million people).

⁴And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the kings garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain (Zedekiah tried to slip out of the city and avoid capture by the Babylonians; he would not be successful).

⁵And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him (it is probable, though not certain, that Zedekiah intended to cross the Jordan River, and seek a refuge in Moab, when he was apprehended).

⁶So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him (as a rebel who had broken his covenant and his oath [Ezek. 17:16, 18], Zedekiah was brought to trial before Nebuchadnezzar and his great lords; while his life was spared, yet the judgment was still sufficiently severe).

⁷And they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. (The Prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel predicted that Zedekiah should see the king of Babylon, but not the city of Babylon, and yet he would die there. So it came to pass. He saw the king of Babylon at Riblah, where his eyes were put out. He was then carried to Babylon. Being blind, he could not see the city. And he died there.)

THE CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH; JERUSALEM AND THE TEMPLE DESTROYED

⁸And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem (extreme exactness with respect to a date indicates the extreme importance of the event dated; in the whole range of the history contained in the two Books of the Kings, there is no instance of the year, month, and day being all given, except in this present Chapter, where we find this extreme exactness four times [Vss. 1, 3, 8, 27]):

⁹And he burnt the House of the LORD (the Temple), and the kings house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great mans house burnt he with fire (the Temple, built by Solomon, had stood for some 470 years).

¹⁰And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about (it seems to be that they made breaches in the walls at given points).

¹¹Now the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the fugitives who fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carry away.

¹²But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

TEMPLE VESSELS AND METALS TAKEN TO BABYLON

¹³And the pillars of brass that were in the House of the LORD, and the bases, and the Brasen Sea (Brazen Laver) that was in the House of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon (these giant copper pillars represented the people of God; there were two of them; they sat at the immediate front of the Temple; as these were no more Gods people, these two symbols were broken up; likewise, the Brazen Laver was a Type of the Word of God; with the people refusing to obey the Word, the symbol was no longer needed; consequently, it was broken up along with the pillars).

¹⁴And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. (Vss. 13-17 have little interest for the unspiritual mind, but, to the heart which knows God, how full of agony they appear! These precious vessels and all this gathered wealth, designed by God Himself to express the Millennial Glories of Christ as King and Priest, were broken, dishonored, and carried to Babylon. This was a sad result of the unbelief of the elect nation to whom God had entrusted such glories.)

¹⁵And the firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away.

¹⁶The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the House of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

¹⁷The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits (27 feet), and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits (4 feet); and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work (all of this was broken in pieces, aptly describing the Children of Israel, who were, as well, literally broken in pieces).

THE LEADERS OF JUDAH SLAIN

¹⁸And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:

¹⁹And out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war, and five men of them who were in the kings presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land who were found in the city:

²⁰And Nebuzar-adan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah:

²¹And the king of Babylon smote them, and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land (the nation ceased to be, at least at that time).

GEDALIAH MADE GOVERNOR OF THE REMAINING JEWS; HIS ASSASSINATION

²²And as for the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler (Nebuchadnezzars choice of Gedaliah for governor was probably made from some knowledge of his having sided with Jeremiah, whose persistent endeavors to make the Jews submit to the Babylonian yoke seemed to have been well-known, not only to the Jews, but to the Babylonians, as well).

²³And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men (the persons mentioned, that is, with the soldiers under them, came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and placed themselves under him as his subjects Pulpit).

²⁴And Gedaliah swore to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.

²⁵But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah. (Josephus says that Ishmael was a wicked and crafty man, who, during the siege of Jerusalem, had made his escape from the place, and fled for shelter to Baalim, king of Ammon, with whom he remained until the siege was over. Gedaliah had been warned about him, but treated the warning with little significance. He would pay dearly.)

²⁶And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees. (They went to Egypt in defiance of the Lord and His Prophets [Jer., Chpts. 42-43]. Jeremiah told them that Egypt would also be given to Nebuchadnezzar, and they, therefore, would still be in his dominion [Jer. 44:29-30].)

JEHOIACHIN RESTORED AND HONORED IN BABYLON

²⁷And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;

²⁸And he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon;

²⁹And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.

³⁰And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life. (This event was intended as a comforting sign, to the whole of the captive people, that the Lord would one day put an end to their banishment, if they would acknowledge that it was a well-merited punishment for their sins that they had been driven away from before His Face, and would turn again to the Lord their God with all their hearts.

Thus, Jehovahs Throne at Jerusalem was cast down, and mans throne at Babylon was set up and, strangely, God recognized it, and committed to it the government of the world. With it commences the times of the Gentiles, which are to continue up to, and close with, the reign of the last great king of Babylon, the Antichrist [Lk. 21:24].)